GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 13
Sending Mixed Signals

Annihilate, But Don’t Annihilate Too Much

While publicly telling Israel to do what it has to do to destroy Hamas, privately they’re pushing them to not go too far. Apparently taking back the Gaza Strip is a step too far, although any sensible person knows that Hamas will reconstitute itself just like it has always done as long as Palestinians are in charge. Here is a report from NBCNews.com that makes exactly that point when discussing a recent speech by Biden while in Israel (see https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/us-officials-privately-warn-israel-restraint-hamas-retaliation-biden-rcna120286) :

Yet in that same speech, Biden dropped in a brief, but telling, message about the need to avoid indiscriminate killing as the war moves into a coastal territory that is home to some 2 million people with no escape route. Biden said that in an earlier phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they discussed how strong democracies like Israel and the U.S. don’t needlessly target civilians.

"Terrorists purposefully target civilians, kill them," he said. "We uphold the laws of war — the law of war. It matters. There’s a difference."

What he didn't say in his speech, but NBC News later confirmed, is that Biden also urged the Israeli leader to take pains to minimize Palestinian casualties.

The same article also notes that going into other countries, like Syria or Lebanon, or even Iran would not be supported. Restraint is understood overall and Israel takes great pains to alert Palestinians when an offensive before striking and as they said, they don’t target hospitals. Telling Israel to limit civilian casualties is fraught with definitions of what is considered limiting. Is there a number that is too high? Talk is just that, talk. Who decides what is too much?

More Mixed Signals

Yesterday, the United Nations ban on Iran’s ability to purchase and supply missiles. It is called “Transition Day” and if it happens it is a certainty that Iran will ship as many weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah as it can. Two things must be noted, the first is that there is ample evidence that Iran has been finding ways to skirt the ban already and nothing will change. The other is that both America and the European Union (EU) are putting new sanctions in place as seen in this quote from CNN.com (see https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/18/politics/us-sanctions-iran-jcpoa-transition-day/index.html) :

The US Treasury Department said in a news release that it was imposing the sanctions on “11 individuals, eight entities, and one vessel based in Iran, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Venezuela that are enabling Iran’s destabilizing ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs.”

In a separate move, the US State Department imposed sanctions on two Iranian officials “for engaging in activities that have materially contributed to Iran’s missile program,” as well as on “two Iran-based entities and four Russia-based entities.” Russia has been using Iranian drones in its war in Ukraine…Iran has increasingly violated the terms of nuclear agreement in the eight years since its adoption, particularly after the US withdrew from the deal under the presidency of Donald Trump. Efforts in recent years to restore the deal have collapsed and Tehran has increasingly grown its nuclear program in violation of the limits of the deal.

In light of this, countries like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom – known as the E3 – and the US have said they will maintain similar constraints on Iran’s missile program through their own national sanctions, despite the expiration of the UN restrictions.

It would have been better had all parties announced these measures earlier, but at least they did on Wednesday.

More Shots Fired

Apparently the Navy announced that they intercepted missiles sent by Yemen and thought to be headed to Israel. Here is a report on that from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-19-2023/) :

A US Navy warship takes out three missiles that had been fired from Yemen and were heading north, US officials say.

The officials say the USS Carney, a Navy destroyer, was in the Red Sea and intercepted the three missiles. It wasn’t immediately certain if they were aimed at Israel, though Hebrew media reports suggested that Israeli defense officials believe that they were.

One of the officials says the US does not believe the missiles were aimed at the ship.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have expressed support for the Palestinians and threatened Israel.

The Pentagon couldn’t confirm that the three missiles and several drones were indeed sent to Israel but were intercepted based on their trajectory.

Things Could Have Been Worse

It is thought that Iran’s alleged plan is to attack Israel from all sides in the hopes that they can’t keep up with all of them at the same time. It is also thought that this was the plan on October 7th, but. According to Amir Tsarfati, that attack could have been much larger. Here is what he told us in a video on his social media (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuJQqjKnKXE&t=682s) :

Six months ago, I wrote that there is an Iranian plan to have from all sides, from the Northeast, from the North, from the South, and from the Southwest, from the Yemenites, from the Gazans, from the Syrians, and from the Lebanese side, simultaneously, the Iranians planned a simultaneous rockets attack followed by ground invasion with motorcycles, ATVs, trucks, and pickup trucks, and other vehicles, invading into Israeli settlements, killing many, taking hostages, causing confusion among the Israeli military forces that can last days. I predicted that, not that I predicted it's going to happen in Gaza. I actually quoted what I studied about the plot of the Iranians. The Iranians planned that there will be a specific day and that which the Hamas did should have happened simultaneously from all directions. But what Hamas did, Hamas wanted all the glory to himself and Hamas jumped the gun and did it all by himself. He never told the Iranians the date, they never told Hezbollah the date. Why do you think Hezbollah is not joining for the last 12 days? They do have exchange of fire with us on the north, which by the way, this American Secretary of Defense warned them to stop, but Hezbollah could have started war with us 12 days ago as well, but they haven't. Why? Because they were shocked themselves. Everybody was shocked how good it was, but everybody was shocked that they did it all by themselves. It wasn't according to the plan. The plan was to bring an end to Israel and what they did is exactly the opposite. We are about to annihilate Hamas and we are now on the highest alert against such a plot from the north, from the northeast, and from the south. I see it as a great miracle if you ask me. Also the amount of weapon that we found and the amount of explosives and the number of IEDs and mines, and –we found 20% of what they brought and it was enough to kill 5,000 people. In other words, what they brought with them could have killed at least 10,000 people. So again, I choose to see that there was a restraining power here. And I can also tell you that when I was in New York on 9/11 and I don't know if you remember, but I saw the Twin Towers and I asked my friend the night before, what's going to happen if those buildings will be attacked from the air? Little did I know that the next morning they will be gone. But I remember that that day during 9/11, I got phone calls and I got information from sources that I have in the US and Israeli military. And the information I had, I couldn't believe it, but 9/11 should have been five times bigger if everything they planned would have succeeded. So even there, I didn't see the judgment of God, but actually the mercies of God. And the same here, and I know it sounds terrible, but it's the same thing.

Ground Offensive Coming “Soon”

We have known for some time that to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, a ground attack would be necessary. It is a matter of when, not if so to hear reports that Israel’s leadership talking to the troops about it is significant. Here is how such a move was reported on by The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-officials-say-gaza-ground-offensive-soon-warn-it-will-be-long-and-intense/) :

Senior Israeli officials talked up the prospect of an imminent large-scale ground campaign in the Gaza Strip to root out the Hamas terror group Thursday, making a series of visits to Israel Defense Forces soldiers stationed near the territory and predicting that the fighting will be “difficult, long and intense,” but ultimately victorious.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near Gaza that the order to enter the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave would come “soon.”

“You now see Gaza from afar, soon you will see it from the inside,” Gallant told troops of the Givati Brigade. “The order will come.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed those sentiments in this quote from the same article:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also paid a visit to the frontlines, rallying a group of Golani soldiers near the Gaza border and telling them Israel was on its way to a major victory.

“We are going to win with all our might,” Netanyahu told the group of soldiers. “All of Israel is behind you, and we are going to heavily strike our enemies so that we can achieve victory.”

Fighting continues West Bank as well signaling that area may need to be addressed as well.

Surrounded But Protected

As one can see when looking at a map of Israel, they are surrounded by Arab nations, many with a heavy terrorist presence in them. Even pulling out on such maps you can see that Yemen is far enough away to not border Israel and yet they tried to attack them. Keep in mind that to do so, those attacks had to go over Saudi Arabia who had to allow it or at least knew about it. As I have mentioned before time and time again, the players for the Psalm 83 war are saber rattling daily. As we pray for Israel we must also remember that the same God who has rescued them, will do the same for us if we ask Him to help. Are you surrounded by enemies of depression, doubt, fear, exhaustion, lack, or despair? Call out to Jesus who not only knows what you are going through, but also triumphed over them. Israel will prevail and so will you.