The News is Coming Fast and Furious  

Toda, the 300^th day of our war with Hamas, that all of us expected would be over long ago, has also been a day full of action.

First of all, it turns out that the explosion in the building in Tehran where Haniyah was staying and that killed him, seems to have been by a bomb previously planted there, and detonated remotely. If we did that, it’s pretty impressive given the incredible security in the facility which the Iranians use as a secure base for out-of-town guests. Wow.

What we are hearing from Iran is that the Ayatollah has given the order to retaliate against us, although nobody has yet figured out what that means. But security here for the senior political echelon has been increased and people are hunkering down a bit. However, the streets here in Jerusalem are crowded with pre-shabbat shoppers as usual.

Nevertheless, a number of airlines have now halted flights here once again, including United, Delta, British, Austrian and Air India. A Lufthansa flight from Munich this morning diverted to Cyprus and then returned to Munich as the pilots refused to fly to Israel. Reports are that lots of people are now stranded abroad with no way to get back here save via ELAL which is already overbooked.

US Secretary of Defense Austin has indicated that the US will assist us in defending ourselves should we be attacked by Iran or its proxies. 12 US Navy warships have been dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean as well in a show of strength.

What people tend to forget is that Iran, through its proxies, has been attacking us non-stop ever since October 7^th. Hizballah has fired over 6,500 missiles, drones and rockets from locations in Lebanon and they are Iranian proxies. Hamas was supplied with most of their weaponry in Gaza from Iran as well, another Iranian proxy. The Houthis in Yemen have been terrorizing shipping in the Red Sea and lobbing drones and rockets at us as well, also taking orders from Iran. And who can forget April 13 when Iran lobbed 300+ rockets and missiles at us in one crazy night. So, there is nothing new when we hear threats of Iran considering attacking us. That does not mean its not serious, it just means its nothing new.

To cap off an incredible news day, a while ago reports surfaced that Evan Gershkovich, the CNN reporter who was arrested in Russia in 2023 on trumped up espionage charges is now in Turkey en route back to the US. Seems like US Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who has been in prison there since 2018 was also released in a prisoner swap that may top 30 people. Another wow. Not sure what the catalyst was the propelled Putin to do this but happy to see these people freed.

Having said all of that we are in day 300 of the war with no end in sight. In gematria, the substituting of numbers for Hebrew letters (e.g. aleph is 1, bet is 2, etc.) we find that 300 is the “gematria” of the Hebrew word kapper which means atonement. Not sure what the mystics would make of that.

Perhaps some would say that the war will end on October 12^th, which is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and that we can see a sign in today’s number that this will be the case. Others might say that we are being sent a message that the good Lord is unhappy with us and we must “atone” in order to get out of the situation we are in.  And, of course, others would say that it is a sign that our enemies will see the light, “atone” for their sins against us and stop the attacks.

Clearly no one knows for sure but all of us here will be hunkering down for the next few days waiting to see what the Iranians will do, if anything. Meanwhile, at least we know that we have eliminated three of our enemy’s best strategists (it has also been certified that Hamas’s Deif was also killed earlier in July) all of whom were committed to our destruction. May their memories be blotted out.