Delight in Zion
For the upright will dwell in the land,
And the blameless will remain in it;
But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
- Proverbs 2: 21-22
These words from God came to me yesterday morning as I was reflecting on the ongoing conflict in Israel.
The dreadful images of innocent people dying in this latest war have been shown by news media outlets across the world, and while much of the reporting has been the usual diatribe against Israel, there is no getting away from the human tragedy and suffering that has filled many of our TV screens and computers.
A few days ago, I filmed a short video on our Clear Views from Mount Carmel
YouTube channel, in which I prayed from Mountt Carmel over the city of Nazareth, and indeed, I prayed for the entire country.
I expressed the deeply felt irony that a planned gathering of Jewish and Arab believers in Yeshua/Jesus was disrupted by the threat of violence, so that many of us chose not to go.
The meeting was held on Zoom, with a very small number of believers physically present.
The meeting ended with everyone singing Hinay Matov Umanayim - Behold how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity, from Psalm 133.
The irony was that several Jewish believers, including Helen and myself, felt that the risk was too great, and were denied the opportunity to worship and pray with Arab brothers and sisters in the city of Nazareth, the very city where our Lord spent most of his childhood.
Why? Because today Nazareth is dominated by Arab Muslims who make up approximately 80% of the population, and riots and acts of arson nearby had already occurred the previous day.
Most Christians around the world rely on the very secular news media to show them what is happening, and I have been appalled as I have watched some of those reports and interviews conducted by Sky News and the BBC in the UK, that are so slanted and unbalanced.
I watched as Sky’s Mark Stone reported on the "pain of people in Gaza" in such a way as to suggest that there was no pain or suffering anywhere else!
I saw Adam Boulton of Sky News harangue Tzipi Hotovely (Israel’s ambassador in the UK) in an interview in a rude and aggressive manner while his interview with a Palestinian diplomat was conducted in a totally different way, allowing lies and half truths to go unchallenged. When I searched "Adam Boulton in relation to Israel" online, I read that he had some nasty history in respect of Anti-Semitism too.
Have you ever noticed that the weather reports on Sky News are funded by Qatar Airlines, an arm of the Qatar government that funds terrorists in Gaza?!
The BBC is well known for its extreme anti-Israel reporting, especially from its Middle East correspondent, Jeremy Bowen.
Elsewhere around the world, secular media outlets simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth or provide balance.
It is, therefore, understandably difficult to know what is happening in this latest war in Israel, which has been escalated by Hamas’ firing more rockets from Gaza into Israel than Hitler’s Nazis dropped upon London during the Blitz in the Second World War!!
I am just going to point out some relevant facts for you, with my comments where necessary to help bring understanding, but also to encourage intercession and prayer for Jews, Arabs, and everyone affected by this latest war.
1. Sheikh Jarrah
Sheikh Jarrahis an East Jerusalem neighbourhood where Jewish people owned property before the establishment of Israel in May 1948.
In the war that followed Israel’s independence, Jordan took over East Jerusalem, including the Old City, and all the Jewish people had to flee into West Jerusalem.
Arab families moved into those Jewish owned homes and have been there ever since.
In June 1967, during the Six Day War, Jerusalem was liberated and unified under Israel, and the Jordanians later signed a peace treaty with Israel, never asking for the land they occupied from 1948 to be returned to their rule.
Interestingly, no one ever jumped up and down and called Jordan an occupying force for 19 years, but as soon as Israel took over the area of East Jerusalem after a defensive war, the expression "Occupied territories" came into being. They are not occupied territories but disputed territories.
In respect of Sheikh Jarrah, there is an ongoing legal case that has been going for many years that potentially could evict Arab families from their homes. This legal matter is not the reason for the war and internal riots that have occurred.
No one has been evicted as yet, and the case has been postponed by Israel’s Supreme Court, where both Arab and Jewish judges will determine the outcome.
There are two reasons why I believe the Arab families should NOT be evicted.
Firstly, we are talking about a situation that arose 73 years ago. A generation has passed, and to now seek to uproot those Arab families from their homes is frankly too late, and unwise.
Secondly, any Arab families who had homes in areas they left in 1948 are not legally entitled to claim those homes back, so there is no equality in the law on this matter.
I think the Israeli government could provide financial compensation to those Jewish families affected by the original uprooting and end the matter immediately.
2. Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbasis the leader of Fatah, and the Palestinian Authority has continually postponed elections for over 15 years, including a recent election.
Hamas, recognised internationally as a murderous terrorist entity, who took over Gaza from Fatah by murdering its own people in a dreadful coup in June 2007, used the cancellation of elections and dispute over Sheikh Jarrah, to start a populist war on Israel by firing over 3000 rockets indiscriminately into Israel, thus seeking to claim that they are the true defenders of the Arab people in Israel, Gaza, and Judea and Samaria, otherwise known as the West Bank.
The fact that media outlets present the war as a dispute that gives Hamas some legitimacy is beyond appalling.
3. Hamas has a clear agenda to totally destroy Israel
See this quote written about the Hamas Charter.
"On January 25, 2006, the day Palestinian Legislative Council elections were held, Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and candidate for the post of foreign minister, stated that Hamas was committed to the ideology of its 1988 charter. He noted emphatically that 'the movement [would] not change a single word in its charter,' which calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, and would not become a purely political movement, but quite the opposite, it would continue its policy of 'resistance' (i.e., terrorist attacks)" (Reuters, Gaza, January 25).
4. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem
This is the epicenter of all the problems.
During and after Ramadan, tens of thousands of Arab Muslims gathered on the Temple Mount to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli authorities knew that many Islamic extremists were planning violence and were stockpiling rocks and some other weapons to use, storing them inside the mosque.
That is not what the media calls worshippers , but what most people would call rioters.
There have been many previous incidents where rocks are thrown down from the Temple Mount by Arab Muslims upon Jewish people praying at the Western (Wailing Wall), which is of course, life threatening.
So, when the Israeli police intervened by closing the area around the Damascus gate of the Old City, which is a real hotspot for violence, and then sought to enter the mosque to remove all the weapons and rocks, rioting begun in earnest.
The media calls it interfering with Muslim worshippers!!
5. Tiktok videos and Israeli extremists
In the build up to the violence on the Temple Mount, several videos had been posted on Tiktok by Arab Muslims showing filming of violent attacks on orthodox Jews in the Old City and East Jerusalem.
This incensed the Jewish community in Jerusalem, and a march, organised by extreme right wing organisations, was allowed to proceed to the Damascus Gate, with these Jewish extremists shouting "Death to Arabs!!"
The Arabs responded by throwing rock at Israeli police.
The march should never have been allowed by Israel, but the fact is Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister) has encouraged the extremists to stand in the recent elections in Israel and needs their support if he is to stay in power, while his court case for serious crimes continues.
The state of Israel’s politics has never been as grim, and we may well face a 5th election in just over two years in the coming months.
6. Hamas rockets and Israel’s response
Hamas fires rockets to kill and wound innocent civilians. They do so using human shields, including women and children, so that should Israel fire back at their rocket launchers, women and children will likely be killed or wounded, and they strengthen their propaganda.
Hamas has also fired rockets from schools, hospitals, ambulances, and UN run buildings.
It is a clear culture of death. A total disregard for the lives of Jewish people and its own Arab people. Many of their rockets have fallen short, landed in Gaza, and killed women and children.
Israel has aborted some bombing missions because women and children were seen at the targeted site. Israel has also warned inhabitants of targets they are going to destroy, giving 10 minutes for people to leave, before taking action.
The furore in the media, about Israel’s bombing of a high rise building that housed Al Jazeera and an American news outlet, but also housed Hamas terrorists, is frankly ridiculous, and when Israel warns in advance of its intentions, the terrorists live to tell the tale too!
Israel has responded by seeking to bomb Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and has not sent in ground troops as at this time of writing, because the casualties on both sides would be even higher if they did.
Israel has sought to destroy the various tunnels used by Hamas, and its stockpiles of weapons and rockets.
Let us not forget that since the last Gaza war in 2014, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have periodically fired rockets into Israel, leaving the people in Southern Israel traumatised, and not able to experience real lasting peace.
Only when Israel responds to put a stop to the murder and terror, do media outlets suddenly come out of the woodwork and blame Israel for defending itself.
7. Rising Anti-Semitism
Throughout Europe, the UK, the US, and around the world, the hatred and abuse of Jewish people is on the rise. In London, a highly abusive march by left wing extremists last week, addressed by the former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, (the Labour Party under his leadership was found to be institutionally anti-Semitic by an independent and legal investigation) sought to proclaim the sufferings of the Palestinians, and basically legitimise the murderous intent of Hamas.
That was followed by a drive through group flying Palestinian flags in a very Jewish area of London proclaiming the rape of Jewish women. Four of those involved were subsequently arrested.
Let us remember the former Chief Rabbi of the UK, Lord Jonathan Sachs, who wrote a wonderful articleexplaining that "Anti Zionism (Anti-Israel declarations and views)" is Anti-Semitism a year or two before his untimely death.
Let us be clear that the growing hatred of Israel is Anti-Semitism.
8. God’s word and Urgent Prayer Needed
Please declare God’s word in Proverbs 2 over Israel and its peoples.
I believe that the problems here and the anti-Semitism around the world are spiritual and demonic in nature and require spiritual solutions.
Pray for the salvation of Jews and Arabs.
Pray for a government in Israel that will act justly towards Jews and Arabs alike.
Pray that the Shalom of our Lord, the Prince of Peace, will prevail in Israel and across the Middle east.
Pray for the Messianic believers in the land who are called to be salt and light in the surrounding darkness. That we may have more courage in being God’s people, and ambassadors for peace and reconciliation.
Pray against the violence and hatred of Israel and the Jewish people, and for an extension of grace and mercy upon all those who hate and seek violence.
Thanks for all your messages, phone calls, and continued prayers for Israel’s peace and security, and for our congregation and family.