Shalom friends,

While living in Israel is very hard, it is also one of the best things I have ever done because God by His grace has enabled me to stay here, to face the various modern-day giants in the land, and also to bear fruit for His glory. While not a direct quote, Oswald Chambers noted that anyone can be a hero in a crisis or even in a pulpit – yet it takes all of God's almighty grace to help us get through the daily drudgery of routine while maintaining our walk with Him. I have found this to be embarrassingly true.

God's grace; I believe in it, depend on it and preach about it – yet at times I tend to think that it is my efforts and my faithfulness and my patience which is the deciding factor in finishing the gracious work of salvation that God started. Obviously the enemy uses my ego to push these thoughts to the forefront so that I end up looking to Chuck as the finisher of my faith! (If this is getting personal and is touching something similar in your walk with Yeshua – that's great as I would hate to think I'm the only one who struggles with this!)

Watchmen Nee summed up what I am trying to communicate when he said, and again I am paraphrasing, "Anyone who has walked with the Lord for any length of time knows that it takes more of His grace to keep us in His kingdom than it ever took to get us in there in the first place!"

Saved & kept by His grace

What does God's Word say about how we are to complete the work which He has started in us? Or is that even a proper question? Are we to complete the work that He has already promised to complete (Phil. 1:6; see also Psa. 138:8; Rom. 8:28-30; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; 2 Thess. 2:13)? Well, yes and no. We are to work out our salvation, but it is only possible by trusting in God who is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13; 2 Thess. 1:11; Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Pet. 5:10). So while we co-labor with Him, yet the weight of the work rests on Him through His grace which abides in us as we abide in Messiah Yeshua. Of course, it was His grace which started the work by placing us in Messiah when we first were saved (Eph. 2:8).

The biblical concept of grace is very humiliating as it indicates that we need His help to be initially saved and then to end up being totally saved in His sight (Jude 1:24). This perfect completion of our salvation is why Yeshua prays for us in heaven. John Bunyan once noted that while it was His death and resurrection that initially saved us, it is His High Priestly intercession that, as the King James says, saves us to the uttermost – to be completely and perfectly saved (Heb. 7:25; see also 12:2).

Biblically, saving grace indicates that the Higher, i.e., God, reaches down to the lower, that's us, and brings us up to His level. And this also means that if the Higher does not do this, the lower is helpless to attain salvation. There is absolutely nothing we can do to force or convince God to save us. It is only after salvation that we join with Him in working out our salvation – but before we are saved, we add nothing – not even repentance (Rom. 3:23-24). Interestingly, the phrase, "Repent and be saved," is not found anywhere in the Bible!

Paul writes that we are saved by grace and not by works (Eph. 3:8). Repentance – a "work" we do by turning 180 degrees in our thinking and in the way we were living around onto His path in any areas from which we need to repent – cannot save us. People who think God saved them because they repented are basing their salvation on a work they have done – and not solely on His grace. Yet repentance is not the root of our salvation – it is the fruit. The proof that we are saved is not that we never sin – but that we hate it when we do sin we commit to turn from it no matter how often we fail (Rom. 7:14-25). That which we lusted after before Messiah saved us, is now despicable in our sight (Ezek. 36:31).

We can only bear fruit by His grace

Genuine salvation leads to spiritual fruit – yet even that fruit is a result of God's grace at work in our lives. Reread that first paragraph in the above section which strongly hints at this, as we are supposed to work out what God is already working in us (Phil. 2:12-13). Here are a few of the many other verses which bring out this concept of us working with God – yet also the reality that we could not do that if it were not for His grace.

In 1 Corinthians 3:9-10, Paul states that he co-labors with God who has given Paul grace to make him a wise master builder.

Paul sees himself as being the least of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9), yet immediately follows this up by saying, But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace towards me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all – yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. (1 Cor. 15:10).

In Ephesians 3:7-8 Paul claims that the gift of God's grace given to him through God's power made him a minister so that he might effectively preach the good news of the unsearchable riches of Messiah to the gentiles.

Peter encourages us to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God through ministering one to another (1 Pet. 4:10).

And finally, Hebrews 12:28 states, Therefore, receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace through which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

So we do have a part to play in our growth and service to our God, yet whatever we may accomplish it is only by His grace that we can do it in a way that is well-pleasing unto Him and which bears fruit for His glory. He is our Father and allows His children to work with Him by supplying them with what they need in the first place (1 Cor. 4:7). All this reminds us of the need to remain humble before Him and before each other.

The results of Israel's November 1st election

The fifth election in four years in Israel has actually produced the same results as all of the previous ones. Every other election showed that most Israelis want a right-wing Zionistic government led by Bibi Netanyahu as prime minister [PM] that could stand strong against its enemies, both inside and outside, of the Jewish State.

Yet many Israeli right-wing politicians betrayed their voters and because of their hatred of Bibi rejected joining hands with him to form just such a government or – as Israel has just experienced – joined hands with left-wing and Arab Islamic parties to form a mixed government that lasted barely more than a year.

While most of the West is post-Christian and wanting to join hands and sing love songs with people who want to kill them, Israelis are still in love with their land, their families and religion. But now Israel has a government that will be a hassle for Jews in exile to deal with, let alone understand, and will be a pain-in-the-neck for most Western nations and their leaders.

Of course, all of this is part of God watching over His Word to perform it (Jer. 1:12), in particular that Israel would not be a nation like any other, but would be a people dwelling alone (Num. 23:9b; cp. Ex. 33:16). This is how the UN treats us already, as do so many other nations and NGOs and various people groups.

Regardless of what is in store for God's chosen nation at the hands of the rest of the world, the Church must stand with what God is doing here with all of His heart and soul (Jer. 32:41). As the restoration and salvation of Israel is explicitly for the sanctification of His name (Ezek. 36:22-24, 32), it is therefore an answer to a prayer that the Church has been praying since its beginnings – the so-called Lord's Prayer which starts with, Our Father in heaven, sanctified [+ be seen as holy; glorified] be Your name. (Matt. 6:9-10; Luke 11:2)

Shortly after the election, Melanie Phillips wrote, "With the result of its election…Israel has joined other Western countries in a notable current trend: A revolt by the public against the political establishment."

The Religious Zionist Party is now the third-largest in the Knesset, which likely means "cabinet posts for the rabble-rouser Itamar Ben-Gvir and the ultra-conservative Bezalel Smotrich" in a new Bibi-led government. And although "some 90% of voters didn't vote for them," their increased support is noteworthy. "Just as happened in Hungary, Italy, the US and Sweden," this once-marginalized party is now in power as "a significant proportion" of Israelis are extremely "disillusioned with a political establishment" that has repeatedly disregarded and betrayed their values and interests.

Many "mainstream conservative-minded Israelis" voted for Ben-Gvir, and surprisingly, many secular young Israelis in Tel Aviv also backed him. Former voters for N. Bennett's Yamina Party felt totally betrayed "when he tore up his previous promises and principles and formed a governing coalition with the left-of-center Yair Lapid that depended upon the Islamist Ra'am Party." Also, Bennett and Lapid birthed "further disillusionment" when they were seen as "groveling to the Biden administration, only for Israel to get kicked in the teeth in response."

Their government did not "tackle rapidly increasing domestic threats. Illegal Arab settlements in the Negev and the Galilee expanded exponentially, posing a potential threat to Israel's territorial integrity. Islamist radicalization took increasingly widespread hold. Terrorism and violence rose. Many areas that had been safe for Israeli Jews became unsafe."

So Israelis were drawn to Ben-Gvir's pitch of restoring public security. "We shall act against those who throw Molotov cocktails or stones and put at risk prison guards, women and do everything to jeopardize the system… It's about time that the soldiers of the IDF and the policemen get support and backing."

While this resonated, it does not mean that Israelis have become extreme. "It means they were angry at a political and security establishment that appeared sluggish, incompetent and in thrall to liberal activist judges."

Similar "populist" uprisings are happening "in other Western countries." They all focused on "defending the integrity of the nation and upholding its culture against threats to destroy it from left-wing ideologues, Islamist radicals or a combination of the two." Basically, many people are saying "Enough!"

We see this in Trump's continued popularity in America, the passage of Brexit in Britain, and Sweden's new government which depends on "the ultra-nationalist Sweden Democrats after the public finally revolted against increasing Islamist violence." Then there is Italy's new PM G. Meloni who "pledged to fight illegal immigration and Islamization," and who declared the political philosophy of her Brothers of Italy Party this way: "Yes to universal Christian values, no to Islamist violence. Yes to safe borders, no to mass migration. Yes to our civilization and no to those who want to destroy it."

Yet for Western liberals, Meloni's center-right platform to uphold Western civilization is fascism because to them "the West's historic culture and values are themselves extremist, cruel, oppressive, racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic and neo-Nazi."

Back in Israel, the hypocrisy of the anti- Ben Gvir groups "is truly epic. They shout that he is a threat to democracy. Yet they made no complaint when Bennett and Lapid governed courtesy of Arabs whose agenda is to destroy Israel." Ra'am is a Muslim Brotherhood inspired party and is "avowedly anti-Zionist and committed to replacing the State of Israel with a Muslim theocracy." Also, they and all of Israel's other Arab parties, are "implacably hostile to the LGBTQ agenda. Yet no Western liberals ever accused it of 'homophobia', a slur they now hurl at Ben-Gvir and Smotrich."

The frauds now crying about "the threat to Israeli democracy" never say a word against the autocratic PA as it "cancels elections, forces journalists under pain of death to write only the approved line and routinely jails and even kills dissidents…

"The mainstream cultural and political establishment" has been warned over and over again that, if they fail to "uphold core cultural values, the resulting vacuum may be filled by objectionable characters." Today's populist leaders are in reality "the creation of the liberals" who did not heed these warnings.

Even though Ben-Gvir has "renounced his youthful support for Kahanist extremism…Western liberals will cut him no slack whatsoever. Anything that departs in any way from any part of left-wing dogma will be resisted with everything they can throw at it."

Thus today, in addition to "the physical threats to its existence," Israel has also "joined the West's culture wars." ("Israel joins the West's culture wars," M. Phillips, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 4 Nov. 2022)

After the elections, Chaya Gross in an Arutz 7 op-ed wrote that she was shocked "that any Jewish organization abroad thinks it could possibly influence the decisions" of Israel's prime minister in relation to who he picks to be minister in the new government. "With all due respect to all those Jews who hold Israel dear, if you want to influence the direction of the government with your 'vote' then join us here and become an Israeli citizen like the rest of us who have made that choice. You can't have it both ways. The values we hold dear are Jewish, not western liberal values per se. And when democracy and Judaism conflict we see no contradiction…This is the Jewish State."

Ben Gvir, like Bibi and all other politicians, has "shortcomings but he won 14 seats because many share his views. That is democracy too.

"Perhaps the values you hold dear are more American than Jewish. Perhaps that is why you choose to live there, not here." We love you and see you as family, "but your influence has its limits. What will you do? Withhold your support and love for Israel if Ben Gvir becomes a minister?" Do you think that "we the people" will put up with "your interference? With 14 seats do you actually believe he can be ignored?"

Yet you did not have a "problem with the anti-Israel Arabs who sat in the Knesset" during the previous Lapid-Bennett coalition. Perhaps it is time for you to truly consider "how such staunch Zionists, as you claim to be, can still justify living outside the Land of Israel. Perhaps it is time to come home and vote for the party of your choice." ("The moment of truth: Response to the Conservative Movement," Chaya Gross, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 9 Nov. 2022)

A couple of days after the US midterm elections Melanie Phillips wrote that the recent Israeli and American elections "each boiled down to a contest between dragons and dragon-slayers." The difference is that "Israeli Jews mostly recognize who are the dragons and who are their slayers. American Jews mostly can't work out which is which."

The dragons in Israel are Palestinian Arabs, "who want to kill Israeli Jews and steal their land," and Iran's Shi'ite leaders "who want to kill Israeli Jews and destroy their land."

In Israel's election, Israelis "rejected the left-wing bloc because it saw them as politicians who would either tickle the dragons' tummies or suck up to those like the Biden administration who so recklessly try to ride those dragons." So Bibi's Likud party won the most seats, although "those who voted for it knew there was a strong possibility" that the Religious Zionist Party be in whatever coalition Bibi formed.

That party's leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are viewed as radical Zionist Arab-haters, because of their past actions of many years ago. Both men have said they have changed – yet are still very Zionistic and very much in favor of law and order. So Israelis who reluctantly voted "for Netanyahu despite the likely inclusion of these two in his government did so because they understood that, however objectionable their past actions might be, they would defend rather than undermine and imperil Israel's security."

In the US, "both the Democrat and Republican camps believe the other is the dragon to be slain. President Joe Biden says Republicans are 'neo-fascists' and a threat to democracy. The Democrats smear all who oppose 'progressive' shibboleths – critical race theory, LGBTQ rights, relaxation of immigration controls – in the same way." At the same time, "Republicans view the Democrats and their left-wing program of coercing conformity to anti-Western identity politics as an existential threat to America's historic culture and core values."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has "emerged as the Republican Party's chief dragon-slayer," is now the lead runner over Donald Trump for his party's next presidential nomination. After his huge victory, DeSantis said, "The survival of the American experiment requires a revival of true American principles."

Yet tragically, "most American Jews" see what is happening in Israel and the US erroneously. "Slavishly following the Democratic line that all who oppose the 'progressive' agenda are callous bullies and neo-fascists, they view people like Ben-Gvir as the Israeli dragons to be slain."

After Mercaz Olami, the American "Zionist umbrella arm of Conservative-Masorti Judaism, called on Netanyahu not to give Ben-Gvir a cabinet post," it was immediately "rebuked for its arrogance and gross hypocrisy." America's Coalition for Jewish Values which represents over 2,000 Orthodox rabbis," called on American Jewish and other leaders to 'respect the Israeli public and their democratic voice'."

Its ex-president, Rabbi P. Lerner, noted that these US Jewish objectors made no such demand over Israeli- Arab parties who "seek Israel's destruction, defend acts of terror and even associate with terrorists," who became "the lynchpin of the coalition led by Bennett and Lapid." Lerner added. "One might expect a Jewish movement to be delighted that fully half the supporters of the governing coalition made the Jewish character of the State of Israel their foremost priority, but one would be disappointed."

While these Americanized Jews see "Israel is a state for the entire Jewish people," and therefore it is vital "for Jews around the world to express their concerns about what Israel is doing," yet as Phillips said, "membership in a nation confers obligations on its people to behave as a nation." But Jews associated with Mercaz Olami "don't feel bound by any such obligation. They not only choose not to live in Israel but also choose not to fight in its defense. Instead, ensconced in a faraway land they prefer, they lob verbal missiles at the tribe from which they have separated themselves when it defends its Jewish identity in ways of which American Jews disapprove."

Phillips concludes with this: "The one thing all Israeli Jews understand is that Israel is their nation state. Therefore, their overwhelming concern when electing a government is that it should defend that state against the dragons that breathe fire against it. That's why…its people are in a far better situation than those in America and the West, both Jews and non-Jews, who are now reloading their fraying slingshots to attack it." ("Dragons & dragon-slayers in Israel & America," M. Phillips, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 11 Nov. 2022)

[To keep up to date with issues surrounding Israel and how to intercede for them you can subscribe for IFI's Friday Prayer Alerts here.]

Palestinians reject peace

In August, a Jerusalem Post [JP] editorial exposed why striving for peace with the Palestinians is futile. They quoted former US President John F. Kennedy who said that a nation "reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers." This is true of nations, and of various societies; we learn a lot "about a people by understanding who their heroes are."

It was because of this that the JP's headline the day before this editorial was written "was so terribly troubling and dismally depressing: 'Palestinian terror groups applaud Jerusalem attack, call for more 'heroic operations'." This was in response to a Palestinian terrorist who went "on a shooting spree in the middle of the night in Jerusalem, wounding eight innocent people – including critically wounding an American Jewish woman in her 26th week of pregnancy who is shot in the stomach – and the reaction of a segment of Palestinian society is to term the operation 'heroic'," proclaiming the terrorist as a hero for their society to emulate.

Well-meaning people who do not "understand why Israelis and Palestinians can't just find a way to solve their problems and move on already, need to look no further than that headline to understand." Peace is impossible with a people who view shooting a pregnant woman as heroic, and who exalt these people into "their pantheon of heroes…" What can Israel possible do to reach peace with a people who hold this type of worldview?

Of course, there will be those who respond, "Israelis also kill Palestinians, just look at how many… have been killed this year by the IDF." The IDF does kill Palestinians, and sometimes civilians are killed in the battle against terrorists. But "those deaths – deeply regrettable – were the unintentional results of legitimate actions of self-defense." And when they are not, all of Israeli society condemns the killing.

Another response is "that there are also Jewish terrorists…" After naming a few, JP writes, "But to compare the numbers is as outlandish as it is ludicrous. And when there are those few instances of Jewish terror, they are unequivocally and forcefully condemned by the officials and instruments of the state, as well as by the vast majority of the country repulsed by such action." In contrast, the Palestinian Authority [PA] usually does not comment on – or condemn – attacks, but goes on to support financially families of terrorists who are either killed or thrown in Israeli prisons.

While there must be Palestinians who "are sickened by the attack…their voices are not raised, and if they are raised, they are not heard by the Israeli public." So if "the only voices Israelis hear after Palestinian attacks are those of men distributing celebratory sweets, or praising the actions as heroic and calling for more and more and more," any talk of trying once again for peace comes across as just more ridiculous nonsense. ("Palestinian response to terror on Israelis shows why peace is impossible," JP Editorial, 16 Aug. 2022)

In September, in a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz , PA President Abbas spewed more "lies about Israel, the Jews and the Holocaust…" Especially blasphemous was Abbas' response to a German reporter who asked "if he was prepared to apologize to Israel and Germany for the involvement of terrorists from his own Fatah movement in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre." Abbas replied in Arabic, "If we want to go over the past, go ahead…I have 50 slaughters that Israel committed." To drive his point home, Abbas then said in English, "50 holocausts."

Germany's mainstream media was enraged by these remarks, "but was even more angered by Scholz's failure to immediately and publicly contradict the Palestinian leader's lies." The daily BILD's headline read, "Anti-Semitic scandal in the Chancellor's Office" and questioned why Scholz remained silent as "Abbas paralleled Palestinian suffering with the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people."

Der Spiegel's headline read, "Abbas accuses Israel of Holocaust – Scholz is silent". They noted that Scholz "didn't hesitate to counter" Abbas' accusation of Israel being "apartheid" while in their private meeting, but he was silent "in the face of Abbas' public rant." The daily Die Welt noted that "This isn't the first time Abbas has sparked outrage with remarks about the Holocaust."

An ex-leader of Germany's Christian Democrat Party said Abbas was "utterly foolish." If he had "apologized for the Munich Olympics massacre, he would have gained sympathy for the Palestinians." Instead, by ranting about a phony "holocaust" he only angered his hosts.

Scholz, while not responding immediately, was extremely displeased. Later, speaking to BILD, he said, "Any relativization of the Holocaust is unbearable and unacceptable, especially for us Germans."

Germany's Israeli Ambassador tweeted that Abbas' comments were "wrong and unacceptable," and added, "Germany will never stand for any attempt to deny the singular dimension of the crimes of the Holocaust."

Obviously, Israel judged the remarks "by its so-called 'peace partner' entirely unacceptable. PM Lapid tweeted: 'Abbas accusing Israel of having committed "50 Holocausts" while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie…History will not forgive him'."

Former PM Bennett said Israel cannot make peace with Abbas. "A 'partner' who denies the Holocaust, pursues our soldiers in The Hague [the International Criminal Court] and pays stipends to terrorists is not a partner," and Justice Minister Sa'ar noted that Abbas' remarks were "part of institutionalized Palestinian propaganda based on false blood libels, with 50 shades of antisemitism, aimed at delegitimizing Israel." (Palestinian Leader enrages Germany with Holocaust lies," Israel Today, 17 Aug. 2022)

At the UN's annual September General Assembly's gathering, Abbas continued his blasphemous accusations, with Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan saying after the speech, "Abbas uses the UN as a platform to incite hatred against Israel while glorifying terrorists that he himself funds." He said that the PA's renewed attempt "to receive unilateral membership from the UN, a move which would need UN Security Council approval," must be vetoed as the Security Council is "well aware that Palestinians have rejected every peace plan ever presented, that they fund terrorists, and that the PA doesn't even have sovereignty over their own territories, which are controlled by terror groups."

Abbas welcomed then-Israeli PM Lapid's "support for a two-state resolution to the conflict," which Lapid had stated at the UN the day before. But he then "accused Israel of destroying the two-state solution, saying it has decided not to be a partner for peace with the Palestinians." He demanded the immediate implementation of "the two-state solution on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative."

Both US President Biden and EU Foreign Policy chief Borrell applauded Lapid's "courageous statement," yet were silent about Abbas' hateful lies. The EU's PA delegation did issue a statement, but only focused on "Abbas' 'yearning' for peace". With this kind of support that Israel gets from its so-called "friends," is it any wonder that Israelis ditched Lapid and his coalition in the recent elections and voted for a government which would deal strongly to bring back law and order to this nation?

Abbas used the rest of "his time at the UN General Assembly podium to launch a scathing attack on Israel, accusing it, among other things, of committing 'massacres' against the Palestinians and 'assaults' on Islamic and Christian holy sites." He accused Israel of "confiscating Palestinian lands" and "looting our resources, exactly as it did in 1948." Threatening to reject all the Palestinians "signed agreements with Israel," he again brazenly lied saying that only the Palestinians are adhering to the 1993 Oslo Accords. "These agreements are no longer valid because Israel has repeatedly violated them."

Ignoring the Arabs rejection of, and war against, Israel throughout the 20th century, Abbas "demanded the implementation of UNRs 181 and 194. The first, issued in 1947, called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, while the 2nd, adopted a year later, declares that Arab refugees wishing to return to their homes inside Israel should be permitted to do so."

Finally he called on "Israel, the US and Britain to apologize to the Palestinians and offer them compensation because of their responsibility for the Balfour Declaration [1917]," and concluded his rant praising Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, calling them "heroes and leaders." (Israel: PA President Abbas incited hate and glorified terrorism at UNGA," JP, 24 Sept. 2022)

Yet Israel's "friends" still insist on the "two-state" solution

Thomas Nides, America's Ambassador to Israel, is offensively arrogant in his attitude towards the Jewish State. He constantly reminds Israel that the Biden Administration backs the two-state solution as the key to "regional stability". Nides recently told a Jerusalem press briefing that Biden "articulated very clearly his support for a two-state solution…Every speech that I give, Secretary [of State] Blinken gives… [VP] Kamala Harris gives, all reference that." Yet as he was saying this "local and foreign media" were "reporting on the looming collapse of the PA and its inability to control the territory it already administers."

As Abbas comes to "the end of his rule, the territories he is supposed to control are descending into armed chaos," triggering an increase in "internal fighting, mostly between groups aligned with different candidates to succeed Abbas," and an increase of attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

IDF Chief of Staff Kochavi told the General Staff, "Part of the increase in attacks is due to the inability of Palestinian security forces to properly govern in certain areas of the Judea and Samaria region. As a result these areas become fertile ground for the growth of terrorism." Unfortunately, these words have proven prophetic.

The Oslo Accords "obligated the PA" to terminate any "armed groups that threaten Israeli security," and it was given a lot of weaponry to do this, yet it has either failed or refused to do so. This along with the present chaos should cause one to question "the wisdom of a two-state solution that results in the establishment of a Palestinian state ruled by people who either can't or won't fulfill their peace commitments."

But Nides blames all of this on the "frustration and desperation of the Palestinian population," and Israel's "lack of sufficient concessions and gestures to calm" them down. Thus he told reporters, "In order to push for a two-state solution, we need to be doing things to help the Palestinian people." Nides basically blames "Israel and its policies for the current situation," yet ignores 30 years of "PA corruption, despotism and indoctrination to violence." (Biden clings to 2-State Solution, even as PA burns," Ryan Jones, Israel Today, 7 Sept. 2022)

In late September, America's UN Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speaking to "the UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in the Middle East" [ME], said, "From day one, the Biden Administration has been unequivocal in our support for a two-state solution. That has not changed. As President Biden made clear to the UN General Assembly last week, 'A negotiated two-state solution remains…the best way to ensure Israel's security and prosperity for the future and give the Palestinians the state…to which they are entitled'."

Yet they are not entitled to a state – definitely not on the land God promised to Israel hundreds of times in His Word. The only thing they have shown is how people under their corrupt leadership are oppressed and become terrorists. They do not even control all of the territory the world wants to give them – like Gaza!

Thomas-Greenfield continued, "It is incumbent on both parties to work in good faith toward" peace and so America strongly opposes "unilateral actions that exacerbate tensions and move us further away from a two-state solution…This includes terrorist attacks and incitement to violence against Israelis." Good! "This includes plans to develop Har Gilo west, which would further fragment the West Bank," i.e., Judea and Samaria. This is bad! She is comparing terrorism with Israel's building in its capital and its biblical heartland. "And this includes violence inflicted by Israeli settlers on Palestinians," which compared to the number of attacks against Israelis is minimal. It is rhetoric like this that drove many Israelis to vote for the Religious Zionist party.

"Instability in the West Bank is neither in the interests of Israel nor the Palestinian people. We call on both sides to work toward peace without delay." Israelis stopped trying to "work towards peace" after thousands of Jews were killed when it was actively working towards peace – and received war (Psa. 120:7). (…: No shortcuts to Palestinian statehood," Arutz 7, 29 Sept. 2022)

I view the deep divisions in US society today as a direct result of America's more than 30 year push to divide God's/Israel's land (Joel. 3:1-2; Gal. 6:7). This applies to the division in the EU and UK as well. And as bad as America's relations with Israel are today, the EU is worse as they have constantly rebuked Israel for building in Judea and Samaria while helping the Palestinians financially and in other ways to build in Area C – in Israel's heartland and an area that is illegal for Palestinians to build in according to the Oslo Accords. History proves that the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels – the EU's headquarters – have been consistently anti-Israel for many decades. And how is the EU doing today?

The following demonstrates what I mean. After the first EU-Israel Association Council meeting in a decade was held, with the aim to improve ties, the EU told "Israel to halt continued settlement expansion, which has reached record highs in the past years [Hallelujah!]," evictions of illegal Arab settlers, "demolitions" of homes of terrorists who killed innocent Israelis, "and forced transfers." It also told "Israel not to move forward with construction in the unbuilt E1 neighborhood" which lies just northwest of Jerusalem, "and to refrain from evicting Palestinians from illegal herding villages" in a region of the South Hebron Hills.

Concerning the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, "the EU voiced its support for the status quo arrangement in which members of all faiths can visit…but only Muslims can pray there." They added that Israel needs to "respect the status quo also for the Christian holy sites, which are under increasing pressure …" What a total fabrication as Christianity is growing under Israeli rule while diminishing under PA rule.

The EU used this meeting supposedly to improve ties by releasing a document on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reaffirming "its commitment to a two-state resolution based on the pre-'67 lines, with east Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. It also confirmed its support of the 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 334, which condemned Israeli settlement activity and called for its withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines." (EU slams Israel on settlements, Temple Mount after council meeting," JP, 4 Oct. 2022)

Europeans living under these Brussels bureaucrats can expect the judgments of God to become increasingly more severe as the EU rejects His promise of His land to His people and strives to divide His land (Joel 3:1-2).

Biden threatened Israel – in 1982!

"On June 22, 1982, Joe Biden was a Senator from Delaware and confronted then Israeli PM Menachem Begin during his Senate Foreign Relations committee testimony, threatening to cut off aid to Israel. Begin forcefully responded, 'Don't threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid'.

"Senator Biden reportedly banged the table with his fist, and Begin retorted, 'This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don't threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us'." (Neither Israel nor America is perfect," Ronn Torossian, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 19 Oct. 2022) We pray for Israel's new government and Netanyahu to be as strong as Menachem Begin against all manipulation coming from America or from any other nation at this time.

Bibi Netanyahu interviewed on CBN

This October interview was before Israel's elections and the return of Bibi as its prime minister. America's Christian Broadcasting Network has a long record of genuine support for Israel and its right to exist, as well as to blossom and to defend itself.

In the interview, Netanyahu shared "his foreign policy philosophy," comparing it with ex-President Obama and current President Biden. He also challenged "the Western foreign policy establishment's positions on the centrality of the two-state solution to ME peace, as well as its approach towards Iran's nuclear ambitions."

He said, "The founding of Israel came after centuries of exile, of pogroms, of massacres, culminating in the greatest massacre of them all, the Holocaust. The founding of the state was meant to do two things: to fulfil the biblical prophecy of the gathering of the exiles, and also the renewal of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel." While that was accomplished, it was not "guaranteed unless we made sure that it was guaranteed."

Netanyahu noted that "a key plank of his own foreign policy doctrine," was to achieve "normalization with Arab states independently of final status talks with the PA," a goal being realized through the Abraham Accords.

He continued, "My father's generation was charged with founding the state; my generation was concerned with its future. I dedicated my life to make Israel strong – economically strong, militarily strong, diplomatically, to create what I call the 'Iron Triangle of Peace'," which he defined as making Israel "so strong that the Arab countries around us, instead of seeking to destroy us, recognize that we are here to stay and so one by one we make peace with them."

The Abraham Accords was birthed out of this type of thinking, as Israel has gone "from being a tiny state on the eastern edge Mediterranean," to where it is today "ranked as the world's 8th power, with one tenth of 1% of the world's population. It is not something you can explain away; it is a miracle of faith and fortitude."

Netanyahu was shocked by Obama's rejection of intervening directly against Iran's nuclear program. Obama told him, "I don't want to be an 800 pound gorilla strutting on the world stage. For too long we acted that way. We need to lead in a different way."

Bibi: "I was quite surprised…I thought in the ME, and the world, where you have Iran racing for a nuclear arsenal, terrorism abounding everywhere, and the international order being challenged everywhere – I didn't want to be an 800 pound gorilla – I wanted to be a 1200 pound gorilla," as entities like Iran, Islamic radicals and terrorist do not respect much – but they do respect and fear strength.

"Obama believed that peace brings power. I believe that power brings peace and also maintains peace vis-à-vis non-democratic neighbors… He thought he could forestall Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, or contain it, by a deal that would essentially enable Iran to become a threshold nuclear state. The only way you're going to stop them is a combination of crippling sanctions and a strong military option."

Bibi then criticized the two-state solution as being "a thinly-veiled form of ethnic cleansing," and accused its adherents of hypocrisy. "This is our land, and when people say you have to ethnically cleanse it of Jews, I say, 'If you'd say that about Los Angeles or…Nashville, you people would go crazy.' And yet that's what the foreign policy establishment for years has been saying." He added that the Palestinians' real problem is that they reject Israel as the Jewish State – period! Borders are totally irrelevant to them.

Netanyahu mentioned his long-term friendship with Biden, and said that when Biden was recently in Israel, he said, "Bibi, I love you, but I disagree with every word you say." Bibi: "Joe, it is often reciprocated," because in the matter of a two-state solution, "the traditional foreign policy of the US and other Western countries is just plain wrong." (Netanyahu: Israel's rise is a miracle of faith," Arutz 7, 19 Oct. 2022)

Prophetic events

If God's Word is our ultimate truth (John 17:17), then when we see an increase in "natural" disasters, it should make us wonder how these events relate to God's supernatural judgments. And when we see these disasters often striking nations which are at the forefront of trying to divide God's land… (Joel 3:1-2)!

The United States is divided today – societally and politically – and better than half of that nation is under the worst drought in over 1,000 years. There are also fires raging as a result of the dry land, and floods in many other parts of America. But it is what I see happening in its society that causes me to reflect on how Paul, in Romans chapter one, reveals how God often judges a nation, and compared to "natural" disasters, what Paul says is much more frightening.

US society, its media and entertainment industry, as well as its government – and I am speaking in general terms as there are still those who are standing and fighting for a biblical lifestyle to prevail – have all turned their back on God, mocked His authority over creation and in fact worshipped the creation instead of the Creator (Rom. 1:18-23), and so God has removed His hand of protection and given them over to the lusts of their flesh, to a reprobate mind, and the results are extremely ugly and devastating to watch (Rom. 1:24-32).

Yet the root cause of God's judgments – according to His Word – is that for the last 30 plus years, every US president, including Donald Trump, has worked to divide God's land. If you see the Bible as the ultimate truth, then connecting the dots ought to be easy and non-controversial. [Yet if you do have questions concerning this biblical truth, please see here.]

The European Union is not united and neither is the United Kingdom, which isn't even great – as in Great Britain – anymore. Again, both these entities have been at the forefront of trying to rob God's people of His land which He has sworn to give them more than 40 times in Scripture.

What about the Western Church? Has it stood with God's end-time plan to restore His people to His land for His holy name's sake (Ezek. 36:22-24, 32)? If before 1948, the Church might be excused for its replacement theology, since Israel was rebirthed as a nation again on the world's stage, all excuses to reject His nation and His people have been destroyed by God's facts on the ground which fulfill so many of His prophetic words so precisely (Psa. 147:2; Isa. 43:5-7; Jer. 31:3-5; Ezek. 37:10; etc.). Still, the arrogant gentile members of the Church (Rom. 11:18-22) – and again, I am speaking in general terms although the remnant that does stand with Israel in the West is quite small – rejects what they see with their eyes and refuses to accept that the Jewish People and the nation of Israel have an unconditional covenant with God that will last at least until the new heavens and the new earth (Jer. 31:35-37).

So the Church too is divided. Maybe what is worse is that it cannot stand in the gap to plead for mercy for its own nations (Ezek. 22:30-31), because it is absolutely blind to why God is judging their nation.

Of course, none of this has taken God by surprise. Even the fact that most Jews and Israelis do not yet trust in Messiah Yeshua does not surprise Him. Yet there is a day coming when "all Israel" (whatever that really means we will finally know after the fact), will be saved (Rom. 11:26) and the deep, heart wrenching repentance will sweep though this land that will be extraordinary (Zech. 12:10-14).

Now when that happens, I suspect that the nations will have one more reason to hate the Jews. "Those Jews who rejected Jesus all these years are now proclaiming Him from the rooftops and telling us to be saved and repent? What chutzpa – what audacity?" And much of the Church will chime in, rejecting the declaration of Jesus as the Messiah, the King of Israel, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, because that would mean that Jesus was, and still is, Jewish. (The Catholic Church will also be very angry because if Jesus is Jewish, that means that Miriam, aka, Mary – to them the Mother of God – is in actuality, a Jewish mother. Oy vey!)

A prophetic word

In June 2010, at the then annual IFI Prayer Conference in Blairmore House, Scotland, I received this word from the Lord that feels even more valid today than when I first was given it.

"Believing that I am restoring Israel in these days is no longer an option for My Body. Either My Body will support that which I am doing with all of My heart and all of My soul (Jer. 32:41) or they will find themselves moving further and further away from Me by various deceptive winds of doctrines.

"Time is short. Today if You hear My voice, harden not your hearts, but stand with Me and bear witness to the truth of My watching over My word to perform it in this day (Jer. 1:12)!"

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