Week of July 30, 2024

Catastrophe hit the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights along Israel’s northern border. Hezbollah fired a Falaq-1 Iranian-made rocket with a 110-pound warhead into Israeli civilian territory. The rocket landed on a soccer field where children were practicing, killing twelve boys and girls. The funeral for ten of the twelve young victims brought thousands of mourners from neighboring villages and from around the Golan. All local businesses were closed. Black flags flew on lampposts. The families projected an image of strength and resilience, for which the Druze people are known, as they stood almost motionless during the funeral procession.

This community is a religious minority in the Middle East. Druze citizens of Israel are generally proud and vocal advocates of Israel’s right to exist, with their own full rights to work, vote, and live as any citizen does. Their men are known for their military skills as many volunteer to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and do so valiantly.

A spiritual leader in the Druze community, Mowafaq Tarif, spoke at the funeral. He said, “Any country interested in surviving cannot afford to allow its citizens and residents to be targeted over an extended period of time. We can’t rely on luck alone.” Majdal Shams lies close to the border with Lebanon. Sirens warned of the coming rocket, but it hit the children as they were running to the shelter. The region is on high alert as Israel has vowed retaliation.

Please pray for an end to the constant bombardment of rockets along Israel’s northern border by sophisticated weapons Iran gives to Hezbollah.

During the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics, the Israeli delegation of athletes rode in their boat on the Seine proudly waving to the public and waving their flags. Some athletes have already received threats ahead of the games. French police have already arrested several individuals suspected of planning attacks during the Olympics. The Israeli delegation will receive constant protection from French police.

Israelis are regularly targeted during international competitions like the Olympics. The most infamous case was the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage and murdered them. This year, around 45,000 police officers and thousands of soldiers patrolled the area during the opening show. Security forces escorted the Israeli athletes into the Olympic Village because of the various pro-Palestinian protests. Many athletes know they might be met with angry protestors, boos inside the stadium, and opponents unwilling to shake their hands before or after a game.

Please pray for the safety of the Israeli Olympic team in Paris.

As the coming school year is set to open on September 1, the heads of the northern municipalities in the conflict zone held a meeting. Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced the children from northern border communities who were evacuated from their homes and schools since last October will not be returning to their normal schools as hoped. In the same interview, Kisch also said:

My biggest challenge today is in the north, the conflict zone that is essentially not evacuated, where under fire children need to be sent to school. This is a difficult situation. We must bring the students back to the north and do it now. This means returning the residents to their homes in the north, and the State of Israel is now obligated to launch an offensive in the north to resolve the situation.

As a result of the inability to return home, the organization representing evacuees from the north, “Fighting for the North,” said their government-funded hotel stays need to be extended. They further noted:

A few weeks ago, the state extended our stay in hotels, but it was again done for a short period, which puts all families in another period of uncertainty, as they cannot plan the coming months, especially the start of the next school year, with the uncertainty about where they will live. We urge you to lead an initiative to extend the stay in hotels so that the IDF can go to war in Lebanon, leading to a long-term victory and preventing future wars, and we hope this will alleviate, even slightly, the hardship of the evacuee families, hoping that these long months will not be in vain.

Please pray for Israelis who had to evacuate their homes near the northern border, who have been living unstable lives for months now, waiting to peacefully return to their homes and lives.

Our staff is hosting another children’s camp in our ministry center in Jerusalem. There are twenty children (six of them new immigrants to Israel!) from war-affected areas of the country. More than half are from not-yet-believing families, and the families happily send their children. They know and trust our staff and love sending their kids to a safe environment.

The children have been on fun outings, took part in activities in our ministry center, and have noticeably grown and asked questions during the Bible studies. We believe the Lord is doing a mighty work in them, please pray with us for this! Our staff saw how they calmed down and entered into the study and eventually, some opened their hearts to Jesus! Our team has also dedicated almost two hours a day to trauma therapy for these little ones who have been through so much over these ten months. With God’s help and direction, we will have a family camp next week and another camp toward the end of August.

Thank you for praying for this important ministry to Israeli children and families, who have endured so much over the past year!