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| Devorah and Barak http://www.biblebios.com/judges/deborah/barak_deb.jpg |
Sometime last week I was reading in the Book of Judges and after reading one chapter, I paused and asked the LORD to speak to me through the passage. The very next verse I read was this:
“When leaders lead in Israel,
When the people willingly offer themselves,
Bless the Lord!..."
When the people willingly offer themselves,
Bless the Lord!..."
Judges 5:2 (NKJV)
And I thought - how apt!!! Last week our coalition government, under the leadership of Benyamin Netanyahu, collapsed, less than two years into its term, and this will now propel us into new elections on March 17th, 2015. The coalition was never a comfortable one and the writing has been on the wall from its beginning. Zach Beauchamp writing in the online magazine of Vox media, explained it this way:
The timing is a big surprise — but that fact that Israel's government has fallen apart isn't. Netanyahu's coalition was riven by a deep, fundamental contradiction between its hard-right and centrist members. The two blocs have irreconcilably different views of Israeli society: no possible government could have kept them both happy forever. The big question now is whose vision wins in the next election.
The coalition fell apart when Netanyahu fired his Finance Minister, Yair Lapid, and Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni. Lapid is the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, which holds the single largest number of seats of any party in the Knesset. Livni heads Hatnua, a smaller centrist party.
Without these parties, Netanyahu's government no longer has majority support in the Knesset. So he needed either to add new parties to his coalition or call a new election. Netanyahu chose the latter.
The fuse that lit the final explosion was the introduction of the controversial "Israel State Law" to the Knesset legislatorial process. Israel does not have a Constitution as such but a series of Basic Laws. This new Basic Law is intended to define and cement the Jewish character of the State of Israel. Critics claim it is unnecessary, undemocratic and provocative in the current political and security climate. The fate of this law is unclear now and will be shelved at least until the new elections take place.
Hamas was quick to make use of this opportunity to add some feathers to its nest. Arutz 7, Israel's National News online, reported Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, as saying,
"The collapse of the Israeli coalition is another example of our victory and of Netanyahu’s defeat in Gaza" http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188167#.VIMVpJscRLM. Of course this is nonsense. Or is it? One of the results of the Gaza war, and the increase in violence within Jerusalem and other parts of the country over the months following, is that opinion in Israel has shifted to the right. This perhaps has given confidence to the political right wing, lead by Netanyahu, to take harsh measures against the rioters and terrorists, and to introduce the State Law to the legislature, which moves caused a backlash from the more left wing coalition partners.
Perhaps I should explain the meaning of 'right' and 'left' in Israel, since it is different than in other countries. Although 'left' and 'right' do apply to economic policies, the primary meaning here is one of religious and political stands regarding the Land and the relationship with the Palestinians. The right wing is capitalistic, conservative, and religious, and takes a strong position stating that the Land belongs unequivocally to the Jews and that the Palestinian Arabs have no place here. The more extreme right wing is in favor of ending the occupation by removing the Arabs and settling the entire historical extent of the Land of Israel, by force if necessary. It supports expanding the Settlements in the occupied territories, swift retaliation for terrorism, including the demolition of terrorist family homes, and is opposed to the 'two-state solution'. The left wing, is socialist, liberal and secular and wants to make peace with the Palestinians by means of negotiation, land swaps and the 'two - state solution'. The majority of the Israeli public takes a more or less centrist stand but in recent times has become more polarized because of the ongoing violence, missile attacks and wars. There has also been a certain shift to the right as we saw during the recent Gaza War. Initially Netanyahu enjoyed massive support but as the operation dragged on and on, and finished without any clear resolution, he lost a lot of support from those who felt he had not taken a strong enough stand causing Israel to miss yet another opportunity to get rid of the cancer of Hamas once and for all. In general there seems to be less support for a two state solution and an increasing feeling of despair that any negotiated settlement with the Palestinians is possible.
We are also seeing a similar move to the 'right' in Palestinian society with a dramatic increase in fundamentalist rhetoric, incitement and acts of violence. We feel more and more that there is no one with whom to talk peace. Over the last few months it has been the voice of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, who has been shouting loudest of all the message of incitement to violence (for example see http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-israel-sparking-devastating-religious-war/). He and others have been accusing Israel of defiling and plotting to destroy the mosque of Omar, accusations without any basis whatsoever in fact. Yet, truth is irrelevant in this part of the world; what matters is what people believe. Sad to say that thanks to Abbas and others like him, some 86% of Palestinians now believe this libel against Israel (http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25629/Default.aspx). It is a very dangerous libel and can only breed more violence as Muslims see this as a deep offense and a threat to the very core of their religion.
In this context the coming elections in Israel will be a crossroads in our history. If the right wins we will likely see more Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the end of any hope for a negotiated peace or two state solution, rising despair and anger amongst the Palestinians and more violence. If the left wins, we will try to restart the peace talks, but with whom?
The elections this time will also be about internal social issues and economics. Netanyahu's government has promoted the usual capitalistic view that if you make the rich richer, then the money will somehow trickle down to the 'lower' classes. Although the rich have got richer during his time as Prime Minister, we in the 'lower classes' have not seen any trickle down effect, and poverty and hardship have been inexorably on the increase. This situation is untenable long term, and already there have been stirrings of a popular uprising against the rampant price increases we see in our supermarkets and in the housing market especially, the erosion of welfare benefits and the desperate state of our hospitals and schools. Any new government will have to address these issues or we will face serious internal unrest as well as all the external threats.
Several months of political wheeling and dealing lie before us as our politicians, and their myriad political parties, jostle for power and influence. It makes me long for the days when our 'leaders will lead' according to the direction of God through his prophets, as Barak lead the army of Israel against the armies of the Canaanite King, Jabin, according to the prophetic word brought to him by Devorah, thus bringing Israel victory over her enemies and peace in the Land for 40 years. How many of our leaders are willing to subjugate their personal ambitions and opinions to the will of God, and willingly offer themselves for sake of the people of the Land?
My heart is with the rulers of Israel
Who offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the Lord
Who offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the Lord
Judges 5:2,9
Please pray for godly and righteous government in Israel.
THE WORST ECOLOGICAL DISASTER IN ISRAEL'S HISTORY
On Tuesday night last week 5 million liters of crude oil gushed out of a broken pipeline and flooded the Ein Evrona Nature Reserve about 20 km north of Eilat. The spill has created a 7 km long river of oil in the Reserve posing a great danger to the many plants and animals in this very sensitive and fragile ecosystem. Many have already died, and in the coming months and years others will succumb to the effects of the toxic and carcinogenic soil and fumes. Massive cleanup efforts are in progress in a race to clean up as much of the contaminated soil as possible before heavy rain arrives. Flash flooding could wash the oil down the Arava Valley and into the Red Sea, causing an even greater ecological disaster to the beautiful coral reefs and beaches, which are a major tourist attraction in both Israel and Jordan.
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| http://rt.com/news/211551-oil-spill-devastates-israel/ |
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| http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.631095.1418261700!/image/3845521757.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/3845521757.jpg |
As I am writing reports are coming in of a family of seven that was attacked by terrorists who threw acid upon them through an open window in their car stopped at an intersection south of Bethlehem. They were all injured in the attack.
This is just the latest in the ongoing violence in our city and its surroundings. The strict anti-terrorism measures, the strong police presence and the strategic placement of concrete barriers does seem to have calmed things down a bit over the last couple of weeks, but isolated violence is still occurring.
Two days ago a Palestinian Member of Parliament died of a heart attack during a scuffle with Israeli police. Videos of a policeman purportedly grasping him around the neck have gone viral on the internet, even though it looked more like he grasped his shirt collar to me. Of course Palestinian leaders are blaming Israel for his death and claiming he was murdered. He was honored as a shahid (a martyr) at his state funeral on Thursday. One should ask however why a man in such fragile health, who was both diabetic and had already had several heart attacks, was staging a demonstration and provoking the police in the first place? In his condition, any excitement or stress could have caused a fatal heart attack. However, as I have already said, truth is not relevant here but what people believe. The accusation has gone out, and it will undoubtedly give rise to more terrorist attacks in the coming days, like the acid attack on the family described above, and the attempted running down of soldiers at a checkpoint yesterday.
A video made available by the Middle East Media Research Institute this week records a spontaneous sermon recorded at the Al Aksa Mosque on November the 28th, in which Sheikh Omar Abu Sara proclaimed that battle with the Jews draws near, and he praised the Islamic State “caliphate” as one of the vehicles for the Jewish people’s destruction. He is quoted as saying:
“I say to the Jews loud and clear: The time for your slaughter has come. The time to fight you has come. The time to kill you has come…Please do not leave in our hearts a single grain of mercy towards you, oh Jews, because when the day of your slaughter arrives, we shall slaughter you without mercy.”http://www.timesofisrael.com/al-aqsa-speaker-the-slaughter-of-the-jews-is-near/
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| Sheikh Abu Sara http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8w9fPNXH9DU/mqdefault.jpg |
Where will all this incitement, hatred, violence and bloodshed end? Whatever lies ahead, only one thing is sure. God will never allow Israel to be destroyed. He has put his name on the people of Israel forever and promised that one day he will destroy all our enemies. Perhaps that time is near? I don't know but please continue to pray for Jerusalem and this whole region and all its people, Jew and Arab alike. We all need to know the peace of Yeshua (Jesus), the peace that only He can give. We all need so badly the Messiah to come and sort out this mess. Until then may more and more individuals have revelation of the love of God for them regardless of their ethnic origin, and for His love for His chosen people, Israel.
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming...
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem...Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations....And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be -
“The Lord is one,” ...The people shall dwell in it (Jerusalem);
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
Zechariah 14 (NKJV)
MAY THE MESSIAH, YESHUA COME SOON!
