This is not a small thing! Israel has begun Operation Defensive Edge, employing 75,000 men in their drive into Gaza. But this is more than incursion. According to DEBKA: “Israel’s war leaders are drafting an operational plan for the military takeover of the Gaza Strip.”[i] The battle is becoming fierce. During the last month, Hamas has fired over 1,800 rockets into Israel. In midweek, the combat of the first few days of the operation has taken the lives of 186 Hamas operatives and 27 Israeli soldiers. The IDF has struck over 3,200 targets and discovered 23 secret tunnels and 36 shafts.[ii] It will take a bit of time to destroy them all. Now, flushed with early victories, Israel’s top combat commanders are urging “a large-scale assault on the subterranean complex housing Hamas’ top military command.”[iii]
But the Israeli aims may be more than military. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that he wants to undo the damage inflicted by the Disengagement; that event when Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip opening the way for the Hamas takeover. Not in power at the time, Netanyahu had warned that this – in the words of Arutz Sheva – would create a vacuum which would turn into ‘Hamastan’ that would serve as a launching pad for rocket attacks into Israel. In the event, that is exactly what happened.[iv]
But with Israel moving toward a meaningful victory that would mean increased security for Israeli civilians, its ally, the United States, is making moves to undermine that sought-after security. To start with, the Obama administration is sending $47 million in humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.[v] Aiding refugees displaced by war is a good thing. But this money goes to a people that has found enough money to build dozens of terror tunnels into Israel and thousands of rockets and other armaments – but cannot manage to build their infrastructure or provide potable water to their own people. More egregious is the drive by the US and the UN to impose a cease fire on the conflict that would save Hamas from defeat.[vi] Secretary Kerry and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are in Jerusalem meeting with parties there to work out a deal. The US position is supportive of Hamas, the terror group that began the hostilities with the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens and followed that up with the launching of a missile campaign against the Israeli civilian population.
And here’s where the irony gets rather thick. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the conflict.[vii] Hamas launches attacks aimed as civilians. Israel strikes back, but not before warning Palestinians to leave areas about to be struck. Hamas orders their own people back to the target areas to serve as collateral damage and propaganda tools when then lifeless bodies are removed from the wreckage of an attack. Hamas positions ammunition and rocket launchers in and near schools and hospitals – and then blames Israel for responding. It is rich indeed! So it is not just Israel’s traditional enemies that are preparing to come against it. Even America, its friend is preparing to turn her back. And the UN, representing all the world’s peoples combined, gathers its moral force against the only democratic government in the region. So there is coming a day in the not-too-distant future in which the prophecy of Zechariah 12:3 will be fulfilled. “On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” (ESV)
[i] Five IDF task forces begin driving into Gaza City, DEBKAfile, July 21, 2014
[ii] Israeli forces are fighting hard to win their first battle against Hamas, DEBKAfile, July 22, 2014
[iii] IDF Commanders: Time for decisive war move after IDF victories in Shejaiya, E. Rafah and Khan Younes, DEBKAfile,
July 23, 2014
[iv] Netanyahu: We’re ‘Turning Back’ the Disengagement, Arutz Sheva, July 20, 2014
[v] US to send $47M in humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip, FOX News, July 21, 2014
[vi] Kerry and Ban in truce bid to save Hamas from defeat, DEBKAfile, July 21, 2014
[vii] U.N. Rights Chief: Israel May Be Committing War Crimes in Gaza, CBS News, July 23, 2014
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