Israeli-American filmmaker Dan Gordon on TBN’s The Rosenberg Report (Photo: Screenshot)
“I’ve heard many Israelis say that October 7 was the day that changed Israel forever,” said Joel Rosenberg, editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and host of THE ROSENBERG REPORT on TBN.
Israeli-American filmmaker Dan Gordon agreed with this statement, especially after his extensive work producing the first series of documentary films on the Hamas massacre: “October 7, 2023‘ will air this month on TBN.
Gordon noted that before that horrific day, Israelis had certain illusions they wanted to believe in – a situation that reminded him very much of the perception of security that prevailed in Israel before the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which he fought as an IDF soldier.
“I think everybody bought into what they call ‘the concept,’” he told Rosenberg. “It’s exactly the same failure that we had in the Yom Kippur War. There was an idea that Egypt wouldn’t attack without air superiority. There was an idea that Hamas really wanted to improve the lives of its people, wasn’t interested in a major war, was moving from a religious Islamo-fascist group to a government authority in some way, and that we could handle it.”
“We forgot we lived in the Middle East,” Gordon continued. “We don’t live next to Switzerland. We don’t live in Denmark. We don’t live near Kansas. Life would be very simple if we lived next to one of these places. We live in the Middle East. We live in the toughest neighborhood in the world. We live surrounded by some people – not all – but certainly in Gaza, certainly many in Judea and Samaria, who wish to get our blood. »
Joel Rosenberg interviews Dan Gordon on TBN’s The Rosenberg Report (Photo: Screenshot)
According to the filmmaker, many Israelis became disillusioned on October 7 and changed their view of national security in the face of their enemies in the region.
“We now remember where we live,” he said. “We have a responsibility to ourselves, to our children, to our grandchildren, to remain strong and vigilant and to continue to look for a way to live peacefully with our neighbors – to not give up. »
As for the Israeli parliamentarians, military and intelligence services who believed in the “concept,” Gordon believes their departure time will come soon. After the war.
“Everyone at the top, and I think most Israelis think this way, has to go. It’s at the political level, at the military level, at the intelligence level. They all failed,” he stressed.
If the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust had such a significant impact on the security and political perceptions of Israelis, what about its impact on a spiritual level?
Joel Rosenberg on TBN’s The Rosenberg Report (Photo: screenshot)
Rosenberg said he was struck by the absence of a meaningful national call to prayer and fasting in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
“Do you see any sign that there will be a spiritual change?” he asked Gordon.
Gordon pointed out that Israel is very different from the United States when it comes to public religion. It is much less common for Israeli lawmakers to invoke God’s help in their statements and speeches. This, he said, is likely rooted in the socialist ethos that prevailed in the country’s early decades.
“We started with leaders who were primarily socialists, atheists, agnostics, who didn’t feel comfortable promoting religion in the public arena,” he explained.
“But there is a spiritual change going on in Israel,” Gordon said. “You see it among the families. You absolutely see it among the soldiers on the ground.”
When Shabbat comes, he explained, soldiers from any IDF unit want to participate and receive God’s blessing.
“No atheists in a trench,” Rosenberg replied.
Gordon agreed, adding: “And not only were there no atheists in a foxhole, but we had a big divide in this country between the religious and the secular.” This divide does not exist in the army. This does not exist on the reserves.
“I remember something that really moved me,” said the Hollywood producer. “We were in an armored personnel carrier going with combat engineers to detonate rocket launchers. And the guy driving the armored vehicle was an Orthodox man. He turned to the commander of the armored vehicle and said, “It’s time for me to pray.” »
“We are in an area where bullets are flying and we have just come across terrorists who are ambushing us. When we arrived to blow up this tunnel, he opened the hatch. He took his prayer book and said the evening prayers. And the guy who was the commander – who was not religious at all – turned to us to make sure we would stay quiet to honor his prayer.
“When the guy came down from prayer, he grabbed his hand, put his arms around him and knew he was praying for him.”
Click to read Part 1 from Joel Rosenberg’s conversation with Dan Gordon.
THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m. EST – on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.
