Category: Bomb Shelter Bibles

24 April, 2023, Israel:  Two articles:  Peaceful demonstrations, and what American Jews think of Israel protecting its citizens by law. First, a brief summary with excerpts from both articles; full articles below the fold.

Day of Remembrance ’23: Sunset 24 April until Sunset 25 April.

Independence Day ’23: Sunset 25 April until Sunset 26 April. 

Sixteen consecutive saturday nights of demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other Israeli Jewish cities, and the world is wondering what is happening over here.  Mind you, these demonstrations are peaceful, a bunch of flag-wavers, and it’s having an effect. The Israeli politicians know that they cannot just ignore it, and they have made adjustments to their plans.

Why haven’t the Palestinians, with their list of grievances, turned to peaceful demonstrations? Worse yet, why doesn’t the world demand they do so?

Certain powerful American organizations seem to have such a problem with Israel enforcing its laws against terrorists, that they have lobbied for HR 2590 – a bill by Rep. Betty McCollum which would officially criticize and sanction Israel for exercising its laws against terrorists in Israel. So – when Jews are attacked by antisemites in the USA – it’s fine for the police to arrest them.  But when antisemites attack Jews in Israel – that must be sanctioned. Who are these organizations? “Americans for Peace Now” (that’s the Quakers), and “J Street,” (that’s Jews).

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Article excerpt:

Full articles:

19 April 2023, Israel: Iran recently reconciled with Saudi Arabia, and feels confident with its rising regional power base. Two religious Jewish men, age 48 and 50, were shot in their car in Jerusalem while returning home from morning prayers.

In a tweet, Israeli Opposition Leader, Yair Lapid wrote: “Two Jews were shot in Jerusalem on Holocaust Remembrance Day just because they were Jews. Security forces will get the shooter and bring him to justice. This is the reason we have a state, we have the IDF and the Jews have the ability and power to protect themselves. I wish a speedy recovery to those wounded.”

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18 April 2023, Israel: The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has clear, strong, language which shows that civilians cannot be considered militants for spurious reasons.  This is a hot topic now, as Israel’s opponents have argued that the Dee sisters and their mother were armed, dangerous, and involved in military aggression.  They were murdered while driving to a family vacation.   This was during Pessach (Passover) in 2023.  So today let’s take a look at an analysis of the relevant portions of the International Humanitarian Law.

First, a few paragraphs from the article:

Here is a shot of the complete article:

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18 April 2023:  Each year, the 27th of Nisan on the Jewish (Hillel II) calendar, marks the remembrance of the Shoah (Holocaust) in Israel. As such, at sunset yesterday, restaurants marked the start of the day of remembrance by closing their doors early.*  This tradition makes it difficult for anyone to be seen in public in a celebratory mood on the eve of such a sober day.  In addition, in the morning at 10 am, the air raid sirens blast for 2 minutes all around the country, as people stop what their doing to stand in silence in remembrance.  Think of it as a moment of silence, without the silence.  Cars also pull over on the highways while drivers soberly stand on the roadside.

Below are excerpts of two articles on this subject.

And yeah – I realize that many countries don’t use air raid sirens anymore.  Israel still uses them at unpredictable times during rocket attacks, and also at predictable times, such as 10 am every 27th of Nisan, for example.

* Hebrew days traditionally begin and end at sunset rather than midnight, for as Genesis 1:5+ wrote, “evening and morning were the first day.”  Thus, Shoah Remembrance day 2023 began on 17th April towards the end of the day, at sunset. 

Continue to pray, as Israel’s Shoah Survivors are an important part of society.

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13 April 2023: A source with ties to Iran’s religious leadership said: “The quake was a sad disaster but at the same time it was God’s help to us to help our brothers in Syria in their fight against their enemies. Loads of weapons were sent to Syria immediately.”

So, Iranians cynically use the UN aid system against the UN.

Israel responded with surgical attacks against targets, such as a specific weapons truck in a convoy of aid trucks.

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13 April 2023: Lucy Dee has died within days of her daughters’ burial.

10 April 2023: Israeli daily paper “Israel haYom” goes full-page with the Dee family mourning the loss of two of their young adult sisters:

Their mother, Lucy Dee, remains in critical condition.  This family will face struggles with their memories in years to come during each Passover.  The father Leo Dee said, “When a simple family in Efrat is devastated, the whole country hurts.”

The Jerusalem Post usually places five to seven articles on its front page.  This day includes the Dee family along with the broader views of the IDF preparations in regards to Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Iran:

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9 April 2023, Israel: Muslim terrorists pulllng out all the stops in attempts to disrupt the Jewish celebration of the great Exodus from Egypt.

Syria fired missiles at Israel over the weekend.  Last week, Lebanon and Gaza fired missiles.  Is this reported in foreign news? Israel did respond to Syria by surgically blowing up the rocket launcher, which was hidden in what appeared to be a farming grove of trees.

And in other weekend news, this Shabbat evening an Israeli Muslim from an Israeli Arab town nearby tried to disrupt Shabbat by running over picnickers in a Tel Aviv park by the sea. Much as he tried to kill Jews, he ran over European visitors instead. An Italian man (age 35) died, three people were wounded moderately and four wounded lightly, British, and Italian citizens.

And on Hwy 90 a Muslim drive-by shooter waged war on a carful of Jewish women – like a real hero. Maia (age 20) and Rina Dee (15) died, their mother, Lea (48) was critically injured.

Like I said to my landlord this morning, we’re just going to celebrate and be happy no matter what they do.

Some Israelis darkly joked “Well, I guess the civil war will have to wait,” speaking of the protests against Knesset-proposed changes in the judicial selection process.

Pray for us.  We carry on the work in a difficult part of the world.

7 April 2023, Samaria:  Over 44 rockets fired from Lebanon and Gaza at Jews in Israel.  This year, the Muslim 30-day holiday Ramadan overlaps the Hebrew Passover & Matza 7-day feast; see below for dates and explanation.

Rockets incoming from the South and the North simultaneously.  This is unusual for Lebanon to get involved.  In Lebanon, the Hezbollah (Hez b’Allah = “Party of Allah”) political party that rules over the government is, like Hamas in Gaza, an identified terrorist organization which is funded by Iran and supported by Syria. So – the only reason I can think – is that Hez b’Allah has received instructions from Iran to coordinate their rocket attacks and synchronize with Hamas, from Gaza in the south.

Currently, the entire Northern section and Southern section of Israel are opening up their public shelters (that’s one of the reasons why the rent is so much less in those areas, compared to here in the Center).

Islamic months go by the visible sliver of the moon, so Ramadan began March 23 (meaning, the evening on March 22) this year and goes until April 21.

To show the Feast overlap:
Passover (Biblical calendar – by the lunar Conjunction) started April 5 (just before sunset on the 4th) and goes until April 12.

Passover (Rabbinic calendar – by a Metonic cycle rather than observation of the moon cycles) started April 6 (around sunset on the 5th) and the Feast of Matzot ends on April 13.

Here are a couple of starting points for the Biblical calendar topic:

Wheel of Stars and Biblical Calendar

When is the Passover Lamb Eaten?

Leading up towards Ramadan, the IDF and Israeli polititians made extra effort to renew security cooperation with the PA (Palestinian Authority) security and police. Israelis knew that Ramadan could bring extra violence against Jews.

Fun fact: Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, sexual intimacy each day of Ramadan until sunset. Some also abstain from smoking, medicine, and chewing gum. Too bad they don’t all abstain from rockets, haha!! The public-facing English Muslim sites state that the monthlong holiday is for studying the Quran, donating money to the needy, and extra time for prayer. After sunset each day of the month, families and friends gather around a dinner table for “Iftar,” the meal for breaking the fast each day.

In my own experience, fasting from food/water for a meal or a day is helpful spiritually, but for extended fasts, the fasting doesn’t begin to become easier until after the third day of fasting with no breaks. Breaking a fast each night is making it more difficult than just going straight thru.

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5 April, 2023, Mabuim and Tzrifin, Israel:  This year, the Muslim holiday Ramadan (a month of daily fasting together with nightly feasting) overlaps the Hebrew holiday of Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

On 5 April, around 7 am in Mabuim, as Israelis were in their final preparations preparing the feast and house cleaning for Pessach (Passover), rockets were fired at Jews.  This would be followed by at least 44 more rockets on the following day.

On the same day, the Post reported a 21-year old Muslim from Hebron (the PA section) had stabbed two Jewish soldiers in their 20’s in Tzrifin near Rishon Lezion:

Thank you for your prayers and financial support, and may all have a safe and happy Pessach season.