PM Netanyahu answers Biden: ‘If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone’

May 9, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Thursday to US President Joe Biden’s threats by sharing a video of an address he had made several days earlier to social media.

In the address that Netanyahu shared, which he made on Sunday at the ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the Prime Minister stated: ‘Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid.’

‘Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction.’

Netanyahu continued: ‘I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself.’

He concluded by pledging: ‘As the Prime Minister of Israel – the one and only Jewish state – I pledge here today from Jerusalem on this Holocaust Remembrance Day: If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. But we know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now!’…”  (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.  The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. – Psalm 121.

We believe that the second half of verse 1 should actually be a part of verse 2.  I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills – possibly the Psalmist is looking up and seeing himself surrounded by enemies.  From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth – Israel’s help always has been and always will be from the Lord.  Notice especially verse 4 – “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”  During his confrontation with the prophets of Baal, Elijah mocked the prophets after they were unable to get a response from Baal.  I Kings 18:27 states: “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”  God does not sleep, and He will preserve Israel.  See the next two reports.)

Biden in message to Israel: I will stop sending bombs over major invasion of Rafah

May 9, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “US President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.

‘Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,’ Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview, referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.

‘I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,’ Biden added.

Biden said while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin…” 

Betrayal of allies: US pauses munitions, while threatening Israel’s security – editorial

May 10, 2024 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Amid the conflict in Gaza, the United States administration’s decision to delay a crucial shipment of munitions to Israel is not just a logistical delay; it is a major erosion of trust between staunch allies.

On a seemingly ordinary Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made a startling revelation: the US would withhold one shipment of essential munitions from Israel due to concerns about possible civilian casualties in the strategic Rafah region. This announcement added a layer of complexity and doubt at a time when decisive action is most needed. Austin’s move strikes at the heart of the operational readiness of the IDF and sends a worrying signal about the US’s resolve to stand by its ally.

The timing and reasoning behind this pause are particularly troubling. It came during a critical phase of Israel’s operations against Hamas, a terrorist organization that poses a relentless threat to the security of Israeli civilians. Allies depend on consistent and reliable support in times of crisis; however, this decision by the US suggests a wavering commitment, raising questions about its reliability as a strategic partner…”

IDF: We have enough arms for Rafah; PM: ‘We’ll fight with our fingernails’ if needed

May 10, 2024 — The Times of Israel reports: “The Israel Defense Forces asserted Thursday that the military had enough munitions for its planned missions, after United States President Joe Biden threatened that some arms shipments would be frozen if Israel launched a planned offensive in southern Gaza’s Rafah.

‘The IDF has armaments for the missions it is planning, including missions in Rafah. We have what we need,’ IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, responding to a question at a press conference…

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first direct response Thursday to Biden’s warning, said that if Israel ‘has to stand alone, we will stand alone.’

‘During the War of Independence 76 years ago, we were few against many,’ he said. ‘We had no weapons, there was an arms embargo on Israel, but with the strength of the soul, the bravery and the unity within us — we won.’

‘Today we are much stronger,’ Netanyahu continued. ‘We are determined and we are united to defeat our enemy and those who seek to destroy us… If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails.’…”  (“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.  The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:  But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” – Deuteronomy 7:6-9.  It is amazing that Israel, a nation whose land mass fits inside Lake Michigan, is considered the 8^th most powerful nation in the world.  See the next three reports.) 

Israeli source: Rafah will be conquered – even without US assistance

May 9, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “A senior Israeli source on Thursday morning said that Israel will conquer Rafah – with or without US weapons shipments.

The statement follows a threat by US President Joe Biden that the US will halt weapons shipments to Israel if there is a major invasion of Rafah.

‘We have enough means to enter Rafah and conquer it without US aid,’ journalist Amit Segal quoted the source as saying. ‘Rafah will be conquered regardless.’

The source stressed that ‘the main problem is the message that this sends to Hezbollah and Iran – that Israel will come to the clash in the north seemingly without weapons. Biden has made a grave mistake – both ethically and politically.’

Foreign Minister Israel Katz also responded to Biden’s statement, writing, ‘Israel will continue to fight Hamas until [Hamas] is eradicated. There is no war more just than this.’…”

Netanyahu: ‘It’s either us – Israel, or them – the Hamas monsters’

May 13, 2024 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Israel is in an existential war in which defeat is not an option, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Monday’s ceremony at the Mt. Herzl Military Ceremony to mark the annual Remembrance Day.

‘It’s either us – Israel, or them – the Hamas monsters of Hamas,’ he said, as the country paid homage to fallen soldiers from all its wars, as a time when it was battling the terror group in Gaza.

What is at stake, Netanyahu said, is Israel’s ‘existence, liberty, security and prosperity.’

Should Israel fail, it could face another October 7th-like attack, in which there would be ‘torture, massacre, rape and slavery.’ 

Israel, he said, is ‘determined to win this fight. We have exacted and will exact a heavy price from the enemy for his criminal acts.’

‘We will achieve the goal we set out for victory, central to which is the return of all the hostages,’ Netanyahu stated…”

Israeli official says ‘no power’ will stop Israel from combating Hamas

May 24, 2024 — YnetNews.com reports: “The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague is set to announce its ruling on Friday on South Africa’s appeal for a motion to stop the IDF’s operation in Rafah. Despite concerns in Jerusalem ahead of the ruling, a government official told the Reuters news agency, ‘No power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza.’

The appeal is part of a broader lawsuit accusing Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza. Estimates in Israel say the likelihood of South Africa’s original demand for stopping the war in Gaza being accepted is moderate, but the chances of partial acceptance of the demand, focusing on a cease-fire in the Rafah area and issuing additional orders to increase humanitarian aid to the Strip, are higher…”