Gold rings, pig’s snouts and election year promises

“As a ring of gold in a pig’s snout, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion” (Proverbs 11:22). Solomon’s words have special application in an American election year, when the marketing of image is a major preoccupation.

Solomon’s firstborn son Rehoboam “abandoned the Teaching [Torah] of YHVH” at the age of 42, just after he was crowned Davidic king. “But he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek YHVH” (see 2 Chronicles 12:1-14). Immediately before his turning away from the God of David his grandfather, he had gone up to Shechem (modern Nablus) for his national coronation (see 1 Kings 12:1-20). It was ‘an election year,’ so to speak, and Rehoboam consulted to different groups of ‘election advisors:’

Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, “Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” Then he said to them, “Depart for three days, then return to me.” So the people departed. And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” Then they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their request, and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always.” But he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him. He said to them, “What advice do you give, so that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “This is what you should say to this people who spoke to you, saying: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!’ You should speak this way to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! Now then, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke; yet I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’”

And the king answered the people harshly, for he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men . . . So the king did not listen to the people; because it was a turn of events from YHVH, in order to establish His word which YHVH spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look after your own House, David!” So Israel went away to their tents . . . So Israel has broken with the House of David to this day. And it came about, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent word and called him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel. None except the tribe of Judah alone followed the House of David.

It is usual to make grandiose promises preceding an election – vows which are later not usually carried out. In the words of a famous French luxury perfume commercial of bygone days, “Promise her anything, but give her Arpège!” At this significant crossroads in Jewish history, Rehoboam ignored that public relations principle to his own detriment. The fallout was civil war among the people of Israel, and a rejection of the Davidic dynasty’ rule by the overwhelming majority of the sons of Jacob – a rebellion which has lasted up to our day.

Ballot days are here again

On November 5, 2024 the United States of America will hold their once-every-four-years national election. Candidates are again making promises, and it seems that the country feels more divided than at any period since the 1861 American Civil War. Bob Dylan’s 1983 description of the penultimate politician in his sizzling ‘Man of Peace’ seems even more relevant than ever:

He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue
He knows every song of love that ever has been sung
Good intentions can be evil, both hands can be full of grease

Well, he catch you when you're hoping for a glimpse of the sun
Catch you when your troubles feel like they weigh a ton

He's a great humanitarian, he's great philanthropist
He knows just where to touch you honey, and how you like to be kissed

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawl
Trees that've stood for a thousand years suddenly will fall

Dining at the diplomatic delicatessen

YHVH declared that King Solomon was the wisest ruler ever to walk this planet:

And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself a long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you” (1 Kings 3:11-12)

Solomon cautions followers of the God of Jacob to exercise extreme discernment when engaging in diplomatic discussions with world rulers: “When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are a person of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for it is deceptive food” (Proverbs 23:1-3). He adds a graphic note of caution, using earthy language: “Do not eat the bread of a selfish person or desire his delicacies. For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten and waste your compliments” (Proverbs 23:6-8).

At this moment, much diplomatic pressure – political thumbscrews applied against Israel’s leaders – continues to come from the POTUS and from U.S. State Department diplomats who have clear goals in mind. In light of the razor-thin margins among the American electorate between Democrats and Republicans, there is a concerted effort to garner votes by appealing to ‘woke’ and leftist voters – making promises and hinting at policy changes which would be more user-friendly to Israel’s enemies than to Israel herself. This has manifested itself in the many orders of “Don’t!” given by the POTUS to the Jewish state – rebukes and threats aimed at forcing Israel to pull back from decisively defeating jihadi terror (whether it be Sunni Hamas in Gaza and PLO in the West Bank, or Shi’ite Hezbollah in Lebanon and Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] in Iran). The list of ‘don’t’s' has included warnings to the IDF not to enter Gaza; not to enter Khan Yunis; not to enter Shifa Hospital in Gaza; not to enter Rafah; not to enter Jabaliya; not to enter Lebanon; not to bomb Hezbollah HQ in Dahieh, Beirut; not to respond to Iranian missile, rocket and drone attacks on Israeli civilians, etc. Yet is each case, Israel’s insistence on pursuing their own military goals has let to significant IDF victories on the battlefield as well as the decisive elimination of top jihadi commanders.

In the words of journalist and analyst Eitan Fischberger on April 15, 2024: “Turns out that simply saying ‘don’t’ is not an effective deterrent against genocidal regimes hellbent on the destruction of Israel.” And as Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon added on April 19, 2024: “Israel Is Right to Reject Biden’s Bad Advice.”

Who is picking up the tab?

In recent days, on April 13, 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran fired 221 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and over 110 ballistic missiles at Israel. Over nine million Israelis huddled in bomb shelters during this largest drone strike in history. On October 1, 2024, the IRGC fired approximately 200 ballistic missiles at the the Jewish state – the largest ballistic missile attack in world history. On October 19, 2024, three Hezbollah drones headed out to attack Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Caesarea home. Two were shot down before reaching their target, and one hit the home. The PM and his wife were absent from home at that time.

POTUS Biden’s heavy-handed instructions to Israel’s Prime Minister after the first April 13, 2024 Iranian attack were clear: “You got a win. Take the win,” Biden told Bibi on April 14, adding that the US would not participate in any offensive operations against Iran. Biden’s definition of ‘a win’ was that no Israeli citizens were injured or killed in that first Iranian missile attack.

These three events were serious acts of war. Israel’s response on the first attack was to take out one Russian-built S-300 Iranian anti-aircraft battery. Israel’s response to the second attack was to target 20 Iranian military installations. Though Israel’s second response was more significant in nature, the tab is still very much open as far as Israel is concerned – though the U.S. immediately pressured Israel after the first Iranian attack to cease and desist regarding further response against Iran.

The POTUS’ initial ‘orders’ to Israel show that the U.S. Administration has a hierarchy of ‘more important’ strategic concerns here; they center on both the upcoming American elections and U.S. Middle East ‘imperial realpolitik.’ Whereas the prophet Elisha on his deathbed encouraged King Joash to strike the ground forcefully in a prophetic action as a sign of his resolve to wipe out Israel’s Syrian/Aramean enemies, the king of Israel half-heartedly hit Elisha’s arrows against the floor only three times – with the prophetic result being that Israel would not decisively vanquish her enemies (see 2 Kings 13:14-19). These examples of fighting spirit and battlefield resolve are important lessons to be learned from this prophetic history.

GI Joe meets Jihad Jane

The basic blockage here – U.S. inability to size up the enemy in this battle – is a result of America’s secular and non-Biblical worldview, one that fails to grasp the viral danger of international jihad. This Islamist terror war of conquest, murder and enslavement of non-Muslims – is a decisive spiritual and dynamic factor in the clash of civilizations. And the West is still hesitant to call a spade a spade, to recognize the spiritual aspect of this struggle.

Genesis 12:3 is another decisive matter here: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” The theological cursing of Israel and the Jewish state which is part of classic Islamist texts has brought an elephant into the room that few Westerners have the courage or backbone to name and confront.

Messiah Yeshua’s teaching on spiritual dynamics regarding the demonic world certainly applies to formerly Christian nations who have lost their vision and resolve regarding spiritual threats to the gospel. A clean but spiritually empty room is ‘an accident waiting to happen:’

“Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there. And the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation” (Matthew 12:43-45).

The pressures that America and the West are applying to Israel are actually bringing curses down on those countries. They are pushing the Jewish state into a corner and forcing it to fight the forces of jihad with one arm tied behind its back. It is time for believers to get back up on the walls and intercede for Israel’s protection, salvation and victory in the present and coming battles.

American political forces on both sides of the aisle seem to have many illusions regarding how to ‘solve’ the problems in the Middle East. Threatening Israel and setting a cut-off date for the conclusion of present conflicts is one such example. But jihadi strategies are not susceptible to American date-setting. Only iron-clad resolve and steely commitments to opposing Islamist encroachment are the language that jihadi armies understand.

The famous King Théoden, seventeenth King of Rohan in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ narrative, declared as he rallied his troops before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields: “Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! Spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now to Gondor!” His rousing challenge stands us in good stead in our day

If at first you don’t succeed

In a scene reminiscent of Psalm 2:1-3, a power-delegation from the U.S. has arrived in Israel today, attempting to sew up a ‘peace treaty’ – or more likely a threadbare ceasefire – between Lebanon and Israel, just in time to squeeze under the finish-line rope of the November 5 U.S. elections. There are trying to breath new life into the diplomatic corpse of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 (August 6, 2006). This Resolution was supposed achieve the following:

a full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah

the withdrawal of Hezbollah and other forces from Lebanon south of the Litani River

the disarmament of Hezbollah and all other armed groups, leaving only UNIFIL and the Lebanese military south of the Litani River

the need for full Lebanese (non-Hezbollah) government control of Lebanese territory

the unconditional release of abducted Israeli soldiers, whose corpses were being held as collateral by Hezbollah

It needs to be noted that Lebanon in this Resolution is not considered the main protagonist facing Israel. In this Resolution Lebanon is understood to be a mostly powerless puppet of Hezbollah, which in turn is recognized as a proxy jihadi army of Iran. To solve Lebanon’s problem, Iran’s gnarled talons and Hezbollah’s terror junta still need to be removed from Lebanese soil. Resolution 1701 does not achieve those goals. Another U.N. Resolution (1559) was ratified on September 2, 2004, requiring Hezbollah to totally disarm and for Lebanon to exercise complete sovereignty over its own territory. Neither of these two Resolutions has ever been carried out. Instead, the result has been:

Hezbollah and other armed groups in southern Lebanon have not withdrawn at all

Hezbollah has significantly increased its weapons capabilities, amassing up to 200,000 ballistic missiles, rockets and drones

Hezbollah has increased the deployment of its armed forces south of the Litani River, developing networks of tunnels, weapon stashes, airstrips and military installations, most of these hidden underground beneath civilian housing

Neither the U.N., France, UNIFIL or the U.S. has stepped in to guarantee these resolutions over the past 20 years. Why, it should be asked, would these nations stand up and be counted now? Only Israel’s recent intensive bombings and ground invasion have moved events in the direction that these failed U.N. Resolutions called for. Western Powers are primarily interested in removing Israel from Lebanon and from blocking its rather successful ground and air operations aimed at neutralizing and eradicating Hezbollah. The West does not want to put boots on the ground to guarantee Israel’s survival and security. They would rather fob off that responsibility at the U.N. and the Lebanese Army, both of which have proven themselves to be utterly incapable of carrying out such a task. Those who are wise will pray accordingly for this complex situation.

The pressure of world media

A few days ago, Israeli Main Stream Media (MSM) leaked a news item: an anonymous military source in Israel’s Northern Command declared that the IDF’s military goals have now been achieved in southern Lebanon and that the IDF can now retreat to Israel’s recognized international border with Lebanon. At the same time, CNN has broadly hinted that PM Netanyahu is ignoring these ‘new realities’ and that CNN truly knows that the IDF Chief has a better grasp of these realities than does the Israeli government. Would the Head of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff ever make such public declarations against a standing POTUS? Such declarations would be considered treasonous. Yet in Israel, business goes on, with loud American support being echoed for the Israeli COS’s declarations. Warm op-ed pieces are suddenly appearing in Israeli media, insisting (with no sense of irony) – that Israel’s government “must learn how to take the win.” – a phrase POTUS Biden used on April 14, 2024 in his vain attempt to prevent Israel from striking down its jihadi enemies.

What defies the imagination here is that, at the same time as these leaks are circulating on MSM, Hezbollah is murdering Israeli farmers and civilians, and destroying buildings in Arab and Jewish communities across the Galilee. The vast majority of Israelis are astounded by the criminally irresponsible hubris in this ‘fake news.’ A survey which appeared October 29, 2024 in the newspaper Israel HaYom asked its readers the question: “Does Israel need to push for a Lebanese ceasefire?” The answers were as follows: Yes 348; No 2,100.

Hubris (or chutzpah in Hebrew and Yiddish) has certainly been demonstrated in times past by former Israeli Chiefs of Staff, Generals and Prime Ministers, concerning retreats from Gaza and Lebanon. Two such examples are:

Ehud Barak and his disastrous retreat from Lebanon in May 2000:

Ariel Sharon and his disastrous retreat/disengagement from Gaza in August 2005:

In light of the intelligence and IDF disaster that swirled around the recent Hamas pogroms of October 7, 2023, many Israelis are hesitant to believe bold declarations by Israeli generals that all is well, and that everything has been taken care of. Trust is in very short supply at this moment.

The nightly news in Israel offers amply proof that military goals in Lebanon and in Gaza have not yet been achieved in fullness. The daily announcements of IDF casualties and funerals are sober reminders that MSM is not accurately reflecting Israeli realties on the ground. Over the past week, 56 Israeli children lost their fathers in clashes with jihadi terrorists.

Israeli media spin owes much of its impetus to some ambitious Israeli politicians who ‘just want to be king,’ as well as to some in the current U.S. Administration who are bean-counters for the coming American elections.

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory diplomatic and war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the annulling of enemy war strategies and counter-attacks, and for the blocking and frustration of jihadi plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Parthians, Medes and Elamites (Acts 2:9)

When the God of Jacob charted out the destinies of the nations, “when He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For YHVH’s portion is His people – Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the howling wasteland of a wilderness. He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye” (Deuteronomy 32:8-10).

“Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth . . . The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras . . . Also to Shem . . . (and the older brother of Japheth) children were born. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram” (Genesis 10:1-2, 21-22).

The Jewish people were exiled to the Land of the Medes (ancient Madai/Persia, which is found today in modern Iran) in approximately 722 B.C. during the reign of Shalmaneser V of Assyria: “Then the king of Assyria led Israel into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 18:11). At the time of Haman and Ahasuerus, Mordecai and Esther lived in ‘Shushan Habira’ (Susa the citadel), a royal city in ancient Persia. In Ezra 4:9, those Jews who lived in Susa were also considered as Elamite citizens. Ancient Persia was once the abode of Elamites, Medeans and Persians (see Daniel 5:28).

Today, out of Iran’s 90 million citizens, approximately 51% are Persians (including the originally Caspian Mazandaranis and Gilakis); 5-24% are of Turkic origin (Azeris, Turkmens, Qashqais, Kazakhs); 10% are Kurds; 7% are a Kurdish sub-group known as the Lurs; 2-3% are Arabs; 2% are Balochis; 2% are Turkmens; and less than 1% are various tribal Turkic groups (Qashqai, Afshar, Talysh, Tats, etc.).

The descendants of the original Medeans live in the more northern sections of the country, near Tabriz and Azerbaijan. The descendants of the Elamites would be located in western Iran – Ilam, Khuzestan (Ahvaz) and Kermanshah – all bordering Iraq. The Persians (once called ‘Parthians’) have spread across the majority of central and eastern Iran. So today, Iran is a blend of Japhetic and Semitic people, though none of the Iranian Semitic offshoots trace their descendance back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Iranian ballistic missile attacks of April 13 and October 1, 2024 were fired from the territories which were once part of all three ancient nations – Elam, Medea and Persia. Israel’s response on October 26, 2024 also targeted strategic sites in all three of these ancient lands.

What Iranian sites did the IDF target on October 26 – ‘Operation Days of Repentance’?

For a breakdown of the various Iranian attacks and Israeli responses in the past while, see our newsletter of October 26, 2024 - ‘Haman’s edict and God’s signet ring.’ When this last newsletter was posted, up-to-date information on IDF targets and results were not yet available. The following is a brief but incomplete update:

Upward of 100 Israel Air Force (IAF) planes were involved in the attack, including refueling tankers, electronic countermeasures/intelligence aircraft, attack and surveillance drones

Three attack waves were carried out.

IAF jets flew across southern Syria, emitting sonic booms near the Jordanian border, and then cut across Iraq towards Iran.

The first attack wave (just after 01:53 local time) destroyed Syrian and Iraqi anti-aircraft (AA) defenses, as well as three out of Iran’s four Russian S-300 PMU-2 ‘Grumble’ long-range surface-to-air missile systems. This specific model includes 16 transporter erector launchers, multiple 96L6E target acquisition radars, 30N6E2 target tracking radars, 64N6E2 battle management radars, and several supporting components. These had been sold and transferred to Iran in November 2016.

The fourth Russian anti-aircraft missile system (including its 30N6E radar) had been previously destroyed on April 19, 2024 at 0523 hours at Shekari air base near Isfahan. This fourth battery was responsible for guarding the Natanz nuclear facility. The IAF had used an Israeli-developed RAFAEL ROCKS autonomous extended stand-off range air-to-surface missile to take out that fourth battery. To sum up, all four Russian batteries have been demolished by the IAF, leaving Iran’s oil, port and nuclear assets defenseless to future potential strikes.

The three S-300’s hit this time were at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (Tehran) and at the Malad missile base (outskirts of Tehran)

The second (03:30 am) and third waves struck ballistic rocket and drone manufacturing facilities, as well as solid fuel mixers and drone factories

Israeli planes hit the following sites:

Anti-aircraft (AA) systems in Khuzestan, Ilam and Tehran. Khuzestan Province in southern Iran is home to most of Iran’s oil and gas fields.

AA batteries in Karaj, northwest of Tehran (which is home to Iran’s nuclear centrifuge system) and at the Malad missile base on Tehran’s outskirts.

In Khuzestan Province, the Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni Petrochemical Complex beside the port of Bandar-e Mahshahr, is the largest such complex in Iran, connected by rail and road to the Abadan oil refinery, which is Iran’s largest oil refinery. The AA batteries of both the Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni petrochemical complex and the Bandar port were destroyed. The AA batteries of the largest oil field in Iran (Ahvaz) were hit, killing two Iranian soldiers manning the AA facility.

The Tang-E Bijar natural gas fields refinery in Ilam Province were hit, and satellite images revealed burned fields around the refinery.

The military bases of Parchin, Parand and Khojir were hit, also with drones.

Parchin, located 40 km southeast of Tehran near the Mamalu Dam, is linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, including high explosives experiments and krytron testing. A specific building, Taleghan 2, was previously linked to the Iranian nuclear weapons program between 1989 and 2003. Three buildings 320 metres from Taleghan 2 were hit and destroyed. The Parchin plant is related to rocket manufacture.

Khojir is a large missile production site 20 km away from Tehran, where solid fuel for ballistic missiles also was mixed. Two buildings used for mixing solid fuel for ballistic missiles were destroyed. Axios reported that Israel destroyed 20 ‘planetary mixers’ – Chinese rocket fuel mixers – at that site. The Saudi website Elaph puts a price tag of a minimum $2 million USD on each mixer. The destruction will take at least two years to repair. One source told the Saudi website Elaph that it was the “backbone of Iran’s missile industry” and that Israel had “put it out of service.”

Three major missile manufacturing bases in Tehran Province were hit. These were run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Falagh, Shaid Ghadiri and Abdol Fath.

The operation was concluded with the sunrise, and all IAF planes returned safely to home base in Israel with no losses or damages.

What strategic goals were achieved in Israel’s strikes?

Here are three revealing comments from astute analysts of Iran:

“This looks like a potential preamble to a much more effective strike against Iran’s infrastructure and even nuclear sites,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of International Crisis Group. “Iranians don’t have the capacity to replace these systems in a timely manner, which renders the country much more vulnerable in future tit for tats.”

“Israel is sending a clear message to us,” said Hamid Hosseini, an expert on Iran’s oil and gas industry and member of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce. “This can have very serious economic consequences for Iran, and now that we understand the stakes we need to act wise and not continue the tensions.”

Jason Brodsky, from ‘United Against Nuclear Iran,’ said on X that the attacks this weekend send “a very clear message” to Iran. “Israel is laying the groundwork to attack your oil and petrochemical refineries in the next round should you retaliate.”

At this point in time, Iran is wide open to further devastating Israeli strikes. If the Ayatollah Khamenei chooses to unleash his missiles of war against Israel, the Jewish state would be able to quickly and efficiently destroy the economic lifeblood of the Shi’ite jihadi state, since 80% of Iran’s finances come from its oil industry. An overwhelming percentage of Israelis surveyed on Sunday October 27, 2024 believe that now is also the time to obliterate Iran’s nuclear weapons program. These two issues are high up on the strategic list, and should be made a matter of ardent prayer.

How will Iran respond?

It is estimated that Iran still has over 2,000 long-range ballistic missiles in its inventory. Though it would take up to two years for Iran to replenish its stocks, it still could use what it has against Israel in a potential counter-attack against Israel – even though its air defenses are significantly weakened. Yet is important to remember that Iran’s track record in such matters over the past 42 years is written with blood-stained hands:

the bombing of IDF HQ in Tyre, Lebanon (November 11, 1982; 91 murdered

the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut (April 18, 1983; 63 murdered)

the bombing of the American Marine Barracks in Beirut (October 23, 1983; 241 murdered)

the bombing of the French Multinational Forces Paratroop Barracks in Beirut (October 23, 1983; 58 murdered)

the bombing of IDF HQ in Tyre, Lebanon (November 4, 1983; 60 murdered; 40 wounded)

the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires (March 17, 1992; 29 murdered, 242 injured)

the bombing of the AMIA (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) in Buenos Aires (July 18, 1994; 87 murdered, 250 injured)

the bombing of Khobar Towers USAF family residence in Saudi Arabia (June 25, 1996; 20 murdered, 372 injured)

Demonized anger and murderous intent have characterized the jihadi terror actions of Shi’ite Iran and their Hezbollah proxies for close to half a century. It should be made a matter of earnest prayer for God’s justice to be done in dealing with this cancerous growth which has been malignantly expanding across the face of today’s Middle East.

Over 2,600 years ago, the God of Jacob gave a prophetic word to Jeremiah concerning the Elamite enemies of Israel who dwelt in ancient Persia. Will YHVH do such things again in our day to modern enemies who are being catalyzed and set murderously aflame by the Prince of Persia?

The word of YHVH that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam . . . saying: “This is what YHVH of armies says: Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam . . . So I will shatter Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their lives, and I will bring disaster upon them, even My fierce anger, declares YHVH” (Jeremiah 49:34-38)

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the annulling of Iranian war strategies and counter-attacks, and for the blocking and frustration of Hezbollah and Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Haman’s edict and God’s signet ring

Nearly 2,500 years ago, the demonic Prince of Persia (see Daniel 10:12-21) stirred up murderous rage in the heart of a top Iranian diplomat (see Esther 3:5-6) – “Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were found throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.” His plan involved a state-sponsored pogrom of mass murder, plunder and rapine – one similar to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on peaceful Jewish farms and kibbutzim – where over 1,200 Israelis were tortured, raped and massacred, and over 250 were kidnapped to dank tunnels in Gaza’s Hamastan. The October 7 attack was planned and enabled with the consultation and strategic help of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s jihadi terrorists.

Haman’s planned attack at the time of Queen Esther was preceded by a seal of approval – Ahasuerus’ stamped signet ring (see Genesis 41:42). That gave Haman royal approval to commit genocide against the entire people of Israel. It is important to remember that, at that time, nearly all of the world’s Jewish population was under the domination of the Persian empire:

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “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, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.” Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”

Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the officials of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to annihilate, kill, and destroy all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (which is the month Adar) and to seize their possessions as plunder. A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they would be ready for this day. The couriers went out, speeded by the king’s order while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa. And while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was agitated. (Esther 3:8-15)

In today’s Middle East, days of old intersect with modern times. The demonic overlords of Iran are once again making headlines, stirring up their Hamanic hatred across the globe.

The Middle East is still an unfriendly neighborhood

YHVH is a good judge of character. He shares His insights with Moses about Jacob’s neighbors, explaining that the Jewish people should not be surprised when surrounding countries attack Israel, wanting to destroy it: “And when you go to war in your land against the enemy who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you will be remembered by YHVH your God, and be saved from your enemies” (Numbers 10:9).

At least five hundred years later, the Psalmist echoes that same perspective: a Jewish state living in the Middle East will find itself still surrounded by bloodthirsty enemies:

“Many times they have attacked me from my youth up,” let Israel say. “Many times they have attacked me from my youth up – yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back! They lengthened their furrows!” YHVH is righteous – He has cut up the ropes of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward! May they be like grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up – with which the harvester does not fill his hand, or the binder of sheaves his arms” (Psalm 129:1-7).

At the same time, the God of Israel makes a decisive promise to Israel: the Jewish people will ultimately defeat their enemies and thus be vindicated in the eyes of the whole world:

“If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you. Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its work. And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin. No weapon that is formed against you will succeed! And you will condemn every tongue that accuses you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of YHVH, and their vindication is from Me, declares YHVH” (Isaiah 54:15-18).

With those promises in mind, let’s consider recent threats coming against the Jewish state from the Shi’ite jihadi terror base known today as Iran – biblical Persia.

Ballistic missile attacks – Iran’s historical record

Operation Martyr Soleimani – January 8, 2020

On January 8, 2020, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched Operation Martyr Soleimani. Between 0120 and 0135 hours, at least 13 ballistic missiles targeted the second-largest U.S. military airbase in Iraq at the time – al-Asad Airbase in al-Anbar Governorate, western Iraq – as well as another U.S. airbase in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. These missile attacks were in response to the assassination of IRGC Major-General Qasem Soleimani by a United States drone strike. Iran informed the Iraqi government and Swiss mediators of an imminent attack shortly beforehand, with the understanding that this would allow the American forces to take pre-emptive defensive measures. The Iranian strike was the largest ballistic missile attack ever against U.S. forces abroad. The U.S. Department of Defense ultimately said that 110 U.S. service members were diagnosed and treated for traumatic brain injuries (mainly concussions) from the attack.

Operation True Promise – April 13, 2024

On April 13, 2024, the IRGC-Aerospace Force launched air attacks against Israel from Iran, Iraq and Yemen consisting of approximately 221 ‘Shahad 136’ drones, over 30 ‘Shahad 238’ and ‘Quds’ cruise missiles, and more than 110 ballistic missiles (the ‘Ghader,’ the “Imad,’ and the ‘Khaibar Shikan’). The attack was codenamed Operation True Promise, and was declared to be in retaliation for the April 1, 2024 IDF bombing of a housing annex in Damascus next to the Iranian embassy. In that attack three Iranian generals were eliminated, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force commander in Syria and Lebanon Mohammad Reza Zahedi – the most senior IRGC general to have been killed since the U.S. assassination of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

Official Iranian authorities provided a clue as to the strategic value of this target two days later, on April 3, 2024. The Iranian Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces (headed by Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as well as father-in-law to Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei) published a notice of mourning and appreciation for General Zahedi: “The strategic role of the martyr Zahedi . . . in the planning and execution of ‘al-Aqsa Flood’ [Tufan al-Aqsa – the Arabic name for the Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023] is part of the great pride that will transform the quiet efforts of the great commander into the eternal history of the struggle against the occupation by the Zionist regime.”

This statement was an official admission of Iran’s involvement in both the planning and the execution of the October 7 Hamas jihadi terror attack on Israeli civilians bordering Gaza. General Zahedi had planned and overseen the murder of over 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023 – atrocities planned down to the last detail, including mass rapes, torture, horrific murders and kidnappings. The God of Israel gives His perspective on the judgment coming to such a man: “Rejoice, you nations, with His people! For He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will return vengeance on His adversaries, and will atone for His land and His people” (Deuteronomy 32:43).

Iran’s April 13, 2024 strike was its first direct attack on Israel. Their attack was also the largest attempted drone strike in history, as well as a clear attempt to overwhelm and penetrate Israel’s anti-aircraft defenses. It was the first time since Saddam Hussein’s January-February 1991 SCUD missiles strikes that Israel was directly attacked by the military of another state.

On April 13, 2024, the night of Iran’s massive attack, the IDF used home-grown Arrow 3 and David’s Sling anti-ballistic missile systems to shoot down most of the incoming weapons. American, British and French air forces (who also participated in the defensive coalition codenamed ‘Iron Shield’) helped in interdicting Iranian missiles and drones. Jordanian air forces (and perhaps Saudi planes as well) took a lower profile, saying their role was limited to intercepting objects flying into their airspace “in order to protect their own citizens.” Israel and the coalition destroyed probably between 80-86% of the incoming weapons, and specialists conclude that, as a result, 99% of the threats did not reach their targets. At least four ballistic missiles struck two IAF airbases, causing minor damage. Perhaps 20 Iranian ballistic missiles in total hit Israeli soil. Amina al-Hasoni, a 7-year old Israeli Bedouin girl, was severely injured by falling debris from an intercepted missile, while 31 Israelis were slightly injured while running to their sheltered rooms.

Five days later, on April 18, 2024 Israel retaliated against Iran (having consulted with American leadership), carrying out limited strikes on Shekari airbase near Isfahan (according to U.S. and Iranian officials), where Iranian anti-aircraft radar defenses are stationed which guard the Natanz nuclear facility. A U.S. official told CBS News that the Israeli objective of the strike was to communicate Israel’s capabilities to Iran without escalating tensions further. The Israeli reprisal was a mild slap on the wrist to Iran, and its notable restraint came in light of strong American pressure on the Jewish state.

In a recent newsletter ‘Shootout at the Orient Bazaar: Part One of Three’ of April 17, 2024, behind-the-scenes evidence is presented of American collusion with Iran regarding setting the terms and extent of Iran’s April 13, 2024 attack on Israel. The same dynamics were involved in negotiations between Iran and the USA regarding Iran’s January 8, 2020 ballistic missile strike on US troops stationed at the Ayn al-Asad and Erbil Airbases in Iraq. It is worth going back to that newsletter and re-examining the details involved there, since the same dynamics were repeated on April 13, 2024 (and also on October 1, 2024; see below). Here is one of the conclusions from that article:

“It is jolting to see that the U.S. State Department, the POTUS, the U.S. intelligence community and military – all were involved in negotiating with the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding its upcoming attack on American ally Israel – the extent of the attack, the weapons to be used, and the projected casualties. As is the case in such circumstances (see the case of Jonathan Pollard, where the U.S. concealed intelligence information from Israel regarding Saddam Hussein’s chemical warfare program targeting the Jewish state, and denied its existence to its ally Israel), the U.S. did not seriously block or threaten Iran over the projected attack, but manipulated the situation for its own Middle Eastern strategic goals.”

Operation True Promise 2 – The mother of all ballistic missile attacks

On October 1, 2024, the largest ballistic missile attack in world history took place when the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force of Iran fired approximately 200 rocket-boosted ballistic missiles at the Jewish state of Israel. The attack was codenamed Operation True Promise 2. Iran has tweaked its strategy since April 13, 2024, abandoning slower drone attacks (eight hours warning time) and solely using ballistic missiles (twelve minutes). Approximately 20 of these 200 Iranian missiles were either intercepted or degraded by U.S., British or Jordanian airforces before entering Israeli airspace. Approximately 180 Iranian missiles (of the ‘Fattah’ or ‘Khaibar Shikan’ class – though Iranian Mehr News Agency refers also to Ghadr and Emad missiles) crossed into Israeli territory, where they were either intercepted or hit the ground (impacted). Almost ten million Israelis huddled in bomb shelters as missiles and interceptors exploded over their heads.

According to the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and AP, based on satellite imagery, videos and interviews with ballistics experts, 32 Iranian missiles made identified hits on the Nevatim Airbase near Beersheva in the Negev desert. Though no fighter aircraft were damaged, the missiles hit open areas, the roofs of an aircraft hangar and a row of buildings near a runway, and surrounding fields. Three Iranian missiles struck the IAF’s Tel Nof airbase in central Israel and surrounding areas, and at least two missiles landed near the Mossad intelligence HQ next to Cinema City in Glilot. Sameh al-Asali, a 37 year-old Palestinian worker from Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, was killed in Nu’eima near Jericho, when falling fuselage from a destroyed Iranian rocket landed on him.

Considering the high cost of Israeli Arrow 3 ($3.5 million) and David’s Sling ($1 million) interceptors, it is likely that the IAF decided to ignore some of these Iranian ballistic missiles. Retired USAF General Tim Ray, who once commanded the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, noted that the Israelis “are brilliant at prioritizing and protecting the things that have to be protected. They may have looked at [Nevatim] and said, ‘This is acceptable, I still have to prioritize Tel Aviv, I have to prioritize my critical infrastructure. There is no way to stop everything.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the start of his Security Cabinet meeting on the night of the attack:

“Iran made a big mistake tonight - and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies. Sinwar and Deif did not understand this, Nasrallah and Mohsen did not understand this, and there are probably those in Tehran who do not understand this. They will understand. We will stand by the rule that we have established: Whoever attacks us - we will attack him. This is true wherever we fight the axis of evil. This is true for Judea and Samaria, it is true for Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria - and it is also true for Iran. We fight the axis of evil everywhere”

Breathing out threats

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been breathing out murderous threats against the Jewish state for many years:

On September 9, 2015, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed Israel on Twitter: “You will not see next 25 years. Insh’Allah, there will be nothing as Zionist regime by next 25 years.”

On April 20, 2018 the vice commander of the IRGC Hossein Salami wrote on Twitter: “If there’s a war, the result will be your complete elimination.”

On April 21, 2018, the Commander of Iran’s Army Major-General Abdolrahim Mousavi declared: “When the arrogant powers create a sanctuary for the Zionist regime to continue survival, we shouldn’t allow one day to be added to the ominous and illegitimate life of this regime. The Army will move hand in hand with the IRGC so that the arrogant system will collapse and the Zionist regime will be annihilated.”

On October 20, 2023, Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Basij Organization emphasized that the “ultimate achievement in this conflict's second phase will be the disappearance of Israel.”

On May 9, 2024, Kamal Kharazi, former Iranian Foreign Minister and at present an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated in an interview with Qatar’s al-Jazeera Mubasher network: “Should Iran face an existential threat, we will have no choice but to change our nuclear doctrine. Military officials have also declared if Israel decides to attack the nuclear installations, Iran renouncing its previous considerations is likely and conceivable.”

On June 29, 2024 the Iran Mission to the UN declared on Twitter: “Albeit Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon, should it embark on full-scale military aggression, an obliterating war will ensue.”

On October 24, 2024, IRGC Hossein Salami declared, “You cannot win this conflict. We will destroy you!”

Two helpful articles are available here:

‘How Iran Plans to Destroy Israel,’ by Nicholas Carl and Brian Carter; Critical Threats Project, May 23, 2024

‘Growing Concern Over Iran’s Nuclear Program,’ Sima Shine and Eldad Shavit; The Institute for National Security Studies, No. 1868, June 23, 2024

‘Operation Days of Repentance’ – Israel’s response on October 26

Close to 0153 hours on Saturday October 26, 2024, three waves of at least 100 IAF jets attacked Iran in Operation Days of Repentance (Hebrew: ‘Yimei Tshuvah’). The bombing were directed against ballistic missile factories and storehouses, ground-to-air and ground-to-ground missiles and stockpiles, as well as against other aerial capabilities. At least 20 sites were targeted in three waves of aircraft, including sites in or near Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Qom. According to Sky News Arabia, Russia supplied intelligence information to Iran hours ahead of the attack regarding Israeli and U.S. military movements, based on Russia’s “military cooperation with Iran, in order to lower escalation in the region” (YnetNews in Hebrew). No civilian casualties have as yet been reported by Iran.

A senior US State Department official stated that Israel had been encouraged “to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm. That appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening . . . This should be the end of this direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran . . . Accordingly, we will call on all countries of influence to press Iran to stop these attacks against Israel so that we can move beyond this direct cycle of attacks over the coming days.”

The Scroll of Esther is a historical witness that, in His timing, God takes the signet ring off of the gnarled fingers of Haman (the Persian enemy of Israel) and places it instead on Mordecai, the defender of the Jewish people:

“[Mordecai] wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on royal relay horses, offspring of racing mares. In the letters the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and eliminate the entire army of any people or province which was going to attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoils, on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar)” (Esther 8:10-12)

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the annulling of Iranian war strategies and counter-attacks, and for the blocking and frustration of Hezbollah and Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Hitler and Hamas – a tale of two sofas

A sofa in Berlin

The Russians were coming. On January 16, 1945 Adolf Hitler entered the property of Berlin’s Reich Chancellery (Reichskanziel) and walked down the stairs into the subterranean bunker complex known as the Führerbunker. It was located about 28 feet (8.5 metres) below the garden of the old Chancellery, covered by a concrete roof more than 9 feet (3 metres) thick. Four of the 30 small rooms were for Hitler’s private use – a private guest room, a sitting room, a study/office (where hung a large portrait of Frederick the Great, painted by Anton Graf), and a private bedroom. Hitler would be joined there by his senior staff, including Martin Bormann. In April 1945 Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels also moved in to the bunker’s crowded accommodations.

On April 16, 1945 the Soviet Red Army started the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation, encircling the city and shelling Berlin. Hitler’s last trip to the surface was on his birthday, April 20, 1945, where he awarded the Iron Cross to boy soldiers of the Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth paramilitary organization) in the garden of the Reichskanziel. Before dawn on April 29, Hitler dictated his will, wherein he stated: “My wife and I choose to die in order to escape the shame of overthrow or capitulation. It is our wish for our bodies to be burnt immediately on the place where I have performed the greater part of my daily work during the course of my 12 years’ service to my people.” A few hours later he received the news of Mussolini’s execution by Italian partisans. The SS bodyguards began destroying his personal papers, and Hitler’s Alsatian Blondi was poisoned by cyanide pill, testing out the effectiveness of the method by which Evan Braun would later commit suicide.

By the morning of April 30, Red Army forces had reached the nearby Potsdamer Platz and were less than 1,600 feet (500 metres) from the bunker. Just after 13:00 Hitler bade farewell to his staff and inner circle. He retired to his study somewhere between 14:30 and 15:15, when he met with his valet Heinz Linge and told him: “You must never allow my corpse to fall into the hands of the Russians. They would make a spectacle in Moscow out of my body.” Hitler told Linge that he was going to shoot himself and that Linge knew what he had to do. At approximately 15:30 several people in the bunker heard a gunshot. After a few minutes, Hitler’s valet Linge entered the small study, accompanied by Hitler’s personal SS adjutant Otto Günsche, and found the lifeless bodies of Hitler and Braun on a small sofa. Braun had bitten into a cyanide capsule, while Hitler had shot himself in the right temple with his own pistol, a Walther PPK. There was a large bloodstain on the right arm of the sofa. Hitler was 56 years old that day, and Braun was 33.

A sofa in Gaza

The end came for Hamas leader and Political Bureau Chairman Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 in the Tall as-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah Governate, Gaza Strip. At approximately 10:00 am, an IDF soldier from the 450^th Battalion of the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders (Hebrew abbreviation: BISLAMACH or BISLACH Brigade) scouring the area noticed a suspicious figure entering and exiting a building in their sector. At 15:00 an IDF drone identified three figures leaving that building in their attempt to move to another structure. Two of the figures were covered in blankets, concealing their identities from the drone’s cameras. They walked ahead of a third figure, who was armed and wearing a combat vest, with a hood covering his head. The 450^th Battalion commander opened fire on the group, hitting the third person’s hand. The two in the advance squad fled into one building, while the third (Sinwar) fled into a second building. The two fired back at the BISLACH team, causing a severe upper body injury to an IDF Druze soldier from northern Israel, now recovering in intensive care at Soroka Hospital, Beersheva.

Sinwar moved up to the second floor of that building. A MATADOR missile was fired into that structure, and then a BISLACH unit moved toward the building. Sinwar threw two grenades at them, causing the IDF soldiers to pull back and send in a drone instead. That footage revealed an injured man in battle fatigues, whose face was covered with a gray blanket, sitting on a sofa. His right forearm was severely injured from missile fire (which bleeding he had tried to staunch unsuccessfully by using an electrical cord as an impromptu tourniquet). His left leg was damaged from falling masonry, and he had many shrapnel injuries on his body. This would all be discovered in the subsequent medical autopsy performed by Dr. Chen Kugel, chief pathologist at Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. Drone footage shows that Sinwar tried without success to knock the drone away from him while still sitting on the sofa, using a stick held in his left hand. A short time afterward, an IDF sniper bullet struck Sinwar in the left temple, instantly killing him. During this entire time, the IDF soldiers did not get a clear facial recognition that it was Sinwar they were dealing with. An IDF Merkava Mark IV tank then fired a shell into the building. Within moments, smoke was seen issuing out of the second floor, and then the building collapsed.

On Thursday morning, October 17, 2024, IDF soldiers entered the ruins of the building and discovered in the rubble the body of a man who bore a marked resemblance to Yahya Sinwar – especially his distinctively large ears. Forensic evidence was gathered and sent back to Israel for confirmation. This included DNA samples and photographs of his dental peculiarities and distinctive moles. In Sinwar’s possession were 40,000 New Israeli shekels, an expired passport belonging to a UNRWA worker, Mentos candies, a cigarette lighter, and a Glock pistol that had once belonged to a Sayeret Matkal (IDF Delta Force) Druze commander – Lt. Col Mahmoud Kheir el-Din – who had been killed by Hamas during a failed IDF Gaza operation on November 11, 2018.

IDF Military Intelligence believes that Sinwar was trying to flee from the Rafah area and reach the al-Mawasi Humanitarian Area bordering the Mediterranean Sea, when he was spotted and killed by the IDF. Al-Mawasi was the area where Mohammed Deif (Hamas military commander) had been recently eliminated in an IAF airstrike on July 13, 2024.

My struggle – Mein Kampf – My jihad

Hitler and Sinwar did not only die seated on sofas – one in Berlin, one in Gaza. They were both committed to similar strategies in some highly significant areas. In Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf (‘My struggle’), he outlined his political beliefs, his strategic ideology and his future plans for Germany and the world. The introduction to the 1999 edition of ‘Mein Kampf ’ (Mariner Books) states: Hitler “had made his ultimate goals clear in Mein Kampf as early as 1926: rearmament, the abolition of democracy, territorial expansion, eugenics, the ‘elimination’ of the ‘Jewish threat.’”

The word ‘struggle’ in classical Arabic is ‘jihad.’ It comes from the root j-h-d, meaning “fight, battle, jihad, holy war against the infidels, as a religious duty.” ‘Mein Kampf’ can therefore also be translated as ‘My Jihad.’ The similarity between Hitler’s murderous Nazism and classical jihadi Islamist teaching here is not accidental.

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB, or ‘Society of Muslim Brothers’ – Jama’at al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin) – was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a school teacher. His classic message to the world is also the motto of the MB: “Allah is (the Muslim Brotherhood’s) goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur’an its Constitution, Jihad its path, and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief.” During the 1930’s and 1940’s the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) had links with the Nazis, and Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler’s main contact in Jerusalem was Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem.

The Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas’ older brother) is an Islamist organization calling for jihad or holy war against its enemies (which include Israel, America and all Western nations) (see “Hurtling Through The Fog of War: A Messianic Perspective On The New Hamastan”; February 2006). From the MB perspective most Arab and Islamic states are run by evil pseudo-Islamic rulers and need to be overthrown. Only strict Islamist rule and the re-establishment of the Muslim Caliphate or khilafah is ultimately acceptable to the MB.

Hamas was established in 1987 or 1988, and its charter proclaims that “the Islamic Resistance Movement [aka Hamas] is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin) . . . the largest Islamic Movement in the modern era” (Hamas Charter, Article Two; in www.acpr.org.il/resources/hamascharter.html).

According to the historian Professor Jeffrey Herf of the University of Maryland, it was the Nazis' paranoid conspiracy theory concerning an imaginary plot by international Jewry plot to destroy Germany, that morphed pre-existing Muslim anti-Jewish hatred into a paranoid conspiracy theory focusing on a supposed plot by ‘international Jewry’ to destroy Islamic society:

“For the radical Islamist, it is not enough to merely humiliate the Jew, he must be annihilated. The Jew-hatred of jihad, therefore, is not something that Muslims adopted from Hitler. Rather, it is the adaptation of a message inherited from Muhammad. In other words, the anti-Semitism of Mein Kampf has merely been grafted onto the anti-Semitism of the Koran. Now that the two hatreds have become intertwined.”

This paranoid perspective was echoed by the original spiritual mentor of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah: “The struggle against the Jewish state, in which the Muslims are engaged, is a continuation of the old struggle of the Muslims against the Jews’ conspiracy against Islam.”

Raymond Ibrahim, specialist in Islamic history and doctrine, notes that “the ideologies presented in Mein Kampf are ultimately traced back to a man, whereas many of the ideologies of … [radical jihadi Islam] … are traced back to Mohammed and Allah . . . (T)ransforming ideologies to theology is a great matter.”

The connection between Nazi and Islamist anti-Jewish and genocidal hatred is significant and foundational, according to Professor David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Chair in Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas, Dallas, in his article ‘Nazis, Jihadists, and Jew Hatred’:

“The association between National Socialism and Islamic Jihadism goes back to Hasan al-Banna’s founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, the group that would spawn most of the major Jihadist movements of our time”

“Among today’s scholars and intellectuals the silence on these connections is overwhelming. Long before John Kerry’s complaint that the media are to blame for the terrorist problem because they report terrorism and upset people, the majority of scholars in the world have been silent on the connections between National Socialism and Islamic Jihadism. The most fundamental connection lies in the exterminationist antisemitism that drives both. Until we name Islamic Jihadism and understand it in terms of this form of antisemitism, we shall be impotent to deal with it.”

Sinwar’s ‘Final Solution’ regarding the Jewish people and their state

The Tehran Times states that “from its inception, Hamas [has been] committed to jihad, a struggle that is both spiritual and military. Sinwar's primary responsibility in Hamas was to maintain loyalty and punish betrayal.”

Sinwar, on his release from an Israeli jail years ago, co-founded with Rawhi Mushtaha the Munazzamat al Jihad w'al-Dawa (Arabic acronym, Majd, Arabic for ‘glory’), an organization that worked to identify, torture and kill locals who collaborated with Israel or violated Islamic religious law. His cruelty in torture and murder earned him the name ‘the Butcher of Khan Yunis.’

Michael Koubi, former Israeli SHABAK Senior Officer and Head of Interrogation, who had interrogated Yahya Sinwar extensively during his imprisonment, says this about Sinwar’s attitudes toward the Jews: “His motivation was in line with the Hamas Charter . . to destroy the Israeli State or the Jewish State first and then all the infidels.” When asked if Sinwar was very religious, and if this was his main motivation, Koubi answered: “He is really very, very religious. He hates the Jews, you know, from all his heart, you know – very deep hate . . . He knows the Quran almost by heart. I don’t think that he is a psychopath, I don’t think so.”

On April 30, 2022 Sinwar threatened Jewish synagogues across the world with attack, if Israeli police moved to suppress violent disturbances on the Temple Mount:, “Our people must prepare for a great battle if the occupation does not cease its aggression against the al-Aqsa Mosque. Violating al-Aqsa and Jerusalem means a regional, religious war. Whoever makes the decision to allow . . . the violation of al-Aqsa – he has decided to allow the violation of thousands of synagogues all across the world.”

In an interview after October 7, 2023, Koubi added:

“I knew Sinwar almost better than his own mother did. After 180 hours of interrogation with Yahya Sinwar, believe me I know him, I smell him, I eat him, everything. You know, he is the man that I will never forget. Sinwar is the cruelest man I’ve ever met . . . Yahya Sinwar was a murderer. He kept dreaming all the time how to kill Jews. That was Yahya Sinwar. For him it doesn’t matter if it is a boy, a child, a woman, or anyone. He wants to kill Jews, you know, by machete. That was his dream. He told me that the best way is to kill them by machete. That was during the interrogation. On the 7th of October [2023], [Hamas] used machetes and they also used guns and rifles.”

On April 6, 2018, Sinwar addressed a Hamas gathering, threatening Israel with “a big push” – one which would eventually come on October 7, 2023: “Our people and our boys will surprise the entire world with what they have in store. Let them wait for our big push. We will take down the border and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

Yuval Bitton was head of the Israel Prison Service Intelligence Division. His nephew was murdered by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 pogrom. This interview (with his comments about Sinwar) was published on April 13, 2024.

The thing with Hamas is that they have always been a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood. They set themselves Islamist goals: to annihilate the State of Israel, to liberate sacred Muslim lands. The Israelis just didn’t get it: For them, Hamas and Fatah were the same thing.

I said to Sinwar, “Tell me, is it worth it for 10,000 innocent people to die, in order to free 100 prisoners?” The reply was, “Even 100,000 is worth it.” Their notion of time is different, and the price in blood they are ready to pay in order to achieve their goal is different. Because each person who dies is a shahid [an Islamic martyr]. It’s warfare in the name of God.

Today he feels like Saladin, because he succeeded in doing what no Arab leader before him did. He sees himself as playing a central role in the realization of the Islamist ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood. He thinks he has entered the annals of history. And he really doesn’t care if 200,000 people are killed and not a single house remains complete in Gaza. The main thing is the goal, the greater idea.

On June 10, 2024 the Wall Street Journal published dozens of messages authored by Sinwar crowing about Palestinian deaths in Gaza. In a letter sent to Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on April 11, 2024, Sinwar wrote that the Palestinian death toll would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honor.” In another message to Hamas leaders in Qatar, Sinwar maintained that thousands of civilian casualties “are necessary sacrifices.” Sinwar told Hamas negotiators that “we have the Israelis right where we want them.”

Here are two analysts who explain Sinwar’s strategy in how he saw such deaths as benefiting jihad:

“While some analysts may argue that Hamas’s underground tunnel network is its greatest strategic advantage, the current conflict has starkly revealed a more disturbing truth. In fact, Hamas’s most potent weapon is the Palestinian civilian population. Putting civilians in harm’s way is no coincidence; it has been done by design. Hamas’s leadership has always understood that Palestinian deaths in a conflict with Israel creates leverage over the Jewish state despite the group’s role in perpetuating the violence” (Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at ‘Long War Journal’)

“The Hamas death cult seeks to maximize the casualties on both sides. For Sinwar, Palestinian lives don’t matter. Moreover, by punishing Israel, the international community perversely incentivizes Hamas to get Palestinians killed” (David May, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst)

This above research shows that both Hitler’s Nazism and Sinwar’s Hamas Islamism are based on highly motivated ideologies and strategies. Just as it would have seemed total madness for the Allies to have appealed to the Führer in 1944 for a ceasefire, so it is equally the height of folly for the US Administration, Western diplomats, Russia, China and the United Nations to champion the forcing of Israel into a ceasefire with the spiritual descendants of Hitler – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet POTUS Biden and VP Harris, White House spokesman John Kirby, French President Macron, German Chancellor Schotz, UN Chief Guterres, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and VP Borrell, Canada’s Trudeau and the UK’s Starmer are all turning the thumbscrews on the Jewish state, bullying them to throw in the towel and declare both a ceasefire with Hamas and a speedy withdrawal from Lebanon.

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the annulling of Western diplomatic evil and criminal foolishness regarding pressure on Israel for a ceasefire with Hitler’s spiritual progeny

Pray for the blocking and frustration of Hezbollah and Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Military witchcraft

King Jehoram son of Ahab had a rebellion on his hands: Mesha King of Moab had been Jehoram’s vassal but, after Ahab’s death, he rebelled and declared his independence (2 Kings 3). Jehoram (the King of Israel’s Ten Tribes) turned to King Jehoshaphat of Judah and his two tribes – asking him to join in a military confederacy (which also included the King of Edom) in order to fight against Moab and subdue her. Looking for a word of divine guidance, they turned to Elisha the Prophet, who declared: “And this is an insignificant thing in the sight of YHVH! He will also give the Moabites into your hand. Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and cut down every good tree and stop up all the springs of water, and spoil every good plot of land with stones” (2 Kings 3:18-19). And so it came to pass:

“But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled from them. And the Israelites invaded the land, killing the Moabites. So they destroyed the cities. And each one threw a stone on every plot of good land and filled it. So they stopped up every spring of water and cut down every good tree, until in Kir-Haraseth only they left its stones. However, the rock slingers surrounded it and struck it” (2 Kings 3:24-25)

The armies of Israel, also known as the armies of YHVH (see 1 Samuel 17:26) had broken through the defenses of their Moabite enemies. They tore down strongholds, destroyed citadels and fortifications, and surrounded the King of Moab himself in a pressure-cooker move: “When the King of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom. But they could not” (2 Kings 3:26).

Moab’s King then resorted to military witchcraft: he sacrificed his firstborn son on the walls of his major fortress Kir Haraseth (see Isaiah 16:7; Karak in modern Arabic). He believed that such a great sacrifice would release spiritual forces in the unseen world, thus granting him victory over his mortal enemy. The biblical text points in this direction: “Then the King of Moab took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And great wrath [qetseph gadol] came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land” (2 Kings 3:27).

The military witchcraft of Balaam and Balak

Six hundred years before Elisha and Jehoshaphat, King Balak of Moab and his nation were also terrified. They had heard of the arrival of armies of Moses and the Jewish people on the borders of their territory, and declared: “Now this gathered people will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field” (Numbers 22:4). So Balak sent a delegation to Balaam, a Mesopotamian sorcerer in Pethor (see Deuteronomy 23:4; Pitru in ancient Hittite, located near Carchemish). Balak’s message was this: “Please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed!” (Numbers 22:6). Balak’s wording in that confession has a poetic parallel to Genesis 12:3, where YHVH irrevocably prophesies over the Jewish people: whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, and whoever disparages Israel will be cursed. Balak was trying to do the exact opposite here of what YHVH commanded.

The Moabite king would pay top dollar to this Mesopotamian wizard, if only Balaam’s voodoo-like curses would be effective against Israel, rendering the Jewish armies militarily impotent and disarmed. But this was not to be. Instead, the Holy Spirit unexpectedly filled Balaam’s mouth with a declaration concerning Israel’s crushing victory over the Moabites:

“Look, a people like a lioness … It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain” (Numbers 23:24)

“He shall consume the nations, his enemies. He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows … Blessed is he who blesses you [Israel], and cursed is he who curses you!” (Numbers 24:8-9)

“A Star shall come out of Jacob! A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Sheth!” (Numbers 24:17)

YHVH specifies His operative rules of engagement when confronted by the military witchcraft of Israel’s enemies: “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel!” (Numbers 23:23). As Asaph the psalmist prophesies: “Let vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed be known among the nations in our sight!” (Psalm 79:10).

Cursing one’s enemies in German

The greatest of all Western military theoreticians was Prussian General Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz (1780-1831). In his most famous work ‘Vom Kriege’ (‘On War’), Clausewitz describes one of the main objectives of war: “to render the enemy politically helpless or militarily impotent” (“sein nächster Zweck ist, den Gegner niederzuwerfen und dadurch zu jedem ferneren Widerstand unfähig zu machen”; Carl von Clausewitz; ‘On War’; Princeton University Press, 2008).

Clausewitz states up front that “war is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will” – “Der Krieg ist also ein Akt der Gewalt, um den Gegner zur Erfüllung unseres Willens zu zwingen” (Clausewitz, ‘On War,’ Book I, Chapter 1, 24).

Perhaps the most quoted saying of Clausewitz is this: “War is merely the continuation of politics by other means” – “Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln.” The context here is helpful: “So we see that war is not just a political act, but a true political instrument, a continuation of the political process, an application of the same by other means. War is merely the continuation of politics by other means.”

Making war, Clausewitz explained, is another implement in the tool chest of politicians and diplomats. War is another way of talking to and communicating with one’s enemies, albeit a violent one.

Henry Kissinger added a unique perspective here, noting that Vladimir Lenin’s revolutionary strategies revealed that he saw politics as a continuation of war by other means. In other words, though it may look like modest political interaction, in actuality the Communist diplomat sees his work as part of the struggle of class warfare.

These perspectives are of the utmost importance in making sense of what is happening in the current round of Middle Eastern war.

“Well, he got no allies to really speak of” (Bob Dylan, ‘Neighborhood Bully’)

Henry John Temple, 3^rd Viscount Palmerston (also known as Lord Palmerston) was once Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In a March 1, 1848 speech in the House of Commons, Palmerston made a significant realpolitik declaration:

“It is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”

Palmerston’s axiom is helpful as we consider the relationships between the USA and Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.

Kissinger offers another enlightening guideline here in the following quote from his 2016 interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in ‘The Atlantic’: “There is obviously a gap between the public's perception of the role of US foreign policy and the elite’s perception.” Many Evangelical Christians, Jews of Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or liberal stripe, or simply secular US citizens have a quiet respect for plucky Israel, her courage and heroism in battle, her tenacity in the face of many deadly challenges, her sufferings in the Holocaust. They tend to believe that popular pro-Israel American sentiment shapes and guides US policies in the Middle East. Kissinger, however, bluntly intimates that Presidents and State Department ‘lifers’ may give the outward impression that they are avidly pro-Israel, but the truth is actually nuanced in a very different direction. Expressing his own view of how American diplomats and politicians see and shape the world, Kissinger put the matter succinctly to the ‘Forty Committee’ (the secret operations group that he headed) in 1970: “The issues are too important to be left for the . . . voters.”

Some very influential Americans are opposed to Zion. Secular isolationists and anti-Semitic professors, self-hating Jews and jihadi Islamists, oil barons and most State Department honchos, CIA movers and shakers – there are significant and influential layers of American society solidly positioned against the land and people of Israel. At the upper echelons of US politics, business and intelligence, powerful people are ensconced – pressuring and persuading, weakening and attempting to destroy the apple of God’s eye. Anti-Semitism has been hard-wired into the roots of the US intelligence community and the US State Department from Day One. Its poison influences current positions trumpeted from the Rose Garden, the Congress and the mainstream media (MSM). A more in depth analysis of these roots and this history can be found in two of our recent newsletters ‘Why are the peoples plotting in vain?’ (April 12, 2024) and ‘Shakings, Weighings and Divisions: Syria, Annapolis and the Return of YHVH – Part Three of Three – Cutting Israel Down to Size’ (October 17, 2007).

Originally, ‘the Agency’ (also known as the CIA) was at its heart an ‘old boys’ network’ of Ivy League university graduates. Most of these men were thoroughly pickled in old-school anti-Semitic prejudices and attitudes. ‘America’s Great Game: The CIA’s Secret Arabists and the Shaping of the Modern Middle East’ by Hugh Wilford (2017) notes that the CIA’s Middle East division was headed by ‘Arabists’ – men like Kermit ‘Kim’ Roosevelt (grandson of POTUS Theodore Roosevelt); Kim’s cousin, Archie Roosevelt (a Middle East scholar and Chief of Beirut Station); and Miles Copeland (a covert American intelligence operator since WWII). These Agency Arabists were the intellectual, and often biological, descendants of American missionaries in Arab lands. They believed that a century of American missionary activity had paved the way for a Pax Americana in the region – if only the recalcitrant Israelis could be sidelined. These officials were fiercely anti-Zionist, convinced that American support for Israel was a strategic blunder of the first order. Wilford states that these founders believed “in the overriding importance of American-Arab, and Christian-Muslim, relations.”

Reflecting on these bedrock anti-Semitic foundations, one former CIA operative explained: “You shouldn’t be surprised [at the CIA’s covert war with the Jewish state]. It’s [simply a matter of] pure hypocrisy. In public, Israel is our ally. What the public doesn’t know is that all Western nations have covert policies to side with the Arabs. It keeps the intelligence community busy” (see John Loftus and Mark Aarons,The Secret War Against the Jews (How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People); p. 510).

These gnarled anti-Semitic roots are still wrapped around the trunk and tree of State Department and intelligence community policies toward the Jewish state. And they are a helpful key in deciphering US political and diplomatic moves as Israel is attempting to destroy Iranian jihadi influence and military witchcraft which are currently targeting the Jewish state.

The Great Game

Political historians use the term ‘The Great Game’ to refer to the political rivalry and military confrontation between Great Britain and the Russian Empire beginning in 1830, as their spheres of influence and control moved closer to each other in Mughal India, Turkestan and Persia (modern Iran). Here too, war was “not just a political act, but a true political instrument, a continuation of the political process.” The Crimean War (1853-56) was one eruption of this clash, as were the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-42) and the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1872-80). The present hostilities and divisions between India and Pakistan find some of their roots in this “continuation of politics by other means.”

As superpowers stumbled down the corridors of time, Britain’s imperial designs on Afghanistan eventually gave way to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989) and then to the US invasions of Afghanistan (October 7, 2001 – August 30, 2021). At present, the jihadi Taliban government has resumed control of the country, after an ignominious American retreat in August 2021.

Superpowers abhor a vacuum. Today the various contenders for Middle Eastern influence include such outsiders as the USA, China and Russia, while Iran and Saudi Arabia wrestle for Islamist hegemony. Israel is the wild card in the equation as America attempts to play all parties against each other in a Machiavellian gambit to hold on to fading glory.

The Prince of Persia meets Old Glory

The Hebrew prophet Daniel was granted prophetic insight into the inner spiritual machinations behind superpower struggles in his day. The angel Gabriel informed him in Daniel 10:10-21 that a demonic principality, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, was actively seeking the destruction of the Jewish people – as seen in that Prince’s mortal combat with the Archangel Michael (who bears the Jewish portfolio in the angelic realm; see Daniel 12:1), as well as in Haman’s genocidal attempt to wipe out Mordecai and his people.

This demonic prince still exists, influencing the thoughts and the political and military strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His diabolical tactics now have a worldwide spotlight thrown on them, as Iran aims its terrorist jihadi weapons against Israel – though at times it has also been directed at Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, the USA, France, Britain, etc.

The gnarled arm of the Prince of Persia has reached out across the oceans, seducing American Presidents and diplomats with its malevolent spiritual influence. Former POTUS Obama was waylaid by these deceptions, re-aligning American policy to make diplomatic compromises with Iran by developing strategic links with the Shi’ite terror dictatorship. Barak Obama was determined to avoid full-scale confrontation with Iran, and instead granted it a political-military truce through practical immunity for Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

America’s diplomatic addiction to bribing and appeasing Iran is now manifest to the entire planet. The US Administration continues to turn a blind eye to Iran’s striving to achieve regional hegemony, as well as to its funding of terrorist jihadi proxies like Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq’s Kata’eb Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, etc. All these groups are supplied with Iranian missiles, rockets, drones, artillery and other assorted weapons. They are aiming these armaments at the heart of Israel (and occasionally, at Saudi Arabia). Any nation who gets in the way of Iran finds its ships blown up in the Persian Gulf, its diplomats assassinated, etc.

The US continues to signal to the international community and to its MSM cheerleaders that America wants no part of a military-political conflict whose ultimate target involves defeating Iran. POTUS Joe Biden and his State Department spokesmen Anthony Blinken, John Kirby and Matthew Miller (as well as VP Kamala Harris) are continually leaking to the press that the US Administration is forbidding Israel from striking at Iran’s nuclear weapons installations – which are an existential threat to both the Jewish state and to pro-Western Gulf Arabs. The American administration continually expresses vociferous disapproval of an Israeli attack on Iranian oil assets – which the Shiite dictatorship depends on to fund 80% of its budget, including its military and terror operations.

Tragically, American diplomacy and its military leadership are wholeheartedly devoted to the goal of not threatening Tehran or its most important economic and nuclear strategic assets. The past two Democratic administrations have championed a commitment to a realigned Middle East, one where conflicts between the USA and Iran would be replaced by a rapprochement with the Islamist Shi’ite superpower-in-waiting.

Such US policies, to quote Clausewitz, are attempts to weaken Israel, to render it politically helpless and militarily impotent. These threatening policies are attempts to force and compel the Jewish state to do America’s will. America’s pressure on Israel to back off from eliminating the terrorist organizations of Hamas, Hezbollah the PLO/Palestinian Authority (as well as Iran’s jihadi doomsday organizations) are all classic examples of diplomatic warfare waged against the Jewish state – the ‘continuation of the political process by other means.’ The endgame here is the shrinking of Israel (as Kissinger was wont to say), and the establishment of a jihadi Palestinian state in Gaza and on the West Bank – on lands which the God of Israel declared as Israel’s national patrimony forever (see Joel 3:1-2).

The bear hug that crushes

Spiritual warfare in the Middle East has caused ugly cataracts to form on the American eagle’s formerly razor-sharp eyes. Though most Americans oppose deals with jihadi terror dictatorships, various administrations have surreptitiously developed a multifaceted policy of ‘doing one thing while pretending to do its opposite.’ This shrewd plan involves showering Israel with primarily defensive military systems, while forcing Israel to sign deals forbidding it from developing strategic military independence from the USA. Two examples: the IDF’s current F-35 air platforms can be shut down at the push of an American button, if Israel insists on not following America’s military orders. At this point in time, the US is also withholding heavy bunker-buster bombs like the MOAB (GBU-43/B) Massive Ordnance Air Blast, and concurrently threatening arms embargos on Israel if the IDF’s order of battle or military thinking does not jibe with the Pentagon’s.

The US Administration has had a decades-long policy of subverting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s power by cultivating both former and currently serving security brass of Prime Ministers, squeezing them to inform America of any Israeli military plans in the works against Iran. Former Head of Mossad Meir Dagan is one such case, and many current examples can be found in today’s newspapers. US intelligence agencies have lately been fostering and encouraging civil rebellion and quasi-putsches in Israel, resulting in what the MSM spins as ‘mass popular demonstrations.’ The main goals here are to subvert the current Israeli government, especially its political, economic and military strategies and policies.

Jonathan Tobin of Jewish News Syndicate says it clearly: “Even gestures of support – such as the sending of a sophisticated THAAD missile-defense system to Israel, along with 100 American personnel to operate it – seem aimed more at restricting the Jewish state’s freedom to make a decision about retaliating against the latest direct Iranian attack, than to protect it. The fact that the administration has made sure to leak to the press that it wants Israel to avoid striking at Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, which is an existential threat not just to Israel but to Arab nations and the West, was a shocking indication of its ongoing devotion to the idea that Tehran and its most important assets should not be threatened.”

The penetratingly insightful reporter Carolyn Glick sums up how the US Administration’s bear hug has affected Israel’s successful prosecution of the current war. Her points reveal Clausewitz’s principle at work again – of how politics and political pressure are merely another way of making war:

“This was why the U.S. opposed Israel’s ground operation in Gaza; supported Egypt in blocking Gazans from fleeing Gaza for shelter in Egypt or third countries; opposed Israel’s takeover of Rafah and the border with Gaza; slow-walked the delivery of offensive weapons, including assault rifles, tank and artillery shells and bombs for the air force in an effort to compel Israel to adopt a defensive posture; and consistently sought to coerce Israel to accept hostage deals with Hamas that would precipitate its strategic defeat in the war. This is why the administration began sanctioning Israeli citizens who they claim obstruct their goal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Likewise, the administration’s consistent, unswerving pressure on Israel to admit massive quantities of goods into Gaza, under the headline ‘humanitarian aid,’ facilitated Hamas’s survival in power.”

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the blocking and frustration of both Hezbollah/Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8) as well as for the transformation of current US Administration strategies and perspectives converging Iran and Israel

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org