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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, regularly encounters walls of opposition that seem to tower far above Israel’s Western Wall, a remaining treasure of Israel’s Second Temple retaining wall (Kotel).

Alongside Jewish prayers, the Kotel’s crevices are filled with the prayers of Christians from all over the globe. The crevices of our hearts are also filled with prayers for Israel’s strength and safety as the earthly homeland of our Savior Jesus. No matter where we live, special prayers for Bibi must now rise to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The book of Psalms, a Jewish hymnbook, is replete with prayers and songs from King David under siege that are most apt for this time.

The weight on the prime minister’s shoulders—and the nation—grew heavier when Hamas monsters murdered six hostages, knowing the IDF was close to rescuing these six innocent souls. In a speech on September 7, 2024, Netanyahu spoke as a younger brother whose older brother had died in a heroic IDF rescue operation 48 years before.

On July 3, 1976, Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu headed Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit. They famously rescued Jewish civilian hostages after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—which also included two German members of the notorious Baader-Meinhof Gang—skyjacked an Air France flight out of Tel Aviv. The Jewish passengers had already been singled out by the Palestinian and German terrorists, who confiscated their passports. The non-Jewish hostages were released. The plane landed in Entebbe, Uganda, where the hijackers were welcomed by Idi Amin, the vicious Ugandan dictator. In a shootout with the skyjackers, Lt. Col. Netanyahu and three hostages were killed.

Bibi’s remarks last weekend reveal a brother who knows firsthand the emotions of a family member murdered by terrorists: [watch here]. Netanyahu observes that the Entebbe rescue and his brother’s death “changed the course” of his life.

Israelis have elected Bibi’s Likud party, where he served as its leader six separate times: in 1996, 2009, and was reelected in 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2022. He is consistently articulate in his assessment of the Islamic Regime and its proxies in what is currently an eight-front war: Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordanian border, West Bank, and cyberwarfare. Already, a network of 19 websites has been identified as Iranian propaganda against the Jewish state aimed at the United States, Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and South America. Lies against Netanyahu are prevalent.

However, after the news of the six hostage murders, upwards of 500,000 protesters filled streets in Israel last weekend. One sign vilified the prime minister: “Executed by Hamas, Abandoned by Netanyahu.” Don’t the murders of these six Jewish souls, so close to rescue, confirm that Hamas does not want peace? All they must do is release all hostages and lay down their weapons of war.

It is easy to agree that the Israeli level of PTSD—estimated to cost the Israeli economy more than $50 billion over the next five years—transitions into frustration, tears, and outrage in 11 months of war. Israel’s vibrant democracy is at work amid their stress, yet not all Israelis are demanding the same solution. The divided population pleads on one hand for a ceasefire now to free the remaining hostages. The other side does not want the IDF to stop its many successes—defeating its enemies to eliminate future threats that are sure to come.

Pivotal in the national divide right now is the Philadelphi Corridor, a nine-mile-long, 100-yard-wide strip on the Israel-Egypt border. Hamas demands that Israel exit totally before they will agree to any truce. Israel and the U.S. say NO.

In a September 2 news conference Netanyahu rightly pointed out, “The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi Corridor, and for that reason we must control the Philadelphi Corridor” [emphasis mine]. His decades-long threat comprehension is based on the IDF discovering and blowing up dozens of tunnels running from Egypt into Gaza, a business bonanza for terror. Large trucks, intact weaponry, and personnel have used the tunnels for years to further their goal of killing every Jewish man, woman, and child. The proof is overwhelming. Netanyahu wisely does not trust one Hamas word amid their psychological games about the hostages’ possible release if Israel agrees to the terrorists’ outrageous demands.

Most of the world, its leaders, and part of Israel’s citizens think that Hamas will somehow compromise. Nadav Argaman, former head of Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, accuses Netanyahu of simply being power hungry. In a September 7 Israeli TV interview, he alleged that Netanyahu “knows very well that no smuggling takes place over the Philadelphi Corridor. So, we are now relegated to living with this imaginary figment.” 

Argaman’s shocking “imaginary figment” idea is the opposite of IDF reports. Additionally, more than 35,000 reserve officers in Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) from all branches of the Israeli security forces disagree. The IDSF founder is Chairman Brigadier General (ret.) Amir Avivi.

The IDSF describes its mission as “a Zionist, security-based movement, whose aim is to position Israel’s security as the top national priority … which ensures the sovereignty of the Jewish people in their homeland for generations to come.” They correctly add, “Part of Israel’s security must be anchored in its ability to protect itself, by itself.” In a letter to the prime minister, one of their extraordinarily experienced military assessments is worth reading. (Note: Prime Minister Netanyahu was also a member of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit during his IDF service.)

A quote in the IDSF letter: “Over the standing of the Philadelphi Corridor in the hostage deal, our professional opinion is that to claim that the hostage deal may include a temporary withdrawal of several weeks from the Philadelphi Corridor is to deceive the public, materially endanger the hostages’ lives, and possibly reverse many of the IDF’s achievements in the war. It may even mean needless shedding of our soldiers’ blood in areas that were already captured and cleared, or at the hands of a Hamas immeasurably more dangerous once it returns to battle.” In reality, the Islamic Regime and its proxies, enslaved by demonic hatred, will not compromise.

With 25 years in the pro-Israel movement, I have heard and seen the Prime Minister up close in the U.S., on many trips to Israel including the GPO Christian Media Summits, and online with his repeated comment about the Christian community, “We have no better friends on earth than you.” Let us pledge our friendship in prayer and action for Israel’s security-wise yet beleaguered Prime Minister.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join us in prayers for Bibi. Prime Minister Netanyahu understands the vast divide between good and evil and so do we. Isaiah 5:20 reminds us: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for Bibi’s physical and mental health to remain stable with supernatural shalom. 
• Pray that toxic disagreements with the prime minister will dissolve into a united front for Israeli victory. 
• Pray for Netanyahu and his family’s safety and for his vigilant security detail.
• Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu as he is scheduled to speak on September 26, 2024, at the UN General Assembly.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide.  In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.