(Day 656) Swords of Iron – “Israel has voted and approved sovereignty over Judea And Samaria”

Chaim starts by pointing to a bomb shelter and saying it reminds him that for most of the past two years, Israelis have been periodically running into the bomb shelters because of rockets, drones and missiles fired at this country by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, Shi’ite militias in Iraq and most of all Iran itself. However, now this is changing and Chaim gives credit to the political leadership in Israel and the US.

He also talks about the vote in the Knesset supporting a non-binding resolution affirming Israel’s historic, religious and cultural ties to Judea and Samaria and also affirming that Israel can and should apply political sovereignty to this area. There remain many questions about how that would be practically worked out, but this is an important first step.

In the meantime, there are also many questions about what this could mean for Gaza. Chaim talks about the false accusations that Israel purposefully targeted a Catholic Church in Gaza, but Chaim says that the investigation showed that it was an accident such as is common in wars. He adds that this incident occurred in the context of the IDF’s provision of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, which is something that no other army in the world is expected to do but the IDF does it.

On this note, Chaim also mentions the growing alliance between China, Russia and Iran. This includes economic, diplomatic, political, and military cooperation.

Iran is also threatening to militarily attack anyone who tries to interfere with their uranium enrichment program going forward, which they say they will not give up. China has signalled its disapproval of this attitude, but it’s also helping Iran in many ways. Meanwhile, the European powers are trying to restart negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and US President Donald Trump has said that if Iran starts up with a nuclear program again they will be attacked again, and Israel will participate in that attack.

In this context, Chaim quotes Psalms 118:10-13; All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You pushed me violently, that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.