Lazer Beams

Lebanon Update: Druze Throw in the Towel

3 days ago, I said that things were happening fast in Lebanon. What an understatement.

The Druze villages in the Shouf mountains east of Beirut (1) include highly strategic places as Alei (2, in above map) and Bahamdoun (3) which control the Beirut-Damascus highway (4). Walid Jumblatt's Druze militia men are tough cookies, but they're down on a ten-count in the very first round of fighting with Hizbulla. It's hard to overestimate the significance of the recent Hizbulla victories. Nasrallah is now the man not only in the south of Lebanon, but in central Lebanon, the Shouf mountains, the Bekaa valley, and Beirut.

Hizbulla's forces are no longer a street gang of frenzied dudes from the Imam's Friday speech in the mosque. They are highly (Syrian and/or Iranian) trained and gung ho, with a more-than-itchy trigger finger on missiles aimed at Israel.

Anti-Syrian Saad al-Hariri, the leader of Lebanon's ruling coalition, today vowed not to surrender, but his rhetoric is a rubber check with insufficient clout.

Israel's anti-emuna leadership is so busy playing cat-and-mouse with the anti-corruption squads of the police that they're not paying sufficient attention to what's coming down in Lebanon.

One fact of life encourages me: a seed decays before it germinates. A new vibrant country of emuna will sprout from the moral and ethical decay of corrupt and self-serving leaders. More and more people are turning to Hashem. Moshiach will win his battles without firing a shot.

Emuna News Update: Lebanon

Don't worry if you missed our Emuna Update on Israel National Radio this past Sunday. Thanks to Cookie from Alabama, you can hear it right here:

Si Si ("Sissy") Siniora

The Emuna News "Wimp of the Week": Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Image courtesy of Aljazeera.net.

Things are comin' down fast on the way to Moshiach. This past Thursday night, I wrote that we can expect a civil war in Lebanon. On Shabbat, three dozen gunman were killed and wounded when street fighting broke out in Northern Lebanon.

De facto, Nasralla and his Hizbulla thugs control West Beirut. Siniora, Lebanon's CIA-puppet prime minister, had a golden opportunity to come down like a ton of bricks on Hizbulla's head, when the latter opened up their own independent and illegal nationwide telecom system. Siniora the wimp told the army to close it down. Then, in a surprising show of muscle, he fired his airport security chief Wafiq Shuqair for ties with Nasralla. Nasralla gave the whistle, and in minutes Hizbulla was all over the streets of West Beirut.

You could hear Siniora's knees knocking as far away as Ashdod today. He backed down on both showdowns with Nasralla: In an idiotic decision, Lebanese style, Siniora decided not to decide, and threw the hot potato to Lebanese Army Commander Michel Suleiman. Suleiman - a man of leisure - doesn't want his peace of mind disturbed, so he reinstated Shuqair and he decided not to interfere with Hizbulla's new telcom system. Nasralla in return has temporarily withdrawn his thugs from the streets of Beirut. As long as Suleiman is bending to Nasralla - and not to his boss Siniora - there'll be a superficial calm in Beirut.

Nasralla just might take over Lebanon without firing a shot. But, he will take it over. A spineless wimp like Siniora can't stop a Nasralla.

Funny, how all the American-puppet prime ministers capitulate to terror. This is America's war on terror? Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Lebanon are all slipping through America's fingers.

Meanwhile, radical Islam is making big headway in Egypt and Jordan. Israel in the near future will be faced with radicals on all her borders. This is simply a part of Hashem's scenario to arouse His beloved children from their spiritual slumber.

Let's not be a bunch of pleasure-seeking wimps like Siniora and Suleiman. We must be stronger in holiness than Nasralla is in evil (and he's really tough in that area). It's time for teshuva and dedication to Torah - that's the way to stand up to terror.

Are We Really Independent?

See Lazer on Israel National TV speaking about the true meaning of Israel Independence, right here.

Emuna News prediction: Expect another civil war in Lebanon. Thanks to Nasrulla and the Hizbolla, with Assad and Achmedinejad's sooty fingers in the stew too, the anarchy of the late 1970's is returning, and it doesn't look like the weakling pro-Western regime in Beirut will be able to hold on. The CIA is no match against Syrian and Iranian intel on the latter's home turf. If the CIA had any brains, it would be fanning the fires of Sunni and Shiite hatred within Syria, to give Syria a taste of her own nasty medicine that she concocts in Lebanon. But, if the CIA had any brains it wouldn't be the CIA.

Hashem is doing everything for our ultimate welfare, so don't worry folks. The more we strengthen ourselves in prayer, in emuna, and in Torah, the more Hashem will fight our battles for us. An hour of hitbodedut (personal prayer) will save ten hours in the bomb shelters. So, let's all talk to Hashem for an hour a day.

This week's Torah portion is Emor. We hope you have a lovely Shabbat and weekend.

We'd Better Wake Up - Now

Today's headlines are one big conglomerate wake-up call from Hashem - it takes a deaf, dumb, and blind person to ignore them.

We can no longer take our water for granted, as the Kinneret is nearing crisis-level.

We can no longer take basic foodstuffs for granted.

Winds of war are blowing from the north.

Our silly government is taking apart the country ( Golan, Jerusalem, with more on the table)  with its own soiled hands, secretly and unilaterally bending to the demands of those committed to our destruction, G-d forbid.

Katyushas continue to fall in Ashkelon, and no one says a word.

One of this generation's best loved tzaddikim, Rav Mordechai Eliahu shlit'a, is in serious condition after suffering a heart attack. May Hashem  grant him a full and complete recovery, amen.

When will people start taking Hashem's messages seriously?

Meanwhile, there's plenty we can do and no need for despair.

First, we should say our basic blessings, especially those over food and water, with much more intent.

Second, we should spend at least ten minutes a day asking Hashem to bring Moshiach and the Geula mercifully, and not with sever judgments.

Third, we should invoke Divine mercy by spreading emuna as far and as wide as fast as we can.

Fourth, we should correct our own faults without looking for faults in others.

Fifth, we should all devote at least 60 minutes  a day to personal prayer.

Sixth, we should all take upon ourselves something additional in Torah study.

One we wake up on our own accord, Hashem won't need to use the scary wake-up calls.

Emuna News Special Report: The Sword on Israel's Jugular

Israel faces its greatest existential threat in its history. At this very moment, every single city, town, and village between the northern border and Dimona is a push-button away from oblivion, for the triple menace of missiles from Syria, Hizbollah, and Iran rest like a sharp sword on Israel's Jugular. The fact that the Israeli media and the Israeli government are hiding this unequivocal fact makes it no less acute. One cannot demand from leaders and their mouthpieces that lack principle, conviction, foundation, and a basic common sense to tell the truth to the people.

Our veteran readers and friends know that we are anything but doomsday prophets. Those who know Rav Shalom Arush shlit'a (photo, left) know that he is the happiest of people and always smiling. But of late, as one of this generation's holiest and righteous men, he has taken the burden of the Jewish people, particularly those in Israel, on his shoulders. In the last two months, he has aged ten years. His eyes are bloodshot from crying to Hashem, praying for the people of Israel for hours on end.

Last night, Minister of Commerce and Industry Eli Yishai came to see Rav Shalom. Eli Yishai (photo, right) briefed Rav Shalom on the security situation and the missile threats from Iran, Hizbollah in Lebanon, and Syria. He also asked Rav Shalom to pray for the army since one of the Israeli Army's highest ranking generals - a completely non-religious individual - approached Yishai after a Defense Committee meeting in the Knesset and begged him to mobilize the tzaddikim in prayer, because the army has no answer to the missile triple-threat. If the south of Israel has become so vulnerable to home-made Hamas Qassam rockets, then they surely have nothing to answer the threat of Syria, Nasrulla, and Iran.

A reliable Emuna News source told us earlier today that Israel is so badly rushing the USA to expedite the delivery of 100 F35b's with vertical take-off capability because defense authorities are afraid that Israel's airfields will be incapacitated in the first round of missile fire.

Hizbulla's missiles have all of Tel Aviv in the cross-hairs. Yet, Olmert continues to fiddle like Nero and Tel Aviv continues in its campaign to be gay-tourist capital of the world, Heaven forbid.

Just a few days ago, Rav Elyashiv, one of this generation's foremost scholars and lawgivers, said that the current existential threat that Israel faces is greater than the danger on the eve of the Holocaust.

After the Nazi Holocaust, people all over the world shrugged their shoulders and said. "We had no idea!" With everything we've been yelling about here at Emuna News, no one will be able to say, "We didn't know." Folks don't want to know. Knowledge of today's facts necessitates teshuva.

Israel's domestic intelligence chiefs just this week admitted that Abu Mazan and the Fatah are no peace partners, for soon the Hamas will sieze the West Bank also. Emuna News told you that over a year ago. Soon, Hamastan will become a 4th missile threat from right next door to the center of Israel. Yet, the Neroic Olmert-Barak anti-emuna further hastens national suicide by sending more arms to the PA. Like in Gaza, these too will eventually fall into Hamas hands.

Update: Three hours after this post was published, the Jerusalem Post published its leading headline that Defense Minister Barak is afraid of a Hamas takeover in the West Bank. Once again, Emuna News is way ahead of the media and the politicians.

There is nothing in this report that's new other than verifications of what Emuna News has been saying for the last two and a half years since the second Lebanon War when a much weaker Hizbollah than today succeeded in firing 4000 rockets on Israel, which led to a million people fleeing from their homes.

The people of Israel stand in the shadow of a dark cloud of severe judgment. We must drop everything and return to Hashem. For those that think we're daft, pour yourself another expresso and delete the Beams from your favorites list. For those of you that have the slightest trust in me, please do your utmost to strengthen your emuna and do genuine teshuva.

I'd much prefer posting a pleasant musical video clip like we normally do on Fridays. But now's not the time. The people of Israel worldwide must wake up. If you think you'll be cushy in Thornhill or in Great Neck while missiles are falling on Israel, you're wrong this time. Hashem is judging us this very moment. The evening of Shabbat Parah is time to purify ourselves. Let's invoke Divine compassion by turning the tides of assimilation and spiritual contamination with a worldwide return to Hashem. Our lives depend on it.

This week's Torah portion is Shmini and it's also Parshat Parah. Here's a Chassidic Pearl to embellish your Shabbat table too. Shabbat Shalom and blessings always.

Another Dangerous Escalation

My esteemed friends at Debka.com are wrote an excellent piece about how the terrorists beat the Shin-Bet defense system in the Mercaz HaRav massacre this past Thursday. Let's take a deeper look at the ramifications of the modus operandi chosen for the Mercaz HaRav attack:
The killer: Ala Abu Daam, the 20 year-old deliveryman from Jabal Mukaber in the south of Jerusalem, was not trained in Gaza or in Iran. His operator most certainly was. Yet, as a quiet but frenzied Islamo-zealot, Abu Daam was perfect Shahid (suicide) material. The dangerous aspect of this profile is that more and more Arabs holding Israeli IDs are aligning with terror activists. This is an answer to Nasralla's call for a miilion and a half shahidim. Hamas and Hizbulla operatots are therefore doing their utmost to activite such candidates as Abu Daam from within Israeli Arab villages.
The operator: Abu Daam was most certainly armed and coached by a Hamas/Hizbulla operator, trained by Iran. The infiltration of these operators into the villages of the so-called West Bank is a new danger that the Shin Bet will have to contend with. The Shin Bet would well be advised to throw its power against this vicious enemy, and not to waste its resources monitoring Jewish settlers.
The Method: A million soldiers in a frontal assault against an enemy nation can't kill the king; a lone spy behind the lines can. Arab terror has realized the vulnerability of operating in "cells" of 3-4 terrorist. They've further compartmentalized and have now chosen the lone assailant method, whereas only the Shahid himself - not even the operator - knows and decides when to attack.
Conclusions:
1. Whereas our anti-emuna leaders can rarely be believed, our enemies Nasrulla and Hamas are true to their word. They promised a painful response to the Mughniyeh hit, and it didn't take long to come, as we saw this past tragic Thursday in Jerusalem
2. The Condi-inspired-Olmert-style appeasement is simply fuelling more Hamas dare.
3. Hashem told Mordechai and Esther to take up arms in a merciless battle against Haman and the enemies of Israel. It's about time we did the same.

Emuna News Op-Ed: Strategic Holiness

It doesn't matter whether an American, British, or French soldier acts in an upright manner. For a Jewish soldier, personal holiness is even more important than a well-lubricated rust-free weapon. It's life or death. The Torah demands that the soldiers of Israel not only conduct themselves in a manner of personal holiness, but that also their camp is conducted in holiness. Here's a practical example: if there's a pornographic picture on a wall in an Israeli barracks, then the Divine presence leaves. The barracks is then rendered completely exposed and vulnerable to the enemy. This is no way to win a war.

"For Hashem your G-d walks in the midst of your camp to rescue you and to deliver your enemies to you, so your camp must be holy, so that He will not see a lewd thing and turn away from you" (Deuteronomy 23:15). Holiness invokes the Divine Presence. No enemy - no matter how superior in men or materiale - can touch a hair on Israel's head as long as Hashem is in our midst. On the other hand, where there's no holiness, there's no Divine Presence. That's bad news.

Better late than never. It's about time that the 32 national religious rabbis woke up to protest the debauchery within the IDF. This is a bigger threat to our national security than Achmedinejad or the Hizbolla. We urge the IDF to maintain modesty and an upright climate anywhere that soldiers are stationed.

We condemn the senseless wagging tongues, both of the army and of the politicians. Rather than doing teshuva and strengthening holiness, military officials announced to the press that they are deploying US-made Patriot missiles near Haifa. Such an announcement, probably intended to calm the fears of a non-emuna public that's worried about Hizbolla's impending revenge of arch-terrorist Mughniyeh's elimination, shows fear rather than strength. It shows not only a lack of emuna, but outright stupidity, especially since the Patriot missiles failed miserably in stopping the barrage of Scud missiles that Sadaam Hussein fired at us in 1991.

Yet, the winner of today's inane speech award is the Prime Minister, who makes demagoguery look like a complimentary word when he praised the 2005 disengagement from Gaza. "Despite the [continuing] Kassam fire, it was a very good move since there are no longer 30,000 soldiers protecting 1,200 citizens," he said. How ridiculous - those soldiers were also protecting the south of Israel, at before the disengagement, Sderot wasn't a ghost town. In the very next sentence, Ollie Folly mentioned Sunday's decision by a ministerial committee he led to approve a budget of NIS 350 million to fortify 3,600 Gaza belt homes against Kassam rockets. He contradicts himself from one moment to the next, for if the soldiers were still there, he wouldn't be spending a third of a billion shekels in iron and concrete.

Jerusalem

Not a day goes by where both Israeli sources and Arab sources claim that negotiations are actively going on that are dissecting our holy city, G-d forbid. Olmert and Livni both deny, but we here at Emuna News wouldn't buy a used car from either of the two.

If Eli Yishai were a Breslever, he'd have to stand before Hashem for an hour a day in personal prayer and explain why Shas still supports a coalition that's carving Jerusalem like a holiday turkey. Just wait and see how the political future of a party that supports an anti-emuna government won't be strutting and gobbling once it loses all of its feathers. Hashem has a sharp sense of humor (see Proverbs 3:34).

You can't fly with eagles if you sit in a government with turkeys.

Defense against the Cyber Jihad

Emuna Outreach staffer Chanoch Turner from Ramat Bet Shemesh just sent me an urgent email, asking me to double-check all our firewalls and cyber security. The arch-villains of Al Qaeda - Bin Laden and his greasy groupies - have declared a cyber war on Western, Jewish, Israeli, and other "apostate" websites.

Should we be alarmed, Jewish and Israeli bloggers and webmasters? Heck, no. As long as you mention the word "emuna" every day in whatever you write about, then a Divine protective cloud will hover over your website. If you don't write any slander, stick to the truth, and encourage people to strengthen their emuna, all the vicious hackers in the world won't be able to touch a hair on your cyber head.

Let's fight evil with emuna. The dark-side faith of the Jihadi (Holy War) and Shahidi (suicidal) Islamofascists leads to the sword and bloodshed. The light-side faith of a Breslever Chassid leads to love, peace, and a great big smile on your face. You don't fight darkness with tanks - you simply light a candle. Better yet, let's light up a 5,000 Watt projector of emuna that illuminates the entire horizon.