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N Cooke2022-02-17 14:55:552022-02-17 15:08:25Reaching the Hard-to-ReachDear friend,
As we mark two years since that devastating morning of October 7, 2023, I find myself reflecting not just on the horror of that day, but on what it means to love Israel—both as a Jewish person and as a believer in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).
A Personal Connection To The Land
I grew up looking at pictures on my grandmother’s wall of relatives I would never meet—family members slaughtered in the Holocaust. So for me, as for so many other Jewish people, Israel represented something profound: a Jewish homeland rising from the ashes of our people’s greatest tragedy.
Now, as a Jewish believer in Yeshua, I feel more connected than ever to the land where He walked, taught, and gave His life. As a lover of Israel, my heart is heavy this month, two years since Hamas’ barbaric massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, when more than a thousand terrorists invaded the country, slaughtered more than 1,200 people, and took 251 as hostages.
The Current Reality: Numbers That Break Our Hearts
The statistics from October 7 and its aftermath paint a devastating picture:[1]
Hostages:
- 251 precious souls taken hostage on October 7
- 148 released through exchanges (8 of these are deceased)
- 49 bodies retrieved by Israeli forces
- 8 hostages rescued alive
- 50 remain in captivity—Israel believes 28 are deceased
- Among those still held, 2 people are from Thailand,
1 from Tanzania (confirmed dead), and 1 from Nepal - 4 additional hostages have been held since before the October 7 attack
Military Casualties:
- 898 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7 in the Gaza war
- 70 police officers killed
- 329 (of the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October 7) died on the Gaza border during Hamas’ initial assault
- 454 (of the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October 7) were killed during ground operations in Gaza
- 80 soldiers and officers killed in operations with Hezbollah and other terror groups
- Additional casualties from West Bank operations, Iranian attacks, and tragic accidents
Each number represents a family forever changed, dreams cut short, and futures stolen by Hamas and their Iranian backers.
Visiting The Places Where Evil Struck
This past June, I led a dedication tour of Israel with more than sixty supporters to inaugurate our new Messianic center in the Tel Aviv area. Part of our journey included visiting the sites where so much innocent blood was spilled.
In Sderot, we learned that Hamas killed about fifty civilians and took over the police station for twenty hours. This was a city where residents had regularly driven Palestinians to Israeli hospitals for medical care; Hamas destroyed this bridge of compassion with their brutality.
At the Nova Music Festival memorial site, we stood where nearly 4,000 young people had gathered for a weekend of music and friendship. Instead of a celebration, 400 beautiful souls were murdered in cold blood. The memorial displays dozens of photos and stories of students, artists, and dreamers who were mowed down while they were just seeking joy through music and community.
The “car graveyard” hit many of us hardest of all. We saw hundreds of civilian vehicles, twisted and burned, bearing bullet holes aimed deliberately at the people inside. These were not military targets but families simply going about their Saturday morning when Hamas terrorists opened fire indiscriminately.
When The War Came To Our New Center
Our tour took an unexpected turn when tensions escalated between Israel and Iran. After Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones. On the morning of June 19, while we were evacuating our tour group through Jordan (since all airlines had canceled flights out of Israel), we heard air raid sirens as missiles flew overhead toward Israel. Moments later, we received devastating news: Our brand-new, recently dedicated Messianic center had been hit by an Iranian ballistic missile.
It broke my heart to learn that the missile severely damaged the condo building that houses our new ministry center in a two-story, ground-level commercial space. However, we are grateful to report the structure is still sound.
Our former rented center, which lost all its windows in the blast, has now been repaired. We renewed our lease for another year, allowing us to continue our ministry while completing the repairs to the new center.
Ministry Amid Crisis
Even in the chaos, God opened doors for ministry. When we evacuated to Amman, Jordan (our only choice at the time), the hotel where we had stayed in Israel filled 110 rooms with displaced families, including 100 children whose homes in the Tel Aviv suburb, Petach Tikva, took some direct hits from Iranian missiles and became unlivable. Our Israeli staff immediately sprang into action, organizing games and crafts for the children, providing hygiene products, and offering comfort to traumatized families.
As one staff member wrote, “We sense we are in this hotel for such a time as this. The children are very stressed by the alerts as they now really know from personal experience what can actually happen.” Through art supplies and listening ears, our team ministered to families who had lost everything, showing them God’s love in their darkest hour.
The Heart Of The Conflict
What we witnessed reinforced a fundamental truth: This conflict is not simply about land or politics. It is a clash between those who sanctify life and those who worship death. Hamas, backed and funded by Iran, has shown its members value terrorism and destruction over the welfare of their own people. While Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to protect civilian life, Hamas deliberately uses Palestinian civilians as human shields to stay in power.
My heart aches for innocent Palestinians caught in this nightmare. They deserve leaders who build schools instead of tunnels, who seek prosperity instead of destruction, who choose hope over hatred. The tragedy is that Hamas and Iran have stolen their future just as surely as they have tried to steal the same from Israel.
We pray for and grieve for the innocent on both sides who have lost loved ones and for those who are no longer able to live in their homes, like those who lived in the apartments above our new center and who will not be able to get back into their homes for at least a year.
We do believe there is a food shortage in Gaza, which needs to be resolved, but reject the reasons proffered by many blaming Israel for these terrible circumstances. Hamas is at the root of the suffering in Gaza—not Israel, which is now the position of many of Israel’s Arab neighbors. [2]
How You Can Help
Despite the ongoing pain and the damage to our center, we refuse to let terror win. Where Hamas brought destruction, we choose to build. Where they spread hatred, we choose to show love. Where they celebrated death, we choose to sanctify life.
As we fund the repairs for our damaged center, we need your partnership more than ever. The Israeli government will provide some reimbursement; however, we must pay for repairs upfront and coordinate multiple contractors and assessments, and we do not know what the government will cover!
Your contribution, whether large or small, will help restore these vital community spaces where young Israelis are encountering the love of their Messiah. Every dollar donated is a vote for life over death, hope over despair, community over hatred.
To support the restoration of our new Tel Aviv Messianic Center and our ongoing ministry to the Jewish people in Israel, please make a gift to our Rebuilding Israel Campaign. Your sacrificial gifts will help us rebuild the facilities as well as the lives of suffering Israelis. We are also taking on new staff to meet the challenges of a new openness among Israelis to the gospel message. Your gift to the Rebuilding Israel Campaign will support their ministries and our growing outreach in Israel.
We will share more about the financial goals of the campaign over the next few months as we find out more about the damage and create ministries to meet the needs of suffering Israelis. I can tell you this—we needed to add about $100,000 to our budgets in Tel Aviv because we needed to continue paying the rent of our former center. Thank God it was still available. There will be more information to come.
Together, we will build a bright tomorrow even as we remember the horrors unleashed on Israel two years ago.
We also desperately need your prayers. Pray for our staff ministering to traumatized families, for the return of the remaining hostages, comfort for their families, for wisdom in rebuilding, and for the peace of Jerusalem.
Together, we can ensure that the voices of those silenced on October 7 continue to be honored—not for revenge, but for remembrance; not for hatred, but for healing; not for despair, but for the hope found only through Jesus, Israel’s promised Messiah and the Savior of the world.
Thank you for standing with us in our ministry among His chosen people.
In Yeshua,
Mitch
Endnotes
1 These numbers are accurate at the time of writing this letter, but may change by the time you receive it.
2 Jacob Magid, et al., “In 1st, Entire Arab League Condemns Oct. 7, Urges Hamas to Disarm, at 2-State Confab,” Times of Israel, July 30, 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-1st-entire-arab-league-condemns-oct-7-urges-hamas-to-disarm-at-2-state-solution-confab/.
You can find further information at the Coalition Against Antisemitism (opposeantisemitism.com).
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1329
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N Cooke
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N Cooke2022-02-17 14:55:552022-02-17 15:08:25Reaching the Hard-to-Reach
