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There is a startling contrast between real-world assistance and online celebration of wildfires plaguing Israel. On the one hand, a number of countries are scrambling to send equipment and expertise to help extinguish widespread infernos. On the other hand, however, Islamists are flooding social media with a narrative that characterizes the flames as judgment from Allah, withholding rain from Israel while, simultaneously, sending it to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Why is the god of Islam doing this? Two popular claims are judgment for current efforts in Israel's government to turn down the volume of public calls to prayer that have grown increasingly intrusive to non-Muslim citizens. Then there is the unsurprising claim that Allah is giving Jewish Israelis a taste of his hellish judgment of "stealing" the land that comprises the Jewish State. 

TWO ISLAMIST TWEETS PORTRAY FIRES IN ISRAEL AS JUDGMENT BY ALLAH. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

In spite of Herculean efforts, fires continue to rage through the holy land. Sustained by bellows of high, dry winds combined with low, dry timber, stopping the blazes is almost impossible. Then, too, there is the matter of arsonists starting, and restarting, small fires that quickly explode into infernos which, like the rest, are all-but impossible to extinguish, at least until winds die down and there is some rain.

Apparently, starting fires is fun. According to Israel's homeland security agency, Shin Bet, there was not a grand plan by terrorist masterminds to use fire as a terror weapon against the Jewish State. Instead, after one or two successfully ignited roaring conflagrations, the idea caught hold through the anti-Israel, Islamist community, quickly going viral. For terrorists, the risk of capture is low, the damage is high, and drama is like mainlining adreneline.

Nations sending aid to Israel to fight the flames include the United States, Russia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, France and more. Even the Palestinian Authority has offered to help, and Israel has accepted.

Meanwhile yesterday's number two hashtag trending on Twitter was #إسرائيل_تحترق, in English, #IsraelIsBurning or.

Some in Israel see the anti-Israel Islamist narrative as a challenge by the followers of Allah to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their celebratory chant, Allahu Akbar, "Allah is greater," is understood to be a taunt of the Hebrew's God. Accordingly, all who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, including Christians around the world, are called upon to pray for rain in israel. 

The current weather forecast does not include rain for the next ten days.

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Brian Schrauger is the Editor-In-Chief of The Jerusalem Journal. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.