How could this happen? How could Israel be defeated?

The images we are seeing today from southern Israel were previously thought impossible. The image of “invincible Israel” has been shattered.

By Ryan Jones | | Topics: Hamas
Palestinians celebrate on a captured IDF tank. Such images were previously thought impossible. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90
Palestinians celebrate on a captured IDF tank. Such images were previously thought impossible. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

Isn’t Israel impenetrable? Isn’t the IDF the strongest military force by far in the Middle East? Surely much more powerful than a measly terrorist organization confined to a small, impoverished coastal strip of land.

And yet, on Saturday morning, Israel was surprised and temporarily defeated.

There is no doubt that the IDF will roar back, regain all the territory lost and deal a terrible blow to our foes.

But up until yesterday, there was also no doubt that our borders were safe, at least from invasion, if not rocket fire.

This morning, hundreds of Israeli families discovered how mistaken we all had been when they woke up to Hamas gunmen roaming their streets.

Hamas actually conquered Israeli territory!

For a few hours this morning, the borders of Israel shifted in the enemy’s favor!

It doesn’t matter that the enemy gains were short-lived. It shouldn’t have happened at all. We had all come to believe that it couldn’t happen. An enemy isn’t supposed to be able to march in and take Israelis captive in their own homes. The IDF was too strong, too advanced for the likes of Hamas to inflict such a blow on us.

The video clips of Israelis being paraded through the streets of Gaza quickly informed us of how wrong we were.

Even for those of us who recognize from where Israel’s strength truly comes, Israeli hubris is infectious. You begin to believe, like most other Israelis, that the Jewish state is mighty in its own right. Having God on her side is just a bonus.

But God is not mocked.

Just as in the Yom Kippur War that began 50 years ago in a devastating surprise attack, Israel today has tasted the rod of correction.

There are many lessons to learn from this day’s horrific events. Humility, awareness, preparedness. But most of all, let us hope and pray that Israel is reminded of her continued reliance on the Lord.

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One response to “How could this happen? How could Israel be defeated?”

  1. Masami Cobley says:
    October 7, 2023 at 9:18 pm

    As I commented on Aviel’s article yesterday, the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War was the miraculous act of the God of Israel. Yet, the largely secular nation at the time didn’t give glory to Him at all. I see the Yom Kippur War as a punishment for it. Even today, 50 years on, more than a third of the population still ignore Him completely. They may think that “they” established the state of Israel in 1948, but the fact is that everyone of them was “gathered by Him”! While they remain such an arrogant and faith-less people in “His country”, I won’t be surprised if we see more of these incidents, as He is putting them ‘into the fire’ to ‘refine them like silver and test them like gold’. (Zechariah 13:9a)

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