KFAR AZZA, Israel – Two former prime ministers, Boris Johnson of the U.K. and Scott Morrison of Australia, came to Israel recently on a solidarity visit and met with lone soldiers from Britain fighting for the Israel Defense Forces. They took part in a tour of the areas devastated by the Hamas October attack, organized by Israel’s former U.N. Ambassador, Danny Danon.
The two former leaders inspected communities along the Gaza border. Many of the soldiers with whom they met volunteered immediately after the Hamas massacre. Some of the Jewish soldiers told CBN News why they are fighting.
One of them, Aron, said, “This is our homeland, this is where we’re from, this is where we live. As we saw back in WW2, what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, it’s something even worse.”
After seeing some of the locales, Boris Johnson noted, “People should be reminded of the full tragedy and horror and sadism of what happened on October the 7th.”
Johnson told the soldiers why he’s supporting Israel in the war with Hamas.
“There has been a dulling – a blurring – of moral clarity around the world. This particular thing is black and white, it is right and wrong, it is good and evil. It cannot be in any way excused, defended or condoned, and the people who did it have got to be prevented from doing it again.”
Pro-Palestinian marches, organized globally, are generating anti-Israel, anti-Semitic sentiment.
Aron declared, “We need to not look at these protests as something that should stop us from doing what we need to do.”
Another soldier compared Israel’s situation to America’s 9-11.
Scott Morrison, the former Australian prime minister replied, “It’s a good comparison.”
One of the other lone soldiers stated, “There wasn’t a pro-Al Qaeda march on the streets of Britain after 9/11. So I think that looking at it from the Jewish standpoint of being abroad at the moment, it’s a very scary time.”
At the site of so much bloodshed and tragedy, Johnson spelled out his moral understanding of the war.
“I think it is very important that people remember the crucial distinction between what you are trying to do to keep civilians out of harms way, and what Hamas terrorists have done – which is try to maximize civilian suffering in the most brutal possible way.”
Reservist paratrooper Sam Sank had just returned from the Gaza border.
He told the tour, “I know from the instructions I’ve been given as a frontline soldier that the IDF does everything possible that the military targets are the ones that are hit, rather than anything else. The state of the innocent Palestinian civilians is horrible and I sympathize with them, I think they’ve been dealt a bad hand in life. But it’s Hamas who are holding them hostage rather than the IDF.”
Sank added, “Israel is held to a double standard, unlike any other country in the world. If you really want to understand the conflict, Israel would be considered the most humane army in the world, but it is. And I’ve seen that firsthand.”
“Hamas, backed by Iran – backed by Iran – who has the goal of eliminating Israel,” Morrison declared. “These young men and women are engaged in a struggle for Israel’s very existence.”
:Lone soldier Shimi Levy believes in winning the war. He also believes that biblical prophecy is being fulfilled.
“In (the) Torah eventually, you know we’re talking about coming into the land and reuniting as a people,.and slowly but surely, bringing up to the days of Messiah, in my personal opinion,” Levy said.
He also believes that many more in the IDF are turning to the God of Israel.
On the site, an IDF unit seemed to confirm that as they sang – in Hebrew – from Psalm 121: “I lift my eyes up, to the mountains, where does my help come from?.
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
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