ISRAEL REPORT
Mike Claydon nails the state of the “church” world in his Editorial for this issue of the Israel Report. The Report is well worth the read for people who realise the parlous state of this world. Remember subscription is free, contact details are at the end. Mike values your prayers for a successful solution to his health problems.
Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
PS: If these articles are helpful to you would you consider buying me a banana by clicking the icon on the landing page right hand side? Amounts start at $5, and, if you help us, we can help our contributors, like Mike, and others. Many thanks to those who have helped so far – many thanks and a big Gibber!
Sola Scriptura!
Over the past week it has been difficult not to have developed a creeping sadness over the state of the many ministries of those that profess to be Bible believers who yet hold to archaic Roman doctrines and strange ideas as to what lies just ahead for the church. Of course, scripture is of no private interpretation, and is plainly a message given outside of space and time. Nevertheless, we are promised that the Spirit will lead the elect of God into all truth So many have been taught and believe that the saints are to suffer and persevere through the coming time of Jacob’s Trouble and that a “Rapture” is the figment of an overactive imagination originating in recent teachings from the last century. A fanciful fabrication, a myth, an empty hope grasped at by the deluded of being rescued from the coming wrath of God. They apply the same eisegesis to the Biblical prophecies maintaining that the 1000 year reign of Christ is actually occurring now, and the church alone will triumph over evil and present to Him at His coming a human population filled with a triumphal righteousness and peace. A church militant. One of their number just this week holds to the opinion that when the current global chaos and the fall of America is over, she will rise once again to rule the world and bring salvation to multitudes. He was given time on a televised ministry that has a vast subscriber base – and in the comments section of the broadcast many, who seem to be Christian, applauded his comments! Most grievous of all, this apostasy is the view that God has finished with His Jewish people and the land of Israel. That she is now simply a member of the club of nations and has no special status, nor is it exclusively in any divine plan. The problem with this stance is that it brings with it a curse. How the current geopolitical situation can be totally ignored at this present time is staggering. This alone, along with the teachings of the church fathers, should dispel these teachings as erroneous and yet so many allow them to fill their minds. When questioned, some of these teachers merely scoff and accuse those that dare to do so, claiming that their view of the scriptures is a misinterpretation and that the return of Israel as a fully functioning nation is merely a cunning and nefarious Zionist plot to rule the world! This, as concrete evidence surrounds them, that the Biblical prophecies align exactly with the Pre-Tribulational rapture and a Pre-millennial judgement period- with many of its horrors now already coming into full view. Those that listen to these speculations, found nowhere in the scriptural texts, need to put aside their Christian novels, Contemporary Christian Music, and other entertainments, ignoring those with novel views that cannot be substantiated within the writings of the prophets and apostles, and their many students. The Bible is sufficient to inform us exactly the plans God has for His people and the world at large. Sola Scriptura!
First Targeted Judea & Samaria Assassination in 18 Years…..
On Wednesday, Israel carried out the first targeted assassination in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada ended 18 years ago, killing three Palestinian fighters north of Jenin via drone strike. The attack targets were Al-Quds Brigades Commander of the Jenin Battalion Suhaib Adnan al-Ghoul, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades leader Muhammad Bashar Owais, and Ashraf Murad al-Saadi of the Jenin Battalion. Al-Quds Brigades is the military wing of the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), while the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is loosely affiliated with the so-called West Bank-ruling Fatah political party. The Israeli army and the Shin Bet intelligence agency said in a statement that the three resistance fighters were responsible for a shooting operation at the Jalameh Checkpoint, north of Jenin, earlier in the night. “We identified a vehicle shooting at the checkpoint and removed the threat,” army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Wednesday night, stressing that the assassination was “not a targeted killing.” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant personally authorized the strike, as it represents a marked escalation in the violence gripping Judea and Samaria. “We will use all the means at our disposal, and we will exact the heaviest price from every terrorist or terrorist emissary,” Gallant told reporters. This is the second aerial strike in the area in less than a week. Following the attack, the spokesman for the Palestinian group Hamas, Hazem Qassem, warned that it “would not go unpunished.”
Judea and Samara risks’spiralling out of control‘ – UN rights chief……….
Volker Turk: [pictured above]”Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life.” The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said on Friday that the situation in the so-called West Bank was deteriorating sharply, adding that Israeli forces had killed at least seven Arab Palestinians including children in a refugee camp. “This week’s violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiralling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric, and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel,” Turk said in a statement via a spokesperson at a UN press briefing, calling on Israel to bring its actions into line with international law. Whatever that is? The weaponry included helicopter gunships and drones, the spokesperson added The air strikes on the Jenin refugee camp represented a “major intensification of the use of weaponry more generally associated with the conduct of armed hostilities, rather than a law enforcement situation,” he said “Israel must urgently reset its policies and actions in the West Bank in line with international human rights standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life,” he said. [Just as these terrorist groups do?] However, The question arises whether Israel might consider launching a large-scale operation in Judea and Samaria. In the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Samaria where four Israelis were murdered, voices advocating for substantial action in Israel are gaining momentum. As the nation grapples with security concerns, deliberations on such a significant response remain complex, encompassing various factors including strategic considerations, potential ramifications, and the pursuit of long-term stability in the region.
The IDF stands back as Hizballah plants armed position on Mt Dov……..
That the Lebanese Hizballah had furtively established a small armed presence on the Israeli-held segment of Mount Dov (Shebaa Farms) came out at a recent Knesset committee session. It turns out that two tents had been put up to house three to eight armed men opposite Israel’s military position. IDF sources say they saw this happening but held back from responding, preferring to let it ride for now so as not to let Hizballah win kudos for a successful provocation. Diplomacy was the preferred path of action. The foreign ministry has been working on the problem with international contacts, including discussions with the UN Interim Force which supervises the “blue line” border between Israel and Lebanon.. This was not the first Hizballah encroachment. Last week, Israeli troops drove its intruders back with the help of crowd dispersal measures. But this tactic was not repeated when they came back. The IDF stated: “The issue is known to us and being dealt with by the relevant authorities.” Har Dov, or the Shebaa farms, is a scrap of land measuring 25 sq, km, wedged at the junction of southern Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel. Syria and Lebanon have historically laid conflicting claims to the territory, whose borders have never been demarcated. In 1981, it came under Israel’s Golan Law. The IDF has not come up with a reasonable explanation for its lack of response to Hizballah’s incursion, more than two weeks after its tents were first pegged in place on Israeli soil.
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei hosts Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror chiefs in Tehran……..
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hosted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh [pictured left above] earlier this week in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Haniyeh led a Hamas delegation alongside rival Islamic Jihad representatives, who also met with other senior Iranian officials including the ayatollah regime’s President Ebrahim Raisi. The Iranian -controlled media outlet IRNA announced that Haniyeh travelled to Tehran “at the head of a high-ranking delegation to meet with the authorities of the Islamic Republic.” The ayatollah regime in Tehran is ideologically opposed to the very existence of a Jewish state and repeatedly calls for its destruction. Consequently, the nation has built a vast network of terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip and the so-called West Bank. Iranian National Security Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian praised the terror attacks against Israel by saying, “Palestinian resistance is the best way to overthrow Israel.” Ziad Al-Nakhala, secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad group, led the terror delegation in Tehran. Unlike Hamas, PIJ is fully supported financially and ideologically by Iran. In May, the Iranian regime praised Islamic Jihad for the “defeat of the Zionist regime” in the “five-day war,” following violent clashes with the Jewish state.
Supreme Planning Council to Launch 4,560 Construction Plans in Judea and Samaria……….
This will begin a construction boom in the settlement of Judea and Samaria on a scale of 4,560 units in many different settlements. The published plans are added to the nearly 10,000 units that were published following the previous meeting of the council, making the first half year of the new Netanyahu government the greatest over the past decade in terms of construction volumes in the settlement. Among the published plans there’s the construction of hundreds of units in Neve Tsuf and Eli, hundreds of units in Givat Ze’ev and Beitar Elit, 340 units in Ma’ale Adumim, 381 in Revava, 343 in Elkana, 287 in Adora, and 196 in Telem. According to Haaretz, the government is to approve a decision to shorten the process of obtaining construction permits in the settlements and transfer the approval authority to the adjunct minister in the defence ministry, Bezalel Smotrich. This is a change in the mechanism that has been in place for the past 27 years, which allowed prime ministers and defence ministers to intervene in the workings of the supreme planning council to slow down or freeze construction in the liberated territories for political reasons, including in response to pressure from abroad. The plans will also remove the need to bring road-building plans to a separate cabinet debate and vote. Mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and Chairman of the Yesha Council, Shlomo Ne’eman; “We thank Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister of National Missions Orit Strook, and government ministers in the Ministry of National Missions, the Ministry of Defence, and the Planning Administration, for making headway with this matter and beginning to correct historical injustices, and strengthening the authority of the region“
Prosecution resist judges’ advice for a deal in the Netanyahu bribery case……..
Attorney General Gali Baharav Miyara [left above] and the state prosecution have stood fast against three judges’ advice for a plea deal in the 4000 file bribery charges against prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. After the prosecution wound up its case, the district judges on the bench called defence and prosecuting council to tell them: “The good of the country calls for a plea accord.” The AG has reluctantly summoned the prosecutors to a conference next month to reconsider the case for a plea bargain in view of the judges’ opinion. But they remain convinced that evidence for a conviction awaits when the defence witnesses take the stand. The most damning charge of taking bribes is represented in the 4000 File. The judges are not satisfied with the prosecution case brought against the prime minister for allegedly granting regulatory benefits to Shaul Elovitch, of Bezeq telecommunications, in return for favourable coverage in one of his publications. In another of the charges against him, the prime minister freely admits receiving lavish gifts from well-heeled friends, while the prosecutors have yet to prove an illicit quid pro quo. In 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on several charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud. The case has dragged on since then. Those charges sparked three destabilizing national elections and mass demonstrations for the purpose of proving Netanyahu was criminally corrupt and unfit to hold office. He was finally returned to power by election six months ago. Opposition leader Yair Lapid continues to declare him corrupt, unfit for office and heading for jail. Netanyahu consistently denies he is guilty of any wrongdoing and accuses the prosecution and his enemies of a conducting a witch hunt to bar him from holding office. If the prosecution persists in its objection to a plea or mediation deal, the Netanyahu trial could drag on for many more years. But if it is cut short by a deal, Netanyahu’s backers will certainly claim compensation for the financial, political and personal damage he has sustained.
MK’s Plan to Divide Temple Mount………
“But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I will buy them from you at a price. I cannot sacrifice to Hashem my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekalim of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offering and peace offerings. [2 Samuel 24; 24:-25] A Likud lawmaker’s plan to divide the Temple Mount between Jews and Muslims has drawn outrage from Muslim political, religious and terrorist corners. The real outrage, say Temple Mount activists, is that Jews don’t have equal rights to Judaism’s holiest site. Knesset member Amit Halevi [pictured above] floated the idea earlier this month of recognizing separate areas on the Temple Mount for the two faiths. He noted that there was plenty of room for Jews and Muslims: 144 dunams, or 35 acres. According to Halevi’s plan, Jews would receive the central and northern parts, where the First and Second Temples once stood (the gold-plated Dome of the Rock now stands on the site, but as Halevi noted, it is not a mosque). Muslims would receive the southern part, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is currently located. “It will be an historical, religious and national statement,” Halevi told Zman Israel, a Hebrew-language news site. The Muslims have created a “narrative” about the Temple Mount and claim complete ownership over it, according to Halevi. “Just because they pray there, that does not make the entire Temple Mount a holy place for Muslims,” he said. Yisrael Medad, a Temple Mount activist for over 50 years, who made his first trip to the site in October 1970, told JNS that Halevi’s plan isn’t so far out. “It parallels the situation at Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, which basically works on that principle,” he said. “There, certain days are reserved for Muslim prayer and other days for Jewish prayer”. “According to Amit Halevi’s proposal, the area reserved for Jews would put them mostly out of sight of the Arabs. In other words, it’s a very large place and therefore, can be very easily divided,” said Medad, noting that he and others had proposed interim plans in the past to provide areas for Jewish prayer without upsetting Muslim sensibilities. . The problem is that the Muslims treat the entire Temple Mount as if it’s their property, which includes the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa, the Mosque of the Dome of the Rock and all its mosques, buildings, walls, courtyards, attached areas over and beneath the ground and the Waqf properties tied-up to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, to its environs or to its pilgrims. The “Waqf” refers to the Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian religious trust, which retains administrative control on the Temple Mount. Although Israel drove Jordan out of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, then-IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan handed control of the site to Jordan in an attempt to defuse the religious aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Hasn’t worked out too well so far.
Aussie Media Bias Showing……
In this week’s reporting on what happened in Jenin and Eli, the biases of many media outlets became clear. There were just too many media errors to be coincidental. Following this week’s IDF arrest raid in Jenin, Israel was forced to deploy a helicopter to aid the extraction of its military personnel, because terrorists were firing on the soldiers. The chopper fired a missile into an open area to provide much-needed cover and enable the evacuation. During its operations, it also deployed flares, apparently due to concern that Palestinian terrorists on the ground may have deployed surface-to-air rockets in an attempt to bring the helicopter down. Several media outlets erroneously reported that the helicopter had been deployed as an offensive measure, rather than a purely defensive countermeasure. The New York Times, for example, embedded video footage that clearly shows the chopper dropping flares, but incorrectly described it as “opening fire during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.” The site later amended its caption in response to criticism. Associated Press similarly misreported that the IDF had used a helicopter in an attack, specifically by describing the Apache as having “fired missiles at Palestinian gunmen.” Several media outlets published videos of the helicopter deploying flares in the area but misidentified [?] the defensive salvo as “missiles.” CNN was forced to correct this mistake after being called out for publishing a photo that clearly showed the helicopter shooting flares but captioned them as missiles, while the copy simply called them “four projectiles.” There were even news organizations that libellously claimed Israel had used the helicopter to shoot at Arab Palestinians, and falsely suggested the Palestinian deaths were a result of missile fire. The Daily Beast’s headline claimed Israel carried out a “helicopter gunship attack on a refugee camp.” Both The Guardian and 7NEWS Australia called the ground-led operation a “helicopter raid.” The Australian broadcaster even called it a “deadly” air raid, with five Palestinians killed in a “missile strike.” At least two of the Palestinians killed in the fighting during the raid were almost immediately claimed by terrorist organizations, but AP, AFP and CNN’s reports shied away from identifying the men as terrorists. The following day, four Israeli civilians were murdered in Eli in an operation planned for weeks by Hamas. BBC World Service Radio then erroneously said it was “in response to Palestinians killed in Jenin” and The Australian‘s headline was “Hamas gunmen kill four in revenge raid.” After a week of so many inaccurate headlines, it is clearer than ever that the world needs more honest reporting. [Excerpted from Honest Reporting Editorial 23 June 2023]
Vladimir Putin vows to deploy world’s most powerful nuke ‘Satan 2’ to ‘combat duty’ in a chilling new threat to West……
The Russian leader said that the new generations of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles – thought to be the world’s most powerful – would soon be deployed for combat duty. The Satan-2 weapon was designed to carry out nuclear strikes in countries thousands of miles away. In a speech to newly graduated soldiers, Putin warned: “In the near future, the first launchers of the Sarmat complex with a new heavy missile will go on combat duty.” He also stressed the importance of Russia’s “triad” of nuclear forces that can be launched from land, sea or air. “The most important task here is the development of the nuclear triad, which is a key guarantee of Russia’s military security and global stability,” he said. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu also warned the military graduates that the “collective West” was waging a “real war” against Russia. The new 208-ton hypersonic Satan-2 rocket measures 116 feet in length and can be loaded with 15 light nuclear warheads at once. The weapon was designed to carry out nuclear strikes in countries thousands of miles away in the US and Europe. It has the potential to obliterate the United Kingdom some 1,600 miles away in just six minutes. And with an operational range of up to 11,180 miles, the deadly missile is reported to have no equivalent in the West in terms of the terror it could unleash.
Protest turns violent at Messianic worship concert in Jerusalem……
The “Peh Echad” or “One Voice” worship concert was organized by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel (MJAI). Dozens of far-right ultra-Orthodox Jews began to riot at the site of a local Christian worship event in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon to protest the event. One suspect, an activist with the far-right organization Lehava, was arrested for attacking a police officer during clashes with the Israeli Police. A crowd of mostly-young protestors had begun to form at the entrance to the Pavilion, a popular venue in central Jerusalem, prior to the concert. The demonstration was organized in an effort to disrupt and stop the event from taking place, which resulted in attendees being harassed with various intimidation tactics, including shouting, whistling and blowing toy trumpets in the ears of the concert attendees as they made their way into the venue. Eventually, the concert-goers – both local Israeli believers and international Christian tourists – had to be personally escorted by police to the entrance, while protesters did their best to physically block attendees from entering the building. The group of protesters was reportedly mainly comprised of two far-right Jewish organizations, Lehava (Hebrew for “flame”) and La Familia, both of which are well-known for inciting violence. Activists from Or L’Achim, an organization that attempts to counter Christian proselytization in Israel, were also reported as trying to block participants from attending the concert, as well as making attempts to break into the main hall. The “Peh Echad” worship concert was organized by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel (MJAI) and promoted to the Christian and Messianic community over two months prior and was not intended as an evangelistic outreach event.
WORLD NEWS BRIEFING – with Tom Hughes and Dennis Swick – 22 June 2023
Israel Report Editor; Mike Claydon israelreport@mail.com
“None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand”. [Daniel 12;10]