Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the peoples all around… And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples. All who lift it shall be slashed, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. – Zech. 12:2-3
The most eventful week in recent times in Israel is almost over and the Sabbath is about to begin. Thousands of Christians were in Jerusalem this week to celebrate the Gregorian date of the miraculous rebirth of Israel on May 14, 1948, and an entourage of high-level American officials, including the president’s son-in-law and daughter Ivanka were in Jerusalem for the official opening of the new US embassy. Many Americans and most Israelis were celebrating this momentous event, which as we can see in the above verses is extremely significant for the Israel, the USA, the Middle East and the rest of the world.
As the celebrations and embassy opening were taking place, some 50,000 Gazans were protesting at the Israel – Gaza border, hurling pipe bombs and rocks at IDF soldiers, sending burning kites over the fence which set Israeli farms on fire, burning tyres, and attempting mass stampedes to break through the border fence in the hope of killing every Israeli they can lay their hands on. To back that statement up, Hamas is in total control of everything that happens in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas openly claims that its goal is the total destruction of Israel.
While the rest of the world blames Israel for the death of 60 activists on Monday, Israel and the US rightly lays the blame at the door of Hamas, as it is that terror organisation that is stirring up the Gazans and urging the youth to engage in these violent protests, which began 6 weeks ago and were planned to climax on Israel’s 70th anniversary and the opening of the US Embassy on May 14th, and the 15th which is ‘Nakba Day’ for Muslims. Thankfully it seems that Hamas gave the orders to pull back and there was a much calmer situation on Tuesday with only 2 deaths and much less violence being reported.
The seemingly ignorant world leaders and the secular media are obviously not aware that Israel totally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and not one Israeli soldier or civilian is inside Gaza now, and that the Gaza Strip is fully under self government. It is not Israel’s fault that the people of Gaza voted to be governed by Hamas – an officially recognised terror organisation. No one outside of Israel or the USA has the sense to ask the question “what is the reason and the goal of the protesters?” The obvious answer is to kill Israelis. And the U.N. which must surely be the most stupid organisation in the world continues to call these extremely violent protests “peaceful.” Did they not see the pictures of burning tyres and kites, and the frenzied mob doing their utmost to break through the border and infiltrate into Israel? God is watching all that is going on concerning His nation Israel and I am sure He is not amused.
Hopefully now that the 70th celebrations are over and the US embassy is a fact on the ground, the Gazans will calm down and cease their futile attempts to get into Israel, as has been the case over the last 6 weeks, and life will return to normal on both sides of the borders. However the threat of a major war in the Middle East is still a possibility. Since the exposure of Iran’s nuclear program and the fact that Israel has pre-emptively destroyed almost all of Iran’s weapons in Syria, the evil Iranian regime is left with 3 options:
1. Give up on its often stated plan to attack and destroy Israel.
2. Use Hezbollah as its proxy and order the terror group to attack Israel with its arsenal of 100,000 plus rockets.
3. Use their own massive arsenal of sophisticated long range missiles to attack Israel.
Israel’s only option for survival if the Iranians decide on option 2 or 3, is to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s military assets, as Israel did with Egypt in the Six-Day War of 1967, so we need to pray that the Iranian leadership will not be so foolish. In fact we need to pray that the good people of Iran will be inspired to bring about a new revolution and return their nation to a normal democratic society.
Lets also pray that calm returns to the Gaza border and that Iran does not decide to launch any further attacks against Israel.
This article originally appeared on Out of Zion Ministries, May 18, 2018, and reposted with permission.