Swords of Iron Day 1083: The War Continues in Lebanon
I am standing inside a tabernacle while I film this. It is still being decorated, and Sukkot is almost here, a season of feasting and welcoming friends and rejoicing. Happy holidays. And yet Israel strikes Hezbollah positions again tonight, because the war does not pause for a festival.
Christians Are Being Killed for Their Faith
While we decorate, Christians are being murdered for their faith around the world. Hundreds have reportedly been killed since July, many of them women and children.
I am deeply thankful to live in Israel, a country where Christians worship freely and are protected by law and by force when necessary.
That freedom is not the natural state of things. It is maintained, and it can be lost.
Ask the Christians of Iraq or Syria how quickly an ancient community becomes a memory when nobody defends it. That is part of why Israel strikes Hezbollah rather than waiting politely to be attacked.
Why Israel Strikes Hezbollah Before the Rockets Fly
We cannot allow Iranian backed extremist forces to build up and take over southern Lebanon again.
So Israel strikes Hezbollah positions in places like Al Mansuri and Nabatieh. We are not going to wait politely until their weapons are aimed and ready to fire at our people.
Every strike now is a funeral we do not attend later. That is the whole calculation.
If a Rocket Lands Near You, Do Not Touch It
When rockets fall, never touch them. Ever.
I handle them because I am an explosives professional and this is literally my job. You stay away and you call it in.
Israel survives these attacks because we have Iron Dome and David’s Sling. Interception is not a solution though. We also have to stop the weapons from reaching our enemies in the first place, and Syria remains a major supply route we have to watch constantly.
New York, and a Prime Minister Who Went Anyway
Our prime minister is heading to New York despite threats that he would be arrested on arrival.
He is going to speak in the free world, at the UN General Assembly, in a city we genuinely love. I am glad to see Israel refusing to shrink.
You do not answer intimidation by staying home. The same logic applies in the air, which is why Israel strikes Hezbollah before those weapons are ready.
Israel Strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza
Hamas has to be removed. There is no version of this that ends with them still holding the guns.
Israeli forces reportedly eliminated a Hamas financial official, Muhammad Abu Alwan, in southern Gaza. They keep acting against Hamas as it rebuilds military capability in violation of the ceasefire.
A ceasefire that one side uses as a resupply window is not a ceasefire. It is an intermission.
Pressure on Iran and Trouble at Qeshm
The United States is increasing economic pressure on Iran, including pressure on its aviation fuel supply.
Meanwhile tensions around Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz are rising after a vessel was reportedly struck and its crew evacuated. That waterway carries a very large share of the world’s energy, so this is not a local story. Anyone who fills a car anywhere on earth has a stake in what happens in that strait.
Irish Athletes While Israel Strikes Hezbollah
And then more than one hundred and sixty Irish athletes are calling on their national football team to refuse to play Israel.
That has nothing to do with anything Israeli players did on a field. It is political pressure wearing a jersey.
We should keep doing what we have always done. Show the world who we are and the good we bring, and let the boycotts age badly on their own.
Sporting boycotts have a poor historical record of changing anything except the careers of the athletes who joined them. Nobody in Nabatieh cares whether Ireland plays football.
Establish the Work of Our Hands
So I return to Psalm 90.
“Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”
That is my prayer as Sukkot begins and the work continues.
Watch the full update here: Swords of Iron Day 1083, The War Continues
