Emergency Alert

This is an emergency prayer alert and will remain in effect until the Israeli elections (10 February) are over. In SOS #81 we warned to Watch and Pray now as a situation develops we need to pray proactively. Let us pray that the Lord deals with these dangers before they develop a life of their own. We must pray both strategically and tactically.

Developments in the new Obama administration in the USA may have a profound and very dangerous impact on Israel and the upcoming elections. There are indications that the new National Security Advisor (NSA) to President Obama will be General James Jones who has been Condoleezza Rice's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian security issues. He is not considered a friend of Israel. On the contrary, he supports the deployment of an international force in Judea and Samaria instead of the Israel Defense Forces. He also opposes Israel's demand to retain extensive security control over the territories even after a Palestinian state is established, and is against Israel's retaining the Jordan Valley as a security barrier.

The American National Security Advisor is headquartered in the White House and has constant contact with the President. At times this position has more influence than that of either the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense. Two of Obama's foreign policy advisors have been Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, neither of whom have been friends of Israel, but have called for much American pressure to be placed upon Israel to surrender to Palestinian/Arab demands. Scowcroft was NSA to President Ford and Brzezinski NSA to Carter. They advocate Israel's return to the 1967 armistice lines and a divided Jerusalem among other things. They have just published a joint paper concerning this issue and call upon Obama to make the Israeli - Palestinian conflict his first foreign policy agenda.

Mohammed Abbas, the Palestinian President, has called upon Obama to make the Saudi "peace plan" his policy ASAP. This Saudi plan calls not only for Israel's retreating to the 1967 lines, leaving the Golan and dividing Jerusalem, but also a return of Palestinians who fled Israel in 1948/1967 and their offspring. This is a diplomatic recipe for the destruction of Israel. At the same time, not only America, but the whole world is looking to Saudi Arabia to keep the price of oil down and even to lend money to the western world. This gives the Saudis enormous political leverage.

The danger in this is two fold. One is the obvious pressure that will quickly come upon Israel to surrender vital security assets to please the Americans (and others) for no benefit. This will only weaken Israel and make her survival more costly. It will also put us on another collision course with God if we agree to divide up His Land.

For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

Joel 3:1-2

The other danger is that it will be an attempt at gross manipulation of the coming Israeli elections. The Kadima Party, led by Foreign Minister Zippi Livni, is already saying that Livni will be able to cooperate with Obama, while Netanyahu will only be adversarial and make relations with the USA weaker and more difficult. As most Israelis look to the arm of flesh of the USA as an indispensable pillar of Israel's survival, this could swing the election to Kadima with disastrous results.

In truth, if Obama does choose to pressure Israel in the aforementioned manner, we must have a Prime Minister and government that can and will stand up to the pressure and say "NO." While there is no guarantee that Netanyahu will have the courage and perseverance to stay that course, he will certainly try, while Livni will cave in to the pressure before she is even asked to do so. Hopefully, Netanyahu will have in his cabinet men like Benny Begin and Moshe Ya'alon who will not be willing to abandon Israel's needs in order to please the Americans.

At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's National Security Council is about to release a report calling for Israel to abandon the Golan Heights in return for "peace" with Syria. Even if this were a real peace it would be contrary to God's warning to us in Joel 3:1 - 2. In reality, Syria is not about to abandon its relationships with Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas, and the other Palestinian terror groups headquartered in Damascus. Syria will take the same position that the Palestinians have done: Israel will give and Syria will take and give nothing in return.

Please keep in mind that this Israeli report will be submitted by the same Israeli Military Intelligence that was not prepared for the Second Lebanon War and refused to accept the clear indications that Egypt and Syria were preparing for war (the Yom Kippur War of 1973), because their "understanding" of both Egypt and Syria precluded the possibility that they would go to war against us. That arrogant mind set in 1973 cost Israel dearly. The Second Lebanon War should have also confirmed to the IDF that in order to defend and protect Israel we need to hold the ground that will make that possible.

Also in relation to the upcoming Israeli elections, a recent report claims that one half of all Israel voters under the age of 35 will not vote because of their lack of faith in our politicians. In the last elections, this is the group that sent the Pensioners Party to the Knesset with laughable results. We must pray that this group and all the Israeli electorate will understand the exceedingly dangerous situation that Israel is facing and vote, not in protest, but for the Party that will best be able to understand the times we are in and what Israel should do. of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command (1 Chronicles 12:32).

Pray for:

• The Lord to keep Obama and his team occupied with the economy, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq, rather than Israel and the Palestinians.

• The Lord to protect Israel from attempts by America to manipulate the Israeli elections.

• Netanyahu and the Likud to have an overwhelming victory on 10 February.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24 - 26)