Israel’s 144th  Day of War

In this 114^th day of the war when Israel also participated in municipal elections throughout the country (including in Gaza where so many of our troops are fighting right now) we heard that an Israeli military base in northern Israel was targeted by a massive rocket barrage Monday afternoon, as tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border continue to escalate. Dozens of rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards the Golan Heights Monday, the IDF said. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense network intercepted some of the incoming projectiles, though it is unclear how many. There have been no reports of damage or injuries thus far.

The rocket attacks come hours after Hezbollah terrorists operating in Lebanon claimed they shot down an Israeli unmanned aircraft. Hezbollah said that its operatives downed a drone aircraft over the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon Monday, using a surface-to-air missile. The Iran-backed terror group uploaded footage to social media showing a drone aircraft being shot down. Israel later confirmed that it had lost an unmanned aircraft which had been operating in Lebanese airspace.

Regarding the potential of attack by Iran, the Israel Air Force under commander Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar has officially established an Iran department in response to Tehran’s growing threats against Israel. This department will handle all military preparations for potential future attacks by Iran, and is mainly set to combat the Iranian Nuclear Program. The decision to establish an Iran department has been in the works for a long time, but it only recently received official recognition in an IDF announcement. Official sources within the security establishment stated that this move is intended to send a warning not only to Iran, but also to the United States, which has been criticized by some for its poor handling of the Iranian nuclear program, as well as the funding of Iran’s terrorist influence in the Middle East.

Following up a headline from yesterday, the entire Palestinian Authority government, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, officially submitted their resignations to PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, paving the way for a new Palestinian entity to potentially rule the post-war Gaza Strip. In a statement to the Palestinian Authority-controlled news outlet Wafa, Shtayyeh said that the new PA government would seek to form a government with the Hamas terror group and would continue its ongoing anti-Israel policies, presumably including pay-for-slay stipends for Palestinians convicted of perpetrating terror attacks against Jews.

“We will remain in confrontation with the occupation [Israel], and the Palestinian Authority will continue to struggle to establish the state on the lands of Palestine,” Shtayyeh told Wafa. “I see that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks [with Hamas], and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus based on a national basis, broad participation, unity of ranks, and the extension of the Palestinian Authority’s sovereignty over the entire land of Palestine.”

On the issue of the hostages, there are positive signs coming out of the discussions going on now in Qatar in which Israel is participating. Clearly at this point in time every additional day reduces the probability of getting the over 130 hostages still be held by Hamas back to Israel alive and well. Hopefully the negotiators understand that time is not on the side of the hostages at this point. Let’s pray that they are successful.

Future Leadership

Today I am going in a different direction and asking who among our present political leadership should remain in the new government that will be built after the war ends? To me the person who would be number one on my list is Gadi Eizenkot, a member of the war cabinet  He is also a former IDF Chief of Staff, who lost a son and a nephew in this war, and is perhaps the main reason Israelis have faith in the war cabinet.  You can get to know him better today, thanks to the extraordinary work of Ilana Dayan in her interview with him which you can view here……

http://tinyurl.com/2dwjsrm2

I would urge you to do so. It is emotional, disturbing and distressing but at the same time gives hope for the future that there really are people already in government (not enough I might add) who understand why we are here and what their responsibility is as leaders of this country. The video speaks for itself and anything else that I would add would simply be superfluous. I hope you find in inspiring as well and that he will agree to remain as part of our post war new leadership.