"I trust you, my God. Don't let me be disgraced, don't let my enemies gloat over me." Psalm 25:2

The October 7th War

This page is not the work of professional journalists but is a personal understanding of events, gleaned from respected, knowledgable sources; notably - Behold Israel - Jerusalem Post - PMW - BICOM - Honest Reporting - Middle East Forum - Gatestone Institute - Col Richard Kemp - Douglas Murray

Iran's arsenal contains Rockets far more powerful than those developed earlier.

The war that Hamas started on October 7th 2023, when they broke through Israel's security fence to commit the worst atrocities on the Jews since the Holocaust, attacking communities and partygoers in Southern Israel.

As of mid April 2024, six months into the conflict, I am not aware of an official title for this conflict and it might be inappropriate to guess what it might be called until we see how far it goes. Perhaps it could be called the October 7th war but this would not even recognise the day it started on the Hebrew calendar. That day, was the eighth day of Sukkot, a special shabbat - Shmini Atzeret. That title could be fitting, reminding us of the Yom Kippur War that was also started with a surprise attack launched on a holy day.

ISRAEL INVADED ON A HOLY DAY - THE WORLD QUICKLY FORGETS - PLAYS DOWN HAMAS SAVAGERY - TURNS ON ISRAEL AND JEWS WORLDWIDE

Early in the morning of 7th October, Gazans swarmed across the border into towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel, entering homes where families were making a slow start to their shabbat day, to torture, rape and mutilate as well as taking hostages.

The first sign of trouble was the start of the long running barrage of rocket fire from Gaza which hit 7000 in one day.

At the same time music festival was also invaded with utmost brutality, by Hamas flying microlight aircraft and "civilians" using trucks and motor cycles. Video footage also captured ordinary Gazans returning home with items looted from the family homes. Had the media paid attention to the self incriminating video evidence flooding the internet, nobody could reasonably draw a distinction between Hamas terrorists and "innocent civilians." "Innocent civilians" only appeared once they were hit by IDF actions, and as actors playing parts in "Pallywood" faked videos and images. (Some of these pictures were from past conflicts in other places)

The Gazans recorded and live-streamed their horrific, despicable activities in a state of high exhilaration. Thus the IDF and Security services were able to collect a mass of evidence, some of which (video footage) they reluctantly screened the for journalists. Some of whom were traumatised and hospitalised after watching.

ZAKAR volunteers commenced the horrific task of sorting out the bodies so that families could bury their dead. But much of the work was grisly forensic work to identify the victims.

Around 1400 Israelis were murdered and 240 taken hostage (including foreign nationals) Dead bodies were also taken hostage. And in the six months following October 7th 2023, 50 survivors of the Nova Music festival have committed suicide.

( Remember this - Columbia University's Students for Justice in Palestine reactivated their dormant Instagram account exactly 3 minutes BEFORE the massacre began. This seems to explain how the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel street demonstrations got up and running so soon!)

To what extent were /are all the umbrella organisations responsible for anti Israel demonstrations actually criminally involved with Hamas - a proscribed terrorist organisation in many nations?

The initial shock around the world soon faded as the pro-Palestinian = anti-Israel forces came out on the streets of American and European cities chanting "Palestine will be free - from the river to the sea" (Jordan to Mediterranean = presently Israel) without any qualms about the genocide call it actually represents.

During those early days there was an explosion at a hospital in Gaza and Hamas launched the story that Israel had bombed the hospital, killing 500 people. This story was carried by outlets around the world, including the BBC, who refuse to refer to Hamas as terrorists. Then the world went mad and the damage was done before proof was obtained that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket misfire that hit the hospital car park and killed, perhaps, 50.

The IDF launched air and artillery attacked terror targets, including known tunnels before committing ground forces where they would be confronted by ambushes and booby traps. (8 IDF soldiers were killed 13/12/23 in a booby trapped building) - The IDF ground forces fought through to the coast, cutting off the north and warning civilians to move south. Hamas discouraged this removal of their human shields and killed many as they fled on the coast road. IDF forces captured the Al Shifa hospital, bringing in supplies and equipment, and were able to prove the existence of command bunkers, arms storage, military equipment and intelligence. There was also evidence that hostages had been held there (CCTV footage showed them being brought in by their captors) - Even the BBC had to acknowledge the truth!

A temporary cease-fire was arranged but Fighting resumed after Hamas broke the ceasefire/hudna and defaulted on promised releases.

110 Hostages were released (78 of them Israeli women and children) with it still unclear how many of the remaining hostages were still alive.

In exchange, Israel released 240 prisoners convicted of terrorist activity. It is believed that the female hostages promised release were kept captive, for fear of what they would reveal of their experiences. - Testimonies from traumatised women and children are revealing cruelty a and the involvement of so-called "civilians" and UNRWA operatives. One boy was held hostage by a teacher in a UN school and another by a doctor. These boys were branded with a motor-cycle exhaust pipe in case they escaped.

World leaders continued clinging to the idea of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict. But the Gazan civilians unwittingly provided video evidence of their activities in Israel on October 7th including the kidnapping of children (including a 9-month-old baby) - Other videos show Gaza civilians looting with the terrorists and venting wild blood lust on the streets of Gaza as hostages and dead Israelis were brought in, thrown into pickup trucks.

Honest Reporting exposed that Photo Journalists working for the four largest news agencies had entered Israel with the terrorists to document the attack. (not for use against the attackers, but to glorify them) But they did capture abundant evidence of the involvement of Gazan "civilians." Men, women and children were involved in the atrocities. One witness saw a 10-year-old boy given a rifle and told to execute bound, kneeling Israelis.

Meanwhile, PA chairman Abbas, the man touted as Israel's "partner for peace" - in a Two State solution, continued to incite his people in the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria) to also go and kill Jews. He also emphasised that the PA would pay families of dead Hamas terrorists a total of around $2.8 million. - Abundant video evidence is available in which Hamas and PLO leaders explain their shared genocidal intentions for Israel and the Jews. (in Arabic, for home consumption)

Full scale War with Hezbollah/Lebanon was expected to start on command from Iran, but only ramped up gradually. Hezbollah is 10x more powerful than Hamas and has more advanced missiles capable of delivering 500Kg warheads. They might also posses a state-of-the-art Russian air defence missile system.

The Houthis in Yemen joined the conflict, with sophisticated weapons launched at Israel and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The attacks on international commerce in the Red Sea seemed to turn into a war with the USA, Britain and some other European states, possibly "If you stand with Israel, we will sink your ships." Some of the US warships downed missiles before they could reach Israeli airspace, US and UK forces attacked bases in Yemen.

Conflict with Syria grew, appearing to be largely Israeli attacks on Iran's supply routes to Hezbollah. (some very close to Damascus)

Biden gave massive support but the motives seem contradictory

The support had strings attached to limit Israel's action and US forces in Iraq and the Gulf did not respond to attacks by Iranian proxy forces. Biden's position continued to give a strong indication to friends and enemies alike that America has no intention of taking action. (This was followed closely by Russia launching its war on Ukraine, and China increasing its threats to Taiwan and other neighbours in the South China Sea)

Biden's administration continued, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, that a two-state solution is the answer. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are essentially the same, so where can a government be found that will not just continue the violence and the genocidal hatred of the Jews and their state?

It emerged that not a single Arab country would accept Palestinians! Not even Egypt or Jordan - because Arab leaders know history

- In the early 1950s, the Palestinian leadership collaborated with the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorising Egypt, their host country.

- In the mid-1960s, the Palestinian leadership terrorised Syria, their host country.

- In 1968-70, the Palestinian leadership caused a civil war in Jordan, attempting to topple their host Hashemite regime.

- In 1970-82, the Palestinian leadership instigated a series of civil wars in Lebanon, aiming to take over their host country.

- In 1990, the Palestinian leadership collaborated with Saddam Hussein's invasion and plunder of Kuwait, which had been the most generous Arab host to 400,000 Palestinians.

May our leaders learn this lesson. Ireland has not.

The world went crazy - and The Lies that fuelled it

Western world capitals experienced huge anti Israel - anti-Semitic incidents and marches. Interestingly, native protesters interviewed did not know what happened on October 7th and could not say which river and which sea they were shouting about. But the flying of Hamas and even ISIS flags and takeovers of major sites as temporary mosques should be alerting westerners to the Islamic threat at home. It appears that radical islamists feel that the mass presence in support for Hamas has advanced their goal of taking over their host nations.

By the time they wake up to radical Islam's genocidal hatred of the Jews, it will be too late to learn that it also extends to hating all non-Muslims equally. Sadly, most Westerners are ignorant of the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place in places like Nigeria, where tens of thousands of Christians have been slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. Non-Muslims have no idea what is coming to them.

Amir Tsarfati of Behold Israel, source of much of this information, said,

"For many years I struggled to understand how can anyone deny the most documented genocide in the history - the Holocaust. Then came October 7th, with horrific videos from the go-pro body cameras of the terrorists, photos, and testimonials of search and rescue teams as well as of survivors. And to my astonishment, millions around the world still believe that these atrocities never happened."

The Lies

The first significant lie was the explosion at the ...... Hospital caused by a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launch.

Almost instantly, the Gaza (Hamas controlled) health ministry told the world (via the UN) that Israel had bombed the hospital, killing 500 people. The BBC and others ran the story without carrying out any checks and by the time the truth came out about the PIJ rocked landing in the car park and the fiction of the death toll, the damage was done. A strike on a Hamas house was reported as a strike on a church, that killed 200 Christians inside. Photographs of the church and house published next day revealed the truth. This hoax was clearly intended to bring Christians on-side with Gaza (Hamas).

Casualty figures regularly claimed by Hamas were spectacular but did not add up if examined carefully, but the UN, EU etc continued to accept them. The usual pattern of dishonesty in claimed deaths of women and children followed the normal conventions, with teenage terrorists and women assisting terrorists being included in the civilians.

(Only in mid 2025 did Hamas quietly reduce their fictitious casualty figures)

The acceptance of these figures generated charges that Israel was committing Genocide by indiscriminately bombing Gaza. In fact, after studying the data, The most experienced soldiers of the UK and USA pointed out that the ratio of civilians to combatants in Gaza was less than 2:1 while the best any other army has achieved is reckoned to be 9:1 (That is 9 non combatants killed for every fighter killed)

Palliwood went into action faking numerous video clips that circulated on social media even if they did not make the news media. One such clip shows Palestinians weeping as they hold dead babies, that are actually "Silicone reborn babies" purchased on-line from AliExpress.

Palestinians have also produced images that closer examination revealed as AI products - by giving people three legs or six fingers on a hand.

"Innocent Palestinians" Was also casually used in condemnations of IDF actions, but the October 7th attack, in all its bestiality, was carried out by many so called civilians along with the uniformed Hamas fighters. This situation included the scandal of Photographers employed by CNN and other major news networks going in with the attackers to record the invasion. Even worse; one was given a prestigious award for his photograph of terrorist in their truck, returning with the near naked body of a young woman murdered at the Nova festival. Such awards are to recognise the bravery of journalists who risk their lives to capture their images - But these photographers were participants! The award winning image, plus much video footage, actually captured the hatred and blood lust of mobs of "innocent" Gazans abusing victims (dead and alive) being brought back from Israel.

Six months in - Retrospective

What preceded this war could not reasonably be called peace, as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with backing from Iran had never totally ceased firing rockets into Israel. Also, in the week before October 7th, an unusually high level of aggressive Palestinian behaviour had been observed behind security fence.

The security services were criticised for not alerting anybody, and a subsequent enquiry determined that the modern technique of entering all threats into a centrally accessible database did not place a warning on appropriate desks as would have once happened.

Early morning - Shmini Atzeret in the area of southern Israel along the security fence with Gaza.

A huge force of Hamas fighters and civilians poured through an opening that they had made in the fence and descended on their chosen targets. Sderot was one as were ... Beeri and ..... and whoever the terrorists encountered on the roads as the fanned out. They knew where to go because Gazans working in these communities had been spying them out for Hamas. They went from house to house committing horrific atrocities on the families who making a leisurely start to their shabbat. This is not the place to recount all this horror, but Murder, rape, mutilation and kidnapping (of the living and the dead) were the nature of the campaign. The uniformed Hamas operatives were accompanied by others who joined in the violence and looting; and also accompanied by journalists working for CNN and other media companies!

At the same time Hamas forces on the ground were joined by fighters on microlight / paraglider aircraft as they attacked a large dance party and slaughtered and/or kidnapped defenceless young people who were enjoying the music and dancing.

By the end of the day when the invaders had returned to Gaza and the authorities had arrived to stabilise the situation, 1400 men, women and children were dead, 240 were taken hostage into Gaza and publicly abused by jubilant crowds, and an unknowable number were traumatised and possibly scarred for life

Among these Israeli victims were nationals from several nations, who had been working, visiting or studying in the communities.

The aftermath

When the IDF, Magen David Adom (Ambulance and paramedic personnel) arrived and attended to the injured and the dead the scale and nature of the deeds of the Gazan attack started to become clear to Israel. Also, very briefly as the details emerged there was worldwide(?) horror and sympathy for Israel. But as usually happens, the Palestinian propaganda machine was ready to misrepresent Israel's self defence efforts and to flood the world media with exaggerated or totally ficticitous suffering of Gazans. These figures and stories were fed into eager media channels who broadcast them without fact checking, firing up the "woke" generation Palestinian supporters around the world into noisy mass demonstration in major cities around the world that became an echo chamber that amplified the falsehood and buried the truth; and with it sympathy for Israel.

Israel responds

"It all started when Israel fought back."

Six months in - Iran attacks for the first time

April 14th, through the night - Iran and its proxies in Yemen launched 110 ballistic missiles, 185 suicide drones and 36 cruise missiles at Israel. 99% of the missiles were intercepted, one child was critically wounded and 31 people were lightly injured.

According to the US military, most of the 100-plus ballistic missiles Iran fired at Israel last night were shot down by Israel. Most of the intercepts were carried out by the Arrow Two and Arrow Three Israeli systems, taking place not only over Israeli airspace, but over neighbouring countries as well. The US planes from a pair of aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean ahead of the strike shot down four to six ballistic missiles.

More and more videos coming out of Iran revealed that many drones and missiles malfunctioned and fell on Iranian towns and villages. Senior American officials told the Wall Street Journal that about 50 of the ballistic missiles launched by Iran failed to launch or crashed before reaching their destination.

NBC report: Biden told Netanyahu during their conversation tonight that "since the Iranian attack caused minimal damage to human life and property - Israel should see it as a victory and not respond."

UK broadcaster Piers Morgan posted, "Israel must show restraint. I fear Netanyahu won't." To which Amir Tsarfati observed, "Let's see your response if the UK was attacked by ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and hundreds of suicide drones. Well I guess you don't need to answer - during WW2 it was almost the case and the last time I checked - Churchill wasn't showing much restraint". Hypocrites!"

April 15th - Israel's war cabinet considering their response, but with Biden's administration leaning heavily on them not to respond hard.

No country ever had to intercept over 100 ballistic missiles in space within one hour. The combination of Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 proved to be the best multi layer air defence system in the world!

I, wildolive, wonder about Iran's tactics in launching such an ineffectual campaign of UAVs and missiles and seeing Israel and allies stopping 99%. That was a great result for Israel but, remembering what a huge arsenal of weapons Iran and its proxies still have, even if they are ineffectual, is Iran merely using up all the very expensive high-tech Israeli and American weapons to leave the way clear for a nuclear weapon, once they have one. How long can the West carry on taking down Qassam rocket costing around $800 with Iron Dome missile interceptors costing $100,000 to $150,000? Iran's slow moving $15,000 drones were mostly taken down by missiles fired by high-tech fighter aircraft. To intercept a ballistic missile outside the atmosphere requires a new Arrow 3 costing $3.5 million.

Ten days later - Israel attacked Iran for the first time

Israel launched an attack using jet fighters and Iran downplayed the damage. From there onwards the story got rather strange, leading commentators pondering the strangeness of Israel restricting its response rather than attacking Iran's nuclear programme. It seems that both sides have had to allow the Biden administration to call the shots (or rather the lack of). Daniel Greenfield's article on this strike included these observations. (April 16, 2024

This Was Not the Actual Iranian Attack. This was the "attack" prearranged for show between Iran and the Biden administration through backchannels. It was an attack that allowed Iran to show off that it can reach Israel (look at those lights over the Temple Mount), while not inflicting any real damage. The Biden administration has already made it clear that it will oppose any Israeli response. There will be public condemnations and warnings about escalating the conflict further.

So does that mean it's over? No.

Iran did burn up some resources doing this, but apart from the morale boost of doing it, it set out to test U.S. and Israeli defenses. And the defenses did what they were supposed to. However, had Iran actually been trying to launch a serious attack, it would have used its Hezbollah, Houthi, Iraqi and whatever is left of its Hamas proxies to saturate local air defenses.

Iran will do things beyond this light show, which was largely meant to reassure the Biden administration that its "diplomatic tools" had successfully solved the problem. That's an illusion that Iran has used to allow it to build up its nuclear weapons program, to sow dragon's teeth around the region and to cut off international shipping at will. The Iranian regime knows that America could destroy it. It also learned under Obama that its greatest defense is convincing D.C. elites that diplomacy will successfully deescalate any conflicts with the regime. By starting a crisis and then allowing itself to be talked into standing down a little bit, before beginning the cycle again, Iran has been able to expand its sphere of influence without paying a price. It will strike more seriously, but it will do so in a way that will allow it to go on manipulating its diplomatic collaborators in D.C. and building power in the region.

So what was Biden trying to achieve by allowing Israel and Iran to take it in turns to make limited attacks on each other?

This conjures up terrible images of a puppeteer orchestrating a conflict for his own delight - or his reelection campaign.

Surely, this tactic could only prolong the war (until after the USA presidential elections?) while Iran forges ahead with its nuclear bombs

Will the USA allow Israel to strike before it is too late? Will Israel ultimately have to disregard American restraints and subsequent withdrawal of support? (This could ground Israel's F35 aircraft)

Trump elected US President - Will this change everything?

Well, it changed many things - particularly the supply of the armaments that Israel needs. Trump is clearly a much better friend to Israel than Biden, Obama and their teams were. BUT.

While making strong statements about backing Israel attacking Iran's Nuclear facilities to prevent the regime gaining nuclear arms, Trump and his team have gone over the heads of Israel's government in renewing futile negotiations and restraining their war to destroy Hamas.

American intervention surprisingly appears to have gone back to Biden't belief in endless negotiation and deal making. This appears to have stalled Israel's push to defeat the surrounding terrorist armies and their Iranian backers while Iran works fast and blatantly to perfect their nuclear weapons for use against Israel. By April 2025 we seemed to have passed the date by which Iran's bomb could be completed, and yet Trump's negotiator is engaged in negotiations with the regime that only has to draw them out for long enough to complete their project.

The plan for these negotiation seems no better than Obama's and Biden's ineffectual efforts to win over the mullahs, who prove repeatedly that they have no intention of halting their weapons programme but are masters of the art of talking while they do so. Disappointingly, the Trump administration has gone back to the faith in negotiating a slow-down of Iran's bomb programme that is very similar to the Obama and Biden presidencies. Indeed Trump's negotiator is Steve Witkoff, who had the same role in the Obama & Biden administrations. He is understood to be a good commercial negotiator but continues to be duped by the Iranian leaders, not understanding their outlook.

In the long term, which is where the Islamic world operates, Trump may be no more than a temporary delay. Hence their enthusiasm for drawn out negotiations. The next US president will probably be more to their liking.

The actual fighting

The IDF and IAF conducted a effective campaign against Hamas and their underground infrastructure with non Hamas people above ground as human shields and to generate hatred of Israel whenever they get hurt. See explanations elsewhere of how sophisticated are Israel's tactics for minimising non-combatant casualties - only 2:1 compared to 9:1 = 9 non combatants for every one fighter killed which is the best most armies have achieved.

Israel came close to finishing off Hamas when they were restrained from completing the removing them, by pressure to negotiate. This process was, in essence, bargaining with kidnappers who are holding one's family to ransom with menaces. It did see the return of quite a few hostages - released in bad condition, in bad faith and maximising emotional pressure on Israel in general and the families in particular. The dark view of hostage release negotiations is Hamas still holds enough to terrorise Israel, but will never release them all as that would be the end of their reign of terror - leaving the IDF free to act more decisively. Hamas' objective is to remain in power and they will sacrifice anything to do that. Hamas must be removed to release the people of Gaza and fight the constant threat to Israel's survival.

Hezbollah (Iranian proxy terror group) embedded in Lebanon also need to be removed to free the Lebanese from their grasp. It is believed That Iran planned Israel's destruction with a simultaneous attack by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen. Hamas apparently attacked on their own to gain all the glory. This allowed Israel to largely weaken Hamas before having to focus on Hezbollah. In this they were very successful, having UN resolutions to keep Hezbollah north of The Litani river in their favour so they could clear out Hezbollah from territory adjoining Israel. Weakening Hezbollah also gives the Lebanese government some relief.

However, Lebanon is still home to numerous jihadi groups. - Hezbollah - Hamas - Palestinian Factions: Groups like Fatah, PFLP, DFLP, Osbat al-Ansar, and others inside refugee camps - Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya - Islamic State / ISIS -affiliated cells - Al-Qaeda = HTS Affiliates. The new national leader is from HTS.

The Houthis, whose missiles proved less of a problem for Israel than its Red Sea terrorism was for western shipping. That brought strong responses from the USA and UK.

Jihadi groups in Iraq joined the fighting but were mostly fighting US forces, and appear to have gone quiet.

While all this was going on, the Assad regime fell to "rebel" forces going under various names but led by ISIS, from whom came the new Syrian leader. Upon changing his military attire for a suit he was blindly accepted as a bright new hope by western leaders, who failed to make a connection that his ISIS (= HTS) aligned forces had set about wiping out the Alawite muslims (Assad's people) and Christians.

Israel had to get involved to establish a buffer zone to keep ISIS forces away from Israel's border (and to protect the Druze communities)

The Druze wanted Israel to take over their area, but later made friendly overtures to the new regime.

Turkey's President Erdogan made threatening statements and took advantage of the fighting to fight with the Kurds. But he faced days of protest against his regime at home.

Quatar worked in favour with finance for Hamas and the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel / anti-Semitic groups of useful idiots who fill the streets and universities of the West with Hamas flags, Genocidal chanting and recycled libels against Israel. Somehow the west, particularly the USA were willing to accept Quatar as mediators in discussions conducted over the heads of Israel's government. (Hardly impartial)

Egypt attempted to sit on the fence (or behind their fence with Gaza) but refused to accept any Palestinians. Israel's capture of The Philadelphia corridor revealed the scale of cross border tunnels, through which extensive upport had been reaching Hamas.

IRAN'S BOMB remains the worst threat, and is becoming more pressing.

Making the war difficult for Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and government.

American support against all these threats comes at a high price - Israel's freedom to fight this existential war is hampered by a USA government that has still not taken on board the realities of the Middle East. It still holds to the Two State Solution that the USA believes it can negotiate into existence - in spite of all the evidence to the contrary that removing the state of Israel is all Israel's enemies really want.

The mini missile war between Israel and Iran might have been controlled by Washington for show (?) but Israel's response prepared the ground for a serious attack on the nuclear sites as the next round. So it was hardly surprising that Iran renewed negotiation tactics.

The slow down of the war was accompanied by serious campaigning for the return of the rest of the hostages - clearly something we all want. Sadly that is something that can not be achieved by cease-fires and concessions as remaining in power is all that matters to Hamas, and that depends on continuing to hold some hostages.

Political in-fighting and lawfare against Netanyahu has seriously hampered Netanyahu's leadership in this, Israel's longest war.

The Israeli population appears to be incapable of setting aside its disagreements, passions, fears, ambitions and ideologies while their nation is fighting for its survival. This is a worrying difference from Israel's previous wars.

May 2025

Disasterous wildfires in central Israel fanned by high winds, but the cause turns out to be an organised campaign by Palestinian arsonists.

The people who claim to love "Palestine" were enthusiastically trying to burn it down! Intifada by any means.

Trump and co are buzzing around the Middle East seeking deals. But Israel is not necessarily the beneficiary. The Americans believe they have secured a deal that the Houthis will stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. This leaves the Houthis to carry on attacking Israel, but what support will Israel get from the USA as the Houthis continue to fire missiles. (They were delighted to have one hit near Israel's main airport - after so many failures and interceptions. Negotiations with the Houthis are probably a waste of time and effort as their outlook is driven by Khat chewing cognitive impairment and fanatical islamism.

Factory fires and explosions in Iran, among other places. Wars breaking out in India & Pakistan (Islamist terrorists) and Sudan & UAE (accused of backing the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF))

The world

While all this is going on, the world is being bombarded with continual Hamas propaganda on its streets and its televisions, by ignorant leftist, woke, liberal activists. Exactly how far this noise will take this conflict remains to be seen, but the western governments remain wilfully(?) ignorant that the islamism that is driving this war is gradually ramping up at home, fuelled by the Israel hatred that is cloaking rampant anti-Semitism. Somehow we can say "Never Again" without noticing that the whole process is being repeated in our cities.

The church

How much of the church stands with Israel against the war being waged against them - and us?

The Islamists make it clear enough that "after killing the Saturday people they will kill the Sunday people." Indeed, in many places they have already started on the Sunday people. Nigeria has a long running genocide against Christians.

I hear prayers in church that God will bring "peace in the Middle East" without any grasp on the fact that it is a conflict between our GOD - YHVH the God of Israel (and us who are grafted in to his purposes) and their god Allah, the moon god, and his followers who have the destruction of all who disagree enshrined in their holy book(s).

How many in our churches are making any effort to see how these events are playing out into the events we see prophesied in Jesus' revelation delivered to us by John. There can never be peace between Our God and Satan's minions until all the violence in Revelation has taken place and Jesus, Yeshua, the Lion of Judah, Prince of Peace returns to rule the nations.

July 2025

There had been a long period of negotiations and pronouncements about hostage releases, stopping Hamas and stopping Iran, but it all appeared to be Trump's administration pursuing ineffectual negotiations while sitting on Israel to prevent them taking the action necessarily to prevent Iran's ayatollahs achieving and using nuclear weapons to devastating effect on Israel's citizens.

By July, the intelligence community and the IAEA believed Iran had enough material for 10-15 bombs, but still negotiations continued with the Iranian regime repeatedly vowing to not stop their uranium enrichment.

However, very early on the morning of Friday 13th July it became clear that the threats made by Israel and the Trump administration were not idle words. All the negotiations did not produce a rational agreement from Iran but, apparently, played the Iranians until there could be no doubt that an attack on their nuclear and missile infrastructure was justified and imperative. Indeed, once it was underway, President Trump reminded the world that he had given Iran sixty days to make a peace deal, and that Israel had attacked on day sixty one.

I have been following Amir Tsarfati's Telegram feed on which he shares every event as it is announced or as his team experience it in their home in the Galilee, plus explanations of technical and political issues with the benefit of his military experience. Anybody who wants to understand all the events should sign up to his Behold Israel feed, As we know the media can not be trusted to understand and report what is happening without filtering it through their journalists' biases and preconceptions.

July 13th 2025 saw the start of operation "Rising Lion." This conflict has since been referred to as the "Twelve Day War," although this is not quite appropriate.

Israel launched the most sophisticated and well prepared campaign by first finishing the destruction of Iran's air defences so that IAF had unhindered use of Iran's skies for their strike missions. The targets were Iran's means of attacking Israel with Missiles and drones plus the Nuclear weapons manufacturing sites that would allow the missiles to carry nuclear warheads and wipe out Israel as the leaders have so long promised

Iran's missiles

Iran's arsenal is far more powerful than the rockets developed earlier.

Neuturalising the Missile threat was close to impossible as the regime had so many missiles with so many launchers - many mobile. But the IAF attacked them continually, because these missiles were being launced at Israeli cities in barrages (to try and overwhelm the missile defence systems) These systems performed really well with support from the IAF when drones got through. Israel did suffer some civilian casualties and Israelis endured many hours in bomb shelters.

While Israelis were experiencing war at home, Israel was conducting the most sophisticated attacks, targetting weapon systems, and the commanders responsible for their use in intelligence driven precision strikes on these men in their meetings and homes. This was a new departure in warfare - not wiping out as many enemy civilians and soldiers (cannon fodder) as possible but going for their commanders.

Meanwhile - Gaza

While Israel was at war, an American organised, Israel approved aid operation was under way in Gaza to relieve the media's alleged "Famine." Through that time Hamas, somewhat thwarted in their theft of aid to sell at black market profits, committed acts of violence (shooting) against their own people collecting aid. The main purpose being to accuse Israel of these crimes. Hamas also "executed" Palestinians accused disloyalty at this time, attempting to hold on to their crumbling power.

Israel was extremely grateful for support from the USA in terms of armaments and defence, but the USA did not take part in the attacks - until Israel had finished destroying Iran's air defences and all the nuclear infrastructure except the deepest parts that needed "Bunker busting" bombs. At this point, after sending B2 bombers and their systems to the Pacific as a decoy, the USAF sent the real B2 + Bunker Buster attack forces to destroy the most deeply buried parts of the Fordow nuclear weapons plant.

(The significance of the fact that the B2 attack followed a serious attack on American bases is probably best left unexplored.)

When Iran sought a ceasefirehere there was much exultation that the war had been won (especially from President Trump) . After a false start to the ceasefire, Trump reinstated negotiations and restrained Israel. Realistically, this was not the end of the war, even though Israel's Operation Rising Lion had removed the looming threat of nuclear destruction. The Iranian regime continues to vow nuclear destruction for Israel and continues to send their proxies against Israel. Operation Rising Lion was a brilliant twelve day campaign and has pushed back the nuclear threat by years. However, on 02/07/25 the Pentagon said that the Iranian nuclear program had been degraded by "one to two years".) We know that Israel's Islamic enemies are willing to play the long game and that the war is not over. It seems that the "ceasefire" is nothing more than a Hudna to allow Iran to rebuild, regroup, rearm and start the whole thing again. There is no sign of Iran reining in Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis or any other proxy group. They are all vowing to fight on, and Hamas is still using their hostages for psychological warfare against Israeli families.

Many hoped that Israel would take out the chief ayatollah as they did his commanders, enabling the Iranian people to rise up and regain their country; but the US apparently forbade that asassination, and the ethnically diverse population has not risen up. So the Trump administration will keep on negotiating, trying to change the minds of Iran and her proxies but the mullahs will be content to wait out the remainder of President Trump's term, expecting a new president who will not stand with Israel

As of early July 2025, The situation appears to be - Israel being held back and losing war momentum while America negotiates with Israel's enemies who are recuperating and rearming for resuming hostilities.

Is this conflict the prelude to or the first stages of the Apocalypse?

A nuclear Armageddon appeared to be drawing close but then receded somewhat as US diplomacy stepped up (restraining Israel) and pushing back towards a low key war with a rescued Hamas continuing its rocket attacks and rebuilding for the next October 7th.

But what are the possible scenarios?

If the Ayatollahs' regime had fallen and Iran became westernised, Persia would no longer have been on course for the Gog Magog war.

If the operation and thus the war failed to stop Iran acquiring the bomb - Iran could easily anihilate Israel leaving us without the elements of the Gog Magog war and the return of Jesus. Nuclear armed Iran would have no need of its allies and their armies to come against Isrel.

If Trump succeeds in turning the ceasefire into "peace" between Israel and its sworn enemies, still hot in their genocidal hatred but with the prospect of nuclear weapons pushed over the horizon; What then - Conventional warfare - a land invasion by massed armies of an alliance.

See the late chapters of Ezekiel and Zechariah and the book of Revelation. These might actually have just drawn closer to fruition!

The scale and the horrors of this conflict should be enough to make Christians ponder what is ahead - and ponder what difference this should make to our outlook, especially our drive to share the Gospel of Jesus while there is time.

Updated 07/07/25 - Work in Progress - as is the war - proof reading still required.

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