(Day 816) Swords of Iron – “Happy New Year”

Chaim starts by saying that in the new year, 2026, he remembers that 1948 wasn’t the beginning of Israel, and before that we were all “Europeans.” He says that 1948 was just the beginning of the comeback tour, when after 2,000 years of exile, the Jews returned to the Land God has promised to them as an everlasting possession.

Then in 1967, there was another chapter in the comeback tour, when Israel managed to overcome the combined assault of almost all our neighbors and returned to Judea and Samaria.

Now, we’re in the midst of another existential war, and we’ve had many victories, but it hasn’t been easy and it’s come at great cost. Chaim says “we’re not a nation of superheroes but we follow the God of Israel.”

He is standing on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee and he says he remembers standing there and watching dozens of rockets and missiles flying overhead, and one Iranian ballistic missile actually langed in the Sea of Galilee. But Chaim says Israelis are built to last, and we’re not going anywhere. He also mentions the angry chants heard all over the world against Israel, and he says “facts don’t care about your rhymes.”

The Bible says what it says, and the Jewish people aren’t going to leave their homeland ever again, because although this Land might be small, it has a huge legacy. This is the land of the prophets and kings of Israel, and the archeological record speaks for itself.

Today, Israel is a diverse, democratic country which is almost unique in the Middle East region, but we’re not asking for a trophy, we’re just asking to live in peace and not be terrorized for the crime of existing. Israel wants to live in peace with its neighbors and it sends rescue teams, doctors and humanitarian aid to disaster zones all over the world, but it’s not going to be a victim anymore. No one should mistake our desire to live in peace for weakness or passivity.

The Land and People of Israel are proof that God is real and the Bible is true, and you don’t have to like that, but you can’t dispute it.