GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 462

Going Down To The Wire

Where Are They?

As we read in a report from the Jerusalem Post Hamas lost track of hostages at a time when they really need to know where they are:

Hamas has lost track of the majority of the hostages held in captivity in northern Gaza due to Israel's military activities in the area, a source in the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, told Qatari state-run media giant Al Jazeera on Friday.

And they blame Israel for it which doesn’t surprise me at all:

"Most of the enemy's prisoners in the northern Gaza Brigade are now missing due to the Zionist aggression," the source told Al Jazeera.

They say they need at least 7 days to find them, which is pushing things since they have 9 days until the January 20th deadline set by incoming President Donald Trump:

Hamas has previously repeatedly stated that in order to compile a list of hostages it has been holding, it would need several days to at least a week, in order to locate them.

They went on to say that Israel has been warned multiple times about this:

The Hamas official said that the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades had warned a number of times of the potentiality of hostages going missing in areas where the IDF was operating.

So their logic is that Netanyahu is to blame for not knowing where they’re at:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF are "fully responsible for the lives and fate of their prisoners," the source added.

Another terrorist group also chimed in and they also blamed the PM for any deaths of hostages:

Also on Friday, the terror organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a propaganda video directed at the hostages' families.

"To the families of the enemy prisoners," PIJ captioned the video in Hebrew and Arabic. The video featured clips of Netanyahu speaking to the hostages' families.

"Your leadership is killing your children with persistence and insistence," PIJ wrote in Hebrew and Arabic at the end of the video.

It’s an interesting take on the hostage situation and I’m sure it’s meant to influence Trump to not hit them because they simply can’t release the hostages due to Israel attacking them constantly. I’m sure this tactic won’t work, but it shows how desperate they are. They are boxed in and they know it. Their pride and their resistance to surrender will be their undoing. Unfortunately the remaining living hostages are caught in the middle of these tactics. I also have a sneaking suspicion that another reason for the stalling is that not many of the hostages are still alive. I pray that I’m wrong here, but these terrorists are not logical or moral people.

Hitting Iran Next

Prime Minister Netanyahu asked his military how ready they are to strike Iran a third time as we see in an article from the Jerusalem News Syndicate:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a discussion on Thursday to evaluate the Israeli military’s preparedness for the possibility of a third attack on Iran.

He also wanted to know discuss a less diplomatic approach by the Trump administration:

Also on the agenda: a more aggressive U.S. policy expected from the incoming Trump administration regarding Iran.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, after a Nov. 10 meeting with Donald Trump, reportedly left with the impression that the president-elect would support an Israeli Air Force strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, or possibly send in a U.S. strike, according to news site Axios, citing unnamed sources.

The President-elect was coy when asked about those comments recently:

On Tuesday, Trump, replying to a question from reporters about a U.S. strike on Iran, said, “It’s a military strategy and I’m not answering a question on our military strategy. Only a stupid person would answer.”

The Iranians are on pins and needles right now, and rightfully so:

Iran fears a direct Israeli attack against its strategic sites in the near future, having interpreted Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah as intended to free up IDF assets to concentrate on the Islamic Republic directly, Channel 12 reported on Dec. 22.

Iran can go one of two directions and one knows which way they are leaning:

It is not clear whether Iran’s weakened position after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria will push it into diplomatic talks to de-escalate matters or drive it to pursue a nuclear bomb with greater energy, as the country’s leaders have sent mixed messages.

Ali Abdolalizadeh, an aid to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Dec. 31, “We must negotiate with Mr. Trump. The country’s issues cannot be left unresolved, and the entire establishment has also reached the conclusion that direct negotiations are necessary,” Iran International reported.

One outgoing US advisor can see Iran going with the nuclear option:

However, others in the Islamic Republic are calling to ramp up its nuclear program. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned on Dec. 22 that voices in Iran are saying publicly that it should construct a nuclear bomb.

“If you’re Iran right now and you’re looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated, Assad has fallen, it’s no wonder there are voices saying: ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now,’” Sullivan told reporters.

Go For The Head

Inside Israel there are more than a few people that think now is the time to hit Iran and not their proxies”

In Israel, senior officials have called to again attack Iran.

On Dec. 22, Ynet reported that Mossad Director David Barnea advocated for such a strike in response to attacks on Israel by the Houthis, a Yemen-based proxy of Tehran. “Go for the head, Iran,” Barnea argued, officials said.

And such calls are pretty universal, too:

Israeli support for a harsh response against Iran cuts across political lines. Benny Gantz, leader of the opposition National Unity Party, told JNS on Dec. 23 that Israel should take “all the necessary means” to defend itself against the Iranian threat.

Iran is vulnerable now, both militarily and politically:

Israel struck Iran twice last year, on Oct. 26 and April 19, both times in retaliation for Iranian attacks. Iran’s initial attack on April 13 marked the first time the Islamic Republic had struck Israeli territory directly.

Israel’s second attack was more devastating than the first in April. It targeted 20 sites in Iran in multiple waves, destroying Iran’s remaining Russian-built, S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems.

Israel’s strikes left Iran vulnerable to future attacks, Fox News reported at the time, quoting Biden administration adviser Amos Hochstein, who said, “Iran is essentially naked.”

Politically, there is reason to believe a regime change is also possible:

Analysts told JNS last month that Iran’s Islamic dictatorship is ripe for regime change and an Israeli military strike could help push it over the edge.

“This is a golden opportunity,” Janatan Sayeh, a research analyst with the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told JNS, outlining the possibility of a one-two punch, with the U.S. imposing economic sanctions and Israel delivering military blows.

What do I think? I think that there is a third scenario that just also happens to be one outlined in Bible prophecy. I think that Iran knows full well they risk being devastated if they go nuclear and will decide that a more Samson approach is their best option. They will command all their proxies to unload on Israel in coordination with their remaining forces in the hopes of taking down Israel even if it means they’ll be hit hard and be demolished as a result. Think Psalm 83 war. Israel knows their Bible and even some in the Israel Defense Force know to be prepared for it happening. And it could happen in the next 8 days.