Note: In Israeli terminology, “moderately wounded” includes life threatening wounds and loss of limbs. “Lightly wounded” is quite a bit more serious than surface scratches.
2 men wounded at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem
Israel homes ranked world’s most expensive
“Israel homes ranked world’s most expensive,” Jerusalem Post, 4 Sept 2023 pg 5.
Pray for our financial ability to function in Israel.
Eritreans in Tel Aviv battle on Shabbat; deportation now considered
3 Sept, 2023, Tel Aviv: Yesterday during Shabbat, which is a day off from work in Israel, thousands of illegal Eritreans got out of hand in a dispute among themselves regarding Eritrean politics.
There are between 25,000 to 30,000 Eritreans who crossed illegally into Israel via Egypt, in addition to others from Sudan.
The Eritrean Embassy in Israel has taken measures to promote its own government positions, and to repatriate what it sees as runaways back to their homeland.
Some Eritreans are in favor and some are opposed to the Eritrean government policies. A gang battle ensued between the two Eritrean factions, resulting in property damage, and injuries among Eritrean people. Around 50 Israeli police were injured while trying to keep the shalom.
The Israel government coalition, led by Netanyahu, says it will now consider deportation as a possible solution. The opposition (the parties which have not joined the coalition) counters that the current government coalition promised to build a solution but has not done anything thus far.
Such gang battles have already occurred during the past two months among Eritreans located in USA and in Europe. Evidently, some Eritreans warned Israeli officials, but seemingly went unheeded.
Pray for our work in a troubled and complicated Land.
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Three wounded by car ramming terrorist
31 Aug 2023, Modiin, Israel: A car-ramming terrorist has been apprehended after attacking pedestrians on the side of the highway in Modiin, which is considered part of Judea and Samaria, thus, “disputed territory” by the majority of nations at this time.
Thus, the worst terrorist violence since the 2000-2005 timeframe continues with a new car ramming attack this morning.
Pray for our work in a troubled land.
Iran pushes for war with Israel
30 Aug 2023:
“Tehran is pushing Hezbollah to launch attacks on Israel; Jerusalem worried Security Council will restrict UNIFIL’s activity along frontier;” Jerusalem Post, 30 Aug 2023 pg 1.
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-just-gave-iran-6-133339968.html
Pray for our work in a complicated region.
Female Jewish pedophile sentenced
25 Aug 2023, Israel: Malka Leifer had been the school principal at a religious Jewish girls’ school in Australia.
When caught, she escaped to Israel to hide. For many years, Australia fought long and hard to extradite her back home for trial. Not that Israel was unwilling, but Malka Leifer’s lawyers argued she was insane, and thus unfit for extradition.
“Court in Australia sends Malka Leifer to prison for 15 years;” Jerusalem Post, 25 Aug 2023 pg 1.
Pray for our work amongst troubled people.
Arabs with Israeli citizenship arrested for terrorism ties
25 Aug 2023, Samaria: The city of Kfar Kassem is near me, and I often shop there.
Lod is a city near the airport. It’s a mixed Arab and Jewish city. Whereas Kfar Kassem is a pure Arab Muslim Israeli city. In both cities, all residents have Israeli citizenship, ID cards, voting rights and privileges.
“Police arrest 4 Arab Israelis for Hezbollah ties;” Jerusalem Post, 25 Aug 2023 pg 1.
Hezbollah (aka Hez b’Allah, “party of god,”) is an Iran-backed terrorist organization with the parliamentary and governmental control of Lebanon.
Please pray for our work.
Secret Service vs Arab-Israeli murder rate
24 Aug 2023, Jerusalem: Prime Minister Netanyahu, together with cabinet leaders, have issued an order to the Shin Bet, Israel’s Secret Service, to confront the spate of political killings among the Arab Israeli population. This is significant and the Shin Bet has jumped at the chance to fulfill this order.
“Shin Bet to join battle against rising Arab-Israeli murder rate; Agency instructed to target crime groups said to be behind onslaught;” Jerusalem Post, 24 Aug 2023, pg 1.
Pray for our work here in a complicated Land.
Push for a million Jews in Samaria by 2050
24 Aug 2023, Jerusalem: In opposition to the US State Dept which consistently, Biden or not, prefers zero Jews living in Samaria and a halt to Jewish construction in any of the Land fairly and legally obtained during the Six Days’ War (1967), the head of Samaria, Yossi Dagan, has called for construction and social plans to achieve a doubling of Jewish citizens in Samaria over the next 30 years.
Arguably, Israel has the legal right: By international law, when aggressor nations (such as Jordan and Egypt) lose an aggressive war against a defender nation, the defender gets to keep any land they win while defending themselves. Israel, and its Israeli Defense Force, were the defenders in every war, including in the Six Days’ War of 1967.
Arguably, to fabricate an exception to this law in the case of the Jewish state’s winnings, while applying no such exceptions to any other land disputes worldwide, is an act of antisemitism.
Working definition of antisemitism contains 11 parts, including (#8): “Applying double standards by requiring of it [the Jewish state] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
No other democratic nation has been pressured to not annex land obtained in a defensive war.
Iran behind attacks in Samaria and Judea
23 Aug 2023, Jerusalem: Israel’s government recognizes that Iran funding and directives are behind the Palestinian acts of terrorism against Jews in Israel. Israel has recently attacked Iranian outposts in war-torn Syria. Iran apparently seeks to take advantage of the problems in Syria, and fill the void there with military bases from which to launch kinetic attacks at Israel.
Iran’s goals have been thwarted somewhat by Israel’s secret incursions into Syria to attack the Iranian bases there. Iran’s response: mobilize Palestinians with finances and funding to attack Jewish civilians.
Israel’s response: Continue to call attention to Iran’s actions and backing of terrorists.
“Israel hints of more strikes at Iranian, Hamas targets; Two suspects arrested in killing of Batsheva Nigri;” Jerusalem Post, 23 Aug 2023 pg 1.
Pray for our work in a challenging region.