Warning to Israel – You’re Invincibility is Slipping!
October 1, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Israel was too slow in upgrading the armor on their Merkava tank series to keep pace with the anti-tank missile technology developed in Russia and sold to Iran and Syria. This is something I warned about in previous Prophecy Updates and Blogs beginning in 2003. The anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and anti-ship Russian, Chinese, N. Korean, and French missiles, being placed in the hands of the Islamic terrorist groups by Iran and Syria, are leveling the technological playing field between the Arabs and Israel.
The forces of Islam have always had a tremendous advantage in sheer troop numbers, but Israel has possessed a balancing technological advantage. The technological advantage has been, is, and will continue to narrow between them.
I agree with the analytical conclusions drawn by Yaakov Katz in his Jerusalem Post Article, which follows.
Begin Jerusalem Post Article
Analysis: Only an Antimissile System can save Our Tanks
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST
September 29, 2006
The guerrillas lay in specially dug foxholes waiting for the IDF Merkava tanks. Once the tanks were spotted, the Hizbullah fighters pulled out their antitank missiles – some of the most advanced in the world – and within seconds knocked off another Israeli tank and then another.
This is how it worked during Israel’s second war in Lebanon, which brought Military Intelligence to a better understanding of Hizbullah’s fighting tactics.
The guerrilla group would train fighters for specific missions. Unlike IDF infantrymen who are trained for face-to-face combat and to fire antitank missiles in Low Intensity Conflicts (LIC) and conventional warfare, Hizbullah trained its fighters to become experts in a single field – one of those being the antitank missile, which during the war turned into the IDF’s worst nightmare.
Despite the clear threat, the IDF was at a loss for how to stop them. Hizbullah had prepared for the war over the past six years and alongside the close to 15,000 Katyusha short-range rockets, the guerrilla group also hoarded thousands of antitank missiles, including the Soviet-built Sagger, Cornet and Fagot, the French MILAN and the US-built TOW, all supplied by Iran and Syria.
The missiles wreaked havoc and destruction within the IDF’ s armored brigade
s, killing more than 30 soldiers and disabling some 40 tanks. The damage to the tanks and the large number of casualties has some defense officials asking whether tanks are still needed to combat Israel’s current threats. Many military experts believe that
the era of conventional ground battles is a thing of the past.
While that might be true, the recent war in Lebanon demonstrated how not every threat can be eliminated by the air and in order to dig out enemy fortifications
and bunkers, a strong ground operation, including tanks, is needed.
The US Army is also continuing to use its armored corps and, according to a recent report by NBC, rocket propelled grenades (RPG) have killed nearly 40 American soldiers in Afghanistan and more than 130 in Iraq.
“Tanks are definitely still needed on the battlefield,” said a high-ranking IDF officer with Ground Forces Command. “But we need to find the right combination and utilize it properly while emphasizing its strengths.”
The tank, this officer admits, does need to undergo technological advancements to remain applicable to the current type of urban and LIC warfare going on in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and within Lebanese villages.
What could save the tank from extinction is an active protection system that can intercept incoming antitank missiles. Such a system is currently being developed by two major Israeli defense companies, Rafael (Israel’s Armament Development Authority) and Israeli Military Industries (IMI).
The General Staff is scheduled to meet in the coming weeks for its annual budget workshop, a series of meetings during which the military decides where to invest its money and from whom to procure new systems.
One of the main issues that will come up during the meeting is the future of the Merkava tank. At the moment, senior officers said there were no plans to close down the project, although the generals will decide during the workshop how many tanks they plan to order over the coming years.
What will keep the tanks alive is not only the continuation of the Merkava project, but also the investment and installation of an antimissile defense system for Israeli tanks.
As one senior Armored Corps officer said: “This system could mean life or death, not only for the crew but also for the tank.”
End Jerusalem Post Article
Isaiah 50:11 – Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Throughout the history of Israel in the Old Testament, Israel turned to the nations around her for treaties to protect her from her enemies, rather than to her God. And, when she was strong, and did not believe she needed treaties with the nations around her to protect herself, she walked in the light of the sparks generated by the power of her own fire she thought she had created.
Israel has won every conflict or war she has fought with her Islamic neighbors since 1948, and the sparks of her many victories have caused a glorious light produced by them, making her see a halo of invincibility around herself, which she believes comes from her own power and expertise. Israel is literally walking in the light generated by self created sparks, not by faith in the ability of the light and power of her God to lead and protect her. She is going to “lie down in sorrow” in the Negev for three and one-half years because of faith in her own hands, rather than in the hand of her Messiah.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Zechariah 13:9 – And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
Jeremiah 30:7 – Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
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