Dear John,
Interesting and most christians believe that this isn't over yet.
I think it's the calm in the eye of the storm....
Marianna.
__
I agree, Marianna.
John
The Israel Report
War Report from the Northern Border. It Ain't Over Yet!
Neil Cooper
Aug 16, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------This past Shabbat (Saturday) and Yom Rishon (Sunday), I traveled the northern border of Israel with my friends Miki and Yishai, visiting the troops, giving them food and gifts, and encouragement.
I was also able to take my guitar and play several praise and worship songs and share with them about the Lord and biblical prophecies that we are seeing fulfilled. Most were very interested, but in the heat of this battle, they were also worried and plagued with doubts.
Shabbat morning we visited wounded soldiers in Ram Bam hospital in Haifa. That morning 24 soldiers had been killed and another 20 wounded, most of whom were being brought in as we were there. We were able to bless one soldier with a laptop that had been donated to Miki. It is heart wrenching to see these young men so tragically cut down in battle, many with wounds that will plague them for the rest of their lives.
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As we headed further north, everything seemed to take on a surreal atmosphere. The air was hazy, thick with smoke, and the roads were completely empty other than military vehicles.
We first went to an outpost on the hills of Zarit, on the fence line of the Lebanese border. The soldiers were surprised to see us, and overwhelmed at the fact that we would travel all the way from Jerusalem with no other purpose than to bless them. One of the gifts we brought were Beany Babies (little fury stuffed animals). Sounds ridiculous I know, but the soldiers, entrenched in life and death battle, loved these little creatures. They would put them on their tanks and tell us they were going to take them into battle. Some said they would take them home to their kids. What was apparent is that they served to remind them that their was something nice in the world, family who loved them, a life that they wanted to protect and return to. This was their purpose in fighting, not because they were filled with hate or rage, these were the most polite and genuinely nice young men you would ever want to meet, they truly grieve over the loss of life on the enemies side, but they cannot stand by and watch their towns and families endure rocket attacks, and death and destruction. They want to be involved in stopping it.
As we were driving into the area, I begin hearing thuds and though something had fallen over in the back of the van, but I soon realized it was the sound of artillery fire going over our heads. When we arrived in Zarit, we found a full blown battle scene. Tanks and artillery vehicles were stationed throughout the hills and valleys, and they were firing round after round into the cities across the wadi (a small valley between the hilltops). Sirens blared regularly indicating incoming Katush rockets, and helicopter gunship's rotated overhead firing at targets within the embattled city.
I used to wonder how I could so clearly hear the sound of artillery from Gaza on my front maripesset (porch). After standing next to one of these tanks when they fire, I now understand. They are tremendously loud, to the point of shattering an eardrum if you are not careful. The earth shakes beneath your feet and if you didn't know you were standing on solid ground you might worry that you were going to fall through the floor. Being surrounded by literally hundreds of these, the so und became quite four dimensional. Rounds being fired from every direction at varying distances making for layers of various volumes simply filled the sky with the sound of destruction. The trail of a shell fired over your head crackled like the sound of a summer thunderstorm rolling off of the Colorado Mountains and onto the plains. No words can describe it, it was simply awesome.
I must admit to it being somewhat exhilarating. As most men know, as boys we love to blow things up. We can't wait to get our hands on a firecracker, and the bigger the better. These were really big firecrackers.
We then headed to the nearby moshav of Shetula. At the entrance we were stopped by soldiers who though we were the press and were told to leave, but my friend Miki explained who we were and what we were doing and they opened the gate and gave us a warm welcome. None of the places we went would be open to civilians, but Miki has a lot of connections in the military because of his past service, and he knows how to get the doors opened. They told us the press was driving them crazy and they refused them entrance anymore.
Shetula was also in the middle of battle. This was where the whole war was started. We visited a house which was in the middle of being built that now houses the IDF drone team. These soldiers build, fix, and fly the unmanned planes that fly overhead and film the enemy. We were allowed to watch from inside and we could watch their computer screens and see the action below quite clearly.
This house they were in was being worked on by a contractor and his Arab workers when the Hezbollah snuck across the border and u p the hill, fired a shoulder launched rocket through the living room window at the workers inside. The rocket blew out of the wall on the other side of the room, amazingly leaving no one injured. I can't imagine standing there working when a rocket suddenly zips through the room your working in.
This caused an emergency situation and the soldiers at Zarit hurried to Shetula along a dirt road that runs between the two moshavs directly on the border. Along that road they laid an ambush in which three soldiers were killed and the two others were kidnapped.
A lot of foot soldiers were also sent into Lebanon from Shetula, and every night we would wait to hear the news from the battle lines. Many soldiers were killed and injured during the 24 hours we were there. We couldn't sleep all night because of the artillery fire, an d I wondered how the brave souls who stayed in their homes (Shetula and Zarit have a very Zionist population who will not leave their land for any reason) could be anything but sleep deprived and exhausted after a month of this.
Every soldier and commander that we spoke to was very angry at the government. They told us that they could have stopped the Katushas in three days, and cleared out the Hezbollah in two weeks, but their hands were tied and they were not allowed to do what they knew they had to do to win. Every soldier knew the appropriate battle plan, and in fact this very scenario had been planned for by the military two years prior to the event, and PM Olmert and Defense Minister Peretz stopped them cold in their tracks.
That evening we were hearing that Israel would sign the cease fire in the morning , and the soldiers were already asking what it was all for if we were not going to go in and decisively win the battle. Over 100 soldiers had died, we weren't getting our kidnapped soldiers back, we did not succeed in fully disarming and routing the Hezbollah, Nasrallah was still alive, and now the Islamic world would mock us and claim a victory.
Sunday morning we moved on to Avivim, and then Kiryat Shmona, and finally up to Metulla. All along the way were masses of soldiers and equipment, some actively engaged in the battle, and some sitting idly by waiting to be sent across the border. These soldiers want to enter the battle, they want to go in and win because they know that Israel cannot afford to lose a war. When they do, they will lose everything. There is nothing more demoralizing than to send troops in to finish the job, and then stop them at the doorstep of victory and make them sit and w ait, doing nothing, while the victory slips out of their hands.
In Metullah you will find a stack of reporters from around the world staying in a five story hotel. On the roof of this hotel is an observation tower which lets you look into Lebanon, and consequently into where many Israeli artillery shells are landing and exploding. Every so often, these reporters will climb the stairs to the roof with their camera man, dawn their flak jackets, and give a report that looks like they are in the middle of the battle field. Then they go back downstairs to the lounge and drink beer and eat nice meals. Metulla is right on the border, and artillery fire is blasting overhead, and katushas are flying overhead as well, but because of its close proximity, most of the rockets fly over Metullah and hit Kiryat Shmona instead. It is a pretty safe roost for these brave and unbiased reporters.
Amazingly there was an Al Jezeera reporter giving his report in Arabic, enjoying the same freedoms as his Israeli and American counterparts. I thought, I would like to go into your country and try to give my opinion on TV without being killed, knowing it could never happen, and then I wondered if as a people, they would ever understand the difference in how we value life and freedom and how they, sadly, don"t.
I did have the distinct pleasure of telling a BBC reporter what I felt was lacking in their coverage of Israel and this war, such as objectivity, historical accuracy, factual reporting of events, and things like that.
We had the privilege of going inside a deep bunker where communications and radar facilities were being operated. There were over 100 men stationed (and thirteen women) at this facility, and it was fascinating to watch them track their enemies. They were even able to pinpoint movement along the border and listen to the target.
All across Israel on the Northern parts, fire has ravaged forests and farms, and buildings and homes have been destroyed. People have been terrorized, and children have lost their sense of security. This war cost Israel over 11.5 Billion Shekels in lost productivity alone, not including lost tourism revenue, or the cost of rebuilding to come.
The Cease Fire agreement provides billions of dollars to rebuild Lebanon, but not one red cent to help Israel.
The kidnapped soldiers have not been returned. And every Islamic leader fro m Nasrallah, to Assad of Syria, to Mahmoud Nutjob, I mean Ahmadinejad, in Iran is claiming an Islamic victory and calling for global Jihad. Bashar Assad said today that he learned that there was another way to take the Golan Heights other than peace negotiations. He is amassing soldiers and tanks along Israel's borders as I write this.
What the world failed to understand is that Israel was fighting for them. And when they pressured Israel to give in to a Cease Fire, they gave the Islamic world all the fuel they needed to start a worldwide war against western civilization. And with the world so caught up in politically correct methods of warfare, the Muslims just might win.
In the West, Cease Fire means an end to hostilities and the laying down of arms. In the Middle Eastern Arab mentality it simply means a chan ce to rearm and prepare for the next round.
The west does not understand the Arab / Islamic mindset, and unless they wake up to it, and defeat it in no uncertain terms, they will live under its rule. Believe me that is not a reality that anyone really wants.
Had Israel of gone in and decisively won this war in a matter of days, which they were fully capable of doing, they would have set back the Islamic advance for ten or twenty years. But now that the Islamic world sees a weak Israel, and a United Nations with no resolve to fight them, they see the perfect opportunity to strike. Terrorism is going to escalate to unbelievable proportions around the world as a result of what happened here in "Little Ol' Israel".
Neither myself, nor anyone else I speak to believes that this "Cease Fire" will hold. We are bracing ourselves for what will now surly explode into a full scale regional war, and eventually into full scale world war. Of course that is what the New World Order had in mind all along. This is what will bring their dreams to reality as far as they are concerned. But I still believe God is in control and that He is going to use all of this to turn His people back to Him. As angry as I get at the enemy, I find myself even praying for blessings upon them in obedience to the Lord.
I have a pretty strong sense that Isaiah 17 is about to unfold. If it does, you can rest assured that the rest of biblical history is not too far behind.
Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Neil Cooper
The Israel Report
http://theisraelreport.com