Inside Israel News

Week of February 28, 2025

In This Week’s Issue

Unemployment Rates at Historic Lows in Israel, as Rebuilders are Actively Sought
Heavy Construction Equipment is Being Mobilized for Gaza Restoration
Viral bacteria-killer, discovered and named after fallen soldier in Israel
Knesset Passed Law, Prohibiting Holocaust, and October 7 Deniers From Entering Israel
Chosen People Ministries Israel Staff Ask for Prayer for the Nation

URL has been copied successfully!

Unemployment Rates at Historic Lows in Israel, as Rebuilders Are Actively Sought

LOCAL EMPLOYMENT bureau: Network, network, network. (photo credit: FLASH90)

Some governments and industries unfortunately welcome warfare. It temporarily bolsters the economy by artificially creating jobs in weapons manufacture during the war and in construction thereafter. As of January 2025, the unemployment rate of Israel fell to 2.5%, the lowest it has been since the 1970s.

The Swords of Iron War broke out at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles on October 7, 2023. Hamas operatives swarmed the Supernova Music Festival and several settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 and kidnapping another 250. As with any war, this conflict also left massive property damage in its wake. For this reason, about 60% of the job vacancies are currently in the construction sector.

Since the cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas, workers with skill and experience in masonry, bricklaying, carpentry, painting, plastering, and flooring are desperately needed. Eventually, those with expertise in plumbing and electrical will be required as well. However, the postwar situation has temporarily diminished the need for personnel in the private transport and service industries.

Pray that as Israel rebuilds after the war, the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ establishes His peace in the Land and that many will come to acknowledge Him as their Lord and Saviour.

More News

More News

Israel News Week of September 2, 2025

Inside Israel News Week of September 2, 2025 The Academic Year Begins for Israeli Schools ...

Inside Israel News Week of August 26, 2025

Inside Israel News Week of August 26, 2025 Remembering the “Beautiful Six” According to the ...

Inside Israel News Week of August 12, 2025

Inside Israel News Week of August 12, 2025 Netanyahu says Israel not looking to occupy ...

Inside Israel News Week of August 5, 2025

Inside Israel News Week of August 5, 2025 In This Week's Issue United States Uses ...

Inside Israel News Week of July 31, 2025

Inside Israel News Week of July 31, 2025 In This Week's Issue President of Lebanon ...

Heavy Construction Equipment Is Being Mobilized for Gaza Restoration

A truck driver waits with others carrying mobile homes on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in preparation for entering Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing, Egypt, February 18, 2025. (Mayar Mokhtar/AP)

On January 19, Israel and Hamas signed an eagerly anticipated but fragile cease-fire/hostage release/prisoner exchange pact. Since that time, 19 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages have been liberated, leaving an estimated 70 still in captivity in Gaza. According to Israeli authorities, half of them are already deceased.

Per the terms of the accord, IDF troops must fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip. However, 15 months of war have ravaged the infrastructure of the region, and massive restoration is desperately and promptly required. While military engineers have both the training and the equipment to perform this vital work, they are not allowed to remain in Gaza.

As of mid-February, mobile homes and construction vehicles have been moved from Egypt to Gaza via the Rafah Crossing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped the delivery of temporary housing and heavy machinery into Gaza would expedite the release of at least six living and four dead hostages there. Israel agreed to free thousands of high-risk Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are murderers.

The cease-fire/hostage-prisoner release deal stipulates that Israeli hostages (living and dead) will be freed in stages. Phase One was intended to last six weeks, and 33 hostages would be permitted to rejoin their families. Of these, 19 have already left Gaza and eight were confirmed deceased. Thus, six captives remain to be set free at this stage. Israel is in the process of ironing out the parameters of Phase Two.

Pray for the safe and timely return of all Israeli hostages to their families, a permanent end to the Swords of Iron War, the rebuilding of war-torn Israel and Gaza, and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ of many souls on both sides of the conflict.

Viral Bacteria-Killer, Discovered and Named After Fallen Soldier in Israel

Sigal Vorzhev, right, and Shira Meuchas-Heilbron stand in front of their research about a virus that can target antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae that they discovered and named KpRaz1 in tribute to late Master Sergeant Raz Abulafia, 27, Vorzhev’s boyfriend, who was killed fighting the Hamas terror group in Gaza on November 11, 2023. (Courtesy)

During WWI, Félix d’Hérelle observed that an unknown culture killed all the bacteria on a Petri dish. The mystery broth contained bacteria-eating viruses called phages. They went virtually forgotten after Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin during WWII. Since then, however, antibiotics have been overprescribed and many disease-causing bacteria are now resistant to them.

The Israeli Phage Therapy Center (IPTC) of Hebrew University has detected and characterized multiple novel bacteriophages with potential therapeutic efficacy. Researchers at the IPTC—many of whom are IDF veterans and reservists—have named their phages after comrades who died in the October 7 War.

The boyfriend of IPTC biotechnology student Sigal Vorzhev was Raz Abulafia, a Master Sergeant in the IDF who perished at the hands of Hamas in November 2023. She discovered phage KpRaz1 which kills a resistant bacterium causing pneumonia, and hoped that it would save lives just as her late fiancé did.

Other IPTC team members also named their bacteriophage findings after several fallen IDF soldiers. Global demand for phages continue to grow; each year, about 5,000 Israelis and nearly 1.5 million people worldwide succumb to otherwise untreatable bacterial infections.

Knesset Passed Law, Prohibiting, Holocaust, and October 7 Deniers From Entering Israel

Passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, August 1, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni / Flash90)

At the end of WWII, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered his troops to photograph every detail of the Nazi death camps they liberated lest anyone try to deny the atrocities that occurred in them. In the decades that followed, however, many insisted that Hitler’s Final Solution was only a myth.

On October 7, 2023, 3,000 Hamas operatives invaded the Supernova Music Festival and several kibbutzim adjacent to the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, killed 1,200, and kidnapped another 250. To this day, however, many minimize or even deny the occurrence of these atrocities.

This year, Member of Knesset (MK) Mishel Buskila of the New Hope Party moved to extend legislation banning the immigration of people advocating anti-Israel boycotts, Holocaust and October 7 deniers, and those demanding the prosecution of IDF veterans.

The International Criminal Court has charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and several active soldiers with war crimes. Nevertheless, MK Buskila’s bill was unanimously passed after its third reading even though the opposition feared it would stifle free speech.

A bill criminalizing Holocaust denial was passed into law in 1986. Last year, it was legislated that being part of any terrorist organization and/or denying October 7 within the State of Israel are crimes punishable by five-year prison terms.

Please pray for the repentance of those who refuse to accept the historical reality of the sufferings of the Jewish people. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ among Jews and Gentiles in the Land of Israel.

Chosen People Ministries Israel Staff Ask for Prayer for the Nation

In this Inside Israel newsletter, our staff usually ask for prayer for Chosen People Ministries’ work in Israel. This week, however, they wanted to ask for prayer for people in Israel who are crushed, numb, devastated, broken, scared, and down because of the events of last week. The nation has been on a roller coaster these past few weeks and needs your prayers. For starters, one of the symbols and widely published footage of October 7 was the look of terror on Shiri Bibas’ face as she clutched her two little boys while Hamas took them hostage. Now they are home, but not alive. Our staff—and the nation—mourn the innocent.

Plus, while the nation is relieved to see—week after week—the release of her people, it is disheartening to see them looking like they saw and experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. The joy is hampered as Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian murderers and terrorists from jail in exchange for the lives of innocent Israels. Those convicted can easily regroup and inflict more terror, yet Israel does this because Israelis believe in saving lives. It is ripping hearts to know that there are more hostages still alive in Gaza, and Israel is not able to bring them out yet.

Finally, a miraculous development. The culmination of the coordinated (yet botched) series of bus bombings that were supposed to kill and wound hundreds has caused many to consider the Lord’s hand and mercy in saving and sparing many.

Lord God of Israel, watch over your people! Keep the evil one far from them. Bring them to a saving knowledge of the Messiah of Israel—Jesus. Thank you for your miracles and for life!

DONATE NOW

URL has been copied successfully!