Things Are Heating Up Again

Not since Operation Protective Edge—Israel’s military confrontation with the terrorist organization Hamas of the Gaza Strip in 2014—have Code Red sirens in southwestern Israel been heard on such a massive scale.

Although Palestinian rockets have terrorized Israelis since they vacated the Gaza in 2005, not often have missiles been launched by the hundreds in just two days.

About 1/6 (1.1 million) of the Israeli population were forced to seek shelter for over 48 hours.

Compared proportionally to the USA, some 54 million Americans would be diving for cover from missiles fired mercilessly and randomly at civilian targets.

It began on Friday (May 3rd) when terrorist snipers shot and wounded two of the IDF soldiers who were guarding against Palestinian infiltration through the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel. Though Palestinian civilians have been hurling rocks, firebombs, and fire kites into Israel since this (so-called) peaceful March of Return began over a year ago, firearms are used almost exclusively by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Israel reacted by striking only a few targets in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas and mostly Islamic Jihad (the smaller of the two terrorist cells in Gaza) retaliated by raining down nearly 700 rockets/mortars on a wide swath of Israeli towns outside of the Gaza Strip. Israel responded again, hitting nearly 350 targets (aggregate total) in the Gaza, all of which were terrorists’ military sites, i.e. headquarters and personnel, munitions, rocket launchers, and tunnels. Although the IDF always tries to prevent non-combatant casualties, it’s nearly impossible to do so completely when Hamas and Islamic Jihad use schools, mosques, commercial complexes, and private homes in the Gaza to hide weapons and fire missiles.

Four Israelis were killed and 145 injured, some seriously. Palestinian rockets inflicted death and injuries in a variety of ways and locations, including a synagogue, hospital, and school that were hit. Property damage is estimated at 14 million dollars.

(A direct rocket hit on an apartment complex in the Israeli community of Kiryat Malachi)

Moshe Agadi, a 58-year old father of four, was killed by a rocket that struck his house in Ashkelon. Moshe Feder (68) died when an anti-tank missile hit his car. A 21-year old Jewish man Pinchas Prezuazman (dual Israeli American citizen) perished from a blast while he was running to a bomb shelter in Ashdod. How ironically sad is that? Also poignant was 47-year old Ziad al-Hamamda who died when a missile crashed into an Ashdod factory where he worked. Poignant (ironic) because, although he was an Israeli citizen, he was an Arab Bedouin.

But then neither Hamas and Islamic Jihad of the Gaza Strip nor the Palestinian Authority (Fatah) of the West Bank really care about their own people getting hurt or killed, whether they’re Israeli Arabs or Palestinian Arabs. They don’t mourn these deaths … not really. Instead, they praise them and death in general. In fact, they bank on the idea that those deaths will generate more (unwarranted) global criticism against Israel. If an (Israeli) Arab is killed by Palestinians, then, too bad … it was for the cause. When Palestinian “civilians” are killed in the IDF’s defense of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority tell the world they are victims of Israeli human-rights violations or war crimes.

The world-at-large only reads or cares about the (alleged) “disproportionate response” by the Israelis when more Palestinians are killed than Jews. The Palestinians sometimes inflate the numbers of civilian casualties or lessen the number of actual Hamas or Islamic Jihad members killed. The number of Gaza Palestinians reportedly killed was thirty. Reliable Israeli intelligence indicates that most of the Palestinians killed and injured were terrorist operatives, with at least ten of those Islamic Jihad.

*Note: Islamic Jihad (funded and manipulated by Iran) more so than Hamas was responsible for this latest bombardment against Israel. Nonetheless, Israel constantly reminds Hamas that they will be held responsible, as Hamas is the governing body of Gaza.

(An Israeli house in Ashkelon; shows what damage shrapnel can do from a nearby exploding missile fired from Gaza)

False Reporting / Fake News in the Palestinian Narrative

Often, Hamas lies about how some Gazan civilians die in these skirmishes. They’ll cover up the facts, until exposed by indisputable evidence of Israeli intelligence. For example, Gazan officials hurriedly announced to the world (as found in several media headlines) that IDF airstrikes were responsible for the deaths of a pregnant Palestinian woman and her 14-month old infant daughter killed in their house.

Soon thereafter, Israel disclosed evidence that it was a missile launched by Islamic Jihad which, through misfiring and/or premature denotation, struck the house. Hamas then acknowledged this mishap and described it as a “technical failure.”

As expected, one of Israel’s many critics who blasted (pun intended) the Israelis for their actions was US Congress woman from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar. Chiming in with other media reports, she conveniently omitted the fact that it was the Palestinians who started the whole thing (they always do). Or that Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched nearly 700 rockets, with only token reference that Israelis were killed or wounded contrasted to full focus on Palestinian casualties.

However, the thing that got my attention was Omar’s incredibly uninformed (she doesn’t care about facts, only about her obsessive anti-Israel agenda) statement that the Gaza Strip is “occupied” by the Israelis. Here, I’m not even referring to the fact that Israel does not occupy (in the sense of being illegal) either the West Bank or Gaza Strip, as explained in a few prior Eye of Prophecy articles, including last week’s post. You can’t (unlawfully) occupy land that belongs to you in the first place.

No, I’m referring to her shockingly ignorant statement that Israel (still) maintains a presence in the Gaza Strip. Where has she been all these years? Does she not know that Israel totally vacated the Gaza nearly 14 years ago? Not one single Jew lives there. Or does she know and can lie about it because many who harbor anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments are either uniformed or wish not to be bothered with the facts.

Well, enough said about that.

Sovereignty & A “Two-State Solution”

If you already haven’t, please consider reading last week’s article, Does Israel Belong To The State of Israel? The article’s title is not a “trick” question; rather a rhetorical one, as thoroughly explained in that article, and alluded to in several prior Eye of Prophecy articles. Documented evidence and ensuing commentary were presented to demonstrate convincingly that the Jewish Nation-State of Israel is sovereign over the entirety of Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel).

Part of Webster’s Dictionary’s definition of sovereign or sovereignty: “Independent (a state); autonomy; an autonomous state.” And, “freedom from external control” (parenthesis in the definition).

External includes such entities as the United Nations and their incessant unfounded resolutions against Israel, the only democratic state in the entire Middle East. External also means any country outside of Israel’s exterior borders, i.e. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and beyond.

However, it does not mean (so-called) internal borders within Israel between the (also so-called) Palestinian Territories of the Gaza and Judea/Samaria—more often referred to by its Johnny-come-lately designation of the West Bank. With a reverse application that means the Palestinians cannot claim they have a right to freedom from Israel’s sovereignty on the (non-existent) basis that the demarcations between Gaza and the West Bank and Israel proper are external borders. They are not. At best, they are armistice lines.

A partial definition of autonomy: “A self-governing state” (emphasis added).

Repeating for emphasis and continued clarification what I (and a few others) have stressed: There never has been and is not now a Palestinian State. A Nation-State must exist before the prerogative, principle, and practice of sovereignty or autonomy is granted absolutely.

Although the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been given administrative self-governing privileges—Palestinian Authority created in 1993 by the Oslo Accords, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip by virtue of the Israelis withdrawing (nearly 10,000 Jews) from Gaza and relocated to other parts of Israel—they do NOT possess ultimate sovereignty over these regions.

(Principal participants of the Oslo Accords: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton; PLO President Yasser Arafat; one of the worst land for peace deals ever made)

It never ceases to amaze me how so many people and heads-of-state push for this two-state solution when the fact remains that the Palestinians don’t want such a state unless:

(1) There is no Jewish state—which is stated in both the PLO Charter of the West Bank and Hamas Charter of the Gaza Strip. With both groups in denial over the reality that Israel is here to stay and will fight to the last Israeli against anyone who launches an all-out assault against her. Hamas has vowed never to deviate from its sworn objective to destroy Israel; thus, they would never approve a Palestinian State unless it replaced an Israeli Nation-State.

(2) The Palestinian Authority would (just barely) consider a state of their own; however, will never back down from at least two pre-negotiated conditions: (a) East Jerusalem as its capital—in sheer spite of Israel’s heritage and self-determination that Jerusalem is an undivided capital; (b) Return of most of the five million (so-called) Palestinian refuges scattered throughout the Middle East—no matter that this status of refugee ended within one generation after 1948. For Jewish Israelis, this would be demographic disaster by virtue of the sheer number of Arabs.

(3) A Palestinian State with borders equal to the armistice lines before Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War and again in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

And those factors are just the hypothetical paper-feature of such a two-state option that would not be any solution at all. Israel’s external and internal enemies have proven more than once that Israel’s giving up land to them is no guarantee of peace. What is guaranteed is that the Palestinians (and whatever allies are brought into the fold of a Palestinian State … some literally) would never cease and desist from overt hostility toward Israel.

But the day-to-day features of such a state are that much more impractical and incomprehensible than even than the paper-principal (also principle) factors.

Though I consider myself informed about Israel and what’s happening there and in the Middle East, when it comes to some of the “land logistics” (especially in Judea/Samaria), I’m no expert. However, the experts have already said that it would be a logistical nightmare to realign the already apportioned areas in the West Bank designated as A, B, & C. This is especially the case for the eastern part of Jerusalem.

But I know enough to with a great deal of certainty present the following facts on the ground obstacles to anything approaching a practical two-state option. It would be an unworkable solution to an already misunderstood problem (the root thereof) that would create a problem far greater and more dangerous than the existing status quo.

Why A Two-State Solution (Option) Won’t Work

Although there are other less conspicuous considerations, we’ll look at four prominent factors to further demonstrate why the creation of a Palestinian state in Israel is not only unfeasible but unreasonable. Particularly a second state that would itself be separated into two regions … West Bank and Gaza Strip.

(1) Judea/Samaria: As cited in last week’s Eye of Prophecy article, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (along with his shady Fatah organization, the supposedly “moderate” voice of Palestinians), with the clear connotation that smacks both of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, has said on more than one occasion: No Jew will ever be allowed citizenship in a Palestinian State.

It doesn’t get any more glaring than that. If (and he is) Abbas is referring to his already stated condition that such a state include ALL pre-1967 lines of demarcation, then it would include ALL of the West Bank … even areas designated by the Oslo agreements for Israelis to live (area C), eastern part of Jerusalem, much of the Jordan Valley, and of course Gaza. It’s agonizingly evident that the result of such boundaries would be the uprooting of all Jews from their homes in the central part of Israel historically called Judea/Samaria.

The Israelis themselves already tried something similar by extracting nearly 10,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005, with the (misguided) motive of placating the Gaza Palestinians in exchange for peace. Did peace come? Hardly. The Jews didn’t even receive so much as a thank you from their Arab neighbors? But the Gazans did give Israel something in return: deadly rockets from the sky and terror tunnels from the ground.

(A resident of the Gaza Israeli community of Gush Katif at the time. One of the most heart-rending times in Israel’s modern history. Some Jews had to be forcibly removed by the IDF and Israeli police from their homes)

Not only would total Israeli withdrawal from Judea/Samaria be a logistical nightmare, it would enormously endanger Israel’s security … her very survival. Moreover, it wouldn’t be “just” 10,000 Jews (as if that were only a few); it would be hundreds of thousands. And that’s only one reason why a two-state “solution” is unfeasible and unreasonable.

(2) Two Dangerous Corridors in the Heart of Israel: At the closest point of a proposed Palestinian State western border, there is a strip of Israeli land only nine miles in width to the Mediterranean Sea.

And there would be another corridor (with one or maybe two highways) from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank that would also cut central Israel in half. One can imagine the repercussions thereof.

Beginning with the sovereign right of a Palestinian state to allow anyone or anything (think large weaponry) it chooses into its country. Given their affinity for Muslim terrorists and for alliances with militant Islamic nations, who do you think a Palestinian State would welcome into their nation. Does Lebanon (Hezbollah), Syria, Iran, Yemen, and Turkey (which is already spending lots of money on Muslim enterprises in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem) come to mind?

Moreover, the United Nations would be in a tizzy if the Israelis didn’t allow commercial flights from other nations (including Israel’s enemies) into a West Bank (plus Gaza) Palestinian State, though those flights would have to pass over Israeli airspace to the West Bank. Even if the Israelis flatly refused such entrance and egress to Judea/Samaria, there would still be air and sea access to the Gaza Strip, as it borders the Mediterranean.

With this highway corridor in place, Hamas could transport as much military personnel and equipment as they wanted to/from the West Bank, and visa versa for the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip. If Israel did stop such Palestinian movement by force, it would be considered an act of War on Israel’s part. Moreover, Israeli entry into the West Bank or Gaza to hunt down Palestinian terrorists who had escaped capture after attacking Israelis, would be considered a violation of international law. Palestinian extradition of these killers to Israel for trial certainly won’t happen.

(3) In-Fighting Between the Palestinians: Included in the scarcity of and distortion by media sources and world-at-large ignorance of what’s (really) happening in the Middle East is the issue of animosity (more like hatred) between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Which is as much, if not more of an obstacle to a two-state solution than are the absurd demands for Israeli concessions, such as a divided Jerusalem with two capitals.

Though the Palestinian Authority celebrated Israel’s relocation of Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005; subsequently, PA President Mahmoud Abbas (who succeeded Yasser Arafat) was in for a rude awakening when the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated terrorist group Hamas ousted Palestinian Authority officials through a bloody coup and took control of the Gaza in 2006-07.

Then later through elections called for by Abbas himself, Hamas rubbed salt into his and the PA’s wounds by winning that election. Of course, PA President Abbas and his cronies refused to allow Hamas to run the West Bank in any way, shape, or form. In fact, it was then and still is the other way around. By and large, the Palestinian Authority calls the shots regarding economic control of the Gaza Strip. It is not Israel that is causing economic hardship in the Gaza. It is Abbas himself by, for example, allowing electricity only a few hours a day in the Gaza. One disgusting result is the limited operation of sanitation facilities causing tons of raw sewage to be dumped daily into the Mediterranean Sea.

Plus, Abbas knows full well that Hamas would gladly have him killed and the Palestinian Authority replaced by Hamas in the West Bank. In fact, the only thing that prevents that from happening is Israel itself, by virtue of its military presence in the West Bank when needed. That’s the main reason that Abbas and his Palestinian police often cooperate with Israel regarding security matters.

(Bitter Rivals: PA President Mahmoud Abbas on the right; on the left is one of the two Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar–the other not pictured leader is Ismail Hanijeh)

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are bitter rivals. The only thing they agree on is that Israel needs to go—permanently. Yet, they can’t even settle on the best way to accomplish that diabolical goal. For the most part, Abbas uses public relations—based primarily on lies to the international community—while he and his staff speak in Arabic to his own people, assuring them that he will never make concessions to the Israelis.

Publicly, Hamas no longer makes any pretense of its avowed objective to replace Israel with a Palestinian State. Consequently, its strategy is to employ Jihad-like resistance against the Jews. The following is an excerpt from the Hamas Charter (Article 13) from which they have sworn not to deviate:

“There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except jihad. Regarding the international initiatives (think of heretofore proposed peace plans plus the forthcoming Deal of the Century to be released in June), suggestions and conferences, they are a waste of time and complete nonsense” (parenthesis mine).

How can anyone negotiate with a “partner” like that. Even if the Palestinian Authority somehow agreed to discuss their previously stated “non-negotiable” conditions, Hamas is not about to agree. This is just one of several impassable (as in improbable and impossible) issues that the Palestinians won’t come to terms on among themselves.

With whom would Israel negotiate? Which faction would sovereignly govern a Palestinian State? Would a Palestinian State soon erupt in civil war? You can mark it down.

(4) Peace in Our Time? An Example of What Would Have Occurred if a Palestinian State Had Been in Existence Last Weekend

In the (misinformed) opinion of many, a Palestinian State would solve not only the Israeli/Palestinian conflict but would bring peace throughout the Middle East. In that regard, their argument naively infers: Is it really so hard to establish another state within Israel?

Just do it! And, presto, there will be peace.

Never mind the lessons of history. See Neville Chamberlain’s peace in our time with Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. See other ill-fated peace for land exchanges throughout history. See the 13-state Arab Summit in Khartoum, Sudan a little less than three months after Israel’s stunning victory in the Six Day War. The Arabs issued the now infamous three “No(s)”:

With another statement that vowed: “maintenance of the rights of the Palestinian people in their nation.”

What (kind of) rights? What nation?

Once again, national sovereign rights belong to citizens of the nation in question. The existence of a Palestinian State was not then nor is now. With, as being discussed, the creation of which would be calamitous for both the Jews and Arabs. Instead, all the Palestinians need do is apply for Israeli citizenship just as 1.9 million of their fellow-Arabs have that citizenship.

IT’S REALLY THAT SIMPLE … unlike a thorny two-state option. But inevitably, it’s a matter of the heart. Of seriously and sincerely wanting to live in peace with the Jews, not to eradicate them or eliminate the State of Israel.

For sake of illustration, let’s say that the West Bank and Gaza Strip were a (geographically two-part) Palestinian State in existence last weekend. If Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza had fired just seven, let alone 700 hundred, missiles from its sovereign state into the sovereign state of Israel, do you think Israel’s response would have been different?

If you said, yes, to that question you would be 100% correct. If you then asked how it would be different, consider the following scenerio. For those who think and have said (headlines throughout the world) that Israel’s response this past weekend was entirely disproportionate; OR for those (of which there were several high ranking officials in Israel) who said Israel’s retaliation wasn’t severe enough, both groups would be wrong … to the point of astonishment.

Had there been a Palestinian State in place last weekend, the attack would unequivocally have been considered an Act of War, i.e. one nation against another nation. No different than Israel’s previous wars in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, all initiated by Arab states.

Israel’s reprisal would have been enormous in comparison to the more limited responses to local battles with Hamas and Hezbollah over the past two decades, including last weekend. Though Israel justifiably considered those prior attacks against her as “acts of aggression,” she did not declare or conduct an all-out war in the magnitude of the above listed four wars.

Israel’s objective was and still is to allow Palestinians self-governing privileges, with understanding that Israelis maintain the ultimate national right of sovereignty (in the overriding context of its security and survival) over ALL Israel, which includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Under current conditions, Israel is giving individual Palestinians the benefit of the doubt, knowing many of them are being oppressed by their own officials. Thus, even when Israel responds harshly to Hamas’s terrorism, it’s nothing compared to what Israel would do if attacked by a standing army operating from an official (sovereign) state.

Now we’re talking WAR and declaration thereof.

Annexing Judea/Samaria (West Bank)

In both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Palestinians—particularly journalists who criticize their government—have been arrested, imprisoned, and even tortured. What’s funny (facetious connotation) is that each accuse the other of these grievous offenses.

However, there is a remarkable development taking place in which a handful of notable West Bank Palestinians are challenging their people (without ostensibly confronting their government, knowing if they do there could be reprisals) to accept the reality of Israeli sovereignty over all land within the national borders of Israel.

For example: A well-known and highly respected Palestinian business owner in Hebron (which is in the southern part of Judea/Samaria), Ashraf Jabari has founded the Reform and Development party. Among other things including development of business enterprises with Israelis, he promotes the continued existence of one state, Israel. Not the proposed two-states.

From a May 5, 2019 World Israel News posted article written by Batya Jerenberg, here is quote from Jabari: “The Oslo Accords have failed. Most people realize that the economic situation was much better before the Oslo Accords. Let’s focus now on the economic track. We can deal with the political track later. The people are caught hostage to Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas. The situation is very bad, and people want economic security.

“[PA President Mahmoud] Abbas recently threatened to dissolve the Palestinian Authority if Israel annexes the West Bank because that would mean the end of the two-state solution. That’s why we are proposing the one-state solution to Israel. We want an end to violence and blood … going on for the past 70 years.”

(Palestinian Businessman Ashraf Jabari in the center; Israeli businessman to the right)

He went on to say: “Of course, it would be better for Israel if it accepted an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders. But no Israeli prime minister would dare to accept such a solution. On the other hand, no Palestinian leader can give up Jerusalem or make concessions.”

He also said that what the “silent majority” of Palestinians really want is economic security. And, “There is no solution until we all live under the sovereignty of the State of Israel. We can live together without hatred. We have to stop, enough violence and terror. We have to continue together, shoulder to shoulder, in order to succeed.”

Of interest (to me) is that this article just happened to be published one day after my post of last Saturday, which focuses on Israel’s sovereignty (as does today’s article).

*Note: Ashwaf Jabari is not “on track” to conclude that Israel would be better off accepting a Palestinian State with 1967 borders, for all the reasons presented in today’s article and others. I’m speculating that he included that qualification so as not to offend (too much) PA officials, knowing the possibility that he might be harassed or worse. He’s being pragmatic, while at the same time using his stature among his people to propose a much better solution that two states.

Nonetheless, in virtually unprecedented fashion, he is courageously taking a position that effectively encourages his people not to be in denial any longer concerning the reality of a sovereign (he used that word) Jewish Nation-State that is here to stay. To live and work with the Jews. Working against them results in death and destruction for both sides and retards a flourishing Palestinian economy.

Not only did President’s Trump March 2019 declaration that the United States recognizes Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights generate a backlash of criticism, so did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign promise concerning Judea/Samaria (he successfully won reelection on April 9).

In the context of the dismal failure of total Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 that produced previously non-existent Hamas driven terrorism instead of peaceful co-existence between Israel and the Gaza Palestinians, plus the seemingly never-ending Palestinian lone-wolf terrorist attacks mostly against Israeli Jews living in the West Bank, Netanyahu promised to extend Israeli (functional) sovereignty over Area C of the West Bank in which Israeli Jews live.

Immediately most global media headlines conveyed his campaign announcement by saying that Netanyahu (Israel) was going to “annex the West Bank” … or something to that effect. That is NOT what he said, although Israel has every right to annex the entire area of Judea/Samaria if they choose, not just Area C.

Another reason for Netanyahu’s proposal to officially exercise (administrative) sovereignty over Area C is in the event (albeit remote) a Palestinian state is created, which would include the portion of this area crucial to Israeli security, especially the Jordan Valley. Nor will Israel consider dismantling Jewish communities in Area C, causing massive displacement of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It just isn’t going to happen. Netanyahu’s sovereignty promise was a public statement of that fact.

Annexation is nothing more than an official exclamation point on that portion of Israel (like the Golan Heights annexed in 1981) already sovereignly controlled by Israel. But as indicated, Netanyahu stopped short of saying Area C of the West Bank would be annexed.

Summary

As author Victor Rosenthal recently wrote in an article posted by the online news source Jewish News Syndicate: “Netanyahu’s decision to extend Israeli law to the settlements in Area C would not have any effect whatever on Palestinians living under the control of the PA, and it does not change the status of the territories in which they are located.”

It occurred to me while writing this week’s article: In prior Eye of Prophecy posts pertaining to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I don’t recall identifying the three areas into which Judea/Samaria (West Bank) was apportioned by the Oslo Accords that began in 1993. Which included reorganizing the original Palestinian Liberation Organization (1964) that resulted in the entity called the Palestinian Authority.

Since Victor Rosenthal has done it for me, here is another excerpt from his article:

“When Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1993-95, they agreed to divide Judea and Samaria into Areas A, B, and C. Area A was under Palestinian security control and civil control, Area B (much smaller) under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, and Area C under full Israeli control. Area C contains all Jewish communities. More than 95% of the Palestinian population lives in area A and B, where they are governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). While it is true that Israel’s security forces reserve the right to enter area A to arrest wanted terrorists, Palestinians have civil and political rights granted by the PA to vote and hold political office (such as it is … my comment). There are Palestinian courts and Palestinian police, Palestinian ministries of health, finance, labor, etc. It’s hardly fair to blame Israel for the fact that the PA is corrupt and dictatorial, and hasn’t held an election for years.”

Sadly, these thoughts expressed by Jabari and Rosenthal (and others, including me) have fallen and will undoubtedly continue to fall on the deaf ears of Palestinian officials (certainly the terrorists among them) as well as people and heads-of-state the world over. As, for example, stated by Mahmoud Abbas when he—much like a child who is denied his (against the rules) way and then refuses to “play” with you any longer—stated that he would dissolve the PA if Israel “annexed the West Bank.” Deliberately distorting two things: Netanyahu didn’t say “annexed.” Nor did Israel (or will unless forced to) assume national administrative sovereignty over the entire West Bank … only area C.

Or when Abbas said that he wouldn’t accept any of the tax money gathered by the Israelis and paid to the Palestinian Authority (also part of the Oslo Accords) just because Israel (as has the United States) said it would withhold only the equivalent amount that the PA pays to imprisoned terrorists or their families, if the terrorist is deceased … for maiming and killing Jews.

Now then, God loves all people, including the Palestinians! But, according to the Scriptures, he doesn’t appreciate (understatement) nor will he indefinitely tolerate any peoples’ (collective) persistent hostility toward the Jews or Israel.

He wants each Palestinian (everyone, including his own people) individually to reach out to His Son as the only way to God for salvation. In that regard, Scripture says that the Lord is no respecter of any one person over another.

“For God loved the world so much…” (John 3:16 the most well-known verse attesting to the truth of God’s universal love).

His greatest expression of that love was, “…that he gave us his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (remainder of John 3:16).

All that is required of people, Jew and Gentile alike, is to believe and receive Messiah Jesus as the only redemptive “way, truth, and life” (John 14:6).

God is Love, but God is also Holy. No one can be made right with God or spend eternity with him in heaven unless they, “…confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Once again, that is for Jew and Gentile alike.

Things to Ponder

During the seven-year Great Tribulation the Lord will pour out his wrath for two main reasons:

(A) Wickedness not seen since before the Great Flood of Noah’s time. Plus, the obstinate, deliberate, defiant refusal of most of those left behind at the Rapture to turn to God and His Messiah. Instead, they will yield their loyalty and worship to Antichrist.

“But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God… And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).

(B) More genocidal attempts (unsuccessful but nonetheless, abhorrent) to eliminate God’s chosen people the Jews and the Sovereign State of Israel.

Those nations (their leaders and all who follow them) will be dealt with decisively, through utter defeat (many of them will die) during the Tribulation. Beginning with the Gog/Magog assault on Israel in the early part of the Tribulation (Ezekiel 38 & 39). Ending with the Antichrist led ten-nation confederation that invades Israel but meets its end at the Valley of Megiddo (Daniel 11 & Revelation 19).

God didn’t choose the Jews because they were special; this is made clear in several Old Testament passages. Rather he chose them for a special reason: to be the conduit of His Word (the Bible) and to bring Messiah to the world to solve the otherwise unsolvable problem and terrible consequences of sin. Which culminates with Messiah’s majestic return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, after rescuing Israel and Jerusalem and bringing an end to the greatest calamity ever experienced by mankind. This Kingdom will be ruled from Jerusalem, the capital of the Promised Land of Israel given to Abraham and his descendants FOREVER.

Though God had to discipline his people for their own rebellion against and abandonment of Him, the covenant with Abraham was unconditional. Which lead to a plethora of prophecies in the Old Testament declaring God’s promise that the Jews would return to Israel and Israel’s rebirth as a Sovereign nation.

Such as: “I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine. I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God” (Amos 9:14-15).

There never has been nor ever will be a Sovereign greater than the true and living Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In fact, among the other titles that God ascribes to himself, is The Sovereign Lord … especially in Ezekiel.

Concerning the one reason that is greater than all others for Israeli sovereignty in all of Israel—God’s divine gift of the Promised Land to the Jews in perpetuity—the following is a quote from last week’s article:

If anyone wants to dispute this historical and (still to this day) contemporary truth, they are welcome to take it up with God himself.

I’m serious.

And they need to get serious too, because one day (soon) there will come a time of reckoning when all nations will need to give an account of their treatment of Israel.

Such as:

“At the time of these events, says the Lord, when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat (valley of decision, which physically will be at Megiddo). There I will judge them for harming my people (the Jews), my special possession (Israel), and for dividing up my land” (Joel 3:1-2, parenthesis mine).

And, “The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads. Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history” (Obadiah 1:15-16).

“During the reign of those kings (leaders of nations just before and during the Tribulation that align themselves against God and Messiah Jesus and Israel), the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” (Daniel 2:44, parenthesis mine).