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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Two key facts of past and contemporary history connecting U.S. military personnel and the Israel Defense Forces are well worth mentioning. Israel’s stunning operation in Lebanon between September 17–20 was so brilliant, and frankly unbelievable, that it matched or exceeded 007’s film exploits.

The IDF’s strategy was to weaponize “old school” electronic pagers and walkie-talkies (used only by terrorists) by activating them against leading Hezbollah fanatics and the fighters who used them. The numbers of killed and wounded terrorists are still rising, with speculations and reports blowing up in the media. Realizing that Hezbollah was set to ramp up its hate and terrorist activities against the Jewish nation, Israel’s military intelligence launched a wide scale bombardment of rocket and missile launchers that is now well underway.

Isaac Herzog, president of Israel, revealed that “senior commanders of the Radwan force were in the middle of planning an invasion into northern Galilee.” Radwan is the elite Hezbollah force founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the early 1980s. At the time of last week’s detonation, its 16 Hezbollah leaders were meeting in the same underground room in Beirut. 

One extraordinary fact has materialized: Israel has eliminated terrorist Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah’s highest-ranking members. In 1983, Aqil helped engineer the U.S. Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 United States military personnel: 220 Marines, eighteen sailors, and three soldiers. Also in 1983, Aqil/Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans. In the 41 years that Aqil has been on the run, the United States had a $7 million bounty for information about him.

The Israel Defense Forces have enacted justice for their nation, families, friends, and allies. 

The IDF is one of the bright lights shining amid the darkness of evil hanging over Israel and our world, while the Islamic Regime is fixated on rebuilding a dictatorial global caliphate.

Hezbollah said the so-called pager attack was “a massacre of pagers and radios.” It was not a massacre. It was a defensive act to defeat one of the vilest proxies backed by the Islamic Regime. It is called rightfulness—justice not only for the Americans murdered in 1983, but for the Hamas invasion, kidnappings, and hostage imprisonments (including Americans) in dark, putrid tunnels since October 7, 2023.

Most of the world has lost their bearings when it comes to recognizing the colossal difference between good and evil. The Islamic Regime and its surrogates are medieval in nature, with their beastly character and savage cruelty to victims—both within their own population and against Israel and others. While Iran accuses the IDF of violating international laws of war, the IDF—and the U.S. military—are the most humane fighting forces in the world.

The International Legal Forum (ILF) is composed of 4,000 lawyers in 40 countries who have advocated for Israel in legal battles since the October 7 Hamas massacre. These defenders of Israel combat terror and anti-Semitism in the international legal arena. ILF conducted an analysis about the pager attack. For context, it emphasizes the Hezbollah/Hamas connection as Iranian proxies to destroy Israel: 43 Jews and 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams murdered, and upwards of 100,000 Israelis displaced from the north. The report references United Nations Article 51, and Article 52 of the Geneva Convention agreeing that Israelis have the right to defend their country. Recall that Israel did not begin this war.

Because the electronic equipment was used by Hezbollah for military violations of international law, the IDF operation was targeting only Hezbollah, not civilians. ILF described it as “an extraordinary feat in modern warfare and textbook definition of a precision attack.” Israel used “principles of proportionality and distinction,” which Hamas and Hezbollah violate every time they attack civilians (including Arabs and Palestinians.) Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah had fired more than 8,000 rockets and missiles into Israel, a number that is now dramatically increasing.

Globally, there are so many anti-Israel, anti-Jewish demonstrators at universities, on city streets, and in assemblies to deface buildings and statues of historic value, they attack Jews and glorify terrorists, hatred, and violence. Obviously with no interest in matters of international law, they accept satan’s language of lies rather than God’s language of truths. 

While writing this week’s column, I remembered an exquisite poem written by Hannah Szenes (Senesh), a Hungarian Jewish poetess and playwright. Her contrast between darkness and light inspired me.

“There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world even though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.”

I wonder if the poetess was thinking of Genesis 15:5-6, where God promises Abram that His descendants “will be more numerous than the stars in the sky.” And why am I highlighting Hannah, who made Aliyah to Israel in 1939? She became a Zionist in Hungary, then moved to her ancestral homeland. The modern state had not come into being yet. The British—who ruled the country under the British Mandate after World War I through May 14, 1948—called it Palestine. On that day, the biblically correct name Israel replaced Palestine and declared its modern reestablishment.   

The British recruited 32 Jewish volunteers who lived in “Palestine.” Hannah became a Special Operations Executive paratrooper for England during World War II. In a dangerous, clandestine operation, the British army sent these elite paratroopers behind German lines to rescue Hungarian Jews before they could be deported to Auschwitz in 1944. In one of Hannah’s missions, Nazis arrested her at the Hungarian border and discovered the British military transmitter she used to send radio messages via wireless. Imprisoned in Nazi-occupied Hungary, she was tortured for months to reveal the codes used in her transmitter so they could trap the other parachutists. Hannah gave only her name, unwilling to betray her colleagues. Convicted of treason, she was executed by firing squad on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23.

I highlight Hannah because she remains a national treasured Israeli heroine. The songs and poems she wrote, her diary, and her legendary life of self-sacrifice are still remembered. Her remains are buried in the Parachutists section of Israel’s military cemetery on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem. Her tombstone rests in Sdot Yam, the kibbutz where she first lived. Sdot Yam, beautifully situated on the Mediterranean near Haifa, is under threat today.

Hannah is one of the heroic Jewish stars described in her poem. I daresay, the IDF is lighting the way for the free world against the Islamic Regime that wants to steal our freedoms and impose their twisted way of life. Hannah’s “brilliance continues to light the world even though she is no longer among the living.” For the IDF—who now bravely sacrifice their lives—“they light the way for humankind.”

Like Hannah who used her British transmitter to communicate with her team to rescue the Hungarian Jews, the IDF does the same today. They brilliantly used pagers and walkie-talkies to eliminate the evildoers who want to kill them and destroy the world’s only Jewish homeland. Long Live Israel, Am Israel Chai, to Hannah and the modern IDF!

Join our CBN Israel team to pray for Israel during this world-changing war, remembering Psalm 147:4: “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”

Prayer Points

• Pray for the IDF as they advance toward Lebanon to enact justice.
• Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security cabinet.
• Pray for Lebanese Christians living under Hezbollah’s violence.
• Pray for Israel’s citizens who are now refugees, displaced from their homes.
• Pray for 500,000 Israelis forced to duck in and out of bomb shelters.

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last year, Israelis celebrated their new year (Rosh Hashanah, “head of the year”) on September 15–17. Happy holiday (chag sameach) greetings rang out while Jewish families dipped delicious apples into fresh honey, a symbol for a sweet new year. Yet just 22 days later, on October 7, the bitter fruit of terror buried itself into Jewish minds and hearts when Hamas terrorists launched a shocking invasion into the Jewish ancestral homeland.

This year, a series of Jewish observances in October begins with Rosh Hashanah on October 3–4, based on Israel’s lunar calendar for the year 5,785. Three days later, on October 7, the nation’s anguish will be amplified as Israel marks the unspeakable on its one-year anniversary. As of today, 101 hostages are still imprisoned, upwards of 100,000 Israelis are refugees in their own land, Israeli casualties stand at 1,660—all while the world’s biblically illiterate label Israel as the aggressor, not the victim.

Israelis will exert themselves as much as they possibly can to greet the new year while seated at Rosh Hashanah tables. Chairs that had once been filled with family and friends laughing, joking, cooking, and eating will be unoccupied. Other chairs will remain empty, representing Israelis murdered by terrorists who ingest the poison of hatred as IDF soldiers defend their nation in an eight-front war. The dreaded day—October 7, 2024—then arrives, where Israelis relive their trauma. The Israeli version of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, should have a new name: perpetual traumatic stress disorder. Because it never ends. That fact remains a harsh reality, a mental health issue shared by almost everyone.

On October 12, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, follows. On this, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Israel shuts down amid prayer and fasting. Israelis cannot help but wonder if an act of terror will happen again on this holy day. After all, it was on October 6, 1973, that Egyptian and Syrian forces surprised Israel with an attack—also on Yom Kippur. Miraculously, the IDF repelled them.

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is next in line, celebrated from October 17 to 23. For this fall harvest festival, Israelis build temporary shelters, some in grassy yards or perched on their apartment balconies, and gaily decorate them for meals and sleepovers. Sukkot is a remembrance of Israel’s 40-year desert journey, when the Israelites lived in temporary shelters after escaping Egypt.

Famous British Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks left a legacy of brilliant quotes. Here’s one I particularly like about Sukkot: “Sitting in the [shelter] under its canopy of leaves, I often think of my ancestors and their wanderings across Europe in search of safety, and I begin to understand how faith was their only home,” he wrote. “It was fragile, chillingly exposed to the storms of prejudice and hate. But it proved stronger than superpowers and outlived them all.”

God’s sovereign promises assure us that Israel “will outlive them all” in Jeremiah 31:35-36. “This is what the LORD says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is His name. Only if these decrees vanish from My sight, declares the LORD, will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.”

The eighth day of Sukkot is called Shemini Atzeret, with Simchat Torah (“Rejoicing of the Torah”) taking place immediately afterward on October 24. The elegantly encased Torah scrolls are gently carried throughout synagogues and reverently touched with the joy of receiving God’s law.

However, for Israelis looking toward Simchat Torah on October 24 this year, the invasion on October 7 last year will be a terrible reminder that the horror took place on Simchat Torah—traditionally a day devoted to reading the Torah. Last year’s Rejoicing of the Torah simply did not take place. In one sense, though, the many stories of heroism on and after October 7, now continuously shared almost a year later, follow closely the Jewish value of “tikkun olam”—repairing the world—with lifesaving rescues of those attacked, wounded, or in need of help emerging from citizens for citizens. 

Throughout the millennia, those who harbor hatred toward Jews and Israel sometimes seem to favor destruction on important Jewish calendar days. The 1973 Yom Kippur war is an example. In making his multi-part documentary titled October 7th, 2023, filmmaker Dan Gordon researched and made a lesser-known discovery about October 7. He learned that “October 7 was a direct descendant of the massacres in the ancient Jewish communities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Tzfat, Tiberius and others in the 1920s and ’30s … long before there was even a state of Israel.”

Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, is viewed as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. On it, Jews mourn tragedies in their history, especially the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the city of Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago. In the last 100 years, Tisha B’Av has included a day of mourning for Jewish communities massacred in the Middle East, North Africa, the pogroms of Eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. On Tisha B’Av 2024, August 12–13, the link between Tisha B’Av and October 7 shaped up as a major theme where thousands of synagogues across all Jewish denominations incorporated texts about October 7. Many predict that the October 7 onslaught will be canonized into Jewish liturgy.

Kindnesses from Christians toward any Jewish friends, synagogues, or Jewish organizations in your community are timely leading into and during the month of October. Send a letter, card, or email with a compassionate message. Attend an October 7 event that may be taking place near where you live. Include prayers for Jews, who are a population of only 15 million people globally, including around 245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors in more than 90 countries. 

Amid the anguish embedded in Jewish citizenry, God repeatedly emphasizes His assurances in Scripture. Presently, the dangers Israel itself is facing are complex and appear beyond any solution. That is, until we fasten our hopes for ourselves within God’s promises and for the worldwide Jewish community.

Most importantly, in Isaiah 46:4 the God of the universe assures humankind about Israel, the apple of His eye. “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” And that, God has done for thousands of years!

We welcome you to join our CBN Israel team to pray for Israel this week in the lead-up to October, always aware that Israel is our spiritual homeland through Jesus our Savior.

Prayer Points:

• Pray for shalom and strength for Israeli Jews in October.
• Pray about how you can reach out to Jews with kindnesses.
• Pray for IDF members who are increasing their defenses against Hezbollah.
• Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu for his protection and wisdom.

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.

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

On September 1, Israel celebrated in a wave of joy. The Israel Defense Forces had found the Bedouin-Muslim Israeli hostage Farhan al-Qadi alive in a tunnel. Yet after his rescue, countrywide joy was quickly extinguished by another unspeakable horror that swept through Israel with the force of a lightning bolt. The IDF found the bodies of six murdered hostages in a tunnel below Rafah—less than a mile away from the tunnel where they had rescued al-Qadi. In an act of unimaginable cruelty, terrorists had executed the hostages shortly before soldiers reached them.

The world must understand the beastly nature of these murderers. In the words of Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida: “The instructions issued to the guards are clear on what to do if the occupying army comes close to a site of detention.” Let this demonic Hamas policy sink in: They murdered six hostages because the IDF troops came too close to where they were keeping them imprisoned.

Can you imagine the devastation the brave soldiers must have experienced when they found the bodies of these six souls and reverently carried their bodies into their homeland? The act of releasing the six hostages—and all hostages—could have been an eloquent Hamas statement to the world for a ceasefire and true peace. But such a thing is not in their DNA. Murdering Jews, all Jews, non-Jewish citizens, and Palestinians is Hamas’s agenda.

It gets worse. Hamas executed these six people by shooting them multiple times at close range. After examining the hostages’ bullet-ridden bodies, forensic experts reported that they were murdered likely on August 29 or 30 after surviving 11 months in captivity. As you read their names, pray for their families and the entire nation since every citizen considers them as sons and daughters: Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and Israeli citizens Carmel Gat, 40, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alexander Lubnov, 32, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25.

The New York Times described the six slain as “killed.” CNN said Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin “died.” Mainstream media, take note! Murdered and executed are the correct verbs here!

The victims’ grief-stricken families are holding funerals all over Israel. Hundreds of people line the streets and thousands attend funerals. Israeli flags draped over caskets are wet with tears. The wailing of many mothers fills the air. A Rabbi declares, “The whole of Israel is crying today.” A funeral attendee commented at Eden Yerushalmi’s funeral, “I never met her, but she’s family.”

Another phrase is often heard, “At least they are home now.” Profound words. They have been true for thousands of years. The Jewish hostages are now home in their ancestral homeland.

Over the centuries, the Jewish community has existed in joy and in horror. When troops found Farhan al-Qadi in a Rafah tunnel on August 27, the jubilation had no boundary. Israel, regularly accused of apartheid against its non-Jewish population, celebrated in every community—the Jewish majority as well as minority communities of Christians, Arabs, and Druze. The 52-year-old security guard kidnapped from a business near Gaza spent more than 10 months in Hamas tunnels. This father of 11 is a citizen, a Bedouin-Muslim Israeli.

Weak, malnourished, and united with his family in the hospital, Farhan al-Qadi talked about living in almost total darkness. One hostage was captive for two months and died next to him. Farhan was shot in the leg when kidnapped, but Hamas operated on him without anesthesia. He commented, “We must remember that there are other people inside [the tunnels].” He also explained that being a native Arabic speaker did not help him. Al-Qadi was one of six Bedouins kidnapped on October 7, according to the Prime Minister’s office. Bedouins hold Israeli citizenship and have extensive familial ties that stretch into Gaza.

The IDF is making tremendous progress in Gaza, especially by securing the Philadelphi Corridor between Israel and Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes it clear that if the IDF were to leave Philadelphi, Hamas would be able to rearm, revive, and repeat October 7. Netanyahu is right. He knows that the death cult of crazed Hamas cowardice continues.

However, with Yahya Sinwar—the Gaza-based architect of evil—in charge no hostage or ceasefire deal is possible. Of the terror trio of Hamas “leaders,” he is the only one left after the IDF eliminated Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif in July. Now, Sinwar is Israel’s most wanted terrorist. An IDF spokesman says he is “a dead man walking.” The IDF’s latest assessments show that 6,000 of Sinwar’s murderous thugs breached the Holy Land on October 7, 2023—nearly double the number initially reported—and that many of these were elite forces.

Sinwar now hides out in tunnels—some 15 stories deep. For protection, he encircles himself with hostages handcuffed together. Taking hostages as human shields is a war crime under international law. Yet it is Hamas’s habitual, cowardly custom to frequently hide behind Palestinian civilians and hostages. Unfortunately, much of the world does not care about Hamas’s war crimes and has adopted an unthinkable terror mindset by wondering why Israel must defeat unconcealed aggression.

Sinwar has fulfilled the meaning of his last name. Sin and War—a thoroughly appropriate name for murderous sin and the immoral war that has shockingly circled the globe with Jew hatred, lawlessness, and anti-Israel propaganda.

The IDF has collected intelligence indicating tunnels where they could eliminate the notoriously elusive Sinwar, yet attacks were never authorized due to the hostages’ dangerous proximity to him. When he ventures outside, he is dressed as a woman.

A glance into Sinwar’s mindset is revealing. In 1989, when he was 27 years old, Israel imprisoned Sinwar for kidnapping and murdering two IDF soldiers and four Palestinians he deemed to be collaborators with Israel. He got four life sentences plus 25 years. Then, in the controversial 2011 prisoner exchange negotiation, the “Shalit deal,” Hamas freed Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier. Israel agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Sinwar—who had served just 22 years and was never again supposed to see the light of day—was among them.

His humane treatment in an Israeli prison is a picture of Israel’s humanity: During Sinwar’s 23-year imprisonment, he was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor. A Jewish doctor successfully operated on him, saving his life. However, the Jewish doctor’s mercy only turned into more hatred inside Sinwar’s brain. Mercy mattered not.

Meanwhile the IDF continues its policy to protect Palestinian Gazan civilians as best as possible, although it means much higher risk for soldiers. Pray for IDF soldiers who are operating in tunnels rigged with Hamas explosives. They press in amid one of the most complex wars in history, both above ground and in the underground city dubbed “Gaza Metro”—a product of Sinwar’s upgraded tunnel system that’s big enough for trucks, cars, and weapons smuggling. The IDF reports that Hamas is still holding 101 hostages captive—97 abducted on October 7 and four hostages who had been abducted previously.

As we read about Sinwar, righteous anger can arise, and depression can deepen. In the meantime, we stand with Israel and the Jewish community worldwide in prayer and help. Pray that the world will understand the biblical contrast between good and evil.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to join with us reading Psalm 37:1-2, a reminder from the God of the Universe: Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

Prayer points:

• Pray for the Israeli families who have lost their innocent sons and daughters.
• Pray for the soldiers who with broken hearts carried their bodies home.
• Pray for the entire nation during another intense season of mourning.
• Pray with thankfulness for Farhan al-Qadi’s rescue.
• Pray for IDF members involved in complex hostage rescue efforts.
• Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu leading under internal and external pressures. 

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.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

The term simpatico took on new life last Friday night, August 23, in Glendale, Arizona, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stepped onto the stage and was welcomed by Donald J. Trump. Simpatico is a word rarely used and means in part, “characterized by shared interests.” It has been absent from our political context for years after the friendship between Republican President Ronald Reagan and former Speaker of the House Democrat Tip O’Neill.

Watching history unfold on our television, my husband and I saw upwards of 20,000 attendees at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena explode with extended applause and cheers the moment RFK Jr. walked onto the stage following Trump’s first-rate introduction. Trump and Kennedy together—Republican and Democrat—have connected in areas of common ground. They are reviving simpatico to “Make Health Great Again,” secure our southern border, and support Israel’s moral war to defend its nation in an unasked-for war. Both leaders clearly understand that terror is the Islamic Regime’s key export to the Middle East and around the world.

Shabbat was not celebrated that Friday night in the Desert Diamond Arena. Nonetheless, as a pro-Israel Christian, I viewed it as a political Shabbat—unity conveyed as a kind of shalom! I was refreshed and hopeful that political conversations could once again grow in civility.

RFK Jr. represents an Israel-related legacy from his uncle John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his father Robert F. Kennedy, who were assassinated five years apart. I decided to revisit the CBS Archives, where I relived with tears my clear remembrance of seeing CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite in New York City take off his glasses and look up at the clock as he reported the unthinkable news.

Visibly holding back his emotions, Cronkite solemnly announced that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had died from an assassin’s bullet at 2 p.m. EST on November 22, 1963. During my senior year of high school in 1963, CBS was one of only three television channels. The 35th president of the United States, riding in a Dallas, Texas, presidential motorcade with his beautiful wife in a stunning pink suit, was only 46 years old.

The weeks followed with our entire nation in shock and mourning, much like 9/11 when our country united in grief. For those of us who remember President Kennedy’s assassination 61 years ago and saw the attempted assassination of President Trump on TV on July 13, we felt that shock again, yet thankfully with a miraculous outcome. Of course, today’s toxic political atmosphere in no way resembles our national mourning in 1963. Then, political party did not matter. Today, more than a few Americans voiced regret that Trump’s would-be assassin had missed his mark. 

The Kennedy family history of pro-Israel support is a generational mix. John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy veered away from the anti-Semitic leanings of their father, patriarch Joseph Kennedy. The three brothers, all politicians, were known for their support of the Jewish state and initiated important actions on behalf of Israel and the Jewish community.

For RFK Jr., his family story is especially poignant and challenging. Five years after JFK’s assassination, 42-year-old Robert Francis Kennedy sought the Democratic nomination for president. In 1968, a Palestinian domestic terrorist assassinated him. During his immediate arrest, by his own admission, legal immigrant Sirhan Sirhan voiced the hatred he harbored for Robert Kennedy, who supported Israel’s 1967 Six-Day War. Sirhan declared, “I did it for my country.”

Before Trump’s massive rally on August 23, I listened to Kennedy’s exceptional speech at his Phoenix, Arizona, press conference. There he announced his suspension, not termination, of his campaign. Kennedy initially ran for the Democratic Party nomination, but on October 9, 2023, he had declared himself as an independent after disillusionment with his party. He left saying that the Democratic party had “dramatically departed from the core values I grew up with.”

Kennedy described it now as a “party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money.”

Then, in a pivotal moment during his press conference, Kennedy explained another decision to millions of his supporters: “Many months ago, I promised the American people that I would withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler. … In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic [Democratic] censorship and media control. So, I cannot in good conscience ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours or ask my donors to keep giving, when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House.”

Kennedy went on to say, “Our polling consistently showed that by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues: censorship, war, and chronic disease.” Adding to his already dramatic announcement, he said he was in the process of removing his name from the ballot in the 10 battleground states. His speech on YouTube is inspiring.

RFK Jr. admits that his agonizing decision has created division in his large extended family, where some feel betrayed, and others support his position. The current family landscape is an added problem he previously encountered on another issue.

Last year, after beginning his Democratic presidential campaign on April 19, rumors began circulating on social media that he was an anti-Semite. Upon hearing that, his good friend, celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, invited Kennedy to a public dialogue to clarify his positions. This dialogue was held in New York on July 25, 2023, and was entitled “On Jews and Israel,” transcribed by Jaime Kardontchik. After I learned more about RFK Jr.’s policies regarding Israel, it was clear that this propaganda was intentional. RFK calls his own experiences and struggles “the government’s censorship-industrial complex.”

Here are some of his significant statements in the dialogue with Rabbi Boteach:

“Three great causes drove me to enter this race … then persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump.” The causes he cited were: free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children.

• “The Holocaust was the worst aberration in modern human existence. I grew up with those thoughts, and I grew up believing that the state of Israel was an extraordinary blossom in the desert, an oasis of democracy and values of human rights mixed in a sea of totalitarianism.”
• “I have taught law for 35 years. There is no country in the world with a judiciary like Israel. … And that is evidence of the humanity that you see in all of Israel.”
• “A Palestinian who wants to criticize its government had better do it in Israel. If he does that in the West Bank [or in Gaza], he’ll be arrested and tortured and killed.”
• “The Israel Defense Forces send their people to do ‘retail combat’ door to door, putting IDF soldiers at risk to avoid civilian casualties. Israel is unique in the Middle East … only attacking military targets. The Palestinian Authority, in contrast, has a long tradition of deliberately targeting civilians.”

Kennedy is no stranger to ancient (or modern) Jewish history or its enemies; in fact, his knowledge is encyclopedic. He understands Israel’s 3,700 years on their land. He understands the anti-Semitic hatred poured into the minds of Palestinian children. He mentions that former Palestinian leader Arafat died a billionaire and that Hamas leaders have hundreds of millions of dollars.

He recounts the numerous deaths in his family, his wife’s suicide, and his extended family, then shares that he “takes those tragedies and tries to help other people, to lighten the burdens of others, knowing what to say to console them and try to make something good in my own character that comes out of these tragedies.”

At the end of their dialogue in New York last year, Rabbi Boteach asked Bobby—the name Trump used Friday night to introduce him—“Do you believe in God?” Bobby replied, “God is the center of my life.” And then he said, “Shmuley, I am going to be a great champion for Israel.”

President Reagan and Tip O’Neill would be proud of the Trump-Kennedy partnership.

We welcome you to join our CBN Israel team to pray and reflect on this Scripture in Proverbs 27:17, offering wisdom to encourage, coach, and challenge each other: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for the Trump-Kennedy alliance to produce great campaigning results.
• Pray for believers to prayerfully encourage teamwork.
• Pray for vigilance and protection for Trump, Vance, and Kennedy.
• Pray for our God of Angel Armies to deploy them to Israeli civilians and soldiers.

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.