Dear Christian Leader,

In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 7th, while Israelis observed Shabbat and celebrated the joyous holiday of Simchat Torah - Joy of Torah - the Hamas terrorist organization headquartered in Gaza launched an unprecedented and brutal war against Israel. Terrorists attacked civilians in southern Israel, while a barrage of rockets were fired at south and central Israel as far north as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In response to this attack, Israel has launched Operation Swords of Iron and is now in a state of war with Hamas. 

Israel has declared that it is in a state of war, because that is the reality initiated by Hamas. But it's important to understand that this is NOT a war between armies, or even a war between Hamas terrorists and the Israeli military. The war that Hamas just launched targets civilians, which means that every single attack on the part of Hamas is a war crime.

As of this writing, Hamas' war against Israel has included the firing of over 3,000 rockets from Gaza towards civilian targets in Israel, and the infiltration of Israel by hundreds of Hamas operatives via land, sea and air. According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), over 300 Israelis have been killed in the first day, over 1,500 have been injured, and many dozens of people have been taken hostage, including the elderly, women and children.

More than 20 Israeli communities in southern Israel were attacked by hundreds of Hamas terrorists who went home to home, looking for civilians to execute or take captive. Atrocities have been committed against civilians who were not killed, many of which were recorded. Numerous videos have been posted on social media that show people being beaten, abused and abducted. The exact number of hostages taken into Gaza is not known, but it includes Israeli soldiers and civilians. The fact that Israelis are being held in Gaza means the IDF will have to conduct a major ground operation to rescue them, which will be extremely dangerous for all concerned.

In an update livestreamed on X late Saturday, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the situation is "still not fully under control" and that "there are still Hamas terrorists inside Israel." Israeli special forces and IDF troops are going house to house to clear communities of terrorists and have killed over 200 Hamas operatives so far. Conricus described the attacks against civilians and soldiers as "barbaric," and said that the loss of civilian life is unprecedented.

Watch the entire 11-minute IDF update HERE.

In the midst of fighting Hamas in the south of Israel, there is also serious concern that Hezbollah - the terrorist organization to the north of Israel in Lebanon - might decide to get involved and start using its 150,000 missiles, which are targeted at all of Israel. As of early Sunday morning, October 8th, Israeli time, there have been reports of mortar fire in the north and residents have been asked to go into bomb shelters. 

While Hamas wages war against Israel using rockets and atrocities against civilians, much of the media provides assistance by amplifying terrorist propaganda. One blatant example of this is the BBC, the national broadcaster of the UK, which had no qualms about promoting Hamas' talking points just hours after the terrorists had initiated their deadly attack on Israeli citizens.

The BBC's modus operandi is revealed in this current CAMERA article, ISRAELIS MASSACRED WHILE BBC WORLD SERVICE RADIO AMPLIFIES HAMAS PROPAGANDA, which begins with:

The unprecedented multi-front attacks on Israelis carried out by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7th (both the Sabbath and a Jewish holiday) included thousands of missile attacks, the indiscriminate murders of tens of civilians and the wounding of hundreds of others, the bombing of an ambulance and kidnappings.

Even those ISIS-style actions did not however prompt the BBC to stray from its usual practice of portraying Palestinian terrorists as ‘militants’.

Read the entire article HERE.

This war with Hamas is already, and will continue to be, intense. Much of the media coverage will at best be inaccurate, and at worst, will be blatantly anti-Israel. As concerned Christians who care deeply about Israel and the Jewish people, you need to have the facts about what is happening. CAMERA's website will be frequently updated with articles that expose bias and propaganda and provide you with facts you can use to counter error and anti-Israel sentiment in your circles of influence. So, please go to www.camera.org for up to date and accurate information on everything that has to do with Israel, but in particular, all the current developments in relation to Operation Swords of Iron.

AM YISRAEL CHAI! The people of Israel live!