It’s been a few days since my last post, so to catch you up on everything here in Israel, outside the country, and locally – let’s begin.

First we’ll start with the US & Israel as Blinken has been here 7 or 8 times now, but who’s counting. At first President Biden adamantly stated that Israel had an absolute right to defend itself and that “We are standing strongly with Israel.” Fast forward two whole months. Now about turn. Biden is in an election year and many of his supporters and donors are ardently pro-Palestinian aka pro-Hamas. We all know this. And he is now catering to his base – so his administration said the IDF needs to completely wrap up all activities in Gaza in 45 days. That was two weeks ago. He has become very impatient to the point where last week he said “Israel’s reaction was way over the top.” The US does not support the taking of Rafah and has called for an immediate and complete ceasefire.

Rafah is the last stronghold. The IDF moved as many civilians as it could from North to South in order to clear out all Hamas strongholds, flood some tunnels, collapse and seal off others. They’ve found weapons, missiles, weapon’s manufacturing plants, tunnels, training camps, cash, rocket launch pads. All confiscated or destroyed. All documented.

Now. What do you envision when you hear Gaza? Let’s say pre-7 October Gaza. Hovels and tents because it’s a giant refugee camp? Abject poverty? Open air prison?

Gaza has some of the world’s prime real estate. Situated right on the most pristine Mediterranean beaches. Inland some of the world’s most arable, fertile farmland. Gaza City was had six five star hotels. Beautiful promenades. One of the largest indoor malls stocked with every kind of electronics, designer clothes, perfumes, home furnishings. There was no real lack.

Go to Trip Advisor or any hotel/restaurant app and look up Gaza. The promenades. The cars. There was such an influx of money, it created a class of millionaires. Yes. Lots of corruption. Yes. There were very many poor people. I am not trying to downplay that, but there was also no lack for the many that were in power, medical, managerial, development-engineering jobs.

The money also flowed underground. Literally. It cost millions upon millions to make 3 and 4 stories/layers deep of tunnels with plumbing, electrical, communications, air flow deep underneath the surface. While clearing out Gaza City, the IDF discovered among other things, the personal computer of Muhammad Al Burj, an AlJazeera journalist , but also a senior Hamas operative who managed the anti-tank missile system.

After Jabalya and the North were cleared, there was a push to Khan Younis. The main Hamas command center was found last week. It was directly underneath the main UNRWA building complete with tunnel shafts. The IDF has taken it and found the Hamas computer server system and their entire electronic database. It will provide significant insight into the strategic capabilities of that organization.

Which leads to the miraculous. The best news came this morning. Information was retrieved on the whereabouts of two of the hostages. This morning around 1 am, an elite team operating with intelligence from Shin Bet and Mossad, raided a second story apartment in Rafah, Southern Gaza. After using explosives to break down the door, and incurring a barrage of gunfire, two of the hostages were found and extracted.

They are Argentinian Israelis, Fernando Marion, 60, and Louis Har, 70 from Kibbut Nir Yitzchak. Both men were gaunt and pale, but fully cognizant. After examination at Sheba Medical Center, they were deemed to be in fairly good health, all things considered. The two were immediately reunited with their families, but remain hospitalized as a precaution. We pray there will be more daring rescue operations in the days to come.

On the local side, we have had a full week without storms. So John and I decided to try out a couple more nature trails. KKL (קקל) better known in Anglo countries as the JNF (Jewish National Fund) for over 100 years has planted trees all over Israel. Forest land and lots of nature trail.

And now for some bad news:

Rabbi Zachariah Deutch was the chaplain at Leeds University in England. An Israeli, he was called up for reserve duty (not as a rabbi) and returned home to Israel for two and a half months.

Upon his return to England, he and his wife were met with vandalism to their house, death threats, the rape of Nava Deutch and kidnapping and murder of their two children. Upon filing numerous police reports and reports to the university, the couple was told it would be best for them to just move out of the city quietly.

I spoke with my daughter in the UK and she confirmed that the British police have been greatly defunded over the last decade. They are loathe to call out any acts of terrorism and will not report Islamist, Muslim, pro-Palestinian or any other migrant nationality. The police have also been largely de-armed and are overburdened with paperwork and bureaucracy.

More tragic news: many people here have been so greatly mentally affected by this war. Amir Jordani suffered PTSD during Operation Protective Edge with Gaza in 2014. He served in the IDF as a medic and he helped evacuate all the casualties. The events of 7 October and this current war were more than he could bear. He ended his life last week. Amir left his family this note. “This is just way too much for me. I love you. I couldn’t have asked for a better family.”

In the meantime students are preparing meals for reservists camped out on borders, students and retirees are still working in the fields and people are trying to pick up the pieces, adapt and get on with life. We are prayerful. We are resolute. We are united. We are joyful (between the tears). We are hopeful. We are united. Together to victory. It’s within our grasp-