28 June 2023, Samaria: In May 2021, exactly 2 years before now, Israel suddenly came under Islamic missile attack from armed forces in Gaza, who are funded, supplied, and commanded by Iran. Here’s a series of videos as a recap of Shavuot Season ‘21.
Before I share the first-hand accounts thru video, and news interviews, I quickly want to add: That war in 2021 was unusual not only for the “overwhelm” strategy used by the Gazan rocketeers, but also that Israeli Arabs got into hand-to-hand combat against Israeli Jews in the streets of the mixed cities. What I mean is – Israeli citizens, who are Arabs, who pay taxes to Israel and vote for Parliament (Knesset) Members, and having Arab Israeli representatives occupying seats in the Knesset, and even at that moment in the Coalition not only the Opposition, Israeli Arabs who have lived side by side with Jews for generations, were suddenly, as soon as rockets were raining down from Gaza (Gazans are not citizens) these Arab Israelis went door to door marking the Jewish apartments with paint for the gangs to break in and violate the Jewish families. This had not really happened before, and it was a shock to society. Never before had the Israeli Arab citizens taken sides with the Gazans (who are non-Israelis) in such a blatant, violent, and cruel way. Previously they had done other things such as using cars to mow down Jews standing at the bus stops, which is already cruel, but the street fights and the door-to-door combat among mixed Arab-Jewish neighbors was unprecedented, and used in addition to the car rammings and such. It led to the downfall of the government which was historical in that the Arab Knesset members had joined the coalition for the first time.
To be clear: There were no reports of Jewish neighbors attacking Arabs door-to-door. There were gangs of Jewish young men joining together to defend fellow Jews. I interviewed firsthand one Jewish young man who said that he joined with eighty friends every day (80) to form automobile convoys and drive to the mixed cities in order to fight and defend the Jewish residents of those cities. The Jewish Israeli government of course rebuked such actions and called on Jews to calm themselves and trust in the Army and Police to defend them. However, the only words from the Arab Muslim Knesset Members were to incite the Arab Israelis to continue the street violence.
My first-hand reports of the overhead missiles are below. But first, Sky News Australia interviewed Colonel Richard Kemp, battlefield expert, on Gaza’s attacks and Israel’s responses, and a “fake out” move by which the IDF goaded the armies of Gaza into attacking Israel, which was a clever trap:
At first, the long-range missiles from Gaza were reaching the Jerusalem area, and that was quite a shock, since Iran has difficulty smuggling those into Gaza thru the tunnels in Egypt, and so Jerusalem doesn’t often come under fire for that reason:
Su
Suddenly, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas were also under missile fire, and I was caught out on the street when six of them exploded overhead:
What it felt like for me holed up in a bomb shelter with a cat in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv:
One Shabbat, I was caught outside walking when 23 missiles were simultaneously launched at Bat Yam, Rishon Lezion, Cholon and Tel Aviv. The Gazans were for the first time making a pointed effort to overwhelm the Iron Dome batteries that can only fire 20 anti-missile defenses at a time before reloading:
The day after that was Shavuot Pentecost 2021, and I retraced my steps where I had been under the 23 missiles the day before:
Thanks to all Partners and Intercessors who help me continue the work under difficult circumstances. Pray about our Work.
Other articles and posts:
My suffering contains its reward
Passover ’23: weekend of anti-Jewish violence
Rosh haAyin resident attacked by terrorist, UN calls it ‘a scuffle’
Purim Sameach as snail crosses road