Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.
King David prophesied that in the Last Days, international leaders of this rebellious planet will unite together to oppose the God of Israel, the Messiah of Israel and the Davidic Kingdom:
- Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot empty things? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against YHVH and against His Messiah, saying, “Let’s tear their shackles apart and throw their ropes away from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs; YHVH scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury (Psalm 2:1-5)
Psalm 83 was written down by Asaph – a royal prophet (1 Chronicles 25:1-3), a seer (2 Chronicles 29:30), a worship leader (1 Chronicles 16:7-8, 37-38) and a percussionist (1 Chronicles 16:5). He took up David’s theme and expanded it, prophesying that the nations of the Middle East would form a conspiracy, a military union, with a dual purpose – to form a covenant against the God of Israel, and to totally destroy the Jewish people through genocide:
- For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.” For they have conspired together with one mind; They make a covenant against You (Psalm 83:2-5)
The shuddering jolt that this planet is now feeling, heralds the arrival of these prophetic days.
Hamas and Israel – two equal narratives? Two equal atrocities?
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, recently visited Kibbutz Be’eri – where at least 85 of the 1,200 people were murdered on October 7, 2023, and from where about 30 of the more than 240 were kidnapped. With the blood of the Jewish victims still staining the ground, the Spanish-born Borrell stated: “Israel must be defended, but one horror does not justify another: innocent [Palestinian Gazan] civilians, including thousands of children, have died in recent weeks.”
Borrell is not disclosing an important context – something that is common knowledge to all the world media – the fact that Hamas does not allow free press and independent reporting in Gaza. Therefore, the casualty figures it feeds foreign media are have been and continue to be greatly exaggerated. EU representative Borrell’s talking points slavishly follow the diktats of Hamas’s proven propaganda campaign. Here’s how it all works out on the ground in real time:
- Hamas initiates hostilities by firing rockets against Israeli civilians, while hiding its launchers, terror squads and weapons behind a Gazan civilian shield
- Hamas then accuses Israel of war crimes when the IDF attacks those launchers, terror squads and weapons – even as the IDF tries to avoid civilian casualties where at all possible
- The world media, the UN, the EU and Western media accuse Israel of war crimes, using Hamas’ false and propagandistic casualty figures
Borrell compared Hamas’ slaughtering of Israeli citizens to the IDF’s pinpoint targeting of terrorist jihadi sources of fire. This is not only a grossly inaccurate comparison; it is morally reprehensible and innately evil. To make a moral equivalence between an arsonist and a fireman is criminally malevolent.
The Bible presents us with a measuring rod in Judges 11:12-33 which helps to clarify such diplomatic dishonesty. The people of Ammon had been terrorizing and murdering Jewish people who had settled in formerly Amorite (not Ammonite) territories. Jephthah the Judge sent envoys to Ammon to see if a peaceful solution was possible: “What conflict do you and I have, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” The Ammonites responded with a falsified narrative, accusing Israel of stealing Ammonite land: “It is because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. So return them peaceably now.” Jephthah vehemently denied these Ammonite lies, recounted the actual biblical history and then declared: “So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. May YHVH, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon!” But the king of the sons of Ammon disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him . . . Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them. And YHVH handed them over to him. He inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aro’er to the entrance of Minnit, twenty cities, and as far as Avel Kramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.”
Using Jephthah’s same Bible-based approach, the historical account in the Book of Joshua shows that the God of Jacob gave the whole area of Gaza to Judah as part of their tribal inheritance: “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families . . . Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages, as far as the Brook (Hebrew, nahal) of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its coastline” (Joshua 15:20, 47). Jihadi invading armies led by Amr ibn al-As conquered Gaza around 638 A.D.. That was when Arabs entered the Land of Israel. The original kosher occupants of the Land of Israel, according to the God of Israel, are the Jewish people – not the Arabs.
- From the biblical perspective, the Islamic conquerors who claimed Gaza and the entire land of Israel through jihadi conquest have never invalidated and cannot invalidate the Jewish people’s God-given ownership of those lands. “For the gifts and the calling of God [on the Jewish people] are irrevocable” says Paul in Romans 11:29. Even as the Ammonites claimed land that was not theirs, so the Gazans and the Palestinians are claiming land (by virtue of jihad) that is not theirs. God is making this issue an international point of contention, and will soon judge all the nations who refuse to recognize God’s irrevocable gift of the land to the sons and daughters of Jacob (see Joel 3:1-2; Zechariah 14:1-3).
How to support terrorists while lecturing Israel about not getting mad
EU’s High Representative Josep Borrell, in his brief visit to the scene of Hamas’ slaughter mass rape, torture and kidnapping of Israeli babies, children, teenagers, fathers, mothers and pensioners, rebuked Israel for any anger they might feel at these atrocities, and warned them not to mete out justice on Gazan terrorists: “I understand your fears and your pain. I understand your rage. But let me ask you not to let yourself be consumed by rage. I think that is what the best friends of Israel can tell you, because what makes the difference between a civilized society and a terrorist group is the respect for human life.” Borrell is raising the threat of a blood libel against Israel; he is claiming that Israel’s destruction of terrorists, their weapons, their rocket launchers and HQs, is morally equivalent to Hamas’ atrocities against innocent Israeli civilians.
A glance at Borrell’s background is helpful here: he helped to draft the European Constitution that eventually led to the Treaty of Lisbon, and at that time opposed the inclusion of the term “Christian heritage” to describe Europe’s spiritual history.
The God of Jacob’s perspective on these matters is markedly different from that of the European Union. YHVH is angry at the nations’ casual and cavalier attitudes toward the Jewish people and their welfare, and He vows to respond with burning anger, with vengeance and fire against those who do not care for Zion, or who show more care for Hamas than for Zion:
- Therefor all who devour you will be devoured, and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who plunder you I will turn into plunder. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH because they have called you an outcast, saying: “It is Zion; no one cares for her.” (Jeremiah 30:16-17)
- Now YHVH saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no one, and was amazed that there was not one to intercede. Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will He repay: wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies; to the coastlands He will deal retribution. (Isaiah 59:15-18)
- Behold, the name of YHVH comes from a remote place. His anger is burning and dense with smoke. His lips are filled with indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. His breath is like an overflowing river, which reaches to the neck, to shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, and to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray. You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, and gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, to go to the mountain of YHVH, to the Rock of Israel. And YHVH will cause His voice of authority to be heard, and the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, and in the flame of a consuming fire in cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones. For at the voice of YHVH Assyria will be terrified, when He strikes with the rod. And every blow of the rod of punishment, which YHVH will lay on him, will be with the music of tambourines and lyres. And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them. For Tophet has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, a pyre of fire with plenty of wood. The breath of YHVH, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire. (Isaiah 30:27-33)
- In all their distress He was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy, He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old (Isaiah 63:9)
At the annual IISS Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain, Josep Borrell stated: “Hamas cannot be in control of Gaza any longer. So, who will be in control of Gaza? I think only one could do that – the Palestinian Authority.” As pointed out in our November 12, 2023 newsletter, the Palestinian Authority is itself a terror group which subsidizes terrorists. It has Muslim Brotherhood and Nazi origins. Its leader denies the Holocaust. The PA/PLO is shot through and through with corruption, etc.
- Borrell is supporting a terrorist organization and advocating giving power to Palestinian terrorists, while rebuking Israel and telling us not to get overly upset about Hamas’ jihadi atrocities.
How to shrink Israel while strengthening Israel’s enemies
On December 17, 1975 then Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger met S’adun Hammadi, Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Iraqi Ambassador’s residence on Rue d’Andigne, Paris. In that meeting Kissinger volunteered, “We can’t negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions … So, I think in ten to fifteen years, Israel will be like Lebanon, struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world” (http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB107/iraq04.pdf). This State Department realpolitik position still guides the thinking of many American politicians and presidents today.
On November 18, 2023 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank on Saturday and repeated calls for dividing the land of Israel – a two-state solution. “We don’t want any new settlements in the West Bank.”
This same goal is being incessantly repeated by most world leaders today, a sobering foreshadow of Joel 3:1-2 and Zechariah 14:1-3.
The IDF is striving with all its might to eradicate Hamas – both the terrorists and their infrastructure – from Gaza. It is grueling work. At the same time, the Islamic world and their Western sympathizers are turning the screws, put as much pressure as they can to stop Israel in its tracks – so that Hamas can live to fight and slaughter Jews another day. Hamas has stored food, medical supplies and gasoline to keep its organization going for some time. There are no shortages in this department – provided that Hamas stops stealing UN oil and allows ordinary Gazans access to their warehouses.
World pressure is now on Israel to open up the spigot so that Hamas can more easily resupply its forces from replenished jihadi stockrooms. These dynamics have been filmed and broadcast to the world, though ignored by much of the world’s media cartels. But the world is strangely silent regarding Israel’s insistent demand – first let all the hostages go free, and then humanitarian aid can be allowed. But the hostages do not seem to be the highest priority for the EU, the UN or the USA; the world is attempting to snatch that Ace of Spades from Israel’s hands, and instead is strengthening the hands of Israel’s enemies. Imagine if during 1944 in WWII, the League of Nations insisted on sending humanitarian aid convoys to Berlin or Tokyo before an unconditional surrender was achieved. WWII would still be going on.
Two thought-provoking questions:
- Why is the West stubbornly trying to define this war – not as a jihadi threat that needs to be totally taken down, before it spreads and metastasizes in the West – but as a Gazan humanitarian aid crisis? Since these are tried and true Hamas talking points and strategies, why is the West being led by the nose on this one, one more time?
- Why is it that no Muslim country is offering solutions which will get rid of Hamas and free Palestinians from Hamas’ jihadi terror rule? Why is no Arab country offering to open their doors and take in Palestinian refugees? Why does it seem that these Muslim countries are willing (as Abba Eban once quipped) “to fight to the last Palestinian” and not offer concrete help?
Ammon and Edom – mocking Jewish walls and Jewish armies
In Nehemiah’s day, an Ammonite leader who lived in what is today central Jordan, mocked Jewish efforts to restore their defenses and their homeland: “Now Tobiah (in Hebrew, Tuvya) the Ammonite was near him, and he said, ‘Even what they are building – if a fox were to jump on it, it would break their stone wall down!’” (Nehemiah 4:3). Tobiah’s mockery of Nehemiah’s construction work activated the cursing aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant (see Genesis 12:3), directed against those who mock or denigrate the Jewish people. Tobiah thus brought God’s judgment upon the people and country of Ammon.
In Ezekiel’s day, a prophetic word was given to the Edomites (ancient dwellers in what is today southern Jordan, who are today called ‘Palestinians’) foreseeing that these descendants of Esau would mock the Jewish people’s connection to the Jewish homeland, and would plunder the Land of Israel, claiming it for themselves:
- Therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of Adonai YHVH. This is what 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.” (Ezekiel 36:4-5)
Today in the country of Jordan, similar dynamics of mocking and cursing are occurring, just as they occurred in Bible days. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, rather than sadly admitting that Hamas has slaughtered Israeli citizens and has taken innocent Jews hostage, sharply stated instead that “Israel is taking 2.3 million Palestinians hostage.”
Safadi mocks the IDF’s ability to achieve its war goals, and doubts that Israel’s army can achieve anything – just like Tobiah doubted that Nehemiah’s wall could keep out even a fox:
- “Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There’s a lot of military people here, I just don’t understand how this objective can be realized . . . Nothing justifies the war in Gaza, and it does not bring security to Israel. Hamas is an ideology, and ideas cannot be eliminated with weapons. Hamas and ISIS cannot be placed in the same category.”
Brett McGurk, the White House’s National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, also spoke at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, where he laid out the U.S.A.’s non-negotiables: “No forced displacement [of Palestinians from Gaza]; no reoccupation [of Gaza by the Israelis, regardless of God’s promise in Joshua 15]; no reduction in ]Gazan] territory [by Israel]; no threats to Israel [by Hamas]; no besiegement [of Gaza by Israel].” Once again, the US State Department has put itself at loggerheads with the God of Jacob over the dividing up of the Land of Israel.
For those who appreciate history, it is worth recalling some facts that reveal most of the above statements as hypocritical diplomatic posturing:
- Between 1948 and 1967, the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, never establishing a Palestinian state, but instead annexing those territories to Jordan
- The Palestinian PLO tried to overthrow Jordan’s King Hussein in September 1970 and then assassinated his Prime Minister Wasfi Tal in November 1971
- King Hussein went to war against the PLO and their ideology, eliminating their philosophical hold in Jordan with royal weapons. In those clashes nearly 4,000 PLO were killed, and 20,000 Palestinians fled to Lebanon, jump-starting the Lebanese Civil War where over 100,000 were killed in clashes. Based on King Hussein’s personal example, Safadi’s declarations are incorrect: terrorist ideas and terrorists themselves can be eliminated with weapons.
- Palestinians in Jordan (approximately 60% of the population) are kept on a short leash by the King’s mukhabarat secret services (who fear Palestinian revolution). King Abdullah II is not himself a Palestinian, and is seen by many Palestinians as a Western puppet
- The Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn) is a major threat to Jordan’s king, plotting overthrow of the kingdom barely beneath the surface. They see the King as a heretical Muslim,
Though Foreign Minister Safadi opines that Hamas and ISIS cannot be placed in the same category, facts on the ground speak otherwise: Hamas’ terror tactics on October 7, 2023 were exactly those of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, while ISIS manuals and flags were found on the dead bodies of Hamas terrorists. Not every diplomatic declaration accurately reflects the truth.
- “Since you [O Edom] have had everlasting hatred and have turned over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the punishment of the end, therefore as I live, declares Adonai YHVH, I will certainly doom you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you” (Ezekiel 35:5-6)
God’s hooks in the jaws of the nations
Ezekiel prophesies about a Last Days war in the Middle East when the God of Jacob will put hooks into the jaws of Middle Eastern nations and, like a fisherman hauling in a huge catch, will draw those nations down to Israel for their judgement and destruction. From a jihadi perspective, Israel’s existence and its military victories over neighboring countries and jihadi terror groups are reason enough to invade and attempt to destroy the Jewish state.
- “I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them magnificently dressed, a great contingent with shield and buckler, all of them wielding swords; Persia [Iran], Cush [Sudan/Ethiopia], and Put [Libya] with them, all of them with buckler and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-Togarmah [these two are ancient names for Turkic areas on the Black Sea, possibly extending up to Ukraine] from the remote parts of the north with all its troops – many peoples with you” (Ezekiel 38:4-6)
The White House’s National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East insists that a Palestinian state has a crucial place in any possible diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia: “In this case, what was true before Oct. 7 is even truer now. That central issue must be addressed. And as Hamas is degraded, we are determined to help address it.” The hooks are already in place.
How should we then pray?
- Pray for clarity, moral courage, discernment and strategies for Israel’s leadership at all levels in confronting the Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran threat
- Pray for Israel’s leaders to withstand international pressure so that Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza can finally be shattered
- Pray for minimal loss of life on Israel’s side and for those Gazans who are truly innocent
- Pray for the physical rescue of the 238 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas. Three of those kidnapped have been murdered by Hamas while in captivity, their bodies discovered in buildings adjoining al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
- Pray that the outstretched arm of YHVH will not return before it brings justice to God’s enemies
- 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
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