Another Sad Tish'a Be'av

It comes as no surprise that the highest death toll of the war came on Tish'a Be'av.
Along with the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, we mourn the 12 who died today:

8 civilians:

1. Shimon Zaribi, 44, from Akko
2. Mazal Zaribi, 15, (Shimon’s daughter)
3. Albert Ben-Abu, 41 from Akko
4. Aryeh Tamam, from Akko
5. Tiran Tamam (Aryeh’s brother)
6. Sinati Sinati, 18, from Maalot
7. Amir Naeem, 18, from Maalot
8. Muhammad Faour, 18, from Maalot

4 soldiers:

1. Sergeant Andrei Brudner, 18, from Rishon L’Tzion,
2. Sergeant Itamar Tsur, 19, from Be’er Tuvia
3. Sergeant Alon Fintuch, 19, from Kiryat Yam.
4. Sergeant Yonatan Sharabi, 19, from Petach Tivkah

And the head of the U.N. says that Israeli force is "Disproportionate" ???!!!

Hashem1.net quotes Rav Mordechai Eliyahu as saying that we read in last week's Perasha of Moshe Rabbeinu telling the people:

לֹא תִּירָאוּם כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, הוּא הַנִּלְחָם לָכֶם

Ye shall not fear them; for the LORD your God, He it is that fighteth for you.

Rav Eliyahu says to separate the word תיראום into 2 words: תירא או"ם. In other words, don't fear the U.N. Only fear Hashem since only Hashem will fight for us.

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However, we know that Teshuva must come first, as the Zohar Hadash (mentioned in that same post) says.

On Tish'a Be'av, we read in the Haftara for Minha:

שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקיך

This is the same Haftara that we read on Shabbat Teshuva (sometimes called Shabbat Shuva). This is something we need a lot of now. See another great article by Tzvi Fishman concerning one of the sins that require rectification.