Here’s what they told me in their own words.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – During an Evangelical Solidarity Mission we led in December, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and I met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
We and our colleagues also met with Netanyahu’s public diplomacy team – some of his most senior communications and foreign policy advisors – in the highly secure IDF headquarters known as “The Kirya,” Israel’s version of the Pentagon, located in the heart of Tel Aviv.
One request from the Israeli leadership was unmistakably clear: Would we do more to educate Evangelicals in the U.S. about why Israel has to fight and defeat Hamas in Gaza and do more to mobilize Evangelicals to stand with Israel, pray for Israel, and counter the malicious lies being spread about Israel in the media and on college campuses.
We immediately and wholeheartedly agreed that we would – and I’m so grateful to my colleagues for all they have been doing over the past few months to keep their word.
Those who host radio and TV programs have utilized them time and again to explain what they saw and heard on that December visit to Israeli border communities savaged by Hamas and in our meetings with hostage families and IDF soldiers.
Those who speak at churches and Christian conferences have used those platforms to do the same.
We’ve also created opportunities to show Evangelical leaders the 47-minute film that the IDF compiled showing some of the worst of the atrocities that Hamas terrorists perpetrated against Israelis on October 7th.
Working closely with the IDF, former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback showed the film to a religious freedom summit he held in January.
Working closely with the Israeli consulate in Atlanta and NRB President Troy Miller, we helped organize two showings of the film at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville in February.
Then, working closely with Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, and his senior team, we helped organize a showing of the film for two dozen Evangelical leaders at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on March 26.
Two of the Evangelical media professionals who attended immediately wrote columns for ALL ISRAEL NEWS with their reactions to the film – and shared their thoughts on radio programs and podcasts.
Other participants that I invited to the screening told me that they were so emotionally affected by the film that they were having trouble sleeping and processing their thoughts.
They asked me for more time to recover, and pray over what they’d seen and heard, and put their thoughts on paper.
One month later, some still don’t feel comfortable sharing, though most have emailed me their comments.
Today, then, as we come to the end of this year’s Passover holiday, I would like to share with you some of their responses in their own words (lightly edited, in some cases, for clarity).
As you read what they sent me, I would make two requests:
First, would you share this article with family and friends on social media to help them understand the evil that Israel is up against and why we must stand courageously against such evil, even as the world condemns us and seeks to isolate us?Second, would you join me in praying urgently and without ceasing to the God of Israel that He would once and for all force the Pharoah of Hamas to “Let my people go” – that He would, in His mercy, fulfill the words of Isaiah 61:1-2 and “set the captives free”?
Thank you so much.
Here, then, are the moving and emotional responses of some of the Evangelical leaders who attended the screening.
The government of Israel is currently presenting to its friends globally a unique “film” which serves to explain, in part, why the IDF is fighting Hamas in Gaza.
The film is not a narrated documentary.
Rather, it’s a collection of very graphic videos taken by Israeli citizens and CCTV cameras in Israeli communities near Gaza, but mostly from GoPro cameras and social media posts on October 7th by Hamas terrorists themselves.
Those assassins from Gaza had excitedly wanted their friends and families to know what a great day they were having killing innocent Israelis.
One of the soundbites that haunted me most: An IDF intercept of a phone call from a Hamas terrorist who had invaded Israel talking to his father saying, “Dad, I killed ten of them today in one day! I did it! I killed ten Jews with my own hands!”
Disturbingly, this “home movie” shows – over and over again – video of the actual rampages and murderous acts committed by Hamas.
This 47-minute video puts in perspective Israelis’ resolve to defend themselves when the rest of the world is so quick to condemn them.
Watch this film if you can – it is required viewing.
My life changed when I saw this film.
At the invitation of Joel Rosenberg – friend, author, and editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS – I visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in March to view video footage of the October 7th massacre. The 47-minute screening was a compilation of victims’ cell phones, home cameras, IDF soldiers’ recordings, and Hamas’ social media posts.
It documents the carnage, bloodshed and unprovoked slaughter of over 1,000 Israeli citizens at the hands of Hamas terrorists. It displays the depths of human wickedness.
The video I watched was no Hollywood flick. It was human butchery.
- Mothers and fathers who will never see their kids come home from a concert because Hamas snipers shot them while celebrating life.
- Three-year-olds who will never laugh again because they were burned to death.
- Husbands forced to watch their wives raped in front of their eyes.
- Celebrations by Hamas terrorists using the heads and mangled bodies of Israeli victims to “rejoice” at doing Allah's work.
Witnessing these recorded acts changes a person. Calling this an atrocity is to understate the incident. Calling it criminal is to belittle the immorality of the act. Calling it politically driven is to ignore the display of depravity.
It was pure evil – an evil against all of humanity and the God of life.
Today, we must urgently pray for the release of the hostages, the end to this raging conflict, the triumph of good, and the peace of Israel, as God's Word commands us to do.
The change in my life after seeing this footage pales in significance to the thousands who have experienced it in real-time. Life-changing for the nation of Israel.
Still, may God help us as Evangelical Christians to stand with the innocent and never tolerate evil.
This film is unbearable to watch.
But it is a small glimpse into the unimaginable realities that innocent men, women, and children faced at the hands of wicked and merciless terrorists on that evil day.
There is simply no way to walk away and forget what we have witnessed or to remain silent.
The unspeakable horrors and atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists against the Israeli people on October 7th should never be forgotten.
The Israeli people deserve our prayers, our voice, and our complete support as they work to defend their homeland and bring their hostages home.
I attended the screening to have a better understanding and appreciation for the realities that the Israeli people are facing, not just on October 7th but the constant state vigilance and high alert because of the enemies that surround them.
While I knew coming into the screening that the October 7th invasion was a truly horrific moment in history, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
I think the most important lesson from my experience is that Israel not only has right to defend itself – it also has to right to be supported by its friends and allies.
Israel should not be experiencing the political isolation and uncertainty that it is experiencing today.
While I would not recommend that just anyone see this film – it is not appropriate for most viewers – I will not cease to advocate on behalf of the people I saw suffer that day.
When I was asked by Joel Rosenberg to attend a private viewing of the atrocities of October 7th filmed by Hamas themselves, I was reluctant.
I knew what I was going to see, so why did I need to actually see it?
But I realized that knowing the Holocaust existed is different than walking through the Holocaust Museum.
Knowing that Jesus died on the cross is clarified by watching The Passion of The Christ movie and realizing what Jesus truly went through.
I knew I had to be a witness to the evil manifested on that day.
It is nearly incomprehensible that a human being has the capacity to indiscriminately slaughter another human life with shouts of glee and praise to their god, while pumping in a few extra rounds of ammunition just to be certain.
Watching the subsequent mistreatment of human remains takes us back to a pagan barbarianism, fueled by the devil himself.
When I arrived at the Israeli Embassy for the private viewing of the Hamas body cam footage, I expected there to be protestors.
What I did not expect was the ongoing, nonstop blaring of loud music and sirens pointed at the embassy from the protestors on the sidewalk.
It was very difficult to hear yourself think, let alone speak, and created an unsettling feeling that touched you to the core.
Again, I know that just as with the Holocaust there are and will continue to be those who deny that these events even existed.
I chose to attend the event so that I could personally say, “I have witnessed the very footage the terrorists used to document their horrific actions.”
I have to say that my expectations were commensurate with what I saw.
I expected to see pure evil, and that’s what I indeed saw.
I want to be able to respond to those who look to me as a pastor and leader to confirm that these ungodly devils did indeed commit these crimes.
I want to also affirm that this war is against Hamas and not the Palestinian people.
God loves the Palestinian people and Gaza and wishes all to come to salvation.
In accepting the invitation from Joel to attend the viewing of the video at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, I processed through quite a few thoughts and emotions.
At one level, I processed through my memories of walking through the Auschwitz death camp, visiting the Holocaust Museums in Israel and Washington. I have personally seen the results of the pure evil perpetrated against the Jewish people. In fact, I still have images of those horrors that I have seen etched in my memories. I wrestled with how I would handle not only the images of the results of the massacre but the actually killing of men, women, and children.
Those thoughts were followed by my recalling the many times I have spent in the homes of Arab and Palestinian Christians in Israel and the West Bank, where I experienced their love, kindness, and hospitality. From a distance I have seen some of the complexities of life in Israel for Arab and Palestinian believers, their relationships with Jewish followers of Jesus, and some of the misconceptions the western Church has about them. I would never want them to think I was not supportive of my Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ and wondered, “Would my presence at this viewing have a negative impact on my relationship with them?”
I realize for some reading this, those may be abstract or overly complex thoughts. But after more than fifteen trips to Israel – and having the privilege to sit around the dining tables of Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian believers, as well as delivering humanitarian to secular and religious Jews and non-believing Arabs – all that I have seen tells me these issues are much more complex than we hear on conservative or liberal news outlets.
With all that as background, and knowing that Joel’s heart for the Jewish and the Arab people, I accepted the invitation to see the video of the October 7th massacre.
What I saw, is impossible for me to put into words and even now I’m still processing the horror of it all.
The atrocities of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack cannot be denied.
I have now viewed footage of the attack taken by Hamas – indeed, the graphic portrayal of this targeted mass killing of Israeli, men, women, and children comes from evidence provided from the perpetrators themselves.
This unprovoked and long planned violation of Israeli sovereignty, and the taking of civilian lives, is a testament to the intentionality of conspiratorial efforts to disrupt the balance of peace Israel strives to maintain with its neighbors in Gaza.
It is necessary to acknowledge that similar atrocities have been forced upon innocent Palestinians by Hamas itself.
Hamas is purposefully placing Palestinians in harm’s way.
Hamas is no friend to peaceful Palestinians striving to live their daily lives without provocation.
Though legitimate efforts at diplomacy and statesmanship have for many years sought to achieve peace in the Middle East, it hasn’t worked.
True peace can only be realized through the message of the Gospel.
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ around the world must pray for the advancement of the Gospel which not only brings peace with God, but peace among enemies.
We recognize that there are both Israeli and Palestinian believers who give testament to this great Truth. May the Lord strengthen them in their service and witness in these difficult days.
Even with nearly four decades in the news business – and having been forewarned of the horrible content we were about to witness – nothing could have adequately prepared me for what unfolded in front of our stunned group.
Scene after scene alternated from gleeful faces of Hamas terrorists laughing and screaming as they shot Israeli men, women and children at point-blank range.
Or honking their car horns in celebration as they mowed down terrified young people—young adults who looked very much like my own son or daughter—running for their lives while Hamas paragliders descended into the Nova Dance and Music Festival carrying automatic weapons. (Nearly 400 young people were killed or kidnapped at that one event.)
Many of us were sobbing and had tears running down our faces seeing the 47 minutes of nonstop carnage, as men, women and children were indiscriminately slaughtered while Hamas savages were actually phoning their parents in Gaza repeatedly praising Allah and disgustingly shouting things like “Mom, I killed ten Jews with my bare hands. With my bare hands, Mom! I’m a hero!”
- Babies shot in the head.
- Bodies burned alive.
- A man killed by a Hamas grenade in a room where he and his two young sons were trembling.
- A family’s dog walking toward a Hamas terrorist being shot and killed on camera.
Such images are difficult to imagine and impossible to forget.
Seeing these videos – especially on Tuesday of the Holy Week for Christians leading up to Easter – was gut-wrenching and sickening.
I kept asking myself how any person created by God could possibly unleash such horrible, cruel violence on other human beings.
The brutality we witnessed (so much of which I am not including here) was inconceivable.
And even more disturbing was the final message at the end of the 47 minutes, that what we had just seen represented less than 10% of the video captured by IDF soldiers.
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a column that Tradup wrote for ALL ISRAEL NEWS – to read the full column, please click here.
Less than three hours ago, I was sitting in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, watching 47 minutes of footage from the Hamas massacre on October 7, together with a small group of specially invited evangelical leaders. The images, as expected, were jarring, disturbing, horrific….
We saw videos and still images of 139 slaughtered Israelis, representing roughly 10% of those killed by the Hamas terrorists on October 7. But there was something more disturbing still, something that ran through all the footage, which was compiled by the IDF from CCTV footage, body cams of the terrorists, social media posts of the terrorists, footage shot by first responders, and the cell phones of the victims.
It was the constant, incessant, exuberant shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” meaning, “God is great,” that rang out in virtually every segment of the footage.
Along with the sound of gunshots and the mutilated bodies, this was the one constant: Allahu Akbar!
A terrorist stands over the body of a slain Israeli soldier, Then he takes out his knife and cuts off the shoulder’s head – I saw this with my own eyes – shouting praises to Allah as he does. This is worthy of celebration. Praise Allah!
This is sick. This is demonic. This is twisted. This is evil.
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a column that Brown wrote for ALL ISRAEL NEWS – to read the full column, please click here.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
28/04/2024 by ALL ISRAEL NEWS
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario