(Day 666) Swords of Iron – “Double standard much?”

Chaim starts out by saying the world seems upside down and he’s seeing “cognitive dissonance,” whereby the truth is right in front of people’s faces, but they’re choosing to see something different. In this case, he’s talking about people who choose to believe the lie that Israel is causing a famine in the Gaza Strip, when there is so much evidence that Israel is sending humanitarian aid into the Strip while Hamas is stealing it.

Despite this insanity, Chaim asks his viewers to continue standing with Israel because the end of Hamas is very near. They are beginning to come out of their tunnels and surrender, they are losing control of the civilian population and in general, although Israel and the IDF are weary, Hamas is in even worse shape.

Chaim also mentions the videos of hostages that Hamas recently released, showing these men starving and mentally broken. Chaim says the Ninth of Av, which is coming as the sun sets as he’s filming this video, is one of the saddest days on the Jewish calender because of all the terrible things that happened to this nation on this day, historically, and we always remember and try to guard against more tragedies.

However, there is a growing trend of evil in this world and Chaim says he is hoping for the day to come soon when people in Western countries realize that jihadists don’t do the wicked, cruel things they do because something was done to them. They do it because of their ideology which is passed down from one generation to the next. As an example, he points to the clerical regime in Iran and a large group of SHi’ite clerics who are saying it’s a religious duty to assassinate US President Donald Trump.

Chaim says these are very difficult times and he invites his viewers to join him in fasting and praying for Tisha B’Av, and to in general keep praying into the situation. In this context, he quotes II Kings 6:8 which says “Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

In the rest of the passage, the King of Syria complains about how the Israelites always know his plans ahead of time and he makes the reasonable assumption that there must be a spy in his midst. But one of his advisors tells him that most of the time he’d be correct, but in this case, it’s not that there is a spy, but rather it is because in Israel there is a prophet. He is referring to Elisha, and there are many things that are going on that can’t be explained naturally. 

Elisha also confirms this later in the story, when he shows his servant the “chariots of fire” that are on Israel’s side against their enemies, and Chaim says these same “chariots of fire” are fighting for those who reverence Him, and we need to remember that and be strong and courageous.