Hanukkah – the clash between the Maccabees and the armies of ‘woke’

Once again Hanukkah and Christmas meet on the pages of December’s calendar. What do these two celebrations have in common? We remember how Tevye the milkman would sing his beloved song ‘Tradition! Tradition!’ in the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ But today, as we ‘pan for gold’ – sifting through the traditions and the history – what will we discover?

Foundations of the feasts

Modern holiday traditions of both Christmas and Hannukah are fun and cheery, family-based and heartwarming. For many Christians and Jews, that is enough – let’s just ‘enjoy the season,’ but let’s not focus too much on reasons for the season. But some of us really do want to know what these holidays are about. Here’s a quick look at some of the historical and biblical foundations of Hanukkah.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah

Hanukkah has a pretty successful world-wide brand recognition – the nine-branched menorah (candelabrum), and the consumption of oil-based foods like latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganiyot (jelly donuts). These symbols have roots – some historical, some theological, and some traditional.

Hanukkah – it’s all Greek to me!

‘Hanukkah’ means ‘dedication’ in Hebrew (see Psalm 30:1, where the dedication of the original Jerusalem Temple is described). The ancient events (ca. 164 B.C.) which form the foundations of today’s modern feast were spoken of by Daniel the seer, nearly 400 years prior to the clash of Jews and Greeks. In Daniel 11:31-32 a prophetic word is given: Greek forces led by a future king (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) would try to commit genocide against the entire Jewish people, but would be successfully resisted by stalwart Jewish warriors, the Maccabees:

“The people who know their God will be strong and take action. And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. Now when they fall, they will be granted a little help . . . And some of those who have insight will fall” (Daniel 11:32-35)

History tells us that, after Alexander the Great’s empire had broken up into four pieces starting in 322 B.C., one of those empires – the Greek pagan Seleucids based out of Syria – moved to crush Jewish national existence, to obliterate the Hebrew Scriptures and to eradicate the pure worship of YHVH. Believe it or not, these Greek assimilationist plans (described today by the word ‘Hellenization’) were ardently supported by some top Jewish leaders at that time (the ‘anti-traditionalists’) – collaborators who fully embraced the ‘woke’ agendas of Alexander the Great’s ‘One World’ Hellenistic empire. These Judean quislings – or ‘renegades,’ as they are labeled in 1 Maccabees 1:11 – wanted the Jewish state to be fully accepted as part of the Greek world, even at the cost of the Hebrews abandoning their own Jewish biblical perspectives and lifestyles:

“In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, ‘Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles around us. For since we separated from them, many disasters have come upon us.’ This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king, who authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil” (1 Maccabees 1:11-15)

But YHVH was prepared for such challenges. The prophet Ezekiel had prophesied over 400 years before this Jewish ‘woke’ form of apostasy: “And whatever comes into your mind certainly will not come about, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone” (Ezekiel 20:31-35).

‘One New Greek Man’

Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ was king of the Greek Seleucid Syria-based Empire from 175 B.C. until his death in 164 B.C. At one point in his regime (168 B.C.), he challenged Rome for supremacy in the Mediterranean Basin, but lost the superpower ‘game of chicken.’ According to the Greek historian Polybius (200-118 B.C.; The Histories, Fragments of Book XXIX), the Roman consul Gaius Popillius Laenas threatened Antiochus by drawing a circle in the sand around him on the beaches just outside of Alexandria, Egypt:

Popillius “drew a circle round Antiochus and told him he must remain inside this circle until he gave his decision about the contents of the [Roman Senate’s] letter. The king was astonished at this authoritative proceeding, but, after a few moments' hesitation, said he would do all that the Romans demanded . . . So, as a fixed number of days were allowed to him, he led his army back to Syria, deeply hurt and complaining indeed.”

Antiochus then marched toward Judea. Entering the Promised Land, he vented his wrath upon the Jewish population there, in an ancient form of ‘October 7, 2023’:

“Then there was massacre of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of young girls and infants. Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting, and as many were sold into slavery as were killed” (2 Maccabees 5:11-14).

Antiochus proceeded to dictatorially enforce Greek ways, religion, diet and lifestyle on the people of Jacob by imperial decree. Jews were forced to worship Greek gods on pain of death. Jewish Temple sacrifice was forbidden; sabbaths and biblical feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, becoming a capital offence for both mother and baby. Possession of the Bible was punishable by death. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1^st century B.C., less than 100 years after these events) wrote about these persecutions in his Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική (‘Historical Library’; 34:1[4]):

Antiochus “sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations [i.e., a false and anti-Semitic charge], should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine’s flesh. And he put out the lamp [the menorah] (called by them ‘immortal’) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine’s flesh.”

Had Antiochus been successful in his murder, torture and religious persecution of the Jewish people, Messiah might never have been born in Bethlehem, nor would the Jewish people have survived as bearers of God’s light to the world.

The God of Jacob now raised up flesh-and-blood Jewish warriors – five descendants of Aaron the High Priest: Yonatan (Jonathan), Shimon (Simon), Yehudah (Judah), Elazar (Eleazar), and Yochanan (John) (see 1 Maccabees 2:1-5). Judah was the main general from among his brothers and was nicknamed ‘Maccabee,’ (‘maqqəḇa’), a Hebrew/Aramaic word for ‘hammer’ – referring to Judah’s ferocious warrior spirit. The term ‘Maccabees’ would later be used to describe all five brothers, and later on still it was used to refer to the Maccabean dynasty of kings descended from these five brothers.

Eyewitness Jewish news

The Maccabees waged an all-out seven-year guerilla war against the Greek Seleucid army of occupation (167-160 B.C.), and eventually re-conquered Jerusalem. Here is the historical recounting of those days, taking place during the Hebrew month of Kislev in164 B.C. That month (equivalent to our modern December) is described in 1 Maccabees 4 as “the ninth month of the year.” This use of the phrase ‘the ninth month’ indicates that the Jewish people were not using the modern rabbinic calendar (where Kislev is the third month of the year) but were still using the original biblical calendar (which counts the first month of the year as being Aviv/Nisan – Passover time, according Exodus 12:1-2). Here is the description of the first Hanukkah, written by someone who knew the main actors in this amazing drama:

Then Judah and his brothers said, ‘See, our enemies are crushed! Let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins. Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation. They sprinkled themselves with ashes and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.

Then Judah detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. He chose blameless priests devoted to the Teaching [the Mosaic Torah], and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt-offering, which had been profaned. And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the Temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them. Then they took unhewn stones, as the Torah directs, and built a new altar like the former one. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the Temple, and consecrated the courts. They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand [menorah], the altar of incense, and the table into the Temple. Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand [menorah], and these gave light in the Temple. They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Kislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the Torah directs, on the new altar of burnt-offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt-offerings. They offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving-offering. They decorated the front of the Temple with golden crowns and small shields. They restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors. There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed.

Then Judah and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.

Josephus – silence about a Hanukkah miracle

The Jewish general and historian Josephus describes the historical origin of Hanukkah in his magnum opus The Antiquities of the Jews; 12.7.6. He writes nothing about an eight-day miracle of oil, but instead mentions that that the Hanukkah deliverance brought light to the Jewish people at a time of great national darkness:

“So [Judah] chose some of his soldiers and gave them an order to fight the men that guarded the upper city until he has purified the Temple. When therefore he he had carefully purged it he brought in new vessels – the menorah, the table and the incense altar, which were made of gold, and hung up the veils at the doors and restored the doors themselves. He also took down the altar and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and such as had not been hewn with iron tools.

And on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, which the Macedonians call Apellaios, they lighted the lights [phôta - φῶτα] that were on the menorah, and offered incense upon the altar, and laid the loaves upon the table, and offered whole burnt offerings upon the new altar.

As it happened, these things took place on the very same day on which, three years before, the divine worship had been reduced to an impure and profane form of worship; for the Temple had remained desolate for three years after being made so by Antiochus...And the desolation of the Temple came about in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel, which had been made four hundred and eight years before; for he had revealed that the Macedonians would destroy it.

And so Judah and his fellow citizens celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasure, but everyone feasted upon very rich and splendid sacrifices. And they honored God, and delighted themselves with psalms of praise and the playing of harps. Indeed, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs and, after so long a time, having unexpectedly regained their right to worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should keep a festival celebrating the restoration of their Temple worship for eight days.

And from that time to this we celebrate this, which we call the Festival of Lights [phôta - φῶτα], because, I imagine, beyond our hopes this right was brought to light [phanênai], and so this name was placed on the festival.”

Hanukkah is actually a delayed Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

According to the Jewish historical record written less than 100 years after the first Hanukkah:

“On the very same date on which the Temple was profaned by foreigners, there occurred the purification of the Temple – on the 25^thday of the ninth month (that is, Kislev). Joyfully they held an eight-day celebration after the pattern of Tabernacles … remembering how a short time before, they spent the Festival of Tabernacles like beasts… Therefore, holding wreathed wands and branches bearing ripe fruit, and palm fronds, they offered songs of praise to Him Who had victoriously brought about the purification of His Place. By vote of the commonwealth they decreed a rule for the entire nation of the Jews to observe these days annually” (2 Maccabees 10:5-8).

In Leviticus 23:39 Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) is described as an eight-day festival occurring during the seventh month of the biblical calendar year (see I Kings 8:1-2; the month of Eitanim, today called Tishrei). So Judah and his brothers decided to celebrate a new feast – a special Sukkot-like festival two months after the regular calendar date – as a commemoration of the mighty military victory which YHVH had granted the Jewish people through the hands of the Maccabees. So the Maccabean re-dedication of the Temple took place two months after the usual calendar date for the Feast of Tabernacles (which was the seventh month Eitanim/Tishrei). The Maccabean Hanukkah/Rededication Feast would now be celebrated in the ninth biblical month, today called Kislev.

The principle of an unusual second holiday (established here by the Maccabees in 164 B.C.) can be found in other places in Scripture. A similar ‘repeat dedication’ had been done in King Hezekiah’s day, as described in both 2 Chronicles 29:15-17 (a general re-dedication) and in 2 Chronicles 30 (a second Passover).

Heroes of the faith

The writer of the Book of Hebrews quotes from 2 Maccabees 6-7, looking back at the exploits of the Maccabees, and describing Judah and his brothers as heroes of the Messianic faith:

“These, having gained approval through their faith, who by faith . . . conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight . . .” (Hebrews 11:32-38)

Judah Maccabee (a hero of the faith) passes on stirring words for our encouragement, according to the writer of 1 Maccabees (ca 100 B.C.). Here is a small portion of his address to his Jewish troops as they prayed and prepared to attack the Greek forces of Seron at the ascent of Beit Horon:

“It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few. It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven. They come against us in great insolence and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us. But we fight for our lives and our laws. He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them!” (1 Maccabees 3:18-22).

When a priest becomes a king

The Maccabees were descendants of Aaron the High Priest. They started out as a revival movement of warriors, and led Israel to great victories and to powerful restoration. But within 23 years of their battlefield triumphs, these revivalist warriors began to slip downhill, spiritually speaking. They established a royal dynasty for themselves, with Simon becoming the first ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty in 141 B.C. This was a problem, Biblically speaking, since the only dynasty covenantally acceptable to the God of Jacob was the from the royal House of David (see 2 Chronicles 13:4-6; 2 Chronicles 21:6-8; Jeremiah 33:20-22), Within a very short stint, the Maccabees were co-opted and seduced by the Greek Hellenistic spiritual forces they had originally opposed.

But there were other Jewish leaders who remained faithful to the word of God. This godly remnant of Israel also called upon the Jewish people to remain faithful to the Scriptures. These were called ‘the interpreters’ of the Hebrew Bible (in Hebrew, ‘Perushim’ or ‘the Pharisees.’ They could not tolerate Aaron’s descendants usurping the Davidic kingship, and they opposed how the Maccabees were actively spreading Greek influence among Jacob’s children. The Maccabean King Alexander Jannaeus (Yannai in Hebrew; 126-76 B.C.) had 6,000 of his Pharisee opponents murdered. At another time he had 800 Pharisees crucified on the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho, but only after their wives and children were massacred before their eyes (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13:14:2)

Both the Maccabean kings and the Sanhedrin rulers looked down upon the Pharisees as primitive and superstitious. Herod’s Temple compound was also the Sadducees’ home base, and when it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., Sadducee political power in Judea was quashed. The Pharisees gradually took over the reins of Judaism from the Hellenized Sadducees (the High Priestly family known as Bnei Tzadok or the Tzedukim).

This new and burgeoning Pharisaic movement would soon be called ‘rabbinic Judaism.’ It had little desire to speak kindly of the former and faded glory of the Hellenized Maccabees (the murderers of the Pharisees) in positive terms. By 135 AD, the Pharisees had created a ‘fake news’ narrative for the historical context of Hanukkah in their ‘Scroll Concerning Fasting’ (Megilat Ta’anit folio 9). This pseudo-historical account of Hanukkah (written down approximately by 120-135 A.D.) would shift attention away from the Maccabean commando-victory of 164 B.C., replacing it with a sleight-of-hand fairy-tale miracle unknown both to the original Maccabean warriors and to the Jewish general Josephus:

“When the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils that were there. When the House of the Hasmoneans prevailed and won a victory over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest that was not defiled. It had only enough oil to burn for one day. A miracle happened, and there was light from it for eight days, In the following year they established eight festival days.”

Today’s celebration of Hanukkah follows the post-Pharisaic ‘fake news’ narrative – the downplaying of Maccabean victory and the stressing of an apocryphal rabbinic miracle. But lately, as the Jewish state of Israel has arisen anew in the 20^th century, once again the bravery of the five glorious Maccabean brothers and their burning battlefield faith is being re-emphasized.

War and persecution are running mates with revival

Champions of revival do not always hold fast to their spiritual inheritance. Consider the historical events of Hanukkah: Maccabean victors morphed into Hellenizing underminers, and these ended up persecuting the faithful remnant of Jacob – the Bible-based Pharisees. The Pharisees at first advocated for a Biblically faithful movement, but ended up belittling the Maccabean revolution, developing an extra-biblical Oral Law, and turning away from the Davidic Messiah Yeshua: “For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Let’s focus on some positive lessons to be learned here: The Maccabees are renowned for spearheading a revival in Israel which safeguarded the light entrusted by God to the Jewish people (Romans 3:1-2). The birth of Messiah Yeshua in Bethlehem of Judah to faithful Jewish parents would not have happened if Antiochus’ genocidal and anti-Semitic strategies had become reality.

In our day, faithfulness to the message of Hanukkah also means being faithful to Yeshua, David’s Greater Son and Israel’s Messiah. He is the Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel (see Luke 2:26-34; Isaiah 49:5-6).

How should we then pray?

Thank YHVH for His commitment to preserve and purify a remnant in Israel and to protect His people. Rejoice before Him that there are also Gentile believers in Yeshua who are willing to identify with the Jewish people today, to stand with them, to suffer with them if need be, and even to die with them as shadows increase and days get darker

Call out to the God of Isaac and ask Him to shine His light on Israel (promised in Isaiah 60:1-3) even as gross darkness fogs the nations, and for Him to bring the Jewish people into full recognition of Yeshua our Messiah, Son of David, the Light of the world

Pray for all the security forces of Israel who stand guard over their people – for strength, discernment, strategies and balance

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

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent.org/give

From the River to the Sea

The protest slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ is plastered on anti-Israel banners and flags, waved at street demonstrations and in public places across North America and Europe. Rage-filled shouts, the beating of drums, violent marches and cries for destruction of the Jewish state – these Nazi-like manifestations are now commonplace today.

Yet, a text without a context is a pretext. Where is the river? What is the sea? What do these woke protestors mean by this sinister slogan? Do the Hebrew Scriptures – the Jewish Bible, the Christian Old Testament – offer any enlightenment here?

The earth is the Lord’s

Three thousand years ago King David, the scion of the tribe of Judah, declared in Psalm 24:1-2: “The earth is YHVH’s, and all it contains – the world, and those who live in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers!” This Jewish king reigned over the first kingdom of Israel, but his dramatic declaration of YHVH’s rule here encompasses the entire globe, as symbolized by God’s control over the world’s seas and the planet’s rivers.

King David’s son Solomon notes in Psalm 72:8-11 that Messiah (the greater Son of David) will “rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. May the nomads of the desert bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. May the kings of Sheba and Seba offer tributes, and may all kings bow down before him, all nations serve him.” The God of the Hebrews speaks of a day when all the nations of the globe will render fealty to Him with a full heart. And from Jerusalem His holy City YHVH will rule over the seas and the rivers.

The Great Sea and the Great River

Messiah’s Jerusalem will be populated by the Jewish people – His Jewish vine – as the musician-seer Asaph eloquently states in Psalm 80:8-11:

“You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the cedars of God with its branches. It was sending out its branches to the Sea and its shoots to the River.”

The sea mentioned here is what Numbers 34:6 calls ‘the Great Sea’ – today we call it ‘the Mediterranean.’ The ‘River’ referred to here is described in Genesis 15:8 as “the Great River, the Euphrates [in Hebrew, Perat].” The four mighty Rivers of pro-Noahic days are elucidated in Genesis 2:10-14, where the fourth great River is named as the Euphrates (in Hebrew, the Perat).

The Sea and the River are respectively the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. ‘From the River to the Sea’ is a poetic way of describing the territory of a Jewish kingdom whose western border is the Mediterranean, and whose eastern border follows the flowing Euphrates River – that would include portions of Turkey (the Armenian Highlands of eastern Turkey), Syria (northern and central) and Iraq (where the Euphrates meets the Tigris to form the Shatt al-Arab).

According to the God of Israel’s prophetic viewpoint, ‘From the River to the Sea’ does not refer to an imaginary Arab Palestine. It actually refers to a Greater and Messianic Israel. Today’s anti-Semitic marchers are championing a counterfeit prophetic vision.

Ethan the Ezrahite (one of the wisest men in his day; see 1 Kings 4:31) underscores this same message in Psalm 89:24-29 when he prophesies God’s heart about the future reign of David’s dynasty, according to the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7:8-17:

“My faithfulness and My favor will be with him, and in My name his horn will be exalted. I will also place his hand on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. He will call to Me, ‘You are My Father, My God, and the Rock of My salvation.’ I will also make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. I will maintain My favor for him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to him. So I will establish his descendants forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.”

How long is ‘forever’?

Over 3,800 years ago YHVH made a promise to Abram and to his covenant descendants through Isaac and Jacob: “On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the River of Egypt as far as the Great River, the River Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18).

YHVH promises that this Abrahamic covenant will last forever, and that it will have a priority and eternal focus – between the God of Israel and the people of Israel:

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8)

Moses re-emphasizes this point in his fifth book, making it crystal-clear that the land between the River and the Sea – between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean – is a divinely appointed possession given to the entire Jewish people for eternity:

Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Teaching, saying, “YHVH our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set out on your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which YHVH swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants after them.’” (Deuteronomy 1:5-8)

Signed, sealed, delivered – it’s yours!

Moses declares that every step which the Jewish people will take – as their sandals make contact with the soil of that Promised Land – will be a prophetic action validating the unshakeable and irrevocable connection between that Land and the Jewish people:

“Every place on which the sole of your foot steps shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. No one will be able to stand against you; YHVH your God will instill the dread of you and the fear of you in all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you” (Deuteronomy 11:24-25)”

YHVH affirms this same promise to Joshua – the same one which He had previously declared to Moses:

“Moses My servant is dead; so now arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your footsteps, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory” (Joshua 1:1-4)

In later years, Zechariah prophesied about the coming of Messiah the Son of David, declaring: “And He will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10). This biblical passage symbolizes Yeshua’s Messianic international rule from Zion, extending over the entire planet. The shout ‘From the River to the Sea’ is God’s bold and Zionist declaration of His sovereign reign over the world He created.

On the border

The God of Jacob specifies the borders of the Promised Land in many places: Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8; Numbers 26:52-56; Numbers 34; Deuteronomy 3; Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 13-22; Ezekiel 47:15-17; Psalm 78:54-55.

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

For YHVH, the Promised Land is not some ‘pie in the sky’ abstraction. It is a highly specific promise – stage center in world affairs, and directly in the divine spotlight. And it is the Jewish Promised Land – central to the God of Jacob’s word. It is a forever inheritance with real and measurable borders – a tangible physical land between the River and the Sea.

What’s the big deal?

Some people might be put off by the physicality of the challenge here – why is God’s spiritual kingdom connected to a physical people – the Jews? What’s so important about a sliver of territory on the east side of the Mediterranean? Some of these objections might be phrased like this:

“Why do you Jews think that it’s necessary for you to live in what you call ‘your own home?’ Who cares if other peoples have squatted on your patrimony over the past centuries? Let it be! It’s no big deal! That’s just the way it is in life! So what if these Palestinians are claiming the land which God promised to the Jewish people for eternity? Who cares if their jihadi souls are chock full of malice and murder toward Jacob’s children (see Ezekiel 25:6,15). Why make so much trouble, little Israel? Don’t you want real peace to break out in the Middle East?”

In the Book of Ezekiel, the God of Jacob declares that His wrath is directed against those nations who claim that the Land between the River and the Sea (i.e., the Jewish state) belongs not to the Jewish people but to Edom (the forebears of today’s Palestinians). Those who chant ‘From the River to the Sea’ and ridicule Israel, will soon be facing the ridicule and wrath of YHVH on the Day of His visitation (see Isaiah 59:15-18):

Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH. This is what ADONAI YHVH says: ‘Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what ADONAI YHVH says: “For good reason they have made you desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the talk and the rumor of the people.” Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of ADONAI YHVH. This is what the ADONAI YHVH says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become plunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around— therefore ADONAI YHVH says this: “Certainly in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.” Therefore prophesy in regard to the Land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what ADONAI YHVH says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have endured the insults of the nations.’ Therefore ADONAI YHVH says this: ‘I have sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves’” (Ezekiel 36:1-7)

The God of Isaac responds directly to the carping of the nations. He lays out exactly what He is doing and why He is doing it. The lost sheep of the House of Israel are coming back home, and even if the entire planet opposes this return, YHVH is going to have His way:

Therefore this is what ADONAI YHVH says: “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on all the House of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall show Myself holy through them in the sight of the many nations. Then they will know that I am YHVH their God – because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then I gathered them again to their own land. And I will leave none of them there any longer. I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the House of Israel,” declares ADONAI YHVH (Ezekiel 39:25-29)

Give me four good reasons!

The Scriptures gives us at least four reasons for why the God of Israel is bringing His people home, back to their Promised Land:

There He will heal His people from the wounds inflicted by the nations (see Jeremiah 30:13; Jeremiah 33:6; Malachi 4:2)

There He will re-settle His Jewish flock back on their own Jewish mountains and hills (see Isaiah 14:1; Isaiah 32:18; Hosea 11:11)

There He will launch His boot camp – equipping, training and empowering His Ezekiel 37 army (Ezekiel 37:9-14)

There He will establish a center for ministry, worship and teaching which will touch the farthest corners of the world (see Isaiah 2:3-4 and Zechariah 8:20-23)

YHVH is committed to doing these above-mentioned things – not because He enjoys a strategic gambit in a cosmic chess game. For the God of Jacob, Israel is not simply a divine canvas upon which He paints abstract art. His goal is not basically to prove to the world’s rebellious nations that He is adamantly sticking to His prophetic priorities. Israel is a matter close to His heart:

“And He has raised up for His people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants – Israel, the people close to His heart” (Psalm 148:14)

“And now YHVH says – He who formed Me in the womb to be His Servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself . . . ‘In the time of My favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances’” (Isaiah 49:5, 8)

“You are My Servant, Israel, In whom I will show My glory” (Isaiah 49:3)

“I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off. And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, and My glory for Israel” (Isaiah 46:13)

How shall we then pray?

Pray for the release of revelation and vision for the spiritual and governmental leaders of Israel – that they will comprehend the depth, height and breadth of YHVH’s love and calling on His Jewish people – and act accordingly!

Pray for the entire people of Israel to seek and find salvation in Messiah Yeshua

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

To donate online visit: http://www.davidstent/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Four

This is part four of a four-part newsletter. Our first newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel, as well as to what extent Israeli Intelligence knew about this. The second newsletter examined Israel’s lack of professional preparations, sobering examples of negligent conduct, and the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. The third newsletter considered the context of internal Israeli divisions, and how Hamas exploited those divisions. This fourth newsletter looks into the discovery of a home-grown spy linked to Israeli domestic opposition movements, and then draws general conclusions.

“It’s getting near dawn”

It’s 6:29 am on the morning of October 7, 2023. Hamas jihadis unleash a barrage of over 4,300 Qassam rockets at kibbutzim, small farms and villages, town and cities. Simultaneously approximately 3,800 Hamas Nukhba terrorists breach IDF defenses in 119 locations, followed by over 2,200 Gazan jihadi supporters, who all go on a frenzied pogrom of raping, beheading, torturing, murdering and kidnapping of over 1,200 Israeli kibbutz members, as well as 378 Israelis at the nearby Nova music festival.

As these Israelis are being massacred, violated and tortured, a 31 year old Israeli has just finished getting dressed in an IDF regular service uniform – something puzzling since for the past six years he has no longer been in the IDF. Though he had once been in a classified hi-tech position in military intelligence, his regular service contract had not been extended. According to media reports on his IDF file, there were certain ethical lapses connected to his previous service. This individual then puts on IDF military rank insignia identifying the wearer as a captain (seren), though the highest rank he had previously held was only lieutenant (segen). Such behavior is considered a criminal offense in Israel. Then he steps out of the house, and heads out to a Military Intelligence base in the Negev region of Israel. The name of this man is Assaf Shmuelevitz.

On the cutting edge

Assaf Shmuelevitz grew up on the Sharon Plain, in Hod Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv. His father had been a lieutenant-colonel in the IDF, and saw action in the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt between 1967 and 1970.

Shmuelevitz seems to have once served in IDF Unit 81, a secret elite technology unit which is part of the Special Operations Division of AMAN (the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate). That unit focuses on the development of cutting-edge hardware and technology for special forces operational use. According to a 2021 report by the Israeli business newspaper Calcalist, in the last decade alone 100 veterans of the unit have founded 50 technology companies, having raised $4 billion USD, with accumulated valuations surpassing $10 billion USD. Unit 81 has no direct public equivalent; it is often compared to corporate R&D labs focused on mission-critical solutions. Up to 2023, that unit was awarded the Israel Security Prize 39 times.

After Shmuelevitz’s IDF service, he trained as a lawyer at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, was admitted to the Bar on August 18, 2021, and then worked as an assistant in the Deputy Attorney General’s office. There he was daily in touch with sensitive legal matters, gaining valuable insight into Israel’s judicial system. Shmuelevitz had connections with Israeli elites, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and spoke before Knesset committees on various occasions.

Shmuelevitz describes himself in LinkedIn as a Digital Marketing manager. He became founder, investor, and CEO of Lev Kachol (Blue Heart), a company described as involved in private equity and venture capital (PEVC) and startups, with a specific emphasis on social challenges, humanitarian impact and aiding in humanitarian crises (e.g., coordinating relief efforts during the Ukrainian war). At one point the organization was accused of mishandling donations, with claims circulating that funds never reached their intended recipients. Questions were raised, and support for the company diminished somewhat as a result.

Through the Looking Glass

Shmuelevitz showed up at a Military Intelligence base in the Negev around 7:00 am on the morning of October 7, 2023, but was turned away at the gate by security, since he had no official clearance. IDF reserve soldiers coming into military bases carry a Tzav Shmoneh/Order #8 (an emergency call-up order) which allows them entrance. Just after 3 pm Shmuelevitz used a different method to achieve his goal: he hitched a ride with well-known retired Lieutenant-Colonel Oren Shvil to the main regional base IDF Southern Command (SOCOM; in Hebrew Pikud HaDarom or in military acronymic PADAM).

At the base gate, in the company of the Lieutenant-Colonel, he presented a driver’s license, falsely claiming to be an operations intelligence officer holding a higher military rank than he actually had. Shmuelevitz was given an entry pass from an officer he knew from previous times in the army, and entered the base at 3:45 pm. Shmuelevitz’s disguise was well planned and smoothly executed. He entered with two cell phones in his possession – one would be left out of secure rooms, while the second cell phone did not have a SIM card and thus was able to bypass security detection.

Inside the high-security base, Shmuelevitz moved with casual determination, accessing highly sensitive military meetings, photographing classified data, covertly taking photographs of classified military screens, and recording overheard conversations. He attended a critical high-level briefing where Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (as well as the heads of SHABAK and MOSSAD) was present. After the briefing, he manipulated a senior officer into giving him an authorized clearance to move freely about the base. Based on this document, Shmuelevitz later met with other staff officers who passed on to him other highly sensitive information, which he recorded on his second hidden cellphone. This included the following information: the nature and locations of military call-ups for different brigades; updates on top-secret military programs and weapons; intel on scientific abilities and computer problems which had arisen with command-and-control regarding a specific SIGINT network, etc. Shmuelevitz was able in a short time to gather intelligence information at the highest level of top secret.

On October 8, Shmuelevitz returned to SOCOM again. He approached an assistant to a former commander, requesting a document that would authorize him to carry out specific actions within the IDF Southern Command. The assistant, trusting Shmuelevitz, signed the document without verifying its contents.

On October 9, back at SOCOM, Shmuelevitz met a soldier who had once been under his command and was now a colonel (Aluf Mishneh). Shmuelevitz insisted that he had possession of “solutions to operational challenges” He persuaded the bureau chief to authorize/sign a “letter of appointment” that granted him official authority as kambatz (operations officer – special covert operations and assignments in the war room of Southern Command). This document defined Shmuelevitz as ‘a core actor.’ The Rosh Lishka/bureau chief) signed it without reading it. The officer later realized the mistake but did not act swiftly to retrieve the document. In the meantime, Shmuelevitz was able to attend another top-secret situational assessment session of the Operations Directorate that day. He also was party to a high-level presentation of an overview of the gaps that the Operations Department of AMAN was dealing with.

On October 11, Shmuelevitz was back at SOCOM. He requested expanded authorization from the colonel, granting him broader powers: to open a special cell and to be its commander; authority for that cell to function as a secret long arm; to initiate special operations outside the borders of Israel (i.e. Gaza); to have authority to recruit any soldier and reserves officer from any unit in the IDF; and to use any available methods/abilities to accomplish the task. He then went to the colonel and obtained authorization. The authorization was again signed without having been read. When the document made its way through the appropriate administrative channels, reaching the bureau chief, that officer’s suspicions were immediately aroused. He went to the colonel, who now realized that he had erred in signing a document which he had not read carefully. He ordered his bureau chief to take back the signed order, but the bureau chief didn’t get around to it; there was a full-blown war going on. Between Oct 11 and 15 (five days) Shmuelevitz was thus able to intensively collect intelligence throughout the base.

On October 12, Shmuelevitz returned to SOCOM. He contacted the Amuta (equivalent to an American [501[c][3]) of his original unit’s veterans, stressing that he needed immediate help – specifically, access to specialized personnel. As he was waiting for final clearance from that organization, he was put in contact with some hi-level tech people who were veterans of that unit. Two of these high-ranking reserve officers came to SOCOM – a reserve IAF F-16 pilot and a hi-tech-wiz entrepreneur. These both are members of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (‘Brothers in Arms’), an anti-Netanyahu organization. All three men participated in top-secret meetings with senior officials on that base without authorization, with Shmuelevitz passing them off them as regular (and not reserve) soldiers.

But when the veteran hi-tech wiz began to discuss the project intensively with Shmuelevitz, he quickly realized that Shmuelevitz was not using proper military terminology which a bona fide officer of the required professional caliber would normally use. He passed his suspicions on to those responsible for war-room intelligence supervision at Southern Command. In the meantime Shmuelevitz was continuing to record many conversations with top commanders dealing with TOP SECRET intel.

On October 15, after 8 days of continuous spying, Shmuelevitz was busted at Southern Command, caught in the act of spying. Though he refused to give his interrogators the code to his cell phone, their cursory exam of accessible photos showed reams of top-secret documents, and his contacts included the names and cell numbers of some rather high-up left-of-center politicians and former politicians. Many recorded conversations were found on his no-SIM cell, dealing with top-secret info. Shmuelevitz’s notebooks were found (one of which later disappeared), also loaded with top-secret info, including the location of the Israeli hostages and of all Hamas’ top commanders. A charge sheet was opened at the Beer Sheva court (Israel 23694-10-23 State of Israel v. Shmuelewitz) on October 16, 2023. Sections 2 and 27 of the indictment against Shmuelevitz indicate that his actions were part of a broader, well-coordinated plan. However, critical details about the plan’s origin, purpose, and those who may have devised it remain undisclosed.

At first Shmuelevitz was suspected of spying for Hamas. His case therefore fell under security rules which allowed him to be subject to harsh ‘necessary interrogation’ by SHABAK. Questions were directed during three days of grilling – what intel had he collected; who was his handler; who got him onto the base; who was the receiver of the intel; what was Shmuelevitz’s incentive here.

After three days it became obvious to his inquisitors that Hamas was not the runner of this spying operation. However, many other parties existed who might want access to such valuable information. The intel that Shmuelevitz was collecting would have been considered a veritable gold mine by agencies like the CIA. The investigators considered two possible responsible parties: the CIA/US State Department; and anti-Netanyahu opposition activists.

But considering that the names and personal contacts of high-profile figures in Israel’s political, legal and intelligence spheres were burning a hole in the pages of Shmuelevitz’s notebook and cellphone, it comes as no surprise that both SHABAK and the IDF would consider it discreet to hush up the matter – especially if it concerned relations with Israel’s most important ally. Would it not be wiser to declare that Shmuelevitz was operating independently, or was subject to delusions of grandeur or narcissism, or was simply ambitious – perhaps even a casualty of a nervous breakdown? All of these declarations of possible motives have been publicly aired by SHABAK and IDF spokesmen. In the meantime, Assaf Shmuelevitz has been locked up in an isolation psychiatric word for close to two years. Yet the conspicuous trail of bread crumbs here calls for a more sober and a less partisan appraisal.

Brothers without arms

One of the flashing red lights of concern which has kept Israeli intelligence and security experts up at night, relates to the unusual involvement in the Shmuelevitz affair of individual members and higher-ups of the anti-Netanyahu political action group ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (‘Brothers in Arms’). This activist group is a movement of IDF reservists – including some pilots and intelligence officers – who have been attempting both to block judicial reforms and to bring down the coalition government of Israel led by PM Bibi Netanyahu. Following former PM Ehud Barak’s cue, they see themselves as the spearhead in these fights.

One of Israel’s top intelligence journalists and strategic affairs correspondents, Yossi Melman, speaks glowingly of Barak’s call to soldiers to refuse to serve in the IDF: “[This] is a military coup for the sake of democracy.” Prime Minister Netanyahu has attacked 'Achim LaNeshek’ for inciting popular refusal to volunteer for reserve duty in the IDF: “What does endanger democracy is refusal to serve. Their refusal endangers the security of all Israeli citizens.

Scholars, politicians and political analysts have noted that the leaders of Hamas had been carefully studying Israeli politics and politicians, and had come to the conclusion that the civil unrest, quasi-violent demonstrations and calls for AWOL behavior throughout 2023 – all had served to weaken the IDF’s and the nation’s combat readiness. They also concluded that these events had downgraded Israel’s fighting spirit. These were some of the factors that influenced Hamas in choosing the date and the time of their jihadi terror attack.

One of the top leaders of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ (and a member of its executive committee) is 52-year old IDF Lieutenant-Colonel (reserves) Oren Shvil. According to the ‘Achim LaNeshek’ website, Oren had joined the organization “to spearhead the fight against the government’s judicial overhaul.” A former battalion commander in Moran (IDF Unit 427 – a classified unit in the IDF Artillery Corps specializing in operating long-range precision-guided missiles), Shvil is also a CEO. ‘Achim LaNeshek’ states that “Oren oversees Achim LaNeshek’s recruitment and training initiatives.” Oren and IDF former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi are neighbors in Kfar Oranim,” a town near Modi’in.

Shvil has spoken numerous times publicly, both threatening and calling for a reserve soldiers’ walkout (see Knesset TV channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWvof0V7M8). He has repeatedly called for blocking Ben Gurion Airport and public freeways, while declaring that such actions are totally legal protest measures. Shvil has publicly and vociferously called the government of Israel a dictatorship, lawless, corrupt, irresponsible, evil and crude – stating that it is therefore legal to disobey it.

Shvil was the high-ranking IDF officer who drove Shmuelevitz to Beersheva’s SOCOM on both October 7 and October 12, and his on-site presence seems to have facilitated Shmuelevitz’s entrance to the base.

Conservative political commentator Yisrael Medad noted approximately two months after the October 7 massacre (on December 19, 2023) that “the core factor of [‘Achim LaNeshek’s] protests was the weakening of the IDF through calls to refuse reserve duty in essential military units such as air-force pilots and intelligence drone operators.”

On October 12, 2023, Shmuelevitz brought into IDF Southern Command two people (in the reserves and not on active military duty - a former F-16 pilot and a former officer) both affiliated with ‘Achim LaNeshek.’ Shmuelevitz stated falsely that they were regular soldiers, and the two men thus entered a military base under false pretenses and without proper authorization. The names of these two are blackened out on the court charge sheet. Their participation in meetings with senior officials has fueled speculation about political motives and the protection of influential figures. Their presence at this juncture suggests a potential alignment between their direct involvement and the protest movement’s opposition to Netanyahu’s judicial reforms. The inevitable questions here highlight possible political motivations behind the espionage.

Of the approximately 70 people with whom Shmuelevitz came into contact with at SOCOM during those eight fateful days (of whom 20 are senior IDF officers) – it is estimated by Members of Knesset who have seen the unredacted documents held by the court. that a significant amount of them were soldiers who, before October 7, 2023, had publicly called for reserve soldiers to stop serving in the IDF – in other words, they are also supporters of ‘Achim LaNeshek’.

Other ‘brothers-in-arms’

Israeli Member of Knesset Almog Cohen has made the demand “that the Prosecutor’s office reveal the notebook of the defendant [Shmuelevitz]” in the Southern Command espionage case, claiming that it “contains Yair Golan’s name and number. For 15 months, it and this entire affair have been under a strict gag order. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Yair Golan is a former MK, a former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, and an IDF Major General (res.). He is far-left in his politics; has drawn parallels between Nazi actions and IDF behavior;” has accused the IDF of “killing babies as a pastime;” is opposed to the annexation of Judea and Samaria; and has called many times for “non-violent civil disobedience.”

Though Yair Golan is not a member of ‘Achim LaNeshek’ /Brothers in Arms, he is highly supportive of their actions and beliefs:

“Brothers in Arms are my brothers and sisters in every sense of the word … They fought shoulder to shoulder to defend the independence of the judicial system and against Levin and Netanyahu’s corrupt reform … We will topple the government. We will unite the camp. We will restore liberal democratic Israel.” (March 5, 2024)

In an August 4, 2024 Instagram post, Yair Golan expressed unequivocal support for ‘Achim LaNeshek’: “If there is something Prime Minister Netanyahu should do regarding ‘Achim LaNeshek’, it is to award them the Israel Defense Prize for their work!”

In October 2024, Golan declared at Tel Aviv University:

“When I look at the messianic threat, the religious and fundamentalist one, that threatens Israeli society, I say to you unequivocally and clearly: if this is the direction that will cause a strike in Israeli society, more and more Israeli youth will ask themselves ‘why get drafted? Those are not my values. That’s not a worldview that I believe in. That’s not the way to build a righteous society. I’m not prepared to serve such a state.’ Anyone who thinks that I am talking now about an imaginary threat – it’s a an extremely real threat. Manpower which is needed and is of quality – this is the foundational ingredient for a qualified army.”

On November 7, 2025, Israeli Member of Knesset Almog Cohen affirmed that Yair Golan’s name and cellphone number are listed in Shmuelevitz’ notebook, and that Shmuelevitz’s cell phone records show that he had talked with Yair Golan between October 8 and 15, as well as conversing with other higher-up politicians past and present during that time.

On June 10 2025, former SHABAK operative and lawyer Noam Viner was declared as being the legal representative of Assaf Shmuelevitz. Viner is one of the founders of ‘M’sarvim Lma’an Israel’ (also ‘Ometz Lesarev’ or ‘Courage to Refuse’; the Hebrew meaning is ‘Refusing to serve for the sake of Israel’) – an organization which encourages IDF reservists to refuse to serve in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Lt. Col. (res.) Ron Sharf, one of the leaders of the ‘Brothers in Arms’/‘Achim LaNeshek’ protest movement, is a highly decorated officer with over 34 years of service in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit. On July 22, 2023 Sharf read aloud, to the sound of applause, the list of units in which approximately 300 signatures of service refusers were collected:

“Paratroopers Reconnaissance, Navy Combatants, Communications Officers, Ordnance Corps, Military Intelligence, Air Force, Home Front Command, Submarines, Yahalom, 8200, ITN, State Comptroller's IDF Auditor, Duvdevan, Artillery, Shayetet 13, 669, Medical Corps, LOTAR, Sayeret Matkal, Rider of the Skies, Talpiot, Golani – Golani! Maglan – they’re all here!”

On November 13, 2024 the IDF froze ‘Achim LaNeshek’ leader Ron Sharf’s reserve duty status for his advocating reserves refusal. The IDF Spokesman said: “Following quotes that appeared in publications about things Sharaf said regarding reserve service in the IDF, the issue of his reserve service will be examined by his commanders in the Military Intelligence Directorate.”

‘Achim LaNeshek’ members’ names showing up repeatedly in this affair adds a significant layer of complexity and intrigue here. Their opposition to Netanyahu’s government and adamant refusal to serve in the IDF due to the judicial reform efforts is well known to most Israelis. Israeli TV commentator Ayala Hasson points out that, despite the clear and illegal involvement in this affair of IDF higher-ups associated with ‘Achim LaNeshek,’ no charges have been filed against these individuals. This has fueled speculation that ‘Achim LaNeshek’s actions were part of a broader, well-coordinated plan potentially connected to influential political figures, and that these figures are being protected by some in authority. This potential cover-up would include protection of influential political and former political figures connected to the protest movement.

Lieutenant Colonel Marco Moreno (res.), a former top officer and investigator in AMAN’s clandestine Unit 504, has commented that Shmuelevitz’ behavior, planning and tradecraft all indicate that this was a classic intelligence operation – not run for Hamas, but by people in Israel. The fact that SHABAK is not willing to release any information at all about the case, indicates that the operation was real and has ramifications of a geopolitical nature.

Moreno believes that there was CIA involvement here: Shmuelevitz knew where and when to appear – this in itself indicates a prior knowledge and awareness of the Hamas attack. Shmuelevitz was trained to bring in two different types of cell phones, and he performed the task like a classic spy. And every spy has a runner.

The information obtained by Shmuelevitz could have been used to bring down a government, or to ingratiate potential aspirants (to the Israeli Prime Ministership) with the US State Department. The institutionalizing of Shmuelevitz in a psychiatric hospital indicates someone’s desire to ‘bury the corpse and protect the guilty.’ The unfortunate fact is, as MK Almog Cohen points out, that SHABAK and the Israel Police knowingly concealed all information concerning the Shmuelevitz Affair from Israel’s PM, Minister of National Security, and the Head of Israel’s National Security Council. All these snippets of raw intelligence indicate that this matter is not to be taken lightly.

Hold on, I’m not comin’

Over the past year, former Israeli Deputy Police Commissioner Avi Weiss has been speaking out (though in guarded tones, due to censorship considerations) about some of the blowback resulting from Shmuelevitz’ spying. MK Almog Cohen has revealed that the IDF top command was so thrown by Shmuelevitz’s vacuuming up of information, that they were forced to cancel a bold special operation utilizing the Navy’s Flotilla 13 (Shayetet 13) which was preparing for a high-risk special operation to free all the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and to take out Hamas’ entire High Command (including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar) – all of whom were located under Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. That operation would have shortened the Israel-Gaza war from 15 months to perhaps 30 days; would have removed the hostage issue from metastasizing; and would have annihilated Hamas’ top commanders (who were thus able to prosecute a nearly two-year-long war against the IDF).

MK Cohen shared these matters on Israeli TV and podcasts on June 1, 2024 and September 10, 2024. MK Cohen revealed that the Gaza war was originally scheduled to begin on a specific date, but senior IDF officers called for its postponement due to concerns that operational plans had been compromised by Shmuelevitz’s infiltration. The discovery of Shmuelevitz’s spying activities (and the initial questions regarding the possibility that he was working for Hamas) occurred at a moment when decisions made in these meetings could have altered the course of the conflict, highlighting the urgent need to act on collected intelligence in the first few hours and days after the Hamas attack.

Former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi later denied such a scenario on June 4, 2024. But that denial came hot on the heels of widely covered reports (published that same day) quoting a new book titled ‘Ba’al Habayit’ (literal translation: ‘The Boss’; published in English as ‘Invisible Rulers; the story of Israel’s deep state’) authored by Ido Norden, an officer who had served at the Kirya (Israel’s Pentagon) in ‘The Pit’ (Ha’Bor in Hebrew) – Israel’s equivalent of the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center. Norden was ‘there’ – on-site with insight – and had access to real-time information. In his book, Norden claimed that a major operation to rescue hostages was planned by the IDF in the first week of the war, but Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi decided not to execute it. Norden is an Israeli public-policy professional and former IDF combat officer, who served as a senior professional adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office director-general (2012–2013). Throughout the events, the Chief of Staff didn’t share the existence of the spy Shmuelevitz, the planned Shayetet 13 raid, or its cancellation of that raid with the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Security, or the Head of Israel’s National Security Council.

Even the best of friends have bad hair days

To understand the nature of the relationship between leaders in the USA and in Israel going back to October 2023 – the ups and the downs, a little digging into history is required. One good place to begin is to quickly survey U.S. State Department and CIA history vis-à-vis the Jewish state. Here are four recent newsletters which offer interesting and surprising background:

https://davidstent.org/shakings-weighings-and-divisions-syria-annapolis-and-the-return-of-yhvh-part-three-of-three-cutting-israel-down-to-size/

https://davidstent.org/military-witchcraft/

https://davidstent.org/why-are-the-peoples-plotting-in-vain/

https://davidstent.org/bleachers-out-in-the-sun-on-highway-61/

When friends undermine

In an investigative report by Adam Kredo in The Free Beacon dated July 12, 2016, reference was made to a U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee in Investigations disclosure “that the Obama administration provided U.S. taxpayer dollars to the OneVoice Movement, a liberal group that waged a clandestine campaign to smear and oust Netanyahu from office.” American State Department political underminings did not begin during POTUS Biden’s tenure; it has older and more weathered roots.

In a March 26, 2025 letter from the U.S. Congress’ Jim Jordan (Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary) and Brian Mast (Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs) addressed to Dr. Eliad Shraga (Chairman, Movement for Quality Government in Israel), the following was stated:

“Dear Dr. Shraga, According to reports, the Biden-Harris Administration funneled U.S. taxpayer money to certain Israeli entities, including the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), with the effect of attempting to undermine Israel’s democratically elected government. The use of federal grants in this manner not only jeopardizes America’s relationship with one of its closest allies, but also undermines core civil liberties protected within the United States and Israel. Additionally, the misuse of federal grant funds may, in some cases, amount to a criminal offense . . . This was not the first time U.S. taxpayer-funded grants had been used to support protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or the policies he supports.”

A press release of the US Judiciary dated July 17, 2025 is titled: “Memo Reveals Biden-Harris Admin Misused Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Anti-Netanyahu Organizations.” It uncovers a significant money-laundering scheme, where funds from both the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and from the U.S. State Department were used – both directly and indirectly – to support anti-Netanyahu organizations.

The Israeli NGO Blue White Future received finances which funded the coalition headquarters which oversaw the anti-Netanyahu judicial reform protest. The Biden-Harris Administration provided $42,000 to an Israeli NGO, Movement for Quality Government, to conduct ‘Civic Activism Training’ in Israeli high schools. U.S. nonprofit PEF Israel Endowment Funds provided over $884 million to groups involved in anti-democracy protests in Israel. The U.S. nonprofit Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) provided over $42.8 million to the anti-Netanyahu protest headquarters in Israel and to the protests’ two main funders.

An unprecedented sum of 120 million shekels ($33.8 million) directly funded the campaign and protest demonstrations against the judicial reform in 2023, with the entire amount channeled through a single nonprofit organization. ‘Blue White Future’ distributed funds to various organizations including ‘Achim LaNeshek’/’Brothers in Arms’ – and numerous other protest groups, including those in academia. Documents exposed on the Mida website additionally reveal the organization's engagement of a Washington public relations firm for a three-month period at USD $75,000, specifically to advance its positions with the Biden administration.

Founded in 2009 as ‘Blue White Peace’ before quickly adopting its current name ‘Blue White Future,’ the organization’s stated mission focuses on advancing a two-state solution to preserve Israel’s Jewish and democratic character. Key figures include Orni Petruschka, Attorney Gilead Sher (former chief of staff to Ehud Barak and Oslo/Camp David negotiating team member) and Ami Ayalon, who previously headed the Shin Bet and served in the Labor Party. Corporate donors included Paragon, a spyware company associated with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

A circular view of history

In October 1973, Israel was bludgeoned by a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria, with several other nations joining in an all-out attempt to destroy the Jewish state: Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Cuba, Pakistan and North Korea. Though Israel received the entire war plan of the Egyptian army in enough time to prepare, the leader of Israel’s military intelligence directorate AMAN, Major General Eli Zeira (who just passed away on November 21, 2025) had an errant conception (‘konceptzia’ in Hebrew) that the Arab world did not have the military means or skill to defeat Israel; and that, even when it appeared clear to much of the IDF, the Mossad and the Israeli government that the Arabs had aggressive intentions, the head of AMAN insisted that the Arabs would not actually follow through with war.

When the head of the Mossad, Zvi Zamir, tried to talk to Prime Minister Golda Meir about the upcoming threat, she told him to talk to Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan, who was also stuck in Zeira’s ‘konceptzia.’ The Arab surprise attack on October 6, 1973 on the Day of Atonement (called ‘The Yom Kippur War’) resulted in close to 2,800 IDF soldiers killed; up to 8,800 IDF soldiers wounded, and close to 500 IDF prisoners of war taken.

Exactly fifty years and one day after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War (October 7, 2023), Israel once again came face to face with a deadly surprise. This shocking event was also based on a false and mistaken perception – another ‘konceptzia’ – that Hamas and their Palestinians in Gaza had been deterred by the IDF; that the jihadi terrorists had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t worthwhile to try to destroy Israel; and that the economic benefits of Gazans working in Israel outweighed the meager work prospects in Gaza.

The primarily secular leadership of the IDF, SHABAK and AMAN – indeed, of Israel’s government – did not take the Islamist jihadi perspective seriously or as worthy of consideration. Israel’s generals and intelligence heads unilaterally decided that Hamas would be willing to lay down much of its Islamist jihadi ideology on the altar of accommodating itself to ‘a new reality of peace.’

“It is not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.” (Henry Kissinger, former U.S. National Security Advisor)

How shall we then pray?

Pray for the leaders and elders of Israel – in the domains of politics, in the military and intelligence, and in law – be given the wisdom to draw sound conclusions from past failures and to make wise preparations for the next round of challenges

Pray for the entire people of Israel to seek and find salvation in Messiah Yeshua

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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Three

This is part three of a four part newsletter. Our first newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel, as well as how much Israeli Intelligence knew about this. The second newsletter examined Israel’s lack of professional preparations, sobering examples of negligent conduct, and the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. This third newsletter considers the context of internal Israeli divisions, and how Hamas exploited those divisions. The fourth newsletter will look into the damage caused by an Israeli spy connected to opposition movements, and then some conclusions will be drawn from these events.

A decade of bitterness

Ehud Barak, Israel’s most decorated soldier, has served over the years as head of AMAN (Military Intelligence Directorate 1983-85); Sayeret Matkal (IDF Delta Force equivalent; 1971-73, where he had been Netanyahu’s commander); IDF Chief of General Staff (1991-1995); Minister of Defense (1999-2001; 2007-2013); and Prime Minister (1999-2001). Barak had previously lost the 1996 elections to Netanyahu.

An ongoing historic rivalry between Barak and Netanyahu (also known as ‘Bibi’) has festered over the years, as noted by the Washington Post in September 2016. Barak stated at that time: “Netanyahu’s reckless conduct endangers Israel . . . Netanyahu enabled a militant, nationalist minority to carry out a hostile takeover of his party, Likud – . . . to hijack our national agenda in the service of a messianic drive toward, as it’s often put, ‘a single Jewish state, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.’ This . . . spell[s] doom for the Zionist dream.” He added: “We will all have to get up from our … seats and overthrow [that government], through a popular protest … before it’s too late.”

The themes that have run through Ehud Barak’s campaigns against Bibi since 2016 (and which still guide his political activism to this day) remain the same: de-legitimization of Netanyahu’s rule; a deep personal hatred towards Bibi (thus the slogan ‘anything-but-Bibi’); mass demonstrations aimed at bringing down Bibi’s government; anti-religious attacks on the religious parties who see the Jewish restoration to the Promised Land as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Speaking at a June 2019 press conference in Tel Aviv, Barak called for an end to “Netanyahu’s rule with the radicals, racists and corrupt, with the Messianists [i.e., Orthodox Jews] and his corrupt leadership.” He declared that he was returning to politics in order to “topple Netanyahu.” In July 2019, author and Barak biographer Calev Ben-Dor stated that “Ehud Barak has the energy, the venom and the gravitas to hurt Netanyahu in a way no other candidate seemingly can.”

Shape-shifting protestors

During the Summer of 2016, Barak and his co-laborers worked hard to kindle four criminal investigations against Netanyahu. These four legal moves against Netanyahu have become the mantra of the new protest era: accusing Netanyahu of bribery, deception, and breach of trust. This rallying cry of this protest movement against the Prime Minister sprouted in 2016, bloomed in late 2017 (the Tel Aviv ‘Shame Parade’); morphed in 2018 (the ‘Crime Minister’ or ‘Hoze Hadash/New Deal’ demonstrations) and transformed itself on March 10, 2020 into the ‘Black Flags’ protests (attacking Netanyahu’s coalition discussions). This movement was guided and heavily underwritten by Barak, according to an exposé presented on Israel’s Channel 13. The initial protest was led by three brothers and a sister – Eyal, Yarden, Dekel and Shikma Schwartzman – who organized a convoy to Jerusalem, pushing for legal attempts to remove Prime Minister Netanyahu from office. Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler declared at that time that the group’s focus was against “a coalition agreement that violates the Basic Laws of the State of Israel,” adding that it is the movement’s “stated goal of preserving democracy by ensuring the ousting of ‘crime minister’ Netanyahu.” A Black Flags spokesperson also added a footnote, declaring that “Israeli democracy refused to be subjected to a coup under the pretext of the coronavirus.”

The ongoing mass street demonstrations in Israel, the civil disobedience and blocking of freeways and airports all have deep political roots (detailed in three of our recent newsletters). The ideological origins of this movement go back to the 1930’s during the British occupation, when communists and socialists considered all conservatives to be fascists, and practically excommunicated the pre-Likud movement from participation in political discourse. Today this same worldview thrives on the Left side of the political aisle, as well as in parties of the center-left. Hatred for the moderate right and for Orthodox Jewish parties is openly manifested in Left-wing Israeli political discussions. The demonization of the Likud party and its coalition partners is a regrettable part of normal political discourse here. And over the past 20 years it has been directed especially against PM Netanyahu.

Barak has played a central role in focusing radical attention on the three main events here (criminal investigations against Netanyahu; the protest movement; and the political boycott against the right). He has been instrumental in shaping the framework and development of this protest movement over the last nine years. Barak has been the briefer, the advisor, and the spearheader/funder/catalyzer for the demonstrations.

The focus of the Barak-instigated demonstrations has shifted its shape over the past decade. It began with calls for Netanyahu to resign due to his right-wing and pro-religious emphases. After this, it morphed into the multifaceted emphases of the Black Flags movement; then on to the Crime Minister smear campaign; and then to violent protests outside of the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem. The demonstrations then moved on to oppose judicial reform; then called for a release of all the hostages combined with a call to end the war against Hamas without preconditions. And now, the latest metamorphosis is a call for an investigation (led by anti-Netanyahu judges) into issues concerning the Israel-Hamas war.

Sedition and treason

Amir Oren, a reporter for the Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, interviewed Gilead Sher on his May 9, 2023 podcast. Sher had been PM Barak’s chief of staff from 1999-2001 and Barak’s chief negotiator with the PLO at Camp David. Sher has remained close to Barak ever since. Sher explained that in December 2022, three weeks before Netanyahu’s new government would come to power, Sher met with Yossi Kutchik, director general of former-PM Barak’s Office. Also in attendance were former IDF Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz and high-tech billionaire and far-left political activist Orni Petruschka. They were joined within a week by others, including former deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber and Shikma Bressler (the face of the ‘Black Flags’ Barak-supported protest movement). Their goal was to put together the organizational and financial structure for the mass demonstrations, civil disobedience and violent rioting that Israel has experienced since January 2023 – even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues had formed their government. This means that “the riots, protests, acts of political violence and intimidation that have swamped Israel since January [2023] were not spontaneous responses to the government’s legal reform proposals. They were planned and financed weeks before Justice Minister Yariv Levin was appointed to his position and well before the government took any position on anything.”

A Hebrew Zoom clip from July 23, 2020 (English sub-titles available here) shows a private meeting Barak held with retired Israel Air Force pilots and navigators (called ‘Forum 555’) who all supported him in his desire to remove Bibi from office. Attending the meeting were Shikma Bressler and Moshe Redman, leaders of the anti-Bibi demonstrations which now have a new morphed name – the ‘Kaplan’ protest demonstrations. In that meeting Ehud Barak stated that it is not Barak but actually Bibi who is heading up “an attempted governmental coup.” A civil uprising against Bibi is needed, Barak states, but it must be presented to the public as an uprising “for the sake of democracy,” rather than an attempt to unseat Netanyahu.

In the Zoom video Barak discusses strategies for a civilian revolt, including the use of slogans, civil disobedience, and both general and ultimate goals of the protest movement. He stated that he would raise the necessary funds to cover all logistics for the project, including flags, banners and PA systems. He declared that the more there are streets clashes with the government, the stronger would the opposition’s resistance become. This would inevitably lead to the government needing to use force against the demonstrators, which would again bolster the protest movement. In Barak’s own words, when an army shoots into a crowd, the government is bound to fall. Barak also declared on that Zoom clip a snippet of revealing information about his own self-awareness: “Objectively speaking, I am the most suitable person in the state to take control of the steering wheel.”

On January 14, 2023 Barak gave an interview to Israel Channel 12, at which time he declared: “This government is legal but clearly illegitimate because of its plan to crush Israeli democracy . . . We are witnessing a coup here. This is an assassination of the Declaration of Independence, and democracy must defend itself . . . It is clearly illegitimate to assassinate the Declaration of Independence. It is not the right of every citizen, it is the duty of every citizen to come and fight for the security of the government and the rights and dignity of human beings, for the security, the future of the country and equality and freedom. Civil disobedience is a very important thing and that means blocking roads, civil disobedience is the duty of citizens when the government has gone mad.”

On April 4, 2023, Ehud Barak posted on Twitter a perspective which dovetailed with former-POTUS Biden’s and the US State Department’s strategies to bring down the Netanyahu government: “In conversations between Israelis and Western diplomatic officials there are deep concerns raised of the possibility that if the coup [i.e., the judicial reform reining in Israel’s present juristocracy] in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East, which has nuclear weapons, and fanatically wishes for a confrontation with Islam centered on the Temple Mount.”

On June 10, 2023 Barak declared to protestors in Haifa: “To this end, the protest must increase and move to civil rebellion!” At that same demonstration, former-IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Ya’ir Golan proclaimed: “Civil revolt is not an exaggeration . . . and if we have to reach a large-scale and non-violent protest, that is what we will do. I am calling here … to do illegal things as well . . . In the fight for democracy, you have to do non-violent things that are on the fringes of the law – there is no choice but to do it … Shut down their stores, block the streets, bar all services … Friends, against this evil, malevolent government we have only one path: a comprehensive, broad public rebellion . . . From tomorrow, we’re changing things. No more polite Saturday evening protests. No more lamentations and complaints. Just actions. Just results. Businesses will be shut down, services will come to a halt, roads will be blocked, and this arrogant person who presumes to rule, with the help of corrupt, extreme, and dark forces will be made to realize that the people are sovereign.”

On July 6, 2023, Barak called for a refusal of IDF soldiers to show up for reserve duty, declaring on Israeli Channel 12: “When a black flag of extreme illegality flies over an army order, it is not just the right of a soldier to disobey that order; it is his obligation. We are now facing the civilian equivalent of black-flag illegality . . . Our only obligation is to liberal democracy as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. We have no obligatory contract with dictators, and history will judge to purgatory all those who submit to the dictates of dictators . . . We are the right side of history and we are not afraid of anybody or anything.”

The street protests in Israel are part of a long-range program to paralyze and destabilize Netanyahu’s government, with clear plans to weaken and overthrow it. The political opponents of the current government have shaped a narrative – namely, that these demonstrations are really spontaneous and popular opposition to judicial reform, and not a convenient cattle prod to herd Israel’s electorate in an anti-government direction

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara calling for an investigation to be opened against former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and ‘Forum 555’ for allegedly inciting a coup d’état. Regev stated that the video clip “shows without any shadow of a doubt that beginning in March 2020, former officials began concocting a plan for a coup d’état and civil disobedience, with detailed and careful planning.” According to Hebrew media reports a few days later, an official task force would investigate if Barak and Golan could be charged with incitement or sedition, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison,

On June 11, 2023, correspondence publicized by Channel 14 News from a closed WhatsApp group protesting the ‘judicial reform’ revealed that the real goal of the protests, which are being funded by deep pockets, is to topple the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The group’s members include former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert; former IDF chiefs of staff Dan Halutz and Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon; the founder of the anarchist ‘Crime Minister’ movement Yishai Hadas; and leaders of the ‘Black Flags’ movement Roy Neuman, Shikma Schwarzman-Bressler, and her brother Eyal Schwarzman. Former PM Ehud Olmert texted at that meeting: “At the start of the protest, I said that a battle is not seminars and academic speeches. We need head-to-head and hand-to-hand combat. So there were reservations about the wording because it sounded too aggressive. It seems to me that my statements still hold true. Without violence and violating the law but in war as in war.”

A false witness spreads strife among brothers (Proverbs 6:19)

On July 6, 2023 on Channel 12 TV, Barak upped the ante, calling on “air-force pilots and Special Forces” to warn Bibi that if he succeeded in passing his legal reforms, these elite soldiers “would refuse to serve a dictatorship, period.”

The founder of the 555 Pilots Forum testified that Barak advised him: “You are a strong role model in Israeli society, you need to find a group among you that is ready to carry out protest actions on the border of legality that will attract public attention and ignite a wave of mass demonstrations.” The Air Force ignited that wave when many of its pilots refused to show up for reserve duty in protest of the judicial reform. Barak said at that same forum that he is doing everything he can “including helping to raise funds so that this protest will succeed.”

Achim LaNeshek (‘Brothers in Arms’) is a movement of IDF reservists – including some pilots and intelligence officers – who stated their refusal to serve should judicial reforms be passed. Following Barak’s leadership, they see themselves as the spearhead in the fight against the judicial reforms that the Netanyahu coalition is attempting to legislate.

One of Israel’s top intelligence journalists and strategic affairs correspondents, Yossi Melman, spoke glowingly on July 20, 2023 of Barak’s call to soldiers to refuse to serve in the IDF:

“A military coup is underway in Israel. This is the unvarnished truth . . . Rather than stating unequivocally that there is insubordination among many Israel Defense Forces reservists, they refer to it instead as ‘ceasing to volunteer’ . . . It’s more comfortable for all involved not to explicitly use the phrase ‘military coup,’ but if the issue is to be effectively addressed, the reality must be faced head-on and called by its rightful name… [This] is a military coup for the sake of democracy.”

On July 18, 2023, Chief of Staff Lieut.-Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, attacking Achim LaNeshek and saying that “anyone who calls for refusing to report for duty these days is harming the IDF, and harming the security of the state.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu also attacked Achim LaNeshek for inciting popular refusal to volunteer for reserve duty in the IDF. On July 20, 2023 he said, “What does endanger democracy, is refusal to serve. Their refusal endangers the security of all Israeli citizens. In a democracy, the army is subordinate to the government; the government does not bend to its will. When officials in the army try to dictate the government’s policy using threats, this is wrong; that is the end of democracy.”

The next section presents captured Hamas intelligence which backs up these conclusions 100%

Know your enemy

According to The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (March 13, 2025), Hamas documents brought back by the IDF during the Gaza Strip War showed that Hamas was monitoring and discussing Israeli media and sources daily, “especially in light of preparations for implementing the practical plan for the vision of ‘the destruction of Israel.’” Hamas intelligence department reports extensively covered the developments surrounding the government's proposed ‘judicial reform’ and the protests, and the possible effects on the IDF’s functioning in light of the reservists’ protests.

Document 8: Excerpt from Haniyeh’s speech before the executive committee, January 14, 2023

“The [Israeli] government, as much as it threatens the Palestinian people, carries within it the seeds of the entity’s internal explosion. The contradictory and opposing statements we are hearing and the demonstrations indicate that the entity is in an unprecedented internal state. Yesterday, [Ehud] Barak issued an extraordinary statement: ‘We must fight everywhere to bring down this government.’ There is a demand to arrest the opposition leadership. The factors behind the internal explosion of the entity have become clear, in accordance with the words of Allah ‘and their hearts were divided’” (Qur’an, Sura 59, Verse 14).

Document 3: Communiqué from al-Sinwar to Ismail Haniyeh, March 6, 2023

Sinwar dealt with the preparations for the “campaign of liberation, return and destruction of the entity.” Al-Sinwar noted that the “internal situation of the enemy” should also be addressed in the discussions, although only in a focused manner. The internal situation of the internal enemy, its disagreements, conflicts and crises must be given a place, focused even if small.

Document 2.1: Conversation between Yahya al-Sinwar and Muhammad Nasr, April 4, 2023

[Muhammad Nasr (Abu Omar) was part of the Hamas Politburo, based in Beirut.]

The conversation dealt with the state of the Hamas movement, preparations for the future campaign against Israel, and with the protest within Israel and its possible impact on the confrontation. Nasr noted that the internal Israeli division was an opportunity for Hamas and the Palestinians, but only if the Palestinians overcome their own internal division. “There is a real opportunity for the [Palestinian] cause and the [Hamas] movement, and herein lies the danger of division in the political position or in the political line. The internal division in Israel is the greatest destructive force that can destroy Israel, and any [Palestinian] internal division delays the achievement of the goals. – This is an opportunity for us to reap the fruits, as the balance of power has now shifted in our favor, and we must seize the opportunity. The obstacle facing us is the internal division on the political issue.”

Document 2.2: Conversation between Yahya al-Sinwar and Muhammad Nasr, April 4, 2023

Al-Sinwar agreed with Nasr’s assessments regarding the “state of the enemy.” He noted that although a certain calm could be observed in the protest within Israel, it was only temporary and it was a “severe crisis” in the foundations of the “entity” … The general line is 100% correct and the assessment is precise, whether it concerns the situation of the enemy, the region or the existing opportunities. – The [political] calm among the enemy is temporary, only an apparent calm, and the crisis is greater and deeper …The crisis strikes the depth of the entity. From interviews in the media with enemy leaders, the picture becomes clear. The crisis in the entity is deep, not just a civil war, but a disintegration of the glue that holds the entity’s components together, and a breakdown of the formulas that preserve the entity's existence and continuity. Anyone familiar with the enemy’s affairs notices that if this situation continues for some time, it will lead them to a condition more serious and dangerous than Harb al-Ghufran [the Yom Kippur War].

Document 5: ‘Yasser’ (apparently the head of Hamas’ military intelligence, Muhammad Odeh) sent to Yahya al-Sinwar a classified assessment of “the impact of protests in the ranks of the ‘enemy army’ on operational readiness and the security situation on the fronts.” July 25, 2023

The enemy army is in the midst of a crisis of increasingly serious protests among reserve soldiers and officers, who are considered a key pillar in the army's operations, especially in the Air Force. This will negatively affect the army's operational capability if the intensity of the demonstrations and refusals escalates and reaches more significant levels. It will also affect the army’s offensive capability and its preparedness to deal with the challenges existing on the front. The demonstrations have so far focused on several sectors [of the army], the most prominent of which are the Air Force and Intelligence

Document 6.2: A Hamas military intelligence report sent to al-Sinwar, July 25, 2023

The enemy army has received a letter signed by 1,142 soldiers and officers in the Air Force reserve, threatening to stop their voluntary service if the “reasonableness clause” is finally approved. The data shows that the number has increased to 1,194 officers and soldiers. The number and distribution of air force soldiers and officers refusing to serve, follows.

The effects of the crisis depended on the number of soldiers and officers who did not report for service, their roles and the difficulty of the command echelon in maintaining cohesion within the army and separating the army from the social and political crisis. The greater the number of those avoiding service, the greater the direct impact on operational capability and readiness for conflict, especially a multi-sector conflict. Pilots were considered the most influential because “their number was modest compared to other specialties and their role was extremely important.”

Document 6.5: From an intelligence report issued by Hamas’ military wing and sent to Yahya al-Sinwar, July 25, 2023

The enemy is faced with the increasing offensive spirit from the ‘resistance’ forces, especially Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and with their desire to exploit the internal situation within the Zionist entity to their advantage. The commanders of the Zionist intelligence community are spreading the information to push the political forces in Israel to reach internal understandings, since preoccupation with the political crisis weakens strategic deterrence.

The IDF would still be capable of managing a confrontation with the Gaza Strip unless more than half of the reserve pilots did not participate, whereas the lack of a quarter of the reserve pilots would impair readiness for a multi-front confrontation.

“The assessment: The number of soldiers and officers refusing service does not yet significantly affect the army’s operational readiness. However, the refusal crisis may worsen … As a result, the military command will face extensive challenges and there will be a direct, though partial, impact on its level of preparedness and operational readiness regarding confrontation and large-scale war. The enemy’s readiness will not be damaged unless more than half of the reserve pilots refuse service. However, refusal by a quarter of the reserve pilots would constitute a significant blow to its ability to cope with a multi-front confrontation. The crisis could become fundamental (a state of general chaos, significant weakening of military strength and a basic strategic decline in army readiness). In the event of a flare-up on any front against the enemy, some of the soldiers and officers will regret their refusal and return to military service.”

“The recommendations: 1. Avoid entering a military confrontation based on the development of the internal crisis within the enemy. The crisis should be allowed to deepen further, since if it does not become a severe crisis, the benefit of the internal crisis in any military intervention will not be significant. 2. Coordinate with the comrades [other ‘resistance’ organizations] to conduct psychological warfare, and focus on disseminating information that will inflame the internal situation. 3. Invest in demonstrations to promote the issue of the captive soldiers and present it to the enemy’s public as one of the matters Netanyahu has failed to manage. 4. Continue to make the connection between the collapse of the political entities of the Jews due to internal disagreements and the exploitation of the current situation by the enemies. 5. The movement’s leadership [Hamas] should respond to the political situation within the enemy entity before the [Palestinian] public and the national forces, and present the situation as an opportunity to achieve the goals of the Palestinian people.”

The activities of Israel’s most decorated soldier Ehud Barak – specifically, the protests he funded and managed – have caused significant harm to the military readiness of the Israel Defense Forces prior to October 7, 2023. Hamas understood that the demonstrations which Barak catalyzed and his calls for pilots and Special Forces to go AWOL – in their eyes, these were a strategic influence which weakened Israel and left it less protected and less prepared for battle. And all the while, day by day, the D-Day for the jihadi massacres of October 7, 2023 drew closer.

How shall we then pray?

Pray for the leaders and the nation of Israel to embrace the gift of repentance toward the God of Jacob, to humble ourselves as a nation, and to learn the lessons we need to grasp

Pray for the leaders and elders of Israel – in the domains of politics, in the military and intelligence, and in law – be given the wisdom to draw sound conclusions and make wise preparations for the next round

Pray for the entire people of Israel to seek and find salvation in Messiah Yeshua

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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part Two

Our previous newsletter focused on Hamas jihadi strategies and preparations prior to its October 7, 2023 murderous attack on Israel. Also considered was how much the IDF, SHABAK (Israel's General Security Services) and AMAN (IDF Military Intelligence) were aware of Hamas intelligence, and how much the IDF relied on the accuracy of its own intelligence findings.

This newsletter will offer some background on two issues related to the October 7 atrocities; first, some highly unprofessional and negligent conduct (specifically on the part of the IDF/AMAN); and second, the actual timeline of events surrounding October 6-7. Most of this information is found in OSINT (open-source intelligence), but most reporting of events leaves out or spins many of the available facts.

Drop your guns

After the Israeli army completed its hi-tech anti-tunnel barrier along the seam between Gaza and Israeli kibbutzim and farms in April 2021, the IDF concluded that the chance of terrorist incursions from Gaza was now “close to nil,” and that kibbutz rapid response squads of only 5-10 armed warriors would be sufficient as the last line of defense for these communities. The locals were deeply concerned, but “as much as we banged on the table, it didn’t help,” said one local security coordinator.

On October 7, 2023, Kibbutz Nahal Oz’s civilian emergency response team was forced to defend their community against up to 180 Hamas terrorists. However, they were faced with an insurmountable problem. The IDF had decided a few years back that it was too much of a security threat for rifles to be ‘hanging around the kibbutz.’ So all the M-16’s were collected and deposited in a kibbutz armory. But when Hamas broke into Nahal Oz, the armory instantly became inaccessible as it was covered in a hail of bullets. And the man who held the key to the armory was murdered by Hamas, leaving the squad unable to access the weaponry.

Said team leader Barry Meirovitch. “If we had weapons on October 7, then some of [the response team] would have been killed, but we would have saved more people. We found ourselves in the most absurd situation. When it came down to it, I had all the gear, including a radio, a flak jacket, and magazines, but I didn’t have a gun.” Sixty soldiers and 15 kibbutz members were murdered in that attack.

When Hamas terrorists rolled into the Negev town of Sderot on white Toyota pickup trucks, the 22 members of that town’s civilian alert squad also had no semi-automatic weapons – they had been returned to IDF armories. The squads were equipped only with personal handguns, severely limiting their ability to engage the dozens of Hamas terrorists who stormed the town. The mayor of Sderot Lyor Davidi was entirely unaware that members of the town’s alert squad lacked automatic weapons. He only discovered this fact on the day of the attack. A total of 53 people were killed in Sderot: 37 civilians, 11 police officers, 2 firefighters, and 1 IDF soldier

“His watchmen are blind, … ignorant and dumb” (Isaiah 56:10)

At age 27, Israeli ham-radio enthusiast Rafael Hayun began to intercept Hamas communications and to send the processed information to Unit 8200 (AMAN SIGINT). The IDF thankfully provided Hayun with monitoring equipment. According to IDF testimonies, Hayun’s SIGINT often reached units in the field before official army channels, saving lives and foiling Hamas terror attacks and ambushes.

In late 2019, Hayun began reporting on Hamas training exercises involving plans to invade Israel, penetrate the security fence at multiple points, take over communities, and commit mass murder and kidnapping. Over time, the Hamas training became more intense and detailed. Hayun alerted the units he was working with about Hamas’s activities in real time.

In late 2022, a senior IDF officer (Col. G.) who headed the Military Censorship and Information Security Department under AMAN decided to block Hayun’s direct contact with field commanders, arguing that the IDF did not require such civilian assistance. A recording of this conversation was released in September 2024 by journalist Almog Boker.

Colonel G., head of the Security Department in the IDF, “appealed to the Ministry of Communications to revoke [Hayun’s] license. Hayun was called for a hearing on April 3, 2023, and “the Director General of the Ministry of Communications told me to close down my system and stop listening to the enemy. I did as I was told and in June [2023] they informed me that my license had been revoked. Two months later, on August 20 [2023], inspectors came to my home to make sure I had complied with orders.” Five months before the October 7 assault, in May 2023, AMAN was ordered to seize all of Hayun’s equipment and stop working with him. Around the same time, the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate Unit 8200 SIGINT unit also stopped monitoring Hamas’s communications.

Hayun said that his military colleagues told him that the order to cut him off came from “senior leadership,” and they had no explanation for the decision. Hayun told reporters he is convinced that if he had been listening in the weeks before Oct. 7, the invasion would have been prevented.

Hayun says that on May 23, 2023 he sent a message to Colonel G., after Hamas fired on Sderot and several residents were injured, “I wrote him a very poignant and direct message, saying ‘You should know that the victims’ blood is on your hands.’ ‘G.’ answered and warned me not to write to him again.”

Hayun says that an examination of the radios Hamas’ Nukhba terrorists had when entering Israel were all calibrated to frequencies that he had been listening to until his devices were taken and his license revoked. “I met a number of senior officers in different military units. We went over the frequencies. I had all these frequencies in my devices that were confiscated six months earlier. I would have heard everything.”

As for the explanations for what happened before and on October 7^th (including the confiscation of his ‘electronic ears’) Hayun responds: “A lot of things that I know about don’t fit properly into the puzzle. I won’t say that it was something intentional or someone from the inside. I’ll just say that there are many things that I couldn’t fit properly in the huge puzzle of that day.”

“The pump don’t work”

IDF spotters and commanders in the AMAN border units monitoring surveillance balloons along the Gaza perimeter conveyed to their superiors in the weeks before October 7, 2023 that three observation blimps were grounded and out of action. As a result, the soldiers who operated them – concentrated in a small number of operations rooms – were unable to relay information and warn troops on October 7 as 6,000 jihadis swarmed across the bulldozed security barrier. At the IDF Nahal Oz base, a balloonist and his four comrades engaged Hamas in a lengthy battle, managing to kill ten terrorists. But the IDF soldiers were outnumbered and were all found dead inside a mobile shelter at 14:30, October 7, 2023.

On your walls, O Jerusalem

In April 2021, a hi-tech barrier wall was completed by the IDF along the cease-fire line between Israel and Gaza. It was considered a groundbreaking defense project, utilizing autonomous systems, robotics, and advanced surveillance – all to stop Hamas infiltration from Gaza.

Yet a senior officer said, “They told residents the above-ground fence would prevent infiltration, but it wasn’t even built for that. It was only meant to delay attackers by 15 minutes. It didn’t respond to explosives, not even to a tractor.”

The Philistines have invaded

The IDF have a order-of-battle code-named “Parash Pleshet” (‘the Philistine has invaded’). It is intended to block enemy invasions. Unfortunately Israel was not ready for the magnitude of this invasion. The IDF’s Gaza Division had not adequately prepared for the most extreme potential scenario.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Uri Sagi, a former head of Military Intelligence, explains that SHABAK is an organization focused on terrorism. “It speaks about ‘infiltrations,’ about ‘terrorist attacks,’ not about war, which is the language Military Intelligence speaks . . . The problem began long before this tragic night; namely, senior military officials were unfamiliar with Hamas’ plans and could not even imagine them.”

The IDF intelligence consensus was that Hamas would not be attacking. As a result, troops were thinned out and sent home for Shabbat furlough. Two companies of troops from the IDF’s Commando Brigade, which had been deployed to the Gaza border during the Jewish holiday season in September and October, were sent to the West Bank just two days before the October 7 massacre. The IDF’s failure to grasp what was about to happen was based on “a lot of arrogance,” says Gen. Israel Ziv. The thought was that “Hamas wouldn’t attack, wouldn’t dare, and that even if so, they are not capable. We went to sleep on the 6th thinking there’s a cat over there, and we woke up on the 7th and there’s a tiger.”

At 05:30 on October 7, 2023, IDF Golani soldiers were preparing to start out on their dawn jeep patrol along the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the fence – a regular morning activity. But suddenly they were instructed by their superiors to delay the patrol and to stand back because of a threat from anti-tank missiles, three of these soldiers told the BBC. “There was a warning. It was forbidden to go up the route next to the fence,” one recalls. Golani soldier 21-year-old Shimon Malka, said such a warning was unusual but not unheard of, so they gave it little thought.

IDF Gen. Israel Ziv says it is standard IDF protocol to ‘stand soldiers back’ during suspected attacks like this so they can “avoid being exposed as a target.” But, he says, “Hamas realized that and used it” to their advantage.

The timeline of October 6, 2023

21:00 SHABAK (also known as the Shin Bet security agency) starts to identify SIGINT that Hamas was beginning to activate specially pre-positioned Israeli cell-phone SIMs – at first, a handful of SIMs, but exactly at midnight, 1,000 SIMs are activated simultaneously by Hamas. SHABAK updates IDF Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman via WhatsApp at 21:30. Top Hamas commanders and their families begin to descend into the rat’s nest of tunnels spread throughout Gaza – more extensive than that of the entire London underground,

23:00 SHABAK chief Ronen Bar (who is then at his home) briefs IDF Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld and other IDF and AMAN officers about “unusual indications” in the field.

23:30 Various Hamas activities are detected (also at 00:00, 02:30 and 03:00), considered and then dismissed. AMAN officials continue to look into activities, and their conclusion is that nothing unusual is occurring.

The timeline of October 7, 2023

00:00 One thousand Nuhkba terrorists simultaneously activate Israel SIM cards in their cell phones. The purpose of using the Israeli SIM cards is for the jihadis to improve their ability to communicate with each other while moving through the territory of Israel and carrying out their attacks.

01:00 SHABAK issues an intelligence report: “A sequence of concerning signs indicates Hamas is preparing for an attack. At the same time, field indicators suggest routine and restraint, with the background of a recently agreed ‘understanding’ leading to the assessment that Hamas is not interested in escalation or starting a campaign at this time.”

01:30 IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi’s office manager is updated about the latest SHABAK report, and then by the IDF Maj. Gen. in charge of Southern Command.

02:45 SHABAK Southern Region sends out an intelligence summary to high-ranking officers and officials: “Today and yesterday there were SIMs in certain areas of Gaza. This is not unusual, since similar tests were carried out by Hamas last year as well. According to the division and the command, Hamas has not changed its routine. The information is preliminary and there are routine activities in Hamas. A discussion on the matter will be held by the Southern Command Intelligence Officer at 08:30 and by the Southern Command heads at 10:00.” The head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, asks, “Are we on alert?” He is answered in the negative.

02:58/03:03 SHABAK sends out an urgent alert to several official bodies including the Israel Police and the National Security Council. “We have an indication of activation and activity of Hamas’s communication network across several brigades. We lack details on the nature of the activity, though the cumulative unusual activity, alongside additional indicators, may point to an offensive action.” At most, the Israeli intelligence agencies think there might be an attempt for a minor kidnapping of a small group of Border Patrol soldiers

03:12 SHABAK says that the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, then-head of Unit 8200, Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, and then-head of the Research Division, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman are alerted via WhatsApp for the first time by an AMAN officer in the IDF Southern Command identified by the initial “Aleph” to what he recognizes as “something extremely unusual going on – heightened readiness on the other side [in Gaza].” In actuality, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, head of AMAN (the Intelligence Directorate) is not involved up to this point, as he is vacationing in Eilat. He is later updated by his office manager that a call had been received.

03:21 IDF Chief of Staff Halevi, who is also at home at the time, is awakened by the IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Matan Feldman. IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, who once served as head of bureau for former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, notes: “If the Chief of Staff gets up at night, it’s because we're on the brink of an abyss. You don't wake the Chief of Staff for nothing” Halevi immediately understands that he is about to receive intelligence that will require his full attention, so he asks Feldman to arrange a conference call in a few minutes.

03:30 HaLevi, IDF Operations Directorate head Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman are now all updated on the signs of an imminent attack. Halevi requests more information. He also orders that the intelligence information be checked – including from a perspective skeptical of the prevailing assumption that Hamas is not interested in war. He orders an update sent to the Israeli Air Force. Halevi requests to arrange a telephone consultation with Finkelman in order to make a situational assessment, but Finkelman is mid-assessment with his intelligence officer. They decide to hold a call at around 4:20 a.m. While he is waiting, Halevi writes on a paper: “Don’t convince ourselves that this is nothing.”

Maj. Gen. Finkelman does most of the talking during the call. He tells Halevi and Basiuk the details and emphasizes the dilemmas – namely that the intelligence establishment believes Hamas is merely conducting a drill, but the stricter interpretation argues that there is a real intention to carry out a pin-point infiltration, although not in an immediate timeframe. The conference call with Halevi takes place sometime between 03:30 and 04:00 and lasts no more than fifteen minutes.

04:00 SHABAK holds a meeting (though the head of SHABAK is not yet present). No alerts are passed on to PM Netanyahu, to the head of Israeli Police, to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (a former head of the Gaza Brigade and subsequently of Southern Command), to IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar or to Navy chief Vice Adm. David Saar Salama.

A former Shin Bet official interviewed on Professor Gadi Taub’s Hebrew podcast said that the Shin Bet thought Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had embarked on a path of moderation to improve the living conditions in Gaza. In the context of that mindset, they interpreted the signs of increased Hamas activity as preparations for a possible Israeli incursion. Bar and the top SHABAK brass feared that any upping of the level of alert would trigger Hamas and start a war. Alternatively, they feared the IDF might launch a preemptive strike with the same result.

The head of SHABAK Ronen Bar “did not awaken the prime minister because he feared that Netanyahu would make the wrong decision and trigger a major war with Hamas. Instead, he decided to make the [decision] himself – one of the most fateful in the history of Israel – rather than leaving it to the duly elected prime minister.”

04:00 Hamas begins to gather its forces. Nukhba terrorists are told to go to mosques for morning prayers. There they receive precise orders, passed on by word of mouth, to report at certain points along the border fence at 06:00. At the staging points, the terrorists receive weapons, ammunition, maps, and written orders. It is only then that most of them realize, for the first time, that they are headed to war.

04:20 The ‘Chief of Staff situational assessment’ takes place by encrypted phone calls. These meetings can last between 15 and 60 minutes. The participants in the situational assessment are COS HaLevi, OC Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Finkelman, and the head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk. Halevi asks during the conversation why there is no Military Intelligence official on the line, but does not insist on a MI representative being present. Halevi brings up potential actions by Hamas, including infiltrations from the sea, from the air, or using tunnels. He gives orders to increase surveillance on Hamas, and states that a new assessment would be convened at 8:30 a.m. or earlier if new information is received. From 3:30 a.m., there is no new information coming from the Gaza Strip.

04:00 to 05:00 Numerous calls are held between Southern Command and the IAF regarding the deployment of drones. It is decided to move one helicopter to the Ramon Airbase in the Negev Israel, to shorten the distance it needs to fly to the Gaza Strip.

4:30 SHABAK chief Ronen Bar arrives at SHABAK HQ in Tel Aviv and convenes a meeting with regional heads. Possible scenarios discussed include Hamas staging a localized surprise raid or a kidnapping. Intelligence and operational responses are prepared. A ‘Tequila’ Special Forces team composed of SHABAK fighters and Israel Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, designed to deal with localized raids, is sent out after 4:30 am..

04:30 to 05:20 Another meeting is held at 4:30 a.m. chaired by head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk. The directorate, responsible for mobilizing and reinforcing IDF forces, reinforces aerial reconnaissance by sending one combat helicopter and three reconnaissance UAVs with no offensive capabilities. These UAVs would later look down from above at Israeli civilians being abducted into Gaza, unable to respond.

05:15 Ronen Bar writes in the protocol that he issues orders to brief Maj. Gen. Avi Gil. (Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military secretary). But Maj. Gen. Avi Gil notes that he was briefed on the still ambiguous situation only at 6:15 AM, He didn’t have time to wake Netanyahu up and called him only at 6:29 a.m. when the attack had already commenced

05:30 Israel Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar is updated. Navy chief Vice Adm. David Saar Salama is not updated

05:30 to 06:29 IDF calls and assessments continued up until 6:29 a.m., when Hamas launches 4,300 rockets at Israel and 7,000 terrorists infiltrate the country. The ‘Tequila’ Special Operations SWAT team arrives on site at this time.

Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud! Jaish Muhammad soufa yaʿoud

The above Arabic chant is a rallying jihadi battle-slogan which is translated as “Khaybar, Khaybar, o Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!” It refers to the Battle of Khaybar of 628 AD, where the forces of Muhammad defeated, subjugated, massacred and expelled the Jewish community living in the Khaybar oasis (present-day Saudi Arabia). Today this slogan is chanted primarily at public anti-Israel demonstrations, and has been invoked during Islamist terrorist attacks as well. The chant has been categorized as antisemitic by (among others) the American news broadcaster PBS and the British advocacy group Muslims Against Antisemitism.

The murderous wave of Hamas’ jihadi attacks breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking military bases and massacring civilians in 21 communities, including the kibbutzim Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Ha’asara, and Alumim. The convoy was led by white Toyota pickup trucks filled with Nukhba terrorists, accompanied by motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and powered paragliders. The jihadis 6,000 terrorists breached the border in 119 locations into Israel; this included 3,800 from the commando Nukhba forces, as well as 2,200 Gazan pro-Hamas civilians and other jihadi groups. Additionally, the IDF estimates that 1,000 Gazans within Gaza fired rockets against Israel, bringing the total number of participants on Hamas’s side to 7,000.

On recordings of Hamas commanders during the attack, one commander is heard saying: “Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them on TV channels to the whole world! Slaughter them. End the children of Israel”

08:00 PLO/Palestinian Authority terrorists belonging to Fatah/al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades come down from Judea and Samaria, camouflaged in Israeli police uniforms and having flashing blue ‘Kojak’ lights on their cars. They redirect fleeing Israelis into Hamas ambushes (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPJTeI1RMnE video clip at 0:00 – 0:20).

Trapped by the lawyers

Israel has been in the throes of a battle between conservative/traditional political parties on the one hand, and a woke/Left-wing juristocracy (also known as ‘judicial activism’) on the other. Judicial activism holds that courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of their decisions (which are usually Left-leaning and anti-religious). It usually implies that judges make rulings based on their own views rather than on precedent.

Prior to the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, opponents of the present government attempted to overthrow PM Netanyahu’s coalition through hostile legal moves. Some oligarchs and previous Left-leaning Prime Ministers and Military/Intelligence heads have been co-opted into this movement targeting judicial reform.

The judicial figureheads of this anti-government movement include the Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara (who has been fired by the Knesset but refuses to quit). In the IDF, this role has been led by Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Military Advocate General (MAG). They continue to manifest an anti-conservative, anti-religious and anti-traditional tendenz. They are at loggerheads with much of the IDF and the government, insisting on enforcing novel legal interpretations which place a stranglehold on the IDF and prevent it from decisively defeating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Republic.

On the morning of October 7, 2023 Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Chief Military Advocate, goes straight to the Kirya (Israel’s Pentagon) and sends out approximately 100 of her IDF lawyers in the regular and reserve ranks. These quickly arrive at all the important combat hubs: the commands and divisions, the Air Force and Navy, the operations and intelligence wings. They show up between 07:00 and 08:00.

At 08:10 the MAG overturns PM Netanyahu’s legal prerogative to call in the IAF and declare war. Instead, the military juristocracy forbade the IAF from bombing anywhere in Gaza. It took the Air Force 12 hours before it was able to act and seal off the border from Gazans rushing in and Hamas fighters taking hostages back.

At 11:30 PM Netanyahu again orders the IAF in, but his orders are overturned three more times by the MAG. The MAG also forbids approving open-fire orders to the IDF – which explains why soldiers and pilots refused to fire on Hamas terrorists for many hours, while Israelis were being slaughtered, raped, burned to death and kidnapped. One such example is Yair, an IDF soldier on a rapid response team, who calls up the IDF Central Command and pleads for reinforcements against the 50 Hamas terrorists he is fighting. He is told by an IAF fighter pilot “We don’t have legal permission to shoot in populated areas.” The fear of facing ‘lawfare’ attacks at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has blunted the sharp sword of the IDF. Most of the casualties on October 7, 2023 are integrally connected to this criminal policy of the IDF’s military juristocracy. Somehow the IDF has deferred to the courts. “The legal advisors were more concerned, apparently, with the lives of Gazan ‘civilians’ plundering southern settlements than with the lives of those dying of asphyxiation in their bomb shelters, being murdered in cold blood, or being assaulted.”

At 20:10 the Security Cabinet of the Israeli government gathers and retroactively approves the declaration of war and the open-fire orders. The MAG and the Attorney General then have no choice but to approve those declarations.

On October 9, 2023, two days after the murderous attack on Israel, Hamas terrorists were found near the Sde Teiman camp, a three minute drive from Be’er Sheva, where they were apprehended by the Duvdevan Special Forces unit.

What has been described in this newsletter is simultaneously sobering, infuriating and depressing. The IDF is world-famous for amazing acts of bravery, daring, courage and inventiveness, but occasionally it too has feet of clay – like other armies. The key to Israel’s victories must lie in its dependence on and faith in YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel.

“Through God we will do valiantly, and it is He who will trample down our enemies” (Psalm 60:12)

“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to YHVH” (Proverbs 21:31)

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and YHVH had shut them up?” (Deuteronomy 32:30)

How shall we then pray?

Pray for the leaders and the nation of Israel to be given the gift of repentance toward the God of Jacob, and the humility and courage to follow through in these areas

Pray for the leaders and elders of Israel – in the domains of politics, in the military and intelligence, and in law – be given the wisdom to establish godliness, righteousness and truth in these spheres

Pray for the entire people of Israel to seek and find their salvation – Messiah Yeshua

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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

October 7 two years on – what happened? Part One

A 1978 speech in the British House of Lords quotes an informal chat between the French Ambassador Ambassador at Paris’ Vietnam peace talks (1972-73) and the Chinese representative (most probably Premier Zhou Enlai). The French Ambassador said: “Tell me your Excellency, what has been the effect of the French Revolution on the development of your country?” After a brief pause, the Chinese gentleman said: “It is too early yet to say.” It seems that sometimes it takes time to fully comprehend events.

Two years have passed since the murderous terror attack by jihadi Hamas forces against Israeli families and farms. Though the full extent of what transpired may not yet be completely understood – some information, of course, is still subject to censorship – there is enough OSINT (open-source intelligence) available to piece together a fairly comprehensive appraisal of what went on that day. Immediate and general contexts are available from media reportage; jihadi combat strategies and Islamist perspectives are available from the Hamas Charter and published Israeli intelligence findings; SIGINT (signals intelligence) information from American sources (NSA and CIA) and from Israeli sources (AMAN [Agaf Ha-Modi’in] and its Unit 8200) – some of these have been leaked to media outlets – all these help in filling in many of the blanks.

“For by cunning stratagems you will wage war” (Proverbs 24:6)
“Prepare plans by consultation, and make war by cunning stratagems.” (Proverbs 20:18)
“Where there is no cunning stratagem, the people fall” (Proverbs 11:14)
“The heart of man plans his way, but YHVH establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9)

Context is everything

The State of Israel was birthed in 1948 into a matrix of constant pressure. Since then, superpowers have been bullying, aggressively focusing on issues like the dividing of Jerusalem; the handing over Judea and Samaria (also known as ‘the West Bank’) to Islamic dictatorships or jihadi terror groups; and pressuring Israel to consent to the establishment of an enemy state in Gaza and Ramallah (interchangeably run either by Hamas or by the PLO/PA). These goals are still observable principles guiding the US State Department.

Operating on these foundations, the US has trained, supported and encouraged the PLO terror group and, in recent times, has also been an advocate for Hamas’ continued rule in Gaza. The America-sponsored ‘peace accords’ (Camp David, Oslo) are pushing for a Palestinian terror state. Over the past fifteen years there has also been a collateral push to remove Israeli PM Netanyahu from office. These agreements (including the Abraham Accords and the Qatar-funded Gaza peace deal spearheaded by POTUS Trump) are all fated to collapse if Israel ‘spoils the party’ by insisting to hold onto Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem – lands promised by the God of Jacob to His people Israel by irrevocable covenant. The above anti-Abrahamic agendas should be kept in mind as current events unfold.

Hamas dress-rehearsals between 2016 and 2023

Hamas’ jihadi terror invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 involved much planning. Here is a brief layout of what was involved.

On Wednesday April 19, 2017 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu presented to the Knesset State Control Committee that AMAN (Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate) had come across evidence that Hamas was planning a multi-pronged invasion of Israel – along the lines of the terrorist group’s ‘Walls of Jericho’ battle plan (which was later intercepted in April 2022).

On November 27, 2023, the BBC aired video confirmation and investigative reporting of Hamas’ preparations for the October 7 attack:

In 2018 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) set up a structure to coordinate Gaza's armed factions under a central command. On December 29 2020, Hamas's overall leader Ismail Haniyeh declared the first of four drills codenamed ‘Strong Pillar’ a “strong message and a sign of unity” between Gaza's various armed factions. This was the first of four joint drills held over three years, each of which was documented in polished videos posted on public social media channels. Ten Palestinian factions participated in a war games-style exercise overseen by a ‘joint operation room.’ These included PIJ, Mujahidin Brigades, al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades, and Omar al-Qasim Forces.

The second Strong Pillar drill was held almost exactly one year later on December 26, 2021. Ayman Nofal, a commander in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades - the official name for Hamas’ armed wing - said the aim of the exercise on 26 December 2021 was to “affirm the unity of the resistance factions” and “tell the enemy that the walls and engineering measures on the borders of Gaza will not protect them.” The joint military maneuvers were designed to “simulate the liberation of settlements [i.e. kibbutzim] near Gaza.”

In May 2022 Hamas TV aired a drama series featuring footage from the Strong Pillar drills. Included were simulated attacks on Israeli communications, and the targeting of kibbutzim and IDF bases – including the Re’im base where the IDF Gaza Division is located. Later in 2022 Hamas aired a televised ceremony in which Yahya Sinwar (Hamas’ head) handed out awards to the show’s producers, declaring: “This series is an inseparable part of what we are preparing – the great preparations we are making with our brothers in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades [i.e., Hamas’s military wing]. They are absolutely planning for the liberation and return.”

The third Strong Pillar drill was carried out on December 28, 2022. Videos were released of fighters clearing buildings and overrunning tanks on a replica of a military base. This exercise took place 2.6 km (1.6 miles) away from the main Erez crossing into Israel

Fourteen training sites at nine different locations across Gaza were located using satellite intelligence. One site was less than 1.6 km (1 mile) from the United Nations’ aid agency distribution center, visible on an official video published by the UN in December 2022.

On September 12, 2023 the fourth Strong Pillar drill took place. Hamas jihadi commandos were filmed riding in white Toyota pickup trucks, raiding mock Israeli communities, going room to room killing people, blowing their way through gates painted yellow like those in border kibbutzim, and taking civilians and soldiers hostage.

The ‘Walls of Jericho’ battle-plan

In October 2021, Hamas’s attack plan against Israel was issued. It was obtained by Israeli Military Intelligence (AMAN)’s SIGINT UNIT 8200 in April 2022, translated from Arabic, and code-named ‘Jericho Wall.’ This plan laid out in painstaking detail the exact actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023.

This report was then passed on to and seen by the following army top brass: IDF AMAN chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, UNIT 8200 commander Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel; IDF Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld; IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano.

However, the report was not shared with the following top brass: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi; IDF Deputy COS Maj. Gen. Amir Baram; Israel Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar; senior IDF operations officers Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and Brig. Gen. Shlomi Binder. It was also not shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Sinwar’s secret blood-drenched instructions

On August 24, 2024 a computer was found in an underground Hamas complex in Rafah, Gaza Strip, where Yahya Sinwar (leader and chairman of Hamas) had been hiding out from the IDF.

A scanned document of Sinwar’s handwritten order-of-battle was located on a computer unconnected to any other network. This document detailed his instructions to Hamas, written before October 7, 2023. Sinwar laid out the jihadi group’s deceptions in the weeks before the invasion; he described how the invasion would be prosecuted, based on the understanding that the Israeli defense measures along the border would not be able to stop the waves of attacking terrorists. Sinwar wrote that the window of opportunity for the success of the attack was between six and ten hours, during which Hamas forces had to firmly establish facts on the ground.

He then declared what he was looking for in equipping his terrorists with GoPro body video cameras:

“Explosive images: Images must be released which will trigger a surge of euphoria, frenzy, and momentum among our people, especially among the residents of the West Bank, the ‘internal’ [Israeli Arabs], Jerusalem, and our entire Islamic nation. This is meant to spur them to respond to the calls to rise up and revolt, while simultaneously sowing fear and terror among the enemy. It must be emphasized to the unit commanders that these things are to be carried out deliberately. That is, to document and broadcast the images as quickly as possible: stepping on the heads of soldiers, point-blank shootings, slaughtering people with knives, blowing up tanks, prisoners kneeling with their hands on their heads, and the like.”

And so it was done: a Hamas commander from Gaza City (Abu al-Baraa) instructed his operatives in the area of Kibbutz Sa’ad, (according to a message intercepted by Unit 8200): “Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them across TV channels for the whole world to see. Slaughter them. End the children of Israel!”

Another routine day at the office

IDF tatzpitaniyot (tower observers adept at VISINT or visual intelligence) were sending very concerning reports for nearly three years (since the first Strong Pillar drill in 2020) to their IDF commanders about worrying signs indicating Hamas preparations for a full-bore invasion of Israel. They were nearly totally ignored and told to stop such reporting.

One such example was Noa Melman, a tatzpitanit who finished her mandatory IDF service in January 2023. In a post-army interview with Israel’s Channel 12, she recounted the many indications of what was to come, including a mock border fence set up by Hamas in order for the terrorists to practice, again and again, blowing up the border and crossing over to the other side. She explained: “Our commanders told us to report what we saw, but everyone treated it like it was normal, like it was routine.”

Death in the kibbutz, at any cost

On July 6, 2023, a female Non-Commissioned Officer and Israeli intelligence analyst in Unit 8200’s Gaza Division emailed a presentation titled ‘Death in the kibbutz, at any cost.’ The PowerPoint charted out Hamas’ mass invasion plan, describing in detail a May 2023 Hamas training session that began in the early-morning hours and lasted late into the evening. The training included jeeps and motorcycles, and a scenario of shooting down an aircraft. In a response sent six days after the warning, on July 12, 2023, an unnamed IDF commander acknowledged the analyst’s good work but decided that Hamas’ training session was for show, an ‘imaginary scenario’ and not a concrete battle plan.

The Unit 8200 analyst responded with a stark warning: “This is a plan designed to start a war.” One of her male colleagues backed her up on the same email thread: “I emphasize that we completely and emphatically disagree with the assumption that this is an imaginary scenario.” According to the female analyst, Hamas militants were chanting, ‘Prepare to kill the Jewish pigs’ and ‘Prepare to go in and decapitate.’ She added: ‘They are training, with large forces, for a big event... this is preparation for the real thing.’ She noted that the Hamas commandos were continually quoting from the Quran (Surah Al-Ma’idah; Surah 5; Ayat 21) that begins with the words: “My people! Enter the holy land which Allah has ordained for you. And do not turn back, for then you will turn about losers!” That was when the non-religious Israeli analyst realized that, for Hamas, this was not a culture clash, a clash over territory or a desire to better their economic status, but rather an Islamist rallying cry to war – she understood belated that what was coming down the pike was actually religious war, an Islamist jihad, one which would involve all the murder and rapine described in Quranic jihadi passages.

Hiding in plain sight

On August 25, 2023, Hamas leader Saleh Arouri stated on Hezbollah’s Al-Mayadeen channel: “We are preparing for a comprehensive war and are discussing this in closed chambers with all the elements and components [i.e., of the jihadi ‘resistance’ axis] that are connected to this war.” He added that the resistance axis has “the presence, the motivation and the desire for a regional war to occur, and has an interest in this.”

The chief watchmen were sleeping

On September 19, 2023, IDF Intelligence Unit 8200’s Gaza Division distributed the document ‘Detailed End-to-End Raid Training’ to senior intelligence officials, at least those within the Gaza Division. It described the training Hamas units had been undergoing – practicing raids, kidnapping, and holding hostages in Gaza. The terrorist forces were now divided into four groups; each group trained on a simulated outpost. Clear plans showed that Hamas was planning to take hostages en masse. The document estimated the target number of hostages at 200-250. During the actual October 7 attack, 251 hostages were taken, while over 1,200 others were killed, mostly civilians. The document was ignored. The decision-makers in the IDF, both in military and intelligence, believed that Hamas had made a philosophical decision not to go to war; that Hamas was unable to carry out such an operation; and that it was actually Hamas which was merely defending itself against a prospective Israeli invasion of Gaza. Hamas’ deception tactics successfully blinded the eyes of the watchmen. It had conducted a years-long campaign to fool Israel into thinking the jihadi armies could be placated with economic incentives in order to maintain relative calm.

Not listening to the devil’s advocate

As a result of the near-bone-crushing defeat of the IDF in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, AMAN established a unit called ‘Ipcha Mistabra’ – the Devil’s Advocate Unit. Their job was to rigorously challenge the politically correct expectations of Army Intelligence on emergency issues.

The head of that unit wrote in late September to all senior decision-makers in both the IDF and in the political echelon, challenging the widespread assessment that Hamas was deterred. The officer continued that he twice ‘presented this thesis’ in writing, on September 21 and 26, 2023 and that these two notes ‘were widely distributed among all decision-makers in the military and the political echelon.’ He also set out the thesis in a speech at an annual Intelligence Branch strategic assessment session on September 26, 2023 and again, on September 27, 2023, at the weekly debate before the head of military intelligence. His warnings were ignored by the head of AMAN, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva.

When the watchmen don’t listen to the watchwoman’s warning

Another Non-Commissioned Officer (code-named ‘Vav’) in Unit 8200, sent an email sent to the Gaza Division’s AMAN intelligence officers and others unnamed, a day or two after the Unit 8200 dossier ‘Detailed End-to-End Raid Training’ (sent on September 29, 2023).

‘Vav’ warned that, due to the apparent imminence of whatever Hamas was planning, Israel’s intelligence would likely not have enough time to ‘prevent the incident’ altogether. Instead, ‘Vav’ suggested that relevant parties begin “formulating plans for dealing with the incident, should it actually happen, in order to reduce the damage . . . The other side is determined in its intentions to carry out its plan. If the plan is implemented, painful and difficult fighting is expected.” ‘Vav’ noted that the exercises Hamas had been observed carrying out were “very reminiscent” of the plan … to destroy the Gaza Division’s defense system [i.e., ‘the ‘Jericho Wall’]. It is no longer a plan only on paper.”

She concluded her dire warning by paraphrasing Ezekiel 33:6:

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the shofar and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand”

‘Vav’ stated in conclusion: “This email constitutes a blowing of the shofar, because the sword is coming – the hour is ripe to warn the nation!’ The email was dismissed by the Gaza Division’s top intelligence officers. On July 5, 2024 it was reported that “tempers are fraying” in the AMAN Directorate because the officers who had failed to heed ‘Vav’s warning had not been fired.

An American postscript

Two US intelligence warning were also passed on to Israel, and a third was circulated to those paying attention. On September 28, 2023 an NSA SIGINT update warned, based on multiple streams of intelligence, that the terror group Hamas was poised to escalate rocket-attacks across the border. On October 5, 2023, a CIA wire warned in general terms of the increasing possibility of terrorist violence by Hamas. On October 6, 2023 US officials began to circulate reporting from Israel indicating unusual activity by Hamas – indications that an attack was imminent.

I don’t see, therefore I don’t believe

The IDF’s Gaza Division had never prepared for a situation where more than several dozens Hamas terrorists would possibly attack and breach the border. In the end, over 6,000 Hamas jihadis (and a few thousand other pro-jihadi Gazans getting in on the pogrom) stormed into southern Israel on October 7.

Various commanders in Unit 8200 have come under fire for dismissing and ridiculing lower-level mostly female officers who accurately conveyed that Hamas was plotting a large-scale attack. Other AMAN officers no longer felt comfortable relying on HUMINT – traditional intelligence-gathering methods – and preferred to put all their eggs in the basket of SIGINT and its technological innovations.

A high-ranking officer within the IDF’s Intelligence Corps reduced Unit 8200’s manpower in 2021 after concluding that their intelligence-gathering methods would not help detect a threat from Gaza in real-time. “An alert in the Gaza arena will not come from the classic sources,” the officer was quoted saying. This decision significantly downgraded the unit’s operational activities and effectiveness in the Gaza border region. Part of this decision involved ceasing SIGINT operations entirely overnight and on weekends

In our next newsletter, the timeline of the October 7 events will be presented, as well as the contexts surrounding those events. The third newsletter will deal with the mostly concealed role of an Israeli spy, his Israeli handlers, how his involvement affected the outcome of the Israel-Hamas war in a major way, and the highly relevant political background here. The fourth newsletter will draw conclusions from the events, and offer prayer guidelines.

How shall we then pray?

Pray for discernment, clarity of thought and revelation be given to those standing with and praying for Israel and the Jewish people

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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

The ghost of Manhattan

There’s a new sheriff in town. New York City – known as ‘the City that never sleeps’ and ‘the Big Apple’ – has a new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. He now oversees the world’s premier financial and fintech center, the largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.16 trillion, larger than all but nine countries in the world. His shadow is now cast over the home of the world’s two largest stock exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. His stewardship extends to Fifth Avenue, the most expensive shopping street in the world. New York City is also home to the highest number of billionaires, individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than USD $30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world. His is a great responsibility, and perhaps in God’s eyes NYC could well be called (as was Nineveh in Jonah 1:2) ‘that great city.’ Will this new mayor of the world’s largest Jewish city outside Israel be able to “be his brother’s keeper” (see Genesis 4:9), or will he end up falling under the curse which falls on all those who dishonor Israel (see Genesis 12:3)?

The world’s largest Jewish city outside Israel

Jewish people make up approximately 12% of NYC’s population – the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. As of 2023, over 960,000 Jews lived in the five boroughs of New York City, and over 1.9 million Jews lived in the New York metropolitan area – approximately 25% of the entire American Jewish population. Judaism is the second-largest religion practiced in New York City. Nearly half of the city’s Jews live in Brooklyn (see ‘Brooklyn, the most Jewish spot on earth’. The world headquarters of some branches of Hasidism (Chabad, Bobover, and Satmar) are also located in that borough.

The ghost of anti-Semitism at the foundations

The first Jews to set foot on the soil of New York in 1654 (then called ‘New Amsterdam’ or ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’) were 23 Sephardi Jews (four couples, two widows, and thirteen children) fleeing persecution by the Portuguese Inquisition, just after Portugal conquered Dutch Brazil. These descendants of Jacob came face-to-face with Peter Stuyvesant, the Director General of New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederland), under the control of the Dutch West India Company (Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie).

Stuyvesant seized the Jewish families’ belongings and attempted to evict them from his city. He stated in a letter to the directors of the Dutch West India Company )dated September 22, 1654( that these Hebrews (which he called) “the deceitful race – such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ – be not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony to the detraction of your worships and the dissatisfaction of your worships’ most affectionate subjects.” He referred to Jews as evil moneylenders – “their customary usury and deceitful trading with the Christians were very repugnant to the inferior magistrates”, and insisted that “Jewish settlers should not be granted the same liberties enjoyed by Jews in Holland, lest members of other persecuted minority groups, such as Roman Catholics, be attracted to the colony.”

George Washington’s declaration to Jacob’s seed

President George Washington declared a foundational premise regarding safety and protection for Jews in America in a letter penned August 21, 1790, The President was responding to a letter of blessings sent to him by Moses Seixas, the warden of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island (Congregation Yeshuat Israel):

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens . . . May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Jeremiah’s prophetic counsel

The God of Jacob spoke a prophetic promise over the exiles of Israel in Babylon nearly 2,600 years ago. He told the Jewish people to “seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to YHVH in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity”:

“This is what YHVH of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease. Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to YHVH in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

And this is how the Jewish people lived in their new exile in America – in George Washington’s words, “demeaning themselves as good citizens.”

The Statue of Liberty’s Jewish promise

Born in New York City on July 22, 1849, Emma Lazarus – a Jewish American activist and poet – wrote a sonnet in 1883 which would have deep prophetic significance. Titled ‘The New Colossus’ and it was inspired by the arrival in America of the French-casted Statue of Liberty. Its lines are inscribed on a bronze plaque, fixed to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus was much involved in aiding Jewish refugees fleeing anti-Semitic pogroms in eastern Europe. She saw her sonnet as a way to express her empathy for these refugees. Here are a few lines from that poem:

“A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,

And her name – ‘Mother of Exiles.’

From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;

Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she with silent lips.

‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

Many of these masses, these immigrant exiles seeking refuge from persecution – in Emma’s mind – were certainly Jews – those who like Tevye’s family in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ sought shelter in America’s New York or elsewhere in that great country. In the God of Jacob’s sovereignty, He was opening up another country – another temporary shelter for His Chosen people, just before Hitler’s dark shadows began to fall across the threshold of Europe. That doorway of hope for the sons and daughters of Jacob was situated on Ellis Island, in New York Harbor.

The virus of anti-Semitism – still alive and well in America the beautiful

A new national survey from the Pew Research Center (September 22-28, 2025) among 3,445 adults charts the present metastasizing of anti-Semitism throughout the USA. 48% of all Democrats surveyed had an unfavorable view of the Israeli people, but 67% of all Republicans had a favorable view of the Israeli people. 77% of all Democrats had an unfavorable view of the Israeli government (and of these Democrats, 46% said they had a very unfavorable view). When one combines the numbers on both sides of the aisle, a total of 59% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Israeli government. These red flashing warning-lights reflect a jolting shift in the heart of America towards Israel, the nation described in Psalm 148:14 as “the people close to His heart.”

Anti-Semitism in the Home of the Free

Many Jewish people worldwide have thought of America as an exception to the rule of Jewish history: they assumed that the USA will never again be faced with anti-Jewish pogroms, exiles, concentration camps or genocidal slaughter. There has been a lightness of spirit for many North American Jews – that perhaps once and for all they have broken free from the anti-Semitic chains of Europe and the Middle East. “Persecuted Jews?” they say. “That won’t apply to North America! That view of Jewish history was written for another time – a more ancient period when things were different!”

Yet the eruption of anti-Semitic lava across the Western world, the attacking of Jewish students at American universities, the dastardly murder of Israeli Embassy staff in the nation’s capitol – and now the enthroning of a mayor in New York who dangles Palestinian Islamist hooks and communist economic agendas from his electoral fishing line – it must be said that it is no longer business as usual.

Years ago a dear prophetic friend shared with me that a day was coming when the gates of Russia would be opened for Jewish emigration but that, contrary to expectation, a day would come when New York City would close its heart and its gates to the Jewish people. That day has now stepped out of the prophetic fog.

Like father, like son

The Mayor-elect of New York City is named Zohran Mamdani. He was born on October 18, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda. Zohran is an Arabic word meaning ‘the first star in the sky’ while ‘Mamdani’ is a composite of two roots: an Indian Gujarati word ‘Mām’ meaning pride or courage; and ‘Māmadō’, a local Gujarati version of the Arabic name Muhammad, often appearing in Hindu surnames of converts to Islam.

The Mamdani roots trace back to the Khōjā South Asian Muslim merchant caste (southeastern Pakistan and Kachchh), who converted to the Shi’ite Twelver Community. According to the U.S. State Department 2019 Report of International Religious Freedom: Iran, “the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran defines that country as an Islamic republic and specifies Twelver Ja’afari Shia Islam as the official state religion.” Zohran Mamdani identifies as a Shi’ite, and specifically as a Twelver Shi’ite, according to his November 26, 2019 tweet: “Got mad love for my Ismaili’s but I’m actually Ithna-Asheri” [Arabic for ‘Twelver’].

Mamdani’s middle name is Kwame, given in honor of Kwame Nkrumah (first president of Ghana). Nkrumah was a communist revolutionary, according to intelligence documents released by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian: “Nkrumah was doing more to undermine [U.S. government] interests than any other black African … [known for] his strongly pro-Communist leanings.” In 1961, Nkrumah went on tour through Eastern Europe, proclaiming solidarity with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. In 1962 Kwame Nkrumah was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union.

Zohran Mamdani’s father Mahmood, was born in Uganda to an Indian Khōjā merchant family. Mahmood was exiled from Uganda in 1972 (along with many other Asians) by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin at the age of 26, though he eventually returned to Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, setting up the Institute for Social Research (2010) and eventually becoming chancellor there (2020). He is also Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and a professor of anthropology, political science and African studies at Columbia University in New York City.

On December 6, 2001, Mahmood Mamdani gave a speech on “Making Sense of Violence in Postcolonial Africa” at the Nobel Centennial Symposium in Oslo, Norway. In that speech, he argued that the roots of postcolonial African violence lie in the institutional legacy of the colonial state. Mamdani claimed that violence was an acceptable and understandable ‘resistance’ response to colonialist powers.

In his 2002 academic book (written post-9/11) ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror’, Mamdani applies his theories justifying African terrorism to America and al Qa’eda. He states that calling al Qa’eda ‘bad Muslims’ masks a failure to make a proper political analysis of modern times. According to him, ‘political Islam’ (his term for jihadi terror) “has emerged as a result of a modern encounter with Western power, and that the terrorist movement at the center of Islamist politics is an even more recent phenomenon, one that followed America’s embrace of proxy war after its defeat in Vietnam. America will need to recognize that it is not fighting terrorism but nationalism, a battle that cannot be won by occupation.”

Noam Chomsky, maverick Marxist and anti-Israel/anti-America enfant terrible, spoke highly of Mamdani’s message: “This provocative and thoughtful inquiry raises hard and serious questions. It is a valuable contribution to the understanding of some of the most important developments in the contemporary era.” Chomsky is a long-time member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), as is Zohran Mamdani. The DSA is taking much credit for Mamdani’s recent victory in New York City.

The DSA Anti-War Working Group accidentally released an internal document on November 2, 2025 which reflects its dedication “to countering U.S. imperialism and resisting U.S. regime-change operations and interventions in foreign wars and conflicts.” Here is its list detailing how the NYC DSA branch (to which Mamdani belongs) intends to pressure the Mayor-elect to enact extreme anti-Israel policies for the governing of New York City:

Divest City pension funds from Israeli bonds and securities
Withdraw City funds from banks that lend money to Israel or do business in Israel
End City contracts with companies that do business with Israel
Operate City-run grocery stores free from Israeli products
Investigate real estate agents hosting illegal sales of stolen lands in the West Bank
Evict weapons manufacturers and transporters from the NYC Metro Area
Remove non-profit status from charities that raise funds for IDF
Divest CUNY endowment and reinstate wrongly fired professors
Dismantle Eric Adam’s NYC-Israel economic council
End NYPD training with IOF End repression of demonstrators and the SRG
Arrest Netanyahu and active IDF soldiers for war crimes

These are some of the spiritual and political foundations of New York City’s new mayor.

The Mamdani Family on the record

Zohran has come by his unrelenting hostility to the Jewish state and its supporters honestly: he imbibed it from his mother’s anti-Israel films and from his father’s anti-Semitic lectures and participation in anti-Israel activities. Zohran’s wife Rama Sawaf Duwaji, born in Houston to Syrian Muslim parents from Damascus, publicly mourned the death this week of Hamas influencer Saleh al-Jafarawi (who cheered for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 atrocities as they happened).

Zohran’s mother is India-born filmmaker Mira Nair, whose film-making career and stage projects have been avidly bankrolled by Hamas-supporting Qatar. The sister to Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, and the state-funded cultural institutions she controls, have supported Mira Nair and her creative projects since at least 2009. Since June 2025 Sheikha Al-Thani has also been promoting Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy on social media.

“For Zohran Mamdani, Mom Mira Nair’s Films Were a Formative Influence” shout the headlines of the July 1, 2025 New York Post. The article focused especially on her movie The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which “seeks a balance between honoring the understandable American reactions of anger and grief to 9/11 and its aftermath while also platforming a more global perspective where those events played very differently . . . [It is suggesting] to consider how a radical was made, and that mistreatment and bias in the West can be a contributing factor.” Over the years Zohran’s mother and father have stressed the same theme, as they attempt to justify Hamas jihadi violent muqawama (Arabic for resistance). Their son Zohran’s has repeatedly made use of the same talking points.

In a December 2, 2014 lecture at Columbia University, Mahmood Mamdani (Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Government) clearly called for the dismantling of the State of Israel (video clip location at 6:22- 6:55; ‘Palestine's South Africa Moment?’ Part 2):

“The Palestinian challenge is to persuade the Jewish population of Israel and the world that - just as in South Africa - the long-term security of a Jewish homeland in historic Palestine requires the dismantling of the Jewish state. Jews can have a homeland in historic Palestine, but not a state.”

On December 7, 2014, Mamdani ‘turned up the volume,’ accusing Israel as being the successors of the Nazis, while declaring that jihadi atrocities against Israel are not actually terrorism:

“We live at a time when political violence has been conflated with criminal violence, when all forms of resistance are being redefined as terror, when repression is embraced as a war on terror. It is a tribute to the tenacity of the Palestinian people, led by those in Gaza, and the political work done by the Palestinian resistance, including BDS, that Israel and the United States have been unable to tar popular resistance in historic Palestine with the brush of terrorism. More than ever the world is convinced that the cause of the Palestinian people is just.”

In 2020 Mahmood Mamdani called for the ‘de-Zionization’ of the Jewish state of Israel:

“The Nazi political project, by creating a Germany without Jews [laid] the groundwork for an Israel without Palestinians …I point to de-Zionization, which would sever the state from the nation. The heart of de-Zionization is the realization of Israel as a state for all its citizens [i.e., not a Jewish state]”

In his own words

For more background here, see my June 27, 2025 newsletter https://davidstent.org/may-all-who-hate-zion-be-put-to-shame-psalm-1295/.

Zohran co-founded Bowdoin College’s branch of the anti-Israel radical group Students for Justice in Palestine. In 2021 Mamdani told a rally that he identified as an anti-Zionist (relevant video clip starts at 39:30).

YouTube shows Mamdani clearly stating on September 11, 2023 (less than a month before Hamas’ October 7 pogroms) that advocacy for Palestinian/Hamas resistance and BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions of Israel) is “central to his identity.”

The anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace has warmly endorsed Mamdani in his NYC mayoral run.

On October 8, 2023 Mamdani tweeted the following: “Statement on ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine: I mourn the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours. Netanyahu’s declaration of war, the Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, and Knesset members calling for another Nakba will undoubtedly lead to more violence and suffering in the days and weeks to come. The path toward a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”

The deception involved here is clear: less than 24 hours before, the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust had occurred. Mamdani sidesteps that, and calls it “ongoing violence” rather than jihadi terrorism. He states that in the last 24 hours the violence occurred “in Israel and Palestine.” Actually it only occurred in Israel – over 1,200 Jews murdered at the hands of Palestinian jihadis. The fault (according to Mamdani) is not jihadi Hamas carrying out their murderous jihadi Charter, but something called ‘Netanyahu’s declaration of war.’ Mamdani defines a ‘just and lasting peace’ as the expulsion of all Jews from Israel, referring to an ‘apartheid’ that simply does not exist.

Mamdani has vowed that if elected, he would arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit New York.

Mamdani publicly advocates for boycotting Israel and cutting off all ties between NYC and the Jewish state. When asked by The Bulwark podcast host, Tim Miller, if the phrases ‘Globalize the intifada’ and ‘From the river to the sea’ make him uncomfortable, Mamdani explained that he doesn’t support banning language, and then drew a moral equivalence between the anti-Nazi Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Uprising and Hamas’ jihadi anti-Jewish October 7 attacks. Elisha Wiesel, son of author and survivor of the Holocaust Elie Wiesel, stated that “globalizing the intifada is code switching for ‘kill the Jews’ . . . We need to keep antisemites out of the mayor’s office.”

The Jewish community sees the threat of Mamdani as a clear and present danger

Jonathan S. Tobin of Jewish News Syndicate, in his article ‘What would a Mayor Mamdani mean for American Jews?,’ discusses Mamdani’s willingness to endorse antisemitic tropes and his support for anti-Zionist agitation:

Mamdani’s support for the virulently antisemitic mobs that took over campuses at major New York institutions like Columbia University, New York University, various branches of the City University of New York (CUNY) and smaller-scale but consistent demonstrations at the New School is at the heart of his political identity. He stands for a point of view that delegitimizes and demonizes mainstream Jewish life. For him, only Jews who are willing to deny an essential element of Jewish identity, ethnicity and faith by disavowing Israel and Zionism deserve to be treated as worthy of being allowed into the public square and to be defended as equal citizens.

That’s why so many in the Jewish community are treating this as a crisis. It’s also why more than 700 rabbis and counting from across America have signed a letter sponsored by the Jewish Majority anti-extremist group calling for Americans “to stand up for candidates who reject antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric, and who affirm Israel’s right to exist in peace and security” and for “our interfaith and communal partners to stand with the Jewish community in rejecting this dangerous rhetoric and to affirm the rights of Jews to live securely and with dignity.” This potentially puts New York’s Jews in a position that is virtually unprecedented in modern American history.

Mamdani’s vision of the future, both in terms of socialism and antisemitism, is something that ought to scare any sensible American. And it presents a clear and present threat to American Jews, who have already been affected by the surge of Jew-hatred impacting their lives and security post-Oct. 7, 2023. Those who claim to support the Jewish community shouldn’t stand on the sidelines right now; they should do whatever is necessary to ensure Mamdani’s defeat. Their failure to do so is a sign that they don’t understand the nature of the crisis and is nothing less than an unconscionable failure of moral courage.

Zvi Klein of The Jerusalem Post adds:

“Sociologically it feels like a turning point. Part of the shock is symbolic. For decades, the mayor of the world’s largest Jewish city outside Israel made a point of standing with the community. Mayors lit menorahs, walked in the Fifth Avenue Celebrate Israel Parade, and spoke fluently about the city’s Jewish life.”

Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli writes on X (Hebrew; English):

“The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter – someone whose views are not far from those of the jihadist fanatics who, 25 years ago, murdered three thousand of its own people. This is a critical turning point for New York City. The choice New York has made shakes the very foundations of the place that once granted freedom and opportunity to countless Jewish refugees since the late 19th century – a city that became home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. All of that ended this morning. It didn’t happen overnight – it began with the anti-Zionist atmosphere on campuses taken over by Qatari money, continued with the violent demonstrations of Hamas supporters at CUNY, NYU, and especially at Columbia University, which became the fortress of Hamas support in the United States. It reached its peak this morning, when the last of the bullies, a supporter of Hamas’s rapists and murderers, was elected mayor. New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community. The city is walking with open eyes into the same abyss that London fell into. The torch of liberty in this beautiful city has gone out, and there’s no point in wasting words pretending everything will be fine – nothing will be fine in this city. I call on the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel. The Eternal One of Israel does not lie.”

Mamdani’s election will be a potential turning point in American Jewish history as anti-Semitism not only becomes endemic but becomes an accepted part of mainstream political culture. While such views were confined to the fever swamps of the far left not so long ago, they have gone mainstream in the wake of the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the last decade, coupled with the surge of international antisemitism since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Lessons for Europe as well

Hungary’s European Union Affairs Minister János Bóka points out a sober warning:

“Even political actors are now using a language that is anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist on the surface, but very deliberately, they are balancing on the edge of being antisemitic. I think they are very consciously using a terminology that could be interpreted both ways. Those who are in favor of the European civilization and European culture, as we know that is based on Judeo-Christian roots or is rooted in a Judeo-Christian tradition, then we must reinforce our efforts so this process will not result in a Europe that is not a welcoming environment for Jewish communities anymore.”

The Rabbi speaks in the Big Apple

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove is the highly respected leader of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City’s Upper East Side. On Shabbat October 18, 2025 he stepped up to the bema and gave what might be the most important derashah (sermon) in his life. Here are some brief excerpts:

To be clear, unequivocal, and on the record: I believe Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of New York Jewish community. Mamdani’s refusal to condemn inciteful slogans like “globalize the intifada,” his denial of Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state, his call to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister should he enter New York, and his thrice-repeated accusation of genocide in Thursday’s debate – for these and so many other statements, past, present, and unrepentant – he is a danger to the Jewish body politic of New York. For those of you who heard what I said over the High Holidays, my words should come as no surprise. For those of you who have heard what I have said over the last eighteen years, my words should come as no surprise whatsoever.

Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination – these are not political preferences or partisan talking points. They are constituent building blocks and inseparable strands of my Jewish identity. To accept me as a Jew but to ask me to check my concern for the people and State of Israel at the door is as nonsensical a proposition as it is offensive – no different than asking me to reject God, Torah, mitzvot, or any other pillar of my faith.

One need look no further than the events of the past week (or, for that matter, the past two years) to understand the shape and substance of the Jewish soul – how bound up we have all been with the plight of the hostages and our jubilation at their release. In our highs and in our lows, in our tortured angst and our fragile hopes, in our prayers and our protests, we feel our connection to Israel and its people. It is the invisible string that has tugged at our hearts since the very beginnings of our people.

Mamdani’s distinction between accepting Jews and denying a Jewish state is not merely rhetorical sleight of hand or political naivete, though it is, to be clear, both of those things. His doing so is to traffic in the most dangerous of tropes, an anti-Zionist rhetoric that, as we have seen time and again – in Washington, in Colorado, in ways both small and large, online and in person – has given rise to deadly antisemitic violence. This past summer, you may recall, at the Glastonbury Music Festival in England, the crowd erupted into chants of “Death to the IDF.” Where exactly would a Mamdani administration stand should that happen next summer in a concert on Governors Island, or in Central Park? I am not one to play the politics of fear. The entire thesis of my career is to play offense, not defense. But today, as I have before, I am throwing a flag on the field and calling out a threat to the Jewish people five minutes early rather than risk being five minutes too late. … It is, by a certain telling, a story as old as the Garden of Eden itself. We stand here – staring at that Big Apple, if you will – wondering what is in our long-term best interest.

Stand up and be counted!

On November 5, 2025, the excellent organization StandWithUS posted a riveting wake-up call:

At a time of rising antisemitism and extremism in the United States and around the world, Zohran Mamdani’s election as Mayor of New York City should serve as a wake up call.

Mamdani has promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theory falsely blaming Israelis for cases of police brutality in New York, openly supports the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divest and sanction) movement calling it the “core of my politics,” made excusesfor dangerous and violent slogans such as “globalize the intifada,” and promoted campaigns to strip away the rights of Jews to self-determination in Israel. His closest political allies, including the Democratic Socialists of America(DSA) and Linda Sarsour, have long records of antizionism. He has refused to say Hamas should lay down its arms. His campaign has tokenized Jews by using Satmar Hasidic Jews and the far-left self-described Jewish Voice for Peace to deflect criticism and avoid accountability.

CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) donated significantly to the Mamdani campaign. CAIR’s leader said he was “happy” about October 7^th Hamas invasion and massacre.

This is especially alarming in an environment where Jewish communities already face unprecedented levels of hate crimes, harassment, and intimidation. Now more than ever, leadership matters. When elected officials normalize or excuse violent bigotry, they embolden further discrimination and physical attacks.

Fueling antisemitism will not help make New York a better or more affordable place to live. It will only poison the city and make it harder to solve its biggest problems. We hope the incoming Mayor will have the humility to abandon the destructive ideas and toxic allies he has embraced throughout his political career.

As Mamdani assumes office, StandWithUs will use all the tools at our disposal to defend the rights of Jewish New Yorkers. We will educate and speak out against antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism in all their forms. We will hold Mayor Mamdani accountable, and we expect civic leaders, the media, and the public to do likewise, toward making New York a city where all Jews, and all people, can be safe and welcome.

How shall we then pray?

Pray for Bible-based courage, discernment, clarity of thought and revelation be given to leaders and decision makers, Jewish and Christian, involved in these issues.

Pray for Christian pastors, teachers and spokesmen and women to take a stand

Pray for the bolstering of the Jewish people’s prophetic courage and discernment

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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

Pax Romana, Pax Americana, Pax Davidica

“It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash” (Ezekiel 13:10)

Pontius Pilate asked Messiah Yeshua the rhetorical question, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). It’s time to consider another question: “What is peace?”

The definition of peace has changed over time. In Roman days, ‘Pax Romana’ (‘Roman peace’; 27 BC to 180 AD) meant the total crushing of all enemies and their unconditional surrender to a centralized imperial government on the banks of the River Tiber.

In post-WWII days, the term ‘Pax Americana’ describes the dominance of the USA (the world’s prime superpower) and their global system of relative international stability.

The Hebrew Prophets speak of a Last Days ‘Pax Davidica’ – a worldwide Messianic monarchy, the rule of David’s Son over all nations from a Jewish Jerusalem.

It is important to understand these distinctions as we consider recent developments in Israel.

Dividing the Land – what did the Hebrew Prophets say?

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat [‘YHVH judges’]. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2)

“Since you have said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them,’ although YHVH was there” (Ezekiel 35:10)

“Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH: This is what ADONAI YHVH says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ – therefore ADONAI YHVH says this: “Certainly in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder” (Ezekiel 36:1-2, 5)

When any nation in the world attempts to conquer or control any portion of the Land which YHVH the God of Israel has promised exclusively to the Twelve Tribes of Jacob, the judgment dynamic laid out in these above scriptures kicks in. This includes the regions of Judea and Samaria (what is known today as the West Bank), Gaza (see Joshua 15:47), and the Golan (see Numbers 32:33; Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 20:8).

Recent Israeli declarations regarding Jewish ownership of the Promised Land

In a State Department briefing on November 7, 2023 (one month to the day after the October 7 Hamas massacre), Vedant Patel, U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesman, stated: “Our viewpoint is that . . . Gaza is Palestinian land and it will remain Palestinian land. And generally speaking, we do not support reoccupation of Gaza,”

One day later, on Wednesday November 8, 2023, then-U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that the Gaza Strip must be handed over to the Palestinian Authority: The solution in Gaza “must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority,” Blinken said.

On Sunday January 26, 2024, Tel Aviv University’s Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences released a poll representing 605 Israeli adults (both Jews and Arabs) taken between January 8-15, 2024. Just over two in three Israeli Jews (about five million people) believe Israel should retain full security control over the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas ends. According to this survey, 68.9% of the Jewish Israeli public favors Israel Defense Forces security control in Gaza, while only 2.2% think the Palestinian Authority should be in charge of security in the Strip. Approximately 53% of the Jewish respondents said they support the establishment of Israeli civilian communities in the coastal enclave.

On Sunday February 18, 2024, the Israeli Cabinet rejected any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, amid reports that Blinken and the Biden administration were actively considering such a move. Then-Energy Minister Eli Cohen, told Galei Tzahal (Israel’s Army Radio) that “if the price of expanding [the Abraham Accords] is a Palestinian state, then I’ll give up on the peace agreements.”

On Wednesday February 21, 2024 Israeli Knesset voted 99-11 to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood: “Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians . . . Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.”

On that day Prime Minister Netanyahu declared: “This landmark vote underscores our collective resolve. We will not reward terrorism by unilateral recognition in response to the October 7 massacre, nor will we accept imposed solutions. This strong stance sends a powerful message to the world: Peace and security for Israel will be achieved through negotiations, not through unilateral actions. Today, we stand united more than ever.”

In a poll conducted Wednesday January 29, 2025 by Pulse of Israel, 71% of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, and nearly 70% want to extend Israeli sovereignty over that area. This was a 7% increase in opposition (to the then-stated U.S. pro-PLO policy) since the previous May 2024 poll taken by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

According to a poll published by the Jewish People Institute (JPPI) on Tuesday March 11, 2025, 58% of Israeli Jews believe that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria contribute to the security of the entire country. Whereas in October 2024, a JPPI poll showed that 20% of Israeli Jews backed a Palestinian state, by May 2025 that number had plummeted to 11%. This indicates that 85% of Israel’s Jewish population believes that “there is no chance of a peace agreement with the Palestinians in the foreseeable future.”

On Wednesday July 23, 2025, the Israeli Knesset voted 71-13 in favor of a declaration calling upon the Government to apply sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. The declaration includes the following statement:

“Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley are an inseparable part of Eretz Israel – the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people. Hundreds and thousands of years before the state’s establishment, the forefathers and the prophets of the nation lived and acted in these regions, and the foundations of Jewish culture and faith were laid in them. Cities such as Hebron, Shechem, Shilo and Beit El are not just historical sites, they are a living expression of the continuity of Jewish existence in the land. Sovereignty in Eretz Israel is an inseparable part of the fulfillment of Zionism and the national vision of the Jewish people that has returned to its homeland. The massacre of … October 7, 2023, proved that the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential danger to Israel, its citizens and the entire region.”

These polls, reports and parliamentary rulings show that the majority of Israel’s population is adamantly opposed to a Palestinian state – whether in Gaza or the ‘West Bank’, whether run by Hamas or the PLO/PA – or by their proxies. Official US, European and international policies and strategies are 100% opposed to Israel’s clear stand here.

Recent American declarations regarding Jewish ownership of the Promised Land

In the Spring of 2025, Jared Kushner commissioned the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) to come up with a postwar plan. Blair began regular engagement with Trump officials, keeping them abreast of his progress as he met with leaders throughout the region and began ironing out details of his plan, the source familiar with discussions said. Blair’s proposal presented the terrorist Palestinian Authority/PLO as central to the plan, envisioning “the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the PA.”

On Tuesday August 17, 2025 POTUS Trump presided over a policy meeting on the Gaza war, receiving input from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Trump Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, a senior White House official said. That White House official casually described the session as “simply a policy meeting,” the type frequently held by Trump and his team: “The White House frequently holds policy meetings on a variety of issues, including Israel and Gaza. We have nothing additional to share at this time.”

Blair “has been putting together a post-war Gaza plan for the past several months, meeting with various regional stakeholders to get their input and support for his efforts, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel, adding that the former British premier has been in touch with both Kushner and Witkoff.”

But by September 18, 2025 more background details on that meeting were released:

“US President Donald Trump has authorized Tony Blair to rally regional and international stakeholders around the former UK prime minister’s proposal to establish a postwar transitional body to govern the Gaza Strip until it can be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, four sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel. Blair began crafting the proposal in the early months of the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group . . . In recent months, the proposal has also evolved into a plan for effectively ending the war, as the Trump administration has reached the conclusion that agreement from major stakeholders regarding the body that will replace Hamas in Gaza is essential for securing a permanent ceasefire and hostage release deal, a US official and a second source familiar with the matter said. While Blair’s involvement in postwar Gaza planning has been previously revealed, along with his participation in an August 27 White House policy session on the matter, details of his proposal have not been publicized to date.

An anonymous U.S. official said that Trump’s original concept of “voluntary migration” in February – when he announced his plan to take over Gaza and permanently relocate the Strip’s entire population — had been jettisoned, and that the POTUS was going with Blair’s plan instead.

American policy was morphing behind the scenes – from transferring Gaza’s terror-committed population and establishing a ‘Trump Towers’ Riviera, to an incremental stealth push to establishing what looks like will turn out to be a Hamas/PA/PLO-run state under the watchful eye and control of Pax Americana.

This 21-point document was leaked around September 17, 2025 by the U.S. State Department at U.N. meetings. Some of its points are paraphrased below, and include the following:

The war between Israel and jihadi Hamas will be declared as ended, with Hamas continuing to occupy significant portions of the Gaza Strip.

The IDF will withdraw from Gaza, and the Jewish state will promise never to occupy or annex this region promised by the God of Israel to the Jewish people in Joshua 15:47.

A government of what is turning out to be Hamas-PA/PLO approved ‘technocrats’ will run Gaza as proxy for these terrorist jihadi groups.

Jihad-sponsoring Islamic countries like Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will fund and oversee that government. They will officially be tasked with guaranteeing that the jihadi terror groups ‘change their leopard-like spots’ and abandon jihadi operations.

Recent American bullet-point declarations

On September 26, 2025 POTUS Trump stated in the Oval Office:

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen . . . I’m not going to allow it . . . I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now, okay?”

On Wednesday October 22, 2025 Marco Rubio U.S. Secretary of State stated that a move by Israel’s parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Pax Americana’s ceasefire plan for Gaza.

"They passed a vote in the Knesset, but the President has made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now. We think there’s potential for it to threaten the peace deal. They’re a democracy, people are going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time we think it might be counterproductive.”

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance stated at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday October 23, 2025, regarding Israel’s continued assertion and legislated avowal that Judea and Samaria (‘the West Bank’) are historically and biblically part of the Land of Israel:

“That was weird. I was sort of confused by that. Now I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote, some symbolic vote to recognize or a symbolic vote to annex the West Bank. I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, it was purely symbolic. I mean look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren’t happy about it.”

On Thursday October 23, 2025, French journalist Sonia Dridi asked POTUS Trump:

DRIDI: “Yesterday, there was a vote at the Knesset in Israel on annexing the West Bank. Do you see it as a challenge to your peace efforts?” TRUMP: “The West Bank is, don’t worry about the West Bank. Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank. Okay? Don’t worry about it. Is that your question? They’re not going to do anything with the West Bank. Don’t worry about it. Israel’s doing very well. They’re not going to do anything with it.”

America has gone on record repeatedly and quite clearly that it will not allow Israel to settle portions of the Land which YHVH promised to the sons and daughters of Jacob. The UK, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait are all on board with this latest expression of Pax Americana.

To speak plainly, if Israel tries to hold on to portions of the Promised Land (like Gaza and the West Bank), the following Middle Eastern agreements will, like castles made of sand, crumble into the sea – The Camp David Accords, The Oslo Accords, The Abraham Accords, and this latest Tony Blair/America 21-point Gaza plan. But YHVH’s promises regarding the Jewish nature and destiny of these territories remain unchangeable (see Romans 11:28-29; Amos 9:15; Jeremiah 24:6; Jeremiah 32:41, 44)

Recently expressed American intentions regarding U.S. control of Israeli and other Middle Eastern governmental policies

On October 15, 2025 POTUS Trump stated in an interview with TIME:

“So the long story short is that we took the [Iranian] bully out of play … We signed the [peace] deal … first time in 3,000 years . . . that’s the whole thing in a nutshell.”
“And I said to Bibi, ‘Bibi, you can’t fight the world. You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you. And Israel is a very small place compared to the world.’ You know, I stopped him, because he would have just kept going. It could have gone on for years. It would have gone on for years. And I stopped him, and everybody came together when I stopped, it was amazing . . . He had to stop because the world was going to stop him. You know, I could see what was happening. You could see what was happening. And Israel was becoming very unpopular. And that’s what I meant when I said ‘the world.’ There are a lot of powers out there, okay, powers outside of the region.”
TIME: “You told Netanyahu you will not allow him to annex the West Bank. There are still forces in his coalition who are pressing for it. I’m just wondering what, what are the consequences if they move forward?” POTUS: “It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now. We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
“But the hostages were paramount. Getting those hostages out – you saw the people. I mean, hundreds of thousands of people in the square [i.e., the anti-government Kaplanist demonstrations at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv]. Nothing to do with winning the war. Nothing to do. ‘We just want our hostages back’”
“The Board of Peace is going to be a very powerful group of people, and it’s going to have a lot of power in terms of the Middle East. The Middle East has never been brought together. It’s really been brought together now.”
“We don’t have the Iran threat anymore. We don’t have any threats anymore. We have peace in the Middle East.”

Trump openly discussed the possibility of forcing Israel to release Marwan Barghouti, a prominent PA/PLO/Fatah terrorist leader serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prisons for planning and overseeing tens of jihadi attacks, some of which murdered four Israelis and one Greek Orthodox monk during the Second Intifada. “So I’ll be making a decision” about that, he casually mentioned toward the end of the TIME interview.

Recent American statements regarding coordinated cooperation with super-wealthy jihadi terror groups and sponsors

POTUS Trump is known for his deal-making, his Middle Eastern financial connections and his family and partner business networks (son-in-law Jared Kushner; Steve Witkoff; etc.) with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc. There is understandable concern here regarding how these connections might influence American political, financial and military strategies regarding Israel and Middle Eastern relations.

POTUS Trump makes no secret of his appreciation for the wealth and power of these contacts, pouring effusive public flattery on these leaders. One recent example is his FOX News interview on Maria Bartiromo’s Roll Call, from which the following quotes are selected:

“And all of those great Arab nations, I mean, you look at Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE … And they have been fantastic … So I have been friendly with them for years … And it’s vast wealth. Those countries are incredibly wealthy. And they put out money. They invest money, et cetera, et cetera. They have tremendous oil wealth… But I got to know them very well during the first term.”

“Qatar – the emir, who’s a fantastic man, to me, he’s, like, a really fantastic person. And he has to play it close to the vest a little bit. He has to. Anybody would, anybody that’s smart. And he’s very smart. The king of Saudi Arabia has done unbelievable. Now, you have the king and then you have the son, who is – and the king is fantastic. He’s got a son who is phenomenal.”

“[Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince] Mohammed. And Mohammed’s going to be a great leader for many years. And then you have UAE, and he is incredible. They’re all incredible people. But, sometimes, people don’t realize that. And they really helped us a lot. Qatar is the one that’s most vulnerable in that sense – but they had great courage… And the Crown Prince, who’s also the prime minister and the king in waiting, his father is such a wonderful man. He’s still – he’s still healthy and he’s still very sharp.”

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are on record as having been or still being the main sponsors of Hamas, Syria’s former ISIS leader al-Julani, Afghanistan’s Taliban, Palestine Islamic Jihad, Lebanese and Iraqi Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, al-Qa’eda, ISIS, etc. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, as Hamlet once said – and certainly something is amiss with the spiritual condition of Pax Americana.

In a public prayer on Sunday March 30, 2025, the President of Turkey (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) declared: “May Allah, for the sake of his name … destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”

America is banqueting with the Jewish people’s enemies – who happen to be America’s enemies as well.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday September 29, 2025: “To reach a reasonable deal for both sides [Israel and Hamas], both sides have to give up a little bit and might leave the table a little bit unhappy, but that is ultimately how we are going to end this conflict.”

Tragically, there are deep and foundational misunderstandings in the U.S. State Department regarding Middle East realities and the jihadi worldview. What is also lacking is a solid understanding and appreciation for biblical perspectives as well as a commitment to being guided by God’s word. Such realities are mirrored in the joint statements of Trump and Netanyahu at the White House on September 29, 2025; Trump’s speech on October 13, 2025 at the Israeli Knesset; the October 15, 2025 TIME interview with POTUS Trump; and the CBS Lesley Stahl interview on Sunday October 19, 2025 with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Selected quotes follow:

Trump TIME quotes:

“Well, you know, you have 3,000 years of history, and in the case of the Middle East, there’s tremendous hatred, there’s tremendous dislike, there’s tremendous distrust among everybody.”

“And they would fight each other for 1,000 years under different names and different religions, but they would fight each other for many, many centuries, and they were the same. They were the same power. So they’d fight, and then they'd come to a standstill, and then they'd fight again.”

“Everybody's open to peace . . . first time in 3,000 years.”

“Right now they’re killing gangs. But you know, at what point do the gangs morph into political opponents, right?”

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – You know, he’s not a young guy, but he looks fantastic, right? … And he’s respected by the Palestinians. He is respected as a sage … Well, I’ve always gotten along with him. I’ve always found him reasonable, but he’s probably not. But I have always found him reasonable, like, you know, you saw him come up to me and couldn’t have been friendlier.”

“I have great respect and like for the king, as you know, we have a great relationship, and I think Saudi Arabia will lead the way toward the Abraham Accords.”

“We don’t have the Iran threat anymore. We don’t have any threats anymore. We have peace in the Middle East . . . Well, I think we’ve reshaped it, and I think that it's now just growing in a beautiful manner. So the question is what happens later? … It’s going to only get better and stronger, and it’s going to be perfect.”

Trump White House quotes:

“This is a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization. . . . Gaza is one thing, but we’re talking about much beyond Gaza. The whole deal, everything getting solved. It’s called peace in the Middle East. But it’s just a part of the bigger picture, which is peace in the Middle East, and let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East.”
“President of Turkey, President Erdoğan — he’s a friend of mine, strong man, but a good man.”
[Peace for the] “first time in thousands of years, I think you can probably say, if you really look into it, if you study back, if you’re a scholar, you would say thousands of years.”
“We’ll have a board. One of the people that wants to be on the board is the UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Good man, very good man … Hamas and other terrorist factions will play no role in the board, but they’ll play no role in the governance of Gaza at all, directly or indirectly.”
“The promise of a new Middle East is so clearly within our reach.”

Trump Knesset quotes:

“This is not only the end of a war, this is the end of an age of terror and death, and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God. It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region. I believe that so strongly. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East … Like the USA right now, it will be the golden age of Israel, and the golden age of the Middle East. It’s gonna work together.”
“Israel’s security will no longer be threatened in any way, shape, or form. Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms. You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won. Now it’s time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
“It should now be clear to everyone throughout the region that decades of fomenting terrorism and extremism, Jihadism and anti-Semitism have not worked. They haven’t worked. They’ve been a disaster. They’ve just killed. They’ve killed. They’ve backfired completely and totally … The world is loving Israel again.”
“New bonds of friendship, cooperation, and commerce will join Tel Aviv to Dubai, Haifa, to Beirut, Jerusalem to Damascus, and from Israel to Egypt, from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, from India to Pakistan, from Indonesia to Iraq, from Syria to Bahrain, Turkey, to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates to Oman and Armenia to Azerbaijan, another war that I just settled. Israel, America, and all of the nations of the Middle East will soon be safer, stronger, greater and more prosperous than ever before.”

CBS interview Kushner/Witkoff quotes:

Kushner explains in the interview that what is needed to solve the conflict between Israel and jihadi Hamas is ‘pragmatic realism’ – “figuring out how to make deals, not lecture the world.”

Kushner and Witkoff believe that they understand and have a good handle on Islamist jihadi culture:

“We have trusted relationships in the Arab world and even in Israel, where we’ve both done business in the past. But that means they trust us. We understand their cultures. We understand how they work. And we’re able to use that knowledge and skill set to try to do things that advance the world.”

“You know, we were tryin’ to build trust between people who didn’t trust each other because of decades of distrust … When I first started looking at this file, I spoke to everyone who’d been involved in the Middle East diplomacy for the 20 years prior . . . And the way they were explaining things to me just made no sense. And the foundational idea that I came to is that people just wanna be able to live with security and live freely. They wanna be together. They wanna have economic opportunity. They want their children to be able to live a better life. And they wanna safely and freely practice whatever religion they choose to practice. And that for me was really what it was about. And so when you think about everything through that light, you have all these old historical conflicts, or Balkanization of communication, and it really is just getting people to focus on how do we make the future better, versus getting stuck in these old conflicts.”

“I believe over time Israel and Qatar could actually turn out to be incredible allies in the region to advance things forward.”
“At the end of the day, it goes back to the issues were pretty simple . . . And then we had to write all these complex words to deal with the 50 years of stupid word games that everyone in that region is so used to playing.”
“Lemme give you sort of the crux of what’s at the bottom: …There’s so much mistrust between Hamas and the Israelis.”
Hamas “are hardened guys who have been through two years of war … [Our dialogue] turned from a negotiation with a terrorist group to seeing two human beings kind of showing a vulnerability with each other.”
And I was saying to [the Israelis], “At some point you gotta let it go. You just can't play the victim all the time.”

“The biggest message that we've tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that, now that the war is over – if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better.”

“There’s been a long war. The war’s over.”

Recent establishment of U.S. intelligence bases on Israeli territory to monitor (spy on) and control Israeli and Hamas activities in Gaza

The Gaza peace plan (also the October 2025 Gaza war ceasefire, the Israel–Hamas ceasefire, or the 20-point plan) was drafted on September 29, 2025, signed on October 9, 2025, and activated on October 10, 2025. Since then the exact nature of its focus and scope have been coming to light bit by bit, and the following is a breakdown of its nature and goals:

“CENTCOM October 21, 2025; Release Number 20251021-01. TAMPA, Fla. – The U.S. Central Command opened a Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Israel, Oct. 17, marking the formal establishment of a main coordination hub for Gaza assistance five days after world leaders signed a U.S.-brokered plan to permanently end the war between Israel and Hamas.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said on Thursday October 23, 2025: “The CMCC enables partner nations, NGOs, international institutions, and private-sector stakeholders to get on the same page … We’re talking about international stakeholders, humanitarian groups, and private-sector actors all working together.” As an afterthought/postscript, Hawkins added: “Naturally, we’re working with the IDF. They have representation just like many other nations and organizations do.”

“The CMCC will be under U.S. leadership, but it will also have representatives from multiple countries and stakeholders, such as the United Nations and private aid groups. U.S. personnel will monitor everything going in and out of Gaza … The CMCC will also monitor implementation of the ceasefire agreement, featuring an operations floor that allows staff to assess real-time developments in Gaza.”

An unnamed Arab diplomat said that Tony Blair has faced an uphill battle getting Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries (euphemistically labeled ‘regional stakeholders’) on board, as these condition their support on the creation of an irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state. The plan is being crafted to “ensure that the decisions are aligned and consistent with the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the Palestinian Authority [PLO]” as well as eventually being bound “by a UN Security Council resolution.”

The report comes as the US expands its coalition of partners involved in monitoring and sustaining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, with other countries sending representatives. In addition to Jordan, the UK, Germany, Denmark, and Canada, the forces of Australia, France, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates have joined the initiative, a US official confirmed to The Times of Israel on Friday October 24, 2025. Two of these countries (Australia and France) unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state last month over Israeli objections, while Spain did the same the year before.

The Times of Israel notes:

“The United States has reportedly begun deploying surveillance drones over the Gaza Strip to ensure that Israel and Hamas are complying with the ceasefire, The New York Times reported Saturday. The move comes as further nations sent representatives to help monitor US-led efforts to enforce the fragile truce. According to the Times, citing two Israeli military officials and a US defense official, the US military has begun flying drones over the Gaza Strip to monitor the ceasefire. The flights are being conducted with Israel’s consent. The report noted that the US has in the past flown drone missions over Gaza in a bid to help locate the hostages, however, these flights appear to signal the Trump administration’s desire to verify developments in Gaza separately from Israeli intelligence channels. ‘This is a very intrusive version of US monitoring on a front where Israel perceives an active threat,’ Daniel B. Shapiro, a former US Ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, told the Times. ‘If there was total transparency and total trust between Israel and the US, there wouldn’t be a need for this,’ Shapiro said.”

An International Stabilization Force (ISF), a multinational security deployment, will be established composed of Arab and international partners to help provide security, train a new Palestinian police force, and oversee the demilitarization and redevelopment of Gaza. Their mission is intended to facilitate Israel’s staged withdrawal from the territory (i.e., retreat). These include the UK, Canada, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Jordan, UAE, etc. As well, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Australia, Malaysia, Greece and Cyprus have reportedly shown interest in contributing to the ISF.

One of Israel’s top newspapers comments in an op-ed: “In recent months, Israel has effectively become a U.S. protectorate: decisions are made in Washington, directives come from there, and Jerusalem is compelled to follow suit. In Kiryat Gat, the new international command center for implementing the Trump Agreement is already operational.” The site already hosts troops from the above-noted countries. “The Americans, now firmly in charge, want to know everything happening in Gaza. With their own intelligence network, they often instruct the IDF to cancel operations they view as endangering the cease-fire.”

Meir Ben Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy and a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, wrote in the Israel Hayom daily that Israel “must eliminate the vagueness concerning headquarters and mediation and coordination entities and explain what the center will actually contribute toward achieving Israel’s objectives in Gaza.”

The new Pax Americana base (staffed by 200 U.S. soldiers) is situated in the industrial park of Kiryat Gat, a town in the northern Negev not far from biblical Gath – where Goliath (King David’s nemesis) once lived and sallied forth to attack the armies of King Saul. This is the Gath made famous in David’s funeral elegy over Saul and Jonathan: “How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath! Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon – lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice” (1 Samuel 1:19-20).

David’s caution echoes down through the corridors of time, reminding us that “it is better to take refuge in YHVH than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in YHVH than to trust in noblemen” (Psalm 118:8-9).

Jeremiah adds a sobering word: “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14).

When U.S. Vice President JR Vance visited Jerusalem’s City of David on Wednesday October 22, 2025, he signed the guestbook, writing: “To the staff of the City of David: thank you for preserving this place of world history for all the children of Abraham to admire and be inspired.” While the VP was perhaps expressing noble sentiments – describing Jews, Christians and Muslims memorializing the international spiritual appeal of a generic David – Vance may be surprised to learn that most Arabs across the globe are not at all physically related to Abraham (see my book ‘Jews, Arabs and the Middle East: A Messianic Perspective’; available at www.davidstent.org), and that the Hebrew Prophets describe the City of David as the soon-to-be reborn and exclusively Jewish capital city of the entire planet (see Isaiah 2:1-4).

The Scriptures describe a prophetic vision yet future when the God of Jacob will establish a Pax Davidica – a Messianic Empire – when YHVH will totally crush all enemies of the Jewish people (see Psalm 2), and when those enemies (like Hamas) will unconditionally surrender to Messiah Yeshua’s centralized imperial government – whether in Gaza, in Judea and Samaria, or on the banks of Jerusalem’s prophesied mighty river (see Isaiah 8:6-8; Ezekiel 47:1-12):

“A Psalm of David. Blessed be YHVH, my rock who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle – My shield and He in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 144:1-2).
“YHVH lives! Blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation. O God, you grant me vengeance and subject entire nations to me. You free me from my enemies and exalt me above my adversaries, delivering me from violent men.” (2 Samuel 22:47-49).

Recent American actions are paving the way for another October 7, another Israeli 9/11

Dr Haggai Ben-Artzi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law), has been outspoken in recent days about the moral abomination of releasing Hamas terrorists:

“We are caught in a chain reaction. We erred with the Jibril Deal forty years ago and should have learned our lesson. Rabin later regretted that mistake when he realized it had led to the First Intifada, with hundreds killed and thousands wounded. A rational person learns from the past, but for forty years already we’ve been making deals, and each time the price that we pay after the deal is greater, because we are not only releasing the next terror leaders but also creating motivation to continue the murder and massacre and kidnappings because it pays to kill Jews.”

He added that the Israeli public is experiencing a kind of ‘psychosis,’ demanding the return of a child now held in Gaza while ignoring and erasing the future price that will be paid:

“We’ve been in a psychosis since the [1973] Yom Kippur War, which traumatized us with thousands of dead. We’ve entered a mindset of surrendering and retreating just to get a little quiet. This path leads to disaster, because the enemy understands our weak point – and they will exploit it completely … The next disaster will be far worse. We cannot even imagine the next disaster.”

How shall we then pray?

Pray for revelation, discernment, clarity of thought and Bible-based courage be given to leaders and decision makers involved in Gaza-related issues.
Pray for the bolstering of the Israeli people’s prophetic courage and discernment
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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

Banqueting with the enemy

“When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are a person of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food” (Proverbs 23:1-3)

“Do not eat the bread of a selfish person, or desire his delicacies. For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten and waste your compliments” (Proverbs 23:6-8)

In the days of King Solomon, as Jewish pilgrims ascended the winding road to Jerusalem, they chanted the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). They reminded themselves of how Israel’s enemies were continually attempting to destroy her, but that the God of Jacob, in His covenant love, foiled evil plans and preserved His Hebrew people.

Those same cruel dynamics from nearly 3,000 years ago have gone through little change, and are thriving and metastasizing, even in our day. Arabs living in Kedar (modern Arabian peninsula; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qedarite; see also Genesis 25:13) were an outstanding biblical example of this murderous anti-Jewish hatred:

“Woe to me, for I reside in Meshech! For I have settled among the tents of Kedar! Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:5-7).

These biblical 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 Israel still characterize much of the Islamic and Arabic-speaking world.

The morphing of Qatar

The current repeated attacks against the regathered nation of Israel in our day focus our attention on this biblical teaching. Whether it be the terror state of Qatar, the jihadis of Gazan Hamas, the al Qa’eda spinoffs in Syria or the Shi’ite gangs of Houthi-controlled Yemen, the hatred of Israel, its leaders and its people (whether in Zion or scattered across the world) is now leading the headlines in world media coverage.

For the past while, the terror state of Qatar has occupied a ‘position of honor’ of being at the top of the jihadi anti-Israel list. This newsletter will unpack the ‘roots and shoots’ of the jihadi state of Qatar, its significant role in the bankrolling and spreading of jihadi terrorism, and its seductive role in compromising Western nations (especially the USA) as the House of Al-Thani seeks to destroy the seed of Jacob from off the face of the earth.

From pearl fishing and dates to natural gas super-power

Qatar’s ancient economy revolved around date harvesting, local commercial fishing and pearling in the nearby gulf. This state of affairs continued for millennia until significant oil reserves were discovered in 1939, and petroleum began to be exported from Qatar in 1949.

As recently as the 1980s, diplomats and businessmen described Qatar’s capital city Doha as a barren place with stifling heat: “From a distance, the only discernible building on Doha’s waterfront promenade was the pyramid-shaped Sheraton hotel.”

By 1997, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips began to exploit one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world – estimated at 843 trillion cubic feet (1/10% of the world’s supply). Only Russia (1,688) and Iran (1,200) have greater reserves. Qatar’s IMF per-capita gross domestic product is now $121,605 (fifth highest in the world), compared with the U.S. $89,105 (tenth highest). Today Qatar has a population of 3.1 million, of which 11.6% (0.36 million) are citizens and 88.4% (2.76 million) are expat workers.

The Qatari Royal Family of al-Thani sought out foreign patronage in Washington, and the CIA willingly arranged a coup on February 22, 1971 to cement that profitable financial relationship (as mirrored in the Hollywoodized film ‘Syriana‘ starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Christopher Plummer).

Qatar is a state with a population the size of Plano, Texas, yet it has managed to punch far above its weight on the international scene (David B Roberts, ‘Qatar: Securing the Global Ambitions of a City State’ (London: Hurst & Co., 2017), 123-49). It has become the main bankroller and exporter of world terrorism. How did that all happen?

When Brothers gather together

Jihadi Islam lies at the roots of Mohammad’s teachings in the Quran and the Hadith. For the first 300-500 years of its existence, Islam’s governing caliphate was activist, imperialistic and colonialist as it spread its dark gospel by the sword. But after an ebb in these conquests, it was the Ottoman Turks in the 1400’s who would renew the carrying of jihad’s violent torch into Europe, as well as back into into the Middle East once again. In the first part of the 20^th century, that Turkish Caliphate collapsed, and new firebrands like Hassan al-Bana (the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood/al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn in 1928), Sayyid Qutb and Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj advocated a revolutionary Islamic overthrow of what had become practically secular Islamic regimes, blending Salafist theology with medieval jihadi zealotry from the likes of ibn Taymiyya.

Three events in the second half of the 20th century imported this neo-jihadi movement into Qatar:

The first event: In the mid-1950’s, refugees of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB or Ikhwan) arrived in Qatar, escaping President Gamal Abd al-Nasser’s persecutions. Many of these then worked in the education sector, influencing a new generation of Qataris. The Qatari al-Thani Royal Family hoped in this way to stem the tide of Arab nationalism/socialism.

Secondly, in the 1970’s Qataris studying in Egyptian universities (including former MB Supreme Guide Jassim Sultan) brought MB ideology back to Qatar.

Thirdly, Syrian MB members arrived in Qatar at the start of the 1980’s, fleeing President Hafez al-Assad regime’s violent crackdown.

In 1961 the Qatari royal family welcomed Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to Qatar. Qaradawi (1926-2022), one of the top religious personalities in the Sunni Muslim world, was considered the spiritual and religious leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and of Hamas, its Gazan Palestinian branch. He has been described by many researchers as the most influential Muslim jurist of the late 20^th century. His program on Al-Jazeera TV (al-Sharia wa-l-Ḥayyat – Islamic Law and Life), drew 60 million viewers from around the world on a weekly basis. In the United Kingdom, Qaradawi was a trustee of The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and the President of the Dublin-based European Council for Fatwa and Research. Until November 2018 he was also the President of IUMS (the International Union of Islamic Scholars).

In 2005, a former Kuwaiti Minister of Information, Dr. Ahmad al-Rabi', wrote in the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper: “The beginnings of all the religious terrorism that we are witnessing today were in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology . . . All those who worked with bin Laden and al-Qaeda went out under the mandate of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Qatar – a gracious host to genocidal jihad

Qaradawi’s fatwas (Islamic religious rulings) legalized Hamas suicide bombings against Jews. In 2004, he gave an interview to the BBC justifying Palestinian terror and the killings of Israeli women and children. Qaradawi was a strong supporter of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. He met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a 2013 visit to the Gaza Strip, re-iterating his support both for Hamas and for the elimination of Israel. During a sermon about the Jewish people that aired on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2009, he called on Allah to “kill them, down to the very last one.”

On January 28, 2009, Qaradawi justified the Holocaust as “divine punishment.” “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them – even though they exaggerated this issue—he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the [Muslim] believers.”

In 1999, he was banned from entering the USA, having called for the destruction of America and for the annihilation of the Jews. His home base for decades was situated in Doha, Qatar – only minutes away from the USA’s huge al-Udeid Air Base, where CENTCOM still has its Combined Air Operations Center.

In 2009, Qaradawi was banned from entering the UK due to his support of suicide bombing in Israel. Between the years 2013-2018, he was placed on the Interpol watch list at the request of Egyptian police, which asked to include him and several senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, alleging his co-responsibility for murder and embezzlement.

The Muslim Brotherhood – according to a hearing at the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security on July 11, 2018 – is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US. Though Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch, has remained on the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) watchlist since 1997, its mother organization the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn) has not yet been so listed by the US Congress.

Qatar – THE bankroller and supporter of jihad

Bassam Tawil, a Muslim Arab commentator based in the Middle East, shoots straight from the hip, quoting Dr. Udi Levy, a former senior official of Israel’s Mossad spy agency who worked in the department of economic warfare against terrorist organizations:

“Qatar is the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world, more than Iran. Qatar has been playing a dual role since the beginning of the Gaza war. On the one hand, it is a well-known supporter of Hamas, and even finances it with a lot of money, and on the other hand, it is trying to help in the deal for the release of the Israeli hostages. So what is the real face of the Qataris?”

Former Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir addressed the Council of Foreign Relations on September 26, 2018, speaking very much to the point regarding Qatar’s role in financing and sheltering terrorist organizations, in disseminating hatred, and in destabilizing Islamic regimes in the Gulf states and North Africa. Below is an edited transcript of his 3:58 minute address, found at this link:

“Since the mid-90s [Qatar has] been sponsoring radicals. … They have become a base for the leadership for the Muslim Brotherhood [which is] what [birthed] Takfir al-Hijra, which [birthed] al-Qaeda, which [birthed] al-Nusra. The Qataris allow senior religious clerics to go on television and justify suicide bombings. The Qataris harbor and shelter terrorists. The Qataris fund [anti-government] dissidents in the Emirates, in Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia and in Kuwait in order to create instability. The Qataris pay [huge amounts] to terrorist groups including $500 million to Hezbollah Iraq, $50 million to Qassem Solemeini, including I don’t know how much to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
“The Qataris use [al-Jazeera as] their media platforms to spread hate. The Qataris send weapons to Al Qaeda-affiliated militias in Libya. The Qatari Emir connived with [Libya’s General Qaddafi on how to overthrow Saudi Arabia and how to assassinate the then Crown Prince (later, the king) of Saudi Arabia. We have [tapped] phone conversations where the then Amir of Qatar is telling Gaddafi how he’s recruiting princes, Qataris, tribal leaders, military officers and members of the Royal Family to destabilize Saudi Arabia, and predicting that within 10 years there would be no royal family in Saudi Arabia.”
“They did the same thing in Bahrain, in Kuwait and in the Emirates. So in 2012 we cut off relations with them and a year later they came back and agreed that they will end all of this nonsense. And they signed an agreement – and nothing happened. So this time (2017-2021) we said: ‘You know what? We’re not going to deal with you unless you change. We will not allow you.’ There’s a list of terror financiers that the US puts out, the UN puts out, and a number of them are living openly in Qatar raising money and giving it to bad people. But we have to deal with the dark side that I just explained. And so, that’s why we said, ‘Until, unless you change, we’re not going to deal with you!’”

When Qatar hid al-Qaeda’s master terrorist from the FBI

The Qatari government has been actively supporting the main jihadi terror groups in the Middle East. These included Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria (earlier ISIS) and later Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Julani’s HTS) in Syria; the Taliban in Afghanistan; al-Qaeda (throughout the Middle East and in the USA); Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank/Judea and Samaria; Hezbollah in Lebanon; al-Shabaab (in Somalia ); Kata’eb Hezbollah (in Iraq), and the Houthis (in Yemen). Qatar offered millions of dollars and security help to overthrow Hosni Mubaraq’s Egyptian government, and in its stead to establish Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood regime. During Morsi’s rule, many murderous attacks were carried out against Egyptian Christian communities and Egypt quickly made diplomatic overtures to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Qatar has backed radical Islamist groups in Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, in attempts to overthrow these governments. The groups which Qatar backed during the Syrian Civil War were indistinguishable, in terms of brutality and ideology, from al-Qaeda and ISIS.

A member of Qatar’s Royal Family (Abdullah Bin Khalid al-Thani) concealed future 9/11 al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM - a Kuwait-born Pakistani national on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list) in Doha from FBI searches in 1996, when they came to arrest him under indictment on charges of terrorism. Al-Thani informed only the Qatari Emir (his relative), and KSM was spirited out of Qatar within hours. Richard Clarke, adviser to two U.S. Presidents, attested to this in his book and in the media. “We had located Khalid Sheikh,” Jack Cloonan, a New York-based senior terrorism investigator for the FBI told ABCNEWS. “We were prepared to fly the plane in and to take him out.” But Cloonan says Mohammed was tipped off shortly after Qatar officials were told of the plan, and he immediately headed for the airport. At that time in 2003, FBI agent Cloonan prophetically stated that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed “is the person who is going to attack the United States.” September 9/11 proved the sober reality of his words. KSM was later linked to the April 11, 2002 suicide truck bombing of Tunisia’s Djerba synagogue where at least 19 tourists, mostly Germans, were murdered.

Today the unholy triumvirate supporting jihad and jihadis has grown to include not only Qatar, but also Turkey and Iran.

Qatar – world jihad’s long media arm

The media organization with the broadest and most powerful reach for jihad – not only in the Middle East, but also across the planet – is Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, which also serves as Hamas’s global propaganda arm. Its priority goals involve spreading Muslim Brotherhood propaganda through shaping world perspectives. Its primary emphasis is Islamist jihadi propaganda directed at the broader Arab world, but also at Western university students, poisoning minds through the spread of anti-American and anti-Israel broadcasting.

Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 by Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa al-Thani. The Lawfare Project characterized that network in a 2020 memo as “one of the most influential Islamist extremist propaganda outlets in the world ... essentially an arm of the Qatari government.” Sheikh al-Qaradawi would broadcast his sermons and his weekly show, ‘The Guidance of Islam,” on al-Jazeera, which he made use of to advocate suicide bombings. Al-Qaradawi praised Qatar for its role in spreading his teachings.

The recent virulence and violence directed against the Jewish people, the State of Israel and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is directly connected to these evil reports and curses which are aimed against the sons and daughters of Jacob, which are then picked up and rebroadcast by US and European media. Such media-based actions curse Israel, and according to Genesis 12:3 (ESV – ‘the one who dishonors you I will curse’), their blowback brings God’s curses upon the broadcasters and re-broadcasters of these anti-Semitic videos.

Hitting closer to home: Al-Jazeera TV aired a broadcast – ‘the Prostration of Gratitude’ (‘Sajdat al Shukr’ in Arabic) – live on October 7, 2023. This was live TV, zooming in on Hamas’ top jihadi leaders in Doha, Qatar conducting an Islamic prayer of thanks celebrating the ongoing ‘live’ massacre, rape, torture and kidnapping of Israeli youth by Hamas and Gazan residents – at both the Nova Music Festival and at kibbutzim and towns near Gaza. The atrocities were broadcast in real-time on huge digital screens in the jihadi conference room.

On January 24, 2024, al-Jazeera TV aired an interview with Joseph Massad, a professor at Columbia University, who told the network in Arabic: “[T]he U.S. was -- and still is – a settler colony, that sanctifies white supremacy over the rest of the people. Therefore, there is a kind of fusion between the U.S. and Israel. Israel reminds it of how things were in the United States in the past.”

Iraqi journalist Sufian al-Samarrai, the Chairman of the Baghdad Post and the New Iraq Centre, has said the West is too blind to see what al-Jazeera stands for and how it manipulates and penetrates Western societies. Al-Samarrai stressed “the massive differences in how news is portrayed in AJ English and AJ Arabic. AJ English projects itself as the standard-bearer of global liberalism, promoting democracy, human rights, freedom, and justice for all. It softly markets political Islam as a strategic solution to many of the Middle East’s problems. In addition, it portrays Islamism as a political ideology that can coexist with people and nations of different religions and ethnicities.”

Al-Samarrai continued: AJ Arabic, on the other hand, “is nothing more than a platform of armed political Islamist gangs, and their ferocity and terrorism are promoted as a legitimate resistance.” He added that “Al-Jazeera is waging a systematic psychological war against Arab societies.” The endgame, al-Samarrai claims, is “paving the way to political Islam represented by the Muslim Brotherhood to take over the region.”

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states boycott Qatar

Between June 5-6, 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced a boycott of Qatar, calling that country to “sever all ties to terrorist organizations, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood,” to declare the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, to shut down al-Jazeera and its affiliate stations, and to curb ties with Iran. A 13-point list of demands was sent, aimed at dismantling Qatar’s two-decade-old support for jihadi groups and revolutionary forces attempting to overthrow the Gulf monarchies.

At that time, POTUS Donald Trump had some strong words to say about Qatar:

On 6 June, 2017, Trump tweeted: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!” He also tweeted: “Good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all references were pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”

On June 21, 2017, Trump told a rally in Iowa: “We cannot let these incredibly rich nations fund radical Islamic terror or terrorism of any kind. We cannot let it happen. Cannot let it happen.”

This Arab Gulf boycott lasted four years, though the root causes behind it are still very much alive and well in the Middle East.

Qatar – the largest funder of US universities

Qatar has contributed $5.1 billion to US academic institutions since 1986, more than any other country in the world (see ‘Networks of Hate: Qatari Paymasters, Soft Power and the Manipulation of Democracy’). This ‘soft power’ funding has been used to radicalize students in the US and to catalyze the recent upsurge in anti-Israeli protests at a number of prominent American universities. Part of Qatar’s funding is used to support foreigners studying in the US on student visas, some of whom are suspected by US authorities of inciting hatred of Israel.

Here are three articles giving specific examples of this Qatari strategy:

“Northwestern University has allowed Qatar to transform one of America’s leading institutions into a platform for extremist ideology and terror apologism,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum. “The university’s contractual obligation to respect Qatari laws while employing faculty with documented ties to terrorist organizations represents a fundamental betrayal of American academic values and poses a direct threat to campus safety for Jewish students.”

‘How Qatar Fuels Campus Extremism in the United States’; September 8, 2025; Benjamin Baird; Middle East Forum

‘Northwestern Qatar University: Qatar's Multimillion-Dollar Plan to Influence American Media: A Case Study at Northwestern University: Exposing Title VI Noncompliance, Civil Rights Violations, and Student Radicalization’; Canary Mission; February 2022

Lies, betrayal and double-dealing

Qatar is the world’s largest funder and equipper of jihadi terror. Yet, just as King Solomon said in Proverbs, “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wrong’” (Proverbs 30:20).

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on September 25, 2014, Qatar’s Emir al-Thani blithely stated that his state does not consider jihadi terrorism to be terrorism, but to be a kosher expression of Islamic faith:

“We don’t fund extremists. If you talk about certain movements, especially in Syria and Iraq, we all consider them to be terrorist movements. I know that in America and some countries, they look at some movements as terrorist movements … But there are differences. There are differences between some countries and some people who think that any group which comes from Islamic background are terrorists. And we don’t accept that.”

At the opening of the 20^th century, Britian made promises to both the House of ibn-Saud and to the Hashemite dynasty, promising to each group a decisive hegemony over the Islamic jewel of Mecca. In the end, the jihadi warriors of ibn Saud defeated the Bedouin armies of the Hashemites, and Arabia found itself with a new name – Saudi Arabia. At that time, Britain was pulling strings across the entire Middle East, and ended up controlling puppet regimes in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc. But within a space of thirty years, these acquisitions of the Crown were mostly swept away, replaced by the ‘friendly’ bear-hug of Uncle Sam. A deeper analysis of these activities is found in ‘The Secret War against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People’ (John Loftus and Mark Aarons, St. Mark’s Griffin, 1997).

Both Qatar and the USA are playing a deadly double-dealing game right now. Qatar is pretending that it is a Western ally, while simultaneously sponsoring and enabling anti-Western jihadi terrorism. Europe, dependent on Qatari natural gas, is keeping respectfully quiet about the whole matter.

The USA’s realpolitik has compromised American believability in Middle Eastern arenas. Qatar hosts the US CENTCOM and the Middle East’s largest US airbase at al-Udeid, while simultaneously hosting the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian jihadi cadres of Hamas at Doha’s Four Seasons Hotel. America is prepared to tolerate the cognitive dissonance that comes along with its own vital strategic interests – which include access to landing strips for its B-2 and B-52 bombers; an unlimited supply of natural gas; and backdoor/front-door channels to top international jihadi generals.

Qatar – World Cup slavery and ‘Qatargate’

According to the British newspaper The Guardian of December 14, 2014, Qatar’s royal family “runs a sharia state, where homosexuality is punishable by death, women are severely restricted in their liberties and foreign workers are treated like indentured laborers, stripped of their rights and forced to work in highly dangerous conditions,”

More than 91% of Qatar’s population are foreign workers. They are controlled by an abusive sponsorship system which gives employers almost complete control over their workers. Qatar has not opened an investigation regarding the deaths of masses of foreign workers – between hundreds to thousands, according to estimates – as part of the 2022 World Cup. Here are five articles unpacking this subject:

In December 2022, Belgian authorities uncovered the bribery of Members of the European Parliament by Qatar, and attempts to influence EU legislation and policies in the European Parliament. European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili lied for Qatar in exchange for millions in cash to boost the country’s image in the face of criticism over letting it host the 2022 FIFA World Cup: “I alone said that Qatar is a front-runner in labor rights, abolishing kafala [Islamist removal of workers’ protections], introducing minimum wage.” Politico reported on the leaked files, dubbed ‘the Qatargate Files’ in December 2023: “The actions recorded in the documents include some with a significant impact on the workings of the European Union – such as scheming to kill off six parliamentary resolutions condemning Qatar’s human rights record, and working to deliver a visa-free travel deal between Doha and the EU.”

Qatar plays a false ‘hostage mediation’ role while subsidizing Hamas’ October 7 attacks

Qatar continues to be the main funder of Hamas, subsidizing its arms purchases, training and operating costs, and granting a protective base to that jihadi organization in Doha’s luxury hotels. As far as October 7, 2023 is concerned, the hands may be the hands of Hamas, but the voice is the voice of Qatar.

Qatar has been playing a duplicitous double-game with the USA – energizing Hamas while simultaneously posturing itself as a neutral third-party desperately wanting to free the Israeli hostages. Nearly every Western country involved here is playing along, shedding copious crocodile clear while they appeal to tainted righteousness. One example of many is from Axios on August 15, 2024:

“CIA director Bill Burns earlier this week awarded the head of the Qatari State Security Agency, Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, the ‘George Tenet’ medal for his work on strengthening intelligence cooperation between the U.S. and Qatar, according to two sources with knowledge of the issue. The ceremony at CIA headquarters earlier this week took place amid intense diplomatic efforts by the U.S. & Qatar to reach Gaza hostage/ceasefire deal.”

On Thursday March 10, 2022 former POTUS Joe Biden officially designated Qatar a major non-NATO ally, and in January 2024, quietly extended an agreement with Qatar that extends the US military presence in the terror-supporting Gulf state for another 10 years. Qaradawi, Hamas and CENTCOM – strange bedfellows indeed!

‘All is quiet on the Western Front’

Here are some recent quotes from American and Qatari leaders which reveal stunning political hypocrisy, as well as the urgent need for prayer:

POTUS Biden’s March 7, 2024 State of the Union address insists on dividing up the Land of Israel: “As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution over time. And I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel . . . But there is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees that Palestinians can live in peace with peace and dignity. And there is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its neighbors – including Saudi Arabia.”

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on March 7, 2025, Qatar’s Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stated that peace is a fundamental principle for Qatar, and therefore, the country works to promote peace in the region and for its allies. According to him, “peace has enemies,” and Qatar’s adversaries (i.e., a heavy-handed hint about Israel) harm the region and its allies, including the United States.

In May 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump concluded a successful visit to the Arabian Peninsula, including the Emirate of Qatar (May 14-15). At the end of the visit, Trump announced a series of economic achievements, centered around the signing of a mutual trade agreement worth $1.2 trillion, along with economic deals totaling $243.5 billion. These include, among other things, Qatar’s purchase of Boeing aircraft and General Electric aircraft engines for Qatar Airways.

In an official statement on May 16, 2025, following President Trump’s visit, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that “the State of Qatar and the United States of America work closely to address global and regional challenges.” According to Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “President Trump recognized Qatar’s continued efforts in supporting regional peace and praised its contributions as a frontline partner in global counterterrorism, violent extremism and a critical contributor to crisis diplomacy.”

Donald J. Trump Truth Social 09.09.25 04:20 PM EST “This morning, the Trump Administration was notified by the United States Military that Israel was attacking Hamas which, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the Capital of Qatar . . . Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals . . . I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack . . . I believe this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for PEACE. I also spoke to the Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar, and thanked them for their support and friendship to our Country. I assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil. I have directed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to finalize the Defense Cooperation Agreement with Qatar. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Fox New Reporter at Morristown Airport, Morris County, NJ at 18:40 ET: : “What is your message to Netanyahu about strikes on Qatar?” Trump: “My message is: they [i.e., Israel] have to be very careful. They have to do something about Hamas. But Qatar has been a great ally to the US. A lot of people don’t know that. I told the Emir – a wonderful person actually – I said ‘You need better public relations. Because you don’t really get the public relations.’ I mean, people talk of it so badly, and they shouldn’t be. Qatar’s been a very great ally. So – Israel and everybody else: we have to be careful. When we attack people, we have to be careful”

A comment here: when Seal Team Six of the US Navy DEVGRU took out Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, they did not ask that Islamic state for prior permission. When a US Reaper drone took out master terrorist Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport, or when a US car-bomb in Damascus’ posh Kafar Sousah suburb removed Imad Mughniyeh from further jihadi activities, the US did not ask for prior Iraqi or Syrian permission. Nevertheless, the Western world cheered American boldness and righteous justice. When Israel recently attempted to take out Hamas’ entire terror leadership (ensconced safely in Doha under Qatari protection and financing), it was the Jewish state state’s right to do so, for terrorists have no safe haven. Pray that Western leadership will find the gumption and courage to stand wholeheartedly with its tur allies in such situations.

New York, New York

Qatar’s role in bailing out Trump envoy and New York real estate maven Steve Witkoff with hundreds of millions of dollars in a collapsing real estate deal, casts a shadow of potential ethical compromise over Trump foreign-policy team’s ability, as they attempt to objectively evaluate Qatar’s role in Middle East processes.

Zohran Mamdani is an anti-Israeli Socialist who is also the Democratic Party’s candidate in the upcoming mayoral race in New York City. Qatar has funded the film career of arthouse filmmaker and documentarian Mira Nair, Mamdani’s Israel-bashing mother, investing tens of millions of dollars over the years in propping up her career.

On October 7, 2023, the State of Qatar’s Media & Communication Department accused Israel as being “solely responsible for the ongoing escalation” and being in “flagrant violation of international law” – all this while Qatar-funded Hamas jihadis were raping and torturing young men and women to death, executing kibbutz parents in front of their children, emptying sub-machine guns and throwing grenades into bomb shelters where Holocaust survivors and their families had taken shelter:

Doha - Media & Communication Dept. - 07 October 2023

The State of Qatar expresses its deep concern over the developments in Gaza Strip and calls on all parties to de-escalate, and exercise maximum restraint.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds Israel solely responsible for the ongoing escalation due to its ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, the latest of which was the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli police.

The Ministry stresses the need for the international community to act urgently to compel Israel to stop its flagrant violations of international law, respect the resolutions of international legitimacy and the historical rights of the Palestinian people, and to prevent these events from being used as a pretext to ignite a new asymmetric war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the firm position of the State of Qatar regarding the justice of the Palestinian cause, and the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

One day before this op-ed, on Wednesday September 17 al-Khulaifi met in The Hague with the president of the ICC, Judge Tomoko Akane, to pursue “every available legal and diplomatic avenue to ensure accountability for those responsible for Israel’s attack on Qatar.” An unnamed Qatari official stated at that time that Israel’s attack on Hamas terrorists hiding out in Qatar was “unlawful,” adding it “constitutes grave violations of international humanitarian law.”

It seems that Qatar’s attacks on Israel through its proxy Hamas (including the October 2, 2023 massacre and mass rape) – according to Qatari officials – was lawful and did not constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law. It also seems that Qatar’s decades-long sheltering of jihadi murderers should not be a problematic issue for the ICC. The criminal and hypocritical nature of jihad-tinged international politics is exposed here in all its shameful nakedness.

On September 18, 2025, nine days after Israel had unsuccessfully attempted to remove Hamas’s top leadership who were hiding out in the Qatari capital of Doha, Qatar’s minister of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, attacked Israel in a Washington Post op-ed. He gaslighted the Jewish state, charging them falsely with very same terrorist activities that Qatar has been supporting over the past three decades through their terror-proxy Hamas:

“For decades, Qatar has been a trusted mediator in some of the world’s most complex conflicts . . . Never before in modern memory has a negotiating party attacked a mediating country. Israel’s missile attack on Doha last week violated the most basic principles of sovereignty and nonintervention enshrined in international law. It was an assault on the very practice of mediation. It has cast doubt over the ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. And it was made on the sovereign territory of a U.S. ally . . . Israel has not been held accountable . . . The prime minister has become a major threat to peace and security in the Middle East — and to the international legal order . . . Israel itself has repeatedly relied on Qatar as a channel. The Hamas office in Doha was established in coordination with the United States to enable indirect communication, avoid escalation and keep a door open for diplomacy . . . For Netanyahu to now criticize Qatar for hosting Hamas officials is to insult the intelligence of the international community, the media and even the Israeli public.”

In light of Qatar’s stunning reserves of natural gas, perhaps al-Khulaifi’s hypocritical attack could be renamed ‘natural gas-lighting’…

How shall we then pray?

There is an urgent need for prayer. These matters concerns the well-being and survival of both the USA and Israel. These matters touch on Islamist jihad’s 1400-year-old strategic goal of conquering the world, and especially vanquishing Judeo-Christian society (which threat Charlie Kirk was adamant in continuing to point out).

We encourage you to take up the intercessory challenge here, and lift up this torch in prayer.

And also, please 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

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give

A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE VEIL - Rachel Boskey

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12)

From my place in the Land

There is a unique vantage point living here and being bonded to the destiny of the Jewish people. From this place, I seek to communicate.

Some haters of Zion are already accusing the Jewish people and Israel of the murder of Charlie Kirk. This is another lie from the father of lies.

Kirk is loved and honored by many Israelis and Jews of all streams, political persuasions and walks of life. In the last four days, influencers and people on the Israeli street have expressed their love and support for Charlie Kirk – whether they agreed with his positions or not. Jewish people know a friend when they see one, and their radar is often very accurate.

There are more factors to consider.

The veil lifted slightly

When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I sensed that the veil to the unseen realm was lifted slightly, making it possible to see a bit more clearly into the world of the spirit. Like after a nuclear blast, a shock wave of power opened the door into another dimension or spiritual perspective.

Kirk spoke from the Bible to people everywhere. At the same time he spoke into the unseen realm of the spirit, using spiritual weapons to take down spiritual strongholds.

Mid-heaven thrones

An old prophetic friend who is now with the Lord once said that if anyone exposes the nefarious work of specific spiritual principalities, there can be real-time repercussions. Kirk did speak boldly, and he paid the ultimate price.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Messiah” (2 Corinthians 10:4)

How I first heard of Charlie Kirk

I first became aware of Kirk in 2021. At that time, his words gave me courage to stand up against the propagandistic onslaught of ‘Big Pharma’ – the huge conglomerate which wields great influence and control over much of this world’s populace. My understanding is that this principality (referred to in Greek as φαρμακείᾳ or ‘pharmakeia’, and in English as ‘sorcery’), has outed itself more clearly for all to see, over the past five years.

“For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery” (Revelation 18:26)

Kirk spoke fearlessly against the coercion employed by this powerful spiritual force, which manipulated the behavior of entire societies, forced obedience to sloppy medical dictates, caused massive harm physically and psychologically, wrought destruction and death, and at the same time reaped enormous monetary profit.

But Kirk's stand on these issues was not the motivation behind the murderer’s actions.

One of my heroes

Kirk became one of my heroes, and he is also a hero to many in Israel. Those who have discerned the ‘pharma fraud,’ are praising him and posting clips of Kirk speaking up against it. Many here appreciate and honor him for this stance.

Sadly, this ‘pharmakeia’ has deeply insinuated itself into our civilization and existence, and its influence is still nearly imperceptible and invisible to many — like not seeing the forest for the trees. Along these lines, Dr Naomi Wolf wrote a superb article about a significant interview she once had with Kirk. She writes of the love of the truth that she and Charlie Kirk shared. Her words resonate and are worth reading (https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/a-flash-of-light).

Spiritual forces

There are other spiritual forces that Kirk addressed. Some of these were operating through those who wanted to take Kirk’s life.

Decades ago, our old prophetic friend referred to abortion, homosexuality and the spiritual battle against Israel and the Jews. The three ‘big issues’ which, if exposed and addressed, would generate significant blowback.

Some of these ‘big issues’

Everywhere Kirk went, he embraced people with kindness. At the same time he did not compromise on the clear teaching of scripture.

The spiritual powers catalyzing child-sacrifice and sexual perversion do not like being challenged.

News travels fast. It has now become clear that Kirk’s alleged murderer had embraced moral and sexual perversion which carry in their wake demonic fellow-travelers. Their innumerable diabolic tentacles reach into the darkest corners of human existence.

Those principalities cannot tolerate the likes of a Charlie Kirk. And so, they saw to his silencing.

Preaching just like John

Kirk regularly preached the Gospel, and through him many came to faith in the Messiah. He said the ‘courage of his faith’ was the most important element of his life. This also made him a target. The preaching of sin, righteousness and judgment makes the demons rage.

Probably many who heard Kirk did not immediately repent and turn away from sin. Yet it’s quite clear to see the respect for and embrace of Charlie Kirk across the globe, as well as here in Israel. I am so reminded of John the Baptist. Like a magnet, people flocked to him and wanted to bask in his charisma. Those who loved him, truly loved him.

“He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light” (John 5:35)

Not all who loved Kirk agreed with him, but many acknowledged the clear-thinking authority that he had.

The haters

Those who hated him, hated him with a passion. John the Baptist confronted Herod over his unlawful taking of his brother’s wife. Kirk spoke against sexual sin just like John the Baptist did. They both paid with their lives.

“Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet” (Matthew 14:5)

Herod eventually had John beheaded. I saw a report about Charlie Kirk’s death, about whether he suffered pain or was aware of what happened to him when he was shot in the neck. The severing of the jugular vein and carotid artery leads to nearly instantaneous death. The brain doesn’t have the chance to register the pain.

Charlie Kirk took it in the neck, in a way very similar to John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was a beacon of truth in the midst of a faithless and twisted generation. So too was Charlie Kirk. The ‘love grown cold’ of our times is seen in the perversity of some of the depraved and mocking responses to Kirk’s death. This too is a sign.

“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12)

But there’s more to the story and this next part is more challenging to write.

Israel is the hot button for earthly and unseen powers

Charlie Kirk openly, courageously, passionately loved and defended Israel the people and Israel the land.

In many conversations and on many platforms, Kirk showcased the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Covenant Scriptures, laying a solid foundation for his message about God’s covenant love for Israel.

In the last few years, Kirk spoke to Jewish people outside of the Land of Israel, and warned them to be prepared to defend themselves if they are threatened and attacked. He told them to be ready – that this is the time of the hunters (Jeremiah 16:16).

Kirk also unflinchingly proclaimed the Jewish people’s right to militarily defend themselves in their own land.

Kirk visited Israel numerous times. He declared during one of those visits that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 was a big mistake with deadly repercussions.

October 7 2023

After the murderous pogrom of October 7 2023, Kirk was interviewed. He spoke openly that the unfolding of events of that horrific day didn’t make sense to him. He was puzzled about why the defense and intelligence forces of Israel didn’t manage to stop the massacres.

In this, too, I am greatly moved by Charlie Kirk’s love of the truth and by his fearless desire to know the truth and to take a stand upon the truth.

Just like Kirk’s unwavering stand on every issue I have mentioned in this letter, so here too Kirk went after the truth.

A recent poll of Israelis showed that 42% of the Israeli public believe that some kind of betrayal took place (https://youtu.be/_CtlzTePASM) before and leading up to October 7 2023 – on the part of intelligence and military leadership.

This letter will not address this issue. But I commend Charlie Kirk. He was well aware of and spoke of the polarization and virtual civil war-like division inside of Israel during the many months before the October 2023 massacres. I believe that Kirk’s love of truth and his love of Israel led him to rightly question what actually transpired.

Whodunit

All evidence regarding Kirk’s assassination points to serious social divisions within America. I personally believe that Kirk’s murder was spawned by dark demonic forces which are manipulating domestic ideologies and movements within the USA.

Jerusalem and the End Times

Israel is being sifted and tested. She is in the birth canal which will lead to her national salvation, when “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).

During a short period of time, Israel will – under pressure and in desperation – accept the leadership of a false messiah. This option too will fail.

In the End Times, the nation of Israel will be alone and isolated. The nations will not be there to help her. Even now they are well on the way to turning against the Jewish state. Many of us knew that this would one day happen.

Finally, Messiah Yeshua will come to Israel's aid at the climax of this present age.

Alone and not alone

Often, I hear Israelis say on media platforms and in person, “Oh yes, the ‘evangelicals,’ they’re our friends!” And that is true: we Israelis do have some friends. Not everyone hates us.

We who know the Lord and His Word are called to align ourselves with His eternal purposes for the Jewish people.

Charlie Kirk held fast to the Lord and to His Word, to the moral standards laid out within those pages, to the Good News of Messiah Yeshua and to God’s covenant love for Israel and the Jewish people.

May Charlie’s tribe increase!

How shall we then pray?

Lord, help us to be closer to You

Help us to love You more than we love our own lives

Help us to partner with Your end-time purposes, especially for the Jewish people's salvation, physically and spiritually

Please speak to people everywhere and awaken their hearts to You with your love and mercy

Please raise up 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,

Rachel Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

To donate online visit: https://davidstent.org/give