Holocaust Remembrance in the midst of growing Antisemitism
This week was Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, also known as Yom Hashoah: Israel’s day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust (Shoah) by Nazi Germany and its allies, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. It is a day of deep significance and emotional meaning for the Jewish people. In the midst of all the confusion and conflict in the world, it is important to remember that for thousands of years, ever since the Hebrew nation has existed, there have always been empires and global powers bent on its annihilation. Today is no different.
Commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Auschwitz
As Antisemitism increases around the world, it is encouraging to read that some 7,000 people from around the world marked Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, by marching the two miles between the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps in Poland.
Known as the International March of the Living, the annual event is designed to create a new generation of witnesses to the murder of 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazis. The task is taking greater importance as the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles.
“Our job in being here in Poland, and standing in Auschwitz and Birkenau and all these other places, is to be part of the next generation of witnesses,” Evan Ravski, rabbi of Synagogue Emanu-El, a Conservative synagogue in Charleston, S.C., told JNS before joining the march. “We are becoming that legacy, we’re becoming that memory, and it’s becoming our responsibility—our obligation to carry that memory on,” he said.
Fragile Ceasefire in Lebanon
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to take effect at midnight Thursday-Friday after being declared hours earlier by US President Donald Trump, who also announced that he was inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Lebanese president for peace talks at the White House.
Both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks on Thursday until right before the truce went into force, with rockets fired by the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group resulting in serious wounds to a 17-year-old girl and a 25-year-old motorcyclist in Karmiel, while a Nahariya man in his 40s was moderately injured by another impact.
The IDF issued a statement minutes before midnight saying it struck over 380 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past day, including Hezbollah operatives, command centers, and several rocket launchers used in attacks on Israel, while stressing it remained “on high alert and will act in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”
After Trump announced the truce on social media, the State Department released a statement with details of the agreement between the two sides. “Israel and Lebanon will implement a cessation of hostilities” that will start at 5 p.m. Eastern on April 16 for “an initial period of 10 days, as a gesture of goodwill by the government of Israel, intended to enable good-faith negotiations toward a permanent security and peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” the agreement says. The agreement adds that Israel will retain a right to self-defense “at any time, against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks” but will otherwise cease offensive military operations in Lebanon.
The agreement does not call for a withdrawal of Israeli ground forces from Lebanon and says that the initial ceasefire may be extended “as Lebanon effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty.” That condition appears to be tied to Lebanon’s ability to disarm Hezbollah, as the agreement requires the Lebanese government to take “meaningful steps” from the time the ceasefire begins to prevent Hezbollah and other terrorist groups from attacking Israel from Lebanese territory.
US naval blockade Strait of Hormuz
The US has started a naval blockade of maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports. US forces say they will intercept or turn back vessels traveling to or from Iran’s coast, while ships coming or going from elsewhere will be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway off Iran’s coast that Tehran effectively closed in response to US-Israeli strikes.
The US will rely on its fleet of naval vessels to control access to Iranian ports, and in turn restrict Tehran’s ability to profit from oil exports in an attempt to put pressure on the country.
The blockade comes after negotiators from both sides failed to reach a deal to end the war, which began on 28 February but is currently under a two-week ceasefire.
The Pope condemns the war against Iran’s regime
The Pope has called the war in Iran an “unjust war,” which is “continuing to escalate and not resolving anything.” He said God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,” that “God does not bless any conflict” and that “no cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.”
President Trump responded on social media: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
Vice-President Vance, himself a Catholic, challenged the Pope. Referring to Catholic “just war” theory, which holds that war is justified as a last resort to prevent grave, certain and lasting damage by an aggressor, provided care is taken to protect civilian lives as far as possible, Vance declared: “There’s more than a thousand-year tradition of ‘just war’ theory. Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent people from those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes.”
Part of an Iranian ballistic missile is seen in the desert near the city of Arad after being fired toward Israel during the war with Iran | Photo: Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90
Italy suspends defense agreement with Israel
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced this week that Italy ended its defense agreement with Israel. “In consideration of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” she told reporters. Her announcement was downplayed in Israel, where the Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem has “no security agreement with Italy.”
Kibbutz Berei to be rebuilt
Demolitions started on Sunday in the Olive neighborhood of Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border, one of two neighborhoods worst affected by the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023. Be’eri was one of the hardest-hit communities during the attack. Of the over 1,200 people killed when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, 102 were residents of Be’eri — around a 10th of the community. Thirty more people were kidnapped from the kibbutz and taken to Gaza (all of whom have since been returned, whether alive or dead).
Residents long debated what to do with the houses. Ultimately, kibbutz members felt that demolishing and rebuilding the two neighborhoods — leaving just one house standing as a stark testament to the horrors of October 7 — rather than living in a perpetual monument to the devastating attack, was crucial in allowing them to move on.
As Christians is it important to keep our focus on the word of God. Don’t let the troubles of the world get you down. Try to understand the signs of the times, intercede for this broken world, and look for the coming of the Lord.
This week, let us pray for the leaders of Israel and Lebanon as they negotiate a durable peace between their nations. Let us pray that the regime in Iran as well as their proxy Hezbollah will fall soon. Pray for all who are suffering as a result of the current conflict.
Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and above all for the speedy coming of the Messiah of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He alone can usher in a kingdom of peace and righteousness.
Italy suspendeds defense agreement
Time of Israel: With many Italians taking to the streets to denounce Israel over the last two-and-a-half years since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and ensuing war in Gaza, Meloni’s right-wing government has been under pressure over its position on the conflict.
Ten Day cessation of Hostilities in Lebanon
US State Department: Following productive direct talks on April 14 between the governments of the Republic of Lebanon (hereinafter “Lebanon”) and the State of Israel (hereinafter “Israel”), brokered by the United States of America, Lebanon and Israel have reached an understanding in which both nations will work to create conditions conducive to lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border, while preserving Israel’s inherent right to self-defense.
Holocaust Remembrance Day
JNS: The crowd at the march was predominantly but not exclusively Jewish. Imams marched. So did non-Jews from Poland and Hungary and police officers from around the world.
Is Turkey joining the Conflict?
The Jerusalem Post: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused Israel of carrying out atrocities against Palestine and Lebanon, while echoing earlier remarks that hinted at the possibility of military action against the Jewish state.
Kibbutz Berei to be rebuilt
Times of Israel: Gaza-border kibbutz, which lost more than 100 residents, tears down two shattered neighborhoods, starting with house belonging to Gat family, to move on from trauma.
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
Numbers 23:15-2615 15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.” 16 The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.” 17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?” 18 Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. 19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? 20 I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. 21 “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. 22 God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. 23 There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ 24 The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.” 25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”
