Where is the promise of His coming?

One of the last prophetic warnings given to us by Shimon Képha (in English ‘Simon Peter’) is a caution to be on guard about cynicism at the End of the Age. The context he describes here is the Last Days – the period just before Messiah Yeshua returns:

Today the media screens of the world are alive with the sound of mockers. Everywhere one turns, one is confronted with scoffers – who scorn biblical values, monogamous families and sexual purity; who present jihadi Islam as a viable alternative while vilifying the God of the Bible and His Chosen People Israel. Flash-in-the-pan talking heads like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens pour out a steady stream of ridicule against Jacob. Anti-Semitism is increasing across the globe, and these pundits of poison are demonized catalysts and enablers of this process. The birth pangs of Messiah are upon us.

In December 2025 the AMFEST (AmericaFest) held its four-day annual convention at the Phoenix Convention Center, hosted by Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization. It featured prominent Republican speakers, media personalities, and political figures – big names from conservative streams like Make America Great Again, including Vice President JD Vance (the keynote speaker on Sunday December 21, 2025) and Erika Kirk (who was headlining the event). The convention focuses on conservative policy, culture, and future political strategies. Its motto is “Faith, freedom and American values.”

One of the prominent speakers was US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. She spoke cogently about Islamism as a significant threat to Western society in general, and to American society in particular:

Naming names in the anti-Semitic pantheon

Ben Shapiro is an American conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He is editor emeritus for The Daily Wire, which he co-founded in 2015, and also hosts The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show. Shapiro was asked to deliver a speech on December 19, 2025 at the TPUSA AmFest conference. His courageous address focused on the threat to the Republican conservative movement coming from influential right-wing anti-Semitic commentators like Carlson and Owens:

Shapiro specifically targeted Tucker Carlson for giving a generous platform to white nationalist, anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler Nick Fuentes:

The night before, on December 18, 2025, Shapiro addressed the Heritage Foundation, a leading American right-wing think tank, accusing Tucker Carlson of repeatedly advancing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Shapiro cited Carlson’s constant criticism of Israel, his suggestion of “nefarious Israeli influence in American government,” and his hostility toward Christian Zionists. Shapiro also panned Carlson for frequently platforming figures with extremist or anti-Semitic records, including;

“None of this comports with traditional American values,” Shapiro declared. This moment is a test of the conservative movement’s credibility: “Conservatism means something. And if we refuse to stand for it and defend it, it will disappear.”

Which anti-Semite is the ‘Anti-Semite of the Year’?

An American watchdog organization www.stopantisemitism.org “holds antisemites accountable and creates consequences for their bigoted actions by exposing the threat that they present.” They present a yearly ‘award’ – ‘Anti-Semite of the Year’ – “a distinct dishonor is reserved for the most bigoted and hateful individual” who has fostered anti-Jewish attacks over the past calendar year. Previous ‘winners’ have included US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (2019); campus pro-Hamas activist Nerdeen Kiswani (2020); Chairman of the Board of Directors for Ben & Jerry’s Anuradha Mittal (2021);  rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West (2022); US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (2023); podcaster Candace Owens (2024 and here); and podcaster Tucker Carlson (2025).

Carlson, this year’s recipient, has been accurately tagged as an anti-Semite for some time now:

Here is a video of Mr. Carlson from December 26, 2025, attacking the Jewish state and its defenders: ‘Tucker Carlson: Israel Is Not An Ally, It's A Liability.’

For those who have an intercessory calling to pray for the sons and daughters of Jacob, the words of Isaiah 62:1,6-7 echo in our hearts:

Our prayers at this time for the Jewish people’s protection have specific relevance in light of these anti-Semitic conspiracies described above. The God of Jacob’s promise is also our guideline in intercession: “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed. And you will condemn every tongue that accuses you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of YHVH, and their vindication is from Me, declares YHVH” (Isaiah 54:17).

Where are the promises of full national salvation for the Jewish people?

Where are the promise of full restoration of the borders of the Promised Land?

Where is the promise of full restoration of the Davidic throne and dynasty in Jerusalem?

Where is the promise of worldwide honor for the Jewish people and for their homeland?

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

   

Broccoli and blessings

The 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush once commented at a news conference on March 22, 1990: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid. And my mother made me eat it. Now I’m president of the United States. And I’m not gonna eat any more broccoli!”

A Hebrew maxim states, “L’ta’am vare’ach ein l’hitvake’ach!” (‘Regarding taste and smell, there really is no debate!”  English historian William Camden stated in 1605: “All the proofe of a pudding, is in the eating.” So POTUS Bush evidently did have the right to express his strong aversion to the green vegetable he had been forced to eat as a child – even if turns out that broccoli is good for you . . .

How the U.S. Vice-President evaluates the problem of anti-Semitism

On December 16, 2025, U.S. Vice President JD Vance responded on X to an article by Jewish commentator Yair Rosenberg, ‘What J.D. Vance – and many others – miss about American anti-Semitism.’ Rosenberg stated that “the research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic. This finding flies in the face of the folk wisdom that prejudice is the province of the old and will die out with them.”

Vance’s rejoinder was an attack on Rosenberg’s professionalism. Writing on X, he stated: “Mainstream journalism is just profoundly uninteresting and lame, consumed by its own pieties . . .   These guys … all lack curiosity and introspection.” To get a different take on the matter, read Rod Dreher’s cutting-edge article of November 11, 2025.

Rosenberg responded to Vance’s words: “Many liberals are more comfortable calling out conservative anti-Semitism, and Vance appears most comfortable focusing on anti-Jewish sentiments among immigrants, while sidestepping the same problem on the American right … Anti-Semitism predates our present political and religious divides. Before there were capitalists, Communists, Republicans, Democrats, or even Christians or Muslims, there was anti-Jewish prejudice. Which means that although such bigotry is expressed by all of these communities, it has roots in more fundamental forces. The effort to identify and understand these forces is what drew me to  … investigate how anti-Semitism operates as a conspiracy theory that appeals to actors across the political and religious spectrum.”

Is ‘not liking Israel’ like ‘not liking broccoli’?

An Israel-bashing white nationalist who uses antisemitic tropes (Sarah Stock) and lists herself on X with a cross and the phrase ‘Christ is king,’ responded to Vance with an anti-Israeli barb: “Actually White conservative zoomers don’t really like Israel anymore either, JD.”

Vance then responded by moving positively in Sarah Stock’s direction, stating: “I would say there’s a difference between not liking Israel (or disagreeing with a given Israeli policy) and anti-Semitism.” The Vice-President is back-pedaling here, stating that not liking Israel is an acceptable position, and such a stance should not be classified as anti-Semitism.  Vance is clarifying that he does not define anti-Israel sentiment as necessarily anti-Semitic.

The VP’s position is quite different from conservative spokesmen like Charlie Kirk and Senator Ted Cruz, who spoke with great clarity about the dual threats of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism, and warned that this poison is now manifesting among Republicans. Vance’s recent shift from a pro-Israel spin to a position which resonates more sympathetically with young anti-Israel Republicans may of course be politically motivated. Unfortunately this PC pandering feeds a growing anti-Jewish sentiment on the right side of America’s political world (which has dropped from 78% sympathy for Israel to 64%).

Inna Vernikov, a City Council Republican Jewish lawmaker who represents a south Brooklyn district with a large Russian Jewish population, did not attend the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala in the US on Saturday December 13, 2025 whose guest list included white nationalists and antisemitic conspiracy theorists. On Sunday December 14, 2025, Vernikov posted on X about the Republicans’ growing antisemitism problem:

It is common knowledge that the Democratic/leftist wing of the US body politic is already captive to similar (but leftist) anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish drum bangers like NYC’s incoming mayor Mamdani, the Squad (and here) and Bernie Sanders.

Cruzing with Tucker

On Tuesday June 17, 2025 Tucker Carlson interviewed Senator Ted Cruz on his podcast. The heated exchange focused to a large extent on Carlson’s negative obsession with Israel. Cruz expressed his belief that God’s calling on the Jewish people is irrevocable; that whoever blesses the Jewish people will be blessed, while whosoever curses the Jewish people (which includes cursing their state) will be cursed:

During that podcast, Tucker Carlson mocked Cruz for not being able to quote chapter and verse on that passage. The relevant quote, by the way, found in at least three biblical passages, including Genesis 12:3 (referring to Abraham and to his physical descendants), Genesis 27:29 (referring to Isaac) and Numbers 24:9 (which states that the promise applies to the entire Jewish people). Carlson then states off-handedly that he thinks the passage in question is in Genesis 16, but he is incorrect here.  Tucker then sarcastically disses Cruz for expressing his own theological understanding: “You’re a senator and now you’re throwing out theology. And I am a Christian and I am allowed to weigh in on this!” Tucker is trying to score some cheap debating points, but does not seem to understand that calling himself a Christian does not mean that his ‘weighing in” on this or any other issue has either biblical basis or truth-based validity. When Cruz says that “most people understand that line in Genesis to refer to the Jewish people, God’s chosen people,” Tucker responds: “That’s not what it says.” This flippant response shows that Carlson adheres to Replacement Theology, denying that the gifts and calling which God has given to the Jewish people (see Romans 11:28-29) are still valid today. Carlson’s theology is an anti-Semitic one, based on centuries of theological contempt on the part of ‘the Church Fathers’ for God’s chosen people.

The Hebrew of Genesis 12:3 decisively solves this argument between Carlson and Cruz. Let’s look at it now.

A promise is forever, and so are God’s gifts

The God of Jacob covenanted to Abraham three unconditional things (see Romans 11:28-29):  

Though most English Bibles use the verb ‘curse’ twice in Genesis 12:3 (as in ‘cursed is the one who curses you’), there are actually two very different Hebrew verbs used here. The first verb, qalal, has the following range of meanings:

The second verb arar refers to the process of binding someone with a curse or an enchantment, and is used when invoking the name of God that He might cause the curse to work (cf., Lexicon In Veteris Testamenti Libros, ‘Arar,’ ‘Qalal,’ pp.89-90, ed. L. Kohler, W. Baumgartner, Leiden, E.J. Brill 1958, p. 840).

God is stating that each individual (the Hebrew verb used here is in the singular – ‘whoever makes light of you’) will be weighed based on his own heart-attitude to Jacob’s descendants. If someone scorns, makes light, is contemptuous toward, or doesn’t like the Jewish people or their state, he will be faced with God’s strong disapproval – indeed, YHVH’s curse. YHVH is clearly declaring that one’s attitude to the Jewish people is not like one’s attitude to broccoli, à la President Bush. He is pronouncing that a person who does not like Israel comes under a spiritual curse. From this perspective, Vice-President Vance’s flippant statement about those who do not like Israel – the God of Jacob sees such attitudes in a far less tolerant way.

Jeremiah sums the matter up with his prophetic declaration:

When podcasters like Tucker Carlson sarcastically shower contempt on the Jewish people, on the Jewish land, and on those watchmen on the walls who defend the Jewish people – they are bringing on themselves the curse of Abraham’s covenant.  Their poison needs to be discerned from afar and whole-heartedly rejected. Believers in the God of Jacob need to pray:

Lifting the veil of darkness off of the Body of Messiah

In the same way as a veil has been placed upon some Jewish eyes (see 2 Corinthians 3:14-16) regarding a difficulty in recognizing the Messiahship of Yeshua, so in our day a veil of judgment has been placed upon many Gentile eyes (see Romans 11:18-25) regarding God’s priority love and covenant faithfulness to the Jewish people:

Paul prophesied long ago that even believers from among the nations of the world would sooner or later manifest arrogance (Romans 11:18), conceit (Romans 11:20), ignorance (Romans 11:25) and lack of awareness (Romans 11 :25) concerning the calling of the Jewish people and God’s heart for them.

The blowback of Replacement Theology has Last Days ramifications

Those who scorn the Jewish people, who scorn the restoration of the Jewish state, end up scorning the heart and strategies of the God of Jacob. They also end up coming under the influence of malign spiritual forces which seek the destruction of the Hebrew nation.

The shifting of America in our day from a strong position of standing with Israel to a cooling of heart regarding the people of Jacob and the Jewish state; the rise of anti-Semitic attacks on a daily basis across the USA, Europe and Australia – all these reveal that one’s theological beliefs about the sons and daughters of Jacob affect not only the destiny of individuals (as per Genesis 12:3) but also the destiny of all nations concerned.

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

When Santa visited Israel

I was fourteen years old. The crunch of fresh snow followed my footsteps as I walked home at dusk through the Montreal suburb of Notre Dame de Grace. Tall and dark-green Fraser firs stood to attention, decked out with twinkling blue-red-green Christmas lights. Every door that I passed sported a large green wreath sprinkled with red holly berries. And small plastic manger scenes of a very non-Jewish-looking Holy Family glowed warmly with electric lights.  I could nearly hear the sound of snow falling. This Jewish kid loved Christmas.

A year later, I was playing piano in a dance band at Christmas parties and dances. Santa, joie de vivre, crowded shopping malls vibrating with saxophone-flavored Christmas muzak, and the huge glass window panes of the department store Christmas train display – all these still thrilled me, even though by now I was listening to the Beatles.  Yes, I loved Christmas cheer the way many U.S. citizens love Mom, apple pie and America. But like so many Jewish people, I didn’t really have the faintest idea of what Christmas is all about.

Only after I had a life-changing personal encounter with the Messiah of Israel did I begin to grasp the reason for the season. Christmas is all about the prophesied birth of the Jewish Messiah, and His coming down to earth – to Israel – in order to die on a Roman cross as a Yom Kippur atonement for His own Jewish people (Romans 1:16) and for all the world as well (John 3:16). The best Christmas gift of all is Yeshua – He paid the penalty for our sins and He can wash away all our rebellious ways.

Christmas and Hanukkah are nearly cousins in the popular eye. Both holidays are fêted as festivals of lights. Both are connected to the Winter solstice. Both involve the giving of gifts. Both have tasty foods. And both have customs which are partly biblical and partly traditional. To paraphrase the words of Tevye the milkman from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ much of these holiday celebrations can be summed up in one word: “Tradition!”

Make Christmas joyously Jewish again

For most Jewish people, Christmas is a beautifully celebrated holiday, but it is definitely not seen as a Jewish one. It is viewed as a foreign holiday, a Gentile celebration, which seems to take place in a far-away and non-Jewish Bethlehem. Yet Messianic believers delight in echoing the angelic declaration about the birth of a Jewish King:

And here is a worthy challenge: how to restore the Jewishness of the Jewish Messiah – for the Jewish people and for the whole Body of Messiah – and how to rejoice in His birth, while simultaneously understanding the context into which He was born, and how the original First Century believers perceived that event.

Jewish birthdays

Most people are not aware that in Bible days the Jewish people did not celebrate birthdays. Indeed, the Old Testament makes no positive statement about the celebration of birthdays.  The Encyclopedia Judaica speaks plainly: “The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual” (EJ vol. iv, p. 1054).  This perspective is most likely rooted in Ecclesiastes 7:1: “A good name is better than good oil, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”

Only in two places does the Bible refer to birthdays. In both cases pagan rulers brought death to someone on a birthday:

Early Christian birthdays

Early Christians did not celebrate birthdays, as the following quotes reveal. Early Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria (early 200’s A.D. and not really a friend of the Jewish people) explains:

The translator of the Vulgate Latin Bible Jerome (ca. 400 AD) agrees with Origen in his Commentary on Matthew 2.14.6: “We have found that no other people observed their birthdays except Herod and Pharaoh.”  

Flavius Josephus the Jewish historian (ca. 95 AD) communicates a similar perspective in his Against Apion 2:26 over 100 years before Origen, though the official reason given is to prevent drunkenness: “No indeed, the Torah does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess.”

Roman birthdays – not a kosher party

Modern birthdays are a source of joy and delight: cakes, gifts, singing and feasting. But part of the reason that the Church’s original leaders were opposed to Roman birthday celebrations, was because strong demonic and idolatrous elements lay at the core of those ancient ceremonies. An awareness of these spiritual realities was very clear to the Church Fathers; today, most of us are not aware of these ancient and pagan roots.

In Kathryn Argetsinger’s scholarly article ‘Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult in Classical Antiquity’ (pp. 175-193), she comments: “The birthday in the Roman mindset was much closer to a cultic religious celebration than it is today, predominantly because each person had a genius (a tutelary spirit) that they sacrificed to on their day of birth. This deity protected an individual for the year, and thus there was a re-up of that protection annually through the performance of a sacrifice. Birthday parties were a key mix of religion and friendship, where sacrifices were made, incense was burned, ritual cakes were made and eaten, and white robes were worn.” Argetsinger adds: “Such birthday celebrations, whether of family members, personal friends, or patrons take place in that crucial sphere where Roman social relations and Roman religious practice intersect, and demonstrate how difficult it is to understand either in isolation from the other.” A Roman birthday (dies natalis) was a deeply religious event, involving the worship of one’s personal guardian spirit (or personal ‘daimon’/’daemon’ called a ‘Genius’). This guardian angel (an intermediary divine spirit between gods and humans) would be propitiated though sacrifices, incense, wine libations, anointing and wreathing a statue of one’s Genius, the dedication and eating of oat cakes, making vows (vota) and prayers for the protection of the ‘birthday boy or girl’ in the coming year.

The Roman grammarian Censorinus (ca. 238 AD) unpacks the term ‘genius’:

Saint Augustine of Hippo in The City of God (8.14) declared that believers in Messiah Yeshua should have nothing to do with such beliefs and celebrations. Traditional Roman households possessed at least one shrine with the images of the household’s penates (deities)genius and other favored idols. Their statues were placed at table during family meals and banquets. They were divine witnesses at important family occasions, such as marriages, births, and adoptions, and their shrines provided a religious hub for social and family life.

Sextus Pompeius Festus in his lexicon ‘De verborum significatione’ (late 180’s AD) stated: “The Genius is the son of gods and the father of humans, from whom humans are born. And for that reason, he is called my Genius, because he begat (genuit) me.”

A Roman birthday involved worship of demons and thanksgiving to them. Many of our modern birthday traditions are based on these Roman foundations, minus the demonic worship. An accurate appreciation of how ancient Jews and Christians  understood birthday celebrations is foundational as we consider what their perspective regarding the birthday of Messiah Yeshua.

The silence of the Fathers

There is no mention at all by early Christian writers from the first and second century, such as Irenaeus (c. 130–200 AD) or Tertullian (c. 160–225 AD), of birthday celebrations. Origen of Alexandria (c. 165–264 AD) actually mocks Roman celebrations of birthdays, dismissing them as pagan practices. And no celebration of Yeshua’s birth can be found at this time among believers.

In non-canonical apocryphal writings from the Second Century AD (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Proto-Evangelium of James), there is no recounting of the date of Yeshua’s birth  or its celebration, though reference is made to arcane bits of information like the names of Yeshua’s grandparents or to supposed details of His education.

These historical facts about ancient biblical culture should come as no surprise.  Messiah Yeshua, the son of David, was a Jew who lived a Jewish lifestyle, and it should be remembered that it was Romans and not Jews who celebrated birthdays. For Gentile (and Jewish) believers in Yeshua, the clearly idolatrous and demonic nature of Roman birthday celebrations made the concept of celebrating the birthday of Messiah an unthinkable idea.

The First Noel

Just after December 31, AD 192, an Egyptian Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria wrote in his Stromata (Greek for ‘miscellanies’ or ‘patchwork’) about the possible birth dates of Messiah Yeshua. His record is the first indisputable historical reference of theologians attempting to determine Yeshua’s birthday – and it came nearly two hundred years after the fact.

According to Clement, several different days had been proposed by various Christian streams, but Clement didn’t mention December 25 as being one of those days:

There was no discussion or agreement among believers for nearly 200 years after the Resurrection as to when Messiah Yeshua was born, and no trend toward celebrating that event.

Changing days and choosing dates

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great made a legal ruling on March 7, 321 AD, that the Roman day of rest would be Sunday: “All judges and the common people of the city and all the offices of the arts shall rest on the venerable day of the sun.” (Codex Justinianeus 3.12.2). The Hebrew and biblical day of rest, the Sabbath, was not a subject of discussion at that time, nor had it been legally recognized by Rome. Within a very short time, a theological and anti-Jewish teaching sprouted in the Catholic Church that the seventh day of Genesis 2:1-3 was no longer biblically valid, and that Sabbath-keeping was morally reprehensible and sinful.

One of the descriptions in Daniel’s prophecy concerning the ruler of the coming Fourth Kingdom (known today as the anti-Messiah) is that “he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law” (Daniel 7:25). Constantine’s decision to choose Sunday made alterations in the law – the Torah – of God, and it has left a 1,700 year-old stain on the garment of the Body of Messiah – one which has served to foster Replacement Theology as well anti-Semitic theology and legislation.

The earliest reliable Roman mention of the date of December 25 as Yeshua’ birthday comes from the Philocalian Calendar – ‘the Chronography of 354’ – created for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus by the calligrapher and illustrator Furius Dionysius Filocalus.

A section of this Chronography commemorates the dates when martyrs were laid to rest and where significant dates related to them are remembered(‘The Disposition of Martyrs’). In Part 12 and Line 1, the Latin reads: “VIII kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae” – “On the eighth day before the kalends of January [i.e., December 25] the birth of Christ in Bethlehem of Judea.”

“I dreamed I saw Saint Augustine”

The Berber Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) puts the matter of Yeshua’s birth date to rest for the Western Church in his volume ‘On the Trinity (4.5):

The Last Days restoration of YHVH’s feasts

Paul the Apostle calls his Gentile brothers and sisters to take care in handling the Jewish people, their calling and their gifts: “In relation to God’s choice [the Jewish people] are beloved on account of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29). He repeatedly warns the non-Jewish part of Messiah’s body about this, using four powerful verbs:

The non-Jewish wing of Messiah’s body has largely brushed aside the Jewish priority focus of God’s word, God’s Jewish calendar and God’s Jewish people, substituting in their stead Replacement Theology, Gentile extra-biblical holidays and and a priority focus on Gentile Last Days triumphalism. But the God of Jacob swears on His holy name that these ‘boastings against the branches’ will one day be set right:

Freedom to celebrate as we look forward to Restoration of the biblical feasts

History and Scripture show us that Christmas is not a biblically commanded celebration, nor is the date of Messiah Yeshua’s birth known with certainty. Yet Christmas is a holiday that brings much joy to many believers around the world. At the same time, modern celebrations of Christmas tend to conceal more than reveal both Yeshua’s Jewish identity and the priority calling on the Jewish people (as per Romans 1:16, Romans 3:1-2 and Romans 9:1-5).

Paul tells us that “one person values one day over another . . . Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord” (Romans 14:4-6). As we consider the multi-faceted aspects of the celebration of Messiah's birthday, let's remember Paul's words: it was for freedom that Messiah has set us free. As we are called to freedom, let us serve one another through love!

How should we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

In all their afflictions, He was afflicted

Anti-Semitism is alive and well and living in – Paris, London, Belgium, Sweden and Milano. It is wildcatting on the university campuses of Columbia, NYU, Yale, Emerson, Emory, MIT, Tufts, Harvard, USC, UCLA, UTA, Oregon, McGill, and Australia (Monash U and U of Sydney). Primary anti-Israel and anti-Jewish organizers include Students for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, etc. Major PR activist work has been sponsored over the years by the Muslim Brotherhood (based in Qatar), as well as through MB’s worldwide media outlet al-Jazeera (also based in Qatar).

On the First Night of Hanukkah

On Sunday evening December 14, 2025, over 1,000 Jewish people were gathered at Australia’s most famous beach – Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia – for a Chabad-sponsored candle-lighting ceremony – ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ – on the First Night of Hanukkah. This eight-day Hebrew holiday is 2,000 years old, and Daniel the prophet spoke of it 2,500 years ago in Daniel 11:31-32. The eight days of Hanukkah and the  Twelve Days of Christmas have certain festive similarities.

At 6:47 PM local time the shooting began.  Two Muslims – a father and a son – began point-blank firing with hunting rifles into the crowd of Jewish people assembled on Bondi Beach.

Over a ten minute period, they fired over 50 shots into the 1,000+ crowd, murdering 15 people including:

Over 38 people were wounded, including two police officers (one, a retired cop Peter Meagher).

A witness told the investigators, “They were shooting continuously, and nobody fired back. People were frozen. Police officers were at Bondi Beach and did not react for at least 20 minutes, even as the terrorists kept shooting and reloading their weapons.”

“Not an immediate threat”

A 50 year-old Muslim Pakistani immigrant who worked as a fruit seller and lived in Sydney’s Bonnyrigg suburb, Sajid Akram (‘Akram’ means ‘generous’ or ‘noble’ in Arabic; ‘Sajid’ means ‘one who bows down in worship’) had first arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, gradually obtaining a resident visa in 2001. His 24 year-old Australian-born son Naveed, was an unemployed bricklayer. He studied Quran at Al-Murad Institute of Heckenberg, New South Wales and, according to the suspected gunman’s Facebook page, he also studied at Hamdard University in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Naveed was investigated by security authorities for six months in 2019 regarding ties to ISIS. He was close to an ISIS cell led by Isaac al-Matari, the group’s head in Australia. Al-Matari is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence. Mike Burgess, director-general of ASIO, Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, confirmed that Naveed was “known to us, but not in an immediate-threat perspective.” According to Australia’s ABC outlet, father and son pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror group. An official from Australia’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team told ABC that an ISIS flag was found in the Akrams' car, along with IEDs in another car linked to the Akrams.

This jihadi terror attack came about a month after Israel’s Mossad notified Australian intelligence about Iranian-backed “terror infrastructure” already in Australia, planning to carry attacks on Jewish targets. According to the Mossad, the senior commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force Sardar Ammar has been intensifying efforts to attack Jewish and Israeli sites around the world since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. On August 26, 2025, Australia blamed Iran for overseeing two 2024 arson attacks – at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and at Lewis’ Continental Kitchen (a kosher deli) in Sydney. Canberra expelled Iran’s ambassador at that time, and listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organization.

According to Australia’s highest-rated show 7News, in the months before this terror attack, Naveed Akram and his father Sajid practiced extensively at Cecil Park’s government-run Sydney International Shooting Centre.

Before orchestrating the mass shooting at Bondi Beach, both shooters spent a month in the Philippines, one of the world’s top extremist hotspots. As per multiple police sources, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram had visited the Southeast Asian country together, without any other family members. Both of them returned to Australia just weeks before they opened fire on the Jewish gathering of roughly 1,000 people. The Islamic State East Asia, a branch of the ISIS terror group, is a proscribed terrorist group in Australia since 2017. “While there are no known links between ISEA and Australia, there have previously been links between Australians and terrorist groups in the Philippines,” a briefing document reads. Police sources told The Daily Telegraph: “There’s areas down there that are very dangerous… [with] training camps and the like. It has become a well trodden path for Islamic State through South East Asia and into the Philippines ever since 2019.”

A rabbi’s plea

Just weeks ago, Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger had written a letter to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to support Israel: “As a rabbi in Sydney, I beg you not to betray the Jewish people and not God Himself. Jews have been torn from their land again and again by leaders who are now remembered with contempt in the pages of history. You have an opportunity to stand on the side of truth and justice. I congratulate you in advance for the courage to do what is right and stand firm against this act of heresy.”

The anti-Semitic kettle has been boiling for some time

Anti-Semitism is raising its head all across the globe. Many avert their gaze from this, justifying the oldest hatred with new-fangled terminology: “It’s not anti-Jewish – just anti-Zionist.” Considering that over 90% of all Jews are Zionists, such special pleading is obscene.

Here are five recent articles which have been shining a spotlight on the Frankenstein’s monster morphing in Australia:

He who hates God, hates His people

Anti-Semitism is metastasizing – not only in the Middle East and in Europe, but also in North America. This is sobering, even depressing – but it should not be surprising. Revelation 12  informs us that Satan has a priority focus on destroying the people who gave birth to the Messiah, and his Last Days attacks on the sons and daughters of Jacob will bring the mighty response of the Archangel Michael, who stands guard over the Jewish people and carries ‘the Jewish portfolio’ in the kingdom of God (Daniel 10:13;10:21; 12:1; Jude 9).

Here are some Scripture passages which give context and encouragement as we stand firm and fight the good fight:

 

The hunting season is open

Many years ago, the God of Jacob spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about a Last Days ‘hunting season’ coming upon the world, directed against the Jewish people: “Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares YHVH, “and they will fish for them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks” (Jeremiah 16:16). The dragon of Revelation 12 attempts to close in on his hoped-for Jewish prey.

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

   

Hanukkah – the clash between the Maccabees and the armies of ‘woke’

Once again Hanukkah and Christmas meet on the pages of December’s calendar. What do these two celebrations have in common? We remember how Tevye the milkman would sing his beloved song ‘Tradition! Tradition!’ in the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ But today, as we ‘pan for gold’ – sifting through the traditions and the history – what will we discover?

Foundations of the feasts

Modern holiday traditions of both Christmas and Hannukah are fun and cheery, family-based and heartwarming. For many Christians and Jews, that is enough – let’s just ‘enjoy the season,’ but let’s not focus too much on reasons for the season. But some of us really do want to know what these holidays are about. Here’s a quick look at some of the historical and biblical foundations of Hanukkah.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah

Hanukkah has a pretty successful world-wide brand recognition – the nine-branched menorah (candelabrum), and the consumption of oil-based foods like latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganiyot (jelly donuts). These symbols have roots – some historical, some theological, and some traditional.

Hanukkah – it’s all Greek to me!

Hanukkah’ means ‘dedication’ in Hebrew (see Psalm 30:1, where the dedication of the original Jerusalem Temple is described). The ancient events (ca. 164 B.C.) which form the foundations of today’s modern feast were spoken of by Daniel the seer, nearly 400 years prior to the clash of Jews and Greeks. In Daniel 11:31-32 a prophetic word is given: Greek forces led by a future king (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) would try to commit genocide against the entire Jewish people, but would be successfully resisted by stalwart Jewish warriors, the Maccabees:

History tells us that, after Alexander the Great’s empire had broken up into four pieces starting in 322 B.C., one of those empires – the Greek pagan Seleucids based out of Syria – moved to crush Jewish national existence, to obliterate the Hebrew Scriptures and to eradicate the pure worship of YHVH. Believe it or not, these Greek assimilationist plans (described today by the word ‘Hellenization’) were ardently supported by some top Jewish leaders at that time (the ‘anti-traditionalists’) – collaborators who fully embraced the ‘woke’ agendas of Alexander the Great’s ‘One World’ Hellenistic empire. These Judean quislings – or ‘renegades,’ as they are labeled in 1 Maccabees 1:11 – wanted the Jewish state to be fully accepted as part of the Greek world, even at the cost of the Hebrews abandoning their own Jewish biblical perspectives and lifestyles:

But YHVH was prepared for such challenges. The prophet Ezekiel had prophesied over 400 years before this Jewish ‘woke’ form of apostasy: “And whatever comes into your mind certainly will not come about, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone” (Ezekiel 20:31-35).

‘One New Greek Man’

Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ was king of the Greek Seleucid Syria-based Empire from 175 B.C. until his death in 164 B.C. At one point in his regime (168 B.C.), he challenged Rome for supremacy in the Mediterranean Basin, but lost the superpower ‘game of chicken.’ According to the Greek historian Polybius (200-118 B.C.; The Histories, Fragments of Book XXIX), the Roman consul Gaius Popillius Laenas threatened Antiochus by drawing a circle in the sand around him on the beaches just outside of Alexandria, Egypt:

Antiochus then marched toward Judea. Entering the Promised Land, he vented his wrath upon the Jewish population there, in an ancient form of ‘October 7, 2023’:

Antiochus proceeded to dictatorially enforce Greek ways, religion, diet and lifestyle on the people of Jacob by imperial decree. Jews were forced to worship Greek gods on pain of death. Jewish Temple sacrifice was forbidden; sabbaths and biblical feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, becoming a capital offence for both mother and baby. Possession of the Bible was punishable by death. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1st century B.C., less than 100 years after these events) wrote about these persecutions in his Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική (‘Historical Library’; 34:1[4]):

Had Antiochus been successful in his murder, torture and religious persecution of the Jewish people, Messiah might never have been born in Bethlehem, nor would the Jewish people have survived as bearers of God’s light to the world.

The God of Jacob now raised up flesh-and-blood Jewish warriors – five descendants of Aaron the High Priest: Yonatan (Jonathan), Shimon (Simon), Yehudah (Judah), Elazar (Eleazar), and Yochanan (John) (see 1 Maccabees 2:1-5). Judah was the main general from among his brothers and was nicknamed ‘Maccabee,’ (‘maqqəḇa’), a Hebrew/Aramaic word for ‘hammer’ – referring to Judah’s ferocious warrior spirit. The term ‘Maccabees’ would later be used to describe all five brothers, and later on still it was used to refer to the Maccabean dynasty of kings descended from these five brothers.

Eyewitness Jewish news

The Maccabees waged an all-out seven-year guerilla war against the Greek Seleucid army of occupation (167-160 B.C.), and eventually re-conquered Jerusalem. Here is the historical recounting of those days, taking place during the Hebrew month of Kislev in164 B.C. That month (equivalent to our modern December) is described in 1 Maccabees 4 as “the ninth month of the year.” This use of the phrase ‘the ninth month’ indicates that the Jewish people were not using the modern rabbinic calendar (where Kislev is the third month of the year) but were still using the original biblical calendar (which counts the first month of the year as being Aviv/Nisan – Passover time, according Exodus 12:1-2).  Here is the description of the first Hanukkah, written by someone who knew the main actors in this amazing drama:

Josephus – silence about a Hanukkah miracle

The Jewish general and historian Josephus describes the historical origin of Hanukkah in his magnum opus The Antiquities of the Jews; 12.7.6. He writes nothing about an eight-day miracle of oil, but instead mentions that that the Hanukkah deliverance brought light to the Jewish people at a time of great national darkness:

Hanukkah is actually a delayed Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

According to the Jewish historical record written less than 100 years after the first Hanukkah:

In Leviticus 23:39 Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) is described as an eight-day festival occurring during the seventh month of the biblical calendar year (see I Kings 8:1-2; the month of Eitanim, today called Tishrei). So Judah and his brothers decided to celebrate a new feast – a special Sukkot-like festival two months after the regular calendar date – as a commemoration of the mighty military victory which YHVH had granted the Jewish people through the hands of the Maccabees. So the Maccabean re-dedication of the Temple took place two months after the usual calendar date for the Feast of Tabernacles (which was the seventh month Eitanim/Tishrei). The Maccabean Hanukkah/Rededication Feast would now be celebrated in the ninth biblical month, today called Kislev.

The principle of an unusual second holiday (established here by the Maccabees in 164 B.C.) can be found in other places in Scripture. A similar ‘repeat dedication’ had been done in King Hezekiah’s day, as described in both 2 Chronicles 29:15-17 (a general re-dedication) and in 2 Chronicles 30 (a second Passover).

Heroes of the faith

The writer of the Book of Hebrews quotes from 2 Maccabees 6-7, looking back at the exploits of the Maccabees, and describing Judah and his brothers as heroes of the Messianic faith:

Judah Maccabee (a hero of the faith) passes on stirring words for our encouragement, according to the writer of 1 Maccabees (ca 100 B.C.). Here is a small portion of his address to his Jewish troops as they prayed and prepared to attack the Greek forces of Seron at the ascent of Beit Horon:

When a priest becomes a king

The Maccabees were descendants of Aaron the High Priest. They started out as a revival movement of warriors, and led Israel to great victories and to powerful restoration. But within 23 years of their battlefield triumphs, these revivalist warriors began to slip downhill, spiritually speaking. They established a royal dynasty for themselves, with Simon becoming the first ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty in 141 B.C. This was a problem, Biblically speaking, since the only dynasty covenantally acceptable to the God of Jacob was the from the royal House of David (see 2 Chronicles 13:4-6; 2 Chronicles 21:6-8; Jeremiah 33:20-22), Within a very short stint, the Maccabees were co-opted and seduced by the Greek Hellenistic spiritual forces they had originally opposed.

But there were other Jewish leaders who remained faithful to the word of God. This godly remnant of Israel also called upon the Jewish people to remain faithful to the Scriptures. These were called ‘the interpreters’ of the Hebrew Bible (in Hebrew, ‘Perushim’ or ‘the Pharisees.’ They could not tolerate Aaron’s descendants usurping the Davidic kingship, and they opposed how the Maccabees were actively spreading Greek influence among Jacob’s children. The Maccabean King Alexander Jannaeus (Yannai in Hebrew; 126-76 B.C.) had 6,000 of his Pharisee opponents murdered. At another time he had 800 Pharisees crucified on the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho, but only after their wives and children were massacred before their eyes (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13:14:2)

Both the Maccabean kings and the Sanhedrin rulers looked down upon the Pharisees as primitive and superstitious. Herod’s Temple compound was also the Sadducees’ home base, and when it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., Sadducee political power in Judea was quashed. The Pharisees gradually took over the reins of Judaism from the Hellenized Sadducees (the High Priestly family known as Bnei Tzadok or the Tzedukim).  

This new and burgeoning Pharisaic movement would soon be called ‘rabbinic Judaism.’ It had little desire to speak kindly of the former and faded glory of the Hellenized Maccabees (the murderers of the Pharisees) in positive terms. By 135 AD, the Pharisees had created a ‘fake news’ narrative for the historical context of Hanukkah in their ‘Scroll Concerning Fasting’ (Megilat Ta’anit folio 9). This pseudo-historical account of Hanukkah (written down approximately by 120-135 A.D.) would shift attention away from the Maccabean commando-victory of 164 B.C., replacing it with a sleight-of-hand fairy-tale miracle unknown both to the original Maccabean warriors and to the Jewish general Josephus:

Today’s celebration of Hanukkah follows the post-Pharisaic ‘fake news’ narrative – the downplaying of Maccabean victory and the stressing of an apocryphal rabbinic miracle. But lately, as the Jewish state of Israel has arisen anew in the 20th century, once again the bravery of the five glorious Maccabean brothers and their burning battlefield faith is being re-emphasized.

War and persecution are running mates with revival

Champions of revival do not always hold fast to their spiritual inheritance. Consider the historical events of Hanukkah: Maccabean victors morphed into Hellenizing underminers, and these ended up persecuting the faithful remnant of Jacob – the Bible-based Pharisees. The Pharisees at first advocated for a Biblically faithful movement, but ended up belittling the Maccabean revolution, developing an extra-biblical Oral Law, and turning away from the Davidic Messiah Yeshua: “For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Let’s focus on some positive lessons to be learned here: The Maccabees are renowned for spearheading a revival in Israel which safeguarded the light entrusted by God to the Jewish people (Romans 3:1-2). The birth of Messiah Yeshua in Bethlehem of Judah to faithful Jewish parents would not have happened if Antiochus’ genocidal and anti-Semitic strategies had become reality.

How should we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

From the River to the Sea

The protest slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ is plastered on anti-Israel banners and flags, waved at street demonstrations and in public places across North America and Europe. Rage-filled shouts, the beating of drums, violent marches and cries for destruction of the Jewish state – these Nazi-like manifestations are now commonplace today.

Yet, a text without a context is a pretext. Where is the river? What is the sea? What do these woke protestors mean by this sinister slogan? Do the Hebrew Scriptures – the Jewish Bible, the Christian Old Testament – offer any enlightenment here?

The earth is the Lord’s

Three thousand years ago King David, the scion of the tribe of Judah, declared in Psalm 24:1-2: “The earth is YHVH’s, and all it contains – the world, and those who live in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers!” This Jewish king reigned over the first kingdom of Israel, but his dramatic declaration of YHVH’s rule here encompasses the entire globe, as symbolized by God’s control over the world’s seas and the planet’s rivers.

King David’s son Solomon notes in Psalm 72:8-11 that Messiah (the greater Son of David) will “rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. May the nomads of the desert bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. May the kings of Sheba and Seba offer tributes, and may all kings bow down before him, all nations serve him.” The God of the Hebrews speaks of a day when all the nations of the globe will render fealty to Him with a full heart. And from Jerusalem His holy City YHVH will rule over the seas and the rivers.

The Great Sea and the Great River

Messiah’s Jerusalem will be populated by the Jewish people – His Jewish vine – as the musician-seer Asaph eloquently states in Psalm 80:8-11:

The sea mentioned here is what Numbers 34:6 calls ‘the Great Sea’ – today we call it ‘the Mediterranean.’ The ‘River’ referred to here is described in Genesis 15:8 as “the Great River, the Euphrates [in Hebrew, Perat].”  The four mighty Rivers of pro-Noahic days are elucidated in Genesis 2:10-14, where the fourth great River is named as the Euphrates (in Hebrew, the Perat).

The Sea and the River are respectively the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. ‘From the River to the Sea’ is a poetic way of describing the territory of a Jewish kingdom whose western border is the Mediterranean, and whose eastern border follows the flowing Euphrates River – that would include portions of Turkey (the Armenian Highlands of eastern Turkey), Syria (northern and central) and Iraq (where the Euphrates meets the Tigris to form the Shatt al-Arab).

Ethan the Ezrahite (one of the wisest men in his day; see 1 Kings 4:31) underscores this same message in Psalm 89:24-29 when he prophesies God’s heart about the future reign of David’s dynasty, according to the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7:8-17:

 

How long is ‘forever’?

Over 3,800 years ago YHVH made a promise to Abram and to his covenant descendants through Isaac and Jacob: “On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the River of Egypt as far as the Great River, the River Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18).

YHVH promises that this Abrahamic covenant will last forever, and that it will have a priority and eternal focus – between the God of Israel and the people of Israel:

Moses re-emphasizes this point in his fifth book, making it crystal-clear that the land between the River and the Sea – between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean – is a divinely appointed possession given to the entire Jewish people for eternity:

Signed, sealed, delivered – it’s yours!

Moses declares that every step which the Jewish people will take – as their sandals make contact with the soil of that Promised Land – will be a prophetic action validating the unshakeable and irrevocable connection between that Land and the Jewish people:

YHVH affirms this same promise to Joshua – the same one which He had previously declared to Moses:

In later years, Zechariah prophesied about the coming of Messiah the Son of David, declaring: “And He will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10). This biblical passage symbolizes Yeshua’s Messianic international rule from Zion, extending over the entire planet. The shout ‘From the River to the Sea’ is God’s bold and Zionist declaration of His sovereign reign over the world He created.

On the border

The God of Jacob specifies the borders of the Promised Land in many places: Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8; Numbers 26:52-56; Numbers 34; Deuteronomy 3; Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 13-22; Ezekiel 47:15-17; Psalm 78:54-55.

For YHVH, the Promised Land is not some ‘pie in the sky’ abstraction. It is a highly specific promise – stage center in world affairs, and directly in the divine spotlight. And it is the Jewish Promised Land – central to the God of Jacob’s word. It is a forever inheritance with real and measurable borders – a tangible physical land between the River and the Sea.

 

What’s the big deal?

Some people might be put off by the physicality of the challenge here – why is God’s spiritual kingdom connected to a physical people – the Jews? What’s so important about a sliver of territory on the east side of the Mediterranean? Some of these objections might be phrased like this:

In the Book of Ezekiel, the God of Jacob declares that His wrath is directed against those nations who claim that the Land between the River and the Sea (i.e., the Jewish state) belongs not to the Jewish people but to Edom (the forebears of today’s Palestinians). Those who chant ‘From the River to the Sea’ and ridicule Israel, will soon be facing the ridicule and wrath of YHVH on the Day of His visitation (see Isaiah 59:15-18):

The God of Isaac responds directly to the carping of the nations. He lays out exactly what He is doing and why He is doing it. The lost sheep of the House of Israel are coming back home, and even if the entire planet opposes this return, YHVH is going to have His way:

 

Give me four good reasons!

The Scriptures gives us at least four reasons for why the God of Israel is bringing His people home, back to their Promised Land:

 

YHVH is committed to doing these above-mentioned things – not because He enjoys a strategic gambit in a cosmic chess game. For the God of Jacob, Israel is not simply a divine canvas upon which He paints abstract art. His goal is not basically to prove to the world’s rebellious nations that He is adamantly sticking to His prophetic priorities. Israel is a matter close to His heart:

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Four

This is part four of a four-part newsletter. Our first newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel, as well as to what extent Israeli Intelligence knew about this. The second newsletter examined Israel’s lack of professional preparations, sobering examples of negligent conduct, and the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. The third newsletter considered the context of internal Israeli divisions, and how Hamas exploited those divisions. This fourth newsletter looks into the discovery of a home-grown spy linked to Israeli domestic opposition movements, and then draws general conclusions.

“It’s getting near dawn”

It’s 6:29 am on the morning of October 7, 2023. Hamas jihadis unleash a barrage of over 4,300 Qassam rockets at kibbutzim, small farms and villages, town and cities. Simultaneously approximately 3,800 Hamas Nukhba terrorists breach IDF defenses in 119 locations, followed by over 2,200 Gazan jihadi supporters, who all go on a frenzied pogrom of raping, beheading, torturing, murdering and kidnapping of over 1,200 Israeli kibbutz members, as well as 378 Israelis at the nearby Nova music festival.

As these Israelis are being massacred, violated and tortured, a 31 year old Israeli has just finished getting dressed in an IDF regular service uniform – something puzzling since for the past six years he has no longer been in the IDF. Though he had once been in a classified hi-tech position in military intelligence, his regular service contract had not been extended. According to media reports on his IDF file, there were certain ethical lapses connected to his previous service. This individual then puts on IDF military rank insignia identifying the wearer as a captain (seren), though the highest rank he had previously held was only lieutenant (segen). Such behavior is considered a criminal offense in Israel. Then he steps out of the house, and heads out to a Military Intelligence base in the Negev region of Israel. The name of this man is Assaf Shmuelevitz.

 

On the cutting edge

Assaf Shmuelevitz grew up on the Sharon Plain, in Hod Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv. His father had been a lieutenant-colonel in the IDF, and saw action in the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt between 1967 and 1970.

Shmuelevitz seems to have once served in IDF Unit 81, a secret elite technology unit which is part of the Special Operations Division of AMAN (the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate). That unit focuses on the development of cutting-edge hardware and technology for special forces operational use. According to a 2021 report by the Israeli business newspaper Calcalist, in the last decade alone 100 veterans of the unit have founded 50 technology companies, having raised $4 billion USD, with accumulated valuations surpassing $10 billion USD. Unit 81 has no direct public equivalent; it is often compared to corporate R&D labs focused on mission-critical solutions. Up to 2023, that unit was awarded the Israel Security Prize 39 times.

After Shmuelevitz’s IDF service, he trained as a lawyer at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, was admitted to the Bar on August 18, 2021, and then worked as an assistant in the Deputy Attorney General’s office. There he was daily in touch with sensitive legal matters, gaining valuable insight into Israel’s judicial system. Shmuelevitz had connections with Israeli elites, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and spoke before Knesset committees on various occasions.

Shmuelevitz describes himself in LinkedIn as a Digital Marketing manager. He became founder, investor, and CEO of Lev Kachol (Blue Heart), a company described as involved in private equity and venture capital (PEVC) and startups, with a specific emphasis on social challenges, humanitarian impact and aiding in humanitarian crises (e.g., coordinating relief efforts during the Ukrainian war). At one point the organization was accused of mishandling donations, with claims circulating that funds never reached their intended recipients. Questions were raised, and support for the company diminished somewhat as a result.

 

Through the Looking Glass

Shmuelevitz showed up at a Military Intelligence base in the Negev around 7:00 am on the morning of October 7, 2023, but was turned away at the gate by security, since he had no official clearance. IDF reserve soldiers coming into military bases carry a Tzav Shmoneh/Order #8 (an emergency call-up order) which allows them entrance. Just after 3 pm Shmuelevitz used a different method to achieve his goal: he hitched a ride with well-known retired Lieutenant-Colonel Oren Shvil to the main regional base IDF Southern Command (SOCOM; in Hebrew Pikud HaDarom or in military acronymic PADAM).

At the base gate, in the company of the Lieutenant-Colonel, he presented a driver’s license, falsely claiming to be an operations intelligence officer holding a higher military rank than he actually had. Shmuelevitz was given an entry pass from an officer he knew from previous times in the army, and entered the base at 3:45 pm. Shmuelevitz’s disguise was well planned and smoothly executed. He entered with two cell phones in his possession – one would be left out of secure rooms, while the second cell phone did not have a SIM card and thus was able to bypass security detection.

Inside the high-security base, Shmuelevitz moved with casual determination, accessing highly sensitive military meetings, photographing classified data, covertly taking photographs of classified military screens, and recording overheard conversations. He attended a critical high-level briefing where Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (as well as the heads of SHABAK and MOSSAD) was present. After the briefing, he manipulated a senior officer into giving him an authorized clearance to move freely about the base. Based on this document, Shmuelevitz later met with other staff officers who passed on to him other highly sensitive information, which he recorded on his second hidden cellphone.  This included the following information: the nature and locations of military call-ups for different brigades; updates on top-secret military programs and weapons; intel on scientific abilities and computer problems which had arisen with command-and-control regarding a specific SIGINT network, etc. Shmuelevitz was able in a short time to gather intelligence information at the highest level of top secret.

On October 8, Shmuelevitz returned to SOCOM again. He approached an assistant to a former commander, requesting a document that would authorize him to carry out specific actions within the IDF Southern Command. The assistant, trusting Shmuelevitz, signed the document without verifying its contents.

On October 9, back at SOCOM, Shmuelevitz met a soldier who had once been under his command and was now a colonel (Aluf Mishneh). Shmuelevitz insisted that he had possession of “solutions to operational challenges” He persuaded the bureau chief to authorize/sign a “letter of appointment” that granted him official authority as kambatz (operations officer – special covert operations and assignments in the war room of Southern Command). This document defined Shmuelevitz as ‘a core actor.’ The Rosh Lishka/bureau chief) signed it without reading it. The officer later realized the mistake but did not act swiftly to retrieve the document. In the meantime, Shmuelevitz was able to attend another top-secret situational assessment session of the Operations Directorate that day. He also was party to a high-level presentation of an overview of the gaps that the Operations Department of AMAN was dealing with.

On October 11, Shmuelevitz was back at SOCOM. He requested expanded authorization from the colonel, granting him broader powers: to open a special cell and to be its commander; authority for that cell to function as a secret long arm; to initiate special operations outside the borders of Israel (i.e. Gaza); to have authority to recruit any soldier and reserves officer from any unit in the IDF; and to use any available methods/abilities to accomplish the task. He then went to the colonel and obtained authorization. The authorization was again signed without having been read. When the document made its way through the appropriate administrative channels, reaching the bureau chief, that officer’s suspicions were immediately aroused. He went to the colonel, who now realized that he had erred in signing a document which he had not read carefully. He ordered his bureau chief to take back the signed order, but the bureau chief didn’t get around to it; there was a full-blown war going on. Between Oct 11 and 15 (five days) Shmuelevitz was thus able to intensively collect intelligence throughout the base.

On October 12, Shmuelevitz returned to SOCOM. He contacted the Amuta (equivalent to an American [501[c][3]) of his original unit’s veterans, stressing that he needed immediate help – specifically, access to specialized personnel. As he was waiting for final clearance from that organization, he was put in contact with some hi-level tech people who were veterans of that unit.  Two of these high-ranking reserve officers came to SOCOM – a reserve IAF F-16 pilot and a hi-tech-wiz entrepreneur. These both are members of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (‘Brothers in Arms’), an anti-Netanyahu organization. All three men participated in top-secret meetings with senior officials on that base without authorization, with Shmuelevitz passing them off them as regular (and not reserve) soldiers.

But when the veteran hi-tech wiz began to discuss the project intensively with Shmuelevitz, he quickly realized that Shmuelevitz was not using proper military terminology which a bona fide officer of the required professional caliber would normally use. He passed his suspicions on to those responsible for war-room intelligence supervision at Southern Command. In the meantime Shmuelevitz was continuing to record many conversations with top commanders dealing with TOP SECRET intel.

On October 15, after 8 days of continuous spying, Shmuelevitz was busted at Southern Command, caught in the act of spying. Though he refused to give his interrogators the code to his cell phone, their cursory exam of accessible photos showed reams of top-secret documents, and his contacts included the names and cell numbers of some rather high-up left-of-center politicians and former politicians. Many recorded conversations were found on his no-SIM cell, dealing with top-secret info. Shmuelevitz’s notebooks were found (one of which later disappeared), also loaded with top-secret info, including the location of the Israeli hostages and of all Hamas’ top commanders. A charge sheet was opened at the Beer Sheva court (Israel 23694-10-23 State of Israel v. Shmuelewitz) on October 16, 2023. Sections 2 and 27 of the indictment against Shmuelevitz indicate that his actions were part of a broader, well-coordinated plan. However, critical details about the plan’s origin, purpose, and those who may have devised it remain undisclosed.

At first Shmuelevitz was suspected of spying for Hamas. His case therefore fell under security rules which allowed him to be subject to harsh ‘necessary interrogation’ by SHABAK. Questions were directed during three days of grilling – what intel had he collected; who was his handler; who got him onto the base; who was the receiver of the intel; what was Shmuelevitz’s incentive here.

After three days it became obvious to his inquisitors that Hamas was not the runner of this spying operation. However, many other parties existed who might want access to such valuable information. The intel that Shmuelevitz was collecting would have been considered a veritable gold mine by agencies like the CIA. The investigators considered two possible responsible parties: the CIA/US State Department; and anti-Netanyahu opposition activists.

But considering that the names and personal contacts of high-profile figures in Israel’s political, legal and intelligence spheres were burning a hole in the pages of Shmuelevitz’s notebook and cellphone, it comes as no surprise that both SHABAK and the IDF would consider it discreet to hush up the matter – especially if it concerned relations with Israel’s most important ally. Would it not be wiser to declare that Shmuelevitz was operating independently, or was subject to delusions of grandeur or narcissism, or was simply ambitious – perhaps even a casualty of a nervous breakdown? All of these declarations of possible motives have been publicly aired by SHABAK and IDF spokesmen. In the meantime, Assaf Shmuelevitz has been locked up in an isolation psychiatric word for close to two years. Yet the conspicuous trail of bread crumbs here calls for a more sober and a less partisan appraisal.

 

Brothers without arms

One of the flashing red lights of concern which has kept Israeli intelligence and security experts up at night, relates to the unusual involvement in the Shmuelevitz affair of individual members and higher-ups of the anti-Netanyahu political action group ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (‘Brothers in Arms’). This activist group is a movement of IDF reservists – including some pilots and intelligence officers – who have been attempting both to block judicial reforms and to bring down the coalition government of Israel led by PM Bibi Netanyahu. Following former PM Ehud Barak’s cue, they see themselves as the spearhead in these fights.

One of Israel’s top intelligence journalists and strategic affairs correspondents, Yossi Melman, speaks glowingly of Barak’s call to soldiers to refuse to serve in the IDF: “[This] is a military coup for the sake of democracy.” Prime Minister Netanyahu has attacked 'Achim LaNeshek’ for inciting popular refusal to volunteer for reserve duty in the IDF: “What does endanger democracy is refusal to serve. Their refusal endangers the security of all Israeli citizens.

Scholarspoliticians and political analysts have noted that the leaders of Hamas had been carefully studying Israeli politics and politicians, and had come to the conclusion that the civil unrest, quasi-violent demonstrations and calls for AWOL behavior throughout 2023 – all had served to weaken the IDF’s and the nation’s combat readiness. They also concluded that these events had downgraded Israel’s fighting spirit. These were some of the factors that influenced Hamas in choosing the date and the time of their jihadi terror attack.

One of the top leaders of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (and a member of its executive committee) is 52-year old IDF Lieutenant-Colonel (reserves) Oren Shvil.  According to the ‘Achim LaNeshek’ website, Oren had joined the organization “to spearhead the fight against the government’s judicial overhaul.” A former battalion commander in Moran (IDF Unit 427 – a classified unit in the IDF Artillery Corps specializing in operating long-range precision-guided missiles), Shvil is also a CEO. ‘Achim LaNeshek’ states that “Oren oversees Achim LaNeshek’s recruitment and training initiatives.” Oren and IDF former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi are neighbors in Kfar Oranim,” a town near Modi’in.

Shvil has spoken numerous times publicly, both threatening and calling for a reserve soldiers’ walkout (see Knesset TV channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWvof0V7M8). He has repeatedly called for blocking Ben Gurion Airport and public freeways, while declaring that such actions are totally legal protest measures. Shvil has publicly and vociferously called the government of Israel a dictatorship, lawless, corrupt, irresponsible, evil and crude – stating that it is therefore legal to disobey it.

Shvil was the high-ranking IDF officer who drove Shmuelevitz to Beersheva’s SOCOM on both October 7 and October 12, and his on-site presence seems to have facilitated Shmuelevitz’s entrance to the base.

Conservative political commentator Yisrael Medad noted approximately two months after the October 7 massacre (on December 19, 2023) that “the core factor of [‘Achim LaNeshek’s] protests was the weakening of the IDF through calls to refuse reserve duty in essential military units such as air-force pilots and intelligence drone operators.”

On October 12, 2023, Shmuelevitz brought into IDF Southern Command two people (in the reserves and not on active military duty - a former F-16 pilot and a former officer) both affiliated with ‘Achim LaNeshek.’ Shmuelevitz stated falsely that they were regular soldiers, and the two men thus entered a military base under false pretenses and without proper authorization. The names of these two are blackened out on the court charge sheet. Their participation in meetings with senior officials has fueled speculation about political motives and the protection of influential figures. Their presence at this juncture suggests a potential alignment between their direct involvement and the protest movement’s opposition to Netanyahu’s judicial reforms. The inevitable questions here highlight possible political motivations behind the espionage.

Of the approximately 70 people with whom Shmuelevitz came into contact with at SOCOM during those eight fateful days (of whom 20 are senior IDF officers) – it is estimated by Members of Knesset who have seen the unredacted documents held by the court. that a significant amount of them were soldiers who, before October 7, 2023, had publicly called for reserve soldiers to stop serving in the IDF – in other words, they are also supporters of ‘Achim LaNeshek’.

Other ‘brothers-in-arms’

Israeli Member of Knesset Almog Cohen has made the demand “that the Prosecutor’s office reveal the notebook of the defendant [Shmuelevitz]” in the Southern Command espionage case, claiming that it “contains Yair Golan’s name and number. For 15 months, it and this entire affair have been under a strict gag order. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Yair Golan is a former MK, a former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, and an IDF Major General (res.). He is far-left in his politics; has drawn parallels between Nazi actions and IDF behavior;” has accused the IDF of “killing babies as a pastime;” is opposed to the annexation of Judea and Samaria; and has called many times for “non-violent civil disobedience.”

Though Yair Golan is not a member of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ /Brothers in Arms, he is highly supportive of their actions and beliefs:

In an August 4, 2024 Instagram post, Yair Golan expressed unequivocal support for ‘Achim LaNeshek’:  “If there is something Prime Minister Netanyahu should do regarding ‘Achim LaNeshek’, it is to award them the Israel Defense Prize for their work!”

In October 2024, Golan declared at Tel Aviv University:

On November 7, 2025, Israeli Member of Knesset Almog Cohen affirmed that Yair Golan’s name and cellphone number are listed in Shmuelevitz’ notebook, and that Shmuelevitz’s cell phone records show that he had talked with Yair Golan between October 8 and 15, as well as conversing with other higher-up politicians past and present during that time.

On June 10 2025, former SHABAK operative and lawyer Noam Viner was declared as being the legal representative of Assaf Shmuelevitz. Viner is one of the founders of ‘M’sarvim Lma’an Israel’ (also ‘Ometz Lesarev’ or ‘Courage to Refuse’; the Hebrew meaning is ‘Refusing to serve for the sake of Israel’) – an organization which encourages IDF reservists to refuse to serve in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Lt. Col. (res.) Ron Sharf, one of the leaders of the ‘Brothers in Arms’/‘Achim LaNeshek’ protest movement, is a highly decorated officer with over 34 years of service in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit. On July 22, 2023 Sharf read aloud, to the sound of applause, the list of units in which approximately 300 signatures of service refusers were collected:

On November 13, 2024 the IDF froze Achim LaNeshek’ leader Ron Sharf’s reserve duty status for his advocating reserves refusal. The IDF Spokesman said: “Following quotes that appeared in publications about things Sharaf said regarding reserve service in the IDF, the issue of his reserve service will be examined by his commanders in the Military Intelligence Directorate.”

Achim LaNeshek’ members’ names showing up repeatedly in this affair adds a significant layer of complexity and intrigue here.  Their opposition to Netanyahu’s government and adamant refusal to serve in the IDF due to the judicial reform efforts is well known to most Israelis. Israeli TV commentator Ayala Hasson points out that, despite the clear and illegal involvement in this affair of IDF higher-ups associated with ‘Achim LaNeshek,’ no charges have been filed against these individuals.  This has fueled speculation that ‘Achim LaNeshek’s actions were part of a broader, well-coordinated plan potentially connected to influential political figures, and that these figures are being protected by some in authority. This potential cover-up would include protection of influential political and former political figures connected to the protest movement.

Lieutenant Colonel Marco Moreno (res.), a former top officer and investigator in AMAN’s clandestine Unit 504, has commented that Shmuelevitz’ behavior, planning and tradecraft all indicate that this was a classic intelligence operation – not run for Hamas, but by people in Israel. The fact that SHABAK is not willing to release any information at all about the case, indicates that the operation was real and has ramifications of a geopolitical nature.

Moreno believes that there was CIA involvement here: Shmuelevitz knew where and when to appear – this in itself indicates a prior knowledge and awareness of the Hamas attack. Shmuelevitz was trained to bring in two different types of cell phones, and he performed the task like a classic spy. And every spy has a runner.

The information obtained by Shmuelevitz could have been used to bring down a government, or to ingratiate potential aspirants (to the Israeli Prime Ministership) with the US State Department. The institutionalizing of Shmuelevitz in a psychiatric hospital indicates someone’s desire to ‘bury the corpse and protect the guilty.’ The unfortunate fact is, as MK Almog Cohen points out, that SHABAK and the Israel Police knowingly concealed all information concerning the Shmuelevitz Affair from Israel’s PM, Minister of National Security, and the Head of Israel’s National Security Council. All these snippets of raw intelligence indicate that this matter is not to be taken lightly.

Hold on, I’m not comin’

Over the past year, former Israeli Deputy Police Commissioner Avi Weiss has been speaking out (though in guarded tones, due to censorship considerations) about some of the blowback resulting from Shmuelevitz’ spying. MK Almog Cohen has revealed that the IDF top command was so thrown by Shmuelevitz’s vacuuming up of information, that they were forced to cancel a bold special operation utilizing the Navy’s Flotilla 13 (Shayetet 13) which was preparing for a high-risk special operation to free all the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and to take out Hamas’ entire High Command (including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar) – all of whom were located under Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. That operation would have shortened the Israel-Gaza war from 15 months to perhaps 30 days; would have removed the hostage issue from metastasizing; and would have annihilated Hamas’ top commanders (who were thus able to prosecute a nearly two-year-long war against the IDF).

MK Cohen shared these matters on Israeli TV and podcasts on June 1, 2024 and September 10, 2024. MK Cohen revealed that the Gaza war was originally scheduled to begin on a specific date, but senior IDF officers called for its postponement due to concerns that operational plans had been compromised by Shmuelevitz’s infiltration. The discovery of Shmuelevitz’s spying activities (and the initial questions regarding the possibility that he was working for Hamas) occurred at a moment when decisions made in these meetings could have altered the course of the conflict, highlighting the urgent need to act on collected intelligence in the first few hours and days after the Hamas attack.

Former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi later denied such a scenario on June 4, 2024. But that denial came hot on the heels of widely covered reports (published that same day) quoting a new book titled ‘Ba’al Habayit’ (literal translation: ‘The Boss’; published in English as ‘Invisible Rulers; the story of Israel’s deep state’) authored by Ido Norden, an officer who had served at the Kirya (Israel’s Pentagon) in ‘The Pit’ (Ha’Bor in Hebrew) – Israel’s equivalent of the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center. Norden was ‘there’ – on-site with insight – and had access to real-time information. In his book, Norden claimed that a major operation to rescue hostages was planned by the IDF in the first week of the war, but Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi decided not to execute it. Norden is an Israeli public-policy professional and former IDF combat officer, who served as a senior professional adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office director-general (2012–2013). Throughout the events, the Chief of Staff didn’t share the existence of the spy Shmuelevitz, the planned Shayetet 13 raid, or its cancellation of that raid with the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Security, or the Head of Israel’s National Security Council.

 

Even the best of friends have bad hair days

To understand the nature of the relationship between leaders in the USA and in Israel going back to October 2023 – the ups and the downs, a little digging into history is required. One good place to begin is to quickly survey U.S. State Department and CIA history vis-à-vis the Jewish state. Here are four recent newsletters which offer interesting and surprising background:

When friends undermine

In an investigative report by Adam Kredo in The Free Beacon dated July 12, 2016, reference was made to a U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee in Investigations disclosure “that the Obama administration provided U.S. taxpayer dollars to the OneVoice Movement, a liberal group that waged a clandestine campaign to smear and oust Netanyahu from office.” American State Department political underminings did not begin during POTUS Biden’s tenure; it has older and more weathered roots.

In a March 26, 2025 letter from the U.S. Congress’ Jim Jordan (Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary) and Brian Mast (Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs) addressed to Dr. Eliad Shraga (Chairman, Movement for Quality Government in Israel), the following was stated:

A press release of the US Judiciary dated July 17, 2025 is titled: “Memo Reveals Biden-Harris Admin Misused Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Anti-Netanyahu Organizations.” It uncovers a significant money-laundering scheme, where funds from both the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and from the U.S. State Department were used – both directly and indirectly – to support anti-Netanyahu organizations.

The Israeli NGO Blue White Future received finances which funded the coalition headquarters which oversaw the anti-Netanyahu judicial reform protest. The Biden-Harris Administration provided $42,000 to an Israeli NGO, Movement for Quality Government, to conduct ‘Civic Activism Training’ in Israeli high schools. U.S. nonprofit PEF Israel Endowment Funds provided over $884 million to groups involved in anti-democracy protests in Israel. The U.S. nonprofit Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) provided over $42.8 million to the anti-Netanyahu protest headquarters in Israel and to the protests’ two main funders.

An unprecedented sum of 120 million shekels ($33.8 million) directly funded the campaign and protest demonstrations against the judicial reform in 2023, with the entire amount channeled through a single nonprofit organization.  ‘Blue White Future’ distributed funds to various organizations including ‘Achim LaNeshek’/’Brothers in Arms’ – and numerous other protest groups, including those in academia. Documents exposed on the Mida website additionally reveal the organization's engagement of a Washington public relations firm for a three-month period at USD $75,000, specifically to advance its positions with the Biden administration.

Founded in 2009 as ‘Blue White Peace’ before quickly adopting its current name ‘Blue White Future,’ the organization’s stated mission focuses on advancing a two-state solution to preserve Israel’s Jewish and democratic character. Key figures include Orni Petruschka, Attorney Gilead Sher (former chief of staff to Ehud Barak and Oslo/Camp David negotiating team member) and Ami Ayalon, who previously headed the Shin Bet and served in the Labor Party. Corporate donors included Paragon, a spyware company associated with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

A circular view of history

In October 1973, Israel was bludgeoned by a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria, with several other nations joining in an all-out attempt to destroy the Jewish state: Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Cuba, Pakistan and North Korea. Though Israel received the entire war plan of the Egyptian army in enough time to prepare, the leader of Israel’s military intelligence directorate AMAN, Major General Eli Zeira (who just passed away on November 21, 2025) had an errant conception (‘konceptzia’ in Hebrew) that the Arab world did not have the military means or skill to defeat Israel; and that, even when it appeared clear to much of the IDF, the Mossad and the Israeli government that the Arabs had aggressive intentions, the head of AMAN insisted that the Arabs would not actually follow through with war.

When the head of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir, tried to talk to Prime Minister Golda Meir about the upcoming threat, she told him to talk to Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan, who was also stuck in Zeira’s ‘konceptzia.’ The Arab surprise attack on October 6, 1973 on the Day of Atonement (called ‘The Yom Kippur War’) resulted in close to 2,800 IDF soldiers killed; up to 8,800 IDF soldiers wounded, and close to 500 IDF prisoners of war taken.

Exactly fifty years and one day after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War (October 7, 2023), Israel once again came face to face with a deadly surprise. This shocking event was also based on a false and mistaken perception – another ‘konceptzia’ – that Hamas and their Palestinians in Gaza had been deterred by the IDF; that the jihadi terrorists had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t worthwhile to try to destroy Israel; and that the economic benefits of Gazans working in Israel outweighed the meager work prospects in Gaza.

The primarily secular leadership of the IDF, SHABAK and AMAN – indeed, of Israel’s government – did not take the Islamist jihadi perspective seriously or as worthy of consideration. Israel’s generals and intelligence heads unilaterally decided that Hamas would be willing to lay down much of its Islamist jihadi ideology on the altar of accommodating itself to ‘a new reality of peace.’

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

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October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Three

This is part three of a four part newsletter. Our first newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel, as well as how much Israeli Intelligence knew about this. The second newsletter examined Israel’s lack of professional preparations, sobering examples of negligent conduct, and the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. This third newsletter considers the context of internal Israeli divisions, and how Hamas exploited those divisions. The fourth newsletter will look into the damage caused by an Israeli spy connected to opposition movements, and then some conclusions will be drawn from these events.

A decade of bitterness

Ehud Barak, Israel’s most decorated soldier, has served over the years as head of AMAN (Military Intelligence Directorate 1983-85); Sayeret Matkal (IDF Delta Force equivalent; 1971-73, where he had been Netanyahu’s commander); IDF Chief of General Staff (1991-1995); Minister of Defense (1999-2001; 2007-2013); and Prime Minister (1999-2001). Barak had previously lost the 1996 elections to Netanyahu.

An ongoing historic rivalry between Barak and Netanyahu (also known as ‘Bibi’) has festered over the years, as noted by the Washington Post in September 2016. Barak stated at that time: “Netanyahu’s reckless conduct endangers Israel . . . Netanyahu enabled a militant, nationalist minority to carry out a hostile takeover of his party, Likud – . . . to hijack our national agenda in the service of a messianic drive toward, as it’s often put, ‘a single Jewish state, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.’ This . . . spell[s] doom for the Zionist dream.” He added: “We will all have to get up from our … seats and overthrow [that government], through a popular protest … before it’s too late.”

The themes that have run through Ehud Barak’s campaigns against Bibi since 2016 (and which still guide his political activism to this day) remain the same: de-legitimization of Netanyahu’s rule; a deep personal hatred towards Bibi (thus the slogan ‘anything-but-Bibi’); mass demonstrations aimed at bringing down Bibi’s government; anti-religious attacks on the religious parties who see the Jewish restoration to the Promised Land as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Speaking at a June 2019 press conference in Tel Aviv, Barak called for an end to “Netanyahu’s rule with the radicals, racists and corrupt, with the Messianists [i.e., Orthodox Jews] and his corrupt leadership.” He declared that he was returning to politics in order to “topple Netanyahu.”  In July 2019, author and Barak biographer Calev Ben-Dor stated that “Ehud Barak has the energy, the venom and the gravitas to hurt Netanyahu in a way no other candidate seemingly can.” 

Shape-shifting protestors

During the Summer of 2016, Barak and his co-laborers worked hard to kindle four criminal investigations against Netanyahu. These four legal moves against Netanyahu have become the mantra of the new protest era: accusing Netanyahu of bribery, deception, and breach of trust. This rallying cry of this protest movement against the Prime Minister sprouted in 2016, bloomed in late 2017 (the Tel Aviv ‘Shame Parade’); morphed in 2018 (the ‘Crime Minister’ or ‘Hoze Hadash/New Deal’ demonstrations) and transformed itself on March 10, 2020 into the ‘Black Flags’ protests (attacking Netanyahu’s coalition discussions). This movement was guided and heavily underwritten by Barak, according to an exposé presented on Israel’s Channel 13.  The initial protest was led by three brothers and a sister – Eyal, Yarden, Dekel and Shikma Schwartzman – who organized a convoy to Jerusalem, pushing for legal attempts to remove Prime Minister Netanyahu from office. Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler declared at that time that the group’s focus was against “a coalition agreement that violates the Basic Laws of the State of Israel,” adding that it is the movement’s “stated goal of preserving democracy by ensuring the ousting of ‘crime minister’ Netanyahu.” A Black Flags spokesperson also added a footnote, declaring that “Israeli democracy refused to be subjected to a coup under the pretext of the coronavirus.”

The ongoing mass street demonstrations in Israel, the civil disobedience and blocking of freeways and airports all have deep political roots (detailed in three of our recent newsletters). The ideological origins of this movement go back to the 1930’s during the British occupation, when communists and socialists considered all conservatives to be fascists, and practically excommunicated the pre-Likud movement from participation in political discourse. Today this same worldview thrives on the Left side of the political aisle, as well as in parties of the center-left. Hatred for the moderate right and for Orthodox Jewish parties is openly manifested in Left-wing Israeli political discussions. The demonization of the Likud party and its coalition partners is a regrettable part of normal political discourse here. And over the past 20 years it has  been directed especially against PM Netanyahu.

Barak has played a central role in focusing radical attention on the three main events here (criminal investigations against Netanyahu; the protest movement; and the political boycott against the right). He has been instrumental in shaping the framework and development of this protest movement over the last nine years. Barak has been the briefer, the advisor, and the spearheader/funder/catalyzer for the demonstrations.

The focus of the Barak-instigated demonstrations has shifted its shape over the past decade. It began with calls for Netanyahu to resign due to his right-wing and pro-religious emphases. After this, it morphed into the multifaceted emphases of the Black Flags movement; then on to the Crime Minister smear campaign; and then to violent protests outside of the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem. The demonstrations then moved on to oppose judicial reform; then called for a release of all the hostages combined with a call to end the war against Hamas without preconditions. And now, the latest metamorphosis is a call for an investigation (led by anti-Netanyahu judges) into issues concerning the Israel-Hamas war.

Sedition and treason

Amir Oren, a reporter for the Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, interviewed Gilead Sher on his May 9, 2023 podcast. Sher had been PM Barak’s chief of staff from 1999-2001 and Barak’s chief negotiator with the PLO at Camp David. Sher has remained close to Barak ever since. Sher explained that in December 2022, three weeks before Netanyahu’s new government would come to power, Sher met with Yossi Kutchik, director general of former-PM Barak’s Office. Also in attendance were former IDF Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz and high-tech billionaire and far-left political activist Orni Petruschka. They were joined within a week by others, including former deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber and Shikma Bressler (the face of the ‘Black Flags’ Barak-supported protest movement). Their goal was to put together the organizational and financial structure for the mass demonstrations, civil disobedience and violent rioting that Israel has experienced since January 2023 – even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues had formed their government. This means that “the riots, protests, acts of political violence and intimidation that have swamped Israel since January [2023] were not spontaneous responses to the government’s legal reform proposals. They were planned and financed weeks before Justice Minister Yariv Levin was appointed to his position and well before the government took any position on anything.”

Hebrew Zoom clip from July 23, 2020 (English sub-titles available here) shows a private meeting Barak held with retired Israel Air Force pilots and navigators (called ‘Forum 555’) who all supported him in his desire to remove Bibi from office. Attending the meeting were Shikma Bressler and Moshe Redman, leaders of the anti-Bibi demonstrations which now have a new morphed name – the ‘Kaplan’ protest demonstrations. In that meeting Ehud Barak stated that it is not Barak but actually Bibi who is heading up “an attempted governmental coup.”  A civil uprising against Bibi is needed, Barak states, but it must be presented to the public as an uprising “for the sake of democracy,” rather than an attempt to unseat Netanyahu.

In the Zoom video Barak discusses strategies for a civilian revolt, including the use of slogans, civil disobedience, and both general and ultimate goals of the protest movement. He stated that he would raise the necessary funds to cover all logistics for the project, including flags, banners and PA systems. He declared that the more there are streets clashes with the government, the stronger would the opposition’s resistance become. This would inevitably lead to the government needing to use force against the demonstrators, which would again bolster the protest movement. In Barak’s own words, when an army shoots into a crowd, the government is bound to fall. Barak also declared on that Zoom clip a snippet of revealing information about his own self-awareness: “Objectively speaking, I am the most suitable person in the state to take control of the steering wheel.”

On January 14, 2023 Barak gave an interview to Israel Channel 12, at which time he declared: “This government is legal but clearly illegitimate because of its plan to crush Israeli democracy . . .  We are witnessing a coup here. This is an assassination of the Declaration of Independence, and democracy must defend itself . . . It is clearly illegitimate to assassinate the Declaration of Independence. It is not the right of every citizen, it is the duty of every citizen to come and fight for the security of the government and the rights and dignity of human beings, for the security, the future of the country and equality and freedom. Civil disobedience is a very important thing and that means blocking roads, civil disobedience is the duty of citizens when the government has gone mad.”

On April 4, 2023, Ehud Barak posted on Twitter a perspective which dovetailed with former-POTUS Biden’s and the US State Department’s strategies to bring down the Netanyahu government: “In conversations between Israelis and Western diplomatic officials there are deep concerns raised of the possibility that if the coup [i.e., the judicial reform reining in Israel’s present juristocracy] in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East, which has nuclear weapons, and fanatically wishes for a confrontation with Islam centered on the Temple Mount.”

On June 10, 2023 Barak declared to protestors in Haifa: “To this end, the protest must increase and move to civil rebellion!” At that same demonstration, former-IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Ya’ir Golan proclaimed: “Civil revolt is not an exaggeration . . . and if we have to reach a large-scale and non-violent protest, that is what we will do. I am calling here … to do illegal things as well . . . In the fight for democracy, you have to do non-violent things that are on the fringes of the law – there is no choice but to do it … Shut down their stores, block the streets, bar all services …  Friends, against this evil, malevolent government we have only one path: a comprehensive, broad public rebellion . . . From tomorrow, we’re changing things. No more polite Saturday evening protests. No more lamentations and complaints. Just actions. Just results. Businesses will be shut down, services will come to a halt, roads will be blocked, and this arrogant person who presumes to rule, with the help of corrupt, extreme, and dark forces will be made to realize that the people are sovereign.”

On July 6, 2023, Barak called for a refusal of IDF soldiers to show up for reserve duty, declaring on Israeli Channel 12: “When a black flag of extreme illegality flies over an army order, it is not just the right of a soldier to disobey that order; it is his obligation. We are now facing the civilian equivalent of black-flag illegality . . .  Our only obligation is to liberal democracy as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. We have no obligatory contract with dictators, and history will judge to purgatory all those who submit to the dictates of dictators . . . We are the right side of history and we are not afraid of anybody or anything.”

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara calling for an investigation to be opened against former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and ‘Forum 555’ for allegedly inciting a coup d’état. Regev stated that the video clip “shows without any shadow of a doubt that beginning in March 2020, former officials began concocting a plan for a coup d’état and civil disobedience, with detailed and careful planning.” According to Hebrew media reports a few days later, an official task force would investigate if Barak and Golan could be charged with incitement or sedition, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison,

On June 11, 2023, correspondence publicized by Channel 14 News from a closed WhatsApp group protesting the ‘judicial reform’ revealed that the real goal of the protests, which are being funded by deep pockets, is to topple the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The group’s members include former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert; former IDF chiefs of staff Dan Halutz and Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon; the founder of the anarchist ‘Crime Minister’ movement Yishai Hadas; and leaders of the ‘Black Flags’ movement Roy Neuman, Shikma Schwarzman-Bressler, and her brother Eyal Schwarzman. Former PM Ehud Olmert texted at that meeting: “At the start of the protest, I said that a battle is not seminars and academic speeches. We need head-to-head and hand-to-hand combat. So there were reservations about the wording because it sounded too aggressive. It seems to me that my statements still hold true. Without violence and violating the law but in war as in war.”

 A false witness spreads strife among brothers (Proverbs 6:19)

On July 6, 2023 on Channel 12 TV, Barak upped the ante, calling on “air-force pilots and Special Forces” to warn Bibi that if he succeeded in passing his legal reforms, these elite soldiers “would refuse to serve a dictatorship, period.”

The founder of the 555 Pilots Forum testified that Barak advised him: “You are a strong role model in Israeli society, you need to find a group among you that is ready to carry out protest actions on the border of legality that will attract public attention and ignite a wave of mass demonstrations.” The Air Force ignited that wave when many of its pilots refused to show up for reserve duty in protest of the judicial reform. Barak said at that same forum that he is doing everything he can “including helping to raise funds so that this protest will succeed.”

Achim LaNeshek (‘Brothers in Arms’) is a movement of IDF reservists – including some pilots and intelligence officers – who stated their refusal to serve should judicial reforms be passed.  Following Barak’s leadership, they see themselves as the spearhead in the fight against the judicial reforms that the Netanyahu coalition is attempting to legislate.

One of Israel’s top intelligence journalists and strategic affairs correspondents, Yossi Melman, spoke glowingly on July 20, 2023 of Barak’s call to soldiers to refuse to serve in the IDF:

On July 18, 2023, Chief of Staff Lieut.-Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, attacking Achim LaNeshek and saying that “anyone who calls for refusing to report for duty these days is harming the IDF, and harming the security of the state.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu also attacked Achim LaNeshek for inciting popular refusal to volunteer for reserve duty in the IDF. On July 20, 2023 he said, “What does endanger democracy, is refusal to serve. Their refusal endangers the security of all Israeli citizens. In a democracy, the army is subordinate to the government; the government does not bend to its will. When officials in the army try to dictate the government’s policy using threats, this is wrong; that is the end of democracy.”

Scholarspoliticians and political analysts have noted that the leaders of Hamas had been carefully studying Israeli politics and politicians, and had come to the conclusion that the civil unrest, quasi-violent demonstrations and calls for AWOL behavior throughout 2023 – all had served to weaken the IDF’s and the nation’s combat readiness. They also concluded that these events had downgraded Israel’s fighting spirit. These were some of the factors that influenced Hamas in choosing the date and the time of their jihadi terror attack.

Know your enemy

According to The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (March 13, 2025), Hamas documents brought back by the IDF during the Gaza Strip War showed that Hamas was monitoring and discussing Israeli media and sources daily, “especially in light of preparations for implementing the practical plan for the vision of ‘the destruction of Israel.’” Hamas intelligence department reports extensively covered the developments surrounding the government's proposed ‘judicial reform’ and the protests, and the possible effects on the IDF’s functioning in light of the reservists’ protests.

Document 8: Excerpt from Haniyeh’s speech before the executive committee, January 14, 2023  

Document 3: Communiqué from al-Sinwar to Ismail Haniyeh, March 6, 2023

Document 2.1: Conversation between Yahya al-Sinwar and Muhammad Nasr, April 4, 2023

The conversation dealt with the state of the Hamas movement, preparations for the future campaign against Israel, and with the protest within Israel and its possible impact on the confrontation. Nasr noted that the internal Israeli division was an opportunity for Hamas and the Palestinians, but only if the Palestinians overcome their own internal division. “There is a real opportunity for the [Palestinian] cause and the [Hamas] movement, and herein lies the danger of division in the political position or in the political line. The internal division in Israel is the greatest destructive force that can destroy Israel, and any [Palestinian] internal division delays the achievement of the goals. – This is an opportunity for us to reap the fruits, as the balance of power has now shifted in our favor, and we must seize the opportunity. The obstacle facing us is the internal division on the political issue.”

Document 2.2: Conversation between Yahya al-Sinwar and Muhammad Nasr, April 4, 2023

Document 5: ‘Yasser’ (apparently the head of Hamas’ military intelligence, Muhammad Odeh)  sent to Yahya al-Sinwar a classified assessment of “the impact of protests in the ranks of the ‘enemy army’ on operational readiness and the security situation on the fronts.” July 25, 2023

Document 6.2: A Hamas military intelligence report sent to al-Sinwar, July 25, 2023

Document 6.5: From an intelligence report issued by Hamas’ military wing and sent to Yahya al-Sinwar, July 25, 2023

The activities of Israel’s most decorated soldier Ehud Barak – specifically, the protests he funded and managed – have caused significant harm to the military readiness of the Israel Defense Forces prior to October 7, 2023. Hamas understood that the demonstrations which Barak catalyzed and his calls for pilots and Special Forces to go AWOL – in their eyes, these were a strategic influence which weakened Israel and left it less protected and less prepared for battle. And all the while, day by day, the D-Day for the jihadi massacres of October 7, 2023 drew closer.

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Two

Our previous newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel. Also considered was how much the IDF, SHABAK (Israel's General Security Services) and AMAN (IDF Military Intelligence) were aware of Hamas intelligence, and how much the IDF relied on the accuracy of its own intelligence findings.

This newsletter will offer some background on two issues related to the October 7 atrocities; first, some highly unprofessional and negligent conduct (specifically on the part of the IDF/AMAN); and second, the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. Most of this information is found in OSINT (open-source intelligence), but most reporting of events leaves out or spins many of the available facts.

Drop your guns

After the Israeli army completed its hi-tech anti-tunnel barrier along the seam between Gaza and Israeli kibbutzim and farms in April 2021, the IDF concluded that the chance of terrorist incursions from Gaza was now “close to nil,” and that kibbutz rapid response squads of only 5-10 armed warriors would be sufficient as the last line of defense for these communities. The locals were deeply concerned, but “as much as we banged on the table, it didn’t help,” said one local security coordinator.

On October 7, 2023, Kibbutz Nahal Oz’s civilian emergency response team was forced to defend their community against up to 180 Hamas terrorists. However, they were faced with an insurmountable problem. The IDF had decided a few years back that it was too much of a security threat for rifles to be ‘hanging around the kibbutz.’ So all the M-16’s were collected and deposited in a kibbutz armory. But when Hamas broke into Nahal Oz, the armory instantly became inaccessible as it was covered in a hail of bullets. And the man who held the key to the armory was murdered by Hamas, leaving the squad unable to access the weaponry.

Said team leader Barry Meirovitch. “If we had weapons on October 7, then some of [the response team] would have been killed, but we would have saved more people. We found ourselves in the most absurd situation. When it came down to it, I had all the gear, including a radio, a flak jacket, and magazines, but I didn’t have a gun.” Sixty soldiers and 15 kibbutz members were murdered in that attack.

When Hamas terrorists rolled into the Negev town of Sderot on white Toyota pickup trucks, the 22 members of that town’s civilian alert squad also had no semi-automatic weapons – they had been returned to IDF armories. The squads were equipped only with personal handguns, severely limiting their ability to engage the dozens of Hamas terrorists who stormed the town. The mayor of Sderot Lyor Davidi was entirely unaware that members of the town’s alert squad lacked automatic weapons. He only discovered this fact on the day of the attack. A total of 53 people were killed in Sderot: 37 civilians, 11 police officers, 2 firefighters, and 1 IDF soldier

“His watchmen are blind, … ignorant and dumb” (Isaiah 56:10)

At age 27, Israeli ham-radio enthusiast Rafael Hayun began to intercept Hamas communications and to send the processed information to Unit 8200 (AMAN SIGINT). The IDF thankfully provided Hayun with monitoring equipment. According to IDF testimonies, Hayun’s SIGINT often reached units in the field before official army channels, saving lives and foiling Hamas terror attacks and ambushes.

In late 2019, Hayun began reporting on Hamas training exercises involving plans to invade Israel, penetrate the security fence at multiple points, take over communities, and commit mass murder and kidnapping. Over time, the Hamas training became more intense and detailed. Hayun alerted the units he was working with about Hamas’s activities in real time.

In late 2022, a senior IDF officer (Col. G.) who headed the Military Censorship and Information Security Department under AMAN decided to block Hayun’s direct contact with field commanders, arguing that the IDF did not require such civilian assistance. A recording of this conversation was released in September 2024 by journalist Almog Boker.

Colonel G., head of the Security Department in the IDF, “appealed to the Ministry of Communications to revoke [Hayun’s] license. Hayun was called for a hearing on April 3, 2023, and “the Director General of the Ministry of Communications told me to close down my system and stop listening to the enemy. I did as I was told and in June [2023] they informed me that my license had been revoked. Two months later, on August 20 [2023], inspectors came to my home to make sure I had complied with orders.” Five months before the October 7 assault, in May 2023,  AMAN was ordered to seize all of Hayun’s equipment and stop working with him. Around the same time, the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate Unit 8200 SIGINT unit also stopped monitoring Hamas’s communications. 

Hayun said that his military colleagues told him that the order to cut him off came from “senior leadership,” and they had no explanation for the decision. Hayun told reporters he is convinced that if he had been listening in the weeks before Oct. 7, the invasion would have been prevented.

Hayun says that on May 23, 2023 he sent a message to Colonel G., after Hamas fired on Sderot and several residents were injured, “I wrote him a very poignant and direct message, saying ‘You should know that the victims’ blood is on your hands.’ ‘G.’ answered and warned me not to write to him again.”

Hayun says that an examination of the radios Hamas’ Nukhba terrorists had when entering Israel were all calibrated to frequencies that he had been listening to until his devices were taken and his license revoked. “I met a number of senior officers in different military units. We went over the frequencies. I had all these frequencies in my devices that were confiscated six months earlier. I would have heard everything.”

As for the explanations for what happened before and on October 7th (including the confiscation of his ‘electronic ears’) Hayun responds: “A lot of things that I know about don’t fit properly into the puzzle. I won’t say that it was something intentional or someone from the inside. I’ll just say that there are many things that I couldn’t fit properly in the huge puzzle of that day.”

“The pump don’t work”

IDF spotters and commanders in the AMAN border units monitoring surveillance balloons along the Gaza perimeter conveyed to their superiors in the weeks before October 7, 2023 that three observation blimps were grounded and out of action. As a result, the soldiers who operated them – concentrated in a small number of operations rooms – were unable to relay information and warn troops on October 7 as 6,000 jihadis swarmed across the bulldozed security barrier. At the IDF Nahal Oz base, a balloonist and his four comrades engaged Hamas in a lengthy battle, managing to kill ten terrorists. But the IDF soldiers were outnumbered and were all found dead inside a mobile shelter at 14:30, October 7, 2023.

On your walls, O Jerusalem

In April 2021, a hi-tech barrier wall was completed by the IDF along the cease-fire line between Israel and Gaza. It was considered a groundbreaking defense project, utilizing autonomous systems, robotics, and advanced surveillance – all to stop Hamas infiltration from Gaza.

Yet a senior officer said, “They told residents the above-ground fence would prevent infiltration, but it wasn’t even built for that. It was only meant to delay attackers by 15 minutes. It didn’t respond to explosives, not even to a tractor.”

The Philistines have invaded

The IDF have a order-of-battle code-named “Parash Pleshet” (‘the Philistine has invaded’). It is intended to block enemy invasions. Unfortunately Israel was not ready for the magnitude of this invasion. The IDF’s Gaza Division had not adequately prepared for the most extreme potential scenario.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Uri Sagi, a former head of Military Intelligence, explains that SHABAK is an organization focused on terrorism. “It speaks about ‘infiltrations,’ about ‘terrorist attacks,’ not about war, which is the language Military Intelligence speaks . . . The problem began long before this tragic night; namely, senior military officials were unfamiliar with Hamas’ plans and could not even imagine them.”

The IDF intelligence consensus was that Hamas would not be attacking.  As a result, troops were thinned out and sent home for Shabbat furlough. Two companies of troops from the IDF’s Commando Brigade, which had been deployed to the Gaza border during the Jewish holiday season in September and October, were sent to the West Bank just two days before the October 7 massacre. The IDF’s failure to grasp what was about to happen was based on “a lot of arrogance,” says Gen. Israel Ziv. The thought was that “Hamas wouldn’t attack, wouldn’t dare, and that even if so, they are not capable. We went to sleep on the 6th thinking there’s a cat over there, and we woke up on the 7th and there’s a tiger.”

At 05:30 on October 7, 2023, IDF Golani soldiers were preparing to start out on their dawn jeep patrol along the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the fence – a regular morning activity. But suddenly they were instructed by their superiors to delay the patrol and to stand back because of a threat from anti-tank missiles, three of these soldiers told the BBC. “There was a warning. It was forbidden to go up the route next to the fence,” one recalls. Golani soldier 21-year-old Shimon Malka, said such a warning was unusual but not unheard of, so they gave it little thought.

IDF Gen. Israel Ziv says it is standard IDF protocol to ‘stand soldiers back’ during suspected attacks like this so they can “avoid being exposed as a target.” But, he says, “Hamas realized that and used it” to their advantage.

The timeline of October 6, 2023

21:00  SHABAK (also known as the Shin Bet security agency) starts to identify SIGINT that Hamas was beginning to activate specially pre-positioned Israeli cell-phone SIMs  – at first, a handful of SIMs, but exactly at midnight, 1,000 SIMs are activated simultaneously by Hamas. SHABAK updates IDF Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman via WhatsApp at 21:30. Top Hamas commanders and their families begin to descend into the rat’s nest of tunnels spread throughout Gaza – more extensive than that of the entire London underground,

23:00  SHABAK chief Ronen Bar (who is then at his home) briefs IDF Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld and other IDF and AMAN officers about “unusual indications” in the field.

23:30  Various Hamas activities are detected (also at 00:00, 02:30 and 03:00), considered and then dismissed.  AMAN officials continue to look into activities, and their conclusion is that nothing unusual is occurring.

The timeline of October 7, 2023

00:00  One thousand Nuhkba terrorists simultaneously activate Israel SIM cards in their cell phones. The purpose of using the Israeli SIM cards is for the jihadis to improve their ability to communicate with each other while moving through the territory of Israel and carrying out their attacks.

01:00  SHABAK issues an intelligence report: “A sequence of concerning signs indicates Hamas is preparing for an attack. At the same time, field indicators suggest routine and restraint, with the background of a recently agreed ‘understanding’ leading to the assessment that Hamas is not interested in escalation or starting a campaign at this time.”

01:30  IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi’s office manager is updated about the latest SHABAK report, and then by the IDF Maj. Gen. in charge of Southern Command.

02:45  SHABAK Southern Region sends out an intelligence summary to high-ranking officers and officials: “Today and yesterday there were SIMs in certain areas of Gaza. This is not unusual, since similar tests were carried out by Hamas last year as well. According to the division and the command, Hamas has not changed its routine. The information is preliminary and there are routine activities in Hamas. A discussion on the matter will be held by the Southern Command Intelligence Officer at 08:30 and by the Southern Command heads at 10:00.” The head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, asks, “Are we on alert?” He is answered in the negative.

02:58/03:03  SHABAK sends out an urgent alert to several official bodies including the Israel Police and the National Security Council. “We have an indication of activation and activity of Hamas’s communication network across several brigades. We lack details on the nature of the activity, though the cumulative unusual activity, alongside additional indicators, may point to an offensive action.”  At most, the Israeli intelligence agencies think there might be an attempt for a minor kidnapping of a small group of Border Patrol soldiers

03:12  SHABAK says that the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, then-head of Unit 8200, Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, and then-head of the Research Division, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman are alerted via WhatsApp for the first time by an AMAN officer in the IDF Southern Command identified by the initial “Aleph” to what he recognizes as “something extremely unusual going on – heightened readiness on the other side [in Gaza].” In actuality, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, head of AMAN (the Intelligence Directorate) is not involved up to this point, as he is vacationing in Eilat. He is later updated by his office manager that a call had been received.

03:21 IDF Chief of Staff Halevi, who is also at home at the time, is awakened by the IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Matan Feldman. IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, who once served as head of bureau for former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, notes: “If the Chief of Staff gets up at night, it’s because we're on the brink of an abyss. You don't wake the Chief of Staff for nothing” Halevi immediately understands that he is about to receive intelligence that will require his full attention, so he asks Feldman to arrange a conference call in a few minutes.

03:30 HaLevi, IDF Operations Directorate head Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman are now all updated on the signs of an imminent attack. Halevi requests more information. He also orders that the intelligence information be checked – including from a perspective skeptical of the prevailing assumption that Hamas is not interested in war. He orders an update sent to the Israeli Air Force. Halevi requests to arrange a telephone consultation with Finkelman in order to make a situational assessment, but Finkelman is mid-assessment with his intelligence officer. They decide to hold a call at around 4:20 a.m. While he is waiting, Halevi writes on a paper: “Don’t convince ourselves that this is nothing.”

Maj. Gen. Finkelman does most of the talking during the call. He tells Halevi and Basiuk the details and emphasizes the dilemmas – namely that the intelligence establishment believes Hamas is merely conducting a drill, but the stricter interpretation argues that there is a real intention to carry out a pin-point infiltration, although not in an immediate timeframe. The conference call with Halevi takes place sometime between 03:30 and 04:00 and lasts no more than fifteen minutes.

04:00 SHABAK holds a meeting (though the head of SHABAK is not yet present). No alerts are passed on to PM Netanyahu, to the head of Israeli Police, to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (a former head of the Gaza Brigade and subsequently of Southern Command), to IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar or to Navy chief Vice Adm. David Saar Salama.

A former Shin Bet official interviewed on Professor Gadi Taub’s Hebrew podcast said that the Shin Bet thought Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had embarked on a path of moderation to improve the living conditions in Gaza. In the context of that mindset, they interpreted the signs of increased Hamas activity as preparations for a possible Israeli incursion. Bar and the top SHABAK brass feared that any upping of the level of alert would trigger Hamas and start a war. Alternatively, they feared the IDF might launch a preemptive strike with the same result.

The head of SHABAK Ronen Bar “did not awaken the prime minister because he feared that Netanyahu would make the wrong decision and trigger a major war with Hamas. Instead, he decided to make the [decision] himself – one of the most fateful in the history of Israel – rather than leaving it to the duly elected prime minister.”

04:00  Hamas begins to gather its forces. Nukhba terrorists are told to go to mosques for morning prayers. There they receive precise orders, passed on by word of mouth, to report at certain points along the border fence at 06:00. At the staging points, the terrorists receive weapons, ammunition, maps, and written orders. It is only then that most of them realize, for the first time, that they are headed to war.

04:20  The ‘Chief of Staff situational assessment’ takes place by encrypted phone calls. These meetings can last between 15 and 60 minutes. The participants in the situational assessment are COS HaLevi, OC Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Finkelman, and the head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk. Halevi asks during the conversation why there is no Military Intelligence official on the line, but does not insist on a MI representative being present. Halevi brings up potential actions by Hamas, including infiltrations from the sea, from the air, or using tunnels. He gives orders to increase surveillance on Hamas, and states that a new assessment would be convened at 8:30 a.m. or earlier if new information is received. From 3:30 a.m., there is no new information coming from the Gaza Strip.

04:00 to 05:00 Numerous calls are held between Southern Command and the IAF regarding the deployment of drones. It is decided to move one helicopter to the Ramon Airbase in the Negev Israel, to shorten the distance it needs to fly to the Gaza Strip.

4:30 SHABAK chief Ronen Bar arrives at SHABAK HQ in Tel Aviv and convenes a meeting with regional heads.  Possible scenarios discussed include Hamas staging a localized surprise raid or a kidnapping. Intelligence and operational responses are prepared. A ‘Tequila’ Special Forces team composed of SHABAK fighters and Israel Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, designed to deal with localized raids, is sent out after 4:30 am..

04:30 to 05:20 Another meeting is held at 4:30 a.m. chaired by head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk. The directorate, responsible for mobilizing and reinforcing IDF forces, reinforces aerial reconnaissance by sending one combat helicopter and three reconnaissance UAVs with no offensive capabilities. These UAVs would later look down from above at Israeli civilians being abducted into Gaza, unable to respond.

05:15 Ronen Bar writes in the protocol that he issues orders to brief Maj. Gen. Avi Gil. (Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military secretary).  But Maj. Gen. Avi Gil notes that he was briefed on the still ambiguous situation only at 6:15 AM,  He didn’t have time to wake Netanyahu up and called him only at 6:29 a.m. when the attack had already commenced

05:30 Israel Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar is updated. Navy chief Vice Adm. David Saar Salama is not updated

05:30 to 06:29  IDF calls and assessments continued up until 6:29 a.m., when Hamas launches 4,300 rockets at Israel and 7,000 terrorists infiltrate the country. The ‘Tequila’ Special Operations SWAT team arrives on site at this time.

Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud! Jaish Muhammad soufa yaʿoud

The above Arabic chant is a rallying jihadi battle-slogan which is translated as “Khaybar, Khaybar, o Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!” It refers to the Battle of Khaybar of 628 AD, where the forces of Muhammad defeated, subjugated, massacred and expelled the Jewish community living in the Khaybar oasis (present-day Saudi Arabia).  Today this slogan is chanted primarily at public anti-Israel demonstrations, and has been invoked during Islamist terrorist attacks as well. The chant has been categorized as antisemitic by (among others) the American news broadcaster PBS and the British advocacy group Muslims Against Antisemitism.

The murderous wave of Hamas’ jihadi attacks breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities, including the kibbutzim Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Ha’asara, and Alumim.  The convoy was led by white Toyota pickup trucks filled with Nukhba terrorists, accompanied by motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and powered paragliders. The jihadis 6,000 terrorists breached the border in 119 locations into Israel; this included 3,800 from the commando Nukhba forces, as well as 2,200 Gazan pro-Hamas civilians and other jihadi groups. Additionally, the IDF estimates that 1,000 Gazans within Gaza fired rockets against Israel, bringing the total number of participants on Hamas’s side to 7,000.

On recordings of Hamas commanders during the attack, one commander is heard saying: “Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them on TV channels to the whole world! Slaughter them. End the children of Israel”

08:00 PLO/Palestinian Authority terrorists belonging to Fatah/al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades come down from Judea and Samaria, camouflaged in Israeli police uniforms and having flashing blue ‘Kojak’ lights on their cars. They redirect fleeing Israelis into Hamas ambushes (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPJTeI1RMnE video clip at 0:00 – 0:20).

Trapped by the lawyers

Israel has been in the throes of a battle between conservative/traditional political parties on the one hand, and a woke/Left-wing juristocracy (also known as ‘judicial activism’) on the other. Judicial activism holds that courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of their decisions (which are usually Left-leaning and anti-religious). It usually implies that judges make rulings based on their own views rather than on precedent.

Prior to the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, opponents of the present government attempted to overthrow PM Netanyahu’s coalition through hostile legal moves. Some oligarchs and previous Left-leaning Prime Ministers and Military/Intelligence heads have been co-opted into this movement targeting judicial reform.

The judicial figureheads of this anti-government movement include the Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara (who has been fired by the Knesset but refuses to quit). In the IDF, this role has been led by Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Military Advocate General (MAG). They continue to manifest an anti-conservative, anti-religious and anti-traditional tendenz. They are at loggerheads with much of the IDF and the government, insisting on enforcing novel legal interpretations which place a stranglehold on the IDF and prevent it from decisively defeating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Republic.

On the morning of October 7, 2023 Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Chief Military Advocate, goes straight to the Kirya (Israel’s Pentagon) and sends out approximately 100 of her  IDF lawyers in the regular and reserve ranks. These quickly arrive at all the important combat hubs: the commands and divisions, the Air Force and Navy, the operations and intelligence wings. They show up between 07:00 and 08:00.

At 08:10 the MAG overturns PM Netanyahu’s legal prerogative to call in the IAF and declare war. Instead, the military juristocracy forbade the IAF from bombing anywhere in Gaza. It took the Air Force 12 hours before it was able to act and seal off the border from Gazans rushing in and Hamas fighters taking hostages back.

At 11:30 PM Netanyahu again orders the IAF in, but his orders are overturned three more times by the MAG. The MAG also forbids approving open-fire orders to the IDF – which explains why soldiers and pilots refused to fire on Hamas terrorists for many hours, while Israelis were being slaughtered, raped, burned to death and kidnapped. One such example is Yair, an IDF soldier on a rapid response team, who calls up the IDF Central Command and pleads for reinforcements against the 50 Hamas terrorists he is fighting. He is told by an IAF fighter pilot “We don’t have legal permission to shoot in populated areas.” The fear of facing ‘lawfare’ attacks at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has blunted the sharp sword of the IDF. Most of the casualties on October 7, 2023 are integrally connected to this criminal policy of the IDF’s military juristocracy. Somehow the IDF has deferred to the courts. “The legal advisors were more concerned, apparently, with the lives of Gazan ‘civilians’ plundering southern settlements than with the lives of those dying of asphyxiation in their bomb shelters, being murdered in cold blood, or being assaulted.”

At 20:10  the Security Cabinet of the Israeli government gathers and retroactively approves the declaration of war and the open-fire orders. The MAG and the Attorney General then have no choice but to approve those declarations.

On October 9, 2023, two days after the murderous attack on Israel, Hamas terrorists were found near the Sde Teiman camp, a three minute drive from Be’er Sheva, where they were apprehended by the Duvdevan Special Forces unit. 

What has been described in this newsletter is simultaneously sobering, infuriating and depressing. The IDF is world-famous for amazing acts of bravery, daring, courage and inventiveness, but occasionally it too has feet of clay – like other armies. The key to Israel’s victories must lie in its dependence on and faith in YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel.

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part One

A 1978 speech in the British House of Lords quotes an informal chat between the French Ambassador Ambassador at Paris’ Vietnam peace talks (1972-73) and the Chinese representative (most probably Premier Zhou Enlai). The French Ambassador said: “Tell me your Excellency, what has been the effect of the French Revolution on the development of your country?” After a brief pause, the Chinese gentleman said: “It is too early yet to say.” It seems that sometimes it takes time to fully comprehend events.

Two years have passed since the murderous terror attack by jihadi Hamas forces against Israeli families and farms. Though the full extent of what transpired may not yet be completely understood – some information, of course, is still subject to censorship – there is enough OSINT (open-source intelligence) available to piece together a fairly comprehensive appraisal of what went on that day. Immediate and general contexts are available from media reportage; jihadi combat strategies and Islamist perspectives are available from the Hamas Charter and published Israeli intelligence findings; SIGINT (signals intelligence) information from American sources (NSA and CIA) and from Israeli sources (AMAN [Agaf Ha-Modi’in] and its Unit 8200) – some of these have been leaked to media outlets – all these help in filling in many of the blanks.

Context is everything

The State of Israel was birthed in 1948 into a matrix of constant pressure. Since then, superpowers have been bullying, aggressively focusing on issues like the dividing of Jerusalem; the handing over Judea and Samaria (also known as ‘the West Bank’) to Islamic dictatorships or jihadi terror groups; and pressuring Israel to consent to the establishment of an enemy state in Gaza and Ramallah (interchangeably run either by Hamas or by the PLO/PA). These goals are still observable principles guiding the US State Department.

Operating on these foundations, the US has trained, supported and encouraged the PLO terror group and, in recent times, has also been an advocate for Hamas’ continued rule in Gaza. The America-sponsored ‘peace accords’ (Camp David, Oslo) are pushing for a Palestinian terror state. Over the past fifteen years there has also been a collateral push to remove Israeli PM Netanyahu from office. These agreements (including the Abraham Accords and the Qatar-funded Gaza peace deal spearheaded by POTUS Trump) are all fated to collapse if Israel ‘spoils the party’ by insisting to hold onto Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem – lands promised by the God of Jacob to His people Israel by irrevocable covenant. The above anti-Abrahamic agendas should be kept in mind as current events unfold.

Hamas dress-rehearsals between 2016 and 2023

Hamas’ jihadi terror invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 involved much planning. Here is a brief layout of what was involved.

On Wednesday April 19, 2017 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu presented to the Knesset State Control Committee that AMAN (Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate) had come across evidence that Hamas was planning a multi-pronged invasion of Israel – along the lines of the terrorist group’s ‘Walls of Jericho’ battle plan (which was later intercepted in April 2022).

On November 27, 2023, the BBC aired video confirmation and investigative reporting of Hamas’ preparations for the October 7 attack:

 

The ‘Walls of Jericho’ battle-plan

In October 2021, Hamas’s attack plan against Israel was issued. It was obtained by Israeli Military Intelligence (AMAN)’s SIGINT UNIT 8200 in April 2022, translated from Arabic, and code-named ‘Jericho Wall.’ This plan laid out in painstaking detail the exact actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023.

This report was then passed on to and seen by the following army top brass: IDF AMAN chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, UNIT 8200 commander Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel; IDF Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld; IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano.

However, the report was not shared with the following top brass: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi; IDF Deputy COS Maj. Gen. Amir Baram; Israel Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar; senior IDF operations officers Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and Brig. Gen. Shlomi Binder. It was also not shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Sinwar’s secret blood-drenched instructions

On August 24, 2024 a computer was found in an underground Hamas complex in Rafah, Gaza Strip, where Yahya Sinwar (leader and chairman of Hamas) had been hiding out from the IDF.

A scanned document of Sinwar’s handwritten order-of-battle was located on a computer unconnected to any other network. This document detailed his instructions to Hamas, written before October 7, 2023. Sinwar laid out the jihadi group’s deceptions in the weeks before the invasion; he described how the invasion would be prosecuted, based on the understanding that the Israeli defense measures along the border would not be able to stop the waves of attacking terrorists. Sinwar wrote that the window of opportunity for the success of the attack was between six and ten hours, during which Hamas forces had to firmly establish facts on the ground.

He then declared what he was looking for in equipping his terrorists with GoPro body video cameras:

And so it was done: a Hamas commander from Gaza City (Abu al-Baraa) instructed his operatives in the area of Kibbutz Sa’ad, (according to a message intercepted by Unit 8200): “Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them across TV channels for the whole world to see. Slaughter them. End the children of Israel!”

Another routine day at the office

IDF tatzpitaniyot (tower observers adept at VISINT or visual intelligence) were sending very concerning reports for nearly three years (since the first Strong Pillar drill in 2020) to their IDF commanders about worrying signs indicating Hamas preparations for a full-bore invasion of Israel. They were nearly totally ignored and told to stop such reporting.

One such example was Noa Melman, a tatzpitanit who finished her mandatory IDF service in January 2023. In a post-army interview with Israel’s Channel 12, she recounted the many indications of what was to come, including a mock border fence set up by Hamas in order for the terrorists to practice, again and again, blowing up the border and crossing over to the other side. She explained: “Our commanders told us to report what we saw, but everyone treated it like it was normal, like it was routine.”

Death in the kibbutz, at any cost

On July 6, 2023, a female Non-Commissioned Officer and Israeli intelligence analyst in Unit 8200’s Gaza Division emailed a presentation titled ‘Death in the kibbutz, at any cost.’ The PowerPoint charted out Hamas’ mass invasion plan, describing in detail a May 2023 Hamas training session that began in the early-morning hours and lasted late into the evening. The training included jeeps and motorcycles, and a scenario of shooting down an aircraft. In a response sent six days after the warning, on July 12, 2023, an unnamed IDF commander acknowledged the analyst’s good work but decided that Hamas’ training session was for show, an ‘imaginary scenario’ and not a concrete battle plan.

The Unit 8200 analyst responded with a stark warning: “This is a plan designed to start a war.” One of her male colleagues backed her up on the same email thread: “I emphasize that we completely and emphatically disagree with the assumption that this is an imaginary scenario.”  According to the female analyst, Hamas militants were chanting, ‘Prepare to kill the Jewish pigs’ and ‘Prepare to go in and decapitate.’ She added: ‘They are training, with large forces, for a big event... this is preparation for the real thing.’ She noted that the Hamas commandos were continually quoting from the Quran (Surah Al-Ma’idah; Surah 5; Ayat 21) that begins with the words: “My people! Enter the holy land which Allah has ordained for you. And do not turn back, for then you will turn about losers!”  That was when the non-religious Israeli analyst realized that, for Hamas, this was not a culture clash, a clash over territory or a desire to better their economic status, but rather an Islamist rallying cry to war – she understood belated that what was coming down the pike was actually religious war, an Islamist jihad, one which would involve all the murder and rapine described in Quranic jihadi passages.

Hiding in plain sight

On August 25, 2023, Hamas leader Saleh Arouri stated on Hezbollah’s Al-Mayadeen channel: “We are preparing for a comprehensive war and are discussing this in closed chambers with all the elements and components [i.e., of the jihadi ‘resistance’ axis] that are connected to this war.” He added that the resistance axis has “the presence, the motivation and the desire for a regional war to occur, and has an interest in this.”

The chief watchmen were sleeping

On September 19, 2023, IDF Intelligence Unit 8200’s Gaza Division distributed the documentDetailed End-to-End Raid Training’ to senior intelligence officials, at least those within the Gaza Division. It described the training Hamas units had been undergoing – practicing raids, kidnapping, and holding hostages in Gaza. The terrorist forces were now divided into four groups; each group trained on a simulated outpost. Clear plans showed that Hamas was planning to take hostages en masse. The document estimated the target number of hostages at 200-250. During the actual October 7 attack, 251 hostages were taken, while over 1,200 others were killed, mostly civilians. The document was ignored. The decision-makers in the IDF, both in military and intelligence, believed that Hamas had made a philosophical decision not to go to war; that Hamas was unable to carry out such an operation; and that it was actually Hamas which was merely defending itself against a prospective Israeli invasion of Gaza. Hamas’ deception tactics successfully blinded the eyes of the watchmen. It had conducted a years-long campaign to fool Israel into thinking the jihadi armies could be placated with economic incentives in order to maintain relative calm.

Not listening to the devil’s advocate

As a result of the near-bone-crushing defeat of the IDF in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, AMAN established a unit called ‘Ipcha Mistabra’ – the Devil’s Advocate Unit. Their job was to rigorously challenge the politically correct expectations of Army Intelligence on emergency issues.

The head of that unit wrote in late September to all senior decision-makers in both the IDF and in the political echelon, challenging the widespread assessment that Hamas was deterred. The officer continued that he twice ‘presented this thesis’ in writing, on September 21 and 26, 2023 and that these two notes ‘were widely distributed among all decision-makers in the military and the political echelon.’ He also set out the thesis in a speech at an annual Intelligence Branch strategic assessment session on September 26, 2023 and again, on September 27, 2023, at the weekly debate before the head of military intelligence. His warnings were ignored by the head of AMAN, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva.

When the watchmen don’t listen to the watchwoman’s warning

Another Non-Commissioned Officer (code-named ‘Vav’) in Unit 8200, sent an email sent to the Gaza Division’s AMAN intelligence officers and others unnamed, a day or two after the Unit 8200 dossier ‘Detailed End-to-End Raid Training’ (sent on September 29, 2023).

 ‘Vav’ warned that, due to the apparent imminence of whatever Hamas was planning, Israel’s intelligence would likely not have enough time to ‘prevent the incident’ altogether. Instead, ‘Vav’ suggested that relevant parties begin “formulating plans for dealing with the incident, should it actually happen, in order to reduce the damage . . . The other side is determined in its intentions to carry out its plan. If the plan is implemented, painful and difficult fighting is expected.” ‘Vav’ noted that the exercises Hamas had been observed carrying out were “very reminiscent” of the plan … to destroy the Gaza Division’s defense system [i.e., ‘the ‘Jericho Wall’]. It is no longer a plan only on paper.”

She concluded her dire warning by paraphrasing Ezekiel 33:6:

‘Vav’ stated in conclusion: “This email constitutes a blowing of the shofar, because the sword is coming – the hour is ripe to warn the nation!’ The email was dismissed by the Gaza Division’s top intelligence officers. On July 5, 2024 it was reported that “tempers are fraying” in the AMAN Directorate because the officers who had failed to heed ‘Vav’s warning had not been fired.

An American postscript

Two US intelligence warning were also passed on to Israel, and a third was circulated to those paying attention. On September 28, 2023 an NSA SIGINT update warned, based on multiple streams of intelligence, that the terror group Hamas was poised to escalate rocket-attacks across the border. On October 5, 2023, a CIA wire warned in general terms of the increasing possibility of terrorist violence by Hamas. On October 6, 2023 US officials began to circulate reporting from Israel indicating unusual activity by Hamas – indications that an attack was imminent.

 

I don’t see, therefore I don’t believe

The IDF’s Gaza Division had never prepared for a situation where more than several dozens Hamas terrorists would possibly attack and breach the border. In the end, over 6,000 Hamas jihadis (and a few thousand other pro-jihadi Gazans getting in on the pogrom) stormed into southern Israel on October 7.

Various commanders in Unit 8200 have come under fire for dismissing and ridiculing lower-level mostly female officers who accurately conveyed that Hamas was plotting a large-scale attack. Other AMAN officers no longer felt comfortable relying on HUMINT – traditional intelligence-gathering methods – and preferred to put all their eggs in the basket of SIGINT and its technological innovations.

A high-ranking officer within the IDF’s Intelligence Corps reduced Unit 8200’s manpower in 2021 after concluding that their intelligence-gathering methods would not help detect a threat from Gaza in real-time. “An alert in the Gaza arena will not come from the classic sources,” the officer was quoted saying. This decision significantly downgraded the unit’s operational activities and effectiveness in the Gaza border region. Part of this decision involved ceasing SIGINT operations entirely overnight and on weekends

 

How shall we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

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