(Day 573) Swords of Iron – “Fighting Fires/🇮🇱77th Independence Day!”

Chaim starts by saying that he has joined the volunteer efforts to rescue people from the wildfires that have erupted in the hills around Jerusalem. He then goes on to explain that these fires were not an accident, but the result of a coordinated campaign of arson. The Israelis spent decades planting and tending these forests. But the arsonists had other plans and they’re widely believed to be Palestinians because of the calls on Arabic language social media accounts to start arson fires in order to ruin Israel’s Independence Day.

Several communities had to be evacuated and there was a massive effort to fight the fires, with over 100 firefighting crews from all over the county deployed to the area. Firefighting aircraft from other countries also arrived to help with the effort, and Chaim says that the Aliyah Return Center opened up to accept evacuees and give them shelter until it was safe for them to return to their homes.

Around 2,500 acres of forested areas were burned but no houses were burned and no one was killed. However, a massive campaign to replant these forests and otherwise help the landscape heal is going to be needed. For this, the Aliyah Return Center is launching a new campaign called the “Bloom Project” and Chaim asks his viewers to sow into this project.

Chaim quotes Zechariah 13:9; I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

Chaim concludes the video by saying that he was glad to celebrate Israel’s 77th birthday by eating breakfast in Jerusalem despite having been up all night helping to fight the fires.