Israel Eliminates Top Hezbollah Leader
An F-15I fighter jet of the Israeli Air Force’s 69th Squadron takes off from the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel to carry out a strike in Beirut against Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, September 27, 2024. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)
The death of Hassan Nasrallah came as a significant victory for Israel and Western powers. It was a massive blow to the Hezbollah terror organization, which is a proxy of Iran’s terror networks. Nasrallah had been Hezbollah’s leader in Lebanon for several decades and held a firm grip on entrenching his fighters in southern Lebanon; building an arsenal of 150,000 rockets, missiles, and drones; and digging attack tunnels. He had been protective of his movements and had a very small, trustworthy circle of people around him. Israel had been building intelligence on him and his network for many years and on Friday, September 27, killed him with precision strikes on his underground command headquarters in Beirut.
This successful operation suggests his ranks had been filled with informants for Israel. It comes after Israel remotely detonated thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members. Israel has made hundreds of attacks on their weapons sites, cut off their supply lines, eliminated half of their top leadership and top military command, and injured thousands of their fighters. Now is the turning point for Hezbollah—will they keep fighting by naming a new leader, replenishing their arms, and renewing their communications networks in the efforts to kill and destroy Israel? Or, will the people of Lebanon emerge from the tight grasp Hezbollah has held on the country for decades in the hope for peace, safety, and growth?
Please pray for Israel at this crucial time as Hezbollah is at its weakest. We pray peace and safety can return to the northern border and its residents.
Israeli Intelligence Thwarts Increased Attacks against Israelis and Jewish People Abroad
David Barnea, director of Mossad (Source: Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)
Although we only know about a few potential Iranian terrorist plots against Jewish people and Israelis, there have been many more. The Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, has thwarted more than fifty major Iranian terrorist attacks planned in foreign countries since October 7, 2023. These numbers have at least doubled from the previous year, which shows Iran’s desire to harm and damage the Jewish community and Israelis globally.
Some countries—like Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, and Turkey—have helped the Mossad stop attacks. Other countries may not necessarily be friends of Israel, but they helped Israel because they do not want foreign countries causing terror attacks on their soil. Sometimes the Mossad works clandestinely in a country, without this country’s knowledge. In May, Israel stopped terrorist attacks in Belgium and Sweden. The Mossad’s spying capabilities were highlighted when Hezbollah fighters’ pagers exploded—inhibiting their communications network and injuring at least 3,000 of their fighters.
Please pray for Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, as they cunningly stop global terror and potential killings targeting Israelis and Jewish people.
Israeli Prime Minister Addresses the United Nations General Assembly
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventieth session in 2015 (Source: Flickr/United Nations Photo)
After some delays in leaving Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to New York City to take part in the United Nations General Assembly. His speech highlighted Israel’s right to security and to defend itself against terrorism as tensions escalate with Hezbollah, entrenched in Lebanon. He stressed Israel’s goal of achieving a “demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza,” and warned Hamas to “either end the war” or endure more fighting “until total victory.”
In his speech, he made sure to remind the listeners that Hezbollah had “attacked Israel unprovoked” and caused the displacement of over 60,000 people from their homes and lives—causing “vibrant towns” to become “ghost towns.” Finally, he warned that Iran is a continued threat to regional stability but stressed that “There’s no place in Iran our arms can’t reach.” He asked the international community to remember the complex issues of the conflict and Israel’s right to protect itself. He defended Israel wartime conduct by saying, “No army has done what Israel is doing to minimize civilian causalities.”
Please pray that those who heard his speech will understand the complex issues in the Middle East.
Chosen People Ministries—Israel Asks For Your Prayers This Rosh Hashanah
This week, Jewish people worldwide will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Please take some time to pray for salvation. It usually is a time of introspection and joy as the past year comes to a close and a new one begins. This year, the holiday will be met with sorrow as many deal with the death, injury, kidnapping, and displacement of their loved ones as well as the horrors of growing worldwide antisemitism. In Israel, our team is looking forward to providing meals to friends and family as well as giving holiday greetings and gifts to those around us. Our community of believers and not-yet-believers is very precious to us and we ask for your prayers as we continue to love and serve them . . . in good times and bad.
A destroyed home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza © Yehoshua Halevi | Dreamstime.com