Author: Teddy Chadwick

3 Dec 2023, Samaria: Making delivery of home defense supplies in the village in Samaria.  Yes, we do realize that pepper spray and batons are not all that much help against murderous antisemites, but it’s better than nothing, and nonlethal.  Pepper spray blinds and chokes the attacker’s breathing for up to 40 minutes.  A baton is a nonlethal tool used by police around the world.

As for firearms, Israel has quite a lengthy application, approval, and training process for every individual that seeks to acquire a firearm.  After Oct 7 there has been a surge in applications.  We’re not involved in that.  Only nonlethal means such as bulletproof vests, pepper spray, batons.

Here at Jerusalem Tabernacle of David our defense goal is to supply nonlethal tools to families as well as Samarian village civilian guards with support from donors:   David Defense Fund.

Homes receive: Pepper spray gun, baton, and pepper spray canisters.

Civilian patrol guards receive: Bulletproof vests and helmets.

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Dec 3, 2023, Samaria:  Dr. Ofer Grosbard wrote about his experience as a psychological consultant for Israel’s Military Intelligence (MI) unit.  He wrote about the organization’s tendency to elitist thinking, to patterns which punish alternative ideas rather than encourage them; even a blatant disregard for common sense, and a severe lack of interest in understanding the enemy:

When people become closed to alternative concepts, their “reward” is having gained a powerful, yet false, sense of control.   Psychologically, a sense of control is emotionally attractive to all; and we may even seek such “pretty lies” at the expense of an honest assessment of risk:

“We all get tired at a certain stage, we want quiet and a good life, and we repress recognition of danger. That happens to us repeatedly. Psychological tools can help combat this natural tendency to some extent. The wisdom of Proverbs (16:18), which tells us that, ‘Pride goes before ruin, Arrogance before failure’ (‘There will not be another war for 10 years,’ Moshe Dayan said before the Yom Kippur War; or, ‘Hamas will be deterred for five years,’ as the current head of Military Intelligence declared – reminds us how supercilious human nature can be.

“A fixed concept gives us the feeling that we are in control and understand what is going on, and it is powerful to the point of causing us to ignore many facts which, as we are now aware with regard to October 7, were also known prior to the massacre. MI actually needs people who harbor a slightly depressive tendency (research shows that the perception of reality by that group is better than that of the average person) in order to do battle against uncontrolled optimism. Anxious individuals and those with a tendency to minor paranoia (not a pathology, but a personality line) could also combat the euphoria of a ‘startup nation’ that relies on ‘all-knowing’ technology. Indeed, I can attest to the fact that the feeling in MI’s research unit was that we knew everything about Hamas.

“If you ask the man in the street whether the other side thinks differently from us, they will undoubtedly tell you that yes, they do. But if you go on to ask in what way they think differently, you will not get a clear answer. What is obvious to the average person is hidden from the eyes of MI. They assume that the enemy thinks the way we do, and thus project our way of thinking on them.”

“There is no attempt to learn systematically how the enemy thinks. Such learning makes us more modest and aware of what we do not understand, and that can provide a great advantage and even immunize us from know-it-all conceptions.”

Let us agree in prayer for Biblical wisdom to be granted miraculously to the Military Intelligence and to the government. 

Pray and Send Support for our Work in a Troubled Land.

David Defense Fund:  Providing defensive supplies for Jewish villages in Samaria; both families as well as civilian guard patrols. (Psalm 144)

“I Was a Psychologist at Israel’s Military Intelligence. Here’s Why the Unit Keeps Getting It Wrong;”  Ofer Grosbard, 1 Dec 2023, Haaretz:  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-01/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/i-was-a-psychologist-at-israels-military-intelligence-heres-what-its-doing-wrong/0000018c-26c2-d04a-af9f-f6f2b8500000


https://archive.is/KtUEm#selection-1235.198-1269.391

1 Dec 2023, Samaria:  As Herb Keinon wrote, “It was a week of reading about the cruel ordeals the hostages faced in Hamas captivity…”

And a look at Rimon Kirsbt, torn from her husband Yegev Buchshtav who remains in captivity. She was released on tuesday and gave attitude to Hamas and Red Cross agents:

See the Jerusalem Post for the full article.

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1 Dec, 2023, Samaria: When Israelis are referred to as “innocent civilians,” that literally means that they have not been convicted in court of a crime.

Obviously, Hamas, the Fatah, and many other Arabs think that it’s a crime for a Jew to exist.  So goes the thinking of uncircumcised Philistines.

One released prisoner is an Arab lady who stabbed a Jewish mother on the street in front of her children simply for walking while Jewish. That Arab lady’s crime was captured on surveillance cameras, the evidence was found legitimate in a court of law, and she was convicted and sentenced.

Several weeks later, that same criminal has been released back to the same neighborhood in the “3 for 1” trades that have been negotiated in the first 55 days of Israel’s Iron Swords War against Hamas.

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28 Nov 2023, Samaria:

…On the six buses were current Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh, Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, who would vow, “by Allah, we will not leave one Jew in Palestine”, Abu Osama, who helped draft the Hamas charter calling for the extermination of the Jews, Hamas co-founders Mohammed Taha, Hammad Al-Hasanat, and Mahmoud Zahar, who threatened “They have legitimized the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people”, Hamad Al-Bitawi, who proclaimed that “Jihad is a collective duty” along with Abdullah al-Shami, the head of Islamic Jihad, and many other present and future Islamic terror leaders deported to Lebanon.

The New York Timesheadlined its coverage, “Ousted Arabs Shiver and Wait in Lebanese Limbo”...

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/380983

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28 Nov 2023, Samaria:  No Arabs protest her message; she speaks for Palestinian society.  Israel arrested her weeks ago for hate speech, she is on the list to be released as part of Israel’s deal with Hamas.

Tamimi was arrested just three weeks ago after posting on social media that Palestinians will “slaughter” settlers and “drink your blood.”

“Our message to the herds of settlers is that we are waiting for you in all the West Bank cities, from Hebron to Jenin,” Tamimi wrote “We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke, we will drink your blood and eat your skulls. Come on, we’re waiting for you.”

Oh, ok, so here’s an Arab who does not deny what Hitler did in the Holocaust.  The leader of the PA in Samaria, Mahmoud Abbas, wrote his doctorate as a Holocaust denial thesis.  Both the PA president and this young woman are representative of our Arab neighbors here in Samaria; who are thought to be “more moderate” than Gaza to the south.

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Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/palestinian-protest-icon-ahed-tamimi-said-on-list-of-50-prisoners-set-for-release-in-truce-extension/

27 Nov 2023, Samaria:  Spain and Belgium held a bizarre press conference, attempting to speak for Europe.  They called for elevating Gaza from terrorist enclave to full-fledged nation.  Quoting from Herb Keinon’s article: “…In other words, some 3,000 Hamas terrorists invade Israel, murder, rape, burn, mutilate, and plunder, and their reward from Spain will be to be recognized as an independent state.”

As for the Prime Minister of Ireland, at best, he simply did not realize how the word “lost” would sound to Israelis who speak English as a second language, or, he misapplied a Scripture from Matthew which would be unfamiliar to Jews, and is inappropriate to the situation even for Christian audiences; or at worst, the PM minimized the trauma of Emily Hand and her family, a 4 year old girl caught up in a triple war crime situation.  Emily’s parents were murdered before her eyes, then she was held hostage and denied Red Cross visits for 50 days.  A triple war crime.

Is this Catholic antisemitism at work? One remembers that decades ago, Irish leaders congratulated Hitler.  The current Irish PM’s more lengthy statement acknowledged that little Emily was a hostage, but did not mention Hamas or terrorism, and did not mention that she was captured as part of a war crime.

However, Germany is doing much better:

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27 Nov 2023, Samaria:  Hamas continues to  show an incredible amount of self-control in managing their manipulation powers; and control over their fighters and those of Islamic Jihad and other military groups; We all expected their underlings to disrupt the cease fire by now. Gaza Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar has been on TV walking the streets in an open-air parade, knowing that Israel is too moral to fire at him during the paus, and, as he sees it, Israel is too weakened by her concern for her loved ones who are held hostage.  Israel knows she is being manipulated – but the majority view is to allow the manipulation to continue even as we weaken our ability to negotiate.

If I had to summarize the two Israeli viewpoints:

Majority view:

(1) TALKING to the Israeli political class to pressure the government to

(1a) stop fighting Hamas, and

(1b) TALK to Hamas to negotiate hostage returns.

The Minority view (2) is that

(2a) Hamas is terrorist and does not know the language of TALKING; only military pressure can get the hostages back, and

(2b) Stopping the military pressure hinders rather than helps Israel’s ability to get ALL the hostages back. Hamas is not influenced by their victims’ tears since Hamas is uncivilized.

Most of society gives the most airtime to the majority view; the belief that talking is the solution.  Below is another article which gives about 1 paragraph to the minority view, and around 10 to the majority. Whoever “the underdog” is, I root for the underdog’s message to be heard:

“Even among the parents of the hostages, not everyone is on board with making deals with Hamas.

“’The most correct and effective way for retrieving the hostages is by applying uncompromising pressure on Hamas until the hostages become a liability for Hamas instead of an asset,’ a spokesperson for Tikvah, a new forum of families of hostages that oppose exchanges with Hamas, told The Times of Israel on Friday. The forum’s founder is Eliyahu Libman, who heads the municipality of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron and whose son Elyakim is thought to be a hostage.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/this-beeri-survivor-knows-hamas-is-manipulating-his-community-he-still-wants-a-deal/

And here is a thorough overview of the powerplay: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamass-hostage-manipulations-show-how-much-control-it-continues-to-hold-over-gaza/

In conclusion, emotions and war do not mix.  At some point, the Israeli women and men will need to accept the loss of some of the Israeli civilians.  It’s inevitable, and this must not be allowed to weaken Israel’s resolve to restore peace through strength. 

(alternative spellings: Yehya/Yahya Sinwar)

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26 Nov 2023, Samaria:  I’d take this as another sign of psychological warfare tactics from Hamas.  Meanwhile, the IDF continues to drop leaflets on Gaza warning civilians to stay away from war zones.

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Related:

Hamas is active in Samaria

Oct 7 Massacre is a reminder of the necessity of Jewish power of self defense