Day 182 — Friday, April 5

Israeli embassies across the globe were placed on high alert following increasing threats of an Iranian attack on Israeli diplomats, sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Additionally, some ambassadors have been requested not to arrive at public events over fears for their security.

These reports come following an alleged Israeli strike on Syria, which killed senior Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) member Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

According to Israeli media, diplomats serving abroad have expressed their concern that their embassies will be the target of Iranian retaliation.

On October 8, one day after Hamas launched its massacre of southern Israel last year, embassies across the world were also notified of concrete threats to their security.

Those threats materialized in some embassies.

On October 13, a staffer at the Israeli embassy in Beijing was assaulted and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Jerusalem Post

Day 182 — Friday, April 5

Last week, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding from Israel an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan. It passed by a vote of 14-0 with one abstention—the United States.

Though the resolution called for the release of the hostages, The Times of Israel pointed out this fact about the resolution:

It does not require the release by Hamas of the 130 Israeli hostages it has been holding since October 7 in order for the ceasefire demand to become operative.

Furthermore, the resolution issues a ceasefire call that Israel, a party to the UN Charter, will now be pressured by the international community to heed, while Hamas, a barbaric terrorist organization that regards itself as answerable to nothing but its own Jew-killing genocidal ideology, will blithely ignore the demand to unconditionally free the hostages.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence immediately responded: “This is a disgrace. The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire that makes no mention of Hamas or October 7th and the Biden Administration let it pass without a veto.”

Pence further went on to say that “after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust Israel must be allowed to wage war until Hamas is destroyed once and for all.” I agree with him.

There is a clear shift happening in the United States’ support for Israel.

The day following that shameful UN resolution, a container ship leaving Baltimore’s Port hit one of the three main supports of the Francis Scott Key bridge, resulting in its tragic collapse. Some are saying it was a cyber attack. The incident is still under investigation, but what I am sure of is that God allowed it to happen. When the US turned its back on Israel on March 25th, it was certainly not the way to bring blessing upon America—in fact, just the opposite.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) estimated that “nearly 4,900 trucks traveled the bridge every day, carrying about $28 billion in goods every year,” according to Fox Business. Thousands of trucks will now need to be rerouted, resulting in a dramatic rise in the cost of all those goods. Some say rebuilding the bridge could take up to 10 years and cost well over 400 million dollars.

Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying this could have been prevented had the US used its veto power to squash the UN’s shameful resolution. However, I do honestly believe Genesis 12:3, which states: “And I will bless them that bless thee [Israel], and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

We know from history that when a nation curses God’s chosen people, God will curse that nation, just as He did with the ancient Egyptians, ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, ancient Greece, Rome, and the Third Reich. Where are all those ancient empires that came against God’s chosen people? They’re all gone. Where is Israel? Right back in the land that He swore to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You would think the world would have learned this by now, but they keep testing the God of the universe. And they will continue to do so until it climaxes one day at the end of the tribulation. During that time all nations will come against God’s chosen people (Zechariah 14:2). It’s not hard to imagine that happening when we can see glimpses of that today.

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

President Joe Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday between the two leaders, threatening a loss of U.S. support for the war if Israel does not comply.

In a statement, the White House said:

President Biden spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza. President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable. He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps. He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home. The two leaders also discussed public Iranian threats against Israel and the Israeli people. President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats.

Biden’s statement confirms that the U.S. has effectively adopted Hamas’s demand that a ceasefire precede a deal to release the remaining 134 Israeli hostages. The U.S. previously agreed with Israel that a ceasefire depended on a deal.

Last month, when the U.S. abstained from United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, allowing it to pass, the Biden administration denied it had changed its policy, though the resolution detached a hostage deal from a ceasefire.

In a press briefing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby would not state what the consequences would be, specifically, if Israel did not make the changes Biden had demanded.

Kirby said that the accidental killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in an airstrike earlier in the week was one of the more important factors in pushing Biden toward the demand for a ceasefire, which he had long resisted.

The effect of Biden’s demand is that Israel will find it extremely difficult to achieve its war goals. If it chooses to pursue the last Hamas battalions in Rafah, it will do so without U.S. support. And if it tries to reach a hostage deal, Israel will have to do so without the leverage of U.S. support for continued military operations against Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas’s strategy throughout the war has been to separate Israel from U.S. support. It has done so by using Palestinian civilians as human shields, hoping to maximize civilian casualties and generate international outrage.

Biden’s demand marks the success of Hamas’s strategy — unless Israel is willing to continue the war in Gaza alone.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the country prepared for possible reprisal attacks from Iran, after an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals earlier in the week. Iran arms and funds terrorist proxies that have been attacking Israel.

When Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Kirby whether Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas was “unwavering,” as Biden had promised after October 7, Kirby struggled to reconcile that promise with the threat of policy changes.

Breitbart

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

Shalom from the lush Jezreel Valley! Looking from my home to the vast swaths of farmland below, it is hard to believe that my country is at war. It is beautiful, serene, pastoral – until an Israeli Air Force fighter jet flies at low altitude over my head coming in for a land at the nearby airbase. On the one hand is a magnificent colorful bounty filling the land. On the other is war. That has been the juxtaposition of Israel for millennia.

Because of the unique nature of this nation, however, the battles are not limited to the physical. Yes, there is the war in Gaza, the constant skirmishing with Lebanon and Syria, and the indirect conflict with Iran through its proxies, which sometimes, like last week, becomes very direct. It is this action of blood and bombs that gets the headlines, leads to protests, causes the United Nations to pass silly resolutions, and is turned into political fodder for upcoming elections. And it is right that this violent conflict receives its proper attention. Lives are being lost on both sides of the battlelines and humanitarian suffering is rife due to the disregard which Hamas feels for their own people, using civilians as human shields and turning hospitals and schools into military bases.

The other war, however, did not begin on October 7. True, it has been exacerbated since then, but it is a battle that has been going on since the early church. This is a spiritual battle for the legitimacy of the Jewish people and, since 1948, the State of Israel. It is astounding to me how many Christians believe that God is done with the Jews. Whether it is because of their idolatrous past that led to their exile or because there were a group of them 2000 years ago who were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, they feel that God finally had enough of that rebellious people and kicked them to the curb in favor of the church. And, once again, this is nothing new. The whole reason Paul wrote Romans 9-11 was to address this exact fallacy. It’s also the reason why several years ago, I wrote the book Israel and the Church.

We are on the front lines of a serious battle. We are not warring in Gaza or up in the north. We are fighting the spiritual battle that the enemy has been waging against God and His chosen people for time immemorial. I invite you to join us in this battle. Invest time to learn how we can be sure that just like a father will never abandon his children, our God will never reject the people He loves – referring both to the holy people of Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6) and the holy people of the church (1 Peter 2:9). Then, armed with this knowledge, take what opportunities God presents to let those around you know that, yes, God has brought His people, the Jews, back to the promised land just as He said He would in Ezekiel 36-37, restoring them as a nation. And, yes, the Lord has a future plan for Israel that will include a mass revival (Romans 11:25-29) and a reconciliation with the One whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10).

Our God is faithful, and we must not allow the enemy to besmirch the character of our Lord by saying that His eternal love is only temporary and His promises are dependent upon our behavior.

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

The IDF said on Wednesday that it bolstered its air defense array and had called up reservists, as the country girded for a potential Iranian response to a strike in Syria earlier this week in which several high-ranking Iranian military officials were killed.

Both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have vowed that Israel will not go unpunished for the Monday attack on a consular building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most senior official in Syria, along with his deputy, five other IRGC officers, and at least one member of the Hezbollah terror group.

A Channel 12 news report reflecting Israeli speculation on a possible reprisal pointed to the possibility that Iran could respond by directly launching missiles from its own territory rather than via any of its proxy groups, which include militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

While Israel could suffice with letting the round of hostilities fizzle out, in the event that Iran responds via a proxy, such as a Hezbollah rocket barrage, an attack from Iranian territory would likely push the Israel Defense Forces to launch a significant reprisal, risking sending tensions snowballing further.

“I won’t be surprised if Iran fires directly at Israel,” former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin told the network, explaining that a January missile strike carried out by Iran on neighboring Pakistan set a precedent for such action.

Hebrew-language media reports said the decision to beef up air defenses and call up troops came following a threat assessment.

Several rockets have been fired at Israel from Lebanon by Hezbollah since Monday’s attack, though there has been no indication that they went beyond daily cross-border fire that has raised tensions on Israel’s northern frontier since October 8.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge for the Monday strike, and posters parroting his words have gone up around Tehran in a sign of public pressure for an Iranian response.

“The defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza will continue and this regime will be close to decline and dissolution,” Khamenei said in a speech to the country’s officials in Tehran Wednesday.

“Desperate efforts like the one they committed in Syria will not save them from defeat. Of course, they will also be slapped for that action,” he added.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier on Wednesday that Israel is “increasing preparedness” in the face of threats from across the Middle East.

Speaking at a home-front readiness drill in Haifa, Gallant said that the country’s defense establishment is “expanding our operations against Hezbollah, against other bodies that threaten us,” and reiterated that Israel “strikes our enemies all over the Middle East.”

“We need to be prepared and ready for every scenario and every threat” against near enemies and distant enemies,” Gallant said, vowing that “we will know how to protect the citizens of Israel and we will know how to attack our enemies.”

Addressing the daily attacks on the northern border by the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Gallant said that one of the main issues Israel is facing is how to make it possible for some 80,000 displaced Israelis return safely to their homes in northern Israel.

“We prefer… an agreement that will result in the removal of the threat, but we have to prepare for the possibility of [using] force in Lebanon that can also take into account the scenario we are describing here, which is a scenario of war, and we need to be prepared for this issue and understand that it can happen,” Gallant said.

Times Of Israel

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

Here are some truths that seem self-evident:

Number 1 — It is the job of government to protect its people from armies of terror.

Number 2 — If, in an obvious act of war, a terrorist army attacks a country by intentionally murdering, raping, mutilating, burning, terrorizing, and kidnapping its citizens, then the government of the attacked country is morally obligated to do all in its power to stop the attack, and to prevent future attacks.

Number 3 — If an army of terror takes civilian hostages during an attack on what we will call Country-A, it compels the government of Country-A to find and rescue the hostages. When the kidnapped hostages are hidden away in inhumane conditions — with many being raped, most being tortured, and some being murdered — it should be understood and accepted that the government of Country-A will use force to find and rescue those hostages.

Number 4 — If a terrorist entity over a period of decades has attacked Country-A at every opportunity, and if the terror group continues to show from its actions and/or words that it intends to keep on attacking the citizens of Country-A, then Country-A’s government must use force to end the invaders’ ability to wage war on its citizens.

Number 5 — If a terrorist entity has shown that it will not keep its side of any bargain struck, and that it negotiates only as a stalling tactic, never negotiating in good faith, then it increases the likelihood that force will become necessary because negotiation without truth is futile.

Number 6 — If the terrorists say and believe it is their religious duty to destroy Country-A and kill its citizens, it is unlikely such deeply held beliefs will quickly change. This endangers civilians on all sides. Because they see their violent assaults as a religious obligation, stopping such terrorists will almost certainly require force.

Number 7 — If leaders of a terrorist entity declare to the world that their organization will not stop its attacks on Country-A until it is destroyed and its citizens killed, it would be immoral for Country-A to do anything less than try to destroy the terrorist entity.

Number 8 — If the terrorist entity starts a war, and then retreats into civilian areas, using civilians as human shields, the nations should understand that no matter how hard Country-A tries not to harm civilians in its war response, sadly but inevitably, civilians will be killed and injured.

Number 9 — In its war response, Country-A must try to protect civilians on both sides, but war is neither clean nor easy. It is messy and ugly. Things are destroyed and people killed. Responsibility for the destruction and harm falls on those who started the war.

Number 10 — These self-evident truths apply to Israel and Hamas as they would to other countries and other terrorist organizations.

Hal Lindsey Report

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

The world continues to distance itself from Israel and the Jewish people, giving increasing credence to the prophecies of Zechariah 12. The weed of Jew-hatred has found fertile soil in the various conspiracy theories spun about the Jewish people, spanning over centuries. Post-modernism has also added a challenge to debunking conspiracy theories since truth has become relative in many people’s minds. As a result, we are seeing an exponential increase in global antisemitism, and once again, the Jewish people are paying a high price as the ultimate scapegoats of humanity.

The tragedy of October 7, 2023, in Israel, has also helped to increase the momentum that certain conspiracy theories had over time. As global antisemitism now seems to be completely out in the open with no restraining in sight, those who are friends of Israel and have a genuine love for the Jewish people must equip themselves on how to debunk the main conspiracy theories against the Jewish people.

I want to look at the theory that modern Jews are descendants of the Khazars and have no ties to the original Judean Jews. Some people call it a theory, and others call it a hypothesis. How about calling it a conspiracy theory? The Khazars and their connection to the Jewish people continue to be shrouded in mystery, and yet, the theory exists that modern Jews are descendants of the Khazars and not of biblical Jews.

In the mid-seventies, in his book “The Thirteenth Tribe,” Arthur Koestler posited that modern Jews are all descendants of the Khazars and no longer have any connection to biblical Jews. His theory quickly became a convenient approach to delegitimizing Israel and the Jewish people’s right to the Land since, according to Koestler, the Jews of today are not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Day 180 — Wednesday, April 3

President Joe Biden issued a statement late Tuesday in response to the accidental killing of seven aid workers in Gaza by an Israel airstrike, blaming Israel for aid distribution problems and claiming Israel is not doing enough to protect civilians.

Biden’s statement barely mentioned Hamas — neither its tactic of using civilians as human shields, nor its practice of stealing humanitarian aid. (The tragic airstrike was targeting an armed Hamas member who was not present.)

In his statement, Biden said (emphasis added):

I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.

Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid workers’ vehicles were hit by airstrikes. That investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.

Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult – because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.

In 2021, the U.S. military killed ten civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a drone attack. The Biden administration claimed that the strike had been “righteous,” but later admitted that it had made a terrible mistake.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could not tell Congress at the time whether the person who had been killed — along with seven children — had been a civilian aid worker or a terrorist.

The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, apologized publicly in a video statement, saying that the airstrike, which hit a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy, had been a case of mistaken identity.

“I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Breitbart

Day 180 — Wednesday, April 3

A suspected terror attack occurred in Kochav Yair near a checkpoint in central Israel, Israel Police confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The terrorist, a 26-year-old Israeli-Arab from Tira, was driving in the area of Kochav Yair and ran over four policemen, injuring one of them seriously, with the others in moderate condition.

Israel Police opened an investigation into the circumstances, where four people were run over by the suspect, who, after exiting the car, then tried to stab security guards at the Eliyahu checkpoint. The suspected terrorist was neutralized, and another suspect fled the scene.

Jerusalem Post

Day 179 — Tuesday, April 2

Iran accused Israel Monday of carrying out an airstrike on a building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus that killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the top Iranian commander in Syria.

The strike in the Damascus-area municipality of Mezzeh hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy, footage showed.

Though Israel has not commented on the strike, The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials as confirming the country was behind the attack.

A Reuters report said a building in the embassy compound was “flattened,” in what it said was “a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.” Iran’s SSN news website said the targeted building was Iran’s consulate and ambassador’s residence.

The IRGC in a statement carried by Iranian media announced the deaths of seven members, including its senior-most official in Syria, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy Mohammad Haj Rahimi.

Zahedi was a top commander in IRGC’s Quds Force, a US-designated terrorist organization.

He was reportedly responsible for the unit’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries. Israel’s Army Radio said Zahedi oversaw all Iranian terrorist operations against Israel from Syria, Lebanon “and the Palestinian sphere.”

His death was the most significant killing of an IRGC leader since the US assassinated Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January, 2020.

The IRGC also listed officers Hossein Aminullah, Seyyed Mahdi Jalalati, Mohsen Sadaqat, Ali Agha Babaei, and Seyyed Ali Salehi Rouzbahani among the dead.

Reuters quoted Iran’s ambassador in Syria warning that Iran’s response to the strike would be harsh.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, meanwhile, said in a call with his Syrian counterpart that Tehran holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack, Iran’s state media reported.

The strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus is “a breach of all international conventions,” Amirabdollahian added.

SANA said rescue authorities were working to extract dead and wounded people from under the rubble.

While Israel does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed terror groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country over the last decade. The Israeli military says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief among them Hezbollah. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.

Faced with ongoing attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and Shiite militias throughout the Middle East in the wake of Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iran-linked terror targets in Syria, killing numerous IRGC operatives, as well as members of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxy groups.

Times Of Israel 

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Although many may simply view Israeli strikes in Syria as a regular occurrence in the region, Christians take particular notice when discussing military actions in the country’s capital. That is because Damascus, which is the longest continually inhabited city in the world, has its future end detailed in Scripture.

Jack Hibbs, the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, after a previous Israeli strike near Damascus, explained the city’s Biblical significance.

“For those of us who know our Bibles, it’s always an attention-getter whenever we hear about Damascus being involved in any form of warfare,” Hibbs described. “The book of Isaiah chapter 17 tells us that there will be an utter and total devastation that comes to the city of Damascus.”

Isaiah 17:1 reads, “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.”

“With all that’s going on in the world right now, keep your eye on the news with your Bible open,” Pastor Hibbs underscored. “It may be that such an event will trigger either a regional or world war…”

According to Hibbs and many other Bible Prophecy students, Damascus’ future destruction may also be the catalyst for “the Ezekiel 38 battle,” in-which Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others come together from the north, with weaponry supplied by Russia, to attack the Jewish State.

Day 179 — Tuesday, April 2

The Metropolitan Police are under fire after a London police officer was filmed saying that swastika displays during pro-Hamas protests “need to be taken into context” and may not be automatically antisemitic in an incident which the Jewish News Syndicate stated was reminiscent of the testimony by Ivy League university presidents to Congress last year that calls for genocide against the Jewish people depended on “the context.”

In the footage posted to social media, a woman asks the officer why another policeman told her “that a swastika was not necessarily antisemitic or a disruption of public order.”

“That doesn’t seem right to me,” the woman said.

“A swastika is a swastika,” she added. “Under what context is a swastika not disrupting public order?”

The officer cited the relevant statutes under which the police have the power to deal with disruptive protestors and stated, “I haven’t said anything about it — that it is or isn’t — everything needs to be taken in context doesn’t it?”

“Why is a swastika not immediately antisemitism? Why does it need context? This is what I’m confused about.” the woman replied. “In what context is a swastika not antisemitic and disruptive to public order? That is my question.”

Another woman added, “Yeah but it’s a context of a hateful march.”

The officer stated that he did not have “in-depth knowledge of signs and symbols.”

“I know the swastika was used by the Nazi Party during their inception, and the period of them being in power in Germany in 1934, I’m aware of that,” he said.

Social Creative CEO Emily Schrader, who posted the video to social media, wrote, “If you’re holding a sign with a swastika at an anti-Israel march — this is blatantly antisemitic.”

“Come on Met Police… this is pathetic,” Schrader said.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) organization called the officer’s position “absolutely gobsmacking.”

“The very notion that a British police officer could imagine a context in which the Nazi swastika is an acceptable image to be displayed in public is distressing,” a CAA spokesperson told the Daily Mail. The spokesperson added that the policeman’s response disrespected the thousands of British soldiers and civilians who died to prevent the Nazi flag from flying over Britain during World War Two.

The Metropolitan Police defended the officer in the video and stated that he would not be disciplined.

Arutz Sheva

Day 178 — Monday, April 1

One area where we would not expect to find this vitriol for Israel and the Jews is within the church. Sadly, as Amir Tsarfati explains, bad theology—which dismisses God’s ongoing promises to His chosen people, the Jews—has opened the door for this hatred to spread into numerous churches.

“[The] saddest and most concerning, in my opinion, is the poison that is spreading in churches across the U.S., which makes a distinction between Israel today and the Israel of the Bible,” he underscored. “A growing number of church-goers, mostly in the evangelical camp, are questioning modern Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”

“Replacement theology” insists that the execution of Jesus Christ caused the Jewish people to forfeit the promises and eternal covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Under this theology, the church replaced Israel two thousand years ago in the plan of God, the commands for Christians to pray for, bless, and stand with the Jewish State are disregarded, and the miraculous nature of Israel’s re-establishment in 1948, as prophecied in the Old and New Testament, is overlooked.

This denigration of the Jewish people and large swaths of the Bible leaves a gaping hole for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment to creep in.

“If anything, the church’s attitude towards Israel should be the exact opposite!” Tsarfati noted, adding that while this kind of behavior in a fallen world is unsurprising, “I do expect much better from those who describe themselves as followers of Christ!”

Day 178 — Monday, April 1

Israel will defeat Hamas by entering the terrorist stronghold of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and destroying the remaining battalions there, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Sunday night.

“There is no victory without entering Rafah; there is no victory without destroying the Hamas battalions there,” said Netanyahu in a primetime address, adding that the operation “will take time, but it will happen.”

The premier reiterated that only a combination of military pressure and tough negotiations would bring about the release of the remaining 134 hostages taken to Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7.

“I will do everything possible to bring everyone home. Every time there is some intelligence about them and the operational needs allow it, I authorize missions to bring them out [of Gaza],” he said.

“As Israel showed more openness in the negotiations, Hamas hardened its stance,” stated Netanyahu. He claimed that Hamas is demanding the return of all residents of northern Gaza, including terrorists.

“I’m committed to bringing everyone back, all of our men and women, soldiers, citizens—I will not leave anyone behind. God willing, we will continue to work, continue to fight, and we will win together,” he said.

Netanyahu addressed the nation as the Israel Defense Forces is inching closer to launching a major ground operation targeting the last four Hamas terrorist battalions holed up in Rafah.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in remarks during a visit to the 98th Division’s headquarters on Sunday, vowed to keep fighting until the IDF eliminates or captures “all terrorists, all over the Gaza Strip.”

The looming incursion has resulted in friction with the United States administration.

JNS

Day 177 — Sunday, March 31

Israel Defense Forces will “expand the campaign” against Hezbollah on its northern border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Friday, as the IDF carried out several targeted eliminations of enemy commanders over the past few days.

“Israel is turning from defending to pursuing Hezbollah, we will reach wherever the organization operates, in Beirut, Damascus, and in more distant places,” Gallant said after an assessment at the IDF’s Northern Command.

Following alleged Israeli strikes in Syria that reportedly killed dozens, including a senior Hezbollah commander on Friday morning, the IDF later announced it had eliminated the group’s deputy commander of its rocket and missile unit.

צה״ל תקף וחיסל באמצעות כלי טיס של חיל האוויר מוקדם יותר היום במרחב אל-בזוריה שבלבנון את עלי עבד אלחסן נעים, מחבל חיזבאללה ששימש כסגן מפקד יחידת הרקטות והטילים של ארגון הטרור >> pic.twitter.com/6xOdvDVxki

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 29, 2024

Gallant said he observed the strike against Ali Naim, who was killed in an airstrike while driving his car near al-Bazouriye.

Naim was considered a “significant center of knowledge in the organization, a leader in the field of rockets, and among the pioneers of the strategy of launching heavy rockets,” the IDF said.

“As part of his role he worked to plan and carry out attacks against Israel’s home front,” the army added.

“The one responsible for the serious damage in Lebanon is Hezbollah and the one responsible for the many casualties in the Hezbollah group is [Hassan] Nasrallah personally,” Gallant said on Friday.

“They have over 320 killed terrorists, and we will exact a price for any action coming out of Lebanon. Wherever we need to act, we will act,” he vowed.

“Israeli intelligence has been conducting successful operations targeting Hezbollah’s command structures in Lebanon since the beginning of the war,” said Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), regarding the strike.

“The strike on Ali Naim not only dealt a blow to the group but also sent a clear message that Israel will retaliate decisively against those who threaten its security,” Truzman added.

Hezbollah and the IDF continued exchanging fire over the weekend, with the Lebanese group claiming responsibility for several attacks, including the launch of a heavy Burkan rocket at an IDF post.

Lebanese media reported on Saturday that the IDF was responsible for a strike that injured four members of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Contrary to the reports, the IDF did not strike a UNIFIL vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning,” the Israeli army stated in response.

The car was carrying three UN technical observers and one Lebanese translator when a blast occurred nearby, a source told Reuters.

The blast occurred in a predominantly Christian area, where residents have, on several occasions, prevented Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel from their towns. Consequently, this region has remained untouched by Israeli airstrikes.

The IDF also announced that fighter jets had struck multiple Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon on Friday and Saturday.

Following rocket launches from Lebanon in the area of Biranit, the IDF struck the responsible rocket launcher quickly with assistance from the 146th Division and the Israeli Air Force.

All Israel News 

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

(Toronto, Canada) — Yet another poll concerning the Palestinians revealed that 71% of them support the October 7th attack on Israel.

The poll, whose results closely mirror those of a previous survey taken in November 2023, was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) on March 5th through 10th.

Here are a few of the highlights that the poll indicated:

• 71% of Palestinians say Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7th offensive was correct.
• 64% blame Israel for the suffering of Gazans in the current war, while only 7% blame Hamas
• 94% think that Israel has committed war crimes during the current war, while only 5% think Hamas also committed war crimes
• 64% believe that Hamas will win the war
• 59% say Hamas will be in control of Gaza
• 49% believe Hamas is the most deserving to lead the Palestinian people
• 46% believe that armed struggle is the best means of achieving Palestinian goals
• 59% oppose a return to Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations

In spite of that, the world continues to push Israel to make peace with people who wish them dead.

Our government and universities, which disregard these polls, are the ones to speak out that it’s “all Israel’s fault.”

Friends, antisemitism is growing by leaps and bounds. It’s up over 250% here in Canada and around the world, and our leaders are allowing this to continue and endorsing hate against the Jewish people.

Canada is becoming a scary place for our Jewish friends, and that’s exactly what Canada’s former ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, said last November in an open letter to Deborah Lyons, who serves as Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. Speaking of Toronto in particular, Bercovici noted that the rising antisemitism is beginning to resemble “Germany in 1938.”

We have a real hatred in our country and around the world for Israel and the Jewish people, and I’m going to simply ask you: On what side do you want to be found?

God is crystal clear in Genesis 12:3 that He will “bless those that bless” the Jewish people and “curse those that curse” them.

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Critics reacted in alarm this week after the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri awarded the Associated Press with a “Pictures of the Year” award for photos including an Israeli victim of Hamas.

The most controversial photograph shows the body of 23-year-old Shani Louk, a German-Israeli dual citizen who was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, on the back of a truck. Video would later show Palestinians abusing her corpse.

The Associated Press won “Team Picture Story of the Year” for its coverage of the “Israel and Hamas War.” The accompanying statement by the Reynolds Journalism Institute is riddled with inaccuracies: claiming that Hamas kidnapped “dozens” of people (in fact, hundreds); reciting Hamas statistics on the number of dead in Gaza without distinguishing between terrorists and civilians; and falsely claiming Israel had attacked safe humanitarian areas.

Breitbart News reached out for comment to Lynden Steele, the director of Pictures of the Year International, and received this reply:

RJI and POY strongly condemn the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, and we continue to mourn the loss of innocent lives and human suffering that is occurring in the ongoing conflict. Reactions to the Team Picture Story of the Year express the greater emotions related to that conflict.

This year and every year, the photos in the competition are selected by a panel of professional journalists tasked with identifying compelling representations of the significant news events of the year. While we understand the reactions to the pictures, we also believe that photojournalism plays an important role in bringing attention to the harsh realities of war.

The statement did not address the fact that the AP was found to have used at least one stringer in its coverage who had ties to Hamas and was pictured holding a weapon during the October 7 attack.

Another AP photojournalist allegedly encouraged civilians in Gaza to join the attack and the looting inside Israel. The AP has denied that it had any foreknowledge of the attack, despite having stringers embedded with Hamas terrorists.

Breitbart

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Russia on Friday condemned alleged Israeli strikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Thursday night, in which 36 Syrian soldiers and six Hezbollah terrorists were killed, AFP reported.

“Such aggressive actions against the Syrian Arab Republic, which constitute a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty and the basic norms of international law, are categorically unacceptable,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement quoted by the news agency.

“We strongly condemn these provocative acts of force, which carry extremely dangerous consequences in terms of a sharp deterioration of the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” she added.

The Syrian army attributed Thursday night’s strikes to Israel and “terrorist organizations”.

The IDF has not commented on the strikes.

Arutz Sheva

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Anti-Israel protesters chanted against US President Joe Biden, the United States of America, and Israel at the Democrat’s star-studded fundraiser featuring former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the New York City Radio City Music Hall on Thursday.

“Down with the USA,” chanted protesters in a video taken by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager. “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu you will pay.”

In the same video protesters chanted, “Al-Qassam are on their way,” referring to Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

Anti-Imperialist rhetoric was repeated by protesters, who in a Palestinian Youth Movement video called “Hands of the middle east, from the belly of the beast” and in another video tied Palestine to other conflicts, proclaiming “From Haiti to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” demonstrators chanted. “When people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

Jerusalem Post

Day 183 — Saturday, April 6

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a non-binding resolution on Friday demanding Israel be held accountable for potential war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was the first resolution UNHRC has passed since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

The resolution, introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, passed with 28 votes in favor, 13 abstentions, and 6 votes against, including the United States. The Palestinian delegation and its supporters cheered and applauded when the resolution was passed.

The Palestinians were not magnanimous in victory, complaining that too many Western states still voted against the condemnation of Israel. Germany joined the United States in voting against the resolution, while France and Japan abstained.

“There have been calls for accountability across the world, but that position changes when we’re talking about Israel,” complained Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Khiraishi.

Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, on the other hand, denounced the resolution as “a stain for the Human Rights Council and for the U.N. as a whole.”

Shahar said UNHRC has “long abandoned the Israeli people, and long defended Hamas.”

“According to the resolution before you today, Israel has no right to protect its people, while Hamas has every right to murder and torture innocent Israelis. A vote ‘Yes’ is a vote for Hamas,” she said.

“I don’t know if any of you counted, but Israel appears in the resolution 59 times. 59 times. Hamas does not appear at all,” she told reporters before leaving the U.N. for the day.

The UNHRC resolution astonishingly did not mention Hamas by name nor condemn it for the October 7 atrocities or its subsequent activities in Gaza — including its now-proven use of hospitals as weapons depots and command centers.

The resolution’s sole acknowledgement of the brutal tactics employed by Hamas were a mild condemnation of rockets fired at civilian targets in Israel — a war crime Hamas and its Iran-backed allies perpetrate on an almost daily basis — and a call for “the immediate release of all hostages,” without mentioning who they are, or who is holding them prisoner.

U.S. Ambassador Michele Taylor said these omissions were the reasons why the Biden administration could not support the resolution, although she still went out of her way to criticize Israel, in keeping with the administration’s increasingly critical posture after the airstrike by Israel that killed seven foreign aid workers in Gaza on Monday.

“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to de-conflict military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure humanitarian actors can carry out their essential mission in safety,” Taylor said.

“That has not happened and, in just six months, more humanitarians have been killed in this conflict than in any war of the modern era,” she claimed.

The text of the UNHRC resolution originally accused Israel of “genocide,” language the Palestinian delegation to the U.N. constantly uses, but those references were softened to an expression of “grave concern at statements by Israeli officials amounting to incitement to genocide.”

The resolution demanded an “immediate ceasefire,” called on Israel to refrain from “any large-scale military operations against the city of Rafah,” and urged U.N. member states to “prevent the continued forcible transfer of Palestinians within and from Gaza.”

The text called for all countries to “cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel,” in order to “prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights.”

The resolution accused Israel of using “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza,” without mentioning Israel’s allegations that Hamas terrorists have been looting aid trucks.

The resolution additionally demanded Israel “immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of collective punishment.”

Breitbart

Day 183 — Saturday, April 6

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly addressed Iran at a high-level meeting on Thursday night, warning the Islamic Republic that whoever harms or plans to harm the Jewish state will be hurt back.

“For years, Iran has been working against us, both directly and through its proxies, and therefore Israel has been working against Iran and its proxies, both on the defense and offense,” said the premier.

“We will know how to defend ourselves and will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us—we will hurt him,” he added.

Israel’s Political-Security Cabinet gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday night to discuss the Iranian threat, as well as to receive an update on the ongoing hostage negotiations with Hamas.

On Monday, seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including its leader in Syria and Lebanon, were killed in an attack in Damascus that targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi was the most senior regime official to be killed since Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran in an assassination attributed to Israel four years ago.

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for the attack, but four officials have told The New York Times that Jerusalem ordered the strike.

Senior sources in the Iranian regime told Reuters on Thursday that Tehran would give a “serious response” to the raid, though suggested that it would avoid a direct clash with Israel and the United States.

According to Israeli assessments reported by Channel 12, Iran could attempt to strike Israel through one of its terror proxies—Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or militia forces in Syria.

The Israel Defense Forces has been placed on high alert, resulting in combat soldiers’ weekend leaves being canceled and the military calling up additional reserve soldiers to the IDF Aerial Defense Array.

JNS 

Day 183 — Saturday, April 6

Harvard University is employing around-the-clock security to protect an anti-Israel “apartheid wall” created by students that features a quote from the leader of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

The wall includes various anti-Israel art and a quote from Ghassan Kanafani, the former spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a communist Palestinian terrorist organization known for hijacking aircraft and mass murder. Kanafani was assassinated in Beirut in June of 1972 by the Mossad after being linked to the massacre of 26 people—including American tourists—at Ben Gurion airport two months earlier, according to Jewish News Syndicate.

“The Palestinian cause is not a cause for Palestinians only, but a cause for every revolutionary wherever he is, as a cause of the exploited and oppressed masses in our era,” the Kanafani quote reads.

The guards have been giving the display 24-hour coverage while sporting jackets with a Securitas logo, a security firm that has a relationship with Harvard. A Harvard alum who lives near campus told The Daily Wire that one of the security guards started yelling when asked who he was employed by.

“He thought that we were filming and started yelling at us that we are escalating the situation and that he is going to call his supervisor,” the alum who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said. “He started walking to the car and then turned around and started yelling that we are going to threaten him in his family, because this is what ‘you people do,’ threaten people and steal their lands.”

When the alum notified the Harvard Police, they confirmed he worked for a security firm contracted by the school and said that the guard would not return to protect the wall.

“To pay to have a guard 24/7 protecting a wall that displays statements issued by U.S.-designated terror organizations, and propagates conspiracies against Israel and the Jewish people, and simultaneously not do so to protect posters of hostages whose photos have been hatefully and regularly defaced and vandalized, is bizarre and poor judgment in the extreme,” Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi told The Daily Wire.

Fliers of Jewish civilians taken hostage by Hamas have been repeatedly vandalized on campus, including last month when a groundskeeper employed by a company contracted by Harvard acted aggressively when being confronted for ripping down posters. He was asked to leave campus and will not be assigned to work on campus again, according to a Harvard spokesperson.

In another incident, hostage posters were vandalized with anti-Semitic and 9/11 conspiracy graffiti at the start of this spring semester.

In December, Zarchi revealed for the first time that the university told him that he must put away the menorah he lights on campus during Hannukah to avoid vandalism.

“The university, since the first Hanukkah, would not allow us to keep this menorah here overnight because there is fear that it will be vandalized,” he said at the time. “We in the Jewish community are instructed, ‘We’ll let you have the menorah. You made your point. Okay, pack it up. Don’t leave it out overnight because there will be criminal activity, we fear, and it won’t look good.”

“It pains me to have to say, sadly, that Jew-hate and anti-Semitism is thriving on this campus,” he added. “26 years I’ve given my life to this community. I’ve never felt so alone.”

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a graduate student who is suing Harvard over claims of enabling anti-Semitism, said the quote is part of a bigger trend of anti-Jewish hate on the campus.

“It is hardly surprising that the same group of students who interrupt classes to yell about globalizing the intifada, publish and promote anti-Semitic cartoons, and intimidate Jewish students on campus would also be comfortable quoting and glorifying Palestinian terrorism,” he said.

Harvard University did not respond to a request for comment.

Daily Wire 

Day 182 — Friday, April 5

Israeli embassies across the globe were placed on high alert following increasing threats of an Iranian attack on Israeli diplomats, sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Additionally, some ambassadors have been requested not to arrive at public events over fears for their security.

These reports come following an alleged Israeli strike on Syria, which killed senior Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) member Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

According to Israeli media, diplomats serving abroad have expressed their concern that their embassies will be the target of Iranian retaliation.

On October 8, one day after Hamas launched its massacre of southern Israel last year, embassies across the world were also notified of concrete threats to their security.

Those threats materialized in some embassies.

On October 13, a staffer at the Israeli embassy in Beijing was assaulted and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Jerusalem Post

Day 182 — Friday, April 5

Last week, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding from Israel an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan. It passed by a vote of 14-0 with one abstention—the United States.

Though the resolution called for the release of the hostages, The Times of Israel pointed out this fact about the resolution:

It does not require the release by Hamas of the 130 Israeli hostages it has been holding since October 7 in order for the ceasefire demand to become operative.

Furthermore, the resolution issues a ceasefire call that Israel, a party to the UN Charter, will now be pressured by the international community to heed, while Hamas, a barbaric terrorist organization that regards itself as answerable to nothing but its own Jew-killing genocidal ideology, will blithely ignore the demand to unconditionally free the hostages.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence immediately responded: “This is a disgrace. The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire that makes no mention of Hamas or October 7th and the Biden Administration let it pass without a veto.”

Pence further went on to say that “after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust Israel must be allowed to wage war until Hamas is destroyed once and for all.” I agree with him.

There is a clear shift happening in the United States’ support for Israel.

The day following that shameful UN resolution, a container ship leaving Baltimore’s Port hit one of the three main supports of the Francis Scott Key bridge, resulting in its tragic collapse. Some are saying it was a cyber attack. The incident is still under investigation, but what I am sure of is that God allowed it to happen. When the US turned its back on Israel on March 25th, it was certainly not the way to bring blessing upon America—in fact, just the opposite.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) estimated that “nearly 4,900 trucks traveled the bridge every day, carrying about $28 billion in goods every year,” according to Fox Business. Thousands of trucks will now need to be rerouted, resulting in a dramatic rise in the cost of all those goods. Some say rebuilding the bridge could take up to 10 years and cost well over 400 million dollars.

Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying this could have been prevented had the US used its veto power to squash the UN’s shameful resolution. However, I do honestly believe Genesis 12:3, which states: “And I will bless them that bless thee [Israel], and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

We know from history that when a nation curses God’s chosen people, God will curse that nation, just as He did with the ancient Egyptians, ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, ancient Greece, Rome, and the Third Reich. Where are all those ancient empires that came against God’s chosen people? They’re all gone. Where is Israel? Right back in the land that He swore to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You would think the world would have learned this by now, but they keep testing the God of the universe. And they will continue to do so until it climaxes one day at the end of the tribulation. During that time all nations will come against God’s chosen people (Zechariah 14:2). It’s not hard to imagine that happening when we can see glimpses of that today.

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

President Joe Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday between the two leaders, threatening a loss of U.S. support for the war if Israel does not comply.

In a statement, the White House said:

President Biden spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza. President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable. He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps. He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home. The two leaders also discussed public Iranian threats against Israel and the Israeli people. President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats.

Biden’s statement confirms that the U.S. has effectively adopted Hamas’s demand that a ceasefire precede a deal to release the remaining 134 Israeli hostages. The U.S. previously agreed with Israel that a ceasefire depended on a deal.

Last month, when the U.S. abstained from United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, allowing it to pass, the Biden administration denied it had changed its policy, though the resolution detached a hostage deal from a ceasefire.

In a press briefing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby would not state what the consequences would be, specifically, if Israel did not make the changes Biden had demanded.

Kirby said that the accidental killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in an airstrike earlier in the week was one of the more important factors in pushing Biden toward the demand for a ceasefire, which he had long resisted.

The effect of Biden’s demand is that Israel will find it extremely difficult to achieve its war goals. If it chooses to pursue the last Hamas battalions in Rafah, it will do so without U.S. support. And if it tries to reach a hostage deal, Israel will have to do so without the leverage of U.S. support for continued military operations against Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas’s strategy throughout the war has been to separate Israel from U.S. support. It has done so by using Palestinian civilians as human shields, hoping to maximize civilian casualties and generate international outrage.

Biden’s demand marks the success of Hamas’s strategy — unless Israel is willing to continue the war in Gaza alone.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the country prepared for possible reprisal attacks from Iran, after an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals earlier in the week. Iran arms and funds terrorist proxies that have been attacking Israel.

When Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Kirby whether Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas was “unwavering,” as Biden had promised after October 7, Kirby struggled to reconcile that promise with the threat of policy changes.

Breitbart

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

Shalom from the lush Jezreel Valley! Looking from my home to the vast swaths of farmland below, it is hard to believe that my country is at war. It is beautiful, serene, pastoral – until an Israeli Air Force fighter jet flies at low altitude over my head coming in for a land at the nearby airbase. On the one hand is a magnificent colorful bounty filling the land. On the other is war. That has been the juxtaposition of Israel for millennia.

Because of the unique nature of this nation, however, the battles are not limited to the physical. Yes, there is the war in Gaza, the constant skirmishing with Lebanon and Syria, and the indirect conflict with Iran through its proxies, which sometimes, like last week, becomes very direct. It is this action of blood and bombs that gets the headlines, leads to protests, causes the United Nations to pass silly resolutions, and is turned into political fodder for upcoming elections. And it is right that this violent conflict receives its proper attention. Lives are being lost on both sides of the battlelines and humanitarian suffering is rife due to the disregard which Hamas feels for their own people, using civilians as human shields and turning hospitals and schools into military bases.

The other war, however, did not begin on October 7. True, it has been exacerbated since then, but it is a battle that has been going on since the early church. This is a spiritual battle for the legitimacy of the Jewish people and, since 1948, the State of Israel. It is astounding to me how many Christians believe that God is done with the Jews. Whether it is because of their idolatrous past that led to their exile or because there were a group of them 2000 years ago who were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, they feel that God finally had enough of that rebellious people and kicked them to the curb in favor of the church. And, once again, this is nothing new. The whole reason Paul wrote Romans 9-11 was to address this exact fallacy. It’s also the reason why several years ago, I wrote the book Israel and the Church.

We are on the front lines of a serious battle. We are not warring in Gaza or up in the north. We are fighting the spiritual battle that the enemy has been waging against God and His chosen people for time immemorial. I invite you to join us in this battle. Invest time to learn how we can be sure that just like a father will never abandon his children, our God will never reject the people He loves – referring both to the holy people of Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6) and the holy people of the church (1 Peter 2:9). Then, armed with this knowledge, take what opportunities God presents to let those around you know that, yes, God has brought His people, the Jews, back to the promised land just as He said He would in Ezekiel 36-37, restoring them as a nation. And, yes, the Lord has a future plan for Israel that will include a mass revival (Romans 11:25-29) and a reconciliation with the One whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10).

Our God is faithful, and we must not allow the enemy to besmirch the character of our Lord by saying that His eternal love is only temporary and His promises are dependent upon our behavior.

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

The IDF said on Wednesday that it bolstered its air defense array and had called up reservists, as the country girded for a potential Iranian response to a strike in Syria earlier this week in which several high-ranking Iranian military officials were killed.

Both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have vowed that Israel will not go unpunished for the Monday attack on a consular building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most senior official in Syria, along with his deputy, five other IRGC officers, and at least one member of the Hezbollah terror group.

A Channel 12 news report reflecting Israeli speculation on a possible reprisal pointed to the possibility that Iran could respond by directly launching missiles from its own territory rather than via any of its proxy groups, which include militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

While Israel could suffice with letting the round of hostilities fizzle out, in the event that Iran responds via a proxy, such as a Hezbollah rocket barrage, an attack from Iranian territory would likely push the Israel Defense Forces to launch a significant reprisal, risking sending tensions snowballing further.

“I won’t be surprised if Iran fires directly at Israel,” former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin told the network, explaining that a January missile strike carried out by Iran on neighboring Pakistan set a precedent for such action.

Hebrew-language media reports said the decision to beef up air defenses and call up troops came following a threat assessment.

Several rockets have been fired at Israel from Lebanon by Hezbollah since Monday’s attack, though there has been no indication that they went beyond daily cross-border fire that has raised tensions on Israel’s northern frontier since October 8.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge for the Monday strike, and posters parroting his words have gone up around Tehran in a sign of public pressure for an Iranian response.

“The defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza will continue and this regime will be close to decline and dissolution,” Khamenei said in a speech to the country’s officials in Tehran Wednesday.

“Desperate efforts like the one they committed in Syria will not save them from defeat. Of course, they will also be slapped for that action,” he added.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier on Wednesday that Israel is “increasing preparedness” in the face of threats from across the Middle East.

Speaking at a home-front readiness drill in Haifa, Gallant said that the country’s defense establishment is “expanding our operations against Hezbollah, against other bodies that threaten us,” and reiterated that Israel “strikes our enemies all over the Middle East.”

“We need to be prepared and ready for every scenario and every threat” against near enemies and distant enemies,” Gallant said, vowing that “we will know how to protect the citizens of Israel and we will know how to attack our enemies.”

Addressing the daily attacks on the northern border by the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Gallant said that one of the main issues Israel is facing is how to make it possible for some 80,000 displaced Israelis return safely to their homes in northern Israel.

“We prefer… an agreement that will result in the removal of the threat, but we have to prepare for the possibility of [using] force in Lebanon that can also take into account the scenario we are describing here, which is a scenario of war, and we need to be prepared for this issue and understand that it can happen,” Gallant said.

Times Of Israel

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

Here are some truths that seem self-evident:

Number 1 — It is the job of government to protect its people from armies of terror.

Number 2 — If, in an obvious act of war, a terrorist army attacks a country by intentionally murdering, raping, mutilating, burning, terrorizing, and kidnapping its citizens, then the government of the attacked country is morally obligated to do all in its power to stop the attack, and to prevent future attacks.

Number 3 — If an army of terror takes civilian hostages during an attack on what we will call Country-A, it compels the government of Country-A to find and rescue the hostages. When the kidnapped hostages are hidden away in inhumane conditions — with many being raped, most being tortured, and some being murdered — it should be understood and accepted that the government of Country-A will use force to find and rescue those hostages.

Number 4 — If a terrorist entity over a period of decades has attacked Country-A at every opportunity, and if the terror group continues to show from its actions and/or words that it intends to keep on attacking the citizens of Country-A, then Country-A’s government must use force to end the invaders’ ability to wage war on its citizens.

Number 5 — If a terrorist entity has shown that it will not keep its side of any bargain struck, and that it negotiates only as a stalling tactic, never negotiating in good faith, then it increases the likelihood that force will become necessary because negotiation without truth is futile.

Number 6 — If the terrorists say and believe it is their religious duty to destroy Country-A and kill its citizens, it is unlikely such deeply held beliefs will quickly change. This endangers civilians on all sides. Because they see their violent assaults as a religious obligation, stopping such terrorists will almost certainly require force.

Number 7 — If leaders of a terrorist entity declare to the world that their organization will not stop its attacks on Country-A until it is destroyed and its citizens killed, it would be immoral for Country-A to do anything less than try to destroy the terrorist entity.

Number 8 — If the terrorist entity starts a war, and then retreats into civilian areas, using civilians as human shields, the nations should understand that no matter how hard Country-A tries not to harm civilians in its war response, sadly but inevitably, civilians will be killed and injured.

Number 9 — In its war response, Country-A must try to protect civilians on both sides, but war is neither clean nor easy. It is messy and ugly. Things are destroyed and people killed. Responsibility for the destruction and harm falls on those who started the war.

Number 10 — These self-evident truths apply to Israel and Hamas as they would to other countries and other terrorist organizations.

Hal Lindsey Report

Day 181 — Thursday, April 4

The world continues to distance itself from Israel and the Jewish people, giving increasing credence to the prophecies of Zechariah 12. The weed of Jew-hatred has found fertile soil in the various conspiracy theories spun about the Jewish people, spanning over centuries. Post-modernism has also added a challenge to debunking conspiracy theories since truth has become relative in many people’s minds. As a result, we are seeing an exponential increase in global antisemitism, and once again, the Jewish people are paying a high price as the ultimate scapegoats of humanity.

The tragedy of October 7, 2023, in Israel, has also helped to increase the momentum that certain conspiracy theories had over time. As global antisemitism now seems to be completely out in the open with no restraining in sight, those who are friends of Israel and have a genuine love for the Jewish people must equip themselves on how to debunk the main conspiracy theories against the Jewish people.

I want to look at the theory that modern Jews are descendants of the Khazars and have no ties to the original Judean Jews. Some people call it a theory, and others call it a hypothesis. How about calling it a conspiracy theory? The Khazars and their connection to the Jewish people continue to be shrouded in mystery, and yet, the theory exists that modern Jews are descendants of the Khazars and not of biblical Jews.

In the mid-seventies, in his book “The Thirteenth Tribe,” Arthur Koestler posited that modern Jews are all descendants of the Khazars and no longer have any connection to biblical Jews. His theory quickly became a convenient approach to delegitimizing Israel and the Jewish people’s right to the Land since, according to Koestler, the Jews of today are not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Day 180 — Wednesday, April 3

President Joe Biden issued a statement late Tuesday in response to the accidental killing of seven aid workers in Gaza by an Israel airstrike, blaming Israel for aid distribution problems and claiming Israel is not doing enough to protect civilians.

Biden’s statement barely mentioned Hamas — neither its tactic of using civilians as human shields, nor its practice of stealing humanitarian aid. (The tragic airstrike was targeting an armed Hamas member who was not present.)

In his statement, Biden said (emphasis added):

I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.

Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid workers’ vehicles were hit by airstrikes. That investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.

Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult – because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.

In 2021, the U.S. military killed ten civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a drone attack. The Biden administration claimed that the strike had been “righteous,” but later admitted that it had made a terrible mistake.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could not tell Congress at the time whether the person who had been killed — along with seven children — had been a civilian aid worker or a terrorist.

The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, apologized publicly in a video statement, saying that the airstrike, which hit a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy, had been a case of mistaken identity.

“I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Breitbart

Day 180 — Wednesday, April 3

A suspected terror attack occurred in Kochav Yair near a checkpoint in central Israel, Israel Police confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The terrorist, a 26-year-old Israeli-Arab from Tira, was driving in the area of Kochav Yair and ran over four policemen, injuring one of them seriously, with the others in moderate condition.

Israel Police opened an investigation into the circumstances, where four people were run over by the suspect, who, after exiting the car, then tried to stab security guards at the Eliyahu checkpoint. The suspected terrorist was neutralized, and another suspect fled the scene.

Jerusalem Post

Day 179 — Tuesday, April 2

Iran accused Israel Monday of carrying out an airstrike on a building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus that killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the top Iranian commander in Syria.

The strike in the Damascus-area municipality of Mezzeh hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy, footage showed.

Though Israel has not commented on the strike, The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials as confirming the country was behind the attack.

A Reuters report said a building in the embassy compound was “flattened,” in what it said was “a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.” Iran’s SSN news website said the targeted building was Iran’s consulate and ambassador’s residence.

The IRGC in a statement carried by Iranian media announced the deaths of seven members, including its senior-most official in Syria, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy Mohammad Haj Rahimi.

Zahedi was a top commander in IRGC’s Quds Force, a US-designated terrorist organization.

He was reportedly responsible for the unit’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries. Israel’s Army Radio said Zahedi oversaw all Iranian terrorist operations against Israel from Syria, Lebanon “and the Palestinian sphere.”

His death was the most significant killing of an IRGC leader since the US assassinated Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January, 2020.

The IRGC also listed officers Hossein Aminullah, Seyyed Mahdi Jalalati, Mohsen Sadaqat, Ali Agha Babaei, and Seyyed Ali Salehi Rouzbahani among the dead.

Reuters quoted Iran’s ambassador in Syria warning that Iran’s response to the strike would be harsh.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, meanwhile, said in a call with his Syrian counterpart that Tehran holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack, Iran’s state media reported.

The strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus is “a breach of all international conventions,” Amirabdollahian added.

SANA said rescue authorities were working to extract dead and wounded people from under the rubble.

While Israel does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed terror groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country over the last decade. The Israeli military says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief among them Hezbollah. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.

Faced with ongoing attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and Shiite militias throughout the Middle East in the wake of Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iran-linked terror targets in Syria, killing numerous IRGC operatives, as well as members of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxy groups.

Times Of Israel 

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Although many may simply view Israeli strikes in Syria as a regular occurrence in the region, Christians take particular notice when discussing military actions in the country’s capital. That is because Damascus, which is the longest continually inhabited city in the world, has its future end detailed in Scripture.

Jack Hibbs, the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, after a previous Israeli strike near Damascus, explained the city’s Biblical significance.

“For those of us who know our Bibles, it’s always an attention-getter whenever we hear about Damascus being involved in any form of warfare,” Hibbs described. “The book of Isaiah chapter 17 tells us that there will be an utter and total devastation that comes to the city of Damascus.”

Isaiah 17:1 reads, “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.”

“With all that’s going on in the world right now, keep your eye on the news with your Bible open,” Pastor Hibbs underscored. “It may be that such an event will trigger either a regional or world war…”

According to Hibbs and many other Bible Prophecy students, Damascus’ future destruction may also be the catalyst for “the Ezekiel 38 battle,” in-which Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others come together from the north, with weaponry supplied by Russia, to attack the Jewish State.

Day 179 — Tuesday, April 2

The Metropolitan Police are under fire after a London police officer was filmed saying that swastika displays during pro-Hamas protests “need to be taken into context” and may not be automatically antisemitic in an incident which the Jewish News Syndicate stated was reminiscent of the testimony by Ivy League university presidents to Congress last year that calls for genocide against the Jewish people depended on “the context.”

In the footage posted to social media, a woman asks the officer why another policeman told her “that a swastika was not necessarily antisemitic or a disruption of public order.”

“That doesn’t seem right to me,” the woman said.

“A swastika is a swastika,” she added. “Under what context is a swastika not disrupting public order?”

The officer cited the relevant statutes under which the police have the power to deal with disruptive protestors and stated, “I haven’t said anything about it — that it is or isn’t — everything needs to be taken in context doesn’t it?”

“Why is a swastika not immediately antisemitism? Why does it need context? This is what I’m confused about.” the woman replied. “In what context is a swastika not antisemitic and disruptive to public order? That is my question.”

Another woman added, “Yeah but it’s a context of a hateful march.”

The officer stated that he did not have “in-depth knowledge of signs and symbols.”

“I know the swastika was used by the Nazi Party during their inception, and the period of them being in power in Germany in 1934, I’m aware of that,” he said.

Social Creative CEO Emily Schrader, who posted the video to social media, wrote, “If you’re holding a sign with a swastika at an anti-Israel march — this is blatantly antisemitic.”

“Come on Met Police… this is pathetic,” Schrader said.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) organization called the officer’s position “absolutely gobsmacking.”

“The very notion that a British police officer could imagine a context in which the Nazi swastika is an acceptable image to be displayed in public is distressing,” a CAA spokesperson told the Daily Mail. The spokesperson added that the policeman’s response disrespected the thousands of British soldiers and civilians who died to prevent the Nazi flag from flying over Britain during World War Two.

The Metropolitan Police defended the officer in the video and stated that he would not be disciplined.

Arutz Sheva

Day 178 — Monday, April 1

One area where we would not expect to find this vitriol for Israel and the Jews is within the church. Sadly, as Amir Tsarfati explains, bad theology—which dismisses God’s ongoing promises to His chosen people, the Jews—has opened the door for this hatred to spread into numerous churches.

“[The] saddest and most concerning, in my opinion, is the poison that is spreading in churches across the U.S., which makes a distinction between Israel today and the Israel of the Bible,” he underscored. “A growing number of church-goers, mostly in the evangelical camp, are questioning modern Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”

“Replacement theology” insists that the execution of Jesus Christ caused the Jewish people to forfeit the promises and eternal covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Under this theology, the church replaced Israel two thousand years ago in the plan of God, the commands for Christians to pray for, bless, and stand with the Jewish State are disregarded, and the miraculous nature of Israel’s re-establishment in 1948, as prophecied in the Old and New Testament, is overlooked.

This denigration of the Jewish people and large swaths of the Bible leaves a gaping hole for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment to creep in.

“If anything, the church’s attitude towards Israel should be the exact opposite!” Tsarfati noted, adding that while this kind of behavior in a fallen world is unsurprising, “I do expect much better from those who describe themselves as followers of Christ!”

Day 178 — Monday, April 1

Israel will defeat Hamas by entering the terrorist stronghold of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and destroying the remaining battalions there, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Sunday night.

“There is no victory without entering Rafah; there is no victory without destroying the Hamas battalions there,” said Netanyahu in a primetime address, adding that the operation “will take time, but it will happen.”

The premier reiterated that only a combination of military pressure and tough negotiations would bring about the release of the remaining 134 hostages taken to Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7.

“I will do everything possible to bring everyone home. Every time there is some intelligence about them and the operational needs allow it, I authorize missions to bring them out [of Gaza],” he said.

“As Israel showed more openness in the negotiations, Hamas hardened its stance,” stated Netanyahu. He claimed that Hamas is demanding the return of all residents of northern Gaza, including terrorists.

“I’m committed to bringing everyone back, all of our men and women, soldiers, citizens—I will not leave anyone behind. God willing, we will continue to work, continue to fight, and we will win together,” he said.

Netanyahu addressed the nation as the Israel Defense Forces is inching closer to launching a major ground operation targeting the last four Hamas terrorist battalions holed up in Rafah.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in remarks during a visit to the 98th Division’s headquarters on Sunday, vowed to keep fighting until the IDF eliminates or captures “all terrorists, all over the Gaza Strip.”

The looming incursion has resulted in friction with the United States administration.

JNS

Day 177 — Sunday, March 31

Israel Defense Forces will “expand the campaign” against Hezbollah on its northern border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Friday, as the IDF carried out several targeted eliminations of enemy commanders over the past few days.

“Israel is turning from defending to pursuing Hezbollah, we will reach wherever the organization operates, in Beirut, Damascus, and in more distant places,” Gallant said after an assessment at the IDF’s Northern Command.

Following alleged Israeli strikes in Syria that reportedly killed dozens, including a senior Hezbollah commander on Friday morning, the IDF later announced it had eliminated the group’s deputy commander of its rocket and missile unit.

צה״ל תקף וחיסל באמצעות כלי טיס של חיל האוויר מוקדם יותר היום במרחב אל-בזוריה שבלבנון את עלי עבד אלחסן נעים, מחבל חיזבאללה ששימש כסגן מפקד יחידת הרקטות והטילים של ארגון הטרור >> pic.twitter.com/6xOdvDVxki

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 29, 2024

Gallant said he observed the strike against Ali Naim, who was killed in an airstrike while driving his car near al-Bazouriye.

Naim was considered a “significant center of knowledge in the organization, a leader in the field of rockets, and among the pioneers of the strategy of launching heavy rockets,” the IDF said.

“As part of his role he worked to plan and carry out attacks against Israel’s home front,” the army added.

“The one responsible for the serious damage in Lebanon is Hezbollah and the one responsible for the many casualties in the Hezbollah group is [Hassan] Nasrallah personally,” Gallant said on Friday.

“They have over 320 killed terrorists, and we will exact a price for any action coming out of Lebanon. Wherever we need to act, we will act,” he vowed.

“Israeli intelligence has been conducting successful operations targeting Hezbollah’s command structures in Lebanon since the beginning of the war,” said Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), regarding the strike.

“The strike on Ali Naim not only dealt a blow to the group but also sent a clear message that Israel will retaliate decisively against those who threaten its security,” Truzman added.

Hezbollah and the IDF continued exchanging fire over the weekend, with the Lebanese group claiming responsibility for several attacks, including the launch of a heavy Burkan rocket at an IDF post.

Lebanese media reported on Saturday that the IDF was responsible for a strike that injured four members of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Contrary to the reports, the IDF did not strike a UNIFIL vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning,” the Israeli army stated in response.

The car was carrying three UN technical observers and one Lebanese translator when a blast occurred nearby, a source told Reuters.

The blast occurred in a predominantly Christian area, where residents have, on several occasions, prevented Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel from their towns. Consequently, this region has remained untouched by Israeli airstrikes.

The IDF also announced that fighter jets had struck multiple Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon on Friday and Saturday.

Following rocket launches from Lebanon in the area of Biranit, the IDF struck the responsible rocket launcher quickly with assistance from the 146th Division and the Israeli Air Force.

All Israel News 

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

(Toronto, Canada) — Yet another poll concerning the Palestinians revealed that 71% of them support the October 7th attack on Israel.

The poll, whose results closely mirror those of a previous survey taken in November 2023, was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) on March 5th through 10th.

Here are a few of the highlights that the poll indicated:

• 71% of Palestinians say Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7th offensive was correct.
• 64% blame Israel for the suffering of Gazans in the current war, while only 7% blame Hamas
• 94% think that Israel has committed war crimes during the current war, while only 5% think Hamas also committed war crimes
• 64% believe that Hamas will win the war
• 59% say Hamas will be in control of Gaza
• 49% believe Hamas is the most deserving to lead the Palestinian people
• 46% believe that armed struggle is the best means of achieving Palestinian goals
• 59% oppose a return to Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations

In spite of that, the world continues to push Israel to make peace with people who wish them dead.

Our government and universities, which disregard these polls, are the ones to speak out that it’s “all Israel’s fault.”

Friends, antisemitism is growing by leaps and bounds. It’s up over 250% here in Canada and around the world, and our leaders are allowing this to continue and endorsing hate against the Jewish people.

Canada is becoming a scary place for our Jewish friends, and that’s exactly what Canada’s former ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, said last November in an open letter to Deborah Lyons, who serves as Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. Speaking of Toronto in particular, Bercovici noted that the rising antisemitism is beginning to resemble “Germany in 1938.”

We have a real hatred in our country and around the world for Israel and the Jewish people, and I’m going to simply ask you: On what side do you want to be found?

God is crystal clear in Genesis 12:3 that He will “bless those that bless” the Jewish people and “curse those that curse” them.

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Critics reacted in alarm this week after the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri awarded the Associated Press with a “Pictures of the Year” award for photos including an Israeli victim of Hamas.

The most controversial photograph shows the body of 23-year-old Shani Louk, a German-Israeli dual citizen who was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, on the back of a truck. Video would later show Palestinians abusing her corpse.

The Associated Press won “Team Picture Story of the Year” for its coverage of the “Israel and Hamas War.” The accompanying statement by the Reynolds Journalism Institute is riddled with inaccuracies: claiming that Hamas kidnapped “dozens” of people (in fact, hundreds); reciting Hamas statistics on the number of dead in Gaza without distinguishing between terrorists and civilians; and falsely claiming Israel had attacked safe humanitarian areas.

Breitbart News reached out for comment to Lynden Steele, the director of Pictures of the Year International, and received this reply:

RJI and POY strongly condemn the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, and we continue to mourn the loss of innocent lives and human suffering that is occurring in the ongoing conflict. Reactions to the Team Picture Story of the Year express the greater emotions related to that conflict.

This year and every year, the photos in the competition are selected by a panel of professional journalists tasked with identifying compelling representations of the significant news events of the year. While we understand the reactions to the pictures, we also believe that photojournalism plays an important role in bringing attention to the harsh realities of war.

The statement did not address the fact that the AP was found to have used at least one stringer in its coverage who had ties to Hamas and was pictured holding a weapon during the October 7 attack.

Another AP photojournalist allegedly encouraged civilians in Gaza to join the attack and the looting inside Israel. The AP has denied that it had any foreknowledge of the attack, despite having stringers embedded with Hamas terrorists.

Breitbart

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Russia on Friday condemned alleged Israeli strikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Thursday night, in which 36 Syrian soldiers and six Hezbollah terrorists were killed, AFP reported.

“Such aggressive actions against the Syrian Arab Republic, which constitute a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty and the basic norms of international law, are categorically unacceptable,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement quoted by the news agency.

“We strongly condemn these provocative acts of force, which carry extremely dangerous consequences in terms of a sharp deterioration of the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” she added.

The Syrian army attributed Thursday night’s strikes to Israel and “terrorist organizations”.

The IDF has not commented on the strikes.

Arutz Sheva

Day 176 — Saturday, March 30

Anti-Israel protesters chanted against US President Joe Biden, the United States of America, and Israel at the Democrat’s star-studded fundraiser featuring former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the New York City Radio City Music Hall on Thursday.

“Down with the USA,” chanted protesters in a video taken by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager. “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu you will pay.”

In the same video protesters chanted, “Al-Qassam are on their way,” referring to Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

Anti-Imperialist rhetoric was repeated by protesters, who in a Palestinian Youth Movement video called “Hands of the middle east, from the belly of the beast” and in another video tied Palestine to other conflicts, proclaiming “From Haiti to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” demonstrators chanted. “When people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

Jerusalem Post