Israel: Six Days, Six Miracles

6/10/2015 SANDRA TEPLINSKY/LIGHT OF ZION  charisma news

An Israeli family protects itself in a bomb shelter during the Six Day War in 1967. (Wikimedia Commons )

"Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles and the judgments He pronounced, O descendants of Abraham, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth" (Psalm 105:5-7).

Jewish tradition based on the Scriptures encourages us to remember Yehowah's deeds in history. This is because He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In "remembering" what He has done in the past, we revisit and rejoin ourselves, in a real sense, to God's interaction with our people through the ages. Presently remembering the past helps equip and embolden us to walk in His ways in future. We know Him better and love Him more.

The past few days, Jewish communities have been remembering Israel's historic Six Day War of June 5-10, 1967. The war ended, against all odds, with Israel's stunning victory in six days over the combined armies of her surrounding enemy states. Israeli losses were heavy. And, over time, most of the territory gained has been returned in exchange for promises or hopes for peace.

But back in 1967, most Jews—as well as Western Christians—viewed the war's turnout as nothing less than miraculous.

As you may know, Jewish holidays are based on the Hebrew, rather than international Gregorian calendar. But the Six Day War is not remembered as a Jewish holiday. Instead, Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) officially commemorates the climax of the war, the Holy City's prophetic return to Jewish leadership. The holiday is based on the Hebrew calendar and often occurs in May.

But in 2015, the international community is feverishly pushing to create a Palestinian state from biblical land, including Jerusalem, that fell to Israel in the Six Day War. For that reason, certain aspects about the war are worth remembering at this time.

As you do, be encouraged! If you're a Gentile, God's covenant faithfulness to you personally as a follower of Messiah reflects His covenant faithfulness to the Jews. And if you want what's best for the Palestinians, align with biblical justice in support of them.

To start, in 1967, Israeli troops were outnumbered by their enemies approximately 2:1. In addition, she was highly under-equipped against the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. The world expected Israel to lose the war—which would, in effect, mean the annihilation of the Jewish state. But God intervened.

Here's a short list of six documented military events regarded by many as miraculous (there were plenty more):

1. In a defensive pre-emptive strike on June 5, the Israeli air force flew over and destroyed one Egyptian military air fleet after another for three straight hours. Apparently, no Egyptian air base tried to inform the others of the attacks. Meanwhile, an advance warning by Jordan of the air assault failed because Egypt had changed their warning codes the day before. This victory proved key to the outcome of the war.

2. The battle of Shechem in the West Bank (illegally annexed by Jordan since 1948) was expected to be one of the hardest and bloodiest. But when Israeli forces approached the town from an unexpected direction—east instead of west--heavily armed Arabs in Shechem mistook them as Iraqi reinforcements arriving from the east. As a result, the Israelis were warmly welcomed and the city easily fell into their hands. This helped Israel regain much of the rest of the West Bank from Jordan with minimal resistance.

3. Israel was particularly outnumbered and under-equipped in the Golan Heights against Syrian troops. But in a watershed battle, as the IDF advanced, many of the Syrians quickly pulled out of position and fled in chaos. Most of their weaponry was dropped and left behind. Afterwards, some said they'd seen frightening visions, there on the battlefield, of Abraham. The patriarch was reportedly warning them not to harm the Jews.

4. Within a couple of days of Israel's airstrike on its military planes, Egypt began blowing up or abandoning its other military bases, seemingly inexplicably. As a result, Israel easily took both the Sinai and Gaza, the latter of which Egypt had illegally annexed in 1948.

5. An IDF truck stockpiled with explosive ammunition, desperately needed to rearm Jewish troops, was directly hit by a live grenade. This should have caused the truck to instantly explode and destroy surrounding facilities and troops. But the grenade landed quietly on top of the truck, where it sat until dismantled and removed. This sort of incident reportedly occurred throughout the war.

6. International pressure forced Israel to accept a ceasefire proposed by King Hussein of Jordan. But at the last moment, Hussein nixed essential terms of the ceasefire he himself had initiated. This gave Israel the extra time needed to annihilate their enemies' military infrastructure—and restore Jewish leadership over the Old City of Jerusalem. 

Radio communications on 6/7/67 between Israeli troops approaching the Old City and their commanders at the "David Operations Room" have been made public. Hear how excerpts from these communiqué reflect the heartbeat of a God faithful to His ancient covenant people:

"...  Shortly we're going to go into the Old City of Jerusalem that all generations have dreamed about. ... Ahead we go, through the Lion's Gate! ... I'm with the first unit to break through into the Old City. ... The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands! ... All forces, stop firing. This is the David Operations Room. All forces, stop firing! ... I'm walking right now down the steps towards the Western Wall. I'm not a religious man, I never have been, but this is the Western Wall and I'm touching the stones of the Western Wall. ... [The soldiers spontaneously pray together:] 'Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, she-hechianu ve-kiemanu ve-hegianu la-zman ha-zeh'" (Blessed are You, Lord God, King of the Universe, Who has sustained us, kept us and brought us to this day).

The military chaplain blows the shofar. The seventh day after the war began, Israel rested. Let us remember that when the hour appears darkest, the future desperately daunting, and odds seemed stacked against us, Yehowah's glory is at hand.

Sandra Teplinsky has been in the Messianic Jewish ministry since 1979. She is president of Light of Zion, an outreach to Israel and the church based in Southern California and Jerusalem. She is an ordained minister and prophetic conference speaker, and has written several books and articles about Israel and the church.

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Tortured in the Sinai: 'I Was Hanged for Days'

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

Friday, November 21, 2014

JERUSALEM, Israel -- From the West Coast of Africa to the deserts of Sinai, Bedouin tribes are conducting a human trafficking trade on a massive scale.

It's no secret. The trade reaps millions of dollars and deals with human misery. It could be stopped but so far no one has dared.

"By that time I had lost sense (sensation) in both my hands," an Eritrean torture victim told CBN News. "It was a result of the accumulated torture but mainly because (both) of my wrists were tied up so tightly, (and I was) hanged up from the ceiling for three days, the blood was cut off from my hands and the flesh started to literally drip from my hands."

Torture in the Sinai

This man is just one victim of this widespread modern-day slavery, kidnapping, and torture trade in the Sinai desert. There are many pictures and videos of this horrible practice on the Internet.

For this story, this Christian man from the African country of Eritrea is going by "Philip," but that's not his real name. CBN News covered his identity for his protection.

"In some cases, we were tortured simply because we were Christians," he told us, his chest trembling slightly as he spoke.

"Sinai was always a place for human smuggling, but since around two years ago -- even a bit more -- it started also to be a place of human torture," Shahar Shoham, director of Physicians for Human Rights, told CBN News.

Shorham has documented more than 1,300 cases of torture in the Sinai. Those survivors, like Philip, made it to Israel. But most of the cases of torture are not documented.

"They torture them in horrible methods, like hanging upside down from the ceiling, like using electric shocks, like burning them on their bodies," Shorham said.

Kidnapped for Ransom

This story begins in Eritrea, where many like Philip fled from its brutal dictatorship. He traveled to a United Nations refugee camp in Sudan. There he was kidnapped by a Bedouin tribe.

They transferred him -- along with many others -- through Sudan, Egypt, and all the way to the Sinai desert and their torture camps.

What happens next in these camps is diabolical.

"What they make you do is call your family and ask them for the money," Philip explained. "Usually they will do the asking. They will say, 'Either send this money or your brother will die or your father will die or your son will die.' It depends on whoever is picking up the phone."

"While you're talking to your family they would pour molten plastic on your body so that you would scream and perhaps they thought that would persuade your family to pay or collect the money faster," he said.

The tribesmen demand what for most poor Eritrean families is a king's ransom.

"The ransom fees can go up to $40,000 for an individual and even $50,000, and until the ransom fees (are) paid, the people will not be released," Shoham explained. The financial burden on the families is devastating."

Killing a Soul

Sister Azziza is a Catholic nun from Eritrea who is based in Jerusalem. She has interviewed many of the Sinai survivors.

"People are destroyed physically (and) psychologically because of what they know they did to their family, how they are living," Sister Azziza told CBN News.

But many do not make it out alive.

"We estimate that around 4,000 people died in the Sinai, some of them from torture," Shoham said. Many who were with Philip died.

"We couldn't help them; that was the most horrible thing," he recalled. "Some you know. You have experienced some of the harshest treatment in this world and yet they're dying and you couldn't do anything to help them. That was horrible."

Hanged Like Christ

Yet the torture and the dying go on.

CBN News talked with a 35-year-old Eritrean woman named Segen. She is five month's pregnant.

Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean human rights activist living in Sweden, arranged our conversation. The kidnappers give them cell phones so they can call their family and friends.

We talked via Skype, linking Sweden, Jerusalem, and the Sinai.

It was sobering. You could hear the strain in Segen's voice.

"They are asking for money every minute and they hit us and they put us -- they will make us lie down on the floor and you know their feet would be up and they would hit their feet and melt with melted plastic bags," Estefanos said.

"And so that way they cannot stand because they will torture their feet, and every day they hang them the way they hang Jesus Christ," she said.

"What does she mean when they hang them like Jesus Christ?" CBN News asked.

"They hang us the way He was hanged and they take off their clothes. While they are naked they will hang them. And they will just hit them with big bats like all day for hours," she said.

No Secret to the World

Many of the Etritreans, like Segen and Philip, are Christians. Many don't survive.

"There are around 7,000 that went through these torture camps and 4,000 that died. Those are huge numbers and I don't think that the world needs to keep quiet about that," Shoham said.

Philip miraculously survived and made it to Israel where he received life-saving medical treatment.

The location of these torture camps is no secret.

"Their location and whereabouts is known already by many high officials," human rights activist Majed El Shafie told CBN News.

"The only way out of this problem is for the international society or the international community to put pressure on the Egyptian government to release the victims, to stop these human traffickers," he said.

Shafie believes some of the American financial aid to Egypt could be used -- with conditions -- to help these victims.

"Every American listening to us right now -- not only Americans but anybody in the world -- can make a difference," he said.

"You can contact your congressman. You can contact your senator. You can show them that you care about these issues," he said. "If you send an email, or fax or make a telephone call, he can save a life."

Watch the video: Tortured in the Sinai

What Sinai Attack Means for Israel's Security - CBN News

What Sinai Attack Means for Israel's Security

By George Thomas and Tzippe Barrow

CBN News

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Love For His People Editor's note: You didn't hear on the national news that this bus was full of Christian tourists from South Korea. That won't stop us from going.) Steve Martin

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Islamists targeted a tour bus of South Koreans as it neared the Taba border crossing between Egypt and Israel on Sunday. Four people -- the Egyptian bus driver and three South Korean passengers -- were killed, and at least 13 others injured.

An terrorist calling itself Champions of Jerusalem claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place just 50 meters (yards) from the crossing.

"There was an explosion and then came the fire truck and the ambulance, but they couldn't do anything," Saber Al-Sayed Hassan, an eyewitness, recalled.

Members of the terror posted a statement on al Qaeda-affiliated websites, calling Sunday's bombing part of an "economic war" against the army-backed government.

***The Sinai desert, which borders Egypt and Israel, has become more lawless in recent years. What risk does that pose to the Jewish state's security? CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell addresses that question and more on CBN Newswatch, Feb. 17.

The busload of 31 pilgrims -- all members of Jincheon Jungang Presbyterian Church out of Seoul -- had visited St. Catherine's Monastery in central Sinai. They were on a 12-day tour to Turkey, Egypt and Israel.

Late Monday evening, church members, some of them sobbing, gathered in front of the church. One family member of a bus victim can be heard saying, "She's dead. She's dead. My sister is dead."

Several on board were taken to nearby hospitals suffering serious injuries. It was the first such attack targeting foreign tourists in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood released an English-language statement condemning the attack, but tweeted in Arabic that "Zionists" were among the casualties, the Jerusalem Post reported.

South Korea's foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the attack, saying they were "shocked and enraged at the terrorist bombing on the bus."

"We believe that terrorism can never be justified under any circumstances and such inhumane and unethical acts should be weeded out by all means," the statement read.

South Korea's Egyptian Ambassador Kim Young-So said an Egyptian suicide bomber blew the bus up.

"An Egyptian man in his 20s suddenly boarded the bus and detonated the bomb," Young-So told Seoul-based MBN television. "It appears to be a suicide bombing by a terrorist."

In an emergency meeting, South Korean officials vowed to help the Egyptian government find out who carried out the attack.

"The Egyptian foreign minister has acknowledged the seriousness of this incident, and has expressed his intent to pour all efforts into handling this situation," Lee Jung-kwan, with the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said he hoped Sunday's attack would be "an isolated incident," promising that "all the rest of the country is safe and secure and what happened can happen anywhere in the world."

Egypt's interim government is trying to emerge from the instability that's pervaded the country since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The government hopes to revive the nation's once-flourishing tourism industry, while dealing with Islamist violence in Cairo and other cities. It's also addressed burgeoning terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula, which grew exponentially during Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi's short tenure.

Since Morsi's ouster, the Brotherhood has continued demanding his reinstatement in anti-government protests.

Presidential elections are planned for mid-April, with acting Defense Minister Gen. Fattah Abdel El-Sisi the leading contender. The majority of Egyptians opposed the Brotherhood's takeover of the government.

Watch the video here: CBN News South Korean bus bombing