By Esther Korson
It’s amazing to me that I’ve had the privilege to live in Israel for almost forty years. And even though I’ve been here that long, I have never gotten over the sense of wonder at being able to call Jerusalem ‘home’! Over the years that I’ve been here I’ve seen many miracles as God has kept His promises to His people in so many ways…and yesterday, we as a nation experienced yet another, directly related to His promise that “no weapon formed against you will prosper…” (Isaiah 54: 17).
We have seen it so many times in the past! The Gulf War was a major example, when 39 Scud Missiles landed in Israel, primarily in the highly populated city of Tel Aviv, and yet not a single person was killed! That was impossible apart from the hand of God! Yesterday we witnessed yet again the miracle of His protection when the Israeli navy intercepted a cargo vessel in the Red Sea thereby thwarting a well-planned Iranian attempt to smuggle weapons of destruction into the Gaza Strip. As the Israel Broadcasting Authority reported, “It was a well-executed commando raid carried out to perfection like a Hollywood action film!”
Before dawn naval commandos swiftly commandeered a ship sailing on the high seas between Eritrea and Sudan over 1500 kilometers from Israeli shores. The 17 man crew of the Panamanian-flagged ship surrendered without any resistance. On board, as expected from intelligence, the commandos found dozens of M302 rockets hidden under sacks of cement. In the hands of Hamas, the large rockets would have put almost all of Israel under threat.
The rockets originated in Syria where they were loaded onto cargo aircraft at the Damascus International Airport. They were then flown to Teheran and placed inside shipping containers hidden beneath sacks of cement. From Teheran the containers were transported to the Iranian port of Banda Abbes in the Persian Gulf where they were loaded into a civilian cargo ship apparently without the knowledge of the crew. The ship then sailed to a port in Iraq to take on more containers and to further camouflage the deadly cargo. It then set out for Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a destination it didn’t reach.
Israeli intelligence had been monitoring the ship’s route and it was stopped at possibly the last moment as it was about to enter Port Sudan to unload the weapons. Had the rockets made it to Sudan, they would have been transported overland through Egypt and into the Sinai and finally smuggled into the Gaza Strip. They would have joined the arsenal of weapons and rockets aimed at Israel. Because of their superior range, they would have put Jerusalem, Gush Dan and farther north under threat. The military said that it was Iran that orchestrated the whole shipment and that it was months in the making.
Peter Lerner, IDF spokesman, said the following: “In a complex, covert intelligence-based mission, Israeli naval forces intercepted and boarded a civilian cargo vessel. This ship was carrying an Iranian shipment of advanced weapons. The operation was carried out in rough seas around 1000 miles off the coast of Eilat. We found M302 surface to surface rockets. These were en route to the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. They can reach a range of up to 100 miles. If they would have reached their destination, it would have meant that millions of Israelis would have been at the mercy of the terrorists in Gaza. This is what we set out to stop.” The ship is at this very moment being escorted by a small fleet of Israeli naval vessels and should reach Eilat by the weekend.
While in Los Angeles, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following comments: “Israel captured a ship on the high seas stocked with weapons destined for terrorist groups. These weapons were going to be used against Israel. This entire clandestine operation was organized by Iran while Iran is conducting these talks, smiling to the international community, as it continues to arm terror groups and as it continues to perpetrate terror. If the weapons had reached Gaza, they would have jeopardized Israeli safety and the sovereignty of the State of Israel. Iran cannot be allowed to become a nuclear power…”
“Thank You, Father, once again for Your hand of protection on this little land. A little land with a great big God!!!! Halleluyah!”
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