GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 335

Bombs Away

Hezbollah Is Hitting Israel Hard

If there was any doubt of Israel needing to fight Hezbollah in the north, the stats about rockets fired at them from these terrorists should give you the answer as we read in a report on that from the Jewish News Syndicate:

August was the most intense month in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group so far, with more than 1,300 attacks on the Jewish state recorded, authorities said on Thursday.

Comparisons to July show how much more were shot:

According to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Hezbollah terrorists fired no fewer than 1,307 rockets, missiles and drones last month, up 20% from July.

The figure included the some 320 missiles and drones fired as part of Hezbollah’s Aug. 25 attack, which the terrorist organization said came in retaliation for Israel’s targeted killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Then the article compared August against the previous months in 2024:

The Shin Bet recorded 855 attacks in June, 1,000 in May, 744 in April, 746 in March, and 534 in February. The August figure marked an increase of 400% compared to January, when 334 projectiles were launched across Israel’s northern border.

And to provide even more perspective we read this:

Between the start of the Hezbollah attacks on Oct. 8 and Dec. 31, a total of 2,000 attacks were recorded.

The terrorists attacks are not a new thing:

Hezbollah has attacked the Jewish state nearly every day since Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israel, killing more than 40 people and causing widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced due to the ongoing violence.

And the attacks are recent. But so are the reprisals from Israel:

Shortly before midnight in Israel on Wednesday night, the Israeli Air Force said that it hit more than 10 Hezbollah “military infrastructures and launchers” at three sites in Southern Lebanon.

The launchers “posed a threat to the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IAF said.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah fired 65 rockets from Lebanon into Israel.

At some point a full out assault will come from Hezbollah, possibly in conjunction with Iran and other proxies. That’s not me making that up, the various actors have said as much if we are careful to listen. Oh, and it’s prophesied in the Bible, too.

They Are Not Good People

We hear in an article from CBN.com that Hamas was using a tunnel to hide the six hostages that were murdered that started at a children’s play area:

The Israel Defense Forces released footage showing that the shaft leading to the tunnel where the bodies of the six hostages were found was through a children's play area with Disney characters on the wall and stuffed animals.

We’ve seen Hamas do things like this before and it just shows us once again that they don’t care if innocent people are harmed. Hiding in children’s bedrooms and storing their weapons in schools are all part of what they do. Having headquarters in the paternity wards of hospitals is not off limits for them although it is not allowed according to international laws on war, rules that Israel adheres to. And make no mistake, they are using these hostages as bargaining chips to get all they want. Adding to this is inciting the Israeli citizens to protest against their leaders to accept any deal Hamas wants:

Thousands of Israeli protesters have taken to the streets demanding a hostage deal. Netanyahu insists that's part of Hamas' plan to sow discord.

As we learned in the past, this is right out of the Hamas playbook, something Prime Minister Netanyahu knows all too well and brought up in his latest video to the nation:

Pointing to a greatly enlarged document, Netanyahu said, "This is Hamas' orders for psychological warfare, found in Hamas underground command post on January 29th – that's right after the beginning of the war."

He continued by reading excerpts from the document originally written in Arabic.

"Push photos and videos of hostages," the prime minister read. "Put it out in the media, because that creates enormous psychological pressure. Who's not affected by it? Second: Increase psychological pressure on defense minister. Third: Continue blaming Netanyahu. And fourth: Claim ground operations will not release hostages."

Knowing how they work and then exposing it doesn’t seem to help. The good news is that the man in charge of the war isn’t going to let it deter him from what he knows he has to do. Pray for the PM because the pressure both from inside and outside the country is ratchetting up exponentially now as Hamas is falling apart. Pray that he stays the course and even fires people not loyal to him in this crucial time.

Unfortunately, It Is Working

One of the reasons the psychological warfare is so effective is explained this way:

Jeff Ballabon from the American Center for Law and Justice believes Israelis behave more like a family to one another, with all the emotion and bickering, rather than a country.

He goes on to tell us that emotions are a key piece of this strategy:

"Since October 7, the predominant emotion in this family is anguish, and there is no real way to process or end that feeling – inflamed once again by the murder of the hostages – anguish left unresolved becomes anger," Ballabon told CBN News. "Angry people are easy to manipulate; they want someone to blame, and the easiest way is to give them a scapegoat, so the Left and the media are cahooting with the Democrats to try to blame Bibi instead of the actual perpetrators."

Ballabon puts part of the blame on forces here in the US:

Ballabon contends the American Left and the media have played a part in Israel's discord.

"The other factor has been the weaponization of the minority and the media by the current U.S. administration," he said. "Indeed, the Democrats since Obama/Biden have been pushing to topple Netanyahu, including evidence that they and their proxies are financing and advising the anti-Netanyahu efforts and demonstrations, since October."

Some good news is that Israelis usually unite when their survival is on the line:

Ballabon added, "They have relentlessly tried to use Israel's tragedy to push their agenda. It's backfiring. The loud minority trumpets the break between the U.S. and Israel, but it actually strengthens Netanyahu with the majority of Israelis, including those who for other reasons are very critical of him."

Another Israeli urges Israelis to stay the course:

In an interview with CBN News, Israel's United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon asserted Israel must be strong to go forward.

"We live in a very tough neighborhood," he declared. "We have to be strong. We have to project our strength. That is why at the end of the war, Hamas will not be in Gaza. We will send a message to our enemies that we will fight back. We are determined to stay where we are and to build our beautiful nation."

He also believes that the union between the US and Israel will hold:

Danon believes the strong ties between Israel and the U.S. will remain.

"The strength of the bond between Israel and the U.S. is based on values," he said. "That is why the bond will stay strong. We share with them values of freedom, democracy. We are fighting evil. The forces that are fighting us today will fight the U.S. tomorrow. We thank the U.S. for standing with Israel and we believe that with God’s help, we will prevail."

All of this is happening is a time of political upheaval with forces plotting chaos and unrest if only to push their agendas. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, let us also pray for her allies which includes America.