WORLD AT WAR: 5.13.23 - Is Israel On The Verge Of War?

 Is Israel On The Verge Of War?: PIJ Terrorists Fire Hundreds Of Rockets Following Targeted Israeli Operation – By Erick Stakelbeck - https://harbingersdaily.com/is-israel-on-the-verge-of-war-pij-terrorists-fire-hundreds-of-rockets-following-targeted-israeli-operation/ Israel is possibly on the verge of war. How did this all begin? Operation Shield and Arrow is what Israel has named it. It began overnight Tuesday with a surprise attack, which is the only way to describe it. Israeliairstrikes in Gaza eliminated three top Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders. One was the leader of Islamic Jihad operations in northern Gaza, the other was a member of the Islamic Jihad Military Council, and the third member directed Islamic Jihadactivities in the West Bank. Now we call the West Bank “Judea and Samaria” because that’s what the Bible calls it. It is the Biblical heartland of Israel. The Israeli airstrikes were a delayed response to what happened last week when Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched over 100 rockets at southern Israel. Israel did not really have a significant response last week, and many were very critical of the Netanyahu government. The Netanyahu government certainly had the element ofsurprise because this was nearly a week after the rocket barrage. Israel acted, acted swiftly, and acted decisively in eliminating these three Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders and carrying out additional airstrikes in the strip against Islamic Jihad targets. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, but it works side by side with its fellow Iranian proxy, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. From time to time, they will launch rockets in tandem;so far, Hamas has set this one out and let Islamic Jihad go toe to toe with Israel. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have what’s called a joint operations room. They work in tandem and are in constant contact. Most importantly, they’re in contact with their mastersin Tehran and also with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. That entire ring of fire communicates on a daily basis. Israel did not strike Hamas, which is a key point there. So far, it seems Hamas does not want to expand this, getting involved and having Israel unleash its wrath on them. Israel carried out additional airstrikes throughout the past 24 hours. We did not see an immediate Islamic Jihad response. Many believe that the reason was that the IslamicJihad was stunned. They did not expect what Israel did in eliminating overnight those three terror commanders. Now today, they did begin to respond. This was inevitable; Israel knew that it was coming. At the time of this report, over 500 rockets have been launched from Gaza towards Israel. Now, notice my wording here. I did not say that over 500 rockets have struck Israel.No, no, no. Over 500 rockets have been launched toward Israel. What happened to them? Number one, Iron Dome has done its job. Israel’s groundbreaking and incredible, I believe God sent, missile defense system has intercepted a good number of these rockets. Number two, a good number of these rockets—and we saw this in May 2021—fell inside of Gaza. They’re not making it over the border into Israel. Palestinian civilians are killedbecause the rockets launched by Palestinian terror groups are falling on Gaza homes, schools, and playgrounds. Israel has called this a double war crime, and rightly so. The UN, the European Union, and the Biden administration are gnashing their teeth over Israel’s response to Islamic Jihad terror. Remember, these groups, like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Lebanon, intentionally use civilians as human shields. These terrorists have no hesitation inusing women, children, and the elderly, literally as human shields. What does Israel do? The Israel Defense Forces, along with the US military, have the strictest rules of engagement in the history of warfare. I do not say that lightly. If the IDF sees civiliansused as human shields, they will abort the mission. Even if it’s a high-value terror target, they will abort the mission. Sometimes people naively and frankly, from a lack of education and knowledge of the region and what’s going on, say, “Can’t they just get along? It’s an endless cycle of violence.They’re both to blame.” No, they’re not. There’s not a moral equivalency here between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Egypt is apparently feverishly trying to broker a truce between Islamic Jihad and Israel. Israel has good relations with Egypt. They have a peace treaty, and Egypt is in contactwith these terror groups in Gaza. The Palestinian terror groups will try right before the ceasefire is going to kick off; all of a sudden, one last volley of rockets will come into Israel so these terror groupscan claim victory. We pray that’s not the case this time around. Right before the ceasefire, the fighting usually escalates. So far, over 500 rockets have been fired, and several have hit homes in southern Israel. At least eight people have been hurt while running for bomb shelters in southern Israel. I love the people of southern Israel, who are courageous and are dealing with this nonsense every single day. Folks, keep them in your prayers. In southern Israel, it is mandatorythat they have a bomb shelter inside their homes. I was in Ashkelon, which bore the brunt of those Hamas rockets in May 2021. It’s not just some homemade bottle rockets or fireworks being haphazardly launched out of Gaza.They are increasingly advanced and increasingly more precise. Today, a massive rocket barrage has also targeted Tel Aviv and central Israel. Some 70-75% of the Israeli population lives in and around the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, huggingthe Mediterranean coast. Now the rockets thankfully did not land in Tel Aviv; no one was hurt, but these terror groups have come a long way. The big red line for Israel is in southern Lebanon, which possesses at least some precision-guided missiles… that’s a whole other level. Additionally, while Hamas and IslamicJihad have tens of thousands of rockets between them, Hezbollah to the north has some 150,000 rockets and missiles pointed at every inch of Israel right now. When rockets can reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and even towards Haifa in previous engagements, you know that Israel’s got a serious problem. At the end of the day, it’s not about what Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas wants. It’s what their masters in Tehran want. It’s often been said that the Iranian regime willfight to the last drop of Arab blood, which is a sad commentary, but I think very true if you look at Iran’s proxies throughout the region. We must prepare Israel for a multi-front war. I believe it’s a precursor to Ezekiel 38 and 39, the war of Gog and Magog. That’s the future war where God Almighty directlyintervenes in a massive, mighty, undeniable way. Israel needs a whole lot of prayer right now. We are mandated to pray for the land of Israel and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem as a follower of Jesus. ------------------------------------ Do They Actually Want World War 3? Now The West Has Decided To Give Ukraine Long-Range Cruise Missiles� - by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/do-they-actually-want-world-war-3-now-the-west-has-decided-to-give-ukraine-long-range-cruise-missiles/ We are getting dangerously close to the �hot phase� of World War III, but most people in the western world don�t even realize what is going on. They simply trust our leaderswhen they tell us that we will never have to be directly involved in a conflict with Russia, but meanwhile those same leaders continue to push us ever closer to such a scenario. Earlier today, we learned that the UK has now delivered long-range �Storm Shadow� cruise missiles to Ukraine� The United Kingdom has delivered multiple �Storm Shadow� cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability in advance of a highly anticipatedcounteroffensive against Russian forces, multiple senior Western officials told CNN. UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, calling the donation Ukraine�s �best chance to defend themselves against Russia�s continued brutality,� confirmed the transaction on Thursdayafter CNN exclusively reported the deal. These missiles do not have enough range to get to Moscow, but they do have the potential to hit strategic targets very deep inside Russian territory. According to CNN, the UK government �has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory�� The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air. With a firingrange in excess of 250km, or 155 miles, it is just short of the 185-mile range capability of the US-made surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, that Ukraine has long asked for. Critically, the Storm Shadow has the range to strike deep into Russian-held territory in Eastern Ukraine. A Western official told CNN that the UK has received assurances fromthe Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia. UK officials have made frequent public statements identifying Crimea as Ukrainian sovereign territory, describing it as �illegally annexed.� Of course the Ukrainians consider Crimea to be their �sovereign territory�, and the Russians also consider Crimea to be their �sovereign territory�. And many experts are already anticipating that the Ukrainians will use these new missiles to strike Russia�s Black Sea fleet which is stationed in Crimea. Here is just oneexample� Ben Hodges, a former U.S. Army Europe Commanding General, tweeted: �Well done UK!� He added: �This will give Ukraine capability to make Crimea untenable for Russian forces,� and would force a Russian rethink of where to position its Black Sea fleet. If the Ukrainians start raining down cruise missiles on the naval base in Sevastopol, that might be enough to provoke Russia into using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukrainiantargets. And if the Russians start using their tactical nukes, the Biden administration has already strongly hinted that we are likely to use ours against Russian military assets. Once we get to that stage, there will be no turning back. For now, the Ukrainians continue to insist that they are on the verge of launching a very powerful �counteroffensive� which will turn the tide of the war� Zelenskyy said in an interview broadcast Thursday by the BBC that it would be �unacceptable� to launch the assault now because too many lives would be lost. �With (what we have) we can go forward and be successful,� Zelenskyy said in the interview, according to the BBC. �But we�d lose a lot of people. I think that�s unacceptable.� Has the Ukrainian government been able to scrape together enough foreign mercenaries to make a new �counteroffensive� possible? I am skeptical, but the weeks ahead will show us whether they are bluffing or not. Meanwhile, it appears that we could be on the verge of witnessing a major conflict erupt in the Middle East. According to the Jerusalem Post, Islamic Jihad has fired more than 800 rockets into Israel, and the Israeli military has conducted more than 190 airstrikes in Gaza in response� The Palestinian Islamic Jihad had fired 803 rockets into Israel between Wednesday morning and 8 p.m. on Thursday evening, and the IDF had undertaken 191 airstrikes in Gazain the same timeframe. The IDF killed Islamic Jihad rocket commander Ali Ghali around 1:00 a.m. early Thursday, and his deputy, Ahmed Abu Daka, around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. This is a huge test for the Netanyahu government. If the IDF response to these attacks is deemed too weak, Netanyahu will lose a lot of public support. But if the IDF response is too strong, a major regional war could potentially be sparked. At this moment, the Israelis are promising that �the campaign will continue as long as necessary�� Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant stated that �the campaign will continue as long as necessary,� after a sitatuation assessment following therocket strike on Rehovot that killed one man and wounded 10 people. They further instructed the security forces to �continue to exact a heavy price from the Islamic Jihad for its aggression against the citizens of Israel,� the Prime Minister�soffice announced. Let us hope that a ceasefire can be brokered quickly. Because if the Israelis send troops into Gaza, everything will change. Before I end this article, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention. As we draw closer to a war with China, some leaders in Washington are suggesting that we should actually blow up the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company after an invasionhappens in order to keep it from falling into Chinese hands� Taiwan�s defense minister in statements early this week pushed back against the idea of the US bombing the island�s semiconductor factories in the event of a Chinese invasion. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) recently said the US should �make it very clear to the Chinese that if you invade Taiwan, we�re going to blow up TSMC,� referring to Taiwan SemiconductorManufacturing Company, which produces the majority of the world�s advanced semiconductors. When asked about Moutlon�s comments, Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the military wouldn�t let that happen. This just shows how dramatically our relationship with China has deteriorated. At one time, it would have been unthinkable for a member of Congress to say such a thing. But now many of our politicians are openly acknowledging that war with China is coming sooner or later. So let me try to summarize what we are facing. We are already involved in a proxy war with Russia which could soon turn into a shooting war, a major regional conflict in the Middle East could erupt at any moment, and ourpoliticians are publicly talking about a coming war with China. Yeah, I think that we are definitely in a time of �wars and rumors of wars�, but most of us in the western world are still completely and utterly clueless. Most people that live in the western world still believe that our leaders are competent and that they have everything under control. Unfortunately, by the time they realize the truth it will be far too late to reverse course.