(Galilee, Israel) — Shalom from a nation that is once again in full-blown war! And that’s both a bad thing and a good thing. It’s because, in war, people get killed. Sometimes, those who die are fighting on the evil side and sometimes on the good side. But either way, death ends a person’s window of opportunity for salvation, and that is always a tragedy.
However, sometimes war can also be good because it has the potential to accomplish a task that must be done. That is true in Israel’s case. When we first signed the ceasefire with Hamas, I told you that a day would come when the terrorists would break the agreement, and hostilities would once again commence. We have reached that day. While I wish we could have received our hostages back and seen the dismantling of Hamas without any more bloodshed, it seems the terrorists had other plans. So, there will be more bloodshed, more destruction, and more sorrow.
But this time, because Israel has the full backing of the United States, the hostilities will continue until Israel’s war aims are complete. And, amidst the darkness of war, that at least is one shining light. As always, there is howling at the return to fighting by the international media, including most of the worthless news sources in Israel, saying that Netanyahu is using war to hold on to his tenuous power. When you read those headlines, remember the sources and understand that most in Israel are on his side when it comes to fighting this battle to the end. It must be done, and it must be done now.
For everyone who has been faithfully praying for God to move in the Middle East, we are seeing Him answering those prayers. There has been a major shift of activity in my part of the globe and throughout the world. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Gaza, West Bank, Yemen, Europe, United States, Canada, Egypt, China, and many other nations are experiencing great changes and are facing major decisions regarding alliances and future actions. Almost all of this fluctuation is tied to the Trump factor. You may love him or you may hate him, but there is no doubt that he is a catalyst for change in the structured world order and the most significant geopolitical figure alive today.
Back to War in Gaza
As I mentioned above, the collapse of the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza was inevitable. As the late Foreign Affairs Minister Abba Eban said, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Hamas began dragging its feet on the return of hostages, because the captives are the only currency they have that is worth anything. Finally, the negotiations broke down, and Israel, fully supported by the United States, renewed hostilities. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “From now on, negotiations will only take place under fire.” Aerial attacks by the IDF on Tuesday took a heavy toll on Hamas. More than 400 were killed, most of whom were Hamas, and many of those were high-level players.
Immediately, the media cried out that women and children were among the dead. That is true. But that is what happens when you are fighting an enemy that uses its own people as human shields. Israel does all it can to minimize civilian losses, but the only way to fully eliminate the risk is for the IDF to lay down its weapons and say, “Go ahead and keep the hostages. Our highest goal is to not harm any of the non-combatants behind whom you are hiding.” It’s ridiculous to contemplate, but that is exactly what the media, the protesters, the Israeli Supreme Court, the United Nations, and most of Europe want Israel to do. France has already voiced their condemnation of Israel renewing hostilities, demanding “an immediate end to the violence.” Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. We’ll take it under advisement.
Why doesn’t Israel just pull out and let everything go back to how it was before? We can’t do that because we know Hamas. In testimonies from returned hostages, it’s clear that the tunnel digging in Gaza never stopped, and already, the terrorist group has been planning a second October 7 style invasion. That is why the new IDF ground invasion began with their massive, armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to level everything in northern Gaza.
For those worried that Hamas will just kill all the hostages now, there are two reasons that they will stay their hand. First, as mentioned above, the captive Israelis are their only currency. If there are no hostages, then the only way one needs to talk to them is through the barrel of a gun. Second, Netanyahu has now tied the safety of the hostages to the one thing that matters to the Palestinians – land. He has made it clear to Hamas that if they take one hostage’s life, 5% of their land will be annexed to Israel. Two hostages, 10%, and so on. There is no more room for compromise. Hamas has played its last card, and they have gone bust. They just don’t quite know it yet. Like walking dead men, just this morning they fired three M-90 rockets toward Tel Aviv. This was the first time in 164 days, and they proved just as ineffective as before. Extensive attacks are taking place in the north of Gaza in response.
Israel Strikes in Syria
Transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria learned to be a terrorist while part of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Since breaking with the extremist group and forming Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), he’s tried to portray himself as a more moderate, less-jihadi kind of leader. Many in the West have bought into his act, particularly after his group took the lead in driving out the hated Bashar al-Assad from Syria.
Germany has even pledged to send $300 million more euros in aid to the struggling nation. But al-Sharaa is not a kinder, gentler kind of terrorist. One only needs to look at the estimated 7000 Alawites and Christians that his people have slaughtered in the last several weeks.
That is not the kind of evil that Israel can have along its border, so the IDF is carrying out military strikes throughout southern Syria to create a necessary buffer zone. Al-Sharaa is not fighting back, because he has enough internal problems, as well as struggles with Lebanon, to worry about dealing with Israel.
Hezbollah on Last Legs in Lebanon
Speaking of clashes with Lebanon, skirmishes are taking place between Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah and Sunni Syria in the north. That fight is demanding all the attention of the dwindling Lebanese terror group. Meanwhile, in the south, Israel continues its five outposts inside Lebanon’s borders so that there is a buffer in that country also. I must tell you that this is a very strange place for me to be in as an Israeli. For the past 35 years and more, Hezbollah and Syria were always a real threat to our safety. That is no longer true. And once we deal with Gaza and the terrorist networks throughout the West Bank, we will have peace all around. A nation living in peace – anyone else thinking about the Ezekiel 38 war?
U.S. Strikes in Yemen
I’ve got to hand it to the Houthi rebels in Yemen; they may be dumb, but they’re brave. Like a barroom brawler with “short guy syndrome”, the Houthis will take a swing at anyone they believe deserves to be swung at. They may get knocked down by an Israeli strike or a U.S. attack, but they’ll get back up again and keep fighting. They love them some piracy.
Through early 2025, Houthi activity has cost an estimated $250 billion in shipping expenses, and transport from Asia to Europe or the U.S. now takes about 25% longer. They’re also fans of shooting missiles. Their buddies down in Tehran have given them some long-range missiles, then dared the rebels to shoot them at Israel. So, every now and then, they do, like they did Tuesday night. And, as typically happens, Israel shot it down with an Arrow missile over Saudi Arabia. Then, last night, they shot another one, and Israel’s Air Force took that one out, too, before it reached Israeli airspace.
But even scrappy short guy brawlers sometimes come up against an opponent who just doesn’t have time for his games anymore. That opponent is the current administration headquartered in the White House, which is going after the Houthis in two ways.
First, the U.S. Air Force is devastating targets throughout Yemen with the kind of violence they were never allowed to employ under the previous administration.
Second, President Trump has gone after the Houthi’s funding, calling out Yemen’s buddies in Tehran and telling the ayatollahs that they will personally be held responsible for any new attacks by the terror group. At a time when their currency has plummeted to a record one million rials to the dollar, Iran has little room to play games. It’s time for the Houthis mini reign of terror to end. No one will miss them, except for Iran and, maybe, Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded from his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, that the U.S. halt all military action against the Houthis. Rubio essentially told him, “Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. We’ll take that under advisement.”
Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks
President Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy yesterday and said he felt encouraged by the direction the conversation went. The president has also had significant conversations with Russian President Putin, which is more than could be said for the previous American president.
Right now, Trump is walking softly and carrying a big stick, and both parties in the war are listening to him. Zelenskyy is listening because he doesn’t have a choice. Even after the Europeans gave him a shoulder to cry on after his devastating meeting at the White House, the Ukrainian president still came back to Trump because financially he had to.
Putin appears to be meeting with Trump out of respect and necessity. Russia knows that their cards are not great. Their energy sector, so important to the Russian economy, is struggling, and their military successes are not what they were initially. So, both are slowly proceeding to see where it goes.
The Fall of Erdoğan?
In the early morning hours Wednesday, police raided the home of Ekrem Imamoglu, taking him into custody on suspicion of corruption and terror links. Who is this man? He is the mayor of Istanbul and chief political rival of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. People took to the streets! Eventually, millions participated in protests throughout the country and rioters have taken over the Ministry of Justice building.
Erdoğan is reported to have gone into hiding, and there is a report that Turkish troops are being called back from Syria to help control the uprising. Imamoglu was about to be nominated to run against the president in an upcoming election, so it’s hard not to see the mayor’s arrest as being politically motivated.
Could we be watching the beginning of the end of Erdoğan, or could this be another Reichstag fire carried out by the president to bolster his support and clear out his enemies? Many believe that is exactly what happened in the “coup attempt” against Erdoğan in 2016.
The Almighty Courts
Israel and the United States have something in common. Both nations are being severely damaged by activist judges who are using their seats to thwart the will of the executive branch. In Israel, we have seen this for years and it was reaching its zenith when October 7 took place and stifled it for a short time. In the United States, activist judges have been damaging the country also, but it has been more subtle because of the party that was previously in power. Now, however, with the new administration, the judicial branch appears to be doing all it can to carry out a soft coup by usurping the authority of the executive.
It will be an interesting battle to watch. On the one hand, Trump is not one to back down. On the other, many within the heavily left-leaning judiciary have been looking for an excuse to throw him into jail for quite a while. Does Attorney General Pam Bondi have the authority and the chutzpah to straighten things out? Stay tuned.
