(Day 653) Swords of Iron – “Doing What’s Right”

Chaim starts by saying it’s not always easy to speak the truth and otherwise do what is right. But Israel is currently on the right track, to rescue the remaining hostages and otherwise stay the course in Gaza. He adds that sometimes it’s easier to do what’s wrong, and as an example, he cites the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, when the Israeli communities there were completely evacuated. In Zepheniah and Zecheriah, the Bible tells us that Gaza is part of the Promised Land, and so Israel’s evacuation from this area was an act of disobedience to the plans and purposes of God.

Chaim also mentions the example of Operation Rising Lion as something that was right but not easy to do. He mentions some of the difficulties that Israel overcame in that war, how Iran learned how to use their missiles more effectively as time went on. THis included ways to overcome the air defense systems, which they got better at doing during the course of the war. Chaim says that the interception rate was very high, but if had been even a little bit lower, Israel would have been “in dire straits.”

He then says that Israel IS in dire straits, because we’re in the time between the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av, two dates on the Hebrew calendar which have corresponded with many disasters throughout Jewish and world history. Because of this, many Jewish people fast and do extra prayers during this time, and Chaim invites his viewers to join in this time of prayer and fasting. He also invites his viewers to continue supporting the Emergency Aid Initiative of the Aliyah Return Center because there are a LOT of people in Israel who were affected by the war and they need a lot of help.

Speaking of people who need a lot of help, Chaim mentions the massacres and the attacks that continue in southern Syria, where over 1,000 people have been killed in the last week, and the world just doesn’t seem to care. The victims include Druze people and also Christians, but the whole world, including people who never miss an opportunity to condemn Israel for anything and everything, is silent.

However, the IDF is on guard, patrolling the border and maintaining the fence so that the jihadist threat will not come near Israel’s borders. But Chaim says that this is not the real protection, which comes instead from the God of Israel. In this context, he concludes by quoting Deuteronomy 20:4; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’