(Day 746) Swords of Iron – “Sovereignty”

Chaim starts by saying that although he knows Hamas is violating the ceasefire and there’s all kinds of other shenanigans going on, he’s still glad all the surviving hostages are home and that the US is showing so much genuine friendship and geostrategic partnership with Israel.

However, he also says that he’s glad Prime Minister Netanyahu has made clear that Israel is not an American protectorate. We’re a sovereign nation with our own government and other institutions.

That means, among other things, that Israel must also make its own security decisions, and this includes a firm line against allowing Turkish soldiers to deploy in Gaza as part of the international peace-keeping force.

It also includes a law that passed the preliminary reading in the Knesset this week to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. There are still many hurdles this plan must get over and through before it becomes an official Israeli policy, but it’s amazing that things have gotten this far.

It is also imperative that Hamas be disarmed, but it won’t be easy. They’ve still got large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that they can use to execute their own domestic opposition among Gaza’s population of attack Israel at a later date. But Chaim is still wearing his IDF uniform because it is not yet time to be demobilized. There is still work for him to do in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, he’s happy to see Germany not caving to the pressure to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel. They are buying $2 billion worth of Spike missiles from Israel and they’re probably going to be buying a lot more defense equipment because they’re re-arming in order to defend themselves in a very dangerous world.

Back in Israel, the remains of hostages who were murdered in captivity continue to come home. But Chaim says this battle is far from over, and he addresses a question that he’s gotten about how people can help. He tells his viewers that the Aliyah Return Center’s Emergency Aid Initiative is still taking donations so that the soldiers can get what they need.

He concludes by quoting Isaiah 51:3; For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;

Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.