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Netanyahu to Bush: Jerusalem is ours forever January 7 2008 Israel Today
As evidence of the ancient Jewish connection to Jerusalem, Netanyahu presented Bush with a coin found by archeologists in Jerusalem dating from the great Judean revolt against the Roman Empire, more than 600 years before Islam and the Arab conquest. Netanyahu went on to outline for Bush his vision of economic progress in the Middle East as a basis for eventual peace that would not require Israel surrendering its security and historic claims. The former prime minister urged Bush, who was joined by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to accept the reality that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is not a viable peace partner due to his inability to actually implement any security-based commitments to Israel. Netanyahu noted that over the past decade, Israel has relinquished direct control of much of its biblical lands as part of the peace process, while the Palestinians have done anything but put an end to anti-Israel terrorism. Back
Israeli
Says Elusive Bibical wall Found
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In
his meeting with US President George W. Bush on Thursday,
Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu adamantly declared
that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people alone and will
remain Israel's undivided capital for eternity. 
A
biblical wall that has eluded archaeologists for years has
finally been found, according to an Israeli scholar. A team of
archaeologists in Jerusalem has uncovered what they believe to
be part of a wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah.|
Israeli PM Offers Palestinians Control of Temple Mount!
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office today presented the Palestinian Authority with a formal plan in which the Jewish state would forfeit the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to Muslim control, according to top Palestinian sources. The sources said Olmert's plan calls for the entire Temple Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel. The report follows a WND exclusive article last week stating Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount. According to Palestinian negotiators who took part in today's Olmert-Abbas meeting, the Israeli leader today also presented Abbas with a plan for Israel to evacuate most of the West Bank and cede eastern sections of Jerusalem. The plan called for Israel to retain three main Temple Mount in Jerusalem settlement blocks and in exchange Israel would offer the Palestinians Israeli Arab towns in the north of the country, the Palestinian negotiators told WND. David Baker, a spokesman for Olmert, would neither confirm nor deny the prime minister offered the Temple Mount. He said ahead of today's talks the summit would center on "the development of Palestinian-governing institutions, bolstering Abbas' government and issues concerning Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side." Over the weekend, an Egyptian newspaper reported Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control of the Temple Mount to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The Al Massrioun daily reported Barak informed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Jordanian government Israel is willing to hand them joint control over the Temple Mount. According to the Egyptian report, Barak stated an umbrella group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries. Ronen Moshe, a spokesman for Barak, told WND the Egyptian media report is "untrue." "We do not comment on the specifics of private conversations with world leaders, but this report is not what was said during the talks," Moshe said. A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition his name be withheld, told WND yesterday Israel "understands there won't be any deal with the Palestinians unless it forfeits the Temple Mount." The official said the Mount was previously a sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, but he said Prime Minister Olmert's government has expressed a number of times a willingness to compromise on the Temple Mount. "We've recently received many Israeli plans that showed Israel is willing to allow another body, whether Palestinian or international, to control the [Temple Mount]. The issue is no longer a sticking point," the Palestinian official said. During U.S.-led negotiations in 2000, Barak, then prime minister, reportedly was willing to forfeit the Temple Mount to international control. The negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Adviser Gilad Sher – who represented Barak at initial Israeli-Palestinian planning meetings in 2000 during which President Clinton discussed the Temple Mount – wrote in his book "Beyond Reach" that Clinton's plan called for the Temple Mount to become complete Palestinian sovereign territory, while the Western Wall below and its complex would fall under Israeli sovereignty. Barak was said to have initially rejected that plan, but according to participants at the negotiations summit, he was ultimately willing to place the Mount under international sovereignty. Some reports claimed Barak offered the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, but the Israeli politician has denied those claims. Former
chairman and current member of the powerful Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz,
said he believes the rumors and reports about Olmert's
deal-making are true. According to opinion polls, Olmert has practically no public support. (An interim report on last summer's war with Hizballah blamed Olmert for the war's many failures. And there are ongoing investigations into whether Olmert should be brought up on corruption charges for issues that pre-date his premiership.) Palestinian state outline 'coming by November' A chief Palestinian negotiator told WND that aides from Abbas' Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East. Yesterday, newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres told a Tokyo newspaper he hopes to achieve the outline of a final status deal with the Palestinians before the November conference. Israeli and Palestinian diplomatic sources said U.S.-brokered biweekly meetings between Olmert and Abbas are being utilized to draft the outline of a permanent status deal, ultimately yielding a Palestinian state, scheduled to be aired in public at the November summit. Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA. The November international conference and talk from the Bush administration the past few weeks has led many here to speculate the U.S. will push in the near future for intense Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. With a year and a half left in office, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been urging meetings between Abbas and Olmert to establish a framework for momentum leading to a breakthrough at November's conference. Asked by WND whether Olmert is willing to forfeit the Temple Mount in an agreement with the Palestinians, spokesman Baker had no comment. Jews, Christians barred from praying on Mount The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site. The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact. The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount. The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians. The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf. During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines. Former
chairman and current member of the powerful Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz,
said he believes the rumors and reports about Olmert's
deal-making are true. |
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July 13 2007 Christian Newswire
Contact: Pastor George Saieg, 866-533-6659 |
We
at Arabic Christian Perspective have heard many times
the claim that Islam is a religion of peace. We believe
that this is not true. By reading the Qur'an, one will
see that the suicide bombers are not fringe fanatics on
the outskirts of Islam, they are actually the faithful
and true who obey the teachings of the Qur'an and the
life of Islam's prophet, Muhammad's. Suras 4:3, 9:5,
47:4 and 61:4 are clear examples of Allah's command to
fight against non- Muslims. Islam is responsible for the
September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States of
America, the July 7, 2005 London Underground bombings
and the March 11, 2004 Madrid Train bombings, yet a
growing group of people believe Islam is a religion of
peace.
Olmert Caves in to US: No Construction in Har Homa, Atarot
At issue are several projects, including a new tender for 307 housing units in Har Homa, in Jerusalem's southeast corner, as well as a new project in northern Jerusalem near the old Atarot airport. Both are located on land liberated during the Six Day War, over 41 years ago.
Olmert met with Palestinian Authority chairman Abu Mazen on Thursday night, at which he told Yasser Arafat's former deputy, "Israel will not take any new steps that will have ramifications on that which is being done on the ground."
In Accordance With the Road Map
Olmert's office responded to the Army Radio report
by saying that no decision had been made regarding a
construction freeze and that Israel is obligated to act in
accordance with the Road Map. The Road Map stipulates, in
addition to a halt to Israeli settlement activity, the PA
must "declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism
and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest,
disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and
planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere." The claim
that the PA must stop terrorism has been used by Israeli
negotiators in the past.
Now, however, even though terrorism has continued nearly unabated - including not only by Hamas and Islamic Jihad but also by Abbas-led Fatah - Israel has now agreed to stop all Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, as well as in many of the outlying neighborhoods of its capital city.
The Army Radio report noted that Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had tried to explain at last month's Annapolis conference that Har Homa should not be included in the construction ban, as it is an integral part of Jerusalem. However, the Americans and the PA did not accept this stance, and Olmert therefore decided to fall in line with the Bush Administration.
US President George W. Bush is set to visit Israel in less than two weeks, on January 9.
Politically Uncomfortable
The publication of Olmert's new orders is
politically uncomfortable for him, as he fears that the
rightward-leaning Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our
Home) parties will again threaten to quit the government in
response. Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu leaders have said in
the past that their demand for full Israeli sovereignty over
Jerusalem is unconditional.
Growing and Thriving
Some 2,500 families currently live in Har Homa, and
there are plans for another 4,000. Har Homa is Jerusalem's
south-eastern corner - south of Ramat Rachel and north of
Bethlehem, and east of Gilo. It is encircled by some Arab
villages, such as Tzur Baher, Biet Sahour and Um Tuba. It
is considered the newest bastion of religious-Zionism, with
three religious youth groups, two synagogues, many informal
daily prayer services, two religious schools, Talmudei
Torah, nurseries, and an abundance of Torah classes. Two
yeshivot, Har HaMor and Mekor Chaim, plan to relocate to Har
Homa.
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Madam Secretary of State: Condi Rice Hangs a ‘No Jews Allowed’ Sign in East Jerusalem
December 12 2007 the Jerusalem Post
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Condoleezza
Rice has got some nerve. First, black the US Secretary of State
had the chutzpa to compare Israel's treatment of Palestinians to
that meted out by American’s to US blacks during the bad old
days of the segregationist South.
Most
Iranians Ready to Recognize Israel
July 12, 2007 by Staff Writer While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes Israel should be wiped off the map, most Iranians are ready to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and maybe even reestablish relations with it. In a nationwide telephone polls conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow and first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, a full 70 percent of Iranians said they support a normalization of ties with the United States and recognition of Israel. Furthermore, 80 percent of Iranians said they have no problem with international supervision of their nation's nuclear program and are prepared to back a national pledge to never pursue atomic weapons. Israel and Iran had warm diplomatic relations prior to the Islamic Revolution and the overthrow of the shah. Many Israelis and Iranians still remember the days of regional cooperations between the two nations. |
Israel Braces for July War With up to Five Enemies
June 25 2007 World Tribune
JERUSALEM
— Israel is preparing for an imminent war with Iran, Syria and/or their
non-state clients.
Israeli military intelligence has projected that a major attack could come from any of five adversaries in the Middle East. Officials said such a strike could spark a war as early as July 2007.
On Sunday, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet that the Jewish state faces five adversaries in what could result in an imminent confrontation. Yadlin cited Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and Al Qaida.
"Each of these adversaries is capable of sparking a war in the summer," Yadlin was quoted as saying.
[On Monday, Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri endorsed the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. The Al Qaida statement came after Zawahiri repeatedly criticized Hamas for tolerating Palestinian Authority cooperation with the United States.]
Yadlin said Hamas could be planning a major attack to divert attention away from efforts by the Palestinian Authority to isolate the Gaza Strip. He said Syria might be promoting such an attack.
Officials said Iran has direct influence over Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. He said Al Qaida has increasingly come under Iranian influence and was being used by Iran and Syria in such countries as Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
Already, military intelligence has assessed that Hamas acquired more than 50 missiles with a range of 22 kilometers. Officials said this would allow Palestinian missile strikes on any part of Ashkelon, the largest city in southeastern Israel and which contains strategic sites.
Hamas has also deployed at least 20 SA-7 anti-aircraft systems, officials said. They said the missiles threaten Israeli combat helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that conduct missions over the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Palestinian gunners continued missile fire into Israel. Hours earlier, the Israel Air Force struck an Islamic Jihad squad said to have been driving toward the northern Gaza Strip to launch missiles toward Israel. One Jihad operative was killed and two others were injured.
Israeli military intelligence has assessed that Hamas was being quietly supported by neighboring Egypt. Officials said that despite Egypt's announced ban, Cairo has continued to allow Hamas leaders to enter the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip.
Over the weekend, officials said, a Hamas delegation led by former PA Interior Minister Said Siyyam entered Sinai. They said the 15-member delegation was escorted by Egyptian security forces to Cairo for a flight to Damascus, where they were scheduled to meet Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Masha'al.
On Monday, Egypt was scheduled to host a regional summit meant to support PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israel, Jordan and Abbas were expected to attend the meeting in the Sinai resort town of Sharm e-Sheik.
The Myth of ''Measured Response''
July 17, 2006 Hal Lindsey
With illegal attacks across Israel’s internationally recognized borders, hostage taking of soldiers and a relentlessly raining of rockets and missiles upon Israel’s major cities, the Israeli Defense Forces have finally sprung into action. This is after months of “restraint” that world leaders are now calling upon them to use. The time for “restraint” has long passed, as I will demonstrate.
It is because of Israel’s compromise, appeasement and restraint that Hamas, Hizbollah and their true masters, Iran and Syria, have come to believe that “now” is the time to attack and destroy Israel.
Every time Israel unilaterally gave “land for peace”, as in Southern Lebanon and Gaza, the terrorist claimed it as their victory. Hamas used this claim to get elected by popular vote in the West Bank and Gaza. Hezbollah has used the same claim to move in a massive force that is now more powerful than the Lebanon’s army.
Every compromise that Israel has made to make peace with the Palestinians and the surrounding Muslim nations has been rewarded with more terrorism.
The de-facto rulers – Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank and Hizbollah in Lebanon have sworn to destroy the “Zionist Entity” (refusing even to call Israel a State). In fact their founding charter proclaims that their basis for existence is to destroy Israel. They have built up a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles. They have smuggled in a trained and well-equipped army. Over recent weeks, they have launched ever-increasing numbers of more lethal rockets and missiles with greater range.
Hamas has hit the major fuel port of Ashkelon. Hizbollah has now repeatedly hit the third largest city in Israel, Haifa, killing and wounding many civilians. They have hit another major city, Tiberius, several times and caused serious damage and casualties. The leader of Hizbollah also has warned that he can hit Israel with chemical and biological warheads that can reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The real leaders and suppliers of these terrorists, Iran and Syria, have warned that if Israel hits Syria, they will cause “unimaginable destruction to fall upon the ‘Zionist Entity’.”
As I have repeatedly warned on many occasions, the West, particularly the United States leaders, do not understand Fundamental Islam – which is according to the Koran and Islamic history, the only true expression of Islam. Based on these same founding documents, the so-called “Moderate Muslims” are labeled “apostates” by the Fundamentalists of both the Shi’ite Ayatollahs of Iran and the Sunni followers of Wahhabism.
It is time for the world to wake up. And I pray especially for our President and his cabinet to open their eyes to reality. Muslims only understand one language, “overwhelming power and the will to use it.” Fundamental Islam views kindness, compromise and appeasement as weakness and a failing of will to fight to survive. They see it as a sign that it is time to move in for the kill.
There is an even larger issue here. I believe that God gave Israel a miraculous victory in the Six Day War of June 1967. God gave Israel back the land that He had promised them as an everlasting possession. He did this at just the time He promised – in the “latter days” when He began to bring them back from their Second Dispersion.
Then, rather than believe their own Bible, Israeli leaders began to succumb to world pressure, rather than believe God’s promises. Piece by piece, Israeli leaders gave the Muslim usurpers, who were bent upon destroying them, land that God had miraculously restored to them.
It is important to note that every Israeli leader that was responsible for this met with tragic ends. Menachem Begin, who gave away the Sinai, resigned in disgrace in 1983, dying in seclusion in 1992.
Yitzhak Rabin who was responsible for setting in motion the most disastrous compromise of faith of all –the Oslo Accord –, was assassinated.
The former great general, Ariel Sharon, betrayed the Jewish settlers in Gaza that he had encouraged to move there and gave Gaza away. He suffered a catastrophic stroke from which he will not recover.
Israel is now in the most dangerous position it has been since the founding of the State. I believe it is because they have tried to make peace with an enemy that openly declares their ultimate goal is the destruction of Israel.
And more importantly, I believe all this disaster is happening because Israelites have not believed and followed their own prophets.
The God of Israel, in sovereign grace, has sworn that this State that has been miraculously restored from the predicted second worldwide dispersion will never be totally destroyed again. But God does warn that Israel will go through terrible tribulation before the Messiah comes and fulfills His unconditional covenants with a believing remnant of Israelites. And this predicted tribulation is to sift out the true believers in Israel from those who don’t believe.
I fear for my country and its leaders. If we continue to push Israel to give away land and accept a two-state solution that any sane person can see will never work, God will judge the United States. We will fall overnight when God’s judgment comes. God has sworn concerning Abraham’s descendents, “I bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.” That Divine oath has never been rescinded. The rise and fall of nations and empires can be traced to God keeping this oath.
United States must not fall in with the other world leaders and demand that Israel give only a “measured and balanced response” to the unprovoked atrocities Iran, Syria and their surrogates, Hamas and Hizbollah, have brought upon Israel. If Israel does not totally destroy these terrorist organizations now, they will face endless violence and suffering.
May the God of Israel and the true Messiah, the Lord Jesus, defend Israel and open the eyes of many – both Christians and Israelites.
ISRAELUPDATE MIDEAST CRISIS
Sunday July 16 2006 David Dolan
FULLSCALE MIDEAST WAR?
“Since the orders to Hamas are believed to be coming via Damascus from Iran, the potential for another major Middle East war is growing every day.” This of course is doubly the case concerning the unprovoked Hizbullah ground and rocket attack inside of Israel last Wednesday which left seven Israeli soldiers dead and two taken captive alive into Lebanon. This is due to the undisputed fact that the powerful Lebanese paramilitary force was founded (when I was working in Lebanon in the early 1980’s) by Iran, and is largely funded and commanded by the world’s largest and most dangerous Islamic fundamentalist state, assisted by Syria. (International media reports I’ve seen in recent days saying this is merely “an Israeli claim” are laughable, given that Hizbullah leader Sheik Nasrallah has been publicly feted in Tehran many times, as has Damascus-based Hamas leader Mashaal).
During my latest speaking tour, I spelled out the five main strategic issues that I felt the new Olmert government would have to deal with in the immediate future. Among them was the Hamas takeover of the Palestinian Authority government and the serious Hizbullah threat along Israel’s northern border. I noted that the Hizbullah threat—and indeed the growing Hamas militancy—was directly connected to Iran’s nuclear program and its leader’s repeated vows (not threats, but pledges) since last December to wipe Israel off of the Middle East map. So in effect, Israel is already at war with Iran and Syria, although the conflict is still at this stage being fought against their proxy Lebanese and Palestinian forces.
HAIFA ATTACKS
Today’s rocket attacks upon Haifa are the most serious to date for several reasons. First of all is that fact that they produced the largest number of Israeli civilian casualties in any single rocket barrage since the 1967 war (at latest count eight are dead and around 20 wounded, several seriously). The victims were all working at a railway repair garage located along Haifa Bay. Even Saddam’s powerful Scud missile attacks in 1991 did not produce such a deadly outcome. Secondly is the indication that new Iranian-produced Raad 2 and 3 rockets, probably manned by Iranians themselves, hit Israeli soil for the first time.
But the most serious aspect of today’s attack is the fact that it was directed at an area containing Israel’s largest sea port, fuel depots, oil refineries, and seaborne oil tankers. More than that, Israel’s main petrochemical plant, originally built under British rule in the 1930’s, is located along the Bay. Hizbullah said in a statement today that it deliberately avoided hitting that plant, but would do so if Israeli Air Force strikes continue upon Hizbullah strongholds in southern Beirut.
As many of you personally know, I have spoken of this potentially disastrous situation to audiences around the world since 2003. When I interviewed the mayor of Haifa in March 2003 during the funeral of an American Christian teenager killed in a terrorist bus bombing, he told me Israeli government officials were not so concerned over the prospect that Saddam would hit Israel with chemical weapons during the then-pending US-British attack upon the Iraqi Baathist regime. Instead, he said they feared a massive Iranian-backed Hizbullah rocket blitz upon Haifa Bay’s chemical plants, which he told me could potentially produce thousands of casualties if deadly poisons were released upon Israel’s third largest urban area. Although Hizbullah claims it deliberately avoided hitting those targets today, analysts say they came far too close for comfort. Any such strike that released deadly poisons would produce severe consequences for sure.
PROPHERTIC POSSIBILITIES
Several have written in recent days to ask my opinion on the possible prophetic implications of the escalating crisis. It is clear to all that the fighting in Lebanon could easily mushroom into a direct Israel-Syria conflict, since the police state regime in Damascus actively supports and arms Hizbullah and has close ties to radical Iran. Just today Syrian officials stated that they would attack Israel if IDF jets strike any targets inside Syria.
Iranian leaders say they will back Syria to the hilt if such a conflict erupts. While there were always questions as to Saddam’s chemical weapons capabilities before the Iraqi war began in early 2003, there is no question that Syria possesses huge quantities of deadly VX nerve gas and a significant arsenal of Soviet-produced strategic missiles, including multiple SS-21 warheads capable of delivering the deadly gas to all portions of Israel. The use of such weapons against Israeli civilian centers would spark an Israeli non-conventional response—probably a nuclear one—as Israeli leaders have long made clear.
Thus, we could be on the verge of the fulfillment of a prophecy I have publicly spoken about since the mid-1980s, found in Isaiah 17. It details a future complete destruction of the city of Damascus and also great suffering in Israel, indicating an Israel-Syria conflict is being foretold. As many of you know, this is the opening scenario in my end time novel, THE END OF DAYS (beginning with Hizbullah strikes upon northern Israel), and is also detailed in my 2002 book ISRAEL IN CRISIS.
GOG AND MAGOG?
Some Christian and Jewish subscribers to my updates have suggested to me that we might instead be on the verge of the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 and 39, which describe a massive attempted invasion of Israel led by a great power to the “far north” of Israel, assisted by Persia (modern Iran) and other regional countries. I detailed in both books why I believe that will only occur towards the very end of the prophesied final climax of history known as the time of Jacob’s Troubles, or the Tribulation. I think Iran’s prophesied inclusion in that massive assault—which Ezekiel says will end with God’s miraculous intervention and Israel’s full salvation—may well be a result of something that could occur at this very period of time; either the destruction of Damascus alone, or that along with an Israeli military assault upon Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Obviously nobody but the Sovereign Lord knows for sure when these prophecies will be fulfilled, and so I remain very cautious about specific speculations. But it is clear to me and many others that all the ingredients for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy at least are now in active play. Whether world powers outside the region will once again intervene and bring about a halt to the escalating conflict or not remains to be seen. But it is quite evident that terror-weary Israeli leaders are determined to deal with the huge and ongoing Hizbullah threat once and for all at this time, and probably with the Hamas organization as well. This is bolstered by the fact that world opinion concerning such radical Muslim groups has significantly hardened since the 9/11 Al Qaida attacks upon America, followed by the Bali, Madrid, and London assaults, along with the horrendous Chechen Muslim school attack in Russia and the recent carnage in India.
Indeed, for all of the supposed ferocity of Israel’s assault upon targets in Lebanon over the past five days, the civilian casualty tool is still less than half those killed last week during the atrocious terrorist attacks in Bombay. On top of that, Israel does not deliberately target civilian targets, unlike its terrorist enemies. Still, I know many folks in Lebanon from my days working there, and am sorry for their current renewed suffering, as I am for those in the north of Israel where I lived (and slept in bomb shelters) for over three years. Prayer for all those concerned, and for regional leaders, is obviously urgently needed.
Speaking of prayer, I found myself breaking into deep tears during periods of prayer and intercession. At first, I did not fully understand why this was occurring, but then it began to dawn on me that we were probably on the verge of a major crisis, involving significant loss of life.