(Day 520) Swords of Iron – “Maximum Pressure”

Chaim starts by talking about how the regional situation is highly unstable and there is a big question mark about whether or not fighting will resume in the Gaza Strip. If it does, there is the possibility that US troops will be deployed alongside the IDF for the first time. 

There is also a growing possibility of a combined Israeli-US strike on Iran as the regime that rules that country has refused all offers to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff over their nuclear weapons program.

Chaim also mentions the escalating crisis in Syria, where forces loyal to the regime of Abu Muhammed al-Jolani massacred hundreds of Alawite and Christian residents just because some Alawite militias dared to fight back against the oppressive measures imposed on them.

Chaim expresses frustration that no one is raising much of a fuss about these atrocities, even all the usual suspects who never miss an opportunity to condemn Israel for anything and everything.

Next Chaim talks about how the US government has instructed Iraq’s government, which gets a large share of its budget from US assistance, to stop buying electricity from Iran. This is one of the most extreme of the measures that have been taken against Iran to push back against its nuclear aspirations. At the same time, the leader of the Alawite community in Turkey’s Hatay Province, which is adjacent to northwestern Syria and which historically has many links to it, told a crowd of supporters that the Alawites in Syria must look to Israel for protection from the jihadist regime. It’s worth noting that the jihadists who are currently in power in Syria are heavily supported by the Turkish government.

Next Chaim examines some of the motivations of jihadist groups. He talks about the history of the past 200 years or so when Islamic forces around the world declined in political, cultural, military and economic power. This gave rise to a belief among many Islamic thinkers that the reason for the decline was that Islam had ceased to be a political force in the world, and that led to the rise of the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt and many offshoots of this movement all over the world.

These movements have grown in popularity over the decades and in many circles, they see the rise of Zionism as the biggest threat to their project of global domination, because it calls their narrative into question.

Chaim says the solution is for Judeo-Christian people around the world to stand up and not remain silent. In this context, he quotes Psalms 83:1-4; Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

Chaim says this sounds like the jihadists, but they will fail in their project to wipe Israel out, just like all those who tried to do that before them have failed.