Today, you’ll hear firsthand accounts of what happened during Hamas’ initial attack on Israel last week, and why we cannot allow the antisemitic left to continue to smear Israel and disparage Hamas’ victims with lies designed to help the terrorists. And how Joe Biden appears to be backpedaling from his promised “unequivocal support” of Israel. Read on. — Mat

Michal Ohana was at the Israeli music festival last weekend. When shots rang out at 6 a.m., Michal ran. But the attacks were coming from all sides. When the 27-year-old woman began to stumble from exhaustion, a friend lifted her into his arms and carried her. He raced to a nearby car, stuffing Michal into the stranger’s vehicle, forfeiting his own safety in hopes of saving her.

But Hamas soldiers saw the car racing toward the desert and opened fire. Bullets riddled the car, but somehow, Michal managed to survive. Spotting an abandoned tank nearby, Michal mustered what little strength she had left, and crawled beneath it. At some point, Michal realized she was bleeding from both her stomach and leg. She had been shot.

“That’s when I started to pray,” Michal said. “That was the moment I thought I was done for, and I started to recite ‘Shema Yisrael.’”

The Shema is one of the most important prayers in Judaism, commanded to be prayed morning and night, and, if possible, right before one dies.

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And as for you, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Israeli Defense Forces rescued Michal six hours later. The young woman is now recuperating in a Jerusalem hospital. But the friend who risked his own life to save Michal hasn’t been heard from since and is presumed dead.

Michal and the other victims recuperating at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital are appalled by news reports and international community members blaming the attacks on Israel. “As I watch, the media shows a few people killed in Gaza, the number of injured and children. They don’t really know what happens in Israel,” said Michal through her tears, referring to the terror Hamas inflicts. “All we wanted to do was have fun at a party, and I lost most of my friends.”

In a nearby hospital bed, 35-year-old Shani Hadar recounted what she witnessed and endured. Shani and her friends were just arriving at the festival when gunfire broke out. They turned their car around and tried to flee but were quickly surrounded. Shani didn’t realize she’d been shot until she said she saw “pieces of my own flesh flying through the car."

Shani used a kimono to tourniquet her arm, then crawled beneath the car, hiding, and playing dead for hours, waiting for the jihadis to leave the area.

What Shani saw while hiding was horrific.

“[The terrorists] stole IDF uniforms, and just started knocking on doors and pulling people out and shooting them! Just like that …,” Shani said. “You see them stepping on kids’ heads. Stepping on soldiers. They caught a mother and her children. … They called the parents of a woman who was kidnapped, and said, ‘Your daughter is alive, we’re going to rape her.’ These are beasts. Predators. Animals that don’t know how to act,” Shani continued shuddering. “And it’s always turned around on us. It’s just crazy.”

Here in America, some members of Congress are displaying their rank antisemitism for all the world to see, pouring salt into the wounds of victims like Michal’s and Shani’s.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) spread disinformation this week, posting pictures of children killed by ISIS in Syria more than a decade ago, claiming they were Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers last week. Omar also claimed Israel was committing “war crimes” and “genocide” despite the fact that it was Hamas that conducted the largest slaughter of Jews since World War II.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is demanding Israel “cease fire” rather than eliminate the terrorists who have just butchered over 1,000 Jews and at least 30 Americans.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) went a step further, drafting legislation not only demanding Israel cease fire, but also demanding the Biden administration help the Palestinians instead of the Israelis!

Perhaps this isn’t a surprise, considering Rep. Bush is also a “proud” member of Black Lives Matter, a group that has posted images of machine-gun-toting paragliders to social media emblazoned with the words, “I stand with Palestine.” Rep. Bush has not condemned her organization or their sickening posts. And the terror-lined Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is helping to push Bush’s legislation among Democrats as I write.

Just 24 hours after release, Bush’s legislation already has numerous high-profile co-sponsors, including André Carson, Summer Lee, Delia C. Ramirez, Jamaal Bowman, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Jesús "Chuy" García, Jonathan Jackson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Nydia Velázquez.

And Joe Biden may well be caving to the pressure within his party. Just one week ago, Biden gave a speech in which he declared America’s firm and unwavering support for Israel. Yet just yesterday, Biden met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, declaring Palestinians’ “right” to “self-determination,” in other words, a piece of Israel’s land.

Such an arrangement would not only serve as a giant reward for Hamas’ terror campaign, it’s also just the foothold Hamas has been hoping for. A Palestinian state would give Hamas even more opportunity to accomplish its stated goals of killing every Jew and taking every inch of Jewish land.

Making matters worse, the Biden administration has decided to allow the sanctions against Iran to EXPIRE today, despite clear evidence that Iran planned, armed, and trained Hamas for last week's massacre.

Congress needs to hear from you NOW. Please fax Congress now and sign our petition. Demand our elected officials REJECT the antisemitic left’s gaslighting, and instead, STAND with ISRAEL!

Please pray for Israel and her people. Pray just as hard for the sickeningly misguided and hardened hearts celebrating Hamas’ terror campaign. And join me in demanding that Congress take bold action and make a strong statement NOW, so the horrors of such a Holocaust never happen again.

As you do, prayerfully consider financially supporting our vital work. Please, defend Israel with your gift to CIDI today!

May God bless you for standing with Israel!

Sincerely,

Mat Staver
Chairman
Christians in Defense of Israel

P.S. I ask for your generous and much-needed gift to defend Israel against an anti-Israel White House. Your gift now will help us fight the Biden administration’s attacks on the world’s only Jewish state. Please, give generously today!

P.P.S. Don’t forget to fax Congress. Israel needs you NOW.

SOURCES:

Allison, Ismail. “CAIR Endorses Congressional ‘Ceasefire Now’ Resolution on Israel and Palestine.” Council on American-Islamic Relations, October 16, 2023. Cair.com/press_releases/cair-endorses-congressional-ceasefire-now-resolution-on-israel-and-palestine/.

Enloe, Chris. “Ilhan Omar Fails to Heed Warning from AOC, Gets Caught Spreading False Claims of ‘Child Genocide’ in Gaza.” Blaze News, October 16, 2023. Theblaze.com/news/ilhan-omar-spreads-false-photo-child-genocide-gaza.

Poris, Aaron, and Dario Sanchez. “Survivors from the South: Victims of Hamas’ Terror Speak from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.” The Media Line, October 9, 2023. https://themedialine.org/top-stories/survivors-from-the-south-victims-of-hamas-terror-speak-from-hadassah-ein-kerem-hospital/.

“Readout of President Biden’s Call with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.” U.S. Embassy in Egypt, October 14, 2023. https://eg.usembassy.gov/readout-of-president-bidens-call-with-president-mahmoud-abbas-of-the-palestinian-authority/.

Said, Summer, Benoit Faucon, and Stephen Kalin. “Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel over Several Weeks.” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 8, 2023. Wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-israel-hamas-strike-planning-bbe07b25.

Weinthal, Benjamin. “Biden Admin Set to Allow Iran UN Sanctions on Ballistic Missile Program to Expire: ‘Huge Victory for Tehran.’” Fox News, October 17, 2023. Foxnews.com/world/biden-admin-set-allow-iran-un-sanctions-ballistic-missile-program-expire-huge-victory-for-tehran.