Israel (MNN) — Following Israel’s targeted strike on Iran’s air defense and missile systems over the weekend, US Middle East adviser Amos Hochstein says, “Iran is essentially naked.” With critical military infrastructure down, it significantly weakened Iran’s ability to defend itself from further strikes or carry out more attacks on Israel.
The strike also sends a message about the escalating conflict that began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th last year.
Sasson Pochtar, a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces and the Youth Pastor at Beit Hallel Congregation, says, “At the beginning, they were saying that Iran probably will not respond. But now, after they realized how big of an attack it was, [Iran] is trying to hide everything that happened. But Israel was attacking in really specific places that kind of shows them if it continues that way, we definitely will escalate that.”
Sasson Pochtar, left (Photo courtesy of Sasson Pochtar with Beit Hallel Congregation)
The war with Iran and its terror proxies is Israel’s longest war since the end of the 1949 conflict.
“We’re not used to having such a long war, so for us, it’s a new challenge,” says Pochtar.
“It’s a really hard situation. We feel that we’re getting really tired of being so long in the field. But we understand the cause, and we understand that what we do is necessary because, if not us, who will do it?”
In war and conflict, especially when it’s drawn out, civilians and military members alike ask spiritual questions and search for hope.
Please pray for the people of Israel to know the sustaining promises of Jesus Christ. Ask God to encourage Israeli Christians in their Gospel witness.
Pochtar says, “We really feel the prayers. We know that our brothers and sisters around the world [are] praying for us. We feel that a lot of miracles [are] happening. I had many miracles that I really felt the prayers of people.”
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Header photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo courtesy of IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/Wikimedia Commons: https://tinyurl.com/2s4hb6aw)
