Shalom from Jerusalem,

2020 can easily be described as a year of great uncertainty – even for believers. For example, our God reigns (Psa. 24:1; 96:10; 103:19, et al), and He allowed the coronavirus to plague the world. Any believer thinking Satan did this, needs to reread the Scriptures from the beginning. The Adversary is not free to do whatever he wants, so why did God allow this plague at this time?

Also, the extension of Israeli sovereignty over 30% of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley was suspended in favor of peace treaties with various Arab Muslim nations. God does want to see Israel possess its possessions (Obad. 1:17), so why did He permit this to happen? Is it because for the first time since modern Israel has been restored there was a genuine hand of peace not just from Arab leaders, but their people as well? We're not sure, but one blessing from these treaties is the demise of the "land-for-peace" paradigm along with the lie that there cannot be peace until the Palestinian issue is resolved. And while the EU and UN still hold to this, America under Trump and many Arab nations do not.

Why is Israel judged so harshly by believers?

This is not just a 2020 issue, but one existing at least since 1967. It's silly, but many believers expect Israel to act like the only "Christian" nation in the world! Many criticized Israel for suspending the extension of its sovereignty, yet polls consistently show that most Israelis prefer peace treaties to extension of sovereignty. Who can blame them for that?

How many believers know what it is like to send off each of their sons and daughters to serve in the army, and each time they hug one good-bye they don't know if they will ever see them again? How many sat under falling Scud missiles day and night while a US President restrained Israel from responding? Or if families take a bus or go out to eat, how often have they prayed for God to prevent any terrorist from blowing them up? That is why this nation is willing to try almost anything for peace.

Also most Jews are not really familiar with the Old Testament (the Tanach). If religious, they follow the rabbinic traditions which are basically humanistic concepts overlaid on God's Word, and they do not see how precious Israel's land and people are to God.

We agree that we should not trade God's land for peace, yet to accuse Israel of betraying God when it doesn't even know Him yet is an indication of Christian arrogance against the natural branches (Rom. 11:24). Most Israelis are not yet born-again. It would be wisdom to judge them in that reality and not to expect them to live lives totally sold out to God – which most believers struggle to do after salvation.

Obviously, we would prefer real peace as well as the extension of sovereignty, but at this time a real, warm peace is being offered from both UAE and Bahrain, which also means that Saudi Arabia is behind this, and it is no surprise that most Israelis prefer the peace offered now.

Confess past sins – but do not forget present sins

Ministering in Germany and the UK, I have seen many German and British Christians who focus on confessing and asking forgiveness for the Holocaust and the betrayal of the Palestinian Mandate, yet seem ignorant of the current sins of their anti-Israel governments. The devil has trapped them in guilt for ancestral sins so that they often have no time or energy to plead with God about their current governments' actions in voting against Israel at the UN, increasing business dealings with Iran, pushing for the creation of a Palestinian State, and repeatedly rejecting Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Also, intercession is needed for how most British and German churches deal with Israel and the Jews today.

God's judgments on nations today are not only based on past, but also on current, sins (Isa. 60:12; Joel 3:1-2). Today's actions against Israel draw God's ire. Confessing past national sins against the Jewish people and Israel must be done, but if it ends there, leaving your nation without spiritual covering for its current actions against Israel, consider changing your focus and standing in the gap for your nation's acts today (Ezek. 22:30-31).

And the next American President will be….?

As of this writing, who the next US President will be is not clear. Trump was the most pro-Israel president to ever sit in the White House. Will a Biden administration return to Obama's anti-Israel policies? Will Israeli communities in its biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria then be seen as "illegal" after they were removed from that designation under Trump? Would Israel be forced into a "peace" with the Palestinians based on the pre-1967 "Auschwitz borders" – as former left-wing Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban once called them? Will the US rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal and help resurrect the terrorist regime in Tehran?

Only God knows the future, but if Biden becomes the next US president, expect to see an increase of the end-time chaos of which God's Word warns us (Isa. 13:6-13; 1 Thess. 5:1-6).

A warm peace between Israel and Arab nations

The normalization of relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, mediated by US President Trump, was welcomed with open arms by most Israelis. Following are some of the more interesting insights about this historic event.

Lahav Harkov said if Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu had a doctrine, it could be summed up as "Security first." Or as Bibi once said, "protecting 'life itself' comes before other matters." For Netanyahu today, this means "Iran, Iran and more Iran," and Iran is one of the major reasons for "the historic announcement of Israel's third-ever peace agreement with an Arab country," the UAE.

Iran is a major factor pushing Israel and Gulf States together. After former US President Obama signed a nuclear deal with Iran and world powers in 2015, "Israel began sharing intelligence with several Gulf States," who also felt threatened by Iran.

While working with Israel on security issues, "and after trust grew," they started cooperating in other areas as well. This is in line with Netanyahu saying that, "peace can come from other countries respecting Israel's strength and determination to stand up for itself against those who would seek its destruction."

Another part of Bibi's Doctrine is preference for the status quo with the Palestinians. He has been skeptical of big changes, "whether peace plans or sovereignty moves." While he "wanted the Trump peace plan to include Israel applying sovereignty" to its settlements, "he would only do it with American support." And when an opportunity of real peace with the UAE arose, he agreed to suspend extending sovereignty for now.

Political opponents "to his right, and settler leaders" were upset by this, yet he can "claim a victory" as he made peace with an important Arab nation, "and unlike former prime ministers Begin or Rabin" he did not "make any real concessions," other than suspending what Israel doesn't even have yet. "Normalization with UAE is a win for the Netanyahu Doctrine" L. Harkov, JP analysis, 13 Aug. 2020)

Benjamin Weil wrote, "For years, statesmen and diplomats… claimed it is impossible for Israel to reach a peace agreement with any Arab state without first" making peace with the Palestinians, which included trading land-for-peace, destroying settlements, dividing Jerusalem and creating a "Palestine". The idea that Israel could sign "a peace agreement with any" Middle East [ME] Arab nation before all of the above was done was considered insane. The treaty with the UAE proved this wrong.

A major benefit of this treaty is Israel allowing the UAE "future access to Mediterranean ports, thereby bypassing the need to send oil tankers" via the Straits of Hormuz, which is under daily Iranian threats. "UAE, the first domino to fall," B. Weil, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 14 Aug. 2020)

Israel Today's Ryan Jones wrote, "For decades the Palestinian nationalist cause held the interests of the rest of the Arab world hostage. Everything was seen through the lens of 'justice' for 'Palestine'…" While the UAE uses "the same rhetoric," saying their treaty with Israel saves "the two-state solution," yet Dr. A. Berko, a counter-terrorism expert, noted, "The Emirates did not slink into an agreement with Israel, but released themselves from the Palestinian 'occupation' of their national interests… [Arab states are] tired of waiting on the Palestinians to agree to some arrangement that doesn't include" Israel's destruction.

Jones says the UAE's decision is "more about regional stability, mutual economic benefit and allying against the Iranian threat than an act of service to the Palestinian cause." After all, by this, "the UAE abandoned all previous preconditions for peace set by the Arab world." Israeli settlements remain in place, Jerusalem is under Israeli control, and no one in Israel "is even entertaining the notion of a Palestinian 'right of return'…" "Israel-UAE Peace: Arabs drop yoke of the Palestinian cause," R. Jones, Israel Today, 14 Aug. 2020)

Raphael Ahren notes how upside-down the world is, as "The UAE and Bahrain are now less pro-Palestinian," than the EU. While many analysts say that Arab states just do not care about the Palestinians anymore, still "all Arab governments…stuck to their dogma and reiterated the need for a Palestinian state based on the 1967-lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a just solution to the refugee problem."

Yet the Israeli, UAE and Bahrain treaties are different. "They do not refer to the Arab Peace Initiative or previous UN Security Council [SC] resolutions. There are no '67-lines, no capital in East Jerusalem, no refugees. Even the concept of a 'two-state solution' … is entirely absent from the agreements, as is Israel's West Bank settlement enterprise." All this is a huge answer to many prayers.

Yet today the EU would not sign any "agreement with Israel," without stating "that it doesn't apply to the settlements." Even in welcoming the Israel-UAE agreement, the EU said it 'remains firm in its commitment to a negotiated and viable two-state solution built upon the internationally agreed parameters and international law'." "Agreements indicate UAE and Bahrain are now less pro-Palestinian than Europe," R. Ahren, TOI Analysis, 16 Sept. 2020)

As expected, the UN remains stuck in anti-Zionist mode. In September UNSC members rejected Trump's peace plan and called for "a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks based on the pre-'67 lines," while endorsing half-heartedly the peace deals Trump brokered between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

EU nations on the Security Council, Germany, Belgium, France and Estonia, plus Norway and Ireland who are about to be part of the UNSC in 2021, all agreed that, "The two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the future capital for both states, is the only way to ensure sustainable peace and stability in the region."

China and Germany backed a call "by Palestinian Authority [PA] President Abbas for an UN-convened" conference early next year "to resume talks with Israel, based on the pre-'67 lines." And Germany "demanded" that Israel trash all plans "to annex portions of the West Bank, cease settlement activity and the demolition of illegal Palestinian structures." That Germany still has the gall to demand anything of Israel is unbelievable. "UNSC members: Israeli-Palestinian talks must be based on pre-1967 lines," JP, Sept. 30, 2020)

After the peace treaty signing, Bret Stephens, an anti-Trump columnist at the NY Times, said, "those of us who are frequently hostile to" Netanyahu and Trump need to recognize when they have done something special, because "what happened between Israel and two former enemies is an honest triumph in a region, and in a year, that's known precious few." He said Trump "has done more for regional peace than most of his predecessors," and added "how wrong a half-century's worth of conventional wisdom has been," which had insisted that "solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains key to sustainable peace in the ME.'"

Stephens: "The rise and fall of ISIS, civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya, Turkey's aggression against the Kurds, proxy battles and hunger in Yemen, political turmoil and repression in Egypt and Iran, the bankruptcy of the Lebanese state, the plight of ME refugees – if any of these catastrophes have something in common, it's that they have next to nothing to do with the Jewish state or its policies." "Let us not abandon the sovereignty plan," Dr. J. Frager, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 16 Oct. 2020)

Arabs targeted by Palestinian hate

Israeli-Arab Muslim Khaled Abu Toameh is the writer of all the following reports revealing how Gulf State Arabs are now targets of Palestinian hatred over the treaties with Israel. The Gulf State Arab response is both eye-opening and game-changing. And while a majority of Arab citizens in the Gulf still see Israel unfavorably, it is the academics and influential citizens and politicians who are behind this normalization of relations with Israel.

In August, scenes of "Palestinians burning and trampling flags of the UAE" and pictures of its ruler, Crown Prince bin Zayed, ignited protests in many Arab nations, as their citizens accused "the Palestinians of ingratitude, treason and hypocrisy." These reactions are a "sign of the increased disillusionment" with the Palestinians, with more Arabs saying, "We are fed up with you and your cause." After giving you billions of dollars, "you have the arrogance to burn our flags and pictures of our leaders and hurl insults at us."

Emirati academic Dr. W. Yousef wrote on Twitter, "When I see the flag of my country being burned by some Palestinians because of the peace treaty with Israel – I apologize to every Israeli man if I offended him in the past… The happiness of the Israeli people with the peace agreement shocked me. I was not expecting it…"

Via social media, many UAE and Saudi Arabians expressed disgust with the Palestinians and their leaders. One Twitter user said Saudi Arabia and the UAE have given the Palestinians more than $20 billion over the past 40 years, while another added, "and in the end they cursed us and accused us" of betraying the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem and Palestine. Some Arabs even thanked Israeli police "who stopped Palestinians from burning UAE flags and photos of bin Zayed during Friday prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque." "Arabs are fed up with the 'Ungrateful' Palestinians," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 19 Aug. 2020

The Palestinians were outraged when the Arab League refused to condemn the Israeli-UAE agreement. One PA official said, "We thought the UAE was the only country that had stabbed us in the back." Yet now they see this rejection from other Arab nations as well. The PA's Arab League envoy wrote a response on Facebook: "We have dignity, martyrs, prisoners and refugee camps of glory and this is enough for us." "Palestinians: 'Our Arab brothers have abandoned us'," K. Abu Toameh, JP, 10 Sept. 2020)

The PA "recalled their ambassadors to the UAE and Bahrain in protest of the signing" of these treaties, and threatened to do the same with any Arab nation that establishes relations with Israel. These threats birthed more outrage, as Arabs reminded them "of the many opportunities they missed" by rejecting every peace initiative presented to them. One Saudi political analyst wrote, "They rejected the Egyptian and Jordan peace initiative, and they rejected US President Clinton's peace initiative [the 2000 Camp David summit]." Today, they reject "Trump's peace initiative and finally they reject the peace initiatives of the UAE and Bahrain."

Also an Egyptian journalist wrote that the PA erred greatly when they sided with "Qatar, Turkey and Iran against the moderate Arab states."

W. Yousef, an UAE Islamic cleric, tweeted to Palestinians and other Arabs who reject peace with Israel: "Israel did not destroy Syria; Israel did not burn Libya; Israel did not displace the people of Egypt; Israel did not destroy Libya, and Israel did not tear up Lebanon. Before you Arabs blame Israel, take a look at in the mirror. The problem is in you." "Arabs: 'Palestinians repeat the same mistakes'," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 21 Sept. 2020)

Another fruit of the Palestinian accusations is that thousands of Arabs, especially from the Gulf States, have not only cursed the Palestinians on social media, but also voiced "support for Israel, posting pictures of Israeli flags and video clips of Arabs praising the peace agreements…and greeting Israelis on Jewish holidays."

Much of the criticism of the PA leadership sounds so similar to what is on the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry," that some PA officials are calling their critics "Zionist Arabs."

PA President Abbas' strategy for dealing with this "increased isolation in the Arab world" was to again try to unite with Hamas. He is also reaching out to Turkey and Qatar. Abbas' attempted rapprochement with these three entities has backfired and drawn even stronger condemnations from Gulf States, as well as from Egypt, as many Egyptians and Gulf Arabs "loathe Turkey, Qatar," the Iranian-backed Hamas, and the Iranian mullahs. For them, "the friend of my enemy is my enemy," and that's how they now view the corrupt Palestinian leadership. "The final nail in Palestinian-Arab relations," K. Abu Toameh, JP Op-ed, 8 Oct. 2020)

Arik "Harris" Barbing, ex-head of Israel's counter-terrorism division for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, told the JP that Sunni Arab states seeking relations with Israel see Abbas as irrelevant, as today, the Arab world sees "relations with Israel" as more vital than the Palestinian issue. He said this "shift is based on 'the strategic situation in the ME'," with Iran being "the central threat. The conflict is Sunni versus Shi'ite. It is not just political, but also religious'…" Therefore, Sunni states choose to grow closer to Israel and the US.

Besides buying upgraded US weapons, the interest from Gulf nations in Israel includes "new cyber capabilities, technology, agricultural expertise" and foreign investment. All this is backed by a new generation of Arab leaders like Saudi's Crown Prince M. bin Salman. Harris continues, "…it helps that these countries have no actual land or concrete dispute with Israel beyond the vague commitment over the years to support the Palestinians."

Yet he cautions, if Biden wins the US election, all "the rules of the game could change, especially because the Israeli leadership has not hid its close ties to Trump." He thinks Biden would focus on the Palestinian issue again as "a key component of US policy in the region…" "Top ex-Shin Bet official: Arab states view Abbas as irrelevant." JP, 5 Oct. 2020) According to what we are hearing in Israel, this is exactly what a Biden presidency will do.

Saudi Arabia sides with Israel

Saudi citizens are also accusing Palestinian leaders of "financial corruption and the embezzlement of public funds." Journalist S. Al-Hothli sees these leaders as the problem. "The enemy of the Palestinian cause is not Israel, but… the disgraceful merchants of Palestine, who don't want the Palestinian issue to be resolved… Before you [leaders] criticize others…take a look at yourselves, your miserable situation and the condition of your people, whom you have destroyed." "Merchants of the Palestinian Issue'," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 11 Sept. 2020)

Saudi Prince bin Abdulaziz, a highly influential voice, blasted PA leaders in an Al-Arabiya TV interview, saying their "criticism of the peace agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain" was a "transgression" and "reprehensible discourse," adding that these leaders "always bet on the losing side, and that comes at a price."

PA officials view a possible Saudi agreement with Israel as a huge threat to their cause. "Palestinian leaders know that it's one thing to condemn…the UAE and Bahrain and another thing to come out against a large, powerful, influential country" like Saudi Arabia. As Palestinian political analyst N. Salhi said, the PA "leadership needs to be very cautious. If you lose Saudi Arabia, you've lost many Arab countries."

H. Arafat, a senior PLO official, warned that bin Abdulaziz's comments on an official Saudi TV channel, "reflects a negative development and change in the Saudi official position on the Palestinian issue and an explicit Saudi dissatisfaction with the Palestinian response to the normalization agreements…"

Arafat views that interview as a "strong indication of significant upcoming Saudi political steps towards normalization with Israel." It is also an open warning from Saudi to the PA leadership "to not utter a single word when the Saudis announce a normalization agreement with Israel." "The final nail in Palestinian-Arab relations," K. Abu Toameh, JP Op-ed, 8 Oct. 2020)

Anti-Semitism comes out of the "closet"

The insightful Seth J. Frantzman questions that Jew-hatred in America is mainly "due to people being uninformed and not understanding antisemitism," since the US has just "raised two generations very attuned to the importance of anti-racism and multiculturalism." For centuries, people recognized antisemitism and Jew-hatred. Referring to a real incident, when a celebrity posted on Facebook a quote from Hitler bashing Jews, and after criticism, he said he did not know it was anti-Semitic, and others agreed, Frantzman says this all "appears to be a way to excuse the rising racism in America that targets Jews."

How America deals with "different types of racism" is alarming, "especially in light of the intersectionality agenda that asserts that all racism and oppression is similar." Yet anti-Jewish hatred is not taken seriously. With anti-black racism, "spotlighted by the BLM protests, the reaction is unequivocal: Racism is wrong, and racists must be confronted and canceled." So old movies are banned, and anything seen "as excusing racism" is removed. But Jews are still "openly derided in the US," without much resistance.

Anti-Semitic rants and accusations in the US were once strongly condemned. Today, they are acceptable, as seen in the "increasing support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan." A Forbes article portrayed him as a "lightning rod in Black-Jewish relations for his long history of anti-Semitic comments that many Jews find offensive." This makes it seem "like Jews are the problem for being offended." Where was "the anti-racism movement" to stand up "against this Jew hatred?" A Twitter search shows the problem: Farrakhan's defenders "blame Jews for slavery," while claiming "that Africans are the real Jews and real Semites."

Historically, "antisemitism blamed Jews for being rootless and undermining European Christian society," yet today "American antisemitism attacks Jews for being white…allegedly responsible for US slavery and white supremacism. Whereas Nazism hated Jews for being nonwhite…in the US, Jews are increasingly singled out for being white…" "Has Farrakhanism become main stream in the US?" S. J. Frantzman, JP Op-ed, 13 July 2020)

God hatred is also out of the closet

In July, a "prominent Christian historian" saw the "destructive chaos" in America's streets as "rooted in a hatred of divine authority." Eric Metaxas, speaking with Fox News' T. Carlson in reference to recent attacks on churches and religious icons, said, "You saw this in the French Revolution. There was hatred at the bottom of it of God, of any kind of authority." Today people are "drunk on the idea that they can somehow be an authority themselves, that they can seize power." Their ultimate goal is not the tearing down of historical statues, but a rejection of God's right to rule over them. "That's really where the source of hatred is coming from. It's a hatred of God and a sense of deep injustice…"

He "blamed widespread biblical illiteracy among Christian leaders as the reason behind their unwillingness to take a stand against evil." Recalling David killing Goliath and Elijah mocking the prophets of Baal, Metaxas said, "There are many instances of Scripture where people fight," but today many "have a watered-down kind of Christianity," so that Trump offends them, because they "think that being nice is what it means to be a Christian'."

In 2009 Metaxas wrote a biography of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He brought up Bonhoeffer's stance against Nazi mobs wreaking havoc in Germany. "When Kristallnacht happened," the destruction of 267 synagogues, over 7,000 Jewish businesses, and more than 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps, Bonhoeffer knew this anti-Semitic attack was animated by an Antichrist spirit, that "these were not just political mobs," but that "this attack on synagogues was an attack on God himself." "Hatred of God lies at root of nationwide vandalism, Christian Historian says," Jon Brown, The Daily Wire, 14 July 2020)

Prophecy

BLM - anti-Israel?: In July, at a pro-Palestinian, pro-Black Lives Matters demonstration in Brooklyn, chants were heard mimicking Iran: "Death to Israel," "Death to America" and "From Gaza to Minnesota, globalize the Intifada!" Hundreds took part in this "Day of Rage" event against Israeli plans to "annex" parts of Judea and Samaria. One leader, seemingly a Palestinian, said, "We don't want a fake Palestinian state… We don't want to go just back to our homes in Gaza and the West Bank. We want all of it."

At a "Day of Rage" event in Washington, DC, demonstrators also linked BLM and the Palestinian cause, chanting "Israel, we know you, you murder children, too." "At Brooklyn pro-Palestine rally, calls to eliminate both Israel and US," TOI, 4 July 2020)

Iran's Zionist Christians: Israel Today reported that Iranians "who convert to Christianity…face discrimination, persecution and even torture." They are also being accused of "Zionism"! So Iran's Islamic authorities have linked "…faith in Jesus as Messiah with the Jewish hope of national restoration."

Recently, arrested Muslim converts were charged with being a member of "the church of Zionist Christianity," as well as other charges. "Christian Zionists in Iran?" Israel Today, 14 Sept. 2020)

Turkey's President Erdogan: He is an egotistical maniac that no one wants to confront, other than France's President Macron! At Turkey's parliament legislative session in October, Erdogan said, "Jerusalem is our city," linking his claim to the Ottoman Empire's rule over it from 1517-1917. He added that Jerusalem's walls and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount "were reconstructed and restored by Suleiman the Magnificent," who ruled over the Ottoman Empire [1520-1566]. Suleiman actually protected his Jewish subjects, and it is rumored that his mother was Jewish. "Erdogan: 'Jerusalem is our city, a city from us'," JP, 3 Oct. 2020)

In Revelation 2:13, Satan's throne is said to be in Pergamum, today in modern Turkey. Based on this, some think it is possible that the Anti-Christ comes out of Turkey. Only time will tell, but there is no doubt that Erdogan is ruled by an antichrist spirit today (1 John 2:18).

George Orwell, British novelist and critic, died in 1950, a year before "his classic dystopian novel 1984 was published." It accurately describes what we see in the West today. "It dealt with the consequences of a totalitarian government, mass surveillance, unending propaganda to distort the truth, and the suppression of freedom, including the freedom of thought. The totalitarian state, which is the heart of the story, perpetuates its rule by continuously spying on its citizens, systematically manipulating the truth, and rewriting history." Here are some of his more insightful quotes:

"The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it."

"Free speech is my right to say what you don't want to hear."

"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history."

"People will believe what the media tells them they believe."

"There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language."

"Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them."

"It's frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence."

"A society becomes totalitarian…when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud."

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." "Time to heed George Orwell's warning," Ken Abramowitz, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 16 Oct. 2020)

Sanctify them through Your truth; Your Word is truth.John 17:17

Chuck & Karen Cohen