(Galilee, Israel) — Another week has gone by, and it appears that my country is back at war. Or maybe it isn’t. It’s so hard to tell these days. In one moment, we have a big celebration over the signing of a ceasefire agreement. We see our living hostages come home in a semi-timely manner, according to the agreed-to terms. The remains of our beloved deceased hostages also start coming in. They’re late and the delivery is sporadic, but at least it’s something.
The next thing I know, I’m reading about our soldiers being killed again in Gaza. I’m seeing the IDF retaliating against the terrorist aggression. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not surprised. Anyone with half a brain knew that Hamas couldn’t abide by any agreement that didn’t say, “Hamas gets everything and Israel is going to drown themselves into the sea.” But there was that flicker of hope hidden in the back of my brain somewhere behind an idea for my next book and my craving for another espresso that said, “Maybe, just maybe, this time the fighting will be over.” The five young children of Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 27, who are now fatherless can attest to how ridiculous that thought was.
But wait, now the ceasefire is back on as of yesterday! Is this finally the time for peace? Of course not. I’m sorry, but the 20-Point Plan put out by the Trump administration is a joke. Although Hamas has agreed to it, they’ll never fully implement it. They’ll never disarm, as required by the agreement. They’ll never willingly step down from power as the plan mandates.
My only hope is in my understanding that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump play chess, while the rest of the countries of the Middle East are still trying to figure out on which side of the board they should set up their checkers. Using pressure from Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and other Muslim nations, Hamas was pressured into signing a deal they don’t have the character to keep. Now, when the terrorists inevitably break the deal and Israel retaliates with strong measures, these other nations are boxed into criticizing Hamas for not keeping the agreement that they themselves had helped to broker.
If that’s what’s really happening, then let me stand and give the President and the PM a respectful slow clap. If, instead, either of them actually believed that this 20-Point Plan would lead to peace, then I’m just going to stay seated and shake my head in disappointed wonder.
Ceasefire, Fire, Ceasefire
As I mentioned above, we are back in a state of ceasefire as of yesterday. Last week, I mentioned how Hamas snuck into Israeli Yellow Zones in Gaza to prepare attacks against IDF troops. Those attacks began, killing several IDF soldiers and wounding others. Israel struck back with a vengeance, as they were entitled to do, both by terms of the agreement and for morality’s sake.
After Yona Feldbaum’s death, more than 100 terrorists were killed in a 14-hour period of airstrikes. In addition, observation posts, weapons production warehouses, launch posts, underground tunnels, and mortar shell firing posts were all hit.
President Trump endorsed Israel’s retaliation, saying, “They took out an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back, and they should hit back.” We have now returned to a state of ceasefire. We’ll see how long Hamas lets it last.
The Bigger Picture of the Middle East
When Trump affirmed Israel’s right to retaliate against Hamas, he added a very important sentence that could easily go unnoticed. He said, “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.” Most people believe this fracas is all about Israel and Hamas, but it’s really about much more.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, IMEC, is a visionary plan that will revolutionize commerce from India to Europe. Essentially, it is a trade route that begins in India and crosses the Arabian Sea to the United Arab Emirate. From there, it begins a rail and/or road journey that goes through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and into Israel, where it arrives in Haifa. At that point, the goods are put on ships and transported to Europe. Using this method will increase the speed of transportation between India and the West by 40 percent.
This new transportation system is the ultimate goal, and it is a financial boon to all countries involved. Hamas needs to understand that if it in any way interferes with the construction and operation of this proposed route, the countries will ensure the cessation of its existence. When you follow the money in Europe and the Middle East, the Gazan terrorists are on the wrong side of the equation.
Hezbollah Has Got to Go
Time is running out for the Lebanese government to save their country. Even as Israel is conducting air attacks against Hezbollah in the south, Iran is rearming the terrorist group in the north so they can eventually move south to the Israeli border. Unfortunately, Lebanon’s government is militarily weak, even to the point of running out of explosives in its efforts to blow up Hezbollah’s arms caches. The country is at a tipping point of either breaking free of Hezbollah’s grip or caving in to it. If the Lebanese leadership does not end the terrorist stranglehold on their nation, other countries will be forced to step in.
Unfortunately, the lion’s share of the work of destroying Hezbollah will fall on the shoulders of the Israeli military.
Overnight, IDF troops snuck into Lebanon, going about a kilometer across the border to the village of Blida. Once there, a firefight ensued, and a Hezbollah operative was killed. The troops then retreated back into Israel.
In response, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said, “I have instructed our army to resist any Israeli attack on the liberated areas of the south to protect our lands and our citizens.” According to the IDF, a suspect was spotted in a building used by Hezbollah and the force moved to arrest him. Gunfire took place, and the target was killed. We’ll watch to see if this incident escalates.
Red Cross Betrayal
Yisrael Katz, Israel’s Defense Minister, has signed an order forbidding Red Cross visits to terrorists held in Israeli prisons. Now, before anyone starts throwing accusations about the evil Jews and their genocidal ways, let me remind you of UNRWA. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is an agency that was ostensibly created to aid displaced refugees back in 1949. Over time, UNRWA became tainted by liberal ideology, misplaced compassion, and antisemitism. After the October 7 massacre, the wide extent of their aiding and abetting Hamas was revealed.
Today, if you put a dozen UNRWA workers and a dozen Red Cross workers together in a room, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to tell one from another. Nearly all, it seems, have bought into the same twisted ideology. Just like UNRWA hid hostages and sheltered terrorists, the Red Cross has become responsible for intelligence leaks, becoming a covert channel for Hamas communication and planning.
Katz affirmed this saying, “The opinions presented to me indicate without a doubt that Red Cross visits to terrorists in prisons will seriously harm the security of the state. The security of the state and our citizens comes first.”
The Rise of Conservative Antisemitism
It is expected that one would meet with an anti-Israel, pro-Islamist sentiment on the left. However, over the last six months, that sentiment is spreading exponentially throughout the right, and even into the church. Most concerning is the influence of Tucker Carlson, who is becoming a major figure in the late Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA. Recently, in an interview with rabid antisemite Nick Fuentes, Carlson expressed his disgust with Christian Zionists, believers who support the State of Israel, saying that he dislikes them “more than anybody.”
This antipathy toward a biblical view of Israel was directly contrary to that of Charlie Kirk who was a staunch lover of Israel to the end of his life—despite what unhinged commentators like Candace Owens might say. It’s concerning that Carlson’s influence is growing in an organization that has so much influence on young adults as they formulate their geopolitical and biblical views.
Steve Bannon is another very conservative commentator who has clearly expressed his anti-Israel viewpoint. Not content with the implausible two-state solution, he’s put forth the asinine proposal of a three-state solution with the land being divided between Israelis, Palestinians, and a “Christian state” located in Jerusalem. His proposal would be laughable if he didn’t have such a wide swath of support amongst the right, including many within the church.
True followers of Scripture must keep aware of the viewpoints of those they are listening to, so that they do not slip into the soft frog-in-the-kettle boil of heresy.
The True Genocide
For 18 months, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia laid siege to Sudan’s government-controlled city of El Fasher. This week, the RSF broke through and a massacre ensued. In two days time, at least 2,500 civilians were slaughtered. The images, some of which were posted on my Telegram channel, were horrific.
Even before this event, the toll in the Sudanese war has been devastating. Twenty-five million are starving, 522,000 children are dead from malnutrition, 14 million people are displaced, and tens of thousands have been murdered, burned alive, hanged, raped, or dismembered while still alive.
The supplies for this ongoing disaster come from far away. The RSF militia is backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iran is supplying the government forces. Russia is also in the mix, backing whoever seems to be ahead at the time.
With all this genuine ethnic cleansing taking place, where are the protests? Where is Greta Thunberg? Where is the media? Where are you, Tucker Carlson? You are all nowhere to be seen. This is what genocide looks like, not in battlefields where civilians are warned in advance to flee before the army comes to hunt the terrorists who have embedded themselves within the population. Not in regions where the invading military creates safe zones where innocents can come for food, water, and medical care. But Israel is all that’s important to the antisemites, not a bunch of people in Nowhere, Africa. As always with these folks, it’s no Jews, no news.
