Shalom friends,

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) said, "Politics is the art of the possible …A statesman… must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events; then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment." If we substitute a few key words, we get a great definition of intercession: Intercession is the art of the possible. An intercessor waits until he hears the steps of God sounding through events and then leaps up and grasps the hem of His garment – and is then led in those prayers that are in line with God's will (Amos 3:7).

Babel confusion to Shavuot unity

Men built the tower of Babel to avoid being spread out, because they wanted to live in unity, and through unity, to reach God's throne. God forbade this from His fallen creatures; He confounded their language, and scattered them across the earth.

On the first Shavuot [Pentecost] after Yeshua's resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell on 120 Messianic Jews who were worshipping Messiah in God's house in Jerusalem. God used their babel of languages – tongues – to tell of His wonderful works to the Jews from many different nations, adding another 3,000 Jews to the newly created Body of Messiah. He used what was at first a judgment – various languages to prevent anti-God unity – into His tool to make of the many one Body (Rom. 12:5).

In Messiah, even with our various opinions, we are one. Outside of Messiah there is no relationship with God, no covenants, no promises, no hope (Eph. 2:12), nothing but final destruction. We have the answer the world's existential question – which is Messiah and Him crucified – yet the world has turned so far from its Creator that it no longer knows how to ask the right question.

Signs of the times

Intercessors for Israel received a question from a brother who was "intrigued" by Chuck's statement in a Friday Prayer Alert that while we may not be sure of what God is doing at this exact time in history, we do see Him setting the stage for the return of His Son. He asked what we saw as "clear signs".

Chuck thanked him for mentioning "clear signs" because believers at times look for signs that occur in Scripture only once, or signs that are not clearly described, and then people have to guess whether this or that event is this or that "sign". Yet here are some clear signs in the world today:

1. The good news of Messiah Yeshua has gone from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth and today is returning from the ends of the earth to Zion (Matt. 24:14; Acts 1:7-8). 
2. Since 1885, the scattered Jews are being regathered from the ends of the earth in significant numbers (Isa. 43:5-7; Jer. 31:10). 
3. As Ezekiel 37:10 describes, out of the graves of the Holocaust, God is making out of Israel an exceedingly great army – the IDF (Isa. 41:14-16: Mic. 4:11-13).
4. As seen in the recent Gaza war, Jerusalem is still the main issue for Islam and the West, with no one except Jewish and Christian Zionists wanting Israel to possess it (Zech. 12:2-3; 14:1-4).
5. Gentile Christians are helping in Israel's restoration (Isa. 40:1-2; 49:22; 60:1-11; Jer. 31:6-7).
6. Israeli Jews are being saved and the Israeli Body is growing. That is important as Yeshua said that He would not return until He hears from Jerusalem, His chosen city, the proclamation, Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH! (Matt. 23:39). 
7. Exactly when He will come is anyone's guess, but the greatest sign is that all these signs are happening! Come, Lord Yeshua! (Rev. 22:17-21)

Prophetic news

Anti-God: How far has the US government moved from a godly path? NY's Democratic congressman, Jerry Nadler, overseeing a meeting to discuss the controversial Equality Act, told another congressman who dared to reference the Bible in speaking against this Act, "God's will is of no concern of this Congress." ("'God's will is no concern of this Congress': NY Dem Nadler rejects God during debate over Equality Act," Faithwire, 5 Mar. 2021)

Anti-Bible: UK Columnist Melanie Phillips' description of what she sees in the West today lines up with how Paul described the last days (See 2 Tim. 3:1-13): "…Western values are under unprecedented and ferocious assault," as conservatives are "silenced by liberals intoxicated with their own cultural power…And, of course, bigotry against Jews and Israel is rampant." She says this "reversal of truth and falsehoods, justice and injustice, victim and victimizer has been accelerating over several decades." Compare that to Isaiah 5:20-23.

Phillips sees the key to understand the "onslaught against the West…is Jewish values. Although Christianity embedded those values in Western culture, it is the Mosaic codes themselves that are in the crosshairs of those" who are intent upon destroying justice, truth, sexual continence and unraveling biological identity." The Bible's morals are rejected "in favor of universalizing ideologies, such as moral and cultural relativism," which replace the idea "of objective truth with subjective opinion," so that what is right or true is "what is right or true for me." Without objective truth, there are no lies. "That's one reason why even verifiable factual evidence doesn't dent the blind certainty of the Israel-haters."

All these ideologies replacing Biblical truths end up being anti-Jewish and anti-Israel. "Moral relativism denies the moral codes in the Mosaic Law…Environmentalism, which denies the superiority of humankind over the natural world, devalues humanity in favor of the planet. Materialism, or the belief that everything in the universe has a material explanation, denies the existence of God. Transnationalism dismisses the importance of the individual nation with its particular culture and laws, which is the very essence of Judaism…" ("Meghan Markle & the Jewish question," M. Phillips, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 14 Mar. 2021)

Dennis Prager also views "the current civil war" in the West as between Judeo-Christian values and the radical Left which reject those values. Judaism and Christianity are both based on the Old Testament, and while "Christians also believe in the NT," only an enemy of Christianity "would argue that the NT negates the values of the Old."

He lists these values: "Objective moral standards come from God… if there is no God who declares murder wrong, murder can be subjectively wrong, but not objectively wrong." If nonbelievers hold murder, stealing, or other deeds wrong, but not based on God's laws, their views are opinions and not moral facts. "Without the God of the Bible, there are no moral facts."

"God judges our behavior," so we are accountable to Him for how we act.

"Just as morality derives from God, so do rights…"

Human beings are "uniquely precious," as only we "are created in God's image."

"The world is based on a divine order," with "divinely ordained distinctions," such as, "God and man, man and woman, human and animal, good and evil, and nature and God."

"Human beings are not basically good…Religious Jews and Christians understand that the greatest battle in life is with one's nature…" And because humans are not intrinsically good, "we must not trust our hearts to lead us to proper behavior … Feelings make us human, but they cannot direct our lives. This alone divides the Bible-based from those on the Left."

"All human beings are created in God's image. Therefore, race is of no significance…"

"Fear of God is a foundation of morality…" In most of the West today "people fear the print, electronic, and social media" more than they fear God. [We see this as an issue in the Church as well.]

"Human beings have free will. In the secular world, there is no free will because all human behavior is attributed to genes and environment. Only a religious worldview, which posits the existence of a divine soul, something independent of genes and environment, allows for free will."

Prager concludes, "When Judeo-Christian principles are abandoned, evil eventually ensues …When Christianity died in Europe, we got communism, fascism, and Nazism. What will we get in America…?" ("The American Civil War is over Judeo-Christian values," D. Prager, The Daily Wire, 3 Apr. 2021)

The path of the Anti-Christ's rise revealed? Hoover Institution fellow Niall Ferguson, a notable historian, warned in a TV interview that society is applying "religious feelings to political figures and ideologies," in the same way that religions have to their gods. "We are dealing not just with the decay of traditional religion, but far worse, the rise of new fake religions, political religions…"

The 20th century proves "that when people take their religious feelings and apply them to political ideologies, terrible things can happen." Karl Marx was seen as "a prophet and Marxism is a kind of religion," and most faithful Nazis viewed Hitler as the "redeemer of the German nation…" ("Organized religion 'decays' as political ideologies are increasingly viewed in a religious light", N. Ferguson, Fox News, 14 June 2021)

Zechariah 12:2-3: Israel Today reported on "a statement that set off prophetic alarm bells for many Christians and Jews," as Turkey's President Erdogan urged Pope Francis to join forces against Israel. Erdogan, who sees himself as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, sees the Pope as Christianity's leader, and told the Pope in a phone call, "All of humanity should be united against Israel." ("All of humanity should be united against Israel!" Israel Today, 18 May 2021)

Operation Guardians of the Walls

This was the name of the recent war between the terrorists ruling Gaza and Israel. Here is a Facebook post by our son Michael: "Here's a thought exercise for anyone who thinks Israel's response to the Hamas rocket barrage is 'disproportionate': Imagine what the last 48 hours would have looked like without the Iron Dome: 1,000+ rockets indiscriminately exploding all across the coastal metropolitan area.

"That's what the terrorists wanted to happen. That's what they tried to make happen. Just because Israel has the means to effectively defend herself from such attacks, doesn't mean that said attacks should be ignored. A proportional response would not be one that is in relation to the 3-5 rockets that got through, but in relation to the 1,000 rockets the terrorists attacked us with."

Much of the world screamed at Israel's audacity to defend its civilians by hitting back at Hamas in Gaza even though they purposely embedded themselves and their missiles among their civilians. Ex-UK Army Commander and former head of the UK's international terrorism team, Col. Richard Kemp, wrote, "Hamas is no match for the IDF and could be quickly and much more cheaply defeated by blunt and crushing military force" except that Israel tries to minimize civilian deaths. Hamas knowing this, attacks Israeli population centers, hoping that the IDF counterattacks kill Gazan civilians, which results in Israel being vilified by the world. "With human shields as the fundamental element of every operation, Hamas is the first 'army' in history to use the lives of their own civilian population as weapons of war." ("Trumpets & tank engines: A turning point in Gaza?" R. Kemp, Gatestone Institute, 16 May 2021)

David Weinberg quoted from Charles Krauthammer who in 2014 wrote, "To deliberately wage war so that your own people can be telegenically killed is…moral and tactical insanity. But it rests on a very rational premise: Given the Orwellian state of the world's treatment of Israel, fueled by a mix of classic antisemitism, near-total historical ignorance, and reflexive sympathy for the ostensible Third-World underdog," pictures of Palestinian civilian casualties "undermine support for Israel's legitimacy and right to self-defense. In a world of such Kafkaesque ethical inversions, the depravity of Hamas begins to make sense. The whole point is to draw Israeli counter-fire; to produce dead Palestinians for international television."

Yet Western leaders actually buy into Hamas' "genocidal agenda" and war crimes, accepting its "exploitation of its own people's blood…" They say they are "concerned for Palestinian rights," while ignoring Hamas' deadly assault against Israel, disregarding its anti-Semitic propaganda, and overlooking its backing from Iran?

The world barely acknowledged Hamas' launching of more than 4,000 rockets on Israeli civilians, which if not for "Israel's rigorous civil defense and extensive and expensive anti-missile defense systems," would have killed multitudes. But they still complain that the death toll is "disproportionate," which must mean not enough Israelis were "killed to justify Israel's military counter strikes on Hamas. How many Israelis must die for the sake of immoral symmetry and ersatz Western scruples?"

Western intellectuals accept "Palestinian 'Days of Rage'," riots and missiles fired on the Jewish State as if temper tantrums, but don't expect "responsible and reasonable behavior," as normal for them. "This is the soft bigotry of low expectations for Palestinians, which is the counterpart of hard bigotry for impeccable-impossible demands on Israel."

"Golda Meir once said, 'We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us'. To this I [Weinberg] add that Israelis can forgive the world for promoting Palestinian rights. We cannot forgive the world for allowing Palestinians to believe Israel will always get blamed no matter the provocation. There will be peace only when global actors love truth more than they prefer bashing Israel…" ("The global criticism of Israel against Gaza is galling," D. M. Weinberg, JP Op-ed, 20 May 2021)

JP's Herb Keinon wrote that after the war, calls to renew the "two-state solution as the only way to solve this intractable problem," will be heard. While most Israelis do not see this as remotely possible in "the foreseeable future," still Israel will hear, "Just create a Palestinian state and put an end to all this already."

He says, "Beyond the naive simplicity of it all (as if Hamas will be satisfied with a reality in which Israel exists at all), it also overlooks the Israeli psyche…and how events that traumatize the country…are not simply erased or forgotten when they end."

The 2nd Intifada started in Sept. 2000 and lasted for five years, impacted every Israeli with its "mind-numbing terrorism." The nation was never the same. Many of Israel's friends are upset over "the rightward lurch of Israeli politics" since then, asking how Israel went from left-wing, to right-wing governments. "Reality intervened. A tough and often brutal reality that forced people to adjust their view of reality, to reassess what they thought was and was not possible." The recent Gaza war was another dose of brutal reality which will impact the Israeli psyche for years. ("Factoring in the Israeli psyche when rockets stop falling from Gaza," H. Keinon, JP analysis, 15 May 2021)

Hamas' founding charter

Dror Eydar noted that as soon as "Israel went on the offensive," attacking Hamas' military bases, headquarters, rocket stockpiles, launchers, and its tunnel network, nations told Israel to cease its fire and talk with Hamas. "If only western rationalism were the basis for political and diplomatic conduct in our region," that might work, but Hamas' worldview is "completely different," as its 1988 founding charter reveals. It is Hamas' "most important ideological document. Its leaders declare their full commitment to the charter, and stress that the movement will not change a word of it."

It opens with Hamas' slogan: "Allah is its goal, the Prophet is its model, the Quran its constitution: Jihad [holy war] is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes."

Hamas is a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and quotes from their founder al-Banna: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

Hamas' main goals are declared to be to destroy the state of Israel, to kill all Jews worldwide, and to not give up one inch of "Palestine" which to them is from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. They also state that any attempt at peace with Israel is anti-Allah as the only "solution for the Palestinian question" is jihad.

Hamas says peace and quiet for Christians and Jews is only possible "under the wings of Islam" – as dhimmis – second class citizens. For all other religions, their adherents either convert to Islam or they will be slaughtered. ("To understand Hamas, look at its manifesto," D. Eydar, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 18 May 2021)

Jerusalem – the end time focus

Some believers tend to forget that the destination of the Lord's return is Jerusalem. And because it is, the enemy always tries to wrest this city away from Israel. The war over Jerusalem will increase until the day of His return, and so especially those of us privileged to live in it, often cry out, "Baruch haba b'shem Adonai!" (Matt. 23:39)

Once the war with Hamas was over, Hamas' leader Haniyeh said they will continue to "defend" Jerusalem, and liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque – that is, all of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Hamas' name for this war was the "Sword of Jerusalem". 

Haniyeh unintentionally agreed with the Bible, saying, "Jerusalem remains the center of the conflict." He added that the rocket fire from Gaza, the riots on the Temple Mount, and elsewhere were all focused on defending Jerusalem. ("Hamas' Haniyeh vows to destabilize Jerusalem, thanks Iran for support,'' JP, 22 May 2021)

In another speech he said, "This battle defeated the illusions of negotiations, defeated the deal of the century … defeated the settlement projects, defeated the projects of coexistence with the Zionist occupation, defeated the projects of normalizing [relations] with the Zionist occupation," the last referring to the Abraham Accords between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. He also added that "Jerusalem is the axis of conflict." ("…Hamas 'victory' reversed trend of Arab normalization with Israel," Israel Hayom, 23 May 2021)

After the war, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah said, "'violating' holy sites in Jerusalem differs from any other matter," as he called for Muslims to agree that any violation of Jerusalem by the Jews will lead to a regional war resulting in "Israel's destruction." ("IDF: Nasrallah tried to threaten Israel, looked weak and sick instead, JP, 25 May 2021)

Arabs mock Hamas and expose Iran

We often quote from Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli-Arab Muslim who speaks the truth and is not politically correct. He reported that many Arabs mocked Hamas' claim to have won the latest war, and called them out "for lying to the Palestinians and the rest of the world." They held "Hamas responsible for the massive destruction" and loss of innocent lives of Palestinians and Israelis – all to serve Iran's interests.

When Gulf Arab journalist A. Taha was asked if Hamas had won a victory, he replied, "Does victory mean the use of women and children as human shields? Does victory mean the death of 269 Palestinians and the injury of 8,900 in the Gaza Strip?" He added that hundreds of Hamas' rockets fell in Gaza, killing women and children, and concluded that Hamas leaders' won, but the people lost.

Emirati journalist M. Taqi declared via Twitter: "[Allah's] curse be on all who exploited the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Palestinian issue and people in return for personal glory and money… [Allah's] curse be on the traitors who sold the Palestinian issue to give it on a silver platter to the mullahs of Iran."

Moroccan political analyst S. Al-Kahel said Hamas doesn't want "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to end," as it produces wealth for its leaders. Hamas serves Iran, getting money and weapons from it, therefore whatever the outcome, Hamas will claim "victory, even if it celebrates it among the ruins and coffins."

Saudi political analyst, A.R, Altrairi, "also scoffed at Hamas' claim that it won the war," and recalled how Iran's Lebanese proxy Hezbollah "declared victory over Israel after causing massive destruction to Lebanon's infrastructure during the 2006 war…" He warned any Westerners who are trying to appease Iran that the Iranian regime is "responsible for 'destruction and corruption' in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen." He added that "one of Iran's goals during the recent Gaza war was to destroy the peace treaties between Israel and some Arab countries," and to "reposition Israel as an enemy of the Arabs."

Emirati preacher Dr. W. Yousef scorched Hamas, saying "Hamas fired rockets from people's homes," and made Gaza "a cemetery for innocent people and children…" ("Arabs: Hamas & Iran turned Gaza into cemetery for children," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 7 June 2021)

Iran's negative impact on the ME

Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the UN Security Council, "Iran's relentless attempts to acquire military nuclear capabilities, its terrorist proxies that… destabilize the region and its grave human rights violations" are the most dangerous "threat to peace and security in the ME." Yet, he added, the council ignores Iran and wastes time "recycling useless discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…"

Erdan said that reentering the Iran nuclear deal is a deadly error, as "the fanatical Ayatollahs will use sanction relief to fund their terrorist activities and continue to secretly develop their military nuclear program." And once the agreement expires in 2030, "they will have international legitimacy to have 1000s of advanced centrifuges enriching uranium and their breakout time will be almost down to zero…

"For Israel, Iran poses an existential threat. That is why we will not see ourselves bound by any agreement that does not fully address the threat against the existence of the State of Israel." ("We're not bound by deal that doesn't address existential threat," Arutz 7, 22 Apr. 2021)

In an interview, R. Grossi, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency's chief, dared to say what none of his predecessors said about Iran: "A country that enriches uranium to 60% purity is… striving toward a nuclear weapon." ("The Iranian nuclear genie is already out of the bottle," Oded Granot, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 27 May 2021)

Abu Toameh said Iran exploits "the Palestinian issue to promote its expansionist schemes in the ME," even as it conducts "indirect negotiations with the US administration in Vienna on reviving the 2015 'Iran nuclear deal'," which, by the way, Iran never signed. EU diplomats talking with Iran "seem oblivious to the growing concern in the Arab world over Tehran's support for terrorism and its ongoing intervention in the internal affairs of several Arab countries."

Many Arabs mock Iran for presenting itself as the defender of the Palestinians and Jerusalem. On social media they ask, "How can those who have killed and displaced millions of Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese and Yemenis help the Palestinians?" Would Iran liberate Jerusalem and "give it to the Palestinians," or would it "add it to the group of Arab capitals it occupies, such as Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut and Sana'a…?"

Some Arabs even "prefer keeping Jerusalem under Israeli control," as one said, "Look at the capitals occupied by Iran: Baghdad has become, according to the UN, the dirtiest capital in the world and Beirut has become the largest dumpster in the ME. As for Damascus, it turned into a ruin, while Sana'a returned to the Middle Ages."

Abu Toameh: "The Arabs who are mocking Iran and exposing its malign behavior" are trying to warn the West "that appeasing Iran by reviving the nuclear deal, lifting sanctions or giving it money will only assist its regime in perpetrating more crimes and increasing instability and terrorism in the region." ("The poisonous fruit of appeasing Iran's Mullahs," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 9 June 2021)

During and after the Gaza war, "a growing number of non-Jewish Iranian activists, journalists" and people inside and outside of Iran, became openly pro-Israel. One Iranian journalist A. Batebi said, "I support Israel because it's the only country in the ME that provides equal rights and opportunities to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. As Iranians, our hearts break whenever we see the death of an innocent Palestinian or Israeli child. But we know Israel does not intentionally seek to harm these children and only a sick terrorist group like Hamas uses them as human shields."

Batebi and other anti-regime activists are furious that Iran's wealth has gone to support Hamas and other terrorists for decades, while the average Iranian suffers. "Enough is enough! The money that could be used to put food in the mouths of Iran's children shouldn't be given to these Palestinian murderers and terrorists."

The National Union for Democracy in Iran's C. Khansarinia, an anti-regime group in the US, said Iranians often chant in protests, "Syria and Palestine are the cause of our problems!"

Opposition activist M. Memarsadeghi, also in the US, said most Iranians reject the "regime's 42-year, anti-Israel propaganda" and view Israel as "a beacon of freedom, peace and economic opportunities in the region that they desire for themselves."

Other ex-pat Iranians backed "Israel because of its culture of promoting tolerance and long-standing friendships they have enjoyed with Jews," which they trace back to "the ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great." ("Iranian opposition activists back Israel in latest round of violence," Israel Hayom, 21 May 2021)

Biden's America & Israel

The US-Israeli relationship is more precarious under Biden than it was under Trump. In March, Biden's Interim National Security Strategic Guidance document was released. The section on the ME said, "[We] will maintain our ironclad commitment to Israel's security, while seeking to further its integration with its neighbors and resuming our role as promoter of a viable two-state solution." The "two-state solution" between Israel and the Palestinians is unbiblical and will drive America into God's Valley of Judgment (Joel 3:1-2).

It continued, "[We] do not believe military force is the answer to the region's challenges, and we will not give our partners in the ME a blank check to pursue policies at odds with American interests and values." ("White House policy: No 'blank check' for Israel," Arutz 7, 5 Mar. 2021) So Israel and Arab nations must toe the US "democratic" line – according to the Democrats and Biden – or the US will take its toys and go home?

Before his first official ME visit, US Secretary of State Blinken "reaffirmed support for a two-state solution as the only way to provide hope to Israelis and Palestinians…" Yet the revival of this so-called "solution" comes as Hamas' popularity has skyrocketed, and PA President Abbas' popularity has plummeted.

After the Gaza war, Palestinians in Judea and Samaria held rallies, waved Hamas flags and praised Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, "for targeting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities…" On the Temple Mount, thousands demonstrated, and chanted, "We are the men of Mohammed Deif!" He is the head of Hamas' military wing, and is "Israel's most wanted terrorist…"

At some rallies, Abbas was denounced as a "traitor," a "US agent" and an "Israeli collaborator". Abu Toameh asked if Biden expected "Abbas to work toward establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel" while he is "besieged by his people because of his supposed belief in peace with Israel"? What does the US think Abbas can do "when he cannot even visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, home to nearly two million Palestinians"? It is only as "Israel maintains overall security control" in Judea and Samaria that Abbas is safe, as only Israel's presence keeps him in power and prevents Hamas from taking over.

A recent poll showed 57% of Palestinians oppose "the two-state solution". Another 57% "support the 'armed struggle' and 'popular resistance' against Israel." How can Blinken even think about "peace" when the ordinary Palestinian holds "profound anti-Israel sentiments" and strongly supports "Iran's proxies and others who wish to wipe Israel off the map"? ("The Palestinian voices Blinken won't hear," K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 24 May 2021)

Oded Revivi, Mayor of Efrat, criticized the Biden administration's slant on the Gaza war. For example, White House spokesperson J. Psaki said, "We have serious concerns about…the expulsion of Muslims from their homes," in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, "and we also condemn the launching of rockets into Israel."

Revivi said comparing "legal proceedings taking place in a court of law" with firing of missiles at civilians is "outrageous" and "morally repugnant". And when a US State Department spokesman said America "condemns the rocket barrages, supports Israel's right to defend itself, and calls on all parties to restore calm," that just "continued the moral relativism" which blames both sides for the violence.

This "both sides-ism" is a gift to Iran and Hamas who see "that Israel no longer enjoys the same American political support that helped keep the peace in recent years." Under Trump, "Israel's adversaries knew that the US stood with Israel and that the Jewish state would have firm political and diplomatic support if attacked. They certainly don't think that way now." ("Blinken needs to be clear during his visit to Jerusalem," O. Revivi, JP Op-ed, 25 May 2021)

ME Arab Bassam Tawil said the Biden administration's asking "Congress to allocate $75 million in aid to the Palestinians," and their intention to reopen a Consulate in Jerusalem, which was "a de facto embassy" between the US and the PA, sends "the wrong message" to Palestinian leaders, as in reality, both Hamas and the PA have the same goal: "the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Islamic state." They only differ on how to achieve it – diplomatically or via jihad – but neither have "the slightest interest in any kind of peace with Israel."

So how will Palestinians view Biden's plans? "If you fire 4,000 rockets and missiles at Israel, you get a US consulate in Jerusalem and millions of dollars of US taxpayer money. It works!" ("Biden Administration rewards terrorists: Abbas & Hamas," B. Tawil, Gatestone Institute, 1 June 2021)

The current explosion of antisemitism

God is so zealous to gather His scattered people that He is even willing to send hunters to drive them home (Jer. 16:16). And if we are in the last days then a rise in anti-Semitic activity should be expected as most Jews in the West are too comfortable and so unwilling to return.

Michael Freund said that only the willfully blind can ignore the rise of American anti-Semitism; "a cold, hard look at the facts," leads to the inevitable conclusion that hatred of Jews is exploding "across the civic and social horizons of America, seeping into everything from politics to popular culture. It is time to be worried…"

In late 2020, the "FBI released its annual report on hate crimes" in America, and while 20.1% of hate-crimes "in 2019 were religiously motivated," over 60% targeted Jews, a 14% increase over 2018. "Jews barely account for 2% of the US population," yet they are targeted 6 out of every 10 religiously-linked hate-crimes.  

These statistics represent only incidents that are reported. There are "reasons to believe that the…extent of anti-Jewish acts," is far worse. Before the FBI report, "the American Jewish Committee issued its first-ever State of Anti-Semitism in America," exposing how bad things really are, as "76% of Jews who were on the receiving end of anti-Semitic verbiage or violence" did not report it. So the full extent of antisemitism is much worse than many believe.

Another very troubling aspect is that unlike "other forms of bigotry against ethnic or religious groups, which are usually confined to one side or the other of the political spectrum, antisemitism is a great unifier in that both left-wing and right-wing extremists deploy it with glee." While they disagree on almost everything else, white nationalists and black supremacists both hate the Jews, making antisemitism "the most combustible form of hatred out there…" Add in the lukewarm "reaction with which antisemitism is often greeted by the larger population as compared to other forms of bigotry, and you have the makings of potential calamity…

"If Jewish history is any guide, then what the future may hold for American Jews is hardly encouraging." They can deceive themselves, thinking America is different, that it is the one place in all of the almost 2,000 year Exile which is the exception. "But if the storm clouds on the horizon are any indication, it may be time for American Jews to start rethinking their prospects, before it is too late." ("Why it's time to face the grim facts on rising antisemitism in the US," M. Freund, JP Op-ed, 22 Apr. 2021)

A JP editorial on the "wave of anti-Jewish attacks in Western countries" as Israel defended itself against Hamas rockets, said "scenes of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, some masked and waving Palestinian flags while shouting abuse at Jews, including the call to rape Jewish daughters, conjure up images of Islamic State with their flags and threats." These demonstrations show that Western "governments have not taken rising militant antisemitism seriously. It also shows that the left-leaning 'pro-peace' groups that claim to oppose racism often never condemn or do anything about violence perpetrated against Jews."

Incredibly, most of the West's mainstream media ignored these attacks, something that would never happen with anti-Islamic or anti-gay assaults. ("Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza sparks antisemitism abroad," JP Editorial, 20 May 2021) 

Melanie Phillips says these attacks against Jews in Israel and worldwide are "far more momentous than many may realize." European demonstrators screamed for Israel's destruction, chanting the "army of Mohammed" is ready "to slaughter the Jews." Britain reported "a five-fold increase in anti-Semitic incidents" at that time. These events show that "the Palestinian Arab war against Israel has been reframed as a war against the Jews."

While most public attacks were "perpetrated by Muslims," they were supported by the "extreme hostility to Israel from Western 'progressives'." There was "twisted reporting, distortions and blood libels" in the media, and outrage from many people that not enough Israelis died "to justify military action to stop thousands of incoming rockets;" there was also a dismissal of IDF warnings to Gazan civilians "of impending rocket strikes;" and a "satisfaction" which was evident with all Israeli military action against the Palestinians in order to save Israeli lives, which was twisted to be seen as proof of Israel's moral depravity. "It's impossible to avoid the conclusion that the explanation for this otherwise inexplicable perversity towards the Jewish state is a desire to denounce Jews simply because they are Jews."

In both the Muslim world and the liberal West, anti-Jewish animosity "has deep roots in both Nazism and the Holocaust. With the West demoralized after the Holocaust took place in the epicenter of European high culture, left-wing thinkers urged a total repudiation of the nation-state and core Western values as fundamentally unjust and discriminatory. This led, in turn, to the dogma that Israel was a colonial and illegitimate enterprise, Zionism was racism, and the Jews had no right to self-determination."

Among Muslims, "Jew-hatred is rooted in Islamic theology" which was given a boost in the early 1900s by the birth of "politicized Islam, whose foundational thinkers drew upon both communism and Nazism."

Thus the war against Western civilization and the Jews is actually "unfinished business." But unlike WW II, when fascists in the West were seen as traitors, today they "march on the streets" of major Western cities "arm in arm with those pledged to Islamic holy war against the Jews and the rest of the 'infidel' world." ("The last, overlooked but still active front of WW II," M. Phillips, Arutz 7, 21 May 2021)

Douglas Altabef who leads Im Tirtzu, Israel's largest grassroots Zionist organization, wrote, "All attacks on any groups are heinous; however, anyone with historical antennae understands that attacks on Jews carry an especially ominous portent." He recalled what Mark Twain said more than 150 years ago, that "you can tell a lot about the health of a society by the way they treat their Jews."

So any eruption of Jew-hatred "has the potential to spread, intensify and morph into an existential threat to the host society." Jew-hatred is a "sign that a society is in trouble; that it has lost its moral and, very likely, its legal moorings," and, we would add, it is setting itself up for God's judgment (Gen. 12:3a; Num. 24:9b).

It was interesting to see that, "while much of the hateful antipathy" was aimed at Israel, Israel was "hardly affected." Israelis were horrified at the violence that was perpetrated on Jews in exile, and it makes them more determined to defend Israel, as they see how essential "Israel is to the survival of the Jewish People." (A Jew is a Jew is a Jew: What rising antisemitism is teaching the diaspora," D. Altabef, JP Op-ed, 29 May 2021)

Thus says YHWH of hosts, 'I was jealous [+zealous] for Zion with great jealousy [+zeal],
and I was jealous [+zealous] for her with great fury'.
"Thus says YHWH, 'I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem:
and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth;
and the mountain of YHWH of hosts – the holy mountain'.Zech. 8:2-3