Enduring the insults of the nations (Ezekiel 34:29)

God said it: a day is coming when Israel will no longer have to endure the insults of the nations. In Ezekiel 35:12, 36:6-7,15 YHVH defines what those insults are: false and unjust claims by the sons of Edom and the surrounding Arab countries concerning the Promised Land – specifically, their attempts to occupy Israel and to steal it away from God’s true heirs, the Jewish people.

Today these insults are politically institutionalized at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union. As far as the United States goes, its position has gone through a see-saw of policy changes, depending on who controls the House of Representatives. Sometimes American policies have stood with Israel; at other times the US State Department has allowed harmful legislation at the UN to be ratified without US objection.

But YHVH’s perspectives on Israel-related matters do not fluctuate, for they are based on His covenant faithfulness to the Jewish people: “For I, YHVH, do not change! Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed!” (Malachi 3:6). “For the gifts and the calling of God [given to Israel] are irrevocable!” (Romans 11:29).

We live in the days when the nations are obsessed with blocking the prophetic restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland – whether it be Gaza or Jerusalem, Hebron or Ramallah, Nablus or the Golan. The God of Israel is issuing a divine wake-up call, and those who have ears to hear are tracking. The entire planet is being weighed in the balances regarding its heart toward Israel. It is being measured by the standard of God’s word regarding its actions vis-à-vis the Jewish people, and has been found lacking God’s heart perspectives in its arrogant treatment of Jacob and his land.

Biblical history shows us that ancient superpowers like Babylon and Persia could quickly turn from blessing Israel to cursing the Jewish people. The Purim story in the Book of Esther is one such example. Could not such events happen again in our day? The only protection against this trap is a firm foundation based on a rock-solid biblical understanding of Israel’s calling and destiny, as well as a unswerving commitment to honor God by honoring His people. Genesis 12:3 tell us that the one who mocks or despises the Jewish people, the one who treats them as of little consequence, the one who says that God is finished with them – these are the exact shades of meaning in the Hebrew verb used here meqalelecha – these people and nations will be cursed by God.

Prophetic vision – seeing things through the apple of God’s eye

Corrie ten Boom, the brave Netherlands believer whose family sheltered Jews from the Nazis, describes an event in Occupied Haarlem during World War II. She and her father Casper were returning from a walk, and “found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing (Jewish) men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star.” Corrie cried out in horror. Then “she saw that her father was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks to march away. ‘I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye’” (The Hiding Place, page 64).

Casper ten Boom was echoing the words of Zechariah regarding God’s judgment over Babylon, “This is what YHVH of armies says, He sent Me for the purpose of glory against the Gentiles who plunder you all. For the one who lays his hand on you lays his hand on the apple of His eye. For I will wave My hand against them, and they will become plunder for their slaves. And you all will know that YHVH of armies has sent Me” (Zechariah 2:8-9).

The nation which raises its hand against the Jewish people – whether in the open or hidden from sight, whether through using terror or supporting terror or not confronting terror – YHVH of armies promises an assured judgment.

“Now YHVH saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede. Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. According to their deeds, so He will repay – wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies. To the coast lands He will make recompense…For He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of YHVH drives. A Redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:15-20)

In the last volume of C.S. Lewis’ science-fiction Perelandra trilogy, evil men are described as breaking down God’s ordained walls of protection. As a result, divine judgment is about to descend on them. Satan’s rebellious strategies (from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 to the present) are termed by Lewis as ‘that hideous strength’ (that is also the name of Lewis’ book). In chapter 13, the hero Ransom declares, “The Hideous Strength holds all this Earth in its fist . . . Their own strength has betrayed them. They have . . . pulled down Deep Heaven on their heads.”

The UN, UNESCO, UNRWA, advocates of Replacement Theology and BDS (anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) and all those who work for and call for Israel’s weakening and destruction – certainly, these people’s actions should be opposed. At the same time, these people are to be pitied, for they are calling down the fiery judgment of Deep Heaven upon themselves.

Moses describes a similar dynamic in Exodus 15:7,11 where the judgment of Deep Heaven descends onto the heads of God’s enemies: “In the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow Your adversaries. You send out Your fury; it consumes them like stubble . . . Who is like You, YHVH, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

The insults of the nations – the Holocaust

Zechariah says that the God of Jacob sees the nations through the lens called ‘Israel,’ the apple of God’s eye. But from YHVH’s perspective, the nations for the most part just don’t get it; they don’t resonate with His heart, and they don’t understand that the Jewish people are a priority in the plan of God. He declares to Israel: “For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH, because they have called you an outcast, saying: ‘It is Zion; no one cares for her’” (Jeremiah 30:17).

During WWII, when the survival of the Jewish nation was being threatened by Hitler and his Third Reich, the nations of the world for the most part turned their eyes and hearts away from rescuing or protecting the sons and daughters of Zion.

In Canada, immigration policies were boldly anti-Semitic, as detailed in ‘None is Too Many.’ This classic book (readable for free here) details Canadian cold-hearted complicity in the Holocaust as well as in anti-Jewish immigration policies between 1933 and 1948. Top officials spearheading these policies included Director of the Government of Canada’s Immigration Branch Frederick Blair, who had the full support of Canadian PM William Lyon Mackenzie King and High Commissioner to Britain Vincent Massey in these matters. Blair’s office allowed fewer than 5,000 Jews into Canada (1933-39), in comparison to over 200,000 allowed into the United States, and 20,000 into Mexico. “That record is arguably the worst of all possible refugee-receiving states,” wrote Abella and Troper, the authors of ‘None is Too Many.’ Blair’s anti-Semitic immigration policies “sealed the fate of thousands of European Jews who would have escaped death had Canada not turned them away.”

In the USA, Arthur D. Morse’s book While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy details how the US State Department (including Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Assistant Secretary Breckinridge Long) consistently delayed, obstructed or opposed efforts to save Jews from the Nazis in Europe, or to admit them as refugees into the United States. One example involved President Roosevelt’s delaying action of five months in pro-actively responding to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., report originally titled ‘Acquiescence of this Government in the Murder of the Jews.’

In Britain, PM Neville Chamberlain’s government carried out the policies of its White Paper of 1939, forbidding shelter in Mandatory Palestine for Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi-occupied Europe. This led to even greater Jewish death tolls in Hitler’s death camps. Former PM David Lloyd-George called this White Paper “an act of perfidy.”

It is less than 80 years since these events occurred, and the anti-Semitic roots wrapped around these governments and their leaders which catalyzed them, have for the most part not been decisively dealt with. Today’s diplomatic representatives from the above-listed countries continue to advocate measures quite similar in spirit to their predecessors, when it comes to matters concerning the Jewish people and their land.

The insults of the nations – Islamic moves to destroy Israel

The concerted effort of most Islamic and Arabic-speaking countries to destroy the Jewish state is well documented. The malignant influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and its metastasizing tentacles (like Hamas, al Qa’eda, ISIS, Islamic Jihad, Houthis, etc.) are defined by God in Ezekiel 35:12, 36:6-7,15 as insults against YHVH and against His Jewish people – Islamist and Arab false claims concerning the Promised Land – their attempts to occupy Israel and to steal it away from God’s true heirs, the Jewish people.

Western powers are on record as supporting Islamist terror groups with training, funding, diplomatic muscle and weaponry. Three books (of many) detail these schemes:

John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews (How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People)

Moshe Arens, Broken Covenant: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis between the U.S. and Israel (a former Israel Defense Minister)

Bruce Brill, Deceit of an Ally (a memoir of Yom Kippur treachery)

Recent Israeli intelligence interrogations of Hamas Nukhba terrorists involved in the jihadi October 7 attacks from Gaza on Israeli citizens, have revealed that Hamas planned even greater destruction in Israel – plans which were thwarted by desperate last-minute IDF countermeasures. The plans involved jihadi attacks on Kiryat Gat, the Shikma Prison in Ashkelon, and the IAF airbase in Hatzerim; the nuclear research facility at Dimona and several points in Tel Aviv, where a mass slaughter of civilians was planned. “There is no doubt that if Hamas had carried out Phase Two, the trauma and disaster would have been doubled . . . [Hamas leader] Sinwar believed that if the news channels reported that he had attacked in Tel Aviv and Dimona, Hezbollah in the north and the other terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria would also have attacked. It's a demonic plan that, had it succeeded, the reality would have been many times worse.”

The current swelling of murderous rage against Israel and the popular identification among many Middle Eastern Arabs and Muslims with Hamas was on full display in Amman Jordan this past week. On March 27, 10,000 protestors approached the Israeli Embassy, chanting: “O cowardly Arab governments! On behalf of the voiceless, we too stand with Gaza. We are besieged . . . Let the voice rise from Amman. We are part of the flood. Let every traitor and collaborator hear it. With Hamas for liberation!” On March 28, the Amman protestors carried Palestinian flags and chanted: "They said Hamas is terrorist. All of Jordan is Hamas!” Placards were carried declaring “Amman-Gaza – one destiny!” while posters depicted Hamas’ chief spokesman, Abu Obaida. On March 29, the demonstrators shouted out their support of Hamas’ Gazan second-in-command terror chief: “Muhammad Deif, O Chief of Staff . . . We want to shake the Zionist entity!” At the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the same chants were heard on March 28: “Raise a sword against a sword! We are the people of Muhammad Deif! Blessings for [Yahya] Sinwar [Hamas’ top jihadi commander]!”

These dynamics are alive and well in the Middle East, even if Jordan is considered a US ally and a peace-partner with Israel. Peace is not breaking out in Gaza; the Arabic-speaking populations of the region are fiery supporters of Hamas-led jihad. And American, European, Russian and Chines support of Hamas and their fellow travelers clearly reveal that insults of the nations are PC across the globe at this point. YHVH is watching, and the God of Jacob is writing everything down in His books:

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds” (Revelation 20:11-13)

The insults of the nations – cooperating with the enemies of Israel

The famous American baseball player Yogi Berra one spoke a memorable quote: “It’s déjà vue all over again!” A recent event at the UN accurately reflects this same dynamic. Here is some historical background and context:

“On December 23, 2016, the United Nations announced the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemns Israeli settlements east of the 1949 armistice line, that is, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (including the Old City with its ancient Jewish Quarter). Passage of this resolution became possible only because of the deliberate refusal of any of the five permanent members of the Security Council, including the U.S., to exercise their veto power. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that in refusing to veto the resolution, the Obama administration was simply conforming to long-standing American policy in favor of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by means of the so-called ‘two state solution,’ a policy that has also included his country’s condemnation of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank”

This Resolution 2334 of December 23, 2016 actually violated previous US-sponsored UN Resolution 242 of November 24, 1967, which recognized Israel’s right to retain and settle in territories it had retaken in June 1967. The Obama administration’s behind-the-scenes muscling though of Resolution 2334 unfortunately established a UN precedent: the world’s highest diplomatic authority condemned a Jewish presence in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount and at the Western Wall. By enabling Resolution 2334, US President Obama violated one of the major operative principles of the Oslo Accords, adopting the PLO/Palestinian Authority’s policy of trying to impose a solution on Israel from the outside.

This tactic (of working behind the scenes to pass UN resolutions harmful to Israel) was harshly condemned by the Jewish state, though the passage of this Resolution was met by loud applause in the packed Security Council chamber (see Psalm 2:1-3). At that time, a senior Israeli official noted:

“The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back which would be a tailwind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory . . . President Obama could declare his willingness to veto this resolution in an instant but instead is pushing it. This is an abandonment of Israel which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN . . . All the signs show that this was a [diplomatic] hit by Obama against Netanyahu and the settlements”

But POTUS Obama’s abandonment of Israel was not a first for the American State Department. Former US Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford all permitted the UN General Assembly and/or the Security Council to adopt resolutions critical of the Jewish state. POTUS Ronald Reagan saw 21 anti-Israel measures ratified through the UN during his terms of office. POTUS George H.W. Bush allowed nine, POTUS Bill Clinton three and POTUS George W. Bush six. In November 1981 the Reagan administration voted in favor of a General Assembly resolution condemning Israel’s air strikes on the OSIRAK Iraqi nuclear reactor. Not standing up for Israel seems to be a bi-partisan trend at times.

It is worth remembering that, a decade later on October 28, 1991, US Defense Secretary Dick Cheney praised and thanked Israel for that same OSIRAK attack: “Let me tonight in front of this group thank my good friend David Ivry [IAF Chief] for the action Israel took in 1981 with respect to the [Osirak] reactor . . . There were many times during the course of the build-up in the Gulf and the subsequent conflict that I gave thanks for the bold and dramatic action that had been taken [by Israel] some ten years before.”

The insults of the nations – recent cooperation with the enemies of Israel

On March 25, 2024 the exact same scenario (a repeat of December 23, 2016’s Resolution 2334) took place at the UN Security Council, with the US refusing to veto Resolution 2728. This resolution was drawn up by Russia and China, pressuring Israel to accept an unconditional ceasefire – one which would preserve a Hamas terrorist stronghold in Gaza and leave Israeli hostages imprisoned in Hamas’ cruel hands. In another moment of déjà vu, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby echoed former Secretary of State John Kerry’s 2016 fig-leaf avowal: “Our vote does not – and I repeat that – does not represent a shift in our policy.”

As British commentator Melanie Phillips noted: “So both the US and UK are now aligned with the west’s foes Russia and China against Israel, the sole defender of the west in the Middle East.”

Former Director of the CIA and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added his criticism of the Biden administration’s UN abstention:

“Hamas, when they saw the abstention, were thrilled. The Chinese Communist Party? Happier than heck. The Russians? Happier than heck. The Iranians? Absolutely beyond themselves, thrilled that the United States of America refused to stand up for its ally. I think that’s so telling. That’s very risky, for every American, when you see the United States walk away from its long-term strategic ally and friend in the Middle East.”

Hamas has refused many times so far to acquiesce to the release of Israeli hostages, as per its recent announcement:

“The Hamas movement informed the mediators a short time ago that it maintains its position which it presented on 14.3 according to which the occupation's answer [to the deal proposal] does not meet [Hamas’] basic demands of our people and the resistance and they are: A comprehensive ceasefire, a withdrawal from the Strip, the return of the displaced to their homes and a real prisoner exchange deal. The movement emphasizes once again that Netanyahu and his extreme government bear full responsibility for the failure of the negotiation efforts and for placing obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement until now.”

The US has smoothed the way for a Hamas victory on this point, and for a defeat to its ally Israel – all in one fell swoop. This ‘good news’ was immediately greeted by 12 new rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad against Israel, and by over 100 rocket attacks form Lebanese Hezbollah against northern Israel. A victory meeting was held in Tehran between Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhala, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Haniyeh crowed at the meeting that the US abstention at the UN “indicates the unprecedented political isolation experienced by the Israeli occupation.”

The prophetic acts of YHVH

The Bible describes something which theologians call ‘prophetic acts.’ These are physical acts initiated by a prophet which symbolizes and herald a new action on the part of the God of Israel. The physical act is a prophetic declaration that something has just happened in God’s plan; something has changed on earth,’ and something new is about to be manifested. Here are four such biblical examples:

The ten plagues
“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments – I am YHVH” (Exodus 12:12)

Samuel’ cloak torn by Saul

But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of YHVH, and YHVH has rejected you from being king over Israel.” Then Samuel turned to go, but Saul grasped the edge of his robe, and it tore off. So Samuel said to him, “YHVH has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you” (1 Samuel 15:26-28)

Ahijah’s new cloak

Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat . . . rebelled against the king . . . And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what YHVH, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel’” (1 Kings 11:26-32)

Joash’s arrows and Elisha

When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Lay your hand on the bow.” And he laid his hand on it, then Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And he said, “YHVH’s arrow of victory, and the arrow of victory over Aram! For you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have put an end to them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. Then the man of God became angry at him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you put an end to it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times” (2 Kings 13:14-19)

The wondrous works of God on Planet Earth did not cease in Elisha’s day. God still speaks to Israel and to the nations through prophetic acts. I remember back in 1991 how Saddam Hussein’s forces were defeated and when that defeat was announced in Israel – on the Feast of Purim. As Israelis took off their gas masks that day and put on their celebratory Purim masks, this prophetic symbolism spoke to the hearts of many in that country. And in our day, God seems again to be speaking to the world – the world that He beholds through Israel the apple of His eye.

Broken bridges in Baltimore

The US abstention at the UN occurred on Monday, March 25, 2024. One day later, on Tuesday March 26, just before 01:30 am, the 984-feet long Singapore-flagged container vessel the MV DALI lost power, began drifting, and quickly smashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. This bridge, a main commercial artery for America, collapsed in a matter of seconds. That bridge (which opened in March 1977 after five years of construction and cost an estimated $110 million), is named after the poet Francis Scott Key who in 1814 wrote the lyrics for America’s national anthem ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ In 1931 an Act of Congress signed by POTUS Herbert Hoover adopted Key’s song as the American national anthem more than a century after its first publication.

Many commentators were quick to see dramatic symbolism in this tragedy, but few of them have the prophetic software to recognize any connection here vis-à-vis God’s perspectives on America and Israel.

The continuing downgrade in interactions between the present US administration on the State of Israel is very much in the news, and is the substance of many op-eds and social media programs. As former Israeli Foreign Minister remarked in the name he chose for his above-mentioned book Broken Covenant, could it be that this broken bridge is God’s way of pointing to His perspective regarding America’s stance vis-à-vis Israel? Is YHVH speaking to America, and especially to intercessors in the US and worldwide, that the spurning and abandoning of Israel is not something that YHVH the Warrior (see Exodus 15:3) takes lightly?

Speaking of a Singapore connection, it is instructive to note that on Sunday March 25, 2024, Singapore’s Minister of Home Affairs, K. Shanmugan, ordered the country’s Foreign Ministry to insist that the Israeli Embassy remove a post on their official Facebook page which Singapore’s authorities deemed offensive. The Israeli post stated: “Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Quran. On the other hand, Palestine is not mentioned even once . . . Each and every archeological evidence – maps, documents, coins – link the land of Israel to the Jewish people as the indigenous people of the land.” This documented fact was deemed dangerous and unacceptable:

Minister Shanmugam stated “that post on the Israeli embassy's social media page is completely unacceptable. I was very upset when I was told about it. The post is wrong at many levels. It is insensitive and inappropriate. It carries the risk of undermining our safety, security, and harmony in Singapore . . . Posts like these can… inflame tensions and can put the Jewish community here at risk. The anger from the post can potentially spill over into the physical realm,” he added.

Shanmugam added: “This post is an astonishing attempt to rewrite history. The writer of the post should look at UN resolutions, see if Israel’s actions in the past few decades have been consistent with international law before trying to rewrite history.” He added that the post had “selectively [pointed] to religious texts” to make a political point and it was “even worse” that the post made use of the Koran for this purpose: “Often embassies say and put out post statements which we may disagree with but we generally don’t intervene because they represent sovereign countries which have autonomy but where it affects the safety and security of people in Singapore, the peace and harmony that we enjoy, we do and we will intervene,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan similarly addressed the Israeli embassy’s post, stating: “It is highly inappropriate to refer to sacred texts to make political points. We have made this clear to the embassy which has taken the post down.”

Outlasting Babylon

There is a popular Hebrew expression: “We survived Pharaoh. This current challenge we will also survive!” The Jewish nation, by God’s grace and protective love, has weathered the fierce storms of the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the jihadi armies of Muhammad, the Crusaders, the pogroms of Ukraine’s Chmielnicki and Tsarist Russia, Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ and Stalin’s Yevsektsiya. Today we are weathering the storms of jihadi terrorism, its comrades and supporters across the globe. “For I, YHVH, do not change! Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed!” (Malachi 3:6).

How should we then pray?

Pray for the leaders of your nation and church to receive divine revelation and repentance regarding what God defines as ‘insults against Israel the people and Israel the land'

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 134 Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Part of these 134 that Hamas is also holding onto includes at least 35 corpses of Israeli citizens, held as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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) through: www.davidstent.org

There’s a Man goin’ ‘round takin’ names

YHVH has a long memory. He remembers His friends and makes note of His enemies:

But Zion said, “YHVH has abandoned me, and Adonai has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands! Your walls are continually before Me! (Isaiah 49:14-16).

God’s long memory also extends to those nations who attempt to weaken or destroy the Jewish people. He swears on His own holy Name to take vengeance on Israel’s enemies:

“And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then YHVH said to Moses, ‘Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ And Moses built an altar and named it YHVH is My Banner; and he said, ‘Because YAH has sworn [literally, with His own hand placed on His divine throne], YHVH will have war against Amalek from generation to generation’” (Exodus 17:13-16).

The Feast of Esther (also known as Purim) lays out this divine game-plan. Persia, then the world’s chief super-power, was influenced by Haman (a deep-state actor) to wreak havoc and genocide against the Jewish people. Yet the God of Jacob (whose name is never even mentioned in the Scroll of Esther) moves silently behind the scenes, morphing anti-Jewish conspiracy into Jewish victory:

“YHVH nullifies the plan of nations. He frustrates the plans of peoples. The plan of YHVH stands forever – the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is YHVH, the people He has chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:10-12).

This international principle (that haters of Israel will be hoisted on the gallows they have built against Israel) is how the Bible fleshes out Genesis 12:3 (i.e., those who disdain Israel will be cursed by YHVH’s own hand)”

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap!” (Galatians 6:7).

The prophetic principle of Persian Purim

Haman pulled the strings controlling King Ahasuerus, taking a full Persian calendar year to choose the most astrologically suitable date for destroying the entire Jewish nation living under the control of the Persian Empire. With deadly calm, similar to how the Nazis planned the Final Solution at Wannsee on January 20, 1942, Haman set his genocidal plan into motion:

“In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur (that is, the ‘lot’) was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar. Then Haman said . . . ‘There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not comply with the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be eliminated’” (Esther 3:7-9).

The response of the God of Jacob was not long in coming. He granted favor to Queen Esther, brought Mordechai into the King’s council, and gave carte blanche to the nation of Israel to defeat their anti-Semitic enemies:

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day, when the king’s command and edict were to be put into effect, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it turned out to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to attack those who sought to harm them; and no one could stand against them, because the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples . . . So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and they did as they pleased to those who hated them. At the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and eliminated five hundred men, and they killed . . . the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy . . . So the king commanded that it was to be done so, . . . and [the bodies of] Haman’s ten sons were hanged [on the public gallows]. The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa . . . Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies, and to kill 75,000 of those who hated them . . . This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing . . . Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a holiday . . . Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established and made a custom for themselves, their descendants, and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim were not to be neglected by the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants (Esther 9:1-28)

God established the Feast of Purim as a day for Jews to remember and celebrate for the rest of Jewish history. God’s response to Haman’s planned genocide – even though at that time no Jews had yet been slaughtered – was the annihilation of 75,800 citizens of the Persian Empire. What would the God of Israel’s response be to the Gazan pogroms of October 7 – Hamas’ planned genocide of the Jewish people? And which side would you be on in such a clash – on the side of Haman/Hamas or on the side of those Persians who supported the Jewish people (as it says in Esther 9:27: “The Jews established and made a custom for themselves, their descendants, and for all those who allied themselves with them”)? God remembers and takes note.

Johnny Cash said it well in one of the last songs he penned, titled ‘When the Man comes around’:

“There’s a man goin’ round takin’ names, and He decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won’t be treated all the same.

There’ll be a golden ladder reachin’ down when the Man comes around.

Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still. Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still.

Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still. Listen to the words long written down when the Man comes around.”

(American IV: The Man Comes Around; May 24, 2002; John Cash; BMG Rights Management)

In every generation

It’s not surprising that Jewish holidays often center around attempts to destroy the Jewish people. There’s “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The famous Hebrew Passover song ‘V’hi she’amda’ graphically charts this biblical and historical principle: “For not only has one nation risen up to annihilate us, but actually in every generation they rise up to destroy us. But the Holy One blessed be He, rescues us from out of their hand!” The Jewish nation may sometimes be paranoid, but even paranoid people can have real enemies.

The modern State of Israel has enemies, and some allies who sometimes act like enemies. See Melanie Phillips’ sizzling article ‘The American Betrayal of Israel’ for more. Each time enemies of the Jewish state gathered to attack Israel, declaring that they would wipe her out à la Psalm 83:2-5:

For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.” For they have conspired together with one mind; They make a covenant against You.

It has happened so many times that, as a result of enemy attacks against Jerusalem, the situation plays out with the Jewish state decisively vanquishing their enemies – massive losses for enemy forces in both ordnance and fatalities; Israel becoming stronger on the geo-political playing field, etc. Here are a few examples:

the Sinai Campaign in October 1956 against Egypt, where a combined army of Israeli, British and French troops conquered Sinai from Nasser’s forces

the 1967 Six Day War against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, where the entire Sinai, West Bank, Jerusalem and most of the Golan were returned to Israel

the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where IDF troops encircled the entire Egyptian Third Army in the Sinai and moved to within 62 miles of Cairo and 18 miles from Damascus

the 1982 Operation Grapes of Wrath against PLO and Lebanese forces, resulting in the expulsion of Yasser Arafat and the PLO from Beirut

the 2023-2024 war with Hamas, resulting in the IDF re-occupying nearly all of the Gaza Strip, destroying 75% of Hamas tunnel networks and jihadi operatives, as well as eliminating two of Hamas’ top commanders.

In 1956 and 1973, it was American pressure which held Israel back from decisively defeating Arab armies. It remains to be seen what the American role will accomplish in the current conflict. Current US administration and State Department moves at the moment do not look good for those who seek the good of Jerusalem. For further historical context, see:

Bruce Brill, Deceit of an Ally (a memoir of Yom Kippur treachery)
John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews (How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People)

As a weakened America staggers across the international stage, surrounding ‘hyena’ nations who see the US as a big brother – like Canada, France, Netherlands and the UK – have been emboldened to circle the Jewish state, looking for just that right moment to lunge at the throat of the Daughter of Zion.

“Now these things happened . . . as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12)

“Sing praises to YHVH, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the peoples! For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the needy. Be gracious to me, YHVH! See my oppression from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death” (Psalm 9:11-13)

Happy Purim!

How should we then pray?

Pray for the protection and deliverance of the Jewish people and their state from all Haman-like enemies

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 136 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is also holding onto many corpses as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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) through: www.davidstent.org

Shaking a fist at the Daughter of Zion

Over 2,700 years ago, the juggernaut of Assyria (northern Iraq) marched its military through Damascus and into the Promised Land. Isaiah prophesied that Nineveh’s threatening armies would gather for a deadly assault on Jerusalem: “Yet today he will halt at Nob [modern Mount of Olives]. He shakes his fist at the Mountain of the Daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 10:32).

For nearly 4,000 years, superpowers and marauders have aimed arrow and spear, rocket and RPG at the Jewish people, their country and their capitol. Such attacks are nothing new. What is new for some of us is to learn that the God of Israel has strong opinions about such things: YHVH describes Himself as a warrior on behalf of His Jewish people, dead set against these anti-Jewish enemies: “I will sing to YHVH, for He is highly exalted – the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea . . . YHVH is a warrior! YHVH is His name!” (Exodus 15:1-3).

The God of Israel’s promise – that He will grant military success to His Jewish people on the battlefield against their enemies – is also news for some Christians: “Hear, O Israel: you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted! Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, for YHVH your God is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deuteronomy 20:3-4).

King David was not only a worshipper; he was also a brave warrior. He declared divine intentions regarding the Jewish people’s destiny on the battlefield. “Now David spoke the words of this song to YHVH . . . ‘He trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze . . . I pursued my enemies and eliminated them, and I did not turn back until they were finished off!’” (2 Samuel 22:1, 35, 38).

It is important to get this dynamic right in our day, especially as jihadi hyenas circle the Jewish state, cheered on by superpowers and world leaders. The same God of Israel who is calling His Jewish people back to their Promised Land, stands with His Jewish people as they engage their enemies face to face (see Ezekiel 37:10-12) – among others, the descendants of Edom (Ezekiel 25:14) and Ishmael (Psalm 83:6)

The Rasputin of Iran

Just prior to the Communist Revolution of 1917, a mentally disturbed Siberian peasant monk by the name of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin exercised great and insidious influence over Russian Czar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra. Today, the term ‘Rasputin’ refers to anyone who exercises the same dangerous influence. The Islamic Republic of Iran and its Revolutionary Guards can accurately be labeled a Rasputin-like force for war and instability in the Middle East. Like ancient Persia’s Haman in the Book of Esther, Iran’s leaders are aggressively moving to destroy Mordechai’s people and their reborn Jewish state. Like the Pharaohs of Abraham’s and Moses’ day, Persia/Iran’s goal is the total destruction of Jacob’s seed.

Over the past 30 years Iran has raised up proxies – jihadi terror groups throughout the ‘Shi’ite Crescent’ – in Lebanon and Syria (Hezbollah), Iraq (Kata’eb Hezbollah), Yemen (the Houthis), and sleeper cells throughout South America, Central America and North America. Iran is concurrently developing nuclear weapons with the clearly stated purpose being Israel’s destruction. The current wars between Hamas and Israel, and between Hezbollah and Israel, are part and parcel of Iran’s regional strategy – the surrounding and assaulting of Israel from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen with an annihilating wave of missiles and drones.

As Purim draws near, let’s keep praying for the protection of the Jewish people and their state from the Prince of Persia and his wily allies.

Sweet and bitter from the same spring

James (also known as Jacob or Ya’akov), the half-brother of Yeshua, tells us that sometimes both sweet and bitter words can come out of the same person’s mouth: “With [our mouth] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way! Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a vine bear figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh” (James 3:9-12).

These verses shed light on current dynamics transpiring between the Jewish state of Israel and the leadership of the United States of America. That alliance can sometimes be warm, close and productive. At other times, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment takes the lead, with allies morphing into adversaries. Bob Dylan nails it in his song about Israel – ‘Neighborhood Bully:’ “He got no allies to really speak of. What he gets he must pay for; he don’t get it out of love. . .”

Our newsletters over the past four months have examined this Jekyll-and-Hyde relationship here. On one hand, America makes state-of-the-art military weaponry available to Israel (which the Jewish state pays for, directly to the American arms industry). On the other hand, the US State Department and POTUS rudely rebuke and threaten Israel’s Prime Minister, government and military forces, treating Israel like a problem child who needs to be spanked and sent up to his room without supper. This usually happens when Israel is on the way to decisively defeating its enemies. Recent events highlight these dynamics on steroids. They show that for America, Israel is not their priority concern in the Middle East. Thus, the US treats the Jewish state in a schizophrenic and Machiavellian fashion, strengthening the Jewish state’s enemies while simultaneously allowing munitions to flow to Israel.

Modern threats to the Daughter of Zion

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the USA found itself becoming the world’s dominant superpower. In our day, the rise of China and its alliances with Iran, North Korea and Russia spotlight a developing dynamic, first spoken about in POTUS George W. Bush’s State of the Union address on January 29, 2002. Soon after 9/11. Bush referenced North Korea, Iran and Iraq, describing these forces as ‘an axis of evil’: “States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”

Yet recent world events have shown how, over the years, America has strengthened terror groups (PLO, Palestinian Authority), Hamas’ financial backers (Qatar, Turkey), as well as Muslim Brotherhood former President Morsi and the Islamic Republic of Iran. This requires skillful footwork on the part of the CIA, the NSA and the US State Department. It would be helpful to present some bullet points detailing some of these threats over the years, because the constant flood of ‘news’ often blocks out clear thinking and accurate remembering of important details:

Shrinking Israel’s borders, dividing Jerusalem and establishing a Palestinian terror state:

The belief system that guides American policy vis-à-vis Israel was voiced behind closed Parisian doors by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in his meeting with Sadun Hammadi, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs on December 17, 1975. A recently declassified State Department NSA document quotes from Kissinger’s words:

“Israel does us more harm than good in the Arab world . . . We can’t negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions . . . So I think in ten to fifteen years Israel will be like Lebanon – struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world . . . If the issue is the existence of Israel, we can’t cooperate. But if the issue is more normal borders, we can cooperate . . . I think the Palestinian identity has to be recognized in some form . . . (It) will be a tremendous fight . . . (but) no solution is possible without it.”

POTUS Biden’s recent March 7, 2024 State of the Union address emphasizes these same points:

“As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution over time. And I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel . . . But there is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees that Palestinians can live in peace with peace and dignity. And there is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its neighbors – including Saudi Arabia” (President Joe Biden; 2024 State of the Union address)

Threatening a US arms embargo against Israel unless the Jewish state obeys American orders and retreats from destroying Hamas:

Media leaks are appearing that POTUS Biden could condition military aid to Israel on whether or not Rafah (where Hamas’ leadership is holed up along with the 134 Israeli hostages) is invaded by the IDF.

Accusing Israel of indiscriminate slaughter of Gazans – based on wildly inaccurate figures from Hamas:

In every clash between Israel and Hamas, the jihadi terrorists use their own Gazan civilians as human shields, firing against Israeli civilians from Gazan civilian areas. Hamas then blames Israel for any Gazan civilian casualties, and then exaggerates the amount of those casualties. This latest war is no exception:

Attempting to catalyze an American coup d'état – pushing to remove Israel’s Prime Minister and party, and to replace him with someone more responsive to American demands

US administration and intelligence officials have recently been outspoken in calling for Israeli PM Netanyahu’s ouster. Such actions are not considered normal diplomatic behavior in America, and the strong impression is given here that the US government is treating Israel like a banana republic. The cumulative effects of the following facts reveal how the Biden administration is seeking to overthrow Israel’s government at this moment:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/harris-its-important-to-distinguish-between-israeli-people-and-government/ VP Kamala Harris March 9, 2024: “I think it is important to distinguish, or at least not conflate, the Israeli government with the Israeli people”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-senator-chuck-schumers-speech-israeli-elections-are-the-only-way/ Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, March 14, 2024: “Four major obstacles standing in the way of two states, and until they are removed from the equation, there will never be peace in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank – Radical right-wing Israelis in government and society. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”

CIA unclassified briefing; Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released March 18, 2024: “Netanyahu's viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy. Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility”

A comment of one Israeli expert frequently consulted by American officials, March 19, 2024: “I have been asked by a serious administration figure what it is that will force the Netanyahu coalition to collapse. They were interested in the mechanics, what can we demand which will collapse his coalition”

Ex-CIA, ex-Pentagon, ex-military and Congressmen release letter calling on POTUS to force Israeli compliance to administration demands, December 18, 2023

Carolyn Glick’s analysis of March 19, 2024 is particularly insightful – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrtZVsqIgO8

PM Netanyahu’s Likud party responded to US State Department attacks, stating that “Israel is not a banana republic but an independent and proud democracy . . . Contrary to Schumer's words, the Israeli public supports a complete victory over Hamas, rejects any international dictate to establish a Palestinian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza . . . [The senator] is expected to respect Israel's elected government and not undermine it. This is always true, and even more so in wartime."

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog called Schumer's comments “counterproductive”: “Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.” US criticism of Israel only encourages Hamas in its war against the Jewish state, said Netanyahu.

On March 4, 2024 Israeli Defense Minister was invited by Washington to meet with VP Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. The trip was organized without PM Netanyahu’s approval and contrary to government regulations that require “every minister to clear travel in advance with the prime minister, including approval of the travel plan.” “Who's playing who? Is Gantz leveraging his Washington sojourn to position himself as Netanyahu's successor, or is the Biden administration using him to recalibrate its stance towards Israel?” Or is this another piece in the coup d’état puzzle?

Falsely accusing the Israeli settlement enterprise of being illegal

US administration officials under POTUS Biden have reversed former POTUS Trump’s declaration (and POTUS Reagan’s as well) regarding Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria (popularly known as the West Bank). Trump and Reagan stated that these settlements are not illegal, but the present administration has reversed that policy.

Professor Eugene Rostow, former Dean of Yale Law School and Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs was one of the main drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 242. His unequivocal legal opinion was that Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is legal. This opinion was included in the Congressional Record of the US government in 2014: “We have no doubt that from the perspective of international law, the establishment of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria is not illegal.”

In the days of Isaiah, similar scare tactics and threats were used against the Jewish people. The prophet declared, “Devise a plan, but it will fail. Declare your strategic plan, but it will not stand, for Immanuel [God is with us]!” (Isaiah 8:10).

In Nehemiah’s day, the inhabitants of Jordan and various Arabs were much opposed to the Jewish people’s restoration to their Promised Land (even as some are opposed to the Jewish people’s restoration to Gaza, part of the Promised Land according to Joshua 15:47): “And when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel” (Nehemiah 2:10).

Two thousand years ago, some Messianic Jewish believers prayed to the God of Jacob, in the name of Messiah Yeshua: “And now Lord, look at their threats!” (Acts 4:29).

These present efforts to block the return of the Jewish people to their Promised Land puts these modern nations in direct opposition to Isaiah 60-62 and Jeremiah 30 et al.

Undercutting Israel’s military leverage – to Hamas’ military advantage and to the hostages’ detriment

In what seems only a few days back, Hamas raped, tortured and murdered its way through kibbutzim and towns next to Gaza. The jihadi terror groups murdered over 1200 Israeli citizens and kidnapped over 250 to cruel prisons, torture chambers and rape facilities in Gaza. As the IDF has attempted to free hostages and exchange Hamas murderers for innocent Israeli civilians, one of the few weapons at Israel’s disposal is the leverage that can come from squeezing Hamas and its supporters (which is the vast majority of all most Gazans) – applying painful pressure until all Israeli kidnap victims are released. But US policy is adamantly opposed to this. As a result, Israeli abilities to exert pressure on Hamas and get back its hostages have been decisively weakened.

The fuel which powers Hamas air conditioning and electricity in its maze of rats-nest tunnels keeps coming through Israel to Hamas – due to American pressure. The food supplies which (if suspended) would have starved Hamas into a quick surrender are being forced through American pressure on Israel, to reach Gazan Hamastan, where nearly all of it is hijacked by Hamas to feed its jihadi fighters.

Israel’s heroic and ethical concerns to avoid Gazan civilian casualties are being ignored by world media, who flood the world’s TV screens with Hamas propaganda about civilian casualties and supposed starvation – even though there is no famine in Gaza according to open source reporting.

American Islamic domestic pressure against Israel

The US Democratic Party is dealing with pressures from certain Arab and Islamic voting blocks in key areas this election year. A group of eight lawmakers known as ‘The Squad’ are anti-Israel activists in Congress. Their influence in Michigan is strategically significant in the coming elections. Biden’s bloc is trying not to offend this group, and as a result is attempting to make moves which will placate pro-Hamas voters.

Henry Kissinger once sarcastically stated that Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics. POTUS Biden and State Department officials recently have floated that same idea. But PM Netanyahu referred to the opposite dynamic of Kissinger’s jibe at a recent Washington AIPAC meeting: “The description [from Washington] is you have an outlier prime minister with some extreme fringe groups and that’s what’s driving the policy. False. I would say deliberately false. They know it’s false. But that falsehood is perpetrated and it’s wrong. They keep saying that local politics is interfering with this. They may be right, [he continued]! On which side of the pond?”

Stand your ground!

The accumulated effect of these international pressures reminds one of Ezekiel 38:4, where YHVH is described as putting hooks into the jaws of the nations and drawing them down to Israel, there to face divine judgment.

The need of the hour is a ‘Remember the Alamo!’ resolve – a stiff-necked ‘standing one ground’ in the face of international threats and pressure. Elisha the prophet reminds us to be bold in our efforts – to ‘strike the ground seven times’ if we truly want to see deliverance (2 Kings 13:18-19).

The God of Jacob tells His people Israel: “Arise and thresh, Daughter of Zion! For I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze, so that you may pulverize many peoples, and dedicate to YHVH their unjust profit, and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth!” (Micah 4:13).

How should we then pray?

Pray for the leaders of the Jewish people and for all Israel to receive revelation, discernment and divine strategies on how to respond to international threats

Pray for the nations of the world to receive revelation and wisdom on how not to get swept into this river of witchcraft and lies

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 136 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is also holding onto many corpses as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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) through: www.davidstent.org