If I know it correctly, you're a Messianic believer. You're originally from here, right? Could you tell us a little bit about how you grew up, what led you to Jesus, and what it means to you?

- I'm a Jew. I was born and raised here in Jerusalem. My family is Jewish, also from here. We grew up around 10 minutes from the Old City of Jerusalem. You have to understand that in Israel, the number of Jewish people who believe in Jesus is very, very small. It is kind of weird because he was also Jewish and he grew up here, walked here, on the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the City of David, Gethsemane.

It all started when my mother finished her mandatory army service. When you're 18, you go to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), both women and men, for either 2 or 3 years. After the IDF, usually people go for a trip around the world just to relax a little bit. My mother went to Europe, where she met a group of YWAM believers, who told her about Jesus, about Yeshua, and she believed in Him. When, at the age of 22, she came back to Jerusalem as a believer, everyone thought she was crazy.

"How can you believe in Jesus? You're Jewish. But she said, Oh, what's the problem? He's also Jewish, and it's a fulfillment of biblical prophecies."

But they still thought she was crazy. Then she went to a congregation, managed to find other believers in Jesus here in Jerusalem. That's where she found my father. So, I grew up knowing the Bible and the New Testament as a child. But it's not enough. You need to have a personal connection to God if you want it to stick. Faith is not something that you just inherit. You must believe it for yourself, it must be something personal. In general, I think that the whole relationship with God is personal. That's what makes it strong. I struggled a bit throughout high school because I was the only believer in Jesus.

At the beginning, I hid my faith from my friends because I didn't want them to think that I'm weird, an outsider. When they figured out that I'm a believer in Jesus, they didn't talk to me for a few months. It was very hard. When they resumed talking to me, they told me that, for them, the hardest was that I didn't tell them.

“OK, it's weird that you believe in Jesus, but we don't care so much. But what was the hardest for us is that you didn't share what you believe”

–  they said.

I've gotten to a new stage in my life. I was about to go into the IDF. New place, new people, new location, leaving my house, my family, a fresh start. I thought to myself, OK, this is my opportunity now. It's the first start. So I said to myself and to God, I'm going to read the Bible with the New Testament every day on my bed in the barracks in the base. And that's what I did. People asked me questions like, "What is this? And then I said, this is the Bible, the New Testament. It's part of the Bible prophecies."

I had amazing conversations with Orthodox Jews, with secular Jews, with all kinds of people, because I was proud to be a believer in Jesus.

Then very fast, I became the representative of Jesus in the base because I was the only soldier who believed in Him. It's a huge responsibility. But I think that's where my faith really became my own and not just something I inherited from my mother.

While you were in the army, did you experience any divine intervention or, miracle? Or if it's not your own story, have you encountered these kinds of stories during your reporting job?

- It all started on October 7. I was called to leave my family to go to fight. I had a three-month-old baby and two other kids. I'm a tank platoon commander. So I went to the army, and in the beginning, I thought, OK, this time the world understands. Hamas launched a terrorist attack against us. They're the bad guys, and we should fight. But very, very fast, everything changed. Suddenly, Israel is the bad guys, and Hamas is the good guys.

God has been doing miracles ever since October 7 happened. We were attacked on seven fronts, multiple enemies, but we’re still here. The Houthis are launching rockets at us from Yemen, but the others have been defeated. I realized on a personal level, I am part of TBN, so I should share the truth. But how can I do it? What do I have? I had a phone with me, and every day I started to share from the front lines my personal experiences about what happened.

Listen, you asked about miracles. I have millions of miracles that have happened. In the form of a missile that was launched and accidentally hit next to a group of soldiers in the Gaza Strip, but did not explode. Or soldiers who slept in a place that they shouldn't have been sleeping, and a tank just drove over that place. One meter from the soldiers and didn't run over them. Or a house that was filled with explosive devices and did not explode. There are millions of stories about tragedies that almost happened but didn't happen. We see God's hand in every second of this war.

What was it like for you entering Gaza to fight after October 7?

I remember the time that my unit got called to the entrance of the border with the Gaza Strip. We weren't called inside just yet. My wife was still under the impression that I was not going into Gaza. But then one day the commander says, Yair, I want you to come into the Gaza to be with me next to me in my tank. How am I going to tell my wife? If Hamas won't kill me, she will kill me for sure. I didn't tell her yet, but I stopped the car on the side of the road and I prayed. I said, God, if this is from you, please give me peace. Peace to enter the Gaza Strip and peace to be there.

Gaza at that time, especially, but also now, is like the darkest place that you can be both spiritually and physically. Every step you take, a terror tunnel, a bomb, a rocket that is coming to you from every direction. So it's very tough.

After I prayed, God gave me this peace. I went into the Gaza Strip, smiling and laughing. That's not normal. I kept recording my videos from Gaza, which is also another miracle because they usually don't let you bring phones into the war zone. I told the commander, "Listen, my condition is that I will bring my phone and I will keep reporting from the Gaza Strip." While I'm in the Gaza Strip, I get a phone call from the IDF spokesperson's unit, and they tell me, "Yeah, you should have told us that you're recording, and we should have permitted you. But off the record, we love what you're doing and we want you to do it officially on our behalf."As I was recording in the Gaza Strip, soldiers asked me:

“Who are you talking to? Who cares? The whole world is against us. I said, no, you're not right. We have millions of Christians around the world who are praying for you, you're not alone."

They had no clue. They were shocked to understand that somebody cared about them at a time when the whole world was against us. God can take any challenge and turn it into an opportunity to share his love.

What would you tell the Christians? What's the most important thing to understand about the current situation?

- They should know that this is not just a normal war. This is a spiritual war as well. Why would the whole world hate Israel so much? It doesn't make sense. We don't have oil. We don't have any natural resources. It's a tiny strip of land. Why is everybody talking about this? Listen, I never heard of a Houthi before this war. I can promise you that none of these Houthis ever met a Jew or an Israeli, but they still chant death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam. That's their official slogan. Why do they hate us so much? Because it is a spiritual war, and the enemy is trying to disconnect the world and all those who believe in God from Israel. Why?

Because the people of Israel are being used by God as an example, not for their greatness, but to show his faithfulness to the world.

Through the biblical stories, through the exodus from Egypt, God is doing miracles on a nationwide level in Israel. That's an amazing encouragement for everybody. Whatever it is, if it's financial problems, if it's problems in your marriage or your life, in your job, in your family, God has your back because he's been faithful to the people of Israel, even though they were very bad to him. This is why the enemy wants to destroy Israel. Israel is the best example of God's faithfulness to the entire world.

Christians need to understand that by praying for the peace of Jerusalem, which is what God called us to do, they are standing with God in this war between good and evil. The enemy wants to destroy Israel because if it destroys Israel, it destroys God's faithfulness, His promises, and everything. So keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem!