The Passover Plot – Arsonists and Firefighters in Gaza

There is a popular Arabic proverb, “First he hits me. Then he starts to cry. Finally he runs ahead of me to the judge and sues me” (Darabani wa baka, wa sabaqani wa eshtaka). Middle East realities have once again proved how relevant this saying is in helping to understand recent and soon-coming events in the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist terror group controlling Gaza is the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot Hamas (in Arabic Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, Arabic for ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement’ – see https://davidstent.org/hurtling-through-the-fog-of-war-a-messianic-perspective-on-the-new-hamastan/). Spiritually this jihadi group is twinned with the Salafi movement in ideology but has some tactical disagreements regarding the best strategies for achieving those goals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_jihadism).

We’re marching to Zion

Hamas called for a mass demonstration to be held on the eve of Passover 2018. Of course, the choosing of that day does not mean that Hamas has now embraced Jewish holidays. They just like the heightened symbolism and scorn of turning Hebrew holidays into auspicious days for attacking the Jewish state. This strategy was also used by Egypt, Syria and the Islamic world in their surprise attacks on Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur or October War (see www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/10/arab-israeli-war-of-1973-what-happened-171005105247349.html).

Another reason for choosing Passover Eve is because of what some Palestinians call “Land Day” – a day commemorating six Israeli Arabs killed in 1976 while attacking Israeli security forces.

The main organizers of these mass demonstrations (called the Great Return March) are Hamas (www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2018/03/E_082_18.pdf), with the enthusiastic support of terror groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and supporters of former senior Fatah official Muhammad Dahlan (www.memri.org/reports/gaza-strip-initiative-collaboration-hamas-palestinian-islamic-jihad-and-supporters-fatahs).

Not violent or violent – or both?

The march was advertised as being non-violent – “to be expressed in an extensive nonviolent demonstration at the separation fence” (in the Gaza daily Filastin, February 8, 2018). Hamas declared that the march “should take place without clashes [with Israel] in order to protect the young people.” The strategy was to organize a march of hundreds of thousands towards the Israeli security fences in order to force the Jewish state to allow unimpeded immigration of hostile Gazan Arabs.

March organizer Ahmad abu Ratima posted on Facebook (February 18, 2018): “The goal of the Great Return March is more important than the killing or wounding of a few (ed. Israeli) soldiers... The march will begin with a demonstration unrestricted in time at least 700 meters from the separation fence, and it does not aim to reach the fence at this stage.”

At the same time Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouq boasted on his personal Twitter account (February 7, 2018): “Those besieging Gaza must know that the Gaza residents will not break, and that their eyes are still to their land, either peacefully or belligerently. The separation fence is no obstacle for them. The #Great Return March that is advancing towards our land is the path to victory and return.” Hamas is calling for five million descendants of Palestinians (most who were not born there) to be allowed to immigrate to Israel. This of course would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state, as well as the establishment of a jihadi entity in its place (as happened in Gaza).

On February 6, 2018 the Great Return March Facebook page posted an excerpt from an article by Hamas refugee department director Issam Adwan defining the march as resistance. It stated: “The enemy can be resisted by various means…Some of these means are nonviolent and others are violent. All are legal, accessible, and feasible, and all have an impact.” As well, Fayez Abu Shamalah, a Hamas columnist, wrote in the Filastin daily February 5, 2018, “Will the people of Gaza … march, along with Hamas, to the border of the Zionist state, in a ferocious mass-procession and demand the right to return to Palestine?”

Journalist Jibril Odeh wrote in the Filastin daily (February 20, 2018) that the armed terrorist operations of Hamas should not be criticized: “We must not forget the importance of military action in the war for independence… The resistance is one entity, and a gunshot fired in Jenin is no different from an explosive charge in Khan Yunis.”

Hamas activist Yusuf al-Sharqawi called on the public to rush forward until they were face to face with the soldiers, and even to try to take their guns away (Filastin al-Yawm, March 27, 2018).

Hama’s media goal of a Palestinian ‘non-violent march’ is an attempt to deceive world media – while simultaneously engaging in Islamist terror against the Jewish people and their state.

Abu Ratima then appealed to the example of Martin Luther King as a defense of Hamas’ violent/non-violent strategic march: “What is the next step after the success of the #Great Return March and the entry of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees into Palestine that has been occupied since 1948? …We will insist on remaining … a non-violent movement of struggle, along with the ‘inside’ Arabs [i.e., Israeli Arabs], so as to attain our civil rights, the way Martin Luther King did in the U.S.” (Facebook, February 8, 2018).

No one gets hurt – we guarantee it!

According to Talal Abu Zarifa of the terror group Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the organizations will not allow demonstrators to approach the fence unless a decision has been made to cross the fence and escalate the activity (al-Aqsa TV, March 17, 2018).

According to senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Khader Habib (Al Resala.net, March 19, 2018), the March will jump-start a two-year process consisting of three stages (www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2018/03/073_18_E.pdf):

mass activities near the border
erecting tent camps on site to stress the Palestinian ‘right of return’
breaking through Israeli military lines and marching into Israel

The Muslim Brotherhood website Arabi21.com declared “Even if some people are killed during the actual breaching [of the border]...it will be a reasonable price to pay” (Arabi21.com, February 7, 2018).

Oudeh added that the goal of this non-violent action of unlimited duration, is meant “to exhaust the (ed. Israeli) occupation on the security, political and media levels.”

Simultaneously, the March organizers re-emphasized the non-violent nature of the march and that they would prevent harm from coming to the participants (Palestine Online, March 26, 2018).

“He who plants thorns should not expect to gather roses” (Arabic proverb)

The officially released schedule set the start of activities on Friday, March 30, 2018, at 10:00 AM. Free bus transportation was being offered to the site from every mosque in the Gaza Strip (Paldf, March 27, 2018). Portable toilets and meals were provided free of charge. Activities are to continue on a daily basis until they peak on May 15, 2018 (www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2018/03/E_082_18.pdf) – the day some Palestinians commemorate the losing of their 1948 war of destruction against Israel (also called the ‘naqba’).

On the morning of Friday’s march, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed Gazan residents in Arabic on Twitter. He accused Hamas of playing with their citizens’ lives, and warned that anyone who approaches the security fence would be put in danger: “I suggest that you get on with your lives and not participate in the provocation,” he tweeted.

IDF Brigadier General and IDF Spokesman Ronen Manelis said that Israel wanted to avoid violence, but warned that the IDF would shoot anyone who approaches the border's security fence, effectively enforcing a ‘no go’ zone for Gazan Palestinians.

On Friday March 30, 2018 (the Eve of Passover) approximately 30,000 Gazans approached the security fences at six pre-arranged locations. Rioting broke out involving the burning of tires, rock throwing, Molotov bombs and deadly metallic balls from slingshots all aimed at IDF troops guarding the line. At one point four Gazan gunmen directed automatic fire at Israeli soldiers.

Over 100 IDF sharpshooters were spread out along the security line, joined by a bolstered infantry, drones with tear gas ability and other aircraft.

Many hundreds of Palestinians began to attack Israeli lines. Within a few hours over 1,000 of these attackers received treatment from Palestinians medics – most for tear gas inhalation, some for rubber bullet injuries, etc. Sixteen Gazans were shot and killed while attacking IDF troops. Four of those sixteen were directing rifle fire at Israeli soldiers. At latest count ten of the sixteen killed were known terrorists.

Hamas Politburo leader Isma’il Haniyeh declared that the march constitutes “the beginning of a return (ed. of the Palestinian people) to the entirety of the land of Palestine … Walk in the path of Allah (ed. an Islamic phrase for jihad) – you are the victors!”

Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar did not mince words on Friday afternoon, “The March of Return will continue… until we remove this transient border… Our people can’t give up one inch of the land of Palestine.”

Seeing red on the West Bank

The prophet Ezekiel (as well as many others) foresaw a day when the descendants of Edom/Esau would attempt to wrest control of the Jewish homeland by cruel force, bringing terror to the sons of Jacob and claiming the Land of Israel for themselves:

“O mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH.Thus says YHVH God, Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ therefore thus says YHVH God, Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey” (Ezekiel 36:1-2, 5)
“Thus says YHVH God, Because Edom has acted against the House of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred grievous guilt, and avenged themselves upon them, therefore thus says YHVH God, I will also stretch out My hand against Edom …I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore … they will know My vengeance, declares YHVH God” (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

When Arabic-speaking jihadi invaders conquered the Land of Israel circa 638 A.D. this prophetic process described by Ezekiel moved into high gear. The Palestinian terror movement which seeks to invade Israel once again and establish a jihadi state on the mountains of Israel is bringing this process to a climax.

Gaza and Abraham

The God of Israel promised that the territory of Gaza belongs for eternity to the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

“On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates’” (Genesis 15:18; see also Judges 1:18)

Egypt’s former annexation of Gaza

Egypt originally claimed the Gaza Strip as part of Egypt and in 1959, Egypt merged the Gaza Strip into the United Arab Republic. All references to an independent Gaza were abolished and an Egyptian administration was officially imposed. By doing this, Gamal Abdel Nasser de facto canceled official Palestinian self-rule over Gaza. This lasted until Israel liberated those territories in the Six-Day War of June 1967.

The Palestinian counterfeit of the Return to Zion

The Palestinian terror movement has modeled some of its strategies on Jewish themes. If the Zionist movement spoke of a Return to Zion based on the hundreds of references in the Hebrew prophets, so the Palestinians would begin to speak of ‘the right of return.’

In the same way as Ezekiel says that no Jewish person will remain in the countries of the Exile but that all Jews will return (see Ezekiel 39:27-29), so Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the PLO began to speak of the ‘return’ of five million descendants of Arabs whose grandparents once lived in the Land of Israel – hence the title ‘the March of Return.’

These Palestinian political and military strategies can properly be described as ‘Palestinian Replacement Theology’ – replacing Jews with Edomites, replacing the name ‘Israel’ with the name ‘Filastin,’ and replacing the name ‘YHVH’ with the name ‘Allah’ (see Exodus 3:15).

Why do the nations rage?

The response of the nations of the world to attacks on Israeli army positions by Hamas and Islamic Jihad is in keeping with its general anti-Israel trend (www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43603199):

Palestinian President Mahmoud al-Abbas declared that Israel bears “full responsibility” for the Gazan deaths
UN Security Council condemned the violence after an emergency session
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent inquiry into the deaths
Guterres also appealed to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties
UN Deputy Political Affairs chief Taye-Brook Zerihoun declared: “Israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law”

Another Arabic proverb seems to fit here: “He who has approved of a wrongdoing is as guilty as he who committed it.”

How should we then pray?

Pray for the plans of the enemy to be frustrated and stopped

“They devised a plan, but it will be thwarted. They spoke out a scheme but it will not stand, because God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10)

Pray for the Jewish people to be protected from all who would do her harm – both physically and spiritually

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of YHVH, and their vindication is from Me, declares YHVH” (Isaiah 54:17)

Pray for believers and prophetic intercessors worldwide to tap into God’s heart about these issues
Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s army speedily and in our day

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Passover – God’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

At the onset of WWII Prime Minister Winston Churchill consolidated a number of secret intelligence operations groups into the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in the UK’s fight to defeat Nazi Germany. This new group was given various informal names, including ‘the Baker Street Irregulars’ (one of their offices was at 64 Baker Street), ‘Churchill’s Toyshop,’ and the ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.’ This last term was a droll aside at those British and American diplomats who frowned strongly on the use of counter-terrorist methods against the Nazi juggernaut. “Gentlemen don’t read each other’s mail” was their naïve understanding.

One of SOE’s branch offices, formally titled British Security Coordination, was headed up by Canadian businessman Sir William Stephenson. Their offices, located in the Rockefeller Center, coordinated the work of SOE, SIS and MI5 with the FBI and OSS (Office of Strategic Services – later transformed into the CIA).

The God of Israel is described in the Bible not only as the Prince of Peace. He is also a God of military warfare and intelligence strategy. Moses shouted out a victory song to this God of the Hebrews on the beach beside the Sea of Reeds (commonly known as the Red Sea). As the bodies of Egyptian charioteers washed up onto the sandy shore, Moses unashamedly declared that “YHVH is a warrior – YHVH is His name!” (Exodus 15:3).

The familiar Passover story also has an angle which may be unfamiliar to some – YHVH’s behind-the-scenes maneuvers and battle plans. These stratagems form the backdrop and catalyst for the mighty Exodus from Egypt.

Pharaoh – a wrench in YHVH’s toolchest

The God of Jacob spoke to Moses quite forcefully, giving him highly specific instructions about what to say to Egypt’s Pharaoh:

Then YHVH said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says YHVH, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth’” (Exodus 9:13-16)

The Exodus story is not a simple clash between Pharaoh the king of Egypt and Moses the former Prince of Egypt. God reveals that one of the main goals of the story is to communicate a message to all mankind – that there is no god in existence who is like YHVH the God of the Hebrews.

This God, this YHVH, was setting up the king of Egypt for judgment and a measure of desolation – in order to proclaim the fact that the God who watches over Israel will judge any nation who raises its hand to weaken or attack the Jewish people

Just to make sure that the point was really driven home, YHVH declared that, by the time this whole process was over, He would not even allow a small dog to bark at or threaten the Jewish people:

“Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how YHVH makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exodus 11:6-17)

The Apostle Paul echoes the thoughts of the God of Israel when he teaches: “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Romans 9:16-18).

Pharaoh was raised up by God to be a vessel which would receive judgment and dishonor. The reason for the divine judgment was his actions and heart attitudes toward the Jewish people. This divine principle is one of the linchpins of the Passover story, and it is highly relevant for our day as well

Strategic-level spiritual warfare

The Tenth Plague was the striking down of the firstborn. This awesome display of God’s power brought the agony of death to every Egyptian household – though all Jewish homes which applied the blood of the lamb to their doorposts were spared.

The God of Israel explains why He was about to bring that plague down upon the nation of Egypt. The Jewish people were (and are) God’s firstborn among the nations. A blow against them is a blow against their Father:

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says YHVH, Israel is My son, My firstborn.So I said to you, Let My son go that he may serve Me. But you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn” (Exodus 4:22-24)

The power behind the pantheon of Egyptians gods/demons were very real spiritual forces, powers and principalities. “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but YHVH made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5).

YHVH’s plagues were all directed against specific demonic powers. The frog was sacred to the idol Heket; Hapi was the spirit for whom the waters of the Nile were sacred; the sun was sacred to Ra; the cow was holy to Apis; Horus was considered the son of Isis, as was Pharaoh. As each plague turned objects worshipped by common Egyptians into cursings, so YHVH was showing His sovereign anger at how the Egyptians were enslaving and harshly treating Jacob’s children. “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments – I am YHVH” (Exodus 12:12).

The fearsome judgments of YHVH were directed against both the leaders who cursed Israel as well as against their people the Egyptians. This biblical principle needs to be recovered and taken to heart in our day, for many countries have already aligned against the Jewish people, their land, their city and their welfare

From Pharaoh’s slaves to YHVH’s servants

Every Passover at the Seder table we Jews declare “Avadim hayinu l’Far’oh b’Mizrayim” – we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt (Deuteronomy 6:21). The God of Isaac was our Great Emancipator, freeing us from Egyptian slavery: “And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand YHVH brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (Exodus 13:14).

The Scriptures let us in on a secret, though – we were set free from an Egyptian tyrant in order to serve a greater King. “For the sons of Israel are My servants. They are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am YHVH your God” (Leviticus 25:55).

The Exodus is not only a Festival of Freedom; it is a rejoicing that we are now free to love God with all our heart, our soul and our strength, and to serve Him with a full heart. To quote Martin Luther King, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

He brought us out to bring us in

The whole point of the Exodus was to move us from point A to point B – to take us out of the land of slavery and to bring us into the Promised Land. God is the divine people-mover, and He moved the Jewish people out of Egypt in order to bring us into the Land of Israel and to be our God: “I am YHVH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God” (Leviticus 25:38).

God never intended for the Jewish people to stay scattered across the globe and find liberty, equality and fraternity in France or in any other country. The goal always was (and remains) Israel as the only homeland for the Jewish people

YHVH promises to regather His Jewish people back to their land, taking them from every country to which they have been scattered: “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24).

He even goes further than that and promises to not leave even one Jewish person stuck in the Diaspora/Exile, but to bring each and every Jew home to the Promised Land:

When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations.Then they will know that I am YHVH their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will leave none of them there any longer (Ezekiel 39:27-28)

The Exodus from Egypt in Moses’ day looks forward prophetically to events happening in our day, for YHVH promises to stretch forth His hand a second time (see Isaiah 11:11-16) and restore the entire Jewish nation to the entire Land of Israel.