Rick Green

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Builders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I'm Rick Green here with David and Tim Barton, and you can learn more about us at our website, wallbuilders.com. Wallbuilders.com that's the main website, with lots of great tools and information for you to share with others as well as you get equipped to be a biblical citizen and make a difference out there in your community. And then also, if you're looking for more of our radio programming, you can go to wallbuilders.show wallbuilders.show and catch up on some of the shows from the last few weeks or months.

David and Tim speaking of catching up, we've had a few weeks go by that we haven't really had an update on what's been happening in Israel. And of course, Israel continues to prosecute this war and go after Hamas and try to shut down their operations, and there's just a lot that's been happening. And the Biden administration of course talks a good game, but behind the scenes making it difficult. So later Omer Eshel will be back with us. We'll get an update on that. But a lot of people maybe have forgotten that this is even going on because the media is not covered anymore, but it's still happening every day over there you know, Rick, I would make an adjustment.

David Barton

you know, Rick, I would make an adjustment.

I wouldn't say that Israel is still prosecuting the war, because they're not. They haven't gone to war yet. What they're doing is prosecuting, taking out the leaders responsible for the terrorist attack on October 7th. They have really restrained themselves and they've been very strategic. They take out pointed attacks of guys that have been key in killing Israelis. So I don't really think they've gone to war yet.

Tim Barton

Well, and I would say I mean it would be certainly considered a war. They're on the ground, they've taken ground in Gaza and you know what people would consider kind of this Palestinian held territory. So I think it's fair to say that they have gone to war, but they haven't gone on any kind of annihilation kind of warfare, because they're an ethical military and they're going to make sure that they're only taking out bad guys. With that being said, they've taken out many, many, many bad guys. Hundreds, thousands of bad guys they have taken out in this war. But at this point you're seeing them take a little bit more of a restrained posture, not being as aggressive and being strategic and patient in making sure they're taking out the correct bad guys. But now we're also seeing that it's not just Hamas. You have Hezbollah from the north, from Lebanon, and a lot of the Houthis.

Right.

I mean a lot of tension, a lot of uneasiness, and Israel is surrounded by so many Muslim nations, and they've actually, because, largely of President Trump's leadership, they were at peace with many of those Muslim nations.

There were some Muslim nations where there weren't extreme activists who wanted to destroy Israel, and since the Biden administration has taken charge, since their leadership, not only has there been more instability around the world, there's been more instability in the Middle East directly impacting Israel, and so there's a lot that is still going on and, as even this weekend, there was some interaction between Israel and Hezbollah forces, and it looks like, even though Hezbollah has not agreed to the ceasefire, Israel’s agreed on more than one occasion and they cannot get, whether Tomas Hezbollah, whoever it is they can't get people to come and agree to a ceasefire but it does look like that Hezbollah and Israel have de-escalated things where Israel had taken out a significant key leader and Hezbollah responded, and now both sides are kind of like okay, we've both flexed our muscles, we've both defended ourselves a little bit.

Maybe we're okay. It doesn't mean this is over, but it does look like things are de-escalating a little bit. However, it could be a calm before a storm, so there's just there's so much uncertainty when it comes to things in the Middle East, especially with some of these Muslim nations that have have vowed some of their hatred for Israel, and again under president Trump, there was so much more stability, because it's often what happens when you have a strong leader. When there is a strong leader and that strong leader has an incredible military and also a large economic influence, they're able to persuade people into making better, more peaceful decisions, and that's certainly not what the Biden administration has done, and so Israel has had to deal with many of the consequences of the lack of leadership in America.

David Barton

You know, I would not want to be on the Hamas side of this with what's been going on and this just amazes me about Israel that, for example, two months ago, they took out the military. And this just amazes me about Israel that, for example, two months ago, they took out the military leader of Hamas, who is the one that launched all the attacks and he was a key mastermind of the October 7th massacre. And they do it by going into Iran, which is their most hostile neighbor, and they get the house, a guest house, where this guy is going to be staying, and they bomb it or they actually arm it two months ahead of time, and so they know this guy stays there and so they gone in. They really placed bombs in the house to kill him when he gets there. And then they know when he gets there and then they detonate it.

If I was in Iran, I would really be looking at everyone around me saying, okay, which one of you sold us out, which one of you? Because Israel's intelligence is so stinking high on this. And really, the same thing with the attack over the weekend is one hour before Hezbollah was going to launch 6,000 missiles at Israel, 100 Israeli planes struck the 6,000 missiles and wiped them out before they could make the launch. So if I were on the enemy side I would say I don't like talking to anybody, because one of you has got to be telling them all of our plans and details, because Israel knows it down to the instant.

Tim Barton

It seems like and Iran has still vowed to respond based on what happened. But this is where, again, a lot of people don't understand the nature of some of this conflict or it's being misportrayed in the media. And, of course, in the midst of a war, there's going to be bad things that happen and there's a reason you don't want to go to war. But Israel is motivated with a higher moral ethic of preserving and defending life. Because they come from a place that they believe that God is the author, the giver of life, that life is valuable and is sacred, as opposed to some of the people they're fighting against their enemies in this situation that believe that, for their religious kind of section, that the way to get to heaven, the way to honor their God, is to kill people. It's a very different value system.

But there's so much going on and this is where we really we just need to talk to our buddy Omer and get an update from him. He, of course, where the Bible comes to life, is something that people can follow on social media. Once this war is finally over, we absolutely intend on taking tours and groups back to Israel to see the biblical foundation, the historic foundation for so much of the Christian faith, but, yeah, people can follow the Bible comes to life online. Omer is giving updates almost every single day, letting people know what's going on, and so he's somebody who is involved in this. He's in the military, he's been drafted back in now and so he's part of the forces up in the northern Golan, and he's somebody who we have been friends with now for a decade plus, and we just wanted to hear from him what's going on over in Israel.

Rick Green

Omar Eshel, our special guest. Stay with us, folks, we'll be right back on the Wall. Builder Show.

Break

Rick Green

Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Great to have Omer Eshel back with us. Hey brother, good to have you on man. Thanks so much for some time today,

Omer Eshel

 Shalom, Thank you so much for having me back.

Rick Green

Yeah, and off air, you're telling me you're literally in a bomb shelter right now. David said we've got to get Omer back on and get an update. We haven't had you on in probably a month and a half, two months. So much happening every day and, man, it's just. It's good to hear your voice and would love to update our listeners on what's been going on most recently over there.

Omer Eshel

Well, yes, as you said, I am in a bomb shelter right now, as we speak. You know, people think about a bomb shelter. They think about Second World War, the tubes of London. That's not the case In Israel. Yeah, in Israel, every house has a bomb shelter. It's a regular room with a fortified military grade concrete. So I'm now in the bomb shelter where I have all communication, everything AC. It looks like a regular room. The reason why I'm here is because today Hezbollah fired more than 90 missiles at Israel, targeting civilian villages and get, as we keep on saying, biblical sites. They try to erase today's city on a hill which Jesus pointed out.

Rick Green

No kidding, literally trying to destroy those sites. I mean usually, usually Muslim, Jewish, Christian, whatever everybody tends to say. Hey, we recognize those sites are important to you, literally holy land. We're not going to destroy that. Those old rules of the game are gone, I guess.

Omer Eshel

It depends which kind of Muslim you're looking at. If you look at the moderate Muslim, most of the Muslims, by the way around the world, don't want to see these places destroyed because the roots of their faith comes also from Judaism. That's right. We're talking about the radical Muslims. We're talking about the same people who destroyed the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. The same people who blew up the tomb of Prophet Jonah in Iraq. The same people who destroyed Nineveh. These are the people that we're looking at. Iran and its proxies.

Rick Green

Yeah, yeah, man, and I'm assuming well for you. We're so spoiled over here in the US so we hear 90 missiles, that sort of thing. We'd be freaking out over here. For you guys, this is like a regular day at the office, almost Constant. Y'all are having to deal with this and it really hasn't let up since October 7th.

Omer Eshel

by the way, Iran and Hezbollah has been attacking us since October 7th. You know people ask me aren't you guys afraid of Iran attacking you? They've been doing this for almost a year, so it's nothing new for us. We have two major things that I would say. I'll call it the earthly reasons why we're okay. The heavenly reason we all know is our Father in Heaven. But we also have the Iron Dome and again, each family has a standout bomb shelter. So when you have 90 missiles flying at you, your village could be completely destroyed, but you're inside the bomb shelter.

Rick Green

Yeah, and is the Iron Dome holding up? I mean, is it still taking out most of those missiles?

Omer Eshel

Well, the Iron Dome is taking out missiles that are aimed and projected to destroy a site. So if you have a missile that is flying, they're going to explode in the forest. So in the middle of the you know a bushy area, you're not going to waste ammunition on it. So until now we're looking at about 90% success rate, but that 10% can be devastating.

Rick Green

I really wanted to ask you I've seen very little, but I see a little bit on social media about the hostages that are still being held what is the latest update there? It's hard to even imagine we're approaching a year and the damage that's been done there, but what is the latest?

Omer Eshel

Well, actually, today, this morning, the IDF was able to retrieve six bodies of hostages. Some of them are 79 years old. There was a guy named Yohan Metzgiv, 79 years old. He died after suffering horrific tortures by Hamas. Now, again, we're talking about the fact that they are demon. We know that. But the fact that they are tormenting an almost 80-year-old senior citizen, it is unbelievable and I just want to share with this video and with our listeners. We are seeing now evidence from the IDF what they found in that tunnel that they dug out those bodies. Those bodies were murdered around March, but the terrorists around the bodies that kept the bodies died in horrible death, not because of the IDF, because they actually starved to death and were suffocated inside those tunnels. Now these are the captors, not the victims. Imagine how the victims might have felt if the captors are dying from their own traps.

Rick Green

No kidding man, and that's you know, I always try to envision this because I haven't been there. I mean, these are miles of tunnels. This is a significant. This is where a lot of the aid that people thought they were feeding hungry people in Gaza, it went to building these tunnels, basically establishing a war footing for Gaza to continue to attack Israel. And my understanding is IDF is still I mean, you're almost an inch by inch kind of thing. They're still having to go clean this stuff out.

Omer Eshel

We're talking hundreds, if not thousands, of miles of tunnels. Now, when I say tunnel, it's not just a little bit underneath the ground. This specific tunnel that was unearthed today is actually 30 feet below the ground level. We're talking almost at the level of the aquifer. And just for our listeners to understand, if Hamas would have taken the amount of concrete and steel that it put into building that metro, that system of underground territories, Gaza could have looked like Singapore today, Not the horrible slums that we are seeing on the news. It could have been a beautiful and amazing place. Because I got to share this. Read you, the people in Gaza, and check this out online. The amount of money that the Palestinian refugees received in 76 years of history is more than the entire refugees communities on the face of God's green earth.

Rick Green

Wow, that's hard to imagine, hard to imagine, and they've only made their situation worse instead of better.

Omer Eshel

You know Golda Meir, who was our prime minister about 50 years ago. She said that the day we're going to have peace is the day that the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.

Rick Green

Man and the results speak for themselves. I mean, it is that hate has caused so much destruction to not only to Israel but, as you said, to their own children, to not only to Israel, but, as you said, to their own children. How's the temperature of the people in Israel right now, almost a year, as you said, into this? How's the resolve, how's the unity behind the efforts?

Omer Eshel

Well, Israel entered into this war in a state of divide, actually because we have a very controversial prime minister that I'm, as a proud right-winger. I'm not a huge fan of Benjamin Netanyahu, because he's all about Benjamin Netanyahu. He's not about right-winger. He used to be right. He used to be Not so much anymore Like me. I would say about 70% of the population feel that way, but I do want to share this with our listeners. Yes, we have tensions within Israel. We do understand that we have one common enemy who doesn't care if we are left or right, rabbinical or Christian. As long as the minute that we are not like them, we're not Muslims or radical Muslims like them, they would like to kill us, and this is something that I think that the West need to understand, especially today. When the Democratic Convention happened in Chicago and you had people outside chatting against the Democratic Party, now I got to bet with you. Most of those people are not voters of Trump. Most of them.

Rick Green

Right right.

Omer Eshel

Right, but still they went to bash Harris and Biden. Why? Because they hate America. They don't hate the Republicans, they hate America, and this is something that we understood on October 7th. Israel understood that on October 7th. I just hope and pray that our friends in the West will understand that and save themselves another October 7th like we had.

Rick Green

I think that even we're beginning to see over here what Goldemeier was talking about. Right, they hate America more than they love their own children, more than they hate Israel, more than they want to enjoy the American freedom that they have over here. So they're willing to go, do those kind of things and even throw the politicians that normally supported their efforts under the bus if they show even a hint of support for Israel, which in my opinion, you know the whole Biden-Harris administration has been forked tongue. I mean, it's like they have a press conference, act like they're supporting Israel and behind the scenes they're actually making it more and more difficult for you guys to do what you need to do. But even just even a hint of support for Israel, and these people absolutely are in the streets and breaking down barriers and rioting over the stuff, defacing statues in DC a few weeks ago, all of those things.

But man, I still, I still I'm shocked to see Americans that still can't see clearly that Hamas is all about death to Israel. They still want to support and act like there's a moral equivalence. I know we talk about this all the time, every time I have you on, but I still think Americans don't understand this. They're trying to create a moral equivalence between what Israel is trying to do and what Hamas has been doing, and it's so obvious to you because you live there and you see it every day. But we get a warped media narrative on this all the time.

Omer Eshel

Let's look, for example, what happened in Europe Ten years ago. Europe was in a major crisis of labor. Their own population was just too old, it was diminishing, so they opened the gates all the refugees of the Arab Spring, or let's call it by its name the radical Islamic winter. They came in waves that Europe have not seen since the invasion of the hans. We're talking a complete change of population.

If you look today at the city of malmo in sweden, they speak arabic. Brussels is 49 muslim and, just for our listeners to understand, 49% Muslim. That means that if you would like to have a nice ham sandwich in the morning, you're not going to have it, because pork is illegal, alcohol is illegal, walking with shorts is illegal, and this is something that you know. It's funny to me to see all those, what we spoke about last time, what we called the useful idiots, those who chant from the river to the sea, those who say global intifada. Just for them to understand, intifada means destruction of the West. That's what it means a violent destruction of the West. So when those idiots are chanting global intifada, they're shooting themselves not in the foot, they're chopping their head off.

Rick Green

. Well, and literally, when you see these LGBTQ, whatever communities and others that are chanting for the very people that would throw them off a roof in a heartbeat, right, it just shows you how woefully ignorant that we are. Hey, this population thing is huge. I mean it is virtually every European nation, and now America. Obviously same thing's huge. I mean it is, you know, virtually every European nation and now America. Obviously same thing's happening. I don't know how many of the 20 million that came across our border are Muslim, but an awful lot of them. And we see cities now, in Minnesota and other places that exactly what you just described about Brussels. You know that, man. How do you combat that? I mean, what do you recommend from a policy perspective to these nations that are literally being taken over? I remember Margaret Thatcher even used to speak to this and say and she said this after 9-11 even that we've allowed people that want to destroy us to come into our countries. We've been too lazy.

Omer Eshel

Too lazy and too ignorant. I've got to say and I'm talking in the entire West, not just the United States Rome fell in the 5th century AD because of the exact same way of behavior. They opened the borders to the barbarian tribes and then the Visigoths and the Goths came in and the Vandals, and until today we use the word vandalism to describe destruction. Vandalism comes from a barbaric tribe by the name of vandals, that sack invited in basically yes yeah invited in by the romans themselves.

As the vandals sack rome, the senate said and spoke. Should we or should we not retaliate?

Rick Green

wow, I didn't realize that it's we're repeating. We're repeating history right now.

Omer Eshel

But here's the thing, an organization like Worldbuilders. You guys are all about history, all about history. Teach history, because if you don't know history, you're doomed to repeat it. You ask me what you guys should do. First of all, close your borders. Close your borders. That's why you have a border. Number one. Number two anyone who disagrees with your country, disagrees with your society. Show them the way out. Anyone who disagree with your country, disagree with your society, show them the way out. This is your country. You are the landlord. They came to be your guests, not the other way around. If someone comes to my home and disagree with the way that I teach my girls, I will tell them well, with all respect, you are a guest and you should behave. This is my home. Same thing with you guys?

Rick Green

, no. Instead, we've given them control over the curriculum and taught our own children to hate their own nation, and so now they go marching the streets against America. It's like I don't even know how to respond to that.

Omer Eshel

This is again what we call useful idiots. They are useful idiots. Ask 90% of those useful idiots that chant from the river to the sea, what is the name of the river and what is the name of the sea? And they have no idea. You know what? I'm going to share this with you. I can say from the river to the sea, that's from the Rhine River in Germany to the Atlantic Ocean, it's still a river to the sea.

Rick Green

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man, I want to know how our people that are listening now can pray for Israel specifically. What are some of the strategic things that, if you and I talk again in a couple of months, we could say that's a victory, that's moving in the right direction? You know what I'm asking? What would be some things we could specifically be praying for and watching for, to know that this thing is moving in the right direction?

Omer Eshel

I think that they're going to use an analogy from scriptures and that will resonate to all of us. One of the key moments of King David before he became a king was the Battle of Ziklag, that he did everything in his power to go and free his people. He didn't care about possession, he didn't care about anything, he went to free his people. Pray for Ziklag. Pray for our hostages to come back. I don't care about Sinua, I don't care about the Iranian, we can deal with them another day. Pray to bring back our hostages, our children, our women, our elders, and then God will show our enemies. You know, as he says, as thoughsays, you prepare a table in the presence of my enemies. That's exactly what's going to happen.

Rick Green

Amen, amen, so good Omer. Always good to have you, brother. Thank you so much for your time today.

Omer Eshel

Thank you so much. God bless, and God bless America.

Rick Green

Amen, amen. Stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Break.

Rick Green

Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Back with David and Tim Barton now and guys, I'm just still kind of in shock. Just a normal thing run down to the bunker. You know, I mean, that's how they had to live every day and it's a regular occurrence. And you know, as you guys were saying at the beginning, you know sometimes it feels like it's not as heavy as some of the fighting, but man, it's just still a constant struggle for these guys.

David Barton

Yeah, I think it is a constant struggle. But you know, talking to Omer, it's really clear that it doesn't particularly, and I don't want to say it's the wrong way, but it doesn't really bother them. It's nothing that panics them or causes them to go into paralysis. Yes, and he says every home has a bomb shelter. You know, we don't think quite like that in their bomb shelter that they're used to living in, because this happens so often and they live in such a state of war around them from a neighbor that wants to kill them. And you know, quite frankly, if Israel wanted to wipe out the bad neighbors, they could do it in a heartbeat. And, Tim, as you pointed out earlier, they have a different ethic and moral standard, they have a different biblical view and they're not doing that. And it is interesting to me that the college protesters over here are so anti-Israel, when that is the moral force in the Middle East, and they're so pro-Hamas, which that is the immoral force in the Middle East. But again, that's kind of the result of the indoctrination of education.

Tim Barton

Well, but even saying one is moral, one is immoral, that would become very subjective in today's culture and world.

But, to say that one is pro-equality, one is pro-freedom, one is pro-free speech and the other one is hateful and wants to kill people they don't like, and et cetera, et cetera. When you compare their morals, because there's a level of subjectivity that people think, but when you look to see who is holding the higher standard of morality, there's no question it's Israel and we definitely need to continue to pray for them in the midst of what's going on.

Rick Green

We'll continue to bring you updates, so make sure you stay tuned in here on the Wall Builders program and check out our website today at wallbuilders.show and also our main website at wallbuilders.com. Thanks so much for listening to the Wall Builders Show.