Dear Faithful friends of Israel,
Grace and shalom to you from Jerusalem. I have finished my second deployment to the Border Police unit near Gaza. On this last trip the Lord threw open some amazing doors to provide comfort to the children and people of Sderot and the surrounding communities. I was given the freedom to use the base commander's truck to visit over a dozen kindergartens as well as send off MBKI's first bus full of children and parents from Sderot to a holiday village in the Galilee.
SDEROT RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS TRIP TO THE GALILEE
In partnership with a Sderot based organization we sent 110 children and their parents on a much needed break from the chaos of war and never ending rocket attacks to the North of Israel. This group enjoyed a weekend of relaxation and fun. They went ice skating in Metulla, jeep tours of the Golan Heights, mass viewing of Madagascar 2 and karaoke at the hotel (See pictures below.)
TEENS FUN DAY IN JERUSALEM
On my tour of the kindergartens I ran across a teen club in one of the border communities Kibbutzes. I connected with the youth leader and we immediately put together a "fun day" in Jerusalem. This past Monday, 40 teens from two kibbutzes came to Jerusalem for bowling, pizza party and a movie at the Jerusalem mall. The smiles of the kids spoke volumes of their gratitude (Still waiting for the pictures.)
SDEROT ETHIOPIAN IMMIGRANTS ARE NEXT
We are in the process of planning an identical weekend trip to the Galilee for Sderot's Ethiopian children and their parents. We are expecting to complete the planning this week and send this group North next week.
YEMENITE KINDERGARDEN ON OUR RADAR
During my two deployments to the border of Gaza, I spent a great deal of time in the most economically depressed farming community on the cuff of Sderot city, securing areas where Hamas rockets fell and praying. Last week I made a connection with the manager of a kindergarden and feel impressed by the Lord to investigate building a relationship with this kindergarden and their 30 plus Yemenite children. Please pray for wisdom on how to proceed.
THIS BATTLE WITH HAMAS IS OVER BUT NOT THE WAR
After returning to my family in Jerusalem last Saturday night, I was required to report to my Jerusalem border police base the next day for an afternoon of weapons training at a firing range outside of the city. I had decided that I needed a break and so did my family. I had planned to direct my attention to the upcoming "comfort" operations that were unfolding from the divine contacts that were made in the South. However, Sunday night I received a call from my Jerusalem base commander and was asked if I could report to the base at 4:00 am to participate in a huge operation planned for that morning (Monday). When I arrived at the base I saw the largest array of police, border police, special units, IDF, internal security agents, intelligence and surveillance teams, horses, dogs and engineers that I have ever seen.
In a few hours we would all move to the home of the dead terrorist who murdered 8 yeshiva students this past Spring. It is known that this terrorist is associated with Hamas in East Jerusalem (5 minutes from our apartment). The mission was to completely seal two floors of this bad guy's house with concrete. I was the commander's driver/aide de camp. Our jeeps provided force security for the operation and closed off all the entrances and exits to the arab village while the special SWAT teams and engineers did their work to prepare the home for sealing. As has been the Lord's good pleasure since the first days of the war, I was placed near the center of all the activity to pray directly into the operation as each phase developed. The operation was a success.
I was released at 2:00 pm and ran home to change my clothes and greet the busload of teens from the Sderot region for their day of fun in Jerusalem.
I haven't had much time to digest all that I have experienced since the outbreak of war. However, I wish to convey to you and all of your friends that you forward this email to some closing observations for you to pray into. The word I keep hearing is "DILIGENCE AND ALERTNESS because this isn't anywhere near being over."
PRAYER TARGET: WOUNDED IDF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS
Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza Saturday night, but the struggle has not yet ended for dozens of injured soldiers and civilians hospitalized in Israel.
As of Sunday morning, 51 soldiers and 13 civilians were still on file as patients at the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva and Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.
Among the 13 wounded civilians is seven-year-old Orel Elazarov of Beersheba, who has been in serious condition since he was injured by shrapnel from a Grad rocket.
Two residents of Ashdod are also considered severely wounded, three weeks after they were hit by rocket shrapnel in an attack that killed Ashdod resident Irit Sheetrit.
Among the injured soldiers, one is described as being in critical condition. The soldier in question is Val Jenam of the Golani infantry brigade, who was wounded after an IDF tank accidentally fired on infantry troops. Jenam, who was hospitalized at Sheba Medical Center, has not regained consciousness since the event.
Six additional soldiers are considered severely injured, among them Second Lieutenant Aharon Karov, who left for the operation mere hours after his wedding. Thirteen additional soldiers have been declared in moderate condition, while 30 soldiers are now considered lightly injured. Two of them have started rehabilitation at the Sheba Medical Center.
During the weeks of the operation, some 800 soldiers and civilians arrived at the hospitals for treatment.
PRAYER TARGET: THE BODY OF MESSIAH AND ISRAEL
This next target is from my dear friend Avner Boskey who has also been reporting on the war with spot on accuracy. I couldn't agree more with what he recently wrote as a warning to the Body of Messiah in the nations. The storm has been rising for the past 60 years and is upon us. This is not the time to be sidetracked with other things or you may find yourselves on the sidelines. The stakes are high and Israel and the Jewish people are on the world's chopping block.
The Scriptures tell us that Israel is God's billboard to the nations (Isaiah 11:12; 49:22; 62:10). God uses the Jewish people to reveal His ways, to reveal His heart. to shout out His message to all countries. Senator Hillary Clinton once called Israel "the canary in the mineshaft". By that, she meant that Israel is an indicator – an air-raid siren, an advance warning alarm – to the world. What happens with Israel is a preview of coming attractions; these same challenges or trials or wars will soon be coming to the whole world.
The anti-Nazi Pastor Martin Niemöller put it this way, The Nazis "came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, for I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me".
For decades Islamist and Arab terrorists have attacked the Jewish people and the State of Israel. These atrocities have for the most part been brushed under the carpet by the nations of the world. The United Nations even passed a resolution condemning Zionism (the Jewish people's national liberation movement) as racism (General Assembly Resolution 3379, passed in 1975, revoked in 1991). At this moment Iran is openly pursuing nuclear weaponry in its self-confessed drive to wipe Israel off the map.
Over 10,000 Hamas rockets and mortars have rained down on Israel for the past 8 years, and for the world this has been merely business as usual.
Through all of this God is communicating a message to the world: what comes first to Israel (Islamist attacks) surely comes to the rest of the nations (9/11 etc). Hamas' attempts to establish an Islamic state and to destroy Israel through rocket fire, indicates that unless the nations of the world get with the plan, they will see similar things happening in their neck of the woods.
Green tide rising
We are living in the days of the restoration of the Jewish people to Israel, their promised land. God's restoration movement has been opposed by Satan in many ways – through Communism, Fascism and now through Islamist hatred and murder of the Jewish people. The flags and colors of these movements are red, black and green. Today the anti-Semitic charge is currently being led and catalyzed by those carrying green banners – the banners of Islamic jihad.
As European and the Islamic world march in their tens of thousands against the Jewish state, it is time to "wake up and smell the coffee". We are living in the days of Satan's renewed and murderous onslaught against the Jewish people. These are the "days of the hunters" (Jeremiah 16:16-17).
Pray for believers worldwide to wake up and recognize that the Jewish people are being strategically targeted by the enemy. Pray that believers worldwide will target the Jewish people in prayer, for blessing, protection and salvation.
PRAYER TARGET: THE BELIEVERS IN THE LAND
A midst all the war in the natural there is immense activity in the spirit. I can personally attest to the heaviness here in Jerusalem (more than usual). With the hatred of the world focused on Israel can you imagine how many curses are being released from every corner of the globe. At this point, I would like to ask you to pray for the families, children and marriages of the believers in the land.
In conclusion, I want to thank all of you who have responded to our call to provide comfort for the children and families in the South who have been tragically affected by this war brought to their very doorstep. Your generosity and rapid response has been awesome and we are honored to be your representatives of the ONE NEW MAN here in Israel.
Dov ben Zion Gelman
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