"Please pray for the Peace of Israel" Psalm 122  [Chapter-18]

Israel to Help European Jews Flee Anti-Semitism

"Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise."  (Psalm 106:47)

In response to the continued rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, Israel is investing NIS 30 million ($17 million) to help European Jewry make aliyah (immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return) in 2014 and 2015. "In light of increasing anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, there is a real need to encourage aliyah from Europe," Israeli Immigration Absorption Minister Sofa Landver said. Aliyah as a whole has gone up 55 percent, drawing record numbers from the Ukraine and from France—four times as many as last year. "Never in the history of the State of Israel has there been a Jewish community in the free world that has sent such a large proportion of its Jews to Israel," Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said to reporters last Sunday.  (Israel Hayom) The 2,250 French Jews who have immigrated to Israel since January should more than double by the year's end, Sharansky said. During this same period, the number of Jews making aliyah from Ukraine more than doubled to 1,590.

French immigrants arrive in Israel.

"Not war, not peace—what we are living in now is a wild agony, waiting for something terrible to happen," writes Ukrainian-Jewish mining engineer and Hebrew teacher Sasha Ivashchenko in a letter to the Jewish Agency. In a June 8, 2014 letter written in his hometown, Donetsk, Ivashchenko affirmed his intention to make aliyah with his family to save them from the country's turmoil. "Tears choke me out in shame over this injustice, over this destruction of the future, over my pain in having to take my child far away—and I am terrified that if I don’t move quickly, one day, I will be unable to take him away," he wrote. Another Donetsk resident, Alisa Voronova, said, "Every moment is one of loss—one person loses calm, another loses his home, another a loved one, another his own life.  We have all become hostages and victims of an undeclared war."  (Tablet Mag)

Bnei Menashe men have fun in Israel.

Israel's recent immigrants also include the Bnei Menashe of India, who are of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, exiled by the Assyrian Empire more than 2,700 years ago.  (Jspace News) "After 2,700 years, the Bnei Menashe are returning to our people and our land, and we won’t stop until all the remaining 7,000 community members still in India will be able to come here," said Michael Freund, founder and chairman of Israel Returns (Shavei Israel), an organization committed to shepherding home "lost Jews." While Israel's neighbours try to remove the Jewish People from the land, Israel can take comfort in God's faithfulness to His covenant with them and the end-time fulfilment of His promises to bring His people home to the land He gave them. "He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac.  He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.'"  (Psalm 105:8–11)

Israeli children visit the Palestinian village of Tuwani and participate in

bilingual activities together during summer camp.

"Please pray for the Peace of Israel" Psalm 122  [Chapter-17]

Hamas turned the Shuja’iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City into a terrorist fortress. On July 16, 2014, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a report stating, “The Israeli military delivered text messages to virtually all the residents of Ash Shuja’iyya and Az Zaitun neighborhoods in eastern Gaza city, approximately 100,000 people, warning them to leave their homes by 8 am today [16 July], ahead of attacks to be launched in the area.” Also according to OCHA, “Subsequently, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Gaza reportedly instructed the residents to … not flee the area.”  As a result, OCHA admits that “the vast majority decided to stay.”  (JPost) By directing its citizens to stay in areas that Israel intends to attack, it is in clear violation of Article 51(7) of the Geneva Convention that states: “Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.” Yet Israel has satisfied Article 57(2)(c) that requires “effective advance warning."

An Arab Israeli who attended the Heart to Heart camp program in

Canada reveals in an interview that Arabs and Israelis can get along.

 Jewish and Arab Israeli Youth Attend Camp in Canada

"For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  (Galatians 5:14)

For the fourth summer in a row, 20 teens from Israel, 10 Jewish and 10 Arab spent three weeks together attending the Heart to Heart (H2H) program being hosted by the Zionist youth movement HaShomer HaTzair (the Youth Guard) on the shores of Otty Lake in Canada, located 100 kilometers southwest of the nation’s capital, Ottawa. The youth, who have internalized the ongoing conflict back home, are given the opportunity to gain a new perspective. The program is designed to teach coexistence and foster dialogue between the two disparate groups.  It is operated in partnership with Givat Haviv, an Israeli educational institute founded by HaShomer HaTzair. "Every time I said to [my friends] that I love Jewish and Israeli people, they’d say to me 'you are not with us,'" said 15-year-old Palestinian Yanal Abdallah, explaining that he felt pressure to hate.  "I love the Jewish people; I don't want [there] to be a war between them." Israeli camper Roei Hasnes, 15, echoed that sentiment. "We always heard stories in Israel that Palestinians are bad, mean, not good," Hasnes said.  "I know that I have a little fear.  But when we go here, and I met [Palestinians], I talked with them, and know who they are, I learned that they are human like me, not monsters; they do everything like me."  (CBC)

Coexistence is an honored concept that is taught in Israeli schools and

there is much evidence throughout the country that it is very possible for

Jews and Arabs to coexist peacefully.  In the above photo, an Arab teen

gives a paid ride to two little Jewish girls.

All of the participants in the Heart to Heart Program live in or near the Wadi Ara area of Israel’s lower Galilee.  This is a mostly Arab locale situated close to the so-called “Green Line” that separates Israel proper from Judea and Samaria. Although they live relatively close to one another, most of the young Jewish Israelis admit that they had never met nor spoken with an Arab Israeli before entering the program.  One explanation for this might be the violent Intifadas, the most recent of which occurred between September 2000 and February 2005 in which many terrorist attacks occurred. What had once been close ties between the Arab village of Meisar in the Wadi Ara and the Israeli community of Kibbutz Metzer right next to it, came to a halt when in 2002, an Arab gunman from Tulkarm on the other side of the Green Line, entered the kibbutz killing five people, including a mother and her two small children. In spite of this history, the H2H has been effective in changing and shaping the thinking of youths from the two cultures.

 Muslim schoolgirls in Judea and Samaria, also called the West Bank.

Last year, as it did this year, part of the camping experience took place during the Muslim fast of the month of Ramadan. Several of the boys, although not required by Islamic tradition since they are travelling, chose to keep the fast in which adherents are only allowed to eat during the hours following sunset.  Consequently, when 14-year-old Ram Pade, a Jewish Israeli, sat down to eat his lunch on the grass near Hamza, who was fasting, he suddenly realized what was happening, apologized and was about to move when Hamza insisted he stay, saying that it was not necessary. Their interaction shows the sensitivity among the teens to each other’s beliefs.  As one of the Arab attendees, Bashar Yahia, 14 of Umm al-Fahm put it, “We’re learning to look past our differences.”  (Globe and Mail) As a group, the Arab teens report that the communities they come from are very conservative and less open to such mixing of cultures. Now that the conflict with Hamas is in its 20th day, the situation is even more complex as protest rallies turning into riots break out in East Jerusalem and even in Wadi Ara. Thankfully the H2H participants were far removed from these conflicts, and could continue, if only for a brief time, to build bonds that may not result in lasting relationships but will at least lead to greater understanding.

Israeli President Shimon Peres spent the last days of his presidency

comforting grieving families. 

Peres Parts Presidency as Public Servant

"Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account."   (Hebrews 13:17)

In the last days of Shimon Peres' presidency over Israel, the Polish-born 90-year-old met in shared sorrow with the families of some of the 35 Israeli soldiers slain since June 2014 when Hamas escalated its attacks against Israel. Greeting the mourners as if closes friends—with heartfelt, compassionate hugs—Peres spent an emotional whirlwind last Monday visiting the loved ones of Bnaya Rubel, 20; Major Amotz Greenberg, 45; and Sgt. Eitan Barak, 20. Visiting the homes of the Israel Defense Forces' slain heroes, Peres joined with parents, children and wives as they sat shiva (a seven-day mourning period), listening to stories of the soldiers' lives—their passions, their dreams. (Jerusalem Post) When visiting fallen Army Reserve soldier Amotz Greenberg, Peres struggled with his emotions as he embraced Sagit Greenberg and her three children, Lihi, Ori and Shira. “'I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips.  Peace, peace, to those far and near,’ says the Lord.  ‘And I will heal them.’” (Isaiah 57:18–19)

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres sits shiva with a grieving father.

Turning to Ori, Peres held the 12-year-old's face in his hands and told him that at his father's funeral, "I could hear your father through your voice, full of love and dedication." "You represent the third generation of the values which strengthen the State of Israel," he added. In his July 24, 2014, farewell speech to the nation three days later, Peres stated, "I am taking leave of my position as president, but not from my duty as a citizen.  I was a president who loved his people.  As of now, I am a citizen in love with my people."  (World Jewish Congress) "Even if we serve as a target for evil—we will not deviate from our moral heritage," the nation's ninth president said.  "I did not imagine that in the last days of my presidency I would be called upon, once more, to comfort bereaved families."

 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."  (Matthew 5:4)

 

Peres comforts an Israeli family during the last days of his presidency.

 

Peres also highlighted on Thursday the dangers engulfing the civilians of Gaza, that Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a "man-made tragedy." "We must alert the world to the madness of the terrorist threat," Peres said at his farewell speech.  "Terrorism aims to spill our blood.  And leads to blood being spilled among its people.  Never has such a minority torn apart the fabric of whole societies, so cruelly sent children to serve as shields for its crimes." "They forced their children to serve as human shields, and sent them into the fire,” he said.  “I say it again, I say it clearly, the Arabs are not our enemies.  The policy of murder is the enemy.  It is also the greatest danger to the Arab world." Peres has closed his seven-year presidency as the world's oldest head of state after giving 66 years to Israeli statesmanship.  He was elected twice previously as prime minister of Israel, and has served as minister of foreign affairs, minister of defense, minister of finance and minister of transportation. Let us stand with tpgether with prayer in these last days as Israel and her people in urgency of Good News of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).

“You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.  You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'”  (Isaiah 40:9)

"Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins."  (Isaiah 40:1–2

"Please pray for the Peace of Israel" Psalm 122  [Chapter-16]

Found: Rockets in UN Schools and Terrorist Command Centers in Gaza Hospitals

                       

Hamas militants continue to use civilians to shield their weapons, firing from densely populated areas and storing weapons in homes, schools, and hospitals. Weapons are even being transported in ambulances. As well, Hamas used the cover of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as its de facto headquarters for its leaders, as well as the place to meet with international press.

Hamas terrorists are transporting weapons under the cover of ambulances.

Because of the close proximity of Hamas to civilians,  a United Nations school was struck, killing 15 who were seeking refuge there. While Hamas was quick to point the finger at Israel for the attack, Israel said the damage may have been caused by a Hamas rocket that misfired at close range.  Over 100 Hamas missiles actually fell within Gaza last week.“We can confirm that [Palestinian] terror rockets that were fired from that area landed in the neighborhood of the UN facility,” Cap. Eytan Buchman of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.  (Times of Israel) “We do not act against NGO facilities with no warning,” Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Miki Edelstein told reporters.“If,” he said, “if something happened, it is by mistake and not any other issue.”

  

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer (YouTube capture)

In a CNN interview, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, said that Hamas is responsible. "Hamas is placing missile batteries in schools, in hospitals, and in mosques, and there must be outrage by the world at Hamas to end this," he emphasized. When CNN's Erin Burnett conceded that Dermer was making valid points, she asked him if perhaps Israel could not have “sent someone in to look” to ensure that there were no children in the school before it fired at it. "I think you have no basis for making the statement that you just made," Dermer replied.  "Of course we wouldn't fire directly.  But I don't know what happened in that school.  What I understand is we gave people days to get out of that area.  This is in the northern Gaza Strip; there's a good chance that it may have been a Hamas rocket that hit it.  I don't know if a Hamas fighter fired directly from that school at our military who's operating there and then we responded to that fire."

Hamas terrorists endanger the lives of children not only by firing missiles

in close proximity to schools, hospitals and residential areas, but also by

storing weapons in these same places.

It isn't the only school that Hamas has placed in harm's way. On July 21, the IDF Nahal Brigade discovered Grad rocket launchers, some still loaded, on the grounds of an agricultural school in Beit Hanoun, Northern Gaza. Not only are rockets being fired near schools, but Hamas weapons are being stored in them.  On Tuesday, for the second time in a week, the United Nations agency UNRWA that serves the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip found rockets stored in their schools. "The Secretary-General is alarmed to hear that rockets were placed in an UNRWA school in Gaza and that subsequently these have gone missing.  He expresses his outrage, and regret, at the placing of weapons in a UN-administered school.  By doing so, those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children, UN employees working in such facilities, and anyone using the UN schools as shelter," the UN statement read. The school is situated between two other schools that are currently housing displaced persons.  Without naming any particular group, a UNRWA statement condemned those responsible “for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.” They reported that the rockets are being removed and that an investigation will be carried out.  This follows the discovery of 20 other rockets in another Gaza facility a week ago.  An almost identical statement was made at the time, and the rockets were returned to “the local authorities,” in other words, to Hamas.  (Jpost) Following that discovery, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, called the discovery the tip of the iceberg, saying they would find additional weaponry in other schools if the UN took the time to check. “Hamas is using UN facilities to commit a double war crime by targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians,” Prosor said.  (Algemeiner)

An Israeli home that was destroyed by a Hamas bomb.

A week earlier, Canadian reporter Patrick Martin was visiting UNRWA’s Fakhoura School and witnessed firsthand Hamas' total disregard for civilians: “Heading toward the exit, we were overwhelmed by the jet-like sound of two rockets being launched from somewhere near the school.  Hamas, or some militant group, clearly is hoping the Israelis won’t strike at the launchers … because they’re close to the school.” Indeed, Israel is doing its best to warn Palestinians when they will retaliate against Hamas targets located in homes and public facilities. After several days of shelling from Al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza, Israel warned the hospital administrator and staff for over a week to evacuate the premises, which they did after Israel started the shelling.  A Palestinian activist who stayed in the hospital says that no one was injured.  (electronicintifada) Recordings of the warning calls made to hospital staff over several days are being played on Israeli television. According to an IDF spokesman, “the hospital premises were being used as war rooms and command centers by the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”  (Arutz 7)

Gaza rockets hit a school in Israel.  While Israel tries to avoid civilian

casualties, Hamas deliberately targets them.

"Please pray for the Peace of Israel" Psalm 122  [Chapter-15]

 Israel Sets Up Military Field Hospital to Treat Gaza Wounded

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Leviticus 19:18)

Two weeks into Operation Protective Edge, the IDF entered the Gaza Strip, destroying terrorist tunnels and storehouses of rockets used to fire at Israel’s population centres. Then, the Jewish state did something quite rare in the world of warfare—they established a field hospital along the border of Gaza to treat Palestinian wounded, including combatants. As we have reported often, Israel routinely provides medical assistance to Palestinians, even in times of war.  The field hospital is significant, however, in that it is located right next to where the first Israeli was murdered during the current operation, at the Erez crossing.  (BIN)

 

Israel's field hospital near the Gaza border receives a Palestinian patient.

The hospital serves as an emergency clinic treating wounded Palestinians from the Strip.  It also has a fully equipped delivery room for expectant mothers. This comes at the same time that army medics saved the life of a Hamas terrorist who only moments earlier had tried to kill them.  One of the medics, Daniel Albo, posted a photo of his colleagues working on the wounded terrorist on his Facebook site with the accompanying message: “Today, my unit and I saved the life of a terrorist who tried to kill us simply because we are IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens.  We saved his life simply because we are human.  Proud to serve in the IDF.”  (Israel Today)While Israel is saving lives where it can through warnings of attack and medical care, Hamas uses its hospitals as launch pads and control centers, which puts civilians, including children, in the line of fire as human shields to protect their launch sites and operations network. Unfortunately, the constant rocket attacks emanating from Gaza are also raining down on hospitals that are treating Palestinian patients from the Strip itself.  One example is Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital located about eight miles north of the Gaza border on the Israeli coast where both wounded Israeli soldiers and injured Palestinians are receiving the same treatment.  The hospital is also used to train Palestinian doctors and nurses.

The Israeli medical team assesses the needs of a Palestinian patient.  To

protect the identity of the Red Crescent Ambulance driver and the patient

from possible Hamas retaliation, the IDF has obscured their faces in

this photo.

Hospital Deputy Director Dr. Ron Lobel explained to CBN News how the building is under constant attack with “rockets exploding above the hospital and some of them were exploding within the premises.” Except for the neonatal unit, which has been moved to the underground bomb shelter, and emergency services, the hospital has been closed.  Before the present conflict, there was a steady flow of patients from Gaza, but Dr. Lobel explained that Hamas has put a stop to that. Yet, hospital staff is still taking in wounded from the Gaza Strip as the need arises. “You can see lying side-by-side a patient from Gaza and a patient from Sderot or Ashkelon injured by a Palestinian rocket … being treated by Israeli doctors and by Palestinian trainees,” Dr. Lobel said. Lobel added, "We always say that we have a box at the entrance where we leave our politics outside." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Barzilai earlier in the week to support the wounded IDF soldiers and civilians being treated there.  While there, he met with the ambassadors of dozens of countries and called for their support of Israel’s effort to defend itself in the face of the ongoing Hamas rocket attacks. “I expect not only your support, I expect a moral stand against the terror organization that is attacking us,” said the Prime Minister adding, “Any democracy would do what Israel is doing to protect itself.”

The IDF facilitated the transfer of approximately 100 tons of medical

supplies and goods into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing on

July 19, 2014

"Please pray for the Peace of Israel" Psalm 122  [Chapter-14]

Israel Defense Forces soldiers search in Gaza for terrorist tunnels. 

Hamas Terror Tunnels Could Spell Tragedy for Israel

"For I hear many whispering, 'Terror on every side!'  They conspire against me and plot to take my life.  But I trust in you, Lord; I say, 'You are my God.'”  (Psalm 31:13–14)

The Israel Defense Forces have uncovered a Hamas scheme to invade Israel this coming Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) via its complex, concrete-reinforced tunnel infrastructure. "There are two Gazas, one above ground and one below ground: an underground terrorist city," said an Israeli spokesman.  The Hamas plot included 200 terrorists emerging inside Israel on September 24–25, 2014 during the High Holidays through tunnels that exit next to or within Israeli civilian communities.

 

An Israeli soldier enters a Hamas tunnel to disable its capacity to be

used in acts of terrorism against Israel.

The maze of tunnels has access points throughout the Gaza Strip that include mosques, public building, and Palestinian homes.  Many, if not all tunnels, were built through exploiting child labor. According to a 2012 Institute for Palestine Studies report, Hamas officials stated that at least 160 children have died in the creation of this underground network of terror designed for murdering Israelis and conducting kidnapping raids. While Israel has uncovered over 30 Hamas tunnels so far, the terror organization's tunnel network is extensive and represents an enormous strategic threat to Israel. Israel has been dealing with the reality of Hamas tunnels for quite some time.  In 2006, Hamas terrorists used a tunnel from Gaza to kidnap Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held for five years before being exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, of whom many were convicted terrorists. Despite this experience with the tunnels, Israel was surprised to discover their number and sophistication.  Some are large enough to drive a truck through. A senior source from the IDF Special Forces unit Maglan, currently operating in Gaza, told the Jerusalem Post that, "Hamas has turned tunneling into a national profession.  They lean on highly skilled engineers to do this."

An entrance to a Hamas tunnel is discovered inside a

residential area.  Hamas routinely puts Palestinians in

the line of fire, strategically using them as human

shields to inflate the Palestinian death count in order to

raise international sympathy for their terrorist cause.

The IDF has taken photographs of the Hamas tunnel city for evidence since broadening its response to Hamas to include deployed ground troops.  The troops have foundspaces built for holding hostages, as well as weapons, handcuffs, tranquilizers, and IDF uniforms within the tunnels. On July 18, 2014, the IDF reported the tunnels were sophisticated and advanced, "intended to carry out attacks such as abductions of Israeli civilians and soldiers alike; infiltrations into Israeli communities, mass murders and hostage-taking scenarios."  (NYT) Just a day before, Israel saw 13 Hamas gunmen emerge from a tunnel near a kibbutz in southern Israel dressed as Israeli soldiers.  After the Israeli Air Force responded to the invasion by bombing the tunnel, Hamas reported the terrorists all unharmed, but the IDF noted at least three were killed.

"The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden."  (Psalm 9:15)

Israel uncovers a tunnel in Gaza.

To build these tunnels, Hamas has redirected construction materials sent into Gaza intended to help the Palestinian people.  In fact, since the beginning of 2014 alone, 4,680 trucks carrying 181 thousand tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood and other supplies have passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing.  (IDF) "We now know where so much of this concrete went—into the tunnels that run under Israel’s border and into bunkers and bomb shelters for Gaza’s ruling elite," columnist Jeffry Bloomberg writes in the Bloomberg View.  "The civilians of Gaza, the ones exposed to Israel’s bombardments, do not benefit from these exclusive bomb shelters." "All understand that Hamas has absolutely no legitimate need for these tunnels, and that Israel has no defence against them short of destroying the whole network," writes the Post. When Israel withdrew its entire population from Gaza in 2005, Gaza's Palestinians had the opportunity to build a Mediterranean paradise.  Sadly, Hamas has had no real interest in improving the lives of ordinary Palestinians and building for them homes and a viable infrastructure.  Their only goal is to kill Israelis and, if possible, eradicate the Jewish state.

"The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.  The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish."  (Psalm9:16–18)

Hamas has invested a fortune in building a network of terrorist tunnels,

which are professionally constructed.  Some are reinforced with

cement and equipped with rail tracks, power cables and a

communications system.  Some are large enough to drive a truck through.

Israel needs your prayers today!  You can make a difference for Eternity through your compassion during this critical hour.