Israel’s intelligence capabilities have often been praised. Now a possible explanation of why they get things right so often: divine intervention. A story is doing the rounds of how a beautiful woman, thought to be Rachel (the matriarch rather than the Strictly Come Dancing star) assisted troops in Gaza.

This story has now received the official backing of Israel’s Sephardi spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. He described Rachel’s role in the recent war in his Shabbat sermon: “Soldiers arrived at a house and wanted to go inside. And then a beautiful young woman appeared before them and warned ’don’t enter the house, there are terrorists there’.” Who needs night vision cameras? Just find yourself a matriarch.