ITAI’s Special Bulletin IV
October 16, 2023
By: Joseph Puder
Not since the days of May and June 1967 (before and after the Six Day War) have the people of Israel been as united as they are now. The Nazi-like execution of innocent Israeli civilians in their homes, by Hamas terrorist monsters, evoked memories of the Holocaust.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity; murdering babies, young children, raping of women, killing elderly Holocaust survivors, and dragging kidnapped Israelis to Gaza tunnels.
This tragedy has galvanized the Jewish nation in a miraculous way. There are no longer left and right feuds, or secular and religious antagonism. Even the Israeli-Arab community is quiet, possibly embarrassed by the brutality of their co-religionists.
Israeli reservists, including the pilots who previously announced that they will not attend to their reserve duty, were the first to arrive to their squadrons. The everyday people of Israel have streamed to the streets, despite warning of rocket fire, to provide food and drinks to passing IDF units on their way to the southern and northern fronts. Housewives and school children have volunteered to aid the families of the Kibbutzim and towns hit by the Hamas terrorists. Many Israeli families in central Israel have invited fellow Israelis from the communities surrounding Gaza, who survived the gruesome massacre, to their homes. Israelis are embracing each other like never before, and young Israelis in Israel and abroad are asking to join the IDF and fight…
In the meantime, Israeli commando units are in the northern Gaza Strip clearing the ground for what will soon be the ground forces entry in the Strip, to eliminate once and for all the Hamas threat to the people of Israel.
The objective of the Israeli government is to topple the Hamas control in Gaza and bring peace to the Israeli citizens in southern Israel. While it is unclear what the day after the war ends will look like, eliminating Hamas’ ability to wage attacks on Israel is the foremost priority.
The IDF’s reinforcement of the northern border with Hezbollah has, as of now, deterred the Shiite Lebanese terrorist group/Iran’s proxy, from launching a second front against Israel. The IDF is prepared to operate on several fronts.
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, has warned Hezbollah against involving Lebanon in the war with Israel. Iran, however, is pressing Nasrallah (leader of Hezbollah) to open another front against Israel to relieve the pressure on Hamas. As a result, Hezbollah is likely to challenge Israel from Syrian territory.
The Muslim world, with its 1.5 billion people, is demonstrating on behalf of the Hamas murderers while, sadly, within the Jewish world of a mere 16 million, there are groups like Jewish Voices for Peace who have joined radical Muslim demonstrators and their leftist supporters against Israel. The voices of the pro-Israel community are drowned out by the Muslim voices, and pro-Israel students are being harassed and threatened in their schools and on their campuses. It is therefore incumbent upon Jewish and pro-Israel donors to withdraw their support from those colleges and universities that allow Hamas hate campaigns and antisemitic speech to take place. Freedom of speech doesn’t include hate speech and calls for violence.
The Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI) mourns with the Israeli families that have lost their loved ones to the Nazi-like Hamas murderers and demands that the US government should do more to seek the immediate release of the kidnapped Israeli and American hostages.