Lone Soldiers To Israel

August 19, 2015

 

Dear Pastors:

 

Ole jav found out he has an abscessed tooth when he went in to the Dentist yesterday about his broken tooth.  Tomorrow, the LORD WILLING, I shall have a root canal and have the broken tooth capped. 

 

Today, I write regarding “lone soldiers to Israel”, PM Benjamin Netanyahu,  MK Yoav Golant, and Gen.   Ilan Malka and the al-Samouni Clan.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a planeload of 232 immigrants from North America on Tuesday that he is proud of them for leaving behind the creature comforts of their previous homes to become a part of the Jewish state.

The immigrants arrived aboard a Nefesh B’Nefesh aliya charter flight. They included 29 families with their 75 children as well as nine couples and 86 singles, including 59 who will be joining the IDF as lone soldiers, without close relatives in Israel.
“This land is your land,” Netanyahu told the immigrants in a videotaped message. “You have exercised your right to become active participants in Jewish history, making Israel stronger and yourselves stronger.
Your success is our success.”

Construction Minister Yoav Galant, the representative of the government at the ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport, spoke of the difficulties his mother, Fruma, had to overcome to move to Israel on the legendary ship Exodus. He expressed hope that the immigrants would similarly overcome challenges and integrate successfully.
“Think about your fathers, grandfathers and the past 14 generations who hoped and prayed to come next year to Jerusalem,” Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky told the crowd. “You did it. You are part of history.”
Sharansky told The Jerusalem Post at the event that although he had greeted countless immigrants, he was still touched by every each planeload that comes.

“Every immigrant who arrives completes a 2,000-yearold journey,” he said. “Here we have the completion of 232 2000-year-old journeys, so it’s extra special.”

 

Yoah Galant began his military career in 1977 as a naval commando in the 13th Flotilla. In 1992, Galant was earmarked by then-navy commander Ami Ayalon for the command of the 13th Flotilla, a position he was meant to take up in 1994. Galant preferred not to study during the two remaining years, and instead moved into the ground forces and in 1993 took up command of the Menashe (Jenin) Brigade of the West Bank Division.   Galant went to 13^th Flotilla, the the Gaza Division, the 340 Armored Div., and rose to Major General where he became Military secretary of the Prime Minister.  In 2005 he became Southern Division Commander and I met him at a Givati Brigade affair when Guy Markizano was his aide and Guy Biton his operations officer.

 

Haaretz noted that Galant lobbied against an investigation of Col. Ilan Malka, the IDF commander who approved the airstrike that killed 21 members of the al-Samouni clan during Cast Lead. Galant's view was ignored as the military prosecutor general opened an investigation of the incident which was highlighted by the Goldstone Report (since disavowed by its author) as a possible serious breach of international law.

 

Members of the Samouni family had been sheltering in one of the house, trying to avoid attracting the attention of Israeli soldiers who were in the area, who had previously gathered them into that particular house. On Monday morning, 5 January 2009, four men left the house to gather firewood for cooking. Next to the house was a small wooden structure, and the men had reportedly begun climbing on this to take the boards apart. This activity was seen in aerial drone photographs, and the poles that the men were carrying were mistakenly identified as rocket-propelled grenades by an Israeli Givati Brigade commander operating from a remote location. One soldier later testified to Breaking the Silence that soldiers had received information that a rocket-propelled grenade squad were located in the area. On seeing the drone photographs, the Israeli commander called for a missile strike against the men outside the house; they ran into the Samouni house for shelter, which was then struck twice with subsequent missile fire.

 

When Ilan Malka commanded the Givati Brigade, (He is the IDF officer that recommended I go and visit Beit Kobi, the home of Kobi, a SSgt killed while under Dani Okin.)  Kobi’s mother, Aviva Ichlebaum, started Beit Kobi as a HOME FOR LONE SOLDIERS.  I HAVE STAYED IN THAT HOME AND REALLY APPRECIATE AVIVA AND WHAT SHE DOES FOR LONE SOLDIERS.

 

2 Chronicles 20:11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.  [The Scriptures makes this plain.  The land over there being fought over is God’s possession, when then HE gave to the sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to possess.]

 12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

 13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

 14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;

 15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

 

The Scriptures make all this plain, THE BATTLE IS GOD’S.

WE ARE VERY FORTUNATE TO BE ABLE TO STAND WITH THE JEWS IN THIS TIME OF THEIR GREAT NEED WITH BHO IN OUR WHITE HOUSE!  THAT FACT MAKES OUR SUPPORT MORE PRESSING AND NEEDED!

 

PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY AND THE ELECTION COMING UP NEXT YEAR!

 

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM!!!

 

JIM VINEYARD

YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL