Satellite images were released by a private Israeli security firm on Sunday showing the apparent destruction of a facility believed to be an Iranian surface-to-surface missile factory in Syria’s Masyaf District, while Israeli Defence officials were declining to respond to reports that Israeli aircraft hit the site Saturday evening. However, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at an event Sunday evening in which he said that the Jewish State would “continue to act” on the northern border to guarantee security for Israel and its citizens.

Reports over the weekend indicated that sanctions imposed on Iran to deter it from pursuing its renegade nuclear program are having a notable effect on the Islamic Republic’s ability to export petrochemical products, one of the regime’s main sources of revenue. Official statistics released by the National Iranian Petrochemical Company indicates that exports decreased by over 2 million tons in fiscal year 2018, resulting in a drop in state revenues of $10.645 billion.

Israel sent a team to assist the Ethiopian government fight a large wildfire in the Simien Mountains National Park in Gondor Province over the weekend. Also over the weekend, the Swedish Transport Administration announced that it has selected wireless vehicle charging technology developed by Israel-based Electreon Wireless as part of a project to build the world’s first dynamic electric road system connecting Visby Airport to the city of Visby on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland.

The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered another defeat over the weekend when the US-based Aerospace industrial conglomerate Lockheed Martin and MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) announced on Sunday that they are jointly launching the MIT-Lockheed Martin Seed Fund to promote collaborative projects between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Israeli institutions of higher learning and research.

Following last Thursday evenings unsuccessful attempt to land the SpaceIL Beresheet spacecraft on the Moon, Morris Kahn, the primary sponsor of the project, announced on Saturday evening that there will be another attempt. “We are going to build a new [spacecraft], we’re going to put it on the moon, and we are going to complete the mission,” he said. The team reportedly began work on “Beresheet 2.0” Sunday morning.

British scholar and Labour party member Alan Johnson concludes in a new report that the Labour party is institutionally antisemitic. He contends that three types of antisemitism are present in the party: the socialism of fools, classical racial antisemitism, and antisemitism dressed up as anti-Zionism. Reading the report and comparing Labour to other European socialist parties, one finds that while they target Israel, much of Labour’s antisemitism is aimed at Jews.

The INSS 12th annual international conference addressed the web of challenges and opportunities Israel faces at the start of 2019. As in previous years, we chose strategic issues from the different spheres – domestic, regional, and international – that make up Israel’s strategic reality, and examine these individually and in context of one another.

The book of Proverbs declares that “… a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17) It is in times like these our practical work is also even more important than in times of peace. As Israel is facing these strenuous times, it is our responsibility as Christians to care for those who have become victims of this horrendous terror.