A Mother in Israel's Perspective on the Disengagement

From a mother in Israel:  A personal view of August 2005 events

Shalom friends,

Greetings in Yeshua from Israel.  Thank you for your letters of encouragement.  It is heartening to know that people are standing with Israel in these times.  It is deeply encouraging to hear that the Lord continues to call believers from many nations to pray and weep for Israel, that she may know the Lord.  Thank you for standing with Israel.  Thank you for standing with us through your prayers, support and love.

Last week Avner's letter "THE WORLD HAS ENTERED INTO THE TIME OF DIVIDING UP THE LAND OF ISRAEL" went out.  Today I want to communicate with you about what is happening in Israel, and how it relates to what we have all prayed about and considered over many years.  Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and Northern Samaria may soon fade from the center stage of the world's consciousness. It may even fade from many believers’ awareness around the world.  Yet we have all entered into a new season.  The world has crossed a line in the sand.  Business will not be as usual any more.

By way of background

Avner and I have been married for 26 years and have lived in Israel for much of that time. We are watchmen in this land.  I am writing to you from that vantage point – with a sense of grief and yet also with a sense of alertness in my spirit.  Part of our calling is to keep Israel before you for the purpose of prayer, and to help you be prepared for things to come.

We have four sons:  Daniel (21), David (19), Asaph (15) and Elisha (14).  Our two oldest sons serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and have been inside of and next to Gaza for the last three weeks.  David has also been in Northern Samaria for the last week.  We thank the Lord that neither of them was directly involved in physically removing Jewish citizens from their homes.  Yet like most soldiers who have participated in the withdrawal, their hearts have been sobered and torn.  We ourselves have grieved and wept with this nation, and having walked through these days with sons who have been directly involved in these events, we have a perspective which is “close at hand.”

I want to open my heart and communicate what I see the Lord doing through all of this.  First, let me give you some background about my own life.  I was born in 1957. I was raised in a believing family in the USA by non-Jewish parents who love the Word of God and Israel. They taught me in childhood that God loves Israel and He will redeem her.  I trusted the Lord for salvation at age seven.  I remember very clearly the events of the Six Day War in 1967, and can still recapture the sense of awe I felt at the age of ten (in my own home and in much of the larger Christian community) when Israel regained Jerusalem and much of her ancient homeland.

I knew as a young child that the Lord had called me to join my life to His purposes for Israel.  I became a student of Jewish people, Jewish culture and Israel.  Through the ministry of Jewish believers in Yeshua, I dedicated my life to the Lord at age 16.  I knew that redeemed Israel holds the key of blessing for all nations and I devoted my life to seeing this purpose become reality.  As a teenager I devoured the prophetic scriptures related to Israel and read often from the Major and Minor Prophets.  I loved Romans 9-11. Those words that I love so much have also become the words of songs I have written, and the basis for my life.

In the early 1970's, I remember a secular high school teacher saying that by the year 2000 international terrorism would become a major force with which the world would reckon.  This has indeed become a reality.  Terrorism fueled by jihadi Islam affects the whole world and has hit Israel endlessly over the last century.  These attacks have increased over the last decades.  Ever since I was a teen, I heard the enemies of Israel say repeatedly that their goal would be to "divide and conquer" the land of Israel.  Today, more than ever before, Israel is an ideologically divided nation.

I also knew that Israel would yet face an unprecedented time of trouble that would lead to the salvation of the nation (Jeremiah 30:7, Zechariah 13:8-9).

What are the issues?

The Lord is at work, getting ready to accomplish final redemption both for Israel and for the called-out ones from among the nations.  In these last days the Lord is preparing for Himself a bride made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers.  He is calling born-again believers in Yeshua to stand with the Jewish people now as well as in times of tribulation to come.  Though most of the Jewish people in the world and in Israel are still in unbelief, the remnant of the Jewish nation is destined for salvation (Romans 11:26).  The Lord will work through believers in the nations to reach the Jewish people who are being saved.  May the Lord give us the grace, love and wisdom to rise to the occasion.

God works with individuals and He works with nations.  The land of Israel is God's specific playing field, the arena wherein He deals with Israel.  Through the grid of this land, He also deals with nations both near and far.  I see events happening on three levels – on an international level, with Israel as a nation, and with individual Israelis.

The International Arena

Worldwide terrorism is causing a dulling of the senses; it is causing love to grow cold (Matthew 24:12).  Repeated trauma closes the heart.  Self-protection is a natural human survival mechanism.  Terrorism is already causing much of the world to distance itself from Israel. It is making the hearts of many nations grow chilly toward Israel.  As terrorism increases, nations will make decisions based on what they deem best for themselves.  Many nations will find it politically incorrect to stand with Israel, and will call "Zion an outcast, for whom no one cares" (Jeremiah 30:17).  Because of terrorism, right now the international community is putting enormous pressure on Israel to shrink her borders.  Even though it may make perfect sense to the leaders of the world to determine Israel's borders according to their own wisdom, God is very clear that He will judge the nations that "have divided up My land" (Joel 3:3; Deuteronomy 32:8-9).  This process is leading to the time when God "will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle" (Joel 3:2, Zechariah 14:2).

God is not very "politically correct" and He has chosen Israel to fulfill His purposes.  Likewise, He is very specific about sin and judgment, salvation and eternal reward.  Much of His word speaks specifically about His plans and feelings regarding Israel.  He has spoken clearly about how believers are to relate to Israel.  He will use the Jewish people and the land of Israel as a dividing line, a plumbline, in the world and in the church.  We will have to choose.  Yeshua will divide His true followers from the rest of the world, including from the apostate church (Matthew 25:40).  He is calling His own children to move in step with both His Holy Spirit and His end-time purposes as outlined in His word – and not to march to the beat of the political drums sounding in the nations in which they live.  G.K. Chesterton once said that "the one who marries the spirit of the age will soon find himself a widower."  We are called to an eternal, timeless destiny, and not to join ourselves to the spirit of the age.  God is calling the redeemed of the nations to stand with Israel (Isaiah 62:1-7).  God wants us to train our senses to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).  He wants us to stay alert and passionate toward Him, His people and His purposes.  Staying alert and passionate brings rewards.

The Arena of the Land of Israel

Israel is God's signpost to the whole world.  What happens in Israel eventually affects the whole world.  Recently a voice in the Israeli media said "all of Israel is Gush Katif" (Gush Katif is the main part of Gaza from which Israeli Jews have just been expelled).  In other words, the fate of Gush Katif will become the fate of Israel.  We would add, “that what is now the fate of Israel will become the fate of the whole world.”  The upheaval and terror that have been Gush Katif’s portion and Israel’s portion are now becoming the world’s portion as well.

Israel, even though she is not fully aware of the fact, is on the front lines in the fight against Islamic terror.  Right now Israel is caving in to the relentless pressure.  Terrorism against Israel has been rewarded.  Terrorist forces in the Islamic and Arab world are crowing gleefully over Israel's August 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and part of Northern Samaria.  They have rightfully concluded that terrorism works and they are now setting their sights on the rest of the land of Israel.

When Jews are forcibly removed from their homes – at any time, for any reason, in any land, by any force – it is a sign, and not a good sign.  It is a wake-up call that more trouble is coming – not only to Jews but to others as well.  History has repeatedly shown this to be true.  How much more should we be alert, since in this case something unprecedented has taken place – Jews have removed Jews from their own land.

There are dynamics in the present-day nation of Israel that are strikingly similar to dynamics in the land of Israel 2,000 years ago.  The Jews living in that time were divided about politics, spiritual issues, who should be in authority and what is truth.  Even among Yeshua's twelve disciples a variety of opinions were held.  Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot represent two extremes – opposing views similar to those held in Israel today.  There are also parallels between the international forces pressuring Israel today (on the one hand) and the influence of ancient Rome in the time of Yeshua (on the other).  In Israel every stripe of opinion is held regarding how to relate to these external forces, what to do with the land, who should be in authority, and how to continue to exist as a nation.  The evacuation of Jews from Gaza has caused a sharpening of these issues in every Israeli heart.  God is shaking up His nation in a massive way.

The Arena of the Jewish Heart

The events of the last two weeks have torn the nation and the hearts of many in the nation.  Here is one example of thousands:  Moshe Karadi, Israel Police Commissioner, spoke of how hard it was on his officers to fulfill their task.  "If you asked the police, maybe half would support the settlers, but we don't ask them.  Our government has decided and we will do this task …" (NYTimes, August 18, 2005).  One significant result of these traumatic events (which has characterized nearly every section of Israeli society) is tears.  Both religious and secular Israelis, the political left and right, settlers, soldiers and police, Messianic Jewish believers and the man on the street, those against and those in favor of the withdrawal, have wept.  God often uses tragedy and events which mystify and stun us to get to deep issues in our hearts.  These events have been tragic for the settlers in Gaza. They have also caused distress for those who were required to carry out the expulsion, and the result has often been tears. Tears are often evidence of the softening of the heart and can provide an opening for more of the Holy Spirit's activity.  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).

Right now the nation is still in shock from what has happened and is struggling to regroup. We do not even get a chance to catch our breath, for in the last week mortars and rockets have continued to fall in the far north, the southern port of Eilat and the western Negev, and Jews have been stabbed and murdered in Jerusalem and Hebron.  Today a suicide bomber seriously wounded two in Beersheva.  Israelis are used to constant trauma and stress. They know how to quickly bring daily life back to some semblance of normalcy.  But it remains to be seen what the long-term effects of the events of August 2005 will be on the nation and on individuals.  Meir Indor, director of the Terror Victims Association spoke of the Gaza withdrawal causing "aftershock here that will become a tsunami" (Jerusalem Post, August 23, 2005). Through the pain, God is certainly working to draw Israel's attention to Himself.

God desires truth in the innermost being (Psalm 51:6).  He has promised that Yeshua, the Son of David, will rule and reign over the nation of Israel as their King.  He has promised that Yeshua will rule and reign in the hearts of individual Jewish people.  He has promised to take from them a heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). He has promised that all Israel will know Him (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

How should believers pray?

The prophet Joel declares, “Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say 'spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make your inheritance a reproach'” (Joel 2:17).  Paul says, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is for their salvation” (Romans 10:1).  The Lord is calling believers to stand in the gap for Israel's salvation, both physically and spiritually.  Pray that Jewish hearts will be soft and open to the pursuit and persuasion of the Lover of Israel.

What are we doing?

For the last eight years we have lived in Omer, a town a few kilometers outside of modern Beersheva and adjacent to biblical Beersheva (dwelling place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).  The Lord called us to help birth a community of worship and intercession, creative arts and prophetic activity.  In the last few years the Lord has expanded this community by sending a number of wonderful friends.  We hold worship and prayer gatherings three times a week.  One of our primary purposes is to call out to God on behalf of Israel, to stand in the place of repentance for Israel's sin and to ask the Lord to reveal Himself to Israel.  By God's grace we are preparing a net of safety for those who will be saved.

The Lord has sent a number of worshippers and musicians to our area and we are enjoying the resulting synergy.  Pray that the Lord’s anointing will be sweet and irresistible and that the stream will turn into a river of life for many.

Avner and I are also involved in caring for and helping a number of believers in our area.  We continue to lead worship around the country.  We share the hope of Yeshua’s redemption and His soon return with Israelis around us.  Our home continues to be a place of hospitality and ministry to many from Israel and the nations.  By God’s grace we continue to raise our sons for Him.  We and some of those gathering with us are living by faith.  We continue to seek the Lord’s provision to supply for and expand this ministry.

Once again, we want you to know how much you mean to us. Thanks for standing with us financially and in prayer.

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

Rachel Boskey (for Avner, Daniel, David, Asaph and Elisha)

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971

NASHVILLE TN  37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal) through:

www.davidstent.org

Katrina and Gaza: is God speaking in New Orleans?

“This is what YHVH says, who gives the sun to be a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars to be a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; YHVH of Armies is His name” (Jer.31:35)

The past two weeks have seen Israel withdraw from Gaza as a result of (among other things) American policy and pressure. In previous newsletters we have quoted US State Department and Presidential statements to that effect.

The rushing onset of Hurricane Katrina is shocking and ominous. Check out www.stratfor.com’s breaking article “The Geopolitics of Katrina” for the potential strategic damage that could be caused to the US and global economy and petroleum industry as  a result of this hurricane. The Port of Southern Louisiana is the USA’s largest port and the fifth largest in the world in terms of tonnage. It is America’s key port for grain export. Approximately 25% of  U.S. produced crude oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico.

Consider Bill Koenig’s web site www.watch.org and his book “Eye to Eye – Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel” which charts the uncanny connection between USA attempts to pressure Israel into shrinking its borders, and nearly simultaneous natural disasters in America.

We ask you to consider God’s hand in present events. Genesis 12:3 is a prophetic promise that says that God will curse the one who speaks curses Israel.

What happens in Israel affects the rest of the world, and how any country treats Israel has a lot to do with how God treats that country. We are praying, deeply concerned and grieved about the onset of Katrina.

Here are some appalling parallels that need to be considered as we all pray into this situation.

 

 

 

It seems that the US and Israel are joined together this week by some measure of tragedy. We grieve for this, and especially for the apparent links between these two events.

Pray for America’s leadership, that their spiritual eyes and ears may be attentive to the God of Israel who stirs up the waves so that they roar. Let us not shut our ears if He is speaking. And let us handle with respect the people whom He has chosen as the apple of His eye.

Avner Boskey

www.davidstent.org

The world has entered into the time of dividing up the Land of Israel

Our last newsletter (sent out in early August) sought to clarify the real strategic, democratic and biblical issues surrounding the Israeli government’s evacuation and retreat from Gaza and Northern Samaria. The goal was to correct misinformation about events in Israel, and to present more accurate information from an Israeli, Hebrew and Messianic perspective about facts on the ground.

This present newsletter asks the question – what is the prophetic import of events going on in Israel today?

Signs and weathermen

An ancient Indian proverb cautions care when using one’s finger to point something out. A passing onlooker may end up focusing on the finger, and may totally miss the object to which one was pointing!

In Matthew 16:1-3 Yeshua warns that it is possible to be aware of current events while at the same time to totally miss what these events are prophetically pointing to. Even a weatherman can miss the significance of a coming storm! “When it’s evening, you declare that tomorrow will be good weather, because the sky is reddish. And in the morning you announce that there will be nasty weather today, because the sky is red and overcast . . . You know how to discern tomorrow’s weather, but you don’t know how to discern the signs of the times”.

What significance should be drawn about the disengagement from Gaza and Northern Samaria?  Is the lesson to be learned simply a call to good citizenship, that Israel’s citizens should obey their Prime Minister without question – as it were, a unique Israeli exercise in upholding the democratic form of government? Or is the disengagement a prophetic wake up call to Israel and the nations – a decisive prophetic line in the sand which has now been crossed, with international and eternal consequences?

The prophet Samson ended up “eyeless in Gaza.” It is our prayer that, with Israel’s recent departure from Gaza, the eyes of the prophets and the eyes of the Jewish people who are all called to be prophets would be opened more clearly and that we would all prophesy with even greater accuracy and devotion to Yeshua (see Psalm 105:15; Num.11:29)!

A retreat by any other name

The forced evacuation of Jewish Israelis from Gaza and parts of Northern Samaria is the first and only case in Jewish history of Jews uprooting other Jews from their homes and synagogues, and then destroying those buildings – all in order to hand over portions of their divinely promised land to enemy forces (the uprooting of Yamit  under Ariel Sharon’s supervision in 1982 and its handover to Egypt probably should also be included). It is also the first case of the Israeli army retreating from terrorist forces. And it is actually the third time in the modern era that Israel has abandoned territory promised by God to Israel. In 1956 Israel abandoned Gaza due to US and Russian threats (It was later retaken by Israel in June 1967). On July 1 1994 Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin handed over Jericho to Yasser Arafat, an event shepherded and promoted by former President Bill Clinton. Today Sharon’s unilateral retreat has been euphemistically called a “disengagement.” But even in Hebrew, a retreat is still a retreat.

Frozen snapshots

This past week Israeli TV has broadcasted non-stop live and on-site, covering all aspects of the evacuation. Israelis have been bombarded with a marathon of sound bites and “eye bites” – Jews removing other Jews from their homes, farms and synagogues. The pictures, especially footage of bulldozed homes, have broken the hearts of many Israelis, while others have responded to the tragic evacuations with cold sneers and derision. While some Israeli hearts are responding to this tragedy with tenderness, other hearts are hardening and refuse to hear their brother’s cry rising up out of Gaza’s soil.

Some modern Israelis find it embarrassing and difficult to relate to the sufferings, exiles and pogroms that have characterized Jewish history among the nations. They don’t want to think of their people as having been victimized, and so they avert their eyes and their hearts when forced to consider such issues. It may be shocking for some to discover that certain Israelis cannot or will not see the parallels between the suffering of Gaza’s Jews and the suffering of the Jewish people in Europe and the Arab world. Nevertheless it is heartening to know that many other Jews are finding tears on their cheeks and softening occurring in their hearts. Please pray that God will have His way with many Israeli hearts, tenderizing them and causing them to seek for Messiah Yeshua’s face amidst the pain.

Here are some fleeting descriptions of scenes that flashed across Israeli TV screens this week.

Jewish children in Gaza

A small tot steps outside his house, unaware that his parents are about to be removed, and shyly hands out tiny cookies to the soldiers waiting to enter. A three-year old riding out of his home on the broad shoulders of an IDF officer asks with a big smile, “Are we going out for a fun ride?” Another three-year old girl runs over to an IDF commander (who has just explained to her parents that they are about to be evacuated) and gives him a big kiss and an even bigger smile. A small class of eight-year old boys chants Psalm 130 as soldiers wait to evacuate them from their schoolroom (“Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord! Hear my voice!”)

Grown men crying in Gaza

As the army and police announce to Morag resident Yuval Unterman that he need to evacuate his home, he quietly rips his shirt (a sign of Jewish religious mourning) and stands wordless in front of the soldiers. As the shammash (synagogue attendant) opens the Netzarim synagogue ark where the Torah scrolls are housed (in order to remove them and evacuate them as well), he staggers and buries his face in his hands, shaking with sobs. Tekoa Rabbi Menahem Fruman, known for his heart-to-heart dialogue with neighbouring Arab communities near Bethlehem, tenderly removes a Torah scroll from the Neve Dekalim synagogue, his long wispy white beard wrapped around the scroll, crying. He walks slowly out of the synagogue, his face creased with agonized tears. A Holocaust survivor, dressed in his original prison camp uniform, kisses soldiers who have come to evacuate him, and leaves his home weeping.

Soldiers showing incredible restraint and kindness in Gaza

One of Israel’s most respected and decorated soldiers, Colonel Erez Tzukerman, commander of the famed Golani Brigade, quietly listens as a Gaza resident (a former soldier under his command) weeps and shakes at the fact that his commander and brother-in-arms is evacuating him from his own home. Erez nods his head in understanding, does not react or defend himself as he is yelled at, and then embraces the soldier as they cry together.

A 25-year old commander quietly listens to the Fitusi family explain all the terrorism they have endured, read aloud a letter that the six-year old daughter has written to be read to the soldiers, and then slowly walks out the door to prepare for the family’s evacuation. A five-year old boy comes over to him. The commander crouches to talk with him, kisses him on the head and ask quietly, “Do you hate me?”

IDF Southern Command General Dan Harel and Southern District Police Chief Commander Uri Bar-Lev openly weep in different Gaza synagogues as their own forces get ready to evacuate the buildings of praying Jews. Soldiers carrying a “hilltop youth” out of a yeshiva in Homesh, Northern Samaria lay him down gently on the ground and then hug him. He gets up and runs over to the Torah scroll being evacuated and kisses it, weeping. A young woman soldier who has just evacuated a family from their home goes behind a bus (where she can be alone) and begins to groan and wail deeply over what she has just seen.

One soldier told me that he wandered around one of the abandoned towns after the evacuation and saw over a hundred hungry abandoned dogs and cats; empty houses ghost-like in their stillness, with chocolate milk still on kitchen counters, freshly made bread barely taken out of open ovens, food still on the tables, half-empty fridges – as if the Rapture had just taken place.

The lives of those evacuated have been severely shaken. Many have left homes that up to four generations have lived in. For many, their communities were all that they have ever experienced. They are now for the most part living in temporary housing or crowded into hotel rooms, awaiting the outcome of slow government bureaucratic processes.

Pray that God will use the pain to point this people’s hearts to Himself. Pray for their resettlement to the east of the Gaza Strip, and for the daunting physical needs involved. Pray for the soldiers who have taken the brunt of evacuating Gaza’s Jews. Pray that God will speak to them in their hearts and use the residual pain to open their hearts to him, to ask questions that only He can and will answer.

A pre-bar mitzvah prophecy

Back to the Israeli television broadcasts this week: In the living room of one of the families about to be evacuated, the father asked his oldest son if he had anything he would like to tell the commander evacuating him. The boy quietly opened his Bible to Amos 9:13-15 and chanted in sing-song Hebrew the ancient words of the prophecy. As we watched in our own living room, tears streamed down our cheeks. Hear the words of the prophet:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares YHVH, that the plowman will overtake the one who is reaping, and he who treads out the grapes will overtake the one who is sowing seed. And the mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring back My people Israel from captivity, and they shall rebuild the destroyed cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink the wine, and will eat the fruit of those vineyards. And I will plant (Israel) upon their own land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given to them, says YHVH, your God”.

This pre-bar mitzvah boy prophesied a mouthful. God is in the process of bringing His people Israel back to their promised land of Israel. Over the past 150 years the Jewish people have been rebuilding destroyed cities and have even planted new towns in the pristine desert sands (as in the case of Gaza’s communities). As this river of restoration flows (the Hebrew word for restoration is tikkun), as the process expands, more Jews return, more destroyed towns are rebuilt, and the Jewish people once again finds itself at home in its own land.

Bumps in the ‘restoration road’

But there are bumps in the restoration road. This happens in every struggle and in every process of taking back from the enemy what had been stolen. Opposition and attack sometimes briefly slow down the process. The evacuation of Gaza and four villages in Northern Samaria is one such bump in the road. This is a setback and a cause for grief and mourning. The fact that Jews have been used to inflict this on other Jews is also a tragic surprise.

But the evacuation of Gaza is not the reversal of the process of restoration. It is a grievous road bump on the way. As Michael Freund said recently. “This is hardly the first setback we have suffered on our long and sometimes torturous return to Zion, and it is almost certainly not the last” (“Jewish Gaza will be rebuilt”, Jerusalem Post, Wed. August 17, 2005, p.14).

The Jewish people will never again be decisively exiled from their land, as one or two embittered and disgruntled Messianic preachers have been arguing for. Though there is definitely a sifting and a purification coming for the nation of Israel, it will not entail the full exile of Israel nor the full evacuation of Jerusalem (see Zech.14:2b). The return of the Jewish dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is described by God Himself as occurring in unbelief. But God is not caught off guard by this spiritual fact. Indeed, He is the One who is causing the people of Israel to return to the borders of the promised land – including to the Gaza Strip.

It is important to remember that the process of restoration cannot be smoothly charted as if it were part of some American engineering manual, even a Messianic Jewish engineering manual! The process of restoration is not easily condensed into an efficient and scientific linear equation, a four-color flow chart or an intricate time-line. Such a computerized approach to the restoration process is probably more Hellenistic than Jewish, more fatalistic than prophetic, more mechanistic than mystical.

God is a multi-tasker

The truth is that God is capable of doing more than one thing at a time and, in fact, God works in precisely such a multi-faceted way. He has determined to bring His people back to the land of Israel even in unbelief, to establish them in their land even in unbelief, and to cause them to grow into an amazing and world-perplexing people even in unbelief.

All that is lacking for Israel is the breath, the Ruach, the Spirit of God. When YHVH pours out His Ruach of grace and supplications (Zechariah 12:10), we the people of Israel will mourn, we will repent, we will embrace our Messiah Yeshua, we will come alive as a mighty army (Ezekiel 37:10) and we will move under God’s feet as His divine threshing sledge bringing judgment and blessing to the nations (Isaiah 41:15; the Hebrew word for this sledge is morag, one of the names of the evacuated Gaza communities)

God’s process of restoration is cyclical – He brings His people back to the same land from which they were originally exiled and evacuated. He is moving simultaneously to establish physical restoration and spiritual restoration in the bodies and spirits of the same Jewish people who once rebelled against Moses’ authority and David’s dynasty. God’s river of restoration continues to flow over the Jewish people and into their hearts, even though there are occasional eddies, side pools and backwaters. And God will use the pain and the agony created by this evacuation to open Jewish hearts to His own heart, and to bring Israeli hearts into a right relationship with His own heart.

The exile and public agony of Gaza’s Jews has sadly occurred, but this momentary light affliction has not stopped the process of Jewish restoration to and in the land of Israel. It has not reversed the flow of the river of restoration. Indeed, it has opened the door to one of the last days’ most significant prophecies regarding the restoration of Israel and the judgment of the nations.

Three Big Prophetic Events

Two momentous prophetic events have occurred in the last 25 years.

According to Bob Jones, a prophetic brother, World War Three began on October 6 1981 with the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat by Islamic jihadi forces (led by Ayman Zawahiri, now Osama Bin Laden’s second-in-command). This rise of an armed and fanatic army of Islamic world jihad indicates that world jihad will figure prominently in the coming battles of WWIII.

On September 11 2001 another prophetic brother James Goll was told by the Lord to turn on his TV immediately. As he watched planes crash into the World Trade Center, God told him that “the time of the hunters” had begun. This term refers to Jeremiah 16:16-18, a prophecy of a worldwide season of anti-Semitic persecution which will purify the Jewish nation as well as fully bring them back to their ancestral homeland of Israel. This prophetic word re-emphasizes that growing world-wide anti-Jewish persecution will now be linked to anti-Israel strategies and Islamic jihadi terrorism.

The third event, the time of dividing up the land of Israel, is kicking into high gear in front of our eyes, and it is the evacuation of Gaza which has proved to be the alarm bell. A little bit of background is necessary here.

The Arab and Islamic world has been actively trying to wipe out the Jewish State of Israel since the late 1940’s. The PLO has made the destruction of Israel its organizational strategy since its inception in 1964, whether by direct armed attack or by ‘the plan of stages’ – whittling off pieces of Israel through diplomacy, until direct military attack can be decisive. The nations of the world, and in particular the USA, have also been advocating a political process which would divide up the biblical land of Israel. The organization known as the Quartet (composed of the USA, the European Union, the UN and Russia; see www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/20062.htm) has been pushing since 2003 for what it has euphemistically labeled “a performance-based and goal-driven roadmap, with clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at … a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

Since unimpeded access to Islamic oil is essential for Western economies, and since oil access is also connected with progress on dividing the land of Israel, it has become a clear policy goal of oil multinationals, Saudi Arabia, and allies in the US State Department and C.I.A., to push for strategies to make this dream a reality. Two books which throw light on these strategies are: “The Secret War Against The Jews: How Western Intelligence Betrayed the Jewish People" by John Loftus and Mark Aarons (www.john-loftus.com) and “Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude” by former C.I.A. Middle East case officer Robert Baer. Loftus and Baer are commentators for the FOX Channel.

It is to be assumed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already run into these international and strategic hardball pressures. There is place for much compassion here. What would you do if you were Israel’s PM, you did not believe the Scriptures and you needed to simultaneously fend off US pressure, terrorist attacks and impending legal action against yourself (possibly) and your own children (certainly) for illegal campaign funding?

It seems that Sharon hoped that he could gain world sympathy by a unilateral disengagement while simultaneously freezing world pressure against further withdrawals. But US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice recently popped that balloon on August 18 2005 in a NY Times article with Joel Brinkley and Steven R. Weisman. She “offered sympathy for the Israeli settlers who are being removed from their homes in Gaza but also made it clear that she expected Israel and the Palestinians to take further steps in short order toward the creation of a Palestinian state. ‘Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing,’ Ms. Rice said in an interview. But she added, ‘It cannot be Gaza only.’”

In a recent TV interview here in Israel, former Consul General of Israel in New York Alon Pinkas stated that, with the evacuation from Gaza, “the US has seen the victory of its 38 year old policy”. American Rice and Israeli Pinkas dovetail in agreeing that the evacuation of Gaza was a long standing US policy goal, and that the continuing division of the biblical land of Israel is an ongoing US strategic goal.

So the evacuation from Gaza is not taking place in a vacuum. At this point, with the exile of the Jewish remnant from the Gaza Strip and from parts of Northern Samaria, the world has now entered into the period which can be called “the time of the  dividing up the land of Israel.” The first fruits have been seen globally on television this past week. It is unfortunate that the US is one of the prime movers in this dividing process.

This season will involve intensified world focus on and preoccupation with forcing Israel to retreat from other portions of the biblical heartland. It will involve political, economic and military pressure. Two decades ago an internationally respected prophetic brother prophesied that the USA would face another oil embargo when a man named Abdullah would become King over Saudi Arabia. Abdullah acceded to the Saudi throne on August 3 2005. The economic pressures against Israel will also include oil embargoes against the USA and other countries – Islamic oil weapons crafted to weaken connections between those countries and the state of Israel.

We have been warning about the immediacy of this biblical scenario for nearly 12 years. What is sobering is that in the first round of this battle, Israel has been pressured into evacuating portions of its own lands..

What will eventually develop according to the Scriptures:

In light of these biblical scenarios, we encourage you to keep God’s strategies and prophetic plans close to your heart. We encourage you to pray for your country – that it would bless and protect Israel and the Jewish people, and not turn against them. We encourage you to intercede for Israel’s protection and salvation. We encourage you to reach out to Jewish people around you and to share the good news of their Messiah Yeshua’s life, atoning death and amazing resurrection with your Jewish friends and acquaintances. We encourage you to prepare for the coming wave of anti-Jewish persecution, terror and future holocaust. How will you be able to save Jewish lives and protect them as they return to their promised land?

Thanks for reading these words and for chewing on them. We bless you and thank you for your friendship, prayers and support. They mean a lot to us!

In Yeshua, Israel’s Messiah and the Light of the world!

Avner Boskey

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Withdrawal and the Watchmen

"Hear the word that Yahweh has spoken… O sons of Israel . .. Surely Yahweh the Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared; who will not fear? Yahweh the Lord has spoken; who will not prophesy?" (Amos 3:1, 7-8)It is the destiny of the prophetic to deal with tension. Tension exists between Heaven and earth. Yeshua calls us to pray that "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven". His invitation to us presupposes that not all is right on earth, and that we need to pray into our planet’s situation.

The prophet Micaiah the son of Imlah was once threatened by the authorities of his day. He was told to "speak encouragement to the king" – to make sure that his prophetic input fit in with the soothing prophetic consensus. But Micaiah courageously declared, "As Yahweh lives, that which Yahweh will say to me – that I will speak out!" (1 Ki.22:8-14)

We live in a day when many run to and fro, and prophetic opinions (especially about events in Israel) increase daily by leaps and bounds (see Dan.12:4). Yet is it not time for the prophetic to slow down and speak with one voice, clearly, understandably and unmistakably? How else shall God's army know that an alarm is sounding? "If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?" (1 Cor.14:8).

Isaiah wept that in his day some prophetic watchmen were developing spiritual cataracts. The watchmen who were supposed to be Israel's spiritual guard dogs were coming down with a case of prophetic laryngitis (see Isa. 56:10). Today the hour has come to ring out a warning and to call intercessors to take their place on the walls, especially as the enemies of Israel in Gaza gleefully anticipate drinking the new wine for which the sons of Israel have labored:

"On your walls O Jerusalem I have appointed watchmen. All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves, and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Yahweh has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength, 'I will never again give your grain as food to your enemies, nor will foreigners drink your new wine, for which you have labored'" (Isa.62:6-8).

In this context, prayerfully note the headline of a recent article by Hillary Leila Krieger in the Jerusalem Post (JP) Thursday June 30 2005 p.2, "In Gaza, Palestinians may reap what Israelis have sown".

Hang in there, intercessors!

The Apostle Peter once explained, "For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth which is present with you. And I think it is right . . . to stir you up by reminding you …" (1 Pet.1:12-13).  The urgent need of the hour is to stand with the Jewish people. Prayer is of paramount importance as Israel prepares to withdraw under fire from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, as we Israelis abandon parts of our divinely promised biblical inheritance.

As Bible believers and followers of Messiah Yeshua Son of David, the time is now to clearly remind ourselves about the truth and to zoom in with prayer. We need to know beyond the shadow of a doubt whether or not this withdrawal is strategically wise for Israel; whether or not Prime Minister (PM) Ariel Sharon's decision is supported by a majority of Israelis; and what the Bible teaches about the territories under discussion. We need to accurately know what Israelis are thinking, saying and feeling. We need to clearly grasp God's heart on the matter, and not simply react to fast moving political events and the schemes of men. Let's explore these areas now.

IS WITHDRAWING FROM GAZA STRATEGICALLY WISE?

Israel is getting ready to withdraw from Gaza, even under fire, and to forcibly uproot and remove all Jews from that area. Is this operation in Israel's strategic interest or not? Actually there has been no government debate in Israel or even public explanation regarding the strategic issues or military risks of this operation. All attempts to start such a debate in the Knesset have been quashed by PM Sharon.

"All Israelis who don't have a death wish are concerned with the security implications of handing land and strategic positions over to a junta of terrorists who have repeatedly stated their intention to use that land and those positions to advance their terror war against the State of Israel. Yet, to date . . . no government official – from the Prime Minister on down – has been called on to answer how Israel will be militarily better off without Gaza and northern Samaria. Indeed, no government spokesman from Sharon on down has been able to coherently explain how Israel will defend itself when Gaza and northern Samaria are under Hamas and Fatah control.  The security consequences of the plan have been systematically ignored while the full brunt of media scrutiny has been placed on its religious opponents. They are reviled as  zealots, criminals and extremists." ("Scorched-earth Kulturkampf", Caroline B. Glick, JP, Tues July 12, 2005, p.16).

The following are quotes 'from the horse's mouth' – quotes from Israel's top military and security leaders, statesmen and Members of Knesset (MKs), as well as from internationally respected strategic thinkers and commentators regarding the security and strategic aspects of this withdrawal..

The former head of the Shabak or General Security Services (Israel's equivalent to the FBI) Ami Ayalon "said that the government ha(s) to openly discuss why it (is) taking Israel in this direction" ("Government is failing to explain disengagement", David Horovitz, JP, Tues June 28, 2005).

The former Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), equivalent to the US Head of Joint Chiefs of Staff, is Moshe Ya'alon. He is also former commander of Sayeret Matkal (Israel's Delta Force) and former Chief of Military Intelligence (AMAN). He recently stated that he was not consulted by PM Sharon on the strategic and military aspects of the disengagement. "Former Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon revealed on Tuesday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not consult him on the risks of unilateral disengagement before deciding to advance the plan. Ya'alon was speaking to the Knesset State Control Committee which convened to discuss the recently published book Boomerang that suggests that Sharon devised disengagement to deflect pressure from the criminal investigations against him. 'I was brought into discussions after the decision was made and not before it' Ya'alon said. 'I got the plan as a done deal'" ("Ya'alon: I wasn't consulted on disengagement", Nina Gilbert, JP, Wed June 29 2005, p.3).

And what is Ya'alon's perspective on the strategic implications of the disengagement? Uri Dan, respected commentator and long-time personal friend of Sharon candidly stated that Ya'alon "warned that after disengagement Palestinian shelling can be expected not only of Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip but also of cities in the center of the country, from Palestinian bases in Judea and Samaria, if Israel doesn't continue to make concessions to the Palestinians in the West Bank also" ("The Ya'alon-Dichter Divide", Uri Dan, JP, Sun June 19 2005, p.14).

In his first interview as a private citizen after over 35 years in the IDF, Ya'alon said, "We have a situation of reverse asymmetry. The State of Israel is ready to give the Palestinians an independent Palestinian state, but the Palestinians are not ready to give us an independent Jewish state. . . Despite their military weakness the Palestinians … have a feeling of success, (w)hereas we are waging a battle of withdrawal and delay... Look, the whole question is whether your withdrawal is perceived by the other side as an act of choice or an act of flight. If it is perceived as a flight, they will continue to come after you" ("Parting Shots", Ari Shavit, Ha'aretz, June 2, 2005).

Former Chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress, Isi Leibler, explains what was PM Sharon’s reaction to General Ya’alon’s de facto strategic evaluations: “General Ya’alon felt obliged to tell his prime minister that in his military estimation, the proposed unilateral; disengagement is a recipe for disaster. An outraged Sharon … responded by effectively sacking the military chief a year before Ya’alon’s retirement . . . If the Knesset ignores Ya’alon’s cri de coeur that the House of Israel is in danger, history will judge our leaders harshly for failing to live up to their responsibilities during a time of crisis” (“For a real Knesset debate”, Isi Leibler, JP, Fri June 17, 2005 pp.9-10).

Former Prime Minister of Israel, MK and Minister of Finance Binyamin Netanyahu agrees with General Ya’alon. “if the Palestinians sense a pattern of unilateral withdrawals under terror and without any Palestinian reciprocity, this poses a great danger to us. We’ll have to wake up to it at a certain point. But the later we wake up to this danger, the more we pay . . . The principal problem with the withdrawal as it is taking place is that it … set(s) in Palestinian minds the belief that there is a pattern of Israeli behavior: We received terror in Lebanon, and withdrew. We received terror in Gaza, withdrew. We received terror in Judea and Samaria, we will withdraw. And then under terror the Jews will withdraw from Palestine” (“We must reduce the terrorists’ sense of victory”, David Horovitz & Gil Hoffman, JP, Wed May 11 2005, p.7).

Former Brigadier-General and commander in Sayeret Matkal (Israel’s Delta Force) MK Effi Eitam says, “Disengagement … could turn into a major strategic defeat for Israel, just like our withdrawal from Lebanon. . . And if now, heaven forbid, we flee from Gaza and dismantle the settlements in Gush Katif … this will signify the success of terrorism and guarantee its continuation within Israel by Israeli Arabs” (“A different kind of battle”, Ruthie Blum, JP, Thurs Jan 13 2005).

Former Soviet Jewish refusenik and MK Natan Sharansky adds, “The disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace” (“Why I am quitting your government”, Natan Sharansky, JP, Tues May 3 2005).

Israeli Arab and Druse Likud MK Ayoub Kara says, “I am a patriotic Israeli and I don’t think disengagement will bring benefit to Israel. I have lost two brothers, uncles and cousins in battle, and I myself was wounded … But why should I support a unilateral move that will increase terror, endanger people and not bring peace? . . . My opinion is completely based on security . . . I am also against the plan because there was a referendum in the Likud that decided against it … I represent the Likud. I am being loyal to my party and not to its chairman, because party heads come and go” (“The Right kind of ally: Why is Druse MK Ayoub Kara one of the leaders of the battle against disengagement?”, Gil Hoffman et al, JP, Tues July 26 2005).

Director of the Middle East Forum and a prize-winning columnist for the New York Sun and The Jerusalem Post, Daniel Pipes’ website, DanielPipes.org, is the single most accessed source of specialized information on the Middle East and Islam. Mr. Pipes was one of the few analysts who understood the threat of militant Islam prior to 9/11. The Boston Globe states that “If Pipes's admonitions had been heeded, there might never have been a 9/11.” The Wall Street Journal has called him “an authoritative commentator on the Middle East.”

In an article titled “Ariel Sharon’s Folly” (NY Sun, April 5 2005) Pipes says, “Name another democracy that has forcibly removed thousands of its own citizens from their lawful homes … The planned withdrawal of all Israeli installations from Gaza amounts to an act of monumental political folly.  Because the decision to retreat from Gaza took place in the context of heightened violence against Israel, it vindicates those Palestinian voices arguing for terrorism. The Gaza retreat is, in plain words, a military defeat. It follows on the ignominious Israeli abandonment of its positions and its allies in Lebanon in May 2000, a move which much eroded Arab respect for Israeli strength, with dire consequences. The Gaza withdrawal will almost certainly increase Palestinian reliance on terrorism.  Mr. Sharon betrayed the voters who supported him, wounding Israeli democracy. He divided Israeli society in ways that may poison the body politic for decades hence. He aborted his own successful policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. He delivered Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rejectionists their greatest boost ever. And he failed his American ally by delivering a major victory to the forces of terrorism”.

The cream of Israel’s military and security leadership opposes Sharon’s disengagement on strategic grounds.  This reality is reflected in the title of Jerusalem Post reporter Caroline Glick’s recent article “Sharon the tactician: He has lost sight of the significance of strategic realities” (JP, Tues March 29 2005, p.16).

Some Palestinian perceptions of Israel’s withdrawal

Co-founder and senior leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip Dr. Mahmoud al-Zaher declared, “History has proven that the rockets … have forced Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, and they will end the occupation in the future. It’s the resistance and not the negotiations that brought about the end of the occupation” (“Hamas says rockets, not talks, brought pullout decision”, Khaled Abu Toameh, JP, Tues July 19 2005, p.3).

The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei is planning victory celebrations and military parades. “The Palestinian Authority is planning celebrations in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli withdrawal from the area, PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei announced Thursday . . . Sources close to Hamas said the Islamic Movement was also planning ‘mass celebrations and military parades’ in the settlements after pullout” (PA, Hamas plan celebrations in Gaza Strip after withdrawal”, Khaled Abu Toameh, JP, Fri July 23 2005, p.4).

Hamas “is planning to hold a huge victory celebration after Israel completes its withdrawal from Gush Katif, including parades similar to those held by Hizbullah after the IDF pulled out of Lebanon. Sources in Gaza said the terror group already purchased 30,000 uniforms ahead of the planned victory parades . . . The movement is hoping to utilize the parades to convey the message that the Gaza Strip withdrawal is a direct result of the group’s military triumph over Israel” (“Terror group purchases 30,000 uniforms ahead of planned post-pullout celebrations”, Ronny Shaked, Ynet.com, Fri July 8 2005)

Former Palestinian terrorist leader “Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Marxist-Leninist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), announced Thursday that he will move to the Gaza Strip after Israel completes its withdrawal. Hawatmeh, who is based in Damascus, is the first leader of a radical Palestinian group to announce his intention to move to Gaza after disengagement. The leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have also reportedly expressed their desire to move to the Gaza Strip . . . ‘I will return to the Gaza Strip after a full Israeli withdrawal from the area,’ Hawatmeh said … One of the group's most notorious attacks was the raid on a school in Ma'alot in 1974, when a squad of DFLP terrorists took over a school where scores of children from Safed on a field trip in the region were sleeping. Twenty-four people, most of them children, were killed” (“Hawatmeh to Gaza when Israel leaves”, Khaled Abu Toameh, JP, Fri July 22 2005, p.1).

U.S. State Dept perspective on the strategic significance of the Gaza withdrawal

Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice: “Because the real point about Gaza is not to stop with Gaza. The President has been clear, we've been clear with the Israelis that it cannot be Gaza only” (U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman, Shannon, Ireland; June 17, 2005. Press briefing by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the traveling press en route to Shannon, Ireland June 17, 2005)

Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice:  “President Bush asked me to come here in the wake of the President’s very good visit to Washington to follow up with the parties about plans leading to the disengagement of Israeli forces and settlers from the Gaza that will take place shortly.  We must all focus on the disengagement as our best chance to reenergize the roadmap . . . What I’ve been very heartened by today and appreciate very much is the degree to which the President, in particular, but also many of his ministers are focused on making sure that this Gaza disengagement works.  Because we’ve said many times that this is not Gaza only; this is the first step on a process that is outlined.  The roadmap says how we get to final status, it says how we get to a Palestinian state” (U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman, Jerusalem, Israel. June 18, 2005. Joint Press availability with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Ramallah, West Bank  June 18, 2005).

An Israeli Sarcastic Op-Ed on PM Sharon’s political credibility

Who’s for the destruction of the Likud?

Uri Porat (Yediot Aharanot, Mon July 25 2005; translated Avner Boskey)

 “For Sharon, his word is his bond. In April 2002, a few months before he was re-elected as PM by an unprecedented crushing majority, he burst into anger when rumors were floated about IDF brass who suggested disengaging/evacuating outlying settlement enclaves. Opposing those rumors he proclaimed, ‘There is no basis to these declarations! No settlement will be evacuated! Such an evacuation would only encourage terrorism and increase pressure against us. What goes for Netzarim (ed., in the Gaza Strip) goes for Negba (ed., a kibbutz close to Beersheva which held out bravely against Egyptian army attacks in 1948), Yad Mordechai (ed., a kibbutz overrun by Egypt in 1948 and later retaken) and Tel Aviv!’ During the same week he emphasized this position in a government meeting, when presented with the possibility of any form of disengagement as a ‘national imperative’. Striking the table with his fist in anger, he declared in a tone not given to the slightest misunderstanding: ‘As long as I preside over this office, there will never be a debate over the evacuation of settlements, including outlying settlements!’ After such words, nothing remains to be said. Every one of his words is as immoveable as the Rock of Gibraltar”.

THE  WITHDRAWAL – A DEMOCRATIC  ISRAELI  DECISION?

Was the disengagement plan ever voted on by the Israeli electorate? What was the legal outcome? Does a majority of Israelis stand behind Sharon’s strategy?

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The following quotes explain the process of how disengagement was adopted. They are taken from an op-ed titled “Democracy and disengagement” (Evelyn Gordon, JP, July 20 2005) www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1121825993157&p=1006953079865

"A brief history of the plan suffices to show why many protesters today are disillusioned with democracy. It begins with the January 2003 elections, in which the central campaign issue was Labor's proposal for a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which Sharon adamantly opposed . . .  (T)he results were unequivocal: Sharon's Likud Party, running on an anti-withdrawal platform, won more than twice as many seats as Labor, giving Sharon the largest electoral victory in Israel's history. Then, in December 2003, Sharon suddenly adopted Labor's unilateral withdrawal platform – the very policy he was elected to block. He thereby single-handedly nullified the democratic victory won by pullout opponents 11 months earlier.

. . . When Sharon announced a referendum of Likud members on his plan and pledged to abide by the results . . . once again they won a stunning victory: . . . a 60% majority against (disengagement) at the ballot box. . . . Ignoring his pre-referendum promise, Sharon brought the plan to a vote in the cabinet and Knesset, where he and his cronies defied party members' unequivocal directive and approved it.

Thus in the only two electoral contests ever held on disengagement, pullout opponents won decisive victories through strictly democratic means. Yet the plan continues to sail toward implementation. So thousands of anti-disengagement activists have drawn the only possible conclusion: Democracy does not work – because no matter how many democratic contests you win, those in power will still do as they please unless forcibly prevented.

The media . . .  routinely describes Likud MKs who honored the referendum results by voting against disengagement as ‘rebels’ – the implication being that it is illegitimate to prefer the voters' will to that of the prime minister. But how can one argue that democracy works if it is illegitimate for MKs to honor their voters' wishes? . . . The accumulation of evidence over the past two years has been overwhelming: Israel's power centers – the politicians, the media and the justice system – may pay lip service to democracy, but they have no qualms about riding roughshod over its most fundamental principles anytime the democratic process fails to produce the results they desire”.

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The following quote is taken from an interview with former coalition partner MK Effi Eitam titled “A different kind of battle” (Ruthie Blum, JP, Jan 13 2005) and suggests that Sharon is achieving his political goals by radically anti-democratic means. (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1105504413071).

“We have a prime minister who bent all the rules – who circumvented all the checks and balances of our democracy – from the minute he began his election campaign, in which he denounced Mitzna's platform and on that basis won the election. By implementing disengagement, he is committing the greatest embezzlement a leader can commit against his electorate.

Of course, one has to make a distinction between representative democracy and its specific representatives. Of course there has to be some leeway and flexibility for the voters' ‘emissary.’ But such an about-face goes way beyond what is acceptable. . . One could argue that the prime minister is using legitimate democratic tools to implement his plan, such as firing ministers who don't agree with him . . . But, whether the legality of the process is intact, the spirit of democracy – according to which there has to be a concrete majority in order to make fateful decisions – is lacking. This behavior is going to lead to a schism”.

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“Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the pre-eminent halachic authority for Sephardic Jews, has come out against disengagement on the grounds that it endangers Jewish lives by encouraging terrorists to pursue violence for further territorial compromise” (Rabbi rules: Disengagement entails 14 biblical sins”, Mati Wagner, JP, Thurs Feb 24 2005, p.2).

“A Druse soldier has sent a personal letter to Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz asking to be excused (from) duty that would involve evicting Jewish settlers from their homes and land. ‘If I am required to act against Israeli citizens, evict them from their homes and uproot them from their land, my conscience will never give me rest’ the soldier said in his letter” (“Druse soldiers: Don’t make me evacuate settlers”, David Rudge, JP, Sun June 19 2005, p.3).

“Sharon … must also stop misleading his own people. He can no longer fall back on his oft-repeated ‘trust me’ mantra. It is past time for him to report to the nation and make us privy to his intentions . . . At present most of us are plagued with doubts as to Sharon's intentions and many are disinclined to believe anything he says. The time for openness and transparency is long overdue. We are at a crucial turning point in our history and we should not be obliged to read Sharon's mind. Mr. Sharon: Speak to us.” (“Mr. Sharon Goes to Crawford”, Isi Leibler, JP, Thurs April 7 2005, p.5)

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What percentage of the Israeli people actually back Sharon’s plan? The answer depends on how and to whom you ask the question.

“When asked ‘Are you for or against withdrawal under fire in the disengagement plan?’ only 37% of respondents in a recent Maagar Mohot Institute survey supported disengagement” (“The Disengagement Lie”, Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, JP, Mon July 18 2005, p.13).

“A full 41.8 percent of Israeli Jews believe that no settlements should be dismantled as part of a peace agreement, a new survey released by the University of Haifa reveals. Furthermore, 41.8% of Israeli Jews said no territories should be handed over to the Palestinians even in the framework of a peace agreement … By contrast, 91.6% of Israeli Arabs polled favor such a withdrawal” (“Poll: One in five Israeli Jews ready to block roads”, Talya Halkin, JP, Wed June 29 2005, p.3).

“‘Israeli Arabs totally reject the notion of a Zionist state’ said Prof. Sammy Smooha of the University of Haifa department of Sociology and Anthropology, and one of the main organizers of a survey conducted by the University. Of the Israeli Arabs polled, only 13.8% agreed to Israel’s right to exist as a democratic Zionist state in which Jews and Arabs live side by side” (“Poll: Most Israeli Arabs oppose Zionist stae”, David Rudge, JP, Tues June 21 2005, p.6).

In an article in Yediot Aharonot titled, “Youth against the disengagement”, Sever Plotzker points out some surprising facts. In a poll conducted by Dr. Mina Tzemach and the Dahaf Institute among Israeli Jewish youth 15-18 years of age, 55% come out against the disengagement, 68% classify themselves as rightists, and 64% are for selective refusal during disengagement. He concludes his Hebrew article (Avner’s translation), “Concerning the burning issue at hand – the disengagement – the stance of Israel’s youth is directly opposite from that of their parents. Whereas a majority of adults – 58% – support the disengagement, 55% of the youth oppose the disengagement. There are many reasons for their opposition – from personal identification with the settlers to a crystallized hawkish world view. The ‘youth revolt’ …, this ‘orange revolt’(ed., the color orange represents the anti-withdrawal forces) is seen by Israeli youth as a cry of protest against the current corrupt political order, and as a sincere shout against politicians who said one thing during their election campaign and now are doing the exact opposite after they were elected.” (“The youth turn toward the right: Youth against the disengagement and for selective refusal”, Sever Plotzker, Yediot Aharonot, Musaf Shabbat, Fri July 22 2005, pp.4-5).

Sharon’s abandonment of his own election platform, his disregard for his party’s legal constitution and member’s referendum, his firing of cabinet members who upheld party positions – all these have taken their toll on Israeli attitudes toward democracy. A recent poll “conducted by Mina Tzemach for the Knesset Channel found that 87% of the public does not believe the Knesset represents it. In another alarming statistic, 48% could not name one MK who they felt served them well” (“Public puts little trust in members of Knesset”, Nina Gilbert, JP, Tues July 28 2005, p.5).

Natan Sharansky, a world-respected former Soviet dissident/refusenik and also a former coalition member in Sharon’s cabinet, quietly stated, “The government’s approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading toward a terrible rift in this nation; and to my great chagrin, I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it” (“Why I am quitting your government”, Natan Sharansky, JP, Tues May 3 2005).

As you pray over these issues, remember the soldiers who are being asked to turn their strength against fellow citizens instead of against the enemy. IDF OC Manpower Maj-Gen. Elazar Stern drafted a booklet of guidelines to help commanders deal with such problems. He states, “This reality places, on occasion, IDF commanders and soldiers … in a moral collision course between their personal views and positions and the obligation to carry out the missions they were tasked with by the political echelons” (“Guidelines issued for troops who refuse to evacuate”, Arieh O’Sullivan, JP, Wed Mar 16 2005, p.2).

The above quotations show how PM Sharon’s decision for disengagement violated both his electoral mandate and his party referendum. In a healthy democracy Sharon would have been required to ask the voters for a new mandate by holding fresh elections. Though Sharon has kept things barely legal, he has lost the hearts of many in his own party, the trust of many common citizen and the support of the majority of youth in the country. Sharon's withdrawal is not a high point for democracy in Israel.

GAZA & NORTHERN SAMARIA – PART OF THE BIBLICAL PROMISE?

The God of Israel clearly promises the Gaza Strip in its entirety exclusively to the Jewish people. The same is true for northern Samaria. Texts involved include Gen.12:3; 13:14-18; 15:7, 18-21; Num.34:4-6; Deut.1:7-8; Joshua 13:3; 15:1-6, 47; Isa.11:13-14 et al. Though other nations might attempt to settle on those territories and claim them for themselves (see Ezek.36:2-7, Psa.83), the God of the Bible does not recognize such claims. The gifts and calling of God upon the Jewish people are irrevocable and include the entire land of Israel. Pray for your own nation’s leaders to receive God’s revelation and heart about these matters (see Zech.14:1-3; Joel 3:1-2).

God is in the process of bringing the Jewish people back to their ancient homeland.  The majority of us are being brought back in a state of unbelief, as Ezekiel 37 describes. As we have been returning, we've begun to reclaim the deserts and the swamps, defending our biblical homeland with our own blood and watering it with our sweat and tears. Though the enemy may attempt to dislodge us by using superpower pressures and terror attacks, God is still calling us to reclaim our inheritance, to re-dig the ancient wells and to enter into a personal relationship with our God.

For those of us Israeli Messianic believers who serve or have served in the IDF, these are not just abstract concepts. We live our daily lives with these realities before our very eyes. God’s purposes certainly involve shaking Israel and the nations (see Amos 9:7-10) but at the same time most Messianic believers in Israel believe with determination that we are to hold on to our calling and to our land with all our strength. In the same way that we do not understand disease to be God’s gracious gift to believers but we pray for healing as commanded by Yeshua Himself, so we do not make excuses for Arafat, Bin Laden and Hamas as they attempt to rob us of our divine inheritance!

Pray for us as a nation, that God would use these times of the dire straits to purify and soften our hearts, to grant us the gift of repentance and eternal life, and to lead us in standing fast on the land that He promised to the descendants of Jacob as an everlasting possession. We ask you to pray with and for us, that we as a nation and as a Messianic body would look beyond partisan politics and into the wounded hearts of our people. Pray for our healing through a revelation of Yeshua as our Messiah and King on David’s throne (see Zech.12:10-13:1).

A famous Israeli writer Natan Alterman penned what was perhaps his last poem before his death in 1970. This prophetic verse originally written in Hebrew symbolizes our Israeli nation as we press toward our divine calling, surrounded by enemies who would destroy us.

Then Satan Said by Natan Alterman

Then Satan said, “How will I overcome this one who is under siege?

He possesses bravery, ingenuity, weapons of war and resourcefulness”.

And he said, “I’ll not sap his strength, nor reign him in, nor put a bit in his mouth,

Nor fill his heart with cowardice, nor overwhelm him with discouragement

As in days gone by.

I will only do this:

I will cast a shadow of dullness over his mind until he forgets that his cause is just”.

World War Three is Here

Years ago a prophetic man, Bob Jones, declared that WWIII had broken out with the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981. Two men involved in planning that murder were Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (later convicted of conspiring to blow up the World Trade Center, as well as planning the bombing of the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the George Washington Bridge) and Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of Osama bin Laden's two top lieutenants. The assassination of Sadat heralded the resurgence of jihadi Islam. Though Mohammed established jihad in the Koran, and even though jihad is considered one of the pillars of Islam, modern Western political correctness prefers to call jihadis ‘Islamists’ or ‘followers of radical Islam’.

Israel is at the forefront of the struggle against jihadi Islam. Al-Qa’eda recognizes this fact, as does Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. The Western world has by and large not yet joined the dots. The Palestinian terror movement sees it self at the forefront of jihadi Islam, as Islam's spearhead against the Jews. Jihadists understand the struggle in Gaza and the West Bank to be apocalyptic in nature.

Senator Hillary Clinton once said that “Israel is the canary in the mineshaft: what happens to Israel will happen to the rest of the world” (JP, Sunday, Feb 24 2002, p.1).  In times past a caged canary was taken by coal miners down into a mine.  If the canary stopped singing and passed out, the coal miners knew that deadly gases were present and they took appropriate action.  A canary in the mine shaft is a tripwire, a lightning rod.  What happens to Israel is also a sign of coming events for the rest of the world. If the world ignores Israel’s frantic chirping and warnings, the same attacks now being carried out against Israel will happen to the rest of the world. Bombs blew up for years in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv and in Netanya. Now they have begun to explode in New York and in London.

It is instructive to listen the advice of Ephraim Halevi, former head of the Mossad, (Israel’s equivalent to the C.I.A.) in his article “Rules of conflict for a world war” (JP, Fri July 8 2005). Halevi now heads the Center for Strategic and Policy Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

 “We are in the throes of a world war, raging over the entire globe and characterized by the absence of lines of conflict and an easily identifiable enemy. There are sometimes long pauses between one attack and another, consequently creating the wrong impression that the battle is all over, or at least in the process of being won . . . With the passage of time, our memories fade and we return to our daily lives, forgetting that the war is still raging out there and more strikes are sure to follow.  It cannot be said that … we can see its conclusion. We are in for the long haul and we must brace ourselves for more that will follow. The 'Great Wars' of the 20th century lasted less than this war has already lasted, and the end is nowhere in sight . . . International cooperation … cannot replace the requirement that each and every country effectively declare itself at war with international Islamist terror …This war is already one of the longest in modern times; as things appear now, it is destined to be part of our daily lives for many years to come”.

A recent AP-Kyodo poll sampling 1,000 Japanese and 1,000 Americans discovered that 6 out of every 10 Americans believe that World War Three will occur in their lifetime (https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=971221). If the prophets are to be believed, World War Three is not an event in the future; it is already here among us. And the withdrawal from Gaza is part and parcel of this global conflict.

This newsletter has been longer than usual. We hope that you will take the time to chew on what is said here, and that you will pray with us over these urgent and highly strategic matters. It is good to labor with you for Yeshua's glory, for the sake of His Kingdom and for the harvest of His people Israel!

Once again, we want you to know how much you mean to us. Thanks for standing with us in prayer and financially.

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

Avner Boskey (for Rachel, Daniel, David, Asaph and Elisha)

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971

NASHVILLE TN  37212-1971 USA

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