During my short visit to the States and from emails and notes I’ve received from you, dear Readers, it is apparent that you are not getting pertinent international news that is guaranteed to affect you. So much is happening throughout the world from mass censorship, protests, restrictions on farmers, the DEI and WEF agendas, mass immigration throughout Europe of non-refugees, recent European elections and changes of leadership, and the radical Islamist agenda throughout the world. It is all working together to create destabilization.

The last week in Israel has been a rather intense one, most of which has not been reported or has been slanted so as not to offend. First, an isolated case of polio was diagnosed in a ten month old baby in Gaza. IDF paramedics quickly took several samples of water sources into Israel to be tested and the polio virus was found in two specimens. Last Wednesday, the Israeli health services sent 25,100 vials of the polio vaccine (developed by Jonas Salk and my late uncle, Harvey Neidorff, both Jewish by the way) via UNICEF and the WHO, to inoculate as many Gazan children and women as possible.

Last Friday a two-week pause in all fighting in Gaza was declared in order to ensure that the population would have the opportunity to receive the vaccine. This is not a complete ceasefire, but a temporary pause in major military activity.

Do you remember the chant “All Eyes on Rafah?” in late May? It was very popular on college campuses, and with certain politicians including European heads of state, the Vatican and President Biden and Vice President Harris. They insisted that the IDF not go into the last remaining terrorist city/hotbed in Gaza- Rafiah on the Egyptian border. Israel was accused of doing enough damage and killing enough people. It was incumbent upon Israel for its existence to eliminate terrorism: to control the Philadelphia Corridor on the border, finding and blowing up terror tunnels and smuggling routes between Egypt and Gaza. To find and eliminate terrorists and weapons stashes. And to find and bring back remaining hostages, alive or dead.

Several high level Hamas leaders and commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups were killed or captured as of the past three weeks. The new head of Hamas is Yaya Sinwar, mastermind of the 7 October incursion and massacre in Israel. Sinwar was a senior terrorist serving a life sentence in Israeli prison for plotting terror and for murder. While incarcerated, he received two university degrees and became fluent in Hebrew, studying Israeli life and culture. He was successfully treated by Jewish doctors for a brain tumor before his release in 2011 in a massive prisoner swap (1000 convicted Palestinian terrorists for one IDF soldier, Gila’s Shalit). Last week, it was reported that Sinwar was hiding in Rafiah tunnels, changing location every day. He surrounds himself with 20-22 of the Israelis taken hostage and is dressing as an old woman in a burka as a disguise (leading to several really funny memes).

Also in Rafiah, last Tuesday, in the tunnel system, the IDF was in pursuit of a group of 14 terrorists. After an intense firefight at the approach of the tunnel, the elite Shayetet Brigade found an old man sitting, bound in an underground shaft. He spoke to them in Hebrew. Farhan Allkadi Qaid had been held captive for 11 months. He was not Jewish. He was a Bedouin Muslim man, 52, father of 11. He worked as an unarmed guard at the agricultural processing center at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. He was rescued by the Israeli soldiers and Shin Bet (Israeli FBI) and flown by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center. Over 40 pounds lighter, Qaid was in otherwise good condition. He described how he witnessed the slow death from starvation of his 82 year old cell mate, Aryeh Zalmanovich. His testimony included witnessing Hamas murder captives and torture others including operating on hostages without the use of sedation. Qaid himself underwent a makeshift surgery at Al Shifa Medical complex to remove a bullet to the leg….without any anesthesia. He was reunited with family at the hospital and release to his community on Thursday. All of Israel was rejoicing over the rescue of another hostage. It did not matter that he was not Jewish.

Whether it is common knowledge or not, Israel has been involved in fighting a major war on several fronts: of course, in Gaza. There is the daily threat of Hizbulla in the North, raining down rockets and suicide drones several times a day for the past 11 months. The Houthis are a true threat to the port city of Eilat on the Red Sea. They have been blocking several sites around the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, attacking freight liners that dare to enter the area. All are Iran proxies, including Syrian rebels bordering the Golan Heights. Then there is the threat of a Fifth Column, the enemy from within. These are growing Muslim Arab Israeli communities within the borders of the country. Not all, but many have become increasingly hostile to the Jewish and Christian citizens. I will write about this particular problem very soon.

Another unreported threat and war is occurring in Judaea and Samaria. This is the area termed by Yassar Arafat and the media (in the 1970s) as the West Bank. I will also write a blogpost on this particular swath of land next week (I am in the process of doing a paid piece on this subject. Bear with me…) Samaria, the northern part of this piece of highly contested land, is Israel’s Biblical heartland. Much of the writings of the Tanach (Old Testament) occur in Samaria and Judaea. Besides random kibbutzim and Jewish towns, much of the area is desolate and settled by Bedouin and Muslim cities. The city of Jenin, for over a century a hotbed of terrorism against Jewish communities, is labeled as a refugee camp. This sprawling city has been labeled a ‘refugee camp’ by the UN for over 50 years now. It is a known nest of smuggling of cash, weapons and drugs from Jordan into Israel.

The local Imams regularly call for resistance and for intifada against Jews. Intifada is a term that means armed resistance and destruction of the Jewish state of Israel to eradicate the land of Jews and Christians and make it a place for only Palestinians/Muslims.

Why and how does this affect you?

There are cries throughout Europe and the US to “globalize the intifada.” Take this seriously. It is not just a bunch of ignorant university students. These radical Islamists want to create terror and chaos throughout the world to bring it into submission to Allah. They would like nothing else than to impose Shariah law. It is no joke. Look at Detroit and other cities in Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. For them it is a matter of violence and dominance. In Israel, we see the threat and take it seriously. Every week here there is an attempted stabbing, suicide bombing, car ramming. Much of it takes place in the ‘West Bank,’ but sometimes it breaks through.

Last week alone (including this past Saturday night), 3 separate suicide bombers were killed in what we call “work related accidents.” Two men were planning to blow themselves up in Tel Aviv. One at a synagogue and one on a crowded street. Both of their suicide vests containing pounds of explosives, went off prematurely (in an empty parking lot and in an alleyway) before the terrorists could reach their intended locations. The other terrorist was in the process of planting a car bomb in Gush Etzion when the detonation device misfired, killing him, thwarting his plans to drive it into a city in Judaea, blowing everything to bits there.

Just yesterday, three Israeli police, two young men and a woman, were killed in a drive-by shooting close to Hebron, Judaea. Hebron is the site of the Cave of Machpelah, the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Judaeo-Christian faiths. Today, it is mostly Muslim, with one small neighborhood surrounding Machpelah which is Jewish. The terrorist was found after a lengthy search and eliminated. Saturday, an IDF soldier, Elkana Navon, 20, was killed and three others wounded during clashes with Hamas terrorists in Jenin. There are growing numbers of Hamas associated units acting in local Arab villages on Israel’s border with Jordan.

There has been a surge in the number of illegal weapons flowing into Israel from Jordan on behalf of the Iranian backed Palestinians militias. According to Uri R., a valley resident, “ Small Palestinian villages surround the Jewish communities and they now each have a Hamas squad in it. It is a frightening situation with an all too porous border. We are continually being shot at. The IDF is trying to hold down the roads, as the terror cells try to plant IEDs on the roads and within their own towns to deter any military (IDF) presence.” Daniel Rosenfeld, a resident of Moshav Shadmot Mehola reported, “ Thee used to be a sort of coexistence here. Residents of Tubas and Tamil, which have become Hamas strongholds, used to come to our house for coffee. The man who built my house is from Tubas. October 7 put an end to that idyll.” Their villages are expanding at such a rate as to choke off and isolate the Jewish settlements there.

As a result, IDF presence in Judaea and Samaria has grown significantly. A third battalion has recently been added to rout out the nests of terror and protect the Jews living in the area. People are welcoming the added security on the roads. Older armed IDF reservists are actively engaged in organized patrolling of their own communities, checking border fences, making sure the roads are cleared and watching for the increased threat of Islamic snipers from neighboring towns. Last week, the IDF raided a mosque and found an explosives laboratory within. 17 people were arrested.

The news from Rafiah Saturday night sent the nation reeling. Six more bodies were discovered close to the place where Qaid Farhan (above) was rescued. It turns out that Hamas operatives knew Qaid had been discovered and was possibly giving intelligence to the army and Shin Bet. They heard soldiers drawing closer to where they were keeping the hostages. All six were executed at point blank range with gunshots to the head. This was after almost a year of torture. Names of the recovered captives were slowly released on Sunday morning.

All eyes on Rafah. Kidnapped to Rafah. Tortured in Rafah. Executed in Rafah. But the world’s eyes remained closed. The news misreported as usual. Six young people stolen from their loved ones and then deliberately murdered is not a tragedy. It is a war crime. But the eyes of the international community remains shut.

The pain is horrific, shared by all our Israeli brothers and sisters. A fear has gripped many that any remaining captive will be assassinated. I can’t begin to imagine. But it is being used to Israel’s detriment. We have once again become a nation even more divided than before this war began. Immediately, opposition party leader, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid held Netanyahu and the current government responsible. Mass protests, demonstrations and disturbances were called for. Playing right into the hands of Iran and Sinwar, the national labor union called for a massive strike. At 6am today all people in the labor sector and service industry, educators, universities, medical centers, transportation, dockworkers, drivers….would hold a nationwide halting of work. Protests, which started last night blocking freeways, are being held in a nationwide Day of Disruption. An immediate complete ceasefire in exchange for hostages is being called for. Due to lack of personnel, Ben Gurion Airport was closed again this morning creating a huge snafu. Only this time, it was at the hands of our own people.

The majority of the Israeli population, on the other hand, believes in the necessity to complete the operation of eliminating terrorism. As many hostages which can be rescued remains top priority. Evil must be eradicated from the area. Jailed terrorists should not be traded and the radicals must not be allowed to regroup and attack again as they have promised.

Our country is torn in two once again. The media, both Israeli and globally, is on the side of the protestors. They did not just ‘die’ while in Gaza, they were shot in the face numerous times making the identification of the bodies more difficult. Funerals are being held throughout the land, with the irony of two of the funerals being held up because of protesters blocking the roads. How to go forward? Israel is at another crossroads and needs prayer – lots of prayer. We pray for wisdom for the government and peace within our society. Together and united we will be victorious.