Restless and plotting – Part Two

This is the second part of a two-part newsletter.

What was true in the time of King David – the anointed ruler of the nation of Israel – is true in our day as well: the machinations and conspiracies of the superpowers of this earth always end up focusing on the Jewish people, their land and their destiny. This fixated and twisted dynamic could be called the world’s ‘Magnificent Obsession.’

In the same way as YHVH chose the children of Jacob to be His irrevocable priority people, so the prince of darkness has chosen the Jewish people – but for totally opposite purposes. Satan has chosen the Israeli nation to be the particular focus of his murderous madness and heinous hatred. How is this playing out in our day?

The rest of the News

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has spoken out with great clarity about the current U.S. Administration’s behind-the-scenes machinations involved in this latest cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon. “The Biden administration has spent the last four years pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel and boosting Iran.” Cruz stated that he is deeply disturbed by reports that:

The U.S. Administration has frozen shipments of munitions already paid for by Israel, in a stealth embargo intended to twist Israel’s arms to cave in to a cease-fire while Hezbollah is undefeated and still firing rockets, drones and missiles at Israel. A total of 139 D9 Caterpillar bulldozers (necessary to dislodge Hamas jihadi terrorist embedded in homes, schools and mosques) “are awaiting export approval.” These machines “aren’t only operationally effective against terror tunnels and in urban areas, but also help save soldiers’ lives.” Also on ‘unofficial U.S. embargo’ are heavy bunker-buster bombs. See ‘Arms embargoes on Israel since 2023’ for more information. The current U.S. Administration recently rejected the IDF’s request for 15 Apache attack helicopters, putting bureaucratic obstacles in the way which “will delay the signing of the agreement by about ten months.”

UK Colonel Richard Kemp adds:

       

Kemp’s warning has gold-plated historical credentials, and it is worth going back in time to see how such an event played out. On Friday December 23, 2016, just before the onset of the Sabbath and the Feast of Hanukkah, a rushed vote was taken at the United Nations Security Council on Resolution 2334. The U.S. abstained from its habitual pro-Israel veto, allowing for an expedited passage of the motion. It passed 14-0 with the one American abstention. Israel had been warning about such a political ambush for many months.  Prime Minister Netanyahu had been cautioning that a lame-duck American President (Barak Obama) with a chip on his shoulder against Israel might manipulate the passage of an anti-Israel UN Resolution. This would be a scenario similar to how the balrog acted in J.R.R. Tolkien’s  Lord of the Rings. Though defeated and pushed into the abyss by Gandalf, at the last second the balrog struck out with his bullwhip and snared Gandalf’s ankle, bringing him down into the same dark pit.

Whereas UN Resolution 242 (passed on November 22, 1967 and referring to potential Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in the June 1967 Six-Day War)) did not specify borders and regions, Egypt’s December 2016 draft of Resolution 2334 did. This would be a radical and ground-breaking change. The UN would determine by itself the depth of Israel’s withdrawal. Jerusalem pleaded with the Obama Administration to exercise its veto power on this one. When that appeal was greeted with deaf ears, Israel contacted President-elect Trump’s people. Trump, seeing the danger and the huge lack of wisdom in the State Department’s approach, contacted Egypt, who agreed to withdraw the Resolution.

But now a secret contingency plan swung into action. New Zealand (backed up by Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela) submitted the Resolution within hours of Egypt’s reversal. The Resolution was voted on and ratified within half a day. The passing of this Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016 fundamentally changes the whole peace process, profoundly altering previously signed agreements achieved through American mediatorship (like the Oslo Accords).

When a legally binding Resolution insists that Israel withdraw from specific territories, then as far as Israel is concerned, there is no more point in further negotiations with the Palestinians. Such a Resolution predicates that an Israeli withdrawal from specific territories must happen in any case. This sleight-of-hand process is actually an illegal fait-accompli. It is a political mugging of Israel. The Jewish state will now find it difficult – if not impossible – to trust prior agreements brokered by America.

The U.S. State Department vociferously insisted at that time that it had nothing to do with Resolution 2334. Yet the truth is quite different. For deep background and the sordid intrigue involved here, see ‘The kings of the earth are taking their positions’ (Boskey newsletter, December 28, 2016). The Apostle Paul says that “it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:12). Yeshua added, “Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3). In this case, shadows are still being cast by superpowers on the viability of Jewish control over the Jewish homeland.

Obsessed with locking in the results of jihad

As soon as this last ‘cease-fire’ was announced, the leaders of the U.S., France, the UK, etc., immediately began to demand an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank, leaving the path clear to a regrouping of jihadi terror groups and a re-establishing of their dark domain:

The nations are rushing headlong into the judgment prophesied by Joel (3:1-2) and Zechariah (14:1-4). These passages speak of God’s coming divine sentence against the nations who partition the Land of Israel, dividing Jerusalem and handing over sacred soil to our enemies from Edom (see Ezekiel 25:12-14; 36:1-7).

 

Unfortunately, even in modern Israel, some in the military and intelligence communities who have been appointed to be watchmen and gatekeepers, have failed to recognize the Islamist threat – and the threats of superpowers whose ambivalent support also comes with a hidden price-tag – malevolent strategies to shrink and weaken the Jewish state.

The jihadi armies of Mohammed – the mujāhidīn – conquered the Land of Israel in 638 A.D., turning it into an Islamic slave-province. Muslim theology teaches that any land conquered by jihadi armies remains Islamic territory in perpetuity. This means that the Islamic world will never accept a Jewish state or even Jewish control over part of such a state. For Muslim ayatollahs, imams and sheikhs, the jihadi conquests and subsequent ramifications of these conquests can never be reversed. Yet the God of Israel, in an extremely ‘politically incorrect’ move, is restoring His chosen people to their chosen land through Hebrew pioneering and conquest. In this struggle, the nations have taken the side of the mujāhidīn. Stay tuned as jihad gets reversed!

How should we then pray?

 

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: https://davidstent.org/

Restless and plotting – Part One

What was true in the time of King David – the anointed ruler of the nation of Israel – is true in our day as well: the machinations and conspiracies of the superpowers of this earth always end up focusing on the Jewish people, their land and their destiny. This fixated and twisted dynamic could be called the world’s ‘Magnificent Obsession.’

In the same way as YHVH chose the children of Jacob to be His irrevocable priority people, so the prince of darkness has chosen the Jewish people – but for totally opposite purposes. Satan has chosen the Israeli nation to be the particular focus of his murderous madness and heinous hatred. How is this playing out in our day?

Jihadi warfare

Every Muslim who ‘signs on the dotted line’ – the classic Islamist texts of Quran and Hadith (Islamic legal tradition) – is spiritually bound to obey the words of Mohammed regarding the obligation of jihad – described as ‘the sixth pillar of Islam.’ It refers to military attack on Christians, Jews and Hindus until these groups are either vanquished, forced to convert to Islam, or destroyed by the mujāhidīn (jihad warriors).

Blinded denial of jihadi warfare

The secular and post-Christian West is like unto a deer trapped in the headlights of an onrushing jihadi train – bent on ignoring the clear and present danger speeding toward them. They are intent on persuading themselves that:

In a hard-hitting article “Hating Jews for Allah” (Jerusalem Report, February 9, 2015), Tibor Krausz points out:

 

It’s hard for some to believe, but this deadly blindness also dominates the thinking of the majority of Israel’s military, intelligence and judicial top brass.

The green seven-headed Iranian jihadi dragon

The Arabic term ‘Wahdat al-Saha’at’ (unity of the arenas) lies behind the jihadi terror state of Iran’s effort to gather its allies and all armed Islamist forces arrayed against Israel under a single Persian umbrella. Psalm 83 sketches most of those countries for us – a prophetic roster indeed:

Apart from the Yemeni Houthis who are not mentioned in Psalm 83, six of the nations currently involved in this present jihadi attack on Israel are described in this passage: Gaza, West Bank. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran.

Woke violence

To hate Israel is to hate the God of Israel, as Asaph the worship-leader and Isaiah the prophet clearly declare:

The mass anti-Israel and anti-Jewish neo-Nazi demonstrations rocking both Europe and American college campuses in recent months are funded by Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Qatar. They have been fostered over years through pre-positioning – the establishing of Chairs of Islamist and Arab thought and culture in top universities; in the seeding of both continents with Islamist organizations and illegal immigrants who have set up grass-roots jihadi networks (consider the 9/11 Hamburg cell). For the past few years, these sleeper cells have catalyzed woke leaders to organize supposedly ‘spontaneous’ demonstrations calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state and for the establishment of a judenrein (Nazi term for ‘Jew-free’) Islamist terror state called ‘Palestine.’ One day after October 7, 2023, when Hamas had led horrific rapes, murders, tortures and kidnappings of Israeli children, teens, pensioners and adults, this neo-Nazi Islamist network was prepared, and they swung into gear, organizing massive demonstrations throughout Europe and America, calling for an Islamist Palestine ‘free from the River to the Sea’ – or, to speak plainly and without artifice – free of Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.

The short-term crescendo of these demonstrations was seen in the pogrom attack on 3,000 Israeli soccer/football fans on October 7 and 8, 2024 in Amsterdam. This was quickly followed by a decision at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, issuing arrests for Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defense Minister on the false accusation of war crimes and genocide – something that woke demonstrators have been baying for over the past few years.

Weaponized lawfare

Israel is no stranger to international hatred and scorn. The Mesopotamian Balaam spoke a prophetic word over Israel, summing up this dynamic: “How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse? And how am I to curse him whom YHVH has not cursed? For I see him from the top of the rocks, and I look at him from the hills: Behold, a people who dwells apart, and is not considered to be [just another nation] living among the nations!” (Numbers 23:8-9). The God of Israel adds a divine footnote here in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who dishonors you I will curse” (ESV).

The United Nations proves the prophetic truth of Balaam’s declaration on a daily basis. Since 1948, there have been 226 Security Council resolutions related to Israel. The US directly condemned Israel in six resolutions and abstained on 19. The UN’s fixation over Israel can be demonstrated by considering one year out of many – the year 2022, where the General Assembly approved 15 anti-Israel resolution, versus 13 resolutions criticizing all other nations. Between 2015 and 2022 the General Assembly adopted 140 anti-Israel resolutions, as compared to 68 resolutions against all other countries. Here is the read-out for 2024: https://unwatch.org/2024-unga-resolutions-on-israel-vs-rest-of-the-world/. Indisputable proof of UN anti-Israel bias is freely available for those who are interested. This ancient hatred is quite at home on the banks of NYC’s East River, and has stretched it muscles there from the time of the inception of the State of Israel up to the present day.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established on July 1, 2002, after the Rome Statute of the ICC was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on July 17, 1998 as the court’s charter and governing document. As of October 2024 there are 125 ICC member states, 25 signatories who have not ratified the Rome Statute, and 41 states which have neither signed nor become parties to the Rome Statute. Four signatory states – Israel in 2002, the United States on May 6, 2002, Sudan on August 26, 2008, and Russia on November 30, 2016 – have informed the UN Secretary General that they no longer intend to become states parties and, as such, have no legal obligations arising from their signing of the Statute

  

Under the Rome Statute, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute ‘four core international crimes’ (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression) in situations where sovereign states are “unable” or “unwilling” to do so themselves. Even so, the jurisdiction of the court is stated as only being complementary to jurisdictions of domestic courts. The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes only if they are committed in the territory of a state party (which Israel is not) or if they are committed by a national of a state party. An exception to this rule is that the ICC may also have jurisdiction over crimes if its jurisdiction is authorized by the United Nations Security Council. Based on this last point, the nations of the world can conspire with the ICC in invalidating and overthrowing the first of the two points stated above.

Changing the judge’s horses in mid-stream

According to the ICC’s founding mandate, Israel cannot be investigated or prosecuted for three simple reasons: one: Israel has a functioning judicial system and has a solid track record of investigating itself; two, the jurisdiction of Israeli domestic courts takes priority over the ICC; three: since the UN does not recognize Israeli control over Gaza, the ‘crimes’ in question were not committed in the territory of a state party.

However, in a published opinion in August 2014, the ICC Prosecutor said that, as a result of Palestine’s new status being granted to it unilaterally by the ICC, Palestine was qualified to join the Rome Statute. In December 2014, the assembly of state parties of the ICC recognized Palestine as a ‘State’ without prejudice to any legal or other decisions taken by the court or any other organization. Palestine (a state that does not exist on the ground) acceded to the Rome Statute on January 2, 2015, and was recognized as a State party by the ICC on April 1, 2015. The fictional State of Palestine could now catalyze international legal suits against the Jewish state of Israel, in what is known as ‘lawfare’ – using judicial means to further destructive military purposes.

This scenario was very much on Israel’s mind when it originally refused to become a partner to the Rome Statute in 2002. It declared at that time in a written and appended note:

Subsequent UN history has proved the validity of Israel’s sober concerns a thousand times over.  The UN and the ICC are functioning as abusive bullies, stirring up international judgment and cursing of Israel (remember Genesis 12:3) even though Israel is not subject to the ICC’s authority or a party to their treaties. To add insult to injury, Israel has been highly exemplary in its prosecution of war against jihadis – who happen to also be enemies of the West. Hamas and its chief bankroller Qatar, on the other hand, have never come before the gnarled legal arm of the ICC.

Colonel Richard Kemp is a former British Army Commander of UK military forces in Afghanistan (leading Operation Fingal in Afghanistan from July to November 2003), Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia. He served with NATO and the UN, and participated in the Gulf War in Iraq. He is a consultant on international terrorism for both COBRA and the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee, where he wrote the British forces doctrine on dealing with suicide bombings. Colonel Kemp recently addressed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, stating that “no army in the world acts with as much discretion and great care as the IDF in order to minimize damage. The US and the UK are careful, but not as much as Israel.”

A further bump in the road concerns the ICC chief prosecutor of nine years, Karim Khan, who is facing allegations of sexual nonconsensual behavior and coercion against a female aide over a period of 12 months. These matters raise concerns about conflicts of interest, as well as the independence and ethical foundation of both the inquiry and the inquirer.

An Arab media outlet bankrolled by Qatar, the Middle East Eye, does not mince words in describing the international end-game here – turning Israel into a pariah state, subject to the blows of international bullies: “In the long run, and in a more meaningful way, the ICC warrants cut Israel off from the international community in a very sharp way . . . The American reaction . . .  cannot change the basic reality: Israel is swiftly becoming a pariah state.  This isolation and de-legitimization of Israel can have practical and immediate effects such as encouraging military and other sanctions on Israel.” See also ‘ICC decision may mean European arms embargo on Israel’ (Globes, November 21, 2024).

Peace, peace – and there is no peace

The newspapers and cable TV stations of the world, as Isaiah says, “are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales . . .  All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless” (Isaiah 40:15-17). While mainstream media (MSM) trumpet a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, the truth is far more interesting and less encouraging.

Lebanese Hezbollah began unilaterally shooting anti-tank weapons, rockets, drones and missiles into Israel on October 8, 2023. On that day Hezbollah declared that they were joining Hamas in jihad against Israel. Their targets were kibbutzim, moshavim and farms, towns and cities, civilian houses and shopping centers. An occasional army base was also targeted.  But it should be remembered that there is some context here: Hezbollah has waged an Iran-sponsored war against Israel since 1982 – a total of 32 years. Iran’s Shi’ite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been the bankroller, trainer and arms supplier this entire time. At the beginning of the 32 year long war Hezbollah attacked U.S. Marine bases and Embassies, French paratrooper bases and Israeli military HQs in Lebanon, kidnapping and torturing U.S. diplomats and intelligence chiefs to death. But at this juncture, Hezbollah’s attacks are officially directed only against Israel.

The recent ‘cease-fire’ agreement between Israel and Lebanon, initialed and the spotlighted by world media, was actually not signed by Hezbollah; indeed, that organization is only mentioned once and in passing in the document’s Understanding #2: “From 04:00 hours (IST/EET), November 27, 2024 forward, the Government of Lebanon will prevent Hezbollah and all other armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any operations against Israel.”

American diplomat Amos Hochstein has been functioned as POTUS Biden’s Special Envoy in this situation. He has declared that the current cessation of firing is actually a done deal: “We’re not going to stop; it’s not a temporary effort. It’s an enduring mechanism!” In this he echoed the words of POTUS Joe Biden: “This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities!” But Israel’s perspective here is decidedly different. Prime Minister Netanyahu explained that this deal is not a peace treaty but is only a fragile cease-fire; it expires after 60 days; and Israel will immediately join battle again if Hezbollah violates this pending accord.  The gaps between diplomatic doublespeak and behind-the-scenes negotiations are significant.

Israeli Channel 12 TV announced that US Special Envoy Hochstein made clear to Israel that there would be no deal if France were not a member of the international oversight body. Israel in turn insisted that France take back its threat to arrest Netanyahu if he set foot in France, based on the ICC warrants, and tone down its virulently anti-Israel words and actions.

Back in 2016, at the conclusion of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Shi’ite jihadi terror group also did not sign UN Security Council’s Resolution 1701. This Hezbollah sidestep led to the long-burning fuse which exploded on October 8, 2023 – one day after Hamas’ atrocities against Israel. The same side-stepping scenario is occurring again, this time with U.S. and French blessing.

Yet, in spite of the diplomatic fudging and linguistic fog hanging over this process, POTUS Biden announced at the White House: “Today, after many weeks of tireless diplomacy, Israel and Lebanon have accepted a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot declared: “Force must give way to dialogue and negotiation. This has now been achieved in Lebanon.”

In other recent news, the United Nations refused to renew the contract of Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Under-Secretary-General and U.N. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, due to her determination that Israel’s actions in Gaza could not be defined as ‘genocide.’ According to Nderitu, the term “genocide” encapsulates the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated by the Hutus on the Tutsis in Rwanda, the Serbian attacks on Bosnian Muslims, and the killings being carried out in Sudan. But Nderitu has stated, according to the Wall Street Journal, that “as a legal matter, establishing a pattern of violence as a genocide requires demonstrating intent. Israel’s campaign of self-defense doesn’t qualify.”

How should we then pray?

 

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: https://davidstent.org/

Snowflakes and Santa Claus

In 1636 Harvard University was founded as a school to train Christian ministers. In 1646 the University adopted “Rules and precepts that are observed in the college.” Here are some of those foundational points:

The motto of the University adopted in 1692 was ‘Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae’ (Latin for ‘Truth for Christ and the Church’). But as Harvard University increasingly abandoned Evangelical theology and embraced German Liberalism, its motto morphed into what is in use today – simply the word ‘VERITAS’ (Latin for ‘Truth’).

Neither Christ nor the Truth

Since then, Harvard has become a bastion of anti-Christian teaching; it has lost its once-legendary Ivy League backbone for defending Biblical truth. A recent October 2024 lecture at Harvard by anti-Hamas speaker Mosab Hassan Yousef (son of one of Hamas’ founders) was only granted official permission to go forward if a University-authored statement was read out, informing the audience that pro-Hamas protestors would be allowed up to ten minutes to disrupt the event before being removed. The statement noted that it would allow pro-Hamas demonstrators access to the public pulpit, because “speech is privileged in the University community.” At Harvard, so it seems, free speech for jihadis trumps the unimpeded right of God’s watchmen to call out a warning.

On the Harvard campus, just one day after Donald J. Trump’s presidential re-election victory on November 5, 2024, many anti-Trump students and faculty found themselves spiraling into depression:

Can snowflakes endure a marathon?

According to the Pew Research Center report of August 9, 2024, about six out of every ten American (62%) say that a major problem in the U.S. today is “people being too easily offended by things others say.” A February 2, 2017 article in USA TODAY describes such easily offended people as ‘snowflakes’ – a term referring to “young people who take offense [at] political comments.” The USA TODAY article says that this term can refer to people who are “as weak and vulnerable as a speck of snow.”

In an early morning tweet the day after the elections, Elon Musk made a thoughtful observation regarding Democratic shock at a Republican victory: “For anyone, whether in America or other countries, who finds this result shocking, they should reconsider where they get their information. This trend was obvious in X for months, but almost all the legacy mainstream media pushed a completely false reality. They lied to you.’

Harvard snowflakes may get easily rattled by the presence of anti-Hamas and pro-Israel lecturers on sacred campus property; they may spin into deep depression from the careful exercise of the democratic process in America (even if it brings a Big Orange Man to the White House). But the truth is that there are actually real threats coming down the track for the Western world. Recent violent jihadi attacks in the Netherlands on Israeli soccer fans (on the night of November 7-8, 2024) present another strong wake-up call to a narcissistic generation – one that, even though it calls itself woke, it has actually fallen deep asleep.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Amsterdam has always been a magnet for tourists, offering picturesque canals, beautiful old buildings, cream cakes and well-prepared cuisine. For those who love the Christmas season, Santa Claus’ origins are often connected to this city.  Santa is known in the Netherlands as Sint Nicolaas or Sinterklaas. In medieval times, the Feast Day in his honor was usually the occasion of mass public drunkenness. Though the origins of the red-suited white-bearded figure were originally from Greece, Santa has taken on a distinct Dutch hue over the years. Dutch settlers in Manhattan brought Mr. Claus’ toy-giving traditions over to New York City, and from America they have spread worldwide.

Another old tradition started not far from Greece, and it too has spread worldwide. Its founder also had a beard, though its color is a matter of dispute. That founder was Mohammed, and the tradition he started in the Hejaz region of Arabia is called ‘Islamic jihad.’ Based on the classic Islamist texts of the Quran and the Hadith, the zealous adherents of the tradition of jihad (jihad warriors or mujāhidīn) have spread their message from Mecca to Manhattan, and from Alexandria to Ankara – even to Amsterdam.

Time line of anti-Israel activities

The past few days have seen intensive pogrom-like attacks on over 3,000 Israelis in Amsterdam. Here is a time-line and explanation of those events.

Statements of world leaders

U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt, wrote that she was “horrified by the attacks tonight in Amsterdam, which are terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.”

Danny Danon, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote that “we are receiving very disturbing reports of extreme violence against Israelis and Jews on the streets of Holland. There is a pogrom currently taking place in Europe in 2024.”

The King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, told the President of Israel Isaac Herzog on November 8, 2024: “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.”

The Israeli Embassy in The Hague stated: “Horrific scenes from Amsterdam last night, echoing Europe’s darkest history. Hundreds of fans of Israel’s Maccabi TLV were ambushed and brutally attacked in Amsterdam last night after the match against Ajax. Mobs chanted anti-Israel slogans and proudly shared videos of their violent acts on social media – kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens. On the eve of Kristallnacht [November 8-9, 1938] – when Jews in Nazi Germany faced brutal attacks – it is horrifying to witness antisemitic violence on the streets of Europe once again.”

Geert Wilders, Dutch politician representing the largest party in the government, the Party for Freedom (PVV), tweeted: “A pogrom in the streets of #Amsterdam. We have become the Gaza of Europe. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER. The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again.”

Wilders added: “Looks like a Jew hunt in the streets of Amsterdam. Arrest and deport the multicultural scum that attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in our streets. Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable.”

What happened in Amsterdam?

On the evening of Thursday, November 7, 2024, Muslim gangs of Turkish and Moroccan origin began attacks which quickly intensified into pogroms. Their target was the 3,000 Israeli fans of soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv who had come to enjoy the November 7 UEFA Europa League soccer match between the Maccabi team and the local Amsterdam team Ajax at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena.

Crowds of Middle Eastern Turks and Moroccans were waiting outside the Arena for Israeli fans to come out after the game, prepared for a large-scale pogrom.  Groups of Arabs dressed in black gathered in pre-arranged clusters of 5 to 10 in alleys and key exits from various train stations, especially around Amsterdam’s main Dam Square and also the streets near hotels where Israelis were staying. The gangs had precise intelligence where to wait and, as soon as they spotted Israelis, they attacked them in many locations across the city with bats, knives and other weapons, yelling “Free Palestine.” A 30 year-old Israeli Maccabi fan, who had recently finished four months of reserve duty in Gaza, stated: “We were ambushed.”

Israeli fans ran to hide in hotels, restaurants and businesses near the Arena.  Video footage on social media shows fans being beaten, kicked, chased with knives, punched, run over by vehicles. One video shows a man been kicked to the ground, while he yells at them “I’m not Jewish.” An Israeli fan told a journalist how a group of Arabs ran over to him, pulling out knives. He declared, “The police here abandoned us. Every fourth person walking the street is a Muslim who has come to attack Jews.”

In the middle of the pogrom, one Israeli fan called his friend’s cell phone to check up on him; “A voice in Arabic answered,” he said. Another Israeli interviewed said: “We experience the very thing they told us in school would never happen [to Jews] again.” Arab crowds threw fireworks into hotels where Israelis were hiding. Israelis at the scene said that Amsterdam police left Maccabi fans unaccompanied after they exited the Johan Cruyff Arena, and provided no escort for them at all, from the moment they boarded the trains to their hotels.

Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema described the terror attacks as ‘hit and run.’ She added that Arab men on scooters were driving around the city, searching for Israelis to attack. One 24 year-old Israeli fan, Adi Reuben, told the BBC:

At least 62 rioters were arrested that night, Dutch police said, and at least five people were taken to hospital with injuries.

Former Harvard student Shabbos Kestenbaum posted a tweet dripping with dry sarcasm, which was accompanied by videos of Islamist violence: “I am deeply thankful that the Muslim refugees hunting for Jews with knives tonight in Amsterdam are only anti-Zionists and not in any way motivated by Jew-hate.”

I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora and Battle Against Antisemitism (MDBAA) has been sending security intelligence briefs to Dutch authorities regarding Palestinian violence planned against Jewish and Israeli targets since 2022. These warnings culminated in the MDBAA issuing three hot warnings at 1900 hours on November 7, 2024 to Dutch authorities about upcoming attacks in Amsterdam planned by pro-Hamas groups targeting the Israel football club members and their fans, against locations popular among Israelis.

These warnings had been passed on, first to SHABAK (Israeli FBI) and to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, who then passed them on to the local security forces of Holland – the party responsible for the soccer fans safety. The MDBAA noted that, on Wednesday night November 7, 2024, at 2100 they received an update that the Israeli soldier under threat was informed of the danger and was able to take precautionary measures. Also, the Israeli security contacts were informed by local Amsterdam police that they had received these updates and was responding accordingly.

Israeli Ministry of Diaspora and Battle Against Antisemitism released a statement on November 8, 2024 that, to their regret, the local Dutch forces failed in their task to defend the Israeli citizens soccer fans, and that by 0230 am Israeli time on November 8, 2024, events on the ground in Amsterdam got totally out of hand.  Despite clear warnings from Israeli security intelligence, it turns out that the Dutch authorities reportedly ignored the warnings, allowing violent acts to proceed and later attempted to blame Israeli soccer fans for “provocative behavior.”

The Diaspora Affairs Ministry further stated on the morning of November 8, 2024: “As of 3:30 a.m., we have transmitted additional information from the networks which are assisting the security forces in compiling an up-to-date picture of the situation.”

Keeping up with the Joneses

There is an assertion that many Israelis respond with when asked about whether or not another Holocaust will ever happen again to the Jewish people. That declaration is: “Never again!” We Israelis for the most part believe (and hope) that our people will be able to live a normal life; will be able to fit in to the family of nations and live in peace and prosperity; will have our children grow up without the threat of terrorism and murderous neighbors. We hope and pray for the blessing of God on the work of our hands.

Holland in times past was perhaps the most friendly country of all to the Jewish people, and Amsterdam was one of the Jewish people’s favorite watering holes. But now it has become a city known for murderous pogroms. The country of Corrie ten Boom has morphed into a haven for jihadi monsters. The God of Jacob is calling His Jewish people home. According to the promise of the ‘Dry Bones Vision’ in Ezekiel 37:1-14,  YHVH will fill us – the whole people of Israel – with His Spirit and transform us into “a mighty army, much much” (original Hebrew wording). This vision needs to be fixed before our eyes, and be the substance and focus of our prayers!

How should we then pray?

 

 

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

The Lord humbles, He also exalts – He removes kings and appoints kings

The past few days have seen agony and ecstasy in both America and Israel. In America, Republican Donald J. Trump (previously the 45th POTUS) won the 60th quadrennial U.S. Presidential election, becoming the 47th President of the United States (312 Electoral College votes, and nearly 73 million of the popular vote). Incumbent Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris was defeated in this same election (226 Electoral College votes, and just over 68 million of the popular vote).

In Israel Yoav Gallant, former Commander of Israel’s Shayetet 13 (Flotilla 13, equivalent to the US Navy Seals) in the 1990’s, and Minister of Defense (2022-2024), was informed on November 5, 2024 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “decided to end the defense minister’s tenure.” These changes have made some people very happy, and other people very sad.

Some careful observers have noted occasional parallels between political events in Israel and those in America. Similar events are often simultaneously mirrored in both countries: both countries have electorates sharply divided on both sides of the political spectrum; the media of both countries see their elections in intense and sometimes apocalyptic terms; and the majority of the mainstream media (MSM) in both countries are virulently opposed to the candidates representing the conservative wing.

Horses and thinkers

An Englishman circa 1175 A.D. once spoke a proverb, recorded in ‘Old English Homilies’: “Hwa is thet mei hors wettrien the him self nule drinken.” In modern English it is usually stated: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” This proverb needs to be tweaked only slightly for it to have special reference to today’s generation: “You can teach a person to read or even to watch the news, but that is not the same as teaching that person how to think, how to weigh matters or how to discern truth.”

Edward Bernays, born in 1891 to a Viennese Jewish family, was an American pioneer in the field of propaganda (which he renamed ‘public relations’). In his influential book Propaganda (published in 1928), Bernays sums it up:

The Nazi Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, wrote in his diary “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it.”

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia of 1952 defined ‘dezinformatsiya’  [Russian for ‘disinformation’] as the dissemination of “false information with the intention to deceive public opinion.” 

We are facing a generation that has been nursed on propaganda – falsely called ‘News’ – that is being pumped out 24/7 on TV, on websites and in newspapers. People get their talking points, their opinions, their political judgments and their worldviews by what they watch on TV, read on their computer screen or glance at in newspaper headlines.

The growing realization (both in Israel and in America) that many politicians, governmental leaders, security and intelligence forces, medical professionals and corporate autocrats are not to be automatically trusted (or even trusted at all), is no longer considered a marginal or paranoid expression of ‘conspiracy theories.’ The world is dealing with a reality at the doorstep which seems prophetically close to George Orwell’s dystopic vision in ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s drug-induced paradise in ‘Brave New World’.

In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler stated, “The function of propaganda is . . . not to weigh and ponder the rights of different people, but exclusively to emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth . . . [but] to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.”

Drinking from the poison chalice

Most media organs in Israel (and probably in America too) are run by oligarchs and business tycoons. They attempt to influence political decisions in ways which will be advantageous to their own economic interests. Each major Israeli political party is financed and guided by the goals of these tycoons. These same oligarchs control media perspectives regarding both their favorites and their enemies – et voilà: ‘news’ morphs into propaganda. As US legal authority Alan Dershowitz notes: “These media companies will seek to influence the political discourse that affects their bottom line, as they simultaneously report on it.” For the past 15 years, 95% of Israel’s media has been spewing out hate-filled anti-Netanyahu propaganda, leveling seditious gossip, false accusations and championing legal attacks – each of these withering away and being annulled over time.

For those who are not tracking about this poisonous history – whether through lack of Hebrew language ability, lack of acquaintance with the Hebrew media, or due to an unwillingness to believe anything positive about Bibi based on a vindictive attitude toward Israel’s most repeatedly elected Prime minister – they are at a loss in dealing with how Israeli and world media are portraying the firing of Yoav Gallant. Many of these people have drunk the Kool-Aid – they have gulped down the ‘yellow journalism’ attacks against Prime Minister Netanyahu. They are unaware that these attacks are being leveled by the same anti-Bibi enemies who have blackballed him over the past two decades.  They do not understand that Israel’s media mafia are simply using the firing of Gallant as another tool in their arsenal of PR weapons in order to remove Bibi from serving as Israel’s Prime Minister.

It is necessary to unpack the factual background regarding Gallant’s dismissal. The following are some significant and pertinent keys.

A Cabinet Minister is legally required to carry out cabinet decisions

A cabinet minister is an official of an elected government who has been appointed to carry out the will of that government. If he fundamentally disagrees with the will of the government as expressed in its policies, he can try to effect change in cabinet decisions but, if that does not work, he needs to resign. However, if that cabinet minister stays on and attempts to undermine government positions and actions, he is acting as a ‘fifth column’ and needs to be fired. PM Netanyahu’s November 5, 2024 statement gives needed background this:

Gallant’s leaks from the high-security cabinet discussions were many, have been extensively noted in the press, and also contributed to his firing. Here are a such few examples:

Cabinet Ministers cannot publicly oppose cabinet decisions

Throughout his term of office, Gallant contradicted government and cabinet decisions in public statements, leaked private statements and initiated actions. This was true in concerning his decisions and pronouncements about Justice Ministry matters (here and here). At that time, this led to Gallant being fired by Bibi on March 26, 2023, though the move was later rescinded due to street riots.  His public opposition to government policies also touched on management of the military campaign, the hostage deal, the ceasefire deal, and the Philadelphia Corridor proposal.

Gallant frequently met with the heads of organizations subject to the Prime Minister without the Prime Minister’s presence or consent, in an attempt to influence or countermand government policies. The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed Gallant’s behavior in these cases as “extremely puzzling,” maintaining that “one compass” exists for the war – the goals set by the cabinet.

The IDF top brass is required to carry out cabinet decisions

It may come as a surprise to some non-Israelis, but at times the IDF’s top brass has been known to ignore, side-step or even disobey cabinet decisions. Former Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon was known to do so, and Gallant during his tenure has also acted as political rival and fierce critic of war policies while at same time functioning as a rubber stamp for the military and security establishment’s views – even when the Prime Minister and the cabinet have clearly stated the government’s war aims. Gallant occasionally declared that the government’s aims were neither achievable nor realistic. Gallant opposed opening up the Lebanese front, and publicly pushed for an agreement with Hezbollah – even though it turns out that Hezbollah has long been planning a major invasion of northern Israel à la October 7, 2023, and that their arsenals of drones, rockets, missiles and anti-tank shoulder-fired missiles were overflowing and ready for a deep attack on the Jewish state.

Former Minister of Defense and highly decorated soldier Ehud Barak has been calling for civil revolt and blood in the streets; a refusal by IDF soldiers to serve in the reserves; and a call for violent overthrow of PM Netanyahu’s government. Former Chiefs of Staff Eizenkot, Barak and Gallant all shied away from speaking against or taking legal steps against an anarchistic and revolutionary movement known as ‘Brothers in Arms,’ even as this group called for riots and civil disobedience.  The IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Col. Herzi HaLevi warned the PM not to go through with an already approved cabinet decision regarding judicial reform, lest the refusal of some of these soldiers would spread and affect the IDF’s battle readiness. The IDF top brass was telling the government to back down in the face of revolt, rather than enforcing Israeli law here. In June 2024, in a ‘Twilight Zone’ moment, the ‘Brothers [and Sisters] in Arms’ received the ‘Presidential Award for Volunteerism’ from the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog.

A Cabinet Minister cannot publicly side with a foreign government against his own cabinet’s decisions and policies

Throughout the 2023-24 war between Israel (on the one side) and Hamas, Hezbollah, Kata’eb Hezbollah in Iraq, the Houthis in Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Revolutionary Corps (on the other), the American President Biden, the U.S. State Department and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all pressured and threatened the Israeli government many times concerning military strategies and objectives. The US warned Israel to stand down about an overwhelming popularly supported IDF incursion into Gaza, into Khan Younis, into Shifa Hospital, into Jabaliya, into Rafiah, into Lebanon, into bombing Hamas HQ in southern Beirut (Dahieh), etc. The U.S. tried to bully Israel into accepting pro-Hamas ceasefire conditions, and into establishing a jihadi government over Gaza and The West Bank composed of Hamas and PLO terrorists. The U.S. tried to force Israel to retreat from defensive military lines which could block Hamas’ re-entry into the rest of Gaza (the Philadelphia and Kissufim Corridors), etc.

In many of these cases, Defense Minister Gallant demanded that PM Netanyahu obey American diktats, even publicly opposing the PM and the cabinet’s absolute majority after the decision had been ratified.  Gallant  castigated Netanyahu in a leak he made public, declaring that Bibi was letting Israel slide toward long-term military rule in Gaza – a choice that Gallant said would be disastrous. Gallant opposed going ahead with the assassination of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah without US approval – and that approval would never have been forthcoming, as JCOS head Lloyd Austin revealed.  Gallant repeatedly challenged Netanyahu to reach a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages in Gaza – even though Hamas refused to negotiate anything less than total IDF surrender and withdrawal, in exchange for only some of the hostages (including dead ones as part of the deal). Gallant’s words: “We need to make painful compromises.”

The lack of popularity among average Israelis for Gallants’ spoiler role was seen in a July 4, 2024 Israeli poll which saw Gallant as the main danger to coalition unity.

Gallant’s opposition to Cabinet decisions were supported and praised by the Opposition

After Gallant’s removal from office on November 5, 2024 by PM Netanyahu, the four heads of the Israeli Opposition – Yair Golan, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz and Avigdor Liberman (all who are either leftist or center-left) – issued a press release affirming that they stand with Yoav Gallant in his opposition to the government. This public demonstration of support for Gallant by anti-government forces indicates that Bibi’s decision to remove the Minister was based on real political substance. The Likud party issued a statement in response to this above press release, reminding readers that “two months ago, Gantz stated that Gallant must resign.”

Gallant publicly mocked his leaders’ strategies and decisions

On Monday, August 12, 2024, Defense Minister Gallant mocked PM Netanyahu’s promises of “absolute victory” in the ongoing war, calling them “gibberish.”  On Monday, September 9, 2024, Gallant declared that “Hamas as a military formation no longer exists . . .  Israel should achieve an agreement…”  Gallant advocated handing Gaza and the West Bank over to a Hamas/PLO consortium. His declaration that the IDF has achieved their goals in Gaza was soon echoed by an anonymous IDF commander on the northern front with Lebanon, who dittoed the same perspective about Lebanon. Meanwhile, rockets, drones and missiles continue to kill and terrorize Israelis in the north, while IDF soldiers are still clashing with Hamas in the south and suffering fatalities.

According to leaked accounts, Gallant said at one point in a government security cabinet meeting that “the Prime Minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to kill all the hostages,” provoking rebukes from other ministers. 

US pressure on Israeli government actions and internal politics

Back in 2012, POTUS Barak Obama exerted extreme pressure on Israel in order to get the IAF to cancel their intended strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Foreseeing similar pressures, in October 2024, PM Netanyahu cancelled Gallant’s trip to the U.S. – Gallant could no longer be trusted to represent his own government in negotiations with Uncle Sam.

Occasional articles in Israeli and U.S. media note that there is continued CIA and State Department pressure on the Israeli political and military scene to have Netanyahu’s government removed – whether by street riot, by political machinations, or by anti-government media leaks. There are ambitious and hungry former Israeli leaders who look longingly toward America, in hopes of returning to power – or at least in hopes of destroying their arch-nemesis.

Gallant publicly took credit for military decisions which he opposed

Most of the achievements Gallant took credit for in his Tuesday, November 5, 2024 speech, focus on the same decisions he opposed during his term of office, and which military actions Bibi pushed and promoted.

The Stockholm Syndrome (D.C. version) and its influence on Israeli leaders

Some influential Israeli politicians, intelligence mavens, military generals and judicial authorities are afraid. They are not trembling over jihadi rockets, missiles and drones. They are wilting over the possibility that a Dutch building – the Peace Palace situated in the Hague, Netherlands – will be the next and greatest threat to the Jewish state. In The Hague, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations lives and moves and has its judicial being. It is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). These Israelis are worried about ‘lawfare’ – the possibility that the nations of the world will boycott the Jewish state and declare it a pariah among the nations. They are worried that Israeli leaders, military personnel, diplomats and perhaps even Israeli rock musicians may be arrested and imprisoned by a United Nations-led anti-Jewish conspiracy. The worldwide rise of anti-Jewish riots in the light of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 pogroms has only attenuated these fears.

Every Israeli General, every Israel head of Intelligence, every Israeli politician – they all consider the ICJ’s gnarled fingers before they make any moves, be they military, judicial or diplomatic. The fear of ‘progressive’ lawfare – control and revenge by the anti-Zionist nations of the world – is paramount among many Israeli leaders.

We have written previous newsletters about the Stockholm Syndrome – how victims of terror sometimes become defenders and enablers of terrorists.

With regard to Gallant and others in Israeli leadership, perhaps a new term should be invented: the ‘Stockholm-DC Syndrome.’ The idea here would be “Don’t get Uncle Sam angry – at any cost! Even at the cost of Israel’s security!” This dynamic is all too real, and is something worth adding to intercessory prayer-lists.

How should we then pray?

 

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

The weight of Babylon

On Friday November 1, 2024, twelve USAF Boeing B-52 Stratofortress long-range bombers took off from North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base. Their flightpath would take them to the State of Qatar (Dawlat Qaṭar) on the Arabian Gulf. Just after 02:00 hours on Saturday morning November 2, 2024, the aerial convoy landing at al-Udeid Air Base, the U.S.’s biggest airbase in the Middle East, and host to the forward HQ of U.S. Armed Forces Central Command (CENTCOM). The American bombers taxied and then parked, only a few miles’ drive from the world administrative HQ of Hamas – whose main financier is also Qatar.  Politics makes for strange bedfellows, and nowhere is this more true than in the Byzantine mosaic known as the Arabic-speaking Middle East.

Just across the Gulf from Qatar lies the modern Republic of Iraq (Jumhūriyyat al-ʿIrāq) – modern home to two ancient biblical empires: in the north of the country, Assyria; and in the center and south, Babylon. Babylon plays one of the most powerful roles of any nation in the prophetic Scriptures.

The original inhabitants of Babylon (modern Iraq) were Hamitic, not Semitic. Their forefather was Nimrod, a personal name meaning ‘Let us rebel.’ Nimrod was the founder of the city called ‘Babel.’  When ‘Nimrod’ was later transliterated into Greek, it became ‘Babylon,’ and that is the name used today.

By the rivers of Babylon, Jamaica

The famous reggae rock star, Bob Marley, proclaimed in his song ‘Exodus:’ “We know where we’re going, We know where we’re from, We leaving Babylon, We goin to our Father’s Land.” For Bob and his band (the Wailers), as well as for the whole Replacement Theology movement known as ‘Rastafaris,’ Babylon represents the corrupt world system, both physical and spiritual. It is especially a symbol of white European Christian colonialist and imperialist power which Rastafarians see as having oppressed Blacks over the centuries. Rastas believe that they are the original ancient Israelites spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. For Rastas, Jesus was not Jewish: he was a Black African; they see the ‘white Jesus’ as a false god. According to ‘kosher’ Rastafarian theology, ‘Zion’ is actually a reference to Ethiopian Africa, ‘the ancestral homeland of all Black people.’ The crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930 is considered a defining messianic moment for the movement, who view this Ethiopian king as a direct descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-American political leader, was the creator of ‘Pan-Africanism’ or the ‘Back to Africa’ movement, out of which were born the reggae-related Rastafaris. Garvey drew narrative themes from the Bible, re-interpreting them along the way. He was the one responsible for morphing biblical Babylon into a new (actually racist) definition: white Christianity.

What is the biblical view of Babylon, and what can be said about its spiritual dimensions? Let’s look back to the world-famous story of the ‘writing on the wall’ – the inscription written by a disembodied hand on the wall of King Belshazzar’s palace in Babylon (see Daniel 5) in 539 B.C.. Daniel the prophet spoke those words out as: “Menē, Menē, Tekēl, Upharsin.” The divinely inspired interpretation was also given to him: ‘Menē’ – God has carefully numbered the kingdom of Babylon and decided to put an end to it. ‘Tekēl’ – King Belshazzar himself has been weighed on the scales and found deficient by the God of Jacob. ‘Perēs’ – Belshazzar’s kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. What was it that God ‘found deficient’ in Belshazzar’s kingdom? The Scriptures give us detailed answers.

The sins of Babylon on which the God of Jacob focused

Isaiah and Jeremiah speak directly about the sins for which YHVH judged Babylon. Most of these evils revolve around their treatment of the Jewish people and their land, although other sins listed are more international in scope.

Here are some scripture portions which also develop this theme:

When Babylon meets the Jewish threshing sledge of YHVH

The God of Jacob proclaims a special role to the people of Israel in Babylon’s coming judgment, as the prophets declare:

The power behind the throne

The Scriptures tell us that a spirit lies behind the superpower of Babylon – an energized demonic power like unto the Prince of Persia in Daniel 10:13-20. “Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of YHVH, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine. Therefore the nations are going insane”  (Jeremiah 51:7).  This theme is repeated a handful of times in the Book of Revelation, and the Rastafaris borrowed and distorted this theme as they developed their Replacement Theology use of term ‘Babylon.’ Here is how John the Revelator describes ‘the power behind the throne’ – the spiritual root of Babylon:

The operating spirit behind Babylon branches out into various areas of sin, not limited to anti-Semitism: idolatry; the worship of materialism and luxurious narcissism; sexual immorality and prostitution; spiritual uncleanness and abominations;  the buying and selling of men’s and women’s souls.

In light of the above . . .

Blinksmanship

There is a word for when two opposing forces, whether military or political, get close to the edge in their conflict – brinksmanship. Part of that dynamic sometimes involves ‘blinksmanship’ – who blinks first. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been targeting Israel since 1982, and slowly constructing a constricting belt of fire with nations opposed to Israel’s existence. The jihadi terrorist juntas of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and Kata’eb Hezbollah in Iraq (ancient Babylon) – all are being armed, financially supported and given military strategic help in order to destroy the Jewish state. Iran’s firing the largest drone strike in history against Israel on April 13, 2024, and the largest ballistic missile attack in world history against Israel on October 1, 2024, were clear signals that its Shi’ite jihadi plans for genocide against the Jews would do Haman proud. In response, IAF jets attacked over 20 military sites in Iran on October 26, 2024, connected to rocket, missile and drone development; rocket fuel; anti-aircraft batteries, etc.

IRGC chief Hossein Salami warned Israel on Thursday, October 24, 2024: “You cannot win this conflict. We will destroy you.” On Monday, October 28, 2024 Khamenei ordered Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to prepare to strike Israel.  Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of IRGC, declared on Thursday, October 31, 2024, that retaliation was inevitable. “Iran’s response to the Zionist aggression is definite. We have never left an aggression unanswered in 40 years. We are capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one operation.” In a video released Saturday, November 2, 2024, on Iranian state media, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared: “The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing against Iran. the Iranian people and the Axis of Resistance.” General Mohammad Ali Naini, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman, also stated on Saturday that Iran’s response “will be wise, powerful and beyond the enemy’s comprehension.”

When all else fails, try bringing in Babylon

Iran’s threats to attack Israel again have raised awareness and preparedness in Israel. Two unidentified Israeli intelligence sources suggest the strong possibility that Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory soon by transferring a large number of drones and ballistic missiles into the territory of what was once Ancient Babylon – possibly before the US presidential election on November 5, 2024. Unnamed officials apparently tell the outlet that satellites have monitored Tehran doing just that.

Such an attack from pro-Iran militias in Iraq could be an attempt by Tehran to lower the risk of another Israeli attack on Iranian strategic targets. Tehran’s proxy groups Hamas, Hezbollah (both Lebanese and Iraqi) as well as Yemenite Houthis might join in such an invasion. In a Saturday, November 2, 2024 interview in the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Haidar al-Lami, a member of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba’s politburo – a pro-Iranian jihadi terrorist militia based in Iraq, stated that his organization was “fully coordinated with Iran to organize the timing and location of this response . . . The Islamic Republic has the right to target the Zionist entity from anywhere within Iraq.”

The U.S. has passed messages to Iran over the past few days via Swiss intermediaries: “We told the Iranians: We won’t be able to hold Israel back, and we won’t be able to make sure that the next attack will be calibrated and targeted as the previous one,” an unnamed US official was quoted as saying.

How should we then pray?

 

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

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close