America's formidable strike group nears Israel

The nation of Israel is officially at war for the first time since 1973 after a string of brutal Hamas terrorist attacks over the weekend. On Sunday, Israeli government officials declared war on the Palestinian militant group, which is openly committed to the annihilation of Israel.

“Hamas has started a brutal and evil war,” declared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We will be victorious in this war despite an unbearable price,” he resolved. “This is a very difficult day for all of us.” 

Saturday morning, Hamas fired a barrage of missiles into Israel (according to the former chief of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, over 3,000 missiles within the first day). Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, a narrow, densely populated enclave between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, simultaneously penetrated the Israel-Gaza border and paraded through Israeli towns, slaughtering innocents. 

Early Saturday morning, murderous terrorists attacked the Israeli Tribe of Nova, a popular music festival, in what has become the deadliest civilian attack in the country’s history.

"The time has come when the whole family is about to get together again," event organizers anticipated on social media. "And what fun it is going to be!" Sadly, their tune would quickly change.

Hours later, an estimated 50 terrorists dressed in military uniforms reportedly arrived in vans and opened fire on the panicked crowd, which attempted to flee in a hailstorm of bullets. As of Monday, at least 260 attendees are believed to have been killed.

"They turned off the electricity and suddenly out of nowhere [militants] come inside with gunfire, opening fire in every direction,” one survivor recalled.

Another described the massacre as “four-five hours of a horror movie.”

The Nova attacks, coupled with missile strikes, random acts of murder, and subsequent fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces, have propelled casualties to over 800 Israelis killed and 2,200 injured. Additionally, an estimated 400-500 Palestinians have been killed and 2,751 injured in retaliatory strikes on Gaza. 

Israel was reportedly completely blindsided by the violence on Saturday, leading many world leaders to roundly condemn the “staggering” Hamas-led onslaught.

“We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights… must reject those who use terror as their weapon,” urged Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who was in Israel at the time of the “horrific” invasion.

“My team and I are now safe,” he wrote on “X,” “but like many we are shaken, angered, and heartbroken by the hundreds killed, the thousands injured, those taken hostage, and all who are directly affected by these sickening terrorist attacks.”

“Force yourself to look at the videos of what Hamas did over the weekend,” implored right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro, an American Jew who recently returned from Israel. “LOOK. This is what moral equivalence brings. Rape of women. Kidnapping of children. Murder of hundreds of innocents, including full families.”

“The words of the Nazis are indistinguishable from the words of the Hamas charter,” he added on his show.

As the first country in history to recognize the nation-state of Israel and the first ever to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, America is a longtime ally of the Jewish people. “Israel has no greater friend than the United States,” the State Department proudly declares. At a minimum, the U.S. provides $3.8 billion to Israel annually, much of which goes to military funding. The U.S. also helped develop Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, “a bedrock of the country’s defense,” which intercepts and blocks short-range missiles.

In addition to these resources, American government officials sent military supplies to the Middle East on Sunday to assist the people of the Holy Land.

“The Pentagon is rushing warships, warplanes, and ammunition,” USA Today reported. “The USS Gerald Ford Strike Group, including its namesake aircraft carrier, as well as several destroyers and cruisers, have been sent to the eastern Mediterranean, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. In addition, the region's squadrons of F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 warplanes are being bolstered.”

“The United States has begun moving USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean,” U.S. Central Command confirmed in a press release. “This includes the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78),” the world’s largest aircraft carrier, plus a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and multiple Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

As of Monday, as America’s formidable Strike Group nears Israel, a nation under attack, the stage appears to be set for a massive military showdown with potentially huge geopolitical ramifications. With over a thousand already dead, thousands more injured or missing, and ongoing terrorism, missile strikes, and gun battles, may we keep the nation of Israel in our thoughts, praying that YHWH, God of the Israelites, would bring a swift end to this terrible evil.

“This war will take time,” Netanyahu presumed. “It will be difficult. Challenging days are ahead of us. However, I can promise one thing: With the help of G-d, the forces that we all have in common and our faith in the Eternal One of Israel, we will win.”