A snare, a trap and thorns in your eyes

The psalmist describes the threats of his enemies in this way: “They surrounded me like bees” (Psalm 118:12). The buzzing threats of Israel’s enemies come not only from terror gangs in Gaza (Hamas, Islamic Jihad), Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Iran (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – in Persian, ‘Pasdaran’ or Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enqelâb-e Eslâmī ; ‘Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution’). Threats also come from a certain number of Arabs in the West Bank (often called ‘Palestinians’) and from some Arab Israelis.

In May 2021, Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gazan civilian areas into Israeli civilian areas in what Israel called ‘Operation Guardian of the Walls.’ Within a day. thousands of Israeli Arab citizens (out of a total number of 2,065.000 Arab Israelis, that number being 21% of Israel’s total population or 9.73 million) rose up in open revolt, rioting against the state of Israel. Israel’s Central District Fire Station later released sobering statistics: in little more than a week, Arab Israeli rioters set on fire 10 synagogues and 112 Israeli Jewish residences, looted 386 Jewish homes and damaged 673 others, and set 849 Jewish-owned cars on fire. The main streets in mixed Arab-Jewish towns like Lod, Jaffa, Haifa and Akko became battlefields. There were 5,018 recorded instances of Jews being stoned. Three Jews were murdered and more than 600 were hurt. Over 300 Israeli police officers were injured in the over 500 riots which broke out in over 90 locations throughout the country. This was Israel’s worst occurrence of internal violence up to that point. These Arab citizens of Israel, aflame with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish passions, brought ‘the Palestinian struggle’ into the Israeli heartland.

The Arab Revolt – then and now

Between 1919 and 1939 violent Arab riots spread across the emerging Jewish state. These Islamic pogroms shook the Hebrew farms, villages and cities of the Promised Land, then under the British Palestine Mandate. Marauding Islamist gangs (the ideological predecessors of the modern terror groups PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) savagely beat, raped and murdered hundreds of Jews throughout the Holy Land. Israel’s War of Independence (1947-48) was a continuation of that clash. Reflecting classical Islamic teachings and perspectives. the leaders of the Arab forces strongly opposed the return of the Jewish people to their biblically promised homeland –  in the same way as Saudi King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud spelled out in his 1943 letter to U.S. President Roosevelt:

But long before Arab jihadis conquered the Land of Israel in the 630’s A.D., the Hebrew seer Ezekiel prophesied in the 600’s B.C. that YHVH would bring His Jewish people back to their own homeland in the Last Days:

Dr. Benny Morris, one of Israel’s outstanding historians, comments in his ‘1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War’ (Yale, 2008):

The struggle between Jews determined to return to their Promised Land, and Arabs opposed to that return, has lasted for over a century – from 1919 to the present day. A significant number of Arab Israelis see themselves as part of the Palestinian people; they view the Jews as foreign colonists and occupiers in Palestine;  and they believe that Israel is only a temporary phenomenon, and that the Palestinians will in the end ‘liberate’ this land and destroy the Jewish people.  As the Hamas Charter states with great precision:

The May 2021 riots show that there is a significant portion of Israel’s Arab citizens who seek to reverse the Arab defeat in 1948 and to ‘liberate Palestine’ at Israel’s expense. Tens of thousands of Arab citizens of Israel have not come to terms with Israel’s permanency but instead seek to follow the example of the Islamist terror gangs from the 1930’s.

Finger on the pulse

Haifa University Professor of Sociology Sammy Smooha has published research after the May 2021 riots, revealing that 77.1 per cent of Israeli Arabs view Zionism as a colonial and racist movement, and demand that Israel be replaced with a binational State and not be defined as a Jewish one; 70.5 per cent of Israeli Arabs demand the right of return of Palestinian refugees, a move that would quickly turn Israeli Jews into a minority within their own country.

IDF Brigadier-General (reserves) Yossi Kuperwasser, in his article ‘Israel’s Arabs Rioted in May 2021. What Did We Learn and What Does the Future Hold,’ concludes:

Military historian and security expert Dr. Yagil Henkin has expressed fears that during the next round of fighting, Israeli Arabs may block major Israeli highways and seek to prevent troop movements to the front. IDF Major-General (res.) Gershon Hacohen warns that Arab criminal gangs in Israel (which largely kept out of the events of May 2021), will point their guns at Jews in the future.

In his article ‘The May 2021 Riots and Their Implications,’ Dr. Doron Matza, a Research Associate at the BESA Center, and former senior in the Israeli intelligence system, prophetically states: “A change in the intensity of the conflict with Hamas could also negatively affect Jewish-Arab relations within Israel and make it difficult to return to the equilibrium that existed before the May riots.”

In his article ‘Beware the Israeli-Arab violent riots of the future,’ Jerusalem Post reporter David Weinberg comments that “the IDF has marked Jewish-Arab clashes as a strategic scenario of concern which impacts its battle plans. In other words, aside from the expectation that thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones will be launched at Israeli cities from Lebanon, Gaza, and the Golan Heights in a next war with Hezbollah and/or Hamas, Israel now must worry that major traffic arteries could be impeded in places where Israeli Arabs extremists are out rioting. The IDF must prepare for a situation in which Military Police will have to keep roads open so that combat forces can reach the front; so that Home Front Command and medical forces can reach places where missiles fall; and so that the Israel Police can reach affected cities to prevent the looting of homes of people who will be evacuating.”

In his article ‘Arab insurgency must be a wake-up call,’ Avraham Shalev quotes Bulus Nahas, an Arab city council member from the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Akko: “We will go out again . . . We believe that all evil is rooted in the [Israeli] Occupation . . . If the matter is related to the Palestinian people, of which we are a part, we will go out.”

Israeli attorney Russell Shalev warns in his article ‘Israel’s Homegrown Intifada’: “Unless there is a willingness to openly acknowledge and confront the growth of a large and hostile Arab fifth column, Israel will remain vulnerable to subversion and threats carried out by its citizens during wartime. The growing radicalization of Israel’s Arab citizens and their willingness to openly side with Israel’s enemies during wartime threatens any hope of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs and poses an acute threat to Israeli security.”

‘This is only a test’

In May 2022, the IDF launched what was up to that point its largest exercise in its history, ‘Chariots of Fire.’ The IDF said the drill would implement lessons learned from the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls, which saw heavy rioting along highways and inside Israeli cities. The IDF Home Front Command practiced dealing with massive riots in Israeli cities and along main roads while under virtual heavy enemy fire. Eight IDF battalions along with Israel Police practiced keeping main arteries open in order to allow military convoys to pass from southern to northern Israel. The drill included protecting military convoys from possible rioters. This would allow traffic to continue including “vehicles and trucks traveling to reinforce Iron Dome batteries.”

In July 2022 the Israeli State Ombudsman released a report finding that Israel’s security services had failed to see unrest coming, to prepare for the violence and to respond and deploy adequately in light of this. If these failures have happened in the past, it seems that prayer is deeply needed for the immediate future.

Jihad is Islamic

Several Islamic scholars have responded to Hamas’ October 7 pogrom involving slaughter, mass rape, torture and kidnapping of Israelis (including babies) by issuing Islamic legal opinions (fatwas) encouraging these jihad warriors to expand their activities.

On October 23, 2023, the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office submitted an indictment to the city's district court against Mustafa Jamal, an Islamic cleric of a mosque in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. According to the indictment, a few days after the war began, on October 12 Jamal called on hundreds of people in the mosque to join the jihad against Israel. As a result, violent riots developed in that neighborhood with dozens of people throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and shooting fireworks at Israeli security forces in the vicinity, at the Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital just over the hill, at travelers on adjoining roads and at a local gas station.

Are we ready for a return to 1948?

Shalev states: “Unless there is a willingness to openly acknowledge and confront the growth of a large and hostile Arab fifth column, Israel will remain vulnerable to subversion and threats carried out by its citizens during wartime. The growing radicalization of Israel’s Arab citizens and their willingness to openly side with Israel’s enemies during wartime threatens any hope of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs and poses an acute threat to Israeli security.”

Certainly there are clear and present dangers – imminent threats – rockets and missiles and terror attacks from Gaza and from Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Yet a stealth threat which is largely unappreciated outside of Israel but which is definitely a main concern for the IDF and Israel’s security services, involves the potential for widespread rioting in Israel and the West Bank – instigated by underground Hamas jihadis. The recent huge upsurge of Arab-on-Arab shootings and murder within Israel, could quickly morph into concentrated fire against Jewish Israelis across the nation.

The God of Israel promises to burn up all of the ‘thorns and briars’ that Moses and Joshua warned about in a single day: “Therefore, . . .  under the glory [of YHVH, the God of armies] a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the Light of Israel will become a fire and Israel’s Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day” (Isaiah 10:15-19)

How should we then pray?

As IDF tanks are rolling in Gaza, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

A day of reckoning for the cedars of Lebanon

The prophet Isaiah speaks of a final day of judgment when “people will go into caves of the rocks and into holes in the ground away from the terror of YHVH and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to terrify the earth” (Isaiah 2:18-19). The two specific countries that Isaiah focuses on in that prophecy are Lebanon and Bashan (modern Syria): “For YHVH of armies will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is arrogant and haughty, and against everyone who is lifted up – that he may be brought low. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan – against all the lofty mountains, against all the hills that are lifted up” (Isaiah 2:12-14).

Modern military strategists discuss nine main challenges that are confronting Israel – threats that may pop up one at a time on the battlefield or quite possibly as a confederation of enemies. They are: Hamas (Gaza), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Gaza), Hezbollah (Lebanon), Arab riots (within Israel and in the West Bank), Syria, Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Iran, the Houthis (Yemen) and conceivably Turkey (Türkiye). This list of enemies reminds us of the battle rosters of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38:4-6. Though perhaps not the final fulfilment of those passages, present developments show that such prophetic events are not far away.

Previous newsletters have examined the history and theology of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This newsletter will focus on Hezbollah, the third enemy in the above-mentioned list. The newsletter after this one will consider the dangers posed by an ‘Arab Revolt’ on Israeli streets from ‘Palestinian’ Arabs in Israel and the West Bank.

Canaan, Phoenicia and Israel

Moses tells us that “the sons of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japheth. The sons of Ham were Cush (Ethiopia), Mizrayim (Egypt), Put (Libya), and Canaan . . . Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn; Heth; the Jebusite; the Amorite; the Girgashite; the Hivite. .  . The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon going toward . . . as far as Gaza; and going toward Sodom and Gomorrah . . .” (Genesis 10:6-20).

The biblical Canaanites were not Semites (descendants of Shem) but Hamites (descendants of Ham). About 2,300 B.C. the ancient Egyptians called the Canaanites ‘the sand-dwellers in Asia’ and by 800 B.C. they were known by the Greeks as ‘Phoenicians.’ These early inhabitants of Lebanon were sometimes poetically compared to the majestic cedars growing in the mountainous regions: “You who live in Lebanon, nested in the cedars . . .” (Jeremiah 22:23).

The God of Jacob warned the Jewish people about the Canaanites and their corrupting spiritual influence in Exodus 23:31-33: “I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. For I will hand over the inhabitants of the land to you, and you will drive them out from you. You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. They shall not live in your land, otherwise they will make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it is certain to be a snare to you.”

Lebanon under the jihadi crescent

The armies of Mohammad, the mujahidin (jihadi warriors) burst out of the Arabian desert to conquer Lebanon between 632-639 A.D. And apart from a brief Crusader interlude (1095-1302 A.D.) Muslim rule continued in Lebanon until the French Mandate in 1918. Lebanon’s borders were ratified in the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920, and the country’s independence was declared in 1943.

In 1956 Lebanon’s population was 54% Christian and 44% Muslim. In 2020 the CIA estimated that the population was 67.8% Muslim and 32% Christian.  This trend of Christian decline and Muslim growth is commonplace through the Middle East. Lebanon’s Islamic population is today sub-divided between 31.9% Sunni Muslims and 31.2 % Shia/Shi’ite Muslims. To put these numbers in perspective, Sunni Muslims make up 85% of the Muslim world, while Shia Muslims make up less than 15%. 

According to Arab geographer Al-Maqdisi’s description which goes back to 966-985 A.D., already Shi’ites were a majority in Lebanese Tyre and Tripoli. For a helpful understanding of the history of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide and its modern ramifications, see: https://www.cfr.org/article/sunni-shia-divide.

Due to the rocky and bloody relationships between the various religious streams in Lebanon, in 1943 a National Pact was established, setting up a government based on ‘multi-confessionalism’ – where high-ranking political offices are reserved for members of specific religious groups. The President must always be a Maronite Christian; the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim; the Speaker of the Parliament a Shi’a Muslim; the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament members of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith.

Lebanon has seen significant sectarian strife over the past century. One horrific example was the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) witnessed over 120,000 casualties. Over the years Lebanese Presidents and Prime Ministers have been assassinated by Syrian agents or by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s Godfather

The Iranian decision to establish Hezbollah was taken after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran in February 1979. His Council of the Islamic Revolution (Šūrā-ye enqelāb-e eslāmī) decided that the time had come to export the Shi’ite revolution to the Arab world and to found Islamic movements based on Iranian Islamic ideology. Khomeini appointed Ayatollah Ali Akhbar Montazeri to establish an extensive network which would support ‘Islamic liberation movements’ – Hezbollah Hijaz in Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah in Bahrain, Hezbollah in Kuwait and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In August 1981 Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipur, a close ally of Khomeini, was dispatched to Syria as the Iranian ambassador. One of his assignments was to found a new Shi’ite movement in Lebanon as an alternative to the Shi’ite movement Amal. The Amal movement was founded in 1974 by two Iranians, Musa al-Sadr and Dr. Mostafa Chamran. But Iran now saw Amal as a secular movement, because it refused to recognize Khomeini’s concept of Velâyat-e Faqih (the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) – total loyalty to Khomeini and to his Iran-led Shi’ite revolution.

Working from the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Mohtashamipur established Hezbollah and set up its Shura Council (‘the Council of Lebanon’) – essentially the Hezbollah leadership. Mohtashamipur was involved in supervising Hezbollah’s suicide bomb attacks against the American Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, the American and French contingents of the MNF in October 1983 and the American Embassy annex in September 1984. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) and Syrian military intelligence were co-planners in these terror attacks. Mohtashamipur was also instrumental in the 1988 Hezbollah torture and killing of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins , the American Chief of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization’s (UNTSO) observer group, as well as overseeing a USD $10 million payment to arrange the December 1988 bombing of Pan AM Flight 103.

An extensive history of the shadow war between Israel and Hezbollah can be found in this excellent article by Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira ‘Inside the Struggle Between Israel and Hezbollah.’ Hezbollah’s ideology is clearly laid out in the following article: ‘Hizballah’s Ideology: Main Points and Practical Implementation.’ The following article exposes how over the past decade Hezbollah and Hamas have developed a closer working relationship.

At present, the official Lebanese government has next to no control over Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-planted terror group created to destroy the Jewish state.

The CIA’s take on Hezbollah and Israel

Robert Baer, former CIA case officer in the Directorate of Operations from 1976 to 1997 (where he served in Iraq and Lebanon, etc.), does not see things through a biblical framework. He has no grid for God’s heart and calling on Israel, nor does he understand the Last Days vision found in the Hebrew prophets. Nevertheless, some of his perspectives are worth noting.

Baer’s stunning lack of awareness about the spiritual aspects of jihad, his dismissal of classical Islamist teachings on jihad, and his ignorance about the Bible’s perspective regarding the Jewish people – all reveal that some of those responsible for guarding the chicken coop seem to have forgotten how to recognize foxes.

Hezbollah’s endgame

POTUS Biden recently stated that he was coming to Israel to ask some hard questions – including what is Israel’s endgame in dealing with Hamas. Later on, when asked if he supported a ‘hostages-for-ceasefire’ deal, the President stated: “We should get the…we should have a ceasefire…not a ceasefire, we should have those hostages released, and then we can talk.” It seems that the U.S. Administration has an endgame which does not includes Israel’s clearly stated endgame goals – the total elimination of Hamas in Gaza, down to its last member.

And what are Hezbollah’s endgame goals? IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen warned in the Hebrew press that Hezbollah is basing its war plans on three key pillars: First, Hezbollah plans to hit Israel’s civilian front and military bases with barrages of up to 150,000 rockets. The second tactic is a dense defensive posture aimed at producing a heavy casualty toll among IDF strike forces. Thirdly, Hezbollah plans to carry out wide-scale commando operations targeting civilians and IDF posts across the entire border.

Hamas’ endgame goals? They are extremely clear and not open to negotiated settlement. The Hamas Charter states:

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV: “In order to keep the [October 7] attack secret and successful, the different factions and our allies did not know the zero hour. But after half an hour, all the Palestinian resistance factions were contacted as were our allies in Hezbollah and Iran. The Turks were also notified . . . Our allies are those that support us with weapons and money. First and foremost, it is Iran that is giving us money and weapons. There is also Hezbollah, and the Arab and Islamic people who are standing by us. There are countries that support us politically. Even Russia sympathizes with us.” Hamas and Hezbollah have expressed the hope that other countries will join in the attack on Israel if the IDF goes after Hamas in Gaza.

Iran’s endgame

Earlier on Sunday October 22, 2023, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha and stated: “If the attacks of the Zionist regime against civilians and the defenseless people of Gaza persist, no one can guarantee that the situation will be under control and the scope of the fighting won’t expand.” “If the measures aimed at immediately stopping the Israeli attacks that are killing children in the Gaza Strip end in a deadlock, it is highly probable that many other fronts will be opened. This option is not ruled out and this is becoming increasingly more probable,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Iran is trying to ‘play chicken’ with Israel and with the U.S.A., hoping that these two countries will blink – or perhaps that the U.S. will put pressure on Israel to postpone or call off its military operation into Gaza aimed at eliminating the jihadi evil forces that raped, tortured, kidnapped and massacred over 1,400 Jewish babies, children, pregnant women, pensioners and just plain Israeli civilians.

Hezbollah has been sending scores of commando teams to fire Russian anti-tank guided missiles at IDF soldiers and tanks, at Israeli citizens and kibbutzim. Mortars and rockets have been fired for many days now from Lebanon into Israeli cities, villages and farms on the border with Lebanon.

Though officially war has not been declared, all Israelis understand that we are at war with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Iran.

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Hezekiah’s peace and security

Hezekiah was a descendant of King David, and he was a good king:

Hezekiah witnessed an amazing national deliverance from Assyria, where 185,000 enemy soldiers were struck dead by the Angel of YHVH (2 Kings 19:35). He was also supernaturally healed from a mortal illness, and lived fifteen years longer than had originally been prophesied by Isaiah (2 Kings 19:1-11). Yet in those fifteen years, boasting of his riches to Babylonian envoys (in violation of Deuteronomy 17:15-17), Hezekiah catalyzed God’s judgment of exile on his kingdom and his people:

Hezekiah’s response makes one’s blood run cold. “So the judgment will fall on my kids, but at least I’ll be ok!” he sighed with relief.  “There will be peace and security in my day!” This perspective, also held by sundry politicians, military strategists and intelligence chiefs, assumes that as long as ‘the tuna doesn’t hit the fan during my time in office,’ all will be well.

Who must respond to terror?

Heads of state and talking heads have been making pompous declarations on news media about the right and wrong way that Israel should respond to Hamas jihadi terror. They lecture and browbeat Israeli officials, trying to trip them up about supposed humanitarian considerations – but for the most part avoid discussing the grievous acts of war that Hamas inflicted on innocent Jewish civilians. But it needs to be clearly stated: if Hamas had only massacred one kibbutz, or had only kidnapped two Israelis, that would still have been an act of war – a casus belli.  It is Israel’s international right and moral obligation to respond to such terrorism with deadly force to perpetrators, planners and providers of shelter. Those who are attacked have the God-given duty to remove all threats. This was the case after 9/11 in dealing with jihadi terrorists hiding out in Tora Bora, Afghanistan or on ṭarīq al-mawt (the Highway of Death) between Kuwait City and Saddam Hussein’s Basra. It was the case after Hitler invaded Sudetenland, Poland and France at the onset of WWII, shipping millions of Jews to murder sites in Eastern Europe. And it is Israel’s task now to do what must be done, and to do it quickly, in Gaza.

The world has a short memory. As Andy Warhol once said, even earth-shaking media events only get “fifteen minutes of fame.” The gasps of many who saw snippets of the demonized cruelty of Hamas atrocities, have quickly morphed into accusations that Israel invented these events. Today the IDF showed journalists footage taken by Hamas jihadis of ghastly atrocities proudly filmed and broadcast in real-time during the massacres on Israeli kibbutzim, as well as clear instructions given to these Hamas terrorist to kill everyone they saw, to behead victims, to cut off their legs, and even to rape corpses.

What is nearly beyond belief is that large demonstrations around the world have gathered to curse Jews, to call for them to be gassed outside Sydney’s iconic opera house, to cheer on Hamas. We are living in a twilight zone similar to the rise of Nazi Germany, and enemies of the Jewish people are sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain. A Cornell University professor say he was “exhilarated and energized” by Hamas’ October 7 massacre. Pro-Hamas marchers in Warsaw carried signs reading “Keep the world clean” with a picture of a Star of David on a garbage can, or ‘Armia Izraelska to są terroryści’ (‘The Israeli army are terrorists’). “I am here because I believe that killing innocent people is simply wrong,” Ola, a participant in yesterday’s protest in Warsaw, told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. “I do not support Hamas, but Israel’s actions are equally inhumane. And I always stand on the side of the weaker.”

Seducing the West with their suffering

There is a popular Arabic proverb than throws some needed Middle-Eastern light on current events: “Darabani wa baka, wa sabaqani wa eshtaka” (‘First he hits me. Then he starts to cry. Finally, he runs ahead of me to the judge and sues me’). This dynamic has been perfected by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist terror group controlling Gaza. Its name in Arabic is Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya – ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement.’ Hamas fired rockets against civilian centers in Israel (which is a war crime) from the middle of civilian Palestinian centers in Gaza (another war crime). It stores rocket launchers in Gazan homes and U.N. schools, in mosques and beside hospitals. Its main GHQ is located under Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has used Gaza’s Palestinians as human shields in order to block any IDF attempt to remove these threats. Any civilian casualties would automatically be blamed on Israel by Hamas in lockstep with the world’s media.

In the riveting 1998 thriller ‘The Siege’ starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Tony Shalhoub and Annette Bening (as the CIA agent Elise Kraft), Elise comments about the Palestinians: “My father used to say Palestinians seduce you with their suffering.”  This seduction dynamic is on full view on the nightly news, as Hamas atrocities morph into virtual blood-libels against the IDF.

“Hamas terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre of southern Israeli towns received precise instructions to make deadly chemical weapons to use on civilians, President Isaac Herzog confirmed in an October 22, 2023 interview with Sky News . . . The IDF found a USB key on the body of one Hamas terrorist containing a PDF of al-Qaeda material which included instructions to behead babies and guides on how to take hostages and create improvised ‘cyanide dispersion devices’”

The prince of Persia is on the move

The prophet Daniel was informed by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 10:13-20 that a high-level demonic prince – the prince of Persia – was engaged in face-to-face combat with the Archangel Michael, the protector of the Jewish people. The great End of Days battle known popularly as the War of Gog and Magog describes Persia/Iran as one of the Last Days invaders of Israel:

The participants in this battle are listed – a confederation of Arab, Islamic and Turkic nations: Persia (Iran), Cush (Sudan/Ethiopia), Put (Libya), Magog (formerly the ancient Scythian homeland north and northeast of the Black Sea, presently in southern Russia between Crimea and Muslim Azerbaijan), Meshech and Tubal (both in modern Turkey), Gomer and Beth Togarmah (both are ancient names for Turkic areas on the Black Sea, possibly extending up to Ukraine). As well, Sheba (modern Yemen) and Dedan (modern Saudi Arabia) take a lively commercial interest in the proceedings.

On Monday October 23, 2023, Iranian Admiral Ali Fadavi (also Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, spoke to students at the University of Tehran where he was asked about the possibility of practical action against Israel: “Some of you young people consider practical action to be a direct missile to Haifa. Of course, if it is necessary, this will be done, and it will be done without hesitation . . . The Resistance Front’s shocks against the Zionist regime will continue until this cancerous tumor is eradicated from the world map . . . Another shockwave is on the way, if Israel does not end atrocities in Gaza,” he said.

In the country known today as Turkey/Türkiye (but known as Meshech and Tubal in Ezekiel’s day), Hamas has their forward HQ for terrorist planning under the warm tutelage and financial support of the government. The head of Hamas’ Politburo Ismail Haniyeh, was asked to leave Istanbul and Turkey for a short while after footage circulated on social media showing him and other Hamas members prostrating themselves on the ground in a ‘prayer of gratitude’ while watching news of the Hamas massacre on television. Haniyeh splits his time between Qatar and Turkey. Turkey’s leaders were annoyed by remarks that Saleh al-Arouri, Haniyeh’s deputy, made to Al Jazeera, bragging that Hamas had captured enough Israeli soldiers to force Israel to free all Palestinian prisoners in its jails.  Ankara is unwilling to publicly appear as if it is still protecting Hamas after the group’s killing of Israeli civilians.

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Sunday School meets the Middle East

Many Christians were raised going to Sunday School, hearing Bible stories of Abraham and his camels, or David and his sheep. An other-worldly glow surrounded these tales; hymns and Christmas pageants retold these old, old stories.

These stories, which seemed to happen “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” actually took place in the Middle East – mostly in the Land of Israel. It was Jews who wrote these stories down on ancient parchments, and most of these histories dealt with the tribes of Israel. But many believers in Yeshua have not managed to ‘connect the dots’ – to realize that the Hebrew people in the Bible are the same people whom God has brought to their homeland. The Jewish people are still being confronted by the same murderous enemies mentioned in the Psalms and the Prophets and, like King David and Joshua, we are forced to lift modern swords in our defense. This newsletter will examine some of the spiritual roots of jihad; the teachings in Muslim writings defining jihadi activities; and the recent activities in Gaza which accurately reflect those teachings.

‘Give me that old-time religion’

Much of the following information can be found in the book ‘Jews, Arabs and the Middle East – A Messianic Perspective’, available at www.davidstent.org.

Muḥammad’s own instructions to jihad warriors are found in the Quran and the Hadith (a body of traditions and sayings of Muḥammad which is a major source of Islamic religious law). Allah is described as commanding:

The Dictionary of Islam (Thomas Patrick Hughes, p. 243) mentions four central actions in jihad. These involve not only warfare and subjugation, but the use of terror as a necessary psychological weapon to intimidate and crush all opposition:

‘Kill and be killed’

Mujahidin (jihad warriors) are to show no mercy in battle: “Those who follow Muḥammad are merciless to the unbelievers but kind to each other” (Quran, Surah 48:29). Jihad warriors are not to become friends with Jews and Christians: “They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be [all] alike. Therefore, take not from among them friends until they flee [their homes] in Allah’s cause. But if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper” (Quran, Surah 4:89).

Jihad warriors look forward to constant battle and death until they conquer the world for Islam: “The believers . . . fight in his cause, so they kill (others) and are killed” (Sahih al-Bukhari 51:1). “Make war on them until idolatry does not exist any longer and Allah’s religion reigns universally” (Quran, Surah 8:39).

Eighty percent of the spoils of war (including women and children) are booty for the jihadi warrior. “And know that whatever thing you gain, a fifth of it is for Allah and for the apostle” (Quran, Surah 8:41), “and the remainder is for you” (Mishkat 2:412). “Jihad is therefore the best source of all acquisitions” (Mishkat 2:406).

Jihad privileges extended to raping women captives. “In the actual war-field in the midst of hostilities, according to some jurists, some concessions were sometimes given to soldiers for recreation. Captive virgin girls in war were once made lawful for the soldiers for copulation” (Mishkat 2:440).

Muḥammad also permitted the slaughter of innocents. “So narrated as-Sa’b bin Jaththama, ‘The prophet passed by me at a place called al-Abwa or Waddan, and was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The prophet replied, “They are from them” [ed. Muḥammad is saying that the women and children are also pagans like their husbands / fathers, so it is permissible to kill them] (Sahih Bukhari, 4.52.256).

Hamas has posted videos on October 7 of live raping of Israeli captives on kibbutzim and in Gaza. It’s time to wake up to these hideous events. The wars of Islam are here again, and the Jewish state of Israel is on the frontline of that battle.

Violating the image of God

A 23-year-old Arab living in Shu’afat, a northern suburb of Jerusalem, posted video clips on social media in the past week supporting and identifying with Hamas’ horrific activities against Jewish citizens near Gaza. He proclaimed, “Allah, count them and kill them and do not leave any of them alive!” His declaration mirrors the above-mentioned Surah 8.

Dr. Chen Kugel, the head of Abu Kabir (Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv), explained in horrified sorrow some of what Hamas terrorists achieved in their mass terror, murder and rape in the kibbutzim and moshavim adjoining Gaza from 06:30 am to 10:00 pm on October 7, 2023 – based on examination and autopsies of the Jewish victims’ mutilated and burnt bodies.

The age range of the victims spanned form 3 months to 90 years old. Many bodies, including babies, were without heads. Kugel affirmed that they had been decapitated, though he admitted that it was difficult to ascertain whether they were decapitated before or after death, as well as whether the heads were “cut off by knife or blown off by RPG.” Charred hands held by metal wires showed that some victims were bound and then burned alive. “Two spinal cords – one belonging to an adult, one to someone young – a parent and a child bound together by metal wires in a final embrace before being set alight. Many were burned alive in their homes . . . We know they were burned alive because there is soot in their trachea, their throats – meaning there were still breathing when set on fire.” A father’s body was found with his eyes gouged out, lying in front of his children who had been shot.

These deeds, and many more too difficult to describe here, were also part and parcel of the original jihad wars 1,400 years ago, and are being repeated again in our day – not only in some far away village in Syria, but within immediate driving distance of downtown Tel Aviv.

King David, the man after God’s own heart, the anointed psalmist of Israel, shares with us his God-given strategies for dealing with demonically energized evil people like the Hamas jihadis:

Iran is alive and well and living in Lebanon

In 2006 Israel was pressured to draw back from successfully defeating Iran-armed and equipped proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Immediately the Shi’ite jihadi terror leaders Hassan Nasrallah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards began to replenish Hezbollah’s stocks of GPS-guided rockets with the aid of $1 billion USD in Iranian funds – in violation of the ceasefire’s UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calling for the total disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. 

Today, even though the war against Hamas is taking up the major headlines, it may be that the upcoming battle in the North of Israel with Hezbollah will be the most important.

“According to updated assessments, Hezbollah currently possesses between 120,000-140,000 short-range rockets (range of 25-28 miles), which cover Israel's north, including Haifa Bay and Tiberias; several thousand medium-range rockets (range of 56 miles), which can reach the Sharon coastal plain and northern suburbs of Gush Dan; and several hundred long-range rockets and missiles (range of hundreds of miles), including Scud missiles from Syrian military warehouses, capable of hitting targets anywhere in Israel. Hezbollah's rockets and missiles are dispersed throughout Lebanon. Its short-range rockets are mostly stored in the country's south, in the area near the Israeli border, to maximize their range. They are hidden in homes in the 230 Shiite villages, ready to be activated at a moment's notice. It is from here that Hezbollah intends to rain fire on the Galilee, and essentially paralyze it. If the IDF decides to enter these villages on the ground to stop this barrage, it will be met with an array of fortifications and ambushes.”

According to a recent IDF Home Front Command report, roughly 1,000-1,500 rockets and missiles will be launched into Israel per day. Thousands of homes will be hit and hundreds of Israeli civilians will be injured or killed. Hundreds of thousands are expected to be evacuated from their homes.

The majority of Hezbollah's rockets, however, are ‘dumb’ rockets. One cannot control where they hit, and a large number of rockets need to be launched to inflict real damage. On the other hand, a key Hezbollah precision-guided missile is the M-600 (‘Tishrin’) of Syrian manufacture. Its range is 250 kilometers (155 miles); it carries a half-ton warhead and is accurate to dozens of yards from the target. Such missiles can strike IDF HQ (the Kirya) in Tel Aviv. Hezbollah’s goal in war would be to hit strategic facilities (power, electricity and water-pumping stations), air force and army bases, government buildings in Jerusalem, etc. The IDF would hit similar structures in Lebanon, as well as national sewage systems, bringing that country “back to the Stone Age” as has been repeatedly warned by top Israeli brass.

Dr. Ehud Eilam, an Israeli national security analyst, states that Hezbollah has up to 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach every spot in Israel. The Israeli Iron Dome system can only intercept a portion of enemy rockets and missiles due to the expected vast numbers which will be fired. If Israel then will need to engage Hezbollah, a pre-emptive strike followed by a massive air, land, and sea offensive will result, aimed at gaining a quick and decisive victory.

The Arabic term ‘Wahdat al-Saha’at’ (unity of the arenas) lies behind Iran’s effort to gather its allies and all armed Islamist forces arrayed against Israel under a single Persian umbrella. Today Iran controls a contiguous area of control stretching from Syria’s Quneitra Province adjoining the Golan Heights, through southern Syria and into Iraq. where Tehran dominates the government, and where its Shia militias – the Hashd al-Sha’abi, or Popular Mobilization Units – have freedom of action. Recent reports described Iran-controlled militias in Syria’s Deir al Zur province moving westward toward the border with Israel. Were Lebanese Hezbollah to initiate war, there is a good chance that Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq would join in, along with the direct involvement of Iranian personnel.

This is one of the reasons why U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin stated yesterday: “I have also activated the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as well as additional Patriot battalions to locations throughout the region to increase force protection for U.S. forces. Finally, I have placed an additional number of forces on prepare-to-deploy orders as part of prudent contingency planning, to increase their readiness and ability to quickly respond as required.  I will continue to assess our force posture requirements in the region and consider deploying additional capabilities as necessary.”

In that light, the IDF Spokesman’s call to the Israeli public one week ago (which was later walked back as ‘publicized in error’) to stock up on water, food, cash and batteries is a sobering wake-up call.

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

The Neighborhood Bully and the Strong Horse

Bob Dylan once wrote one of the most powerful and prophetic descriptions of the uneasy relationship between Israel and the nations in his song ‘Neighborhood Bully.’ Here are some selected lines from that song:

The Strong Horse

Investigative reporter Lee Smith’s penetratingly astute analysis (also see his most recent article about recent White House withholding of information from Israel regarding pending Hamas attacks) of Middle Eastern political realities ‘The Strong Horse: Power, Politics and the Clash of Arab Civilizations’ (Doubleday, 2010) draws its name from Osama Bin Laden’s dictum “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse” (CNN interview December 13 2001). This ‘strong horse’ philosophy guides the Islamic and Arab world more than Western appeals to material prosperity, technological advancement or even the allure of peace. Middle Easterners have spent the past 4,000 years perfecting their political radar regarding this dynamic. Historically speaking, survival in the Arab and Islamic world depends on spotting the rising dictator (the strong horse) and siding with him. The strong horse in the Middle East was Osama bin Laden’s jihadi philosophy and right now it is Iran and its proxies. It alone is succeeding in thumbing its nose at the world greatest superpower. It alone is stinging and goading Israel (the Middle East’s most powerful army) through Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Syria and the Yemenite Houthis. And it alone is stirring up the Shi’ite masses of Iraq and the Gulf States, where much of the West’s oil lounges in Babylonian luxury.

The West wants to eradicate Islamic terror networks, but at the same time it wants to avoid angering the very volatile Muslim world. The trick is to find a balance between keeping the oil flowing westward and removing the most bothersome terrorist dangers. This explains recent American and British declarations emphasizing that the Afghanistan, Iraq and Hamas wars are not anti-Islamic, but only anti-terror operations. The Western coalition feels that it makes better political sense to ignore the Islamic and terrorist nature of jihad, describing the Islamic faith as altogether peaceful, than to expose the violent Islamic nature of jihad and lose many testy and touchy Muslim allies – and their oil. It is of strategic importance to recognize that the world media is spreading spiritual disinformation about radical Islam under the guise of disseminating ‘politically correct’ religious opinions. Radical Islam’s goals include the destruction of America and Israel and the Islamization of the entire world. The secular West, having for the most part rejected its own Christian religious foundations, does not take radical Islam’s open agenda seriously.

The Islamic world is carefully watching the West, and especially America. It watches every faux pas – every stumble, every mumbled or misspoken comment – and concludes that America is no longer the strong horse it used to be. Iran in particular watches with patience and shrewd humor as America tries to out-haggle the Persians at the nuclear bazaar.  

The Arab world remembers the unspoken belief system guiding American policy which was voiced behind closed doors by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in his December 17, 1975 meeting with Sadun Hammadi, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs in Paris. A declassified State Department document quotes from the minutes of that meeting:

When former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rammed through a unilateral Israeli disengagement/withdrawal from Gaza in August-September 2005, my wife Rachel then commented then it seemed the ghetto-ization of Israel had started. In a similar way to how the Nazis rounded up Jews from a large area and concentrated them into a smaller area, so Israel was succumbing to international pressure and overseeing that process by itself. It began years before, with the Camp David withdrawal from Sinai and Western Gaza in April 1982, and then the opening of the gates of the West Bank (including Jericho and Gaza) to arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat and his PLO gangs in May-July 1994. Right now, Israeli families are being evacuated by the Israeli government from their farms and towns near Gaza and from the northern border abutting Lebanon out of concern to avoid greater civilian casualties from jihadi attacks. Kissinger’s endgame dynamic is still in action. As POTUS Biden announced on Sunday October 15, 2023, “There needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state . . . As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution.”

Golden handcuffs

As the religious philosopher William James has said, “We tend to disbelieve all facts and theories for which we have no use.” (William James, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, New York: Dover Publications, 1956). The New York Times masthead still repeats the famous slogan “All the news that’s fit to print,” though that newspaper has fallen from grace in recent days. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. Israel’s purchase of the F-35 I Adir has given it a qualitative edge over most fighter aircraft in the Middle East, for which Israel and its people are very thankful. Yet there are some strategic issues similar in nature to that of the American X-band radar (described in our last newsletter), as Caroline Glick points out in the Jerusalem Post:

Does Hamas take orders from the White House?

The White House has made some tough pronouncements in the past few days about American goals and influence in Israel and Gaza. This section looks at some of these statements and compares them to what is actually happening on the ground.

1. Humanitarian aid to not go through Hamas?

US President Joe Biden stated while on the way back from his wartime visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday that the main reason for the whirlwind trip was to coax Israel and Egypt to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. “When we took off, my goal was multifold, but basically to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and to get as many Americans out who wanted to get out . . . as possible,” Biden told reporters during a rare visit to the press section on Air Force One . . . “We got a commitment… from the Israelis, including their unanimous vote of their war cabinet and the Prime Minister” not to block the entry of humanitarian aid.”

At an impromptu press conference at Ramstein Airbase in Germany, President Biden stated: “But . . .  the point being that if . . . Hamas confiscates [the aid] or doesn’t let it get through or just confiscates it, then it’s going to end, because we’re not going to be sending any humanitarian aid to Hamas if they’re going to be confiscating it.  That’s the commitment that I’ve made . . . I was very blunt [with the Israelis] about the need to support getting humanitarian aid to Gaza — get it to Gaza and do it quickly.” “If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it. And we will work to prevent it from happening again,” declared Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Those acquainted with the situation on the ground in Gaza know based on both experience and documentation that all humanitarian aid goes directly into the hands of Hamas, which functions both as terrorist army and Islamist government: “Approximately two thirds of the money Hamas raises from international sources is spent on military buildup. Of its total budget, 55% goes to the military wing, a significant increase from 15% in 2014. Meanwhile, Hamas' civil affairs budget has decreased by nearly 50% in that same period.  Hamas' financial reports further reveal that tens of millions of dollars designated for rebuilding Gaza were actually being invested in real estate projects in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Dubai.”

The UN and U.S.A. have no way to prevent humanitarian aid and dual-purpose materials like cement and steel piping, from remaining in Hamas hands. This has happened in Gaza after every round of hostilities. As well, the smuggling in of materials to manufacture rockets and weapons has been going on constantly, in spite of Egypt’s supposed security measures to prevent such operations.

2. The majority of Palestinians have nothing to do with Hamas’ attacks?

The President of the United States posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “We must not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas' appalling attacks, and are suffering as a result of them.” On a CBS ‘60 Minutes’ interview he stated: “I think Israel understands that a significant portion of Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas and Hezbollah.” In an interview with TIME, POTUS stated: “Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas, and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people.”

Yet, according to the latest Washington Institute polling of July 2023, 57% of Gazans express a positive opinion of Hamas (as do 52% of West Bankers and 64% of East Jerusalemites). Three quarters of all Gazans express support for Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas-backed Lion’s Den. Approximately half of all Gazans view Iran as either a “friend of the country” (29%) or a security partner (28%).

Hamas came to power through democratic elections overseen by former POTUS Jimmy Carter and his Carter Center in 2006. From that point on, Hamas kidnapped, kneecapped, tortured and murdered their PLO rivals, eventually establishing an Islamist terror state bent on destroying Israel.

Though it is true that Hamas rules Gaza with an iron Islamist boot, a majority of Gazans aid and abet Islamist terror and terrorists. This includes volunteering for commando units: receiving stipends for allowing Hamas to store rocket launchers and bombs in their houses, mosques and schools; celebrating and handing out sweets and candy to celebrate the murder of Israelis.

At the same time, Hamas is holding many Gazans hostage and murdering others who are trying follow IDF instructions and move southward in the Strip, to avoid the intensive bombing which will soon destroy Hamas HQs. This would avoid civilian casualties, which is the IDF’s priority as well. Video clips of Hamas operatives massacring fleeing Gazans have been posted by Hamas on social media, warning Gazans to stay put. Egypt is not allowing Gazan civilians to escape Hamas control through the southern border crossings. The history of that country’s treatment of Gazans is a human rights disaster – from 1948 to 1967, and up to our day as well.

3. If the destruction of Hamas is a necessary requirement, any suggestions on how to accomplish that?

The POTUS has stated clearly: “Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so, I think Israel has to respond. They have to go after Hamas . . . Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They're hiding behind the civilians.” “Taking out the extremists . . . is a necessary requirement,” said Biden.

Israelis appreciate that sentiment and wholeheartedly agree that it must be done. But what do these Presidential statements mean? How would such a thing be done? When Hamas hides behind human shields and fires rockets into Israeli kibbutzim and towns; when over 2,000 Hamas commandoes rape teenagers and mothers, torture and murder parents in front of children, burn children alive, kidnap innocent civilians and then film their torture and decapitation – what advice should be given to Israel?  What is our ‘proportionate response’ supposed to be? Should Israel do to Gazan citizens what Hamas has done to our citizens? God forbid!

Here is Presidential pastoral advice to Israel: “But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” This statement is a two-edged sword: on one hand, it seems that there is a denigration and partial invalidation of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, wars overseen by Biden’s political opponents. On the other hand, he morphs biblical vengeance into sinful rage. The Scriptures talk much about God taking vengeance on the enemies of Israel: Numbers 31:1-3; Deuteronomy 32:35-36;  Deuteronomy 32:40-43; 2 Samuel 22:47-49; Psalm 58:9-11; Psalm 79:10; Psalm 94:1-3; Psalm 149:6-8; Isaiah 34:6-9; Isaiah 59:16-18; Isaiah 61:1-3; Isaiah 63:3-5; Jeremiah 46:10; Jeremiah 50:14-16; Jeremiah 50:27-29; Jeremiah 51:5-7; Jeremiah 51:10-12; Ezekiel 25:13-14.

In order to rid Germany of Nazis, in order to cause the unconditional surrender of that country, the Allies made the decision to not reveal their cracking of the ULTRA code. This meant continued British civilian casualties at Coventry, etc. But it also involved the bombing of Dresden. In order to prevent the loss of perhaps a million American deaths at the hands of the Japanese, two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The ethical parallels to Hamastan in Gaza are the same. Unless Hamas is totally and absolutely destroyed, jihad will continue to massacre, rape, torture and murder Israelis – just like ISIS continues to do to Syrians and Iraqis. Hamas is continuing to massacre – even its own people. No one is stopping those massacres by Hamas in Gaza – even those who shed crocodile tears for the Gazan Palestinians.

Yet, in the same breath as calling for ‘taking out the extremists,’ Biden speaks something diametrically opposed to these words: “I think it’d be a big mistake . . . for Israel to occupy Gaza again.” If Gaza cannot be occupied, how will Hamas be eliminated? And if the majority of Gazans support Hamas, what is to be done? Egypt, as Isaiah 36:6 says, is a broken reed, and will offer no shelter to those escaping Hamas. America cannot and will not protect Gazans from Hamas. Indeed, Qatar (Hamas’ main bankroller) is very chummy with CENTCOM, the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and the location of one of its main airbases in the Middle East, Al Udeid.

Years ago, the Arameans of Damascus (modern Syria) threatened the Kingdom of Israel with total military destruction: “Ben Hadad sent word to him and said, ‘May the gods do so to me and more so, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.’ Then the king of Israel replied, ‘Tell him, “He who straps on his weapons had better not boast like one who takes them off.”’” (1Kings 20:10-11).

In that light, the following quote from President Biden at Ramstein Air Base in Germany is telling:

Question: May I ask you about – there’s a report in the Times of Israel that says “Biden officials have indicated to Israel in recent days that if Hezbollah initiates a war against Israel, the U.S. military will join the IDF in fighting the terrorist group.”

POTUS:  Not true.

Question: Not true?

POTUS:  That was never said.

4. The endgame

Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains that “Biden . . .  will want to have a tough, frank conversation with Israeli leaders about their looming ground campaign – the objectives and complexities, with an eye toward getting them to think even harder about the depth, scope, and dangers of disproportionality, along with reoccupation of Gaza and civilian deaths.” The POTUS is interested in Israel’s endgame – what do they see as the solution to Hamas. Israel is not quite sure of its own endgame, since Israeli internal security issues have so often been stretched and distorted by superpower pressures. Few Israeli leaders truly believe in the Biblical teachings regarding the End of Days and the Return of Messiah, and their vision is secular and Western-oriented.

President Biden made his endgame vision very clear:

Biden’s endgame – dividing the Land of Israel and establishing a PLO state in its heartland – is also the endgame of nearly all other U.S. Presidents. It is the position of the U.S. State Department and its intelligence agencies. It is the goal of the American oil business.

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

Pray for ‘Shock and awe’ to be successfully carried out by the IDF to thwart the years of planning that Hamas has done – tunnels, mines, commando teams whose job is to kidnap IDF soldiers, and to even make off with their dead bodies. Davidic divine strategies as in Psalm 144:1: “Blessed be YHVH my rock, Who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle!”

Pray for clarity of strategy, purpose and resolve for Israel’s leaders to deal a final death-blow to Hamas in Gaza – total and unconditional surrender of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and total removal from Gaza for them both

Pray for revelation to Israel’s leaders that YHVH Himself gave Gaza to the tribe of Judah  (see Joshua 15:20-47) and that this is Israel’s true biblical inheritance. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement under strong American pressure was key to leading us into this horrific situation. Here is a quote from 2005 – during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza – by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who warned Israel that disengaging from Gaza was not enough; the entire West Bank needed to be handed over to the PLO/Hamas: “Because the real point about Gaza is not to stop with Gaza. The President has been clear, we’ve been clear with the Israelis that it cannot be Gaza only” (U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman, Shannon, Ireland; June 17, 2005. Press briefing by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the traveling press en route to Shannon, Ireland June 17, 2005)

Pray for the leaders of your nation to receive a revelation of God as the Captain of the armies of Israel (see 1 Samuel 17:45): “But David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of YHVH of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’”

Pray for minimal loss of life on all sides except for Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Pray for revelation and clarity to be imparted by the God of Israel to the world intelligence community who have not yet understood what jihad is all about and are fogged as to how to deal with it decisively

Pray that God would hold back a regional war involving Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Turkey, the Yemenite Houthis and other superpowers

Pray for the physical rescue of the many Israelis (perhaps over 200, including babies) kidnapped by Hamas

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Bleachers out in the sun on Highway 61

Now the rovin’ gambler he was very bored – He was tryin’ to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor 

He said “I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes – I think it can be very easily done!
We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun and have it on Highway 61!”

           Highway 61 Revisited; © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music

Bob Dylan’s phantasmagorical song from 1965 still hits home today. His references to Abraham and Isaac, a possible Third World War, and world media flocking to observe – these nuggets are uncomfortably close to present realities.

Two US aircraft Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) – the USS Gerald R Ford (the largest aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy) and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower – are on the move, crossing the Mediterranean to anchor off the Haifa coast.  A senior U.S. defense official stated: “These posture increases were intended to serve as an unequivocal demonstration in deed and not only in words of U.S. support for Israel’s defense and serve as a deterrent signal to Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and any other proxy across the region who might be considering exploiting the current situation to escalate the conflict. Those adversaries should think twice.”  “There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north and, of course, Iran's involvement,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on October 15, 2023. “Iran is the elephant in the room,” a US official briefed . . . Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned on Sunday his country could act, telling al Jazeera: “If the scope of the war expands, significant damages will also be inflicted upon America.”

Montana GOP Congressman Ryan Zinke (a former U.S. Navy Seal for 23 years) said: “You know, it's no secret SEAL Team Six and select [IDF] forces have had a long relationship sharing tactics, techniques, procedures and an integration of units . . . to meet the requirements.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on October 10, 2023: “We have people on the ground that have... established contact with his operators, his special operators, and will continue to help with intelligence and planning as things go along." Anonymous defense sources have stated that these forces include the U.S. Army's Delta Force (1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta) and the Navy’s SEAL Team Six (Naval Special Warfare Development Group).

Most Israelis are very thankful for American support at this time, as the country of Israel faces an imminent threat of what is known in legalese as ‘imminent lawless action.’ Hamas’ barbaric and murderous assaults on innocent civilians is more than ‘a clear and present danger’ – they are war crimes beyond those of the Nazis and ISIS.

The God of Noah and the God of Lot

Here are some biblical perspectives which may help in considering what Israel needs to do regarding Hamas.

The God we serve is the God of Noah and of the Flood. There comes a time when YHVH says that enough is enough. The eradication of great evil is definitely one of the fearful works of the God of Jacob:

The God we serve is also the God of Lot. When evil reaches a certain point, YHVH responds to that overflowing wickedness of man – not by extending humanitarian aid, but by stretching forth His hand in judgment:

Goliath in the tents of Kedar

Goliath, the arch-enemy of Israel and the champion of the Philistines, spoke boastfully, saying “I have defied the ranks of Israel this day!” and he cursed David by his gods. David had a totally different perspective on the matter:

A similar blasphemous and boasting spirit, like that of Goliath, can be heard in the arrogant words of senior Hamas official Ali Baraka regarding this latest murderous jihadi attack.

The Hebrew Scriptures mention two hate-filled arch-enemies of the Jewish people – Meshech and Kedar:

The Psalmist ties these two together in his pilgrim song of ascents, describing his own sojourn among hateful Middle Eastern enemies:

These words accurately reflect much of the Jewish people’s painful exile among the nations of the Middle East. Hatred of the seed of Jacob and hatred of making peace with him still characterize much of the Islamic and Arabic-speaking world. Some of those Christians who wax eloquent about how close we are to the fulfilment of Isaiah 19 (see https://davidstent.org/the-isaiah-19-highway-prophecies-amidst-the-potholes/) need a wake-up call regarding the error of their interpretation of that passage and the timing involved. Isaiah 19 describes Egypt as an enemy of Israel who will undergo harsh defeat at the hands of the Jewish people. Only then will a godly submission and acceptance of the heart and plan of God for His Jewish people become a spiritual reality in their hearts and across the Middle East as well.

Any weapon formed against you will not prosper

The prophet Isaiah proclaims to Israel: “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 54:17).

At 18:59 Tuesday evening, the Islamic Jihad jihadi terror group fired a barrage of approximately ten rockets from a Gazan cemetery into Israeli civilian centers. One of those ten rockets misfired, as caught on camera by Al Jazeera, Qatar’s pro-Hamas TV network. The rocket then landed onto the courtyard of the Anglican Hospital ‘al Ahli al Mahadani,’ causing many casualties – it seems some number between 20 and 200, though exact figures are not verifiable at this time due to Hamas control of reportage at the explosion area.

Al Jazeera broadcasted the live film clearly depicting the misfiring rocket. But Hamas decided to morph the event into a fake-news propaganda narrative. Al Jazeera began to trumpet that the devastation was due to a deliberate IDF bombing of the hospital. These reports were widely disseminated in virtually all major Western media stations and newspapers. All fact-checkers suddenly were out to lunch. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of a ‘horrible war massacre’ and called for three days of national mourning – something that Abbas had not done in response to Hamas’ massacre, mass rape, kidnapping and wounding of many thousands of Israelis. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also called for three days of national mourning “to honor the innocent victims of the heinous attack,” and “vehemently condemned Israel's premeditated bombing.” He added that “such deliberate bombing represents a clear violation of international law and international humanitarian and legitimate principles.” El-Sisi also, like PLO leader Abbas, has not issued any specific condemnation of Hamas’ bestial murder and destruction of over 1,300 Israelis.

But there was a problem with the Hamas narrative of an Israeli bombing – actually, a few problems. One, no IDF planes were in the area at that time and no bombs were dropped by these non-existent planes. Two, there was no bomb crater, something that always happens when bombs are dropped. Three, there was no structural damage to surrounding buildings, something that always happens when bombs are dropped. Four, the explosion did not occur in the hospital but in the parking lot. Five, the explosion happened at 18:59, the exact time when the Islamic Jihad (IJ) rockets were passing over, according to Al Jazeera news footage, and on the exact angle of fire as the other rockets. And finally, six: IDF drone footage and SIGINT dove-tailed here: a live transmission was intercepted by IDF intelligence, recording two Islamic Jihad terrorists discussing the rocket misfire and describing it as an Islamic Jihad rocket failure. The IDF spokesman released these voice recordings in order to counter the Hamas fake-news blood-libel being recklessly spread around the world by the mass media.

What is astounding is that world media was far more willing to believe and disseminate Hamas propaganda – a group that was just filmed raping, decapitating, murdering and burning people alive – than to trust what the IDF was able to incontrovertibly prove through its highly accurate intelligence.

There’s a riot in the streets

The false Hamas reports, labeling the Islamic Jihad rocket misfiring as an Israeli bombing attack, triggered violent demonstrations in various cities throughout the Islamic world, including Morocco, Tunis, the West Bank, Turkey, Baghdad, Iran and Yemen, as well as Amman, Jordan (where the Israeli Embassy was attacked) and Beirut (where the U.S. Embassy was attacked). 

For behold: Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered” (Psalm 83:2-4)

Bear hugs come at a price

“Nations do not have permanent friends or enemies, only interests.” This phrase has often been attributed to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, but was originally uttered by Henry John Temple, twice British Prime Minister in the mid-1800’s.

President Biden just completed a whirlwind tour in Israel, meeting PM Netanyahu and his war cabinet – as did U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. According to crack reporter Carolyn Glick, at this meeting the Israelis were told directly that military aid to Israel would be lessened or withheld unless Israel allowed Gaza and Hamas to be supplied with humanitarian aid – but with no preconditions. The 200+ Israeli hostages (including babies, children, rape victims and soldiers) were to be left as prisoners in Hamas’ jails and torture chambers. It is well understood in Israel and in the U.S.A. that Hamas controls all incoming humanitarian aid, syphoning off the cream of that aid for its leadership and fighters. Cement and iron piping will be used to rebuild tunnels and rockets – and not houses, hospitals and schools. Biden’s heavy-handed demands reveal America’s strategic goal to prolong enemy rule over Gaza. In President Biden’s recent interview on ‘60 Minutes,’ he stated clearly: “I think it'd be a big mistake . . . It would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.” America’s group of choice to lead Gaza is none other than the PLO/Palestinian Authority, a terror group at its birth and still involved in such activities.

Caroline Glick just tweeted: “On board Air Force One leaving Israel, Biden was asked if he managed to prevent Israel from invading Gaza. He said it is a discussion taking place between military officials on both sides. The implication was clear: he is pressuring Israel not to take over Gaza, and instead treat the war as another round of a fight that will retain” the status quo.

The U.S. threat to Israeli leaders of a partial arms embargo or political punishment is a powerful tool, and Israeli students of history are well acquainted with such pressure tactics.

Writing in the Jewish News Syndicate, Troy Frizthand states:

Deadly force or deadly farce? A history of betrayals

A veritable convoy of Presidents (Biden, Macron) and a Prime Minister (UK PM Rishi Sunak) are suddenly flying to Israel, whereas for at least one year they have given the Israelis the cold shoulder. Why now? Cui bono? who benefits?). Bloomberg News comments: “French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are likely to visit Israel themselves in the coming days, potentially winning a bit more time before a ground invasion of Gaza.”

“We're pushing Israel to delay any action on the ground,”  said one U.S. State Department official who had been briefed on the situation. Asked directly if the U.S. was pushing Israel to delay its ground war for civilians, White House National Security Adviser Jake told NBC that “we are not interfering in [Israeli] military planning or trying to give them instructions.”

A brief historical survey of American actions which were harmful to Israel’s security interests is telling. Yet in spite of these, the U.S. remains Israel’s best friend in the jungle of the modern world.

On November 8, 1944, the Director of the War Refugee Board, John Pehle, wrote to Assistant US Secretary of War John McCloy to advocate for the bombing of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Pehle, who had just read an extensive and graphic report describing the process of arrival, selection, and gassing of victims at Auschwitz, wrote, “I strongly recommend that the War Department give serious consideration to the possibility of destroying the execution chambers and crematories in Birkenau through direct bombing action.” McCloy's response stated that the planes capable of these attacks were not in range of the camp. Moreover, the War Department was unwilling to move medium or heavy bombers into range in order to target the gas chambers or crematoria: “At the present critical stage of the war in Europe, our strategic air forces are engaged in the destruction of industrial target systems vital to the dwindling war potential of the enemy, from which they should not be diverted.”

In 1956, the Eisenhower government and Russia forced Britain, France and Israel to retreat from crushing Egypt’s imperial ambitions when they had nationalized the Suez Canal. This event drove the death spike through Britain’s superpower status. In October 1965 Eisenhower told Jewish fundraiser and Republican party supporter Max M. Fisher that he greatly regretted forcing Israel to withdraw from the Sinai peninsula; Vice-President Nixon recalled that Eisenhower expressed the same view to him on several occasions.

In the Spring of 1967, the CIA passed NSA intercepts (either through Miles Copeland or British intelligence) to Egypt, that Israel was less than one year away from producing a working prototype of an atomic bomb. This precipitated Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s decision to move forward his timetable in what later became known as the Six Day War. When Nasser blockaded the Red Sea port of Eilat (a clear violation of international law), President Johnson offered America’s sympathies to Israel but offered to provide no military assistance. This was a violation of America’s promises to Israel as a condition in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai in 1956. 

In 1973, the Nixon White House ordered the NSA to withhold from Israel, intercepts of Soviet communications verifying that Egypt and Syria would attack on the afternoon of October 6, 1973. “We knew it was coming. We knew when. We knew where. We were told to shut up and let it happen” says a former NASH employee.

In 1991 the U.S. refused to let Israelis defend themselves from Saddam Hussein’s SCUD missiles on the grounds that it might offend other Arab states, halting their sham participation in the coalition war against Iraq. In 1989 President George Bush had signed top-secret National Security Directive #26 authorizing the secret transfer of weapons technology to Iraq, and this after U.S. intelligence verified that Saddam was using U.S. loan money to build atomic and chemical weapons of mass destruction.

A speckled history

For someone who has both time and interest, a study of the role played by the US in pressuring Israel during the following wars would be eye-opening. An excellent reference primer in this regard is The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People(John Loftus & Mark Aarons; 1994).

Another book, written by Israel’s former Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Moshe Arens, discusses State Department interference in Israel’s internal affairs; the hindering of Israel’s efforts to defend itself against Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi missile attacks on Israel during the First Gulf War; the withholding of economic and military aid during that time until Labor defeated the Likud, and the strong push for territorial concessions in Gaza and the West Bank – which has led to 15 subsequent wars between Israel and Hamas (see https://davidstent.org/when-arrows-strike-the-ground/). The book’s name is ‘Broken Covenant: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis Between the U.S. and Israel,’

A third book is by former NSA employee who worked in the Mideast division.  In his book ‘Deceit of an Ally: a Memoir of Military anti-Semitism, NSA’s secret Jew Room and Yom Kippur War Treachery’ Bruce Brill gives an eyewitness account of how the US failed to warn Israel of impending attacks in the Yom Kippur War.

Another such example comes from Jonathan Pollard, convicted by the USA of passing secrets to Israeli intelligence. Pollard had been an analyst for U.S. Navy Intelligence Command. In a March 26, 2022 interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Pollard tells this story:

Years ago, I had the privilege of meeting a former NSA employee who was on a visit to Israel. I told him how happy I was that the U.S. had installed their X-Band radar facilities in Israel. According to Defense Update:

My friend asked me quietly: “If the US soldiers manning that radar can see everything in Iran, can’t they also see the movements of every aircraft in Israel?” I had never thought of that aspect of the equation.

According to Israeli defense officials, the IDF has asked to be allowed to station its soldiers in the X-band radar station to be able to process the information received.

Some in Israel are vocal in expressing concerns that the arrival of aircraft carriers, Presidents, Secretaries of State. Special Ops forces, etc., comes with a price: the binding of the IDF’s hands to decisively end Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s existence, and the hobbling of Israel’s deterrent power to destroy all vestiges of a terror empire in Gaza. But that should not be how friends relate to each other . . .

Yom Kippur redux – a blast from the past

Both in 1973 and in 1991 the U.S. withheld vital information from Israel, pressuring them not to do pre-emptive attacks on Egypt, Syria and Iraq.  The blowback involved thousands of Israeli deaths in the Yom Kippur War, which the recent film ‘Golda’ fleshes out in cinematic detail. In 1991 the entire population of Israel was terrorized – not only be the SCUD rockets falling on the civilian population, but because all the Jewish people that America had forbidden Israel from responding and destroying the SCUD launchers.

A similar dynamic is occurring today. President Biden’s administration officials “have indicated to Israel in recent days that if Hezbollah initiates a war against Israel, the US military will join the IDF in fighting the terror group, the officials said.” But “speaking to reporters on Wednesday following his brief solidarity visit to Israel, US President Joe Biden claimed that it ‘was never said’ that the US would join in the event of a front with Hezbollah.”

This striking double-speak only encourages Iran and its jihadi proxies Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Yemenite jihadis the Houthis in their passion to engage and destroy the Jewish state.

 

Tomorrow the newsletter will deal with the issues involving humanitarian aid; the move of Gazans toward the south of Gaza in accordance with IDF instructions; America’s and Israel’s endgame;

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Weeping on the walls

The horrific and bestial jihadi terror attacks of Hamas have crystallized our understanding of the above passages. They are no longer simply poetry or Sunday School Bible readings. They are today’s and tomorrow’s news.

A breach in the walls

In the Hebrew Scriptures walls are not only part of a city’s defense; they are symbols of the deterrent that the country has: “By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem” (Psalm 51:8).

When defenses are breached, the Psalmist looks to God in anguished prayer: “Why have You broken down its hedges, so that all who pass that way pick its fruit?” (Psalm 80:12).

Remember the miracles and fight!

In the days when the Midianites were ravaging the land (see Judges 6:11-14), the Angel of YHVH appeared to Gideon as he was threshing wheat while hidden in his winepress lest the enemy discover him and do damage:

Gideon is deeply angry at the situation in Israel, and argues with YHVH about the truth of what He had just said:

The God of Jacob then commissions Gideon, telling him that his faith in what YHVH had done in history past for the Jewish people in Egypt would give him the necessary strength to fight, to strike and to triumph over the enemies of the Jewish people – even if Israel was in a spiritual trough:

The reason God could say this, is based on His covenant love, His hesed:

Nehemiah, in his great intercessory prayer for his people, looks back to Egypt and sees the same dynamic of God’s irrevocable covenant love (see also Romans 11:28-29):

God’s reputation is also at stake

He who attacks Israel is attacking God, says the prophet: “For YHVH of armies says this: “After glory He has sent me against the nations that plunder you, for the one who touches you, touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8).

The God of Jacob does not only sympathize with Israel when terrorism strikes; He empathizes: “In all their distress He was distressed, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy, He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).

YHVH declared to Moses that He will not ever allow Israel to be destroyed, lest their evil enemies take credit for their own barbaric acts:

And in case the leaders of Israel stumble over aspects of that message and reject what is on God’s heart, YHVH tells Jeremiah that He has made him as strong as an unbreachable wall:

The intercessory calling to be on Jewish walls

The walls of Isaiah 62 are not symbolic, and neither are the threats against the Jewish people. The God of Jacob has called intercessory watchmen and watchwomen to press in to YHVH, asking for His protection, watch-care and deliverance for the Jewish people at such a time as this: “On your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen. All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who profess YHVH, take no rest for yourselves, and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem an object of praise in the earth”  (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

The victory of YHVH

 A time is coming in the not too distant future when the enemies of Israel will be trampled underfoot; when Israel’s walls will be rebuilt; and when Israel’s borders will encompass everything that YHVH promised to Abraham and to his sons through Isaac and Jacob (see Genesis 12:1, 7; 13:15-17; 15:7, 18-19; 17:8; 24:7; 26:3-4; 28:4, 13; 35:12; 36:6; 48:4-5; 50:5, 24):

In that day, Israel’s walls will no longer be broken through, and Israel’s enemies will fall before us by the sword:

 

The pressure of our enemies

 China, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries including the United Nations are trying to force a ceasefire upon Israel, in order to rescue their clients (or erstwhile clients) Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the jaws of defeat.

The words of the Psalmist are very relevant here: “Give Your attention to me and answer me! I am restless in my complaint and severely distracted because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked. For they bring down trouble upon me and in anger they hold a grudge against me” (Psalm 55:2-3).

The Hebrew word for pressure is aqah, with shades of meaning touching on, pressure, constraint or oppression. This dynamic occurs every time Israel moves from victim to destroyer of the victimizer. When Israel is raped, much of the world is sympathetic; when Israel rises to remove the rapist, the world lectures Israel on being disproportionate in its response. These international responses are in cahoots with evil. Their confused words declare a moral equivalence between the firefighters of Israel and the arsonists of Hamas! 

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

When arrows strike the ground

Osama bin Laden’s teacher, Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was born in 1941, in the village of Silat al-Hartiyeh near Jenin, he studied Islamic Law (Sharia) at Damascus University’s Sharia College and at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University. His slogan was “Jihad and the rifle alone: no negotiations, no conferences and no dialogues”).  In the mid-1970’s he lectured at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where one of his students was Osama bin Laden. He moved to Pakistan, becoming one of the top figures in the Afghani jihad against the Russians in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia heavily funded his jihad activities at that time. In 1984 he co-founded MAK, a pre-al-Qa’eda terrorist organization, and in the late 1980’s he worked with Islamic Jihad while solidifying Hamas.  He was assassinated by a car bomb in November 1989 – that event linked by rumor to his once-comradely Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Hamas was established in 1987 or 1988, and its charter proclaims that “the Islamic Resistance Movement 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 1973 Gazan Sheikh Ahmed Yassin established Mujama, an Islamic dawa or social welfare charity. Israeli officials encouraged this group, hoping that it might weaken the PLO terrorists’ hold on Palestinian society.  In the early 1980’s Yassin’s Mujama began to stockpile weapons in preparation for jihad activities. In 1984 Sheikh Yassin was arrested by Israel for conducting jihad activities against Israel, but was released as part of a prisoner exchange in 1985. At the outbreak of the first Arab civilian revolt or intifada in December 1987, seven Gazan Islamists gathered secretly and founded Hamas. They drew up a Charter which declared loyalty to Hassan al-Banna’s Muslim Brotherhood, to Sayyad Qutb’s definition of jihad, and to apocalyptic vison of Qur’an and Hadith (established Islamic legal teachings) calling for Israel’s subjugation and destruction.

In 1989 Yassin was re-arrested for ordering the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldiers. In October 1997 he was released from jail through Jordanian King Hussein of Jordan’s pressure. Sheikh Yassin returned to spearheading Hamas terrorist operations until he was killed in a targeted Israeli helicopter attack in March 2004.

In a public address in Nashville on February 1, 2006, President George W. Bush declared: “I made the position of this government very clear. Hamas must renounce its desire to destroy Israel, it must recognize Israel's right to exist and it must get rid of the armed wing of its party. In order for there to be democracy and in order for there to be two states living side by side with peace, you can't have the party of one state intending to destroy the other state.” Were President Bush to have studied Hamas’ Charter, he would have immediately understood that Hamas is a jihadi organization no different that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’eda. Hamas does not ‘have’ an armed wing. It is an armed wing!

The vision and tactics of Hamas

Here is a very brief look at some points of the Hamas Charter, which reveals that it is an Islamist, anti-Jewish and anti-Western terrorist organization:

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night (January 31, 2006), President Bush said the “leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace.” Hamas deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk rejected this call and insisted that “Hamas changes neither its skin nor its principles and it will deal with the West on this basis.”

In light of Hamas’ Charter and history (facts well known to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi), al-Sisi is guilty of flat-out lying when he justified Hamas atrocities quite recently: “The existence of a state of hatred and anger [among Palestinians] . . . has accumulated over 40 years because there was no prospect for a solution of the Palestinian question that will give Palestinians hope.” But, of course, when Egypt ruled Gaza with an iron fist between 1948 and 1967, they made no attempt to establish a Palestinian state.

Decapitation is an honored Islamist war tactic

One of Mohammed’s closest generals and most brilliant military commanders was Khalid bin al-Walid, also known as Sayf Allāh al-Maslūl (or the drawn sword of Allah).  Between 629-636 AD/CE he was responsible for over one hundred military victories, including the conquests of Arabia, Persian Mesopotamia, Roman Syria, Yarmouk, Damascus and Jerusalem. During the Battle of Mu’tah, al-Walid broke nine swords in hand-to-hand combat. At the Battle of Ullais it is recorded that he oversaw the decapitation of 70,000 Persian soldiers. Hamas’ decapitation of Jewish babies, women and soldiers on Kibbutz Kfar Aza is in keeping with this ancient tradition. It should come as no surprise that jihadis take the Quran literally in their conquest of the Middle East: “When you meet the unbelievers (in battle), strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives. Afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates” (Quran; Surah 47:4). “I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Therefore, strike off their heads and strike off every one of their fingertips . . . Strike terror (into the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies” (Surah 8:12, 60).

Here we go round the mulberry bush

Part of recent Israeli history involves Hamas terror attacks on Israeli citizens, followed by IDF military responses of the jihadi group. Here is a list of 15 such military clashes since 2004:

These mini-wars have broken out every two years on the average, and sometimes twice a year. They have all been triggered by Hamas jihadi terror attacks against civilian Israeli targets. The IDF and IAF then damage Hamas or Islamic Jihad infrastructure, occasionally entering Gaza with tanks and infantry, and then withdraw – leaving Hamas and Islamic Jihad in charge to re-arm, re-strategize and renew the attack against Israel at another soon-upcoming date.

The vengeance of YHVH

The Western world has embraced a pacifist tradition, and many Christians have done so as well. King David is celebrated as a poet and a psalmist, but not as a warrior – even though David’s thankfulness to the God of Jacob for training his hands for battle is clearly written in the Psalms. But YHVH is a warrior, says Moses in Exodus 15:3. Perhaps we need to get re-acquainted with the God of the Bible:

The God of Jacob knows how to fight, and how to destroy His enemies. The drowning of Pharaoh’s armies is not a footnote in Scripture, as Exodus 15 clearly reveals:

The nations who shed fast-food tears for the slain of Zion and then threaten Israel when we prepare to destroy our enemies – rightly did the God of Jacob prophesy their destruction in Jeremiah:

How should we then pray?

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Beit Arbel and the Day of Battle

The prophet Hosea makes reference to a horrific time in Israel’s history when Shalmaneser invaded Israel from the North, massacring Jewish people in Beit Arbel, a Galilean village near Capernaum: “All your fortresses will be destroyed – as Shalman destroyed Beit Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were slaughtered with their children” (Hosea 10:14).

The world has been seeing videos and photos of the massacres of kibbutzim, moshavim and towns in Israel’s western Negev. Though President Biden got his specifics slightly off, 40 babies were slaughtered, many of them also decapitated. Pregnant mothers had their bellies ripped open, and young children with hands bound were stacked on piles of tires and burned to death. Teenagers were raped between corpses of their friends, and 250 young Israelis attending a music festival were shot down in cold blood.

The prophet Micah knew what he was saying about such enemies: “Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail . . . Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.’ But they know not the thoughts of YHVH, neither do they understand His counsel. For He shall gather them as the sheaves into the [threshing] floor” (Micah 4:10-12). These cruel and bestial enemies are being gathered by YHVH to the threshing floor, to be thrashed and threshed and burnt. Messiah Yeshua speaks of the dynamics of this process: “His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”  (Luke 3:17).

The prophet Ezekiel spoke of such things in his chapter 25:

The psalmist Asaph adds his prayer to this:

Take note that the God of Israel is not calling for proportionate response against His enemies:

The dragon’s attack on the chosen seed

What God has chosen to love, Satan has chosen to hate, kill and destroy, beginning with Pharaoh:

The attempt to destroy Abraham’s and Jacob’s seed runs throughout history – past arch-enemies like Haman, Antiochus IV, the original jihadi terrorists, Bogdan Chmielnicki, Hitler, Stalin and now Hamas. This anti-Jewish genocidal plan will continue until the very end: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Messiah Yeshua” (Revelation 12:17).

One biblical surprise that is hidden from most believers is the fact that the God of Jacob has plans of His own to use the Jewish people in crushing their enemies à la Ezekiel 37:9-11 and Zechariah 12:1-9. In Jeremiah YHVH declares: “You are My war-club, My weapon of war! And with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms.” (Jeremiah 51:20). And in Ezekiel 25, the God of Jacob repeats it: “And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel.”

These prophesies bring to fulfilment the words spoken over Rebekah in Syria-Turkey, in Padan Aram, many years ago as her family laid hands on her. They spoke a prophetic blessing over her and she went off to marry Isaac and join in Abraham’s family tree: “And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her: ‘Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Genesis 24:60).

How should we then pray? 

As tanks begin to roll, here are some bullet points to be praying about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Remember well what YHVH your God did

The God of Jacob wants the Jewish people to remember. Moses instructed Israel:

YHVH tells His people to remember how in the past God gave them military victory over their enemies, in order that the whole nation would be encouraged in faith as they move in to defeat their present enemies.

Remembering in the key to redemption

Remembrance is the key to moving in exploits of faith. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov once said that “Forgetfulness leads to exile, but remembering is the key to redemption.” This principle is fleshed out by the German philosopher G.W. Hegel: “What experience and history teach is this – that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it” (Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, 1832). 

Yeshua exhorted His own disciples to remember and learn from events they themselves had seen and experienced: “And Yeshua . . . said to them . . . ‘Do you not yet comprehend or understand? Do you still have your heart hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?’” (Mark 8:17-19)

The Apostle Peter adds his ‘amen’ to the discussion: “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets” (1 Peter 3:1-2).

What are we supposed to remember at this time?

“So that the name of Israel will be no longer remembered”

The prophetic Psalm 83 reflects ancient hatred, both against the God of Israel and the people of Jacob. There are clear genocidal goals of these nations, which include:

Edom [Palestinians and southern Jordan]

Ishmael [Saudi Arabia]

Moab [central Jordan]

the Hagrites [Arabs]

Gebal [Lebanon]

Ammon [also central Jordan]

Amalek (here they appear again!]

Philistia [includes the territory of Gaza]

Tyre [Lebanon]

Assyria [northern Iraq]

People in the Middle East often have long memories; their history requires them to remember past hatreds and slaughters. And so it is in our day as well.

Remembering our shrewd enemies

The news cycle moves so quickly, often with coverage that does not give the reader tools to understand events. Here are three newsletters from the past years which give essential background, history and goals of Hamas, Qatar and Saudi Arabia:

The February 4, 2006 newsletter reveals the origins of Hamas; what they believe and their jihadi strategy in their own words; and how both Iran and Qatar are their main supporters: https://davidstent.org/hurtling-through-the-fog-of-war-a-messianic-perspective-on-the-new-hamastan/

The December 5, 2022 newsletter shines a spotlight on the darkness surrounding the Gulf state of Qatar – America’s supposed ‘ally’ while it remains the main bankroller of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Taliban, Al-Jazeera TV [a propaganda front for Hamas], etc.: https://davidstent.org/strong-horses-and-lion-cubs/

The September 14, 2020 newsletter uncovering Saudi Arabia’s machinations to weaken and dismember Israel; American willingness to speed that process along, and the connection between that and the 9/11 Islamist jihadi terror attacks in America: https://davidstent.org/saudis-rose-gardens-and-genesis-123-an-update-on-9-11/

We encourage you to read these newsletters in order to get a crystal clear understanding of what the threats are, what they will develop into, and how we can pray about these matters.

The commission of the God of Jacob

YHVH addressed Moses (starting in Deuteronomy 10) and gave him and Israel a holy charge:

The God of Jacob takes the planning and violent deeds of Israel’s enemies very seriously. According to Genesis 12:3 these enemies are subject to the divine curse (see also Numbers 22:12; 23:7-8, 19-24), and their end will come at the hands of the army of Israel:

Today’s events

The total number of Israelis murdered by Hamas has increased as bodies are discovered and identified. It now stands at just under 1,350 babies, children, teenagers, women, men and pensioners. The total number of Israeli wounded in the ‘einsatzgruppen’ Nazi-like jihadi terror attacks stands at over 3,400.

A handful of Hamas terror squads were interdicted and eliminated near the Gaza Strip, within Israel proper.  Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the firing of an anti-tank missile from Lebanon into Israel, killing an Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. (res.) Matanya Elster, 22, of the 221st Battalion of the Carmeli Brigade.

A war government has been formed, bringing together Netanyahu’s coalition and Benny Gantz’s National Unity party. With three generals on board (present or former Chiefs of General Staff) on board, this move has found favor with the majority of Israelis as they prepare for the critical fast-approaching campaign – the ground invasion of Gaza and the total destruction of the jihadi terror group known as Hamas (as well as the second largest terror group in Gaza – Islamic Jihad).

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) through: www.davidstent.org   

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