HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL

 

And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.   

 Malachi 3:12

http://www.israel21c.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Ashkelon-kids-YH-flash90.jpg

 

Last week the modern state of Israel celebrated its 68th birthday.  As Remembrance Day, in which we honor Israel's  23,447 fallen soldiers and victims of terror, a day of sadness and tears, drew to  a close on the eve of May the 12th, people gathered in every city, town and neighborhood to celebrate Independence Day with music, singing, dancing, ceremonies, and fireworks displays. The following day  parks and beaches were filled to overflowing as we enjoyed barbecues, picnics, visits to army bases and the traditional Air Force display.  For this one day we forget our differences and rejoice together, as one big warm, happy family, just thankful to be alive and to be in our own land again.

 

http://mendelistreethotel.com/sites/default/files/styles/hp_rooms/public/o-israel-independence-day-facebook.jpg?itok=D0AWiozr

 

 

 

Independence Day, Sacher Park Jerusalem

http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2016/05/F090531DS13.jpg

 

Sometimes as I travel around this amazing little land I am filled with awe at what has been accomplished here in just 68 years. God has truly blessed Israel in spite of all our difficulties. In this tiny land, smaller than  New Jersey (or Otago for you Kiwis), which is mostly arid desert or rugged mountains, with little arable land and few natural resources, Israeli's have created a prosperous, modern democratic state, second to none in the world in many respects. On Independence Day Ynetnews published 20 beautiful photos from around Israel. Take a look on http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4802294,00.html

Size of Israel ( drawn to scale in blue) compared
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/relative.html 

 

On May 14th, 1948, Israel was declared a State and the following day a  confederation of  six Arab nations, led by Egypt, attacked. Below is a photo of the headlines of the Jewish newspaper, The Palestine Post, published two days later. Note the headline which reads "Egyptian Air Force Spitfires Bomb Tel Aviv; One Shot Down", and below it "2 Columns Cross Southern Border". The War of Independence lasted roughly 8 months and in spite of being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, Israel not only survived but even expanded its territory.


 

 

 

https://flashtrafficblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/israel.jpg?w=550

 

We have come a very long way since then.  At the end of the War of Independence Israel was not only impoverished by the war, and grieving for the 6000 lost lives, but it also had to absorb hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from the enemy Arab nations. Yet in 2015 Israel was ranked 18th in the world according to the UN's Human Development Index, putting it amongst those nations with 'very high human development' .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index#Very_high_human_development.  

 

At the time of the declaration of statehood Israel's total population was only 806,000. Today there are ten times that number - 8,522,000, according to the latest statistics published on the Eve of Independence Day this year.   Of the total population 74.8%  are Jewish, 20,8% Arab and Christians, non-Arabs and other minority groups comprise 4.4%. Of the Jewish population 75% are born in Israel, which means that even today 1 in 4 are immigrants. 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-turns-68-with-8-5-million-people-10-times-more-than-in-1948/

 

Not only has Israel's population grown but so has its affluence, as attested by the 3 million cars now clogging our roads. When I arrived in Israel, in 1979, many people did not have a telephone and you had to wait about 6 months to get a line. Now around 96% of all Israelis own at least one cellphone and landlines are becoming obsolete. In 1956/7 only 12% of homes had washing machines but now 96% do.

 

According to figures just out Israel now is ranked 8th in the world for life expectancy, ahead of the UK, the USA, New Zealand, and most of Europe. Men in Israel can now expect to live on average 80.6 years and women even longer, 84.3 years, in spite of ongoing wars, terror attacks and 3 million cars driven largely by maniacs.

 



The Ayalon Freeway in Tel Aviv
http://www.ayalonhw.co.il/download/pictures/pict_1_1.jpg

So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.” 

 Ezekiel 36: 35-36

Alongside the material growth and development of Israel we have also see a tremendous spiritual growth. Although Israel is still very far from being the Godly, spiritually awakened nation it will one day be, the LORD is hard at work preparing the ground.

In 1948 there were around 150 Messianic believers in Yeshua living in Israel but many of them fled fearing persecution when the state was declared. By 1952 there were only 12 believers left in the Land and one of them, Ze'ev Kofsman, courageously registered the first Messianic congregation with the new government of Israel.  http://www.israeltoday.co.il/Portals/OnlineMagazine-0/201605-IT/index.aspx?mag=68db48e0-1674-4899-b61d-33e78222a536#25/z
When I first arrived in Israel, in 1979, there were only about 200 Messianic believers. Now there are an estimated 13-15000 Jewish believers living here and 265 registered congregations or Messianic organizations (ibid). This represents growth by a factor of 1,250! Although the majority of believers today are immigrants, there is now arising a  large, vibrant, on-fire second generation of Israeli-born, native Hebrew-speaking young people, who are now moving into leadership.  Though far from being a welcome part of Israeli society, the Messianic movement is gaining more and more acceptance and there is a greater openness amongst Israelis to the person of Yeshua than ever before.  This is the prerequisite for the lifting of the veil which currently blinds the Israeli soul.  

For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶ Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

 

2 Corinthians 3: 14-15

 

According to the Dry Bones Prophecy of Ezekiel 36, first the bones come together, and then the sinews and muscles give the body form and only then does God send the Spirit into the physical body to give it life. I believe that we stand at a point in history where the bones and the sinews of the body of Israel are ready and God is poised to send His Spirit into the nation to give it life, the true life in the spirit.  We live in very exciting times - something one easily forgets in our daily scurrying about.  For even as these grand events play out in history we people must needs get on with our daily lives.

 

The situation in the Land seems to have calmed down considerably after months of almost daily terror attacks, especially here in Jerusalem and its surrounds.  There have been only two attacks since I last wrote, as far as I can remember. One took place just up the end of my street. A group of Arab youths attacked five elderly women out for a walk along the promenade. One of the women, aged 86, was stabbed repeatedly and seriously wounded and another octogenarian moderately wounded. What kind of cowardly people purposely target the aged and helpless. Certainly no heros! The attackers fled into the neighboring Arab village of Jebel Mukaber. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4801662,00.html

A few days later a  young Jewish man was lightly wounded by an attacker near the Damascus Gate http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Stabbing-attack-in-Jerusalem-One-Israeli-wounded-suspect-apprehended-454094.  A number of other attacks have been foiled including one just two days ago when 16 year old Palestinian youth was apprehended on the Jerusalem Light Rail carrying a knife with which he planned to attack police. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Terror-attack-thwarted-after-teen-caught-with-knife-on-Jerusalem-light-rail-454476

Please pray for continued calm and that life can return to a more normal condition. Pray too that we will not be lulled into carelessness. It is easy to let our guard down when things appear calm.

However I am sure the LORD will continue to protect Israel and bless her just has he has promised:

 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.   For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.   

I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.  I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. 

 

Ezekiel 36: 8-11

TUNNEL TERROR

 

Its a gorgeous spring morning here in Jerusalem and it is Shabbat. I love Shabbat. Here in Jerusalem it is truly a day of rest. Nearly all the shops are closed, the streets are almost devoid of traffic, and a hush falls over the city as we pause from our frantic lives. It is good to stop awhile and focus on the goodness of our LORD who gave us Shabbat. I also just need the rest. I could never keep going if it wasn't for this one day when I do not have to rush about doing this and that. It is not uncommon for me to rise late and eat a leisurely breakfast in my PJs sitting out on my balcony listening to the chorus of birds in the trees. It's a very special time.

 

We have just finished celebrating the week long holiday of Passover. Since this is the most beautiful time of the year in this land, which is still green from the winter rains and festooned with flowers, and the weather is perfect, Passover is the time many Israelis take time out from their busy lives and just go out to the forests and lakes and the seaside with their families, camping, making barbecues and just enjoying life. National Parks, hiking trails, beaches and 'watering holes' were full to capacity and roads clogged with traffic. It's at time like this you are hit by how small this little land is. It is just impossible to find a place 'a way from it all'.

 

Ein Sataf, a natural spring,  near Jerusalem
http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2016/04/F160424YS20-635x357.jpg
 

 

The Sea of Galilee during Passover 2016
https://cdn.jerusalemonline.com/images/AAABecca/seaofgalilee.jpg

 

I personally opted to avoid the crowds and the impossible traffic and stay home. Jerusalem was like a ghost town. The streets were practically empty as many vacationers were scared to come here after the months of terror attacks and the bus bombing that had occurred just two days before the beginning of the holiday. Many Jerusalemites took the opportunity to leave the city and enjoy the relative peace elsewhere. I stayed home and I enjoyed the peace and quiet at home or swimming at my local pool, working on a summer suntan. One day I took myself off to one of our local parks, the Gazelle Park, and found it almost totally deserted to my delight. The weather was a perfect 24ish (degrees Celsius) and the last of the spring flowers still blooming. The gazelles were grazing peacefully or sleeping. The frogs were making a terrible racket calling for mates. The city has put out deckchairs around the park and I found one, and just lay out under the shade of a tree, beside the little waterfall for the longest time. What could be better? Here are some of my photos:

Not all of us were able to relax at Passover and I am very grateful to all those who were busy guarding our borders , roads and towns, so that we could enjoy ourselves in peace. Some 3,000 police, border guards and soldiers were guarding the streets of Jerusalem alone.



Border guards near the Damascus Gate of the Old City
http://www.timesofisrael.com/passover-vacationers-fill-beaches-hiking-trails-beyond-capacity/



This week we all went back to work and life resumed its usual hectic pace. On Tuesday night though the nation paused once more as places of entertainment closed their doors,  and many attended services commemorating the loss of family members and the attempted genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. As always the names of all those Jews murdered by the Nazis were read out. As the last of the survivors live out their last days many people are busy trying to record their stories before it is too late. After the Holocaust most of the survivors were too traumatized to want to talk about it and did not tell their stories even to their family members. It is only now after 60 years that they are beginning to talk, but these people are now growing old, and each year there are fewer and fewer. Yesterday at our congregation three of our members told the stories of family members who had survived the Holocaust and the many more who did not.  It was a reminder that although the generation of the Holocaust is passing away their children and their grandchildren still bear the scars, and it is important that the generations to come never forget what happened.



When the sirens sound on Holocaust Memorial Day all Israelis stop and stand in honor of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust
http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Israelis+Observe+Holocaust+Memorial+Day+1Ipn-lLOS3yl.jpg

This is all the more so at this time as once more we are seeing a massive increase in Antisemitism all over the world. How short are our memories. There are still many who want to see the Jewish people and the nation of Israel wiped off the map. Once again Israel is being blamed for many of the world's ills, and vicious lies and distortions creating a groundswell of hatred and fear. The Arab press and others are reviving the ancient libels and accusations, and many are being deceived by these lies. Movements like the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) feed on latent Antisemitism  in order to undermine Israel's economy. Iran, ISIS,  the Palestinian government and various terror organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, speak openly about their desire to push Israel into the sea.  From our point of view another 'Holocaust' seems all too possible.


http://www.prophecysociety.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/holocaust_remember.jpg





Although things have been relatively quiet over the Passover holiday there is still much tension in the air. The situation in the south seems once more to be reaching boiling point. On Friday Prime Minister Netanyahu called a special meeting of the Security Cabinet to discuss the escalation that has occurred over the last week.  During the last Gaza War in 2014 some 30 terror tunnels that passed under the border fence from Gaza and into Israeli territory, some opening near towns and kibbutzim in the area, were destroyed by the IDF.  In recent months new technologies developed by Israel have led to the recent discovery two new tunnels, the latest  this last week. This tunnel is 28m (90ft) deep and extends at least 300 m into Israeli territory (its opening has not yet been found). http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4799687,00.html

Over the last week IDF soldiers working near the border to destroy the tunnels, and trying to find any others that exist, have come under constant attack from Gaza.   Some 16 mortar shells were fired at IDF troops in at least 12 incidents over the last week.  Yesterday two rockets were fired from Gaza towards a civilian area in the Eshkol region. They fell in an open area and no damage or casualties occurred. The IDF has responded to these attacks with tank fire and aerial bombing of Hamas targets in the Strip. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4800244,00.html

Although Hamas claims that it is not wanting to open a war front at this time, they have made no secret of their preparations for an attack on Israel at some time in the future. They are very busy rearming and rebuilding tunnels and other  military infrastructure.  According to a senior IDF commander Hamas employs some 800 specialist tunnel diggers who receive a higher salary than other operatives  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4793038,00.html. If Hamas is not calling for war it is only because it is not yet ready and wants more time to prepare.



Hamas fighters inside a tunnel
http://images1.ynet.co.il/PicServer4/2014/08/19/5532916/55328780100488640360no.jpg

The sad thing is that while Gazan citizens sit and wait for essential building supplies, such as cement, so that they can rebuild their homes lost in the last war, Hamas is channeling all the cement and building supplies into building its tunnels and other military installations.  The tunnels reach as much as 30 m underground and the ground is just sand. The tunnels have to be strongly lined with concrete. Indeed there have been several instances recently of tunnels collapsing and workers being killed during their construction.

This week we saw another consequence of the chronic mismanagement of the Gaza Strip at government level. One of Israel's main water sources, the desalination plant at Ashkelon, was forced to close for the third time in recent months because the sea water it uses was found to contain dangerous levels of E.coli and other bacteria due to raw sewage drifting northwards along the coast from Gaza. Over 900 million cubic liters of raw sewage is dumped into the Mediterranean every day from Gaza, polluting its own coastline and contaminating its own water sources, and drifting towards Israel in the northward current along the eastern Mediterranean shoreline.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4780754,00.html

Last year a new water treatment facility was completed in  northern Gaza with international funding at a cost of $100 million. This facility has however not come on line because of the erratic supply of electricity in the Gaza Strip. The Strip has only one power station and this supplies roughly 30% of its needs. The remainder is supplied by Israel (around 60%) and Egypt. https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-gaza-gets-power/7844 Of course Israel is blamed for the power shortages in Gaza but what other country in the world is expected to supply electricity to its enemies, something we continued to do for humanitarian reasons even during the war? Although it is true that Israel was accused of bombing the Gaza power station during the last war, something that Israel denied,  that station was operating fully after just two weeks of the supposed attack http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2014/09/destroyed-gaza-power-plant-miraculously.html.  In fact the station was not 'destroyed' as claimed, just some diesel tanks. 

The shortage of electricity is also blamed on the Israeli blockade of Gaza. In spite of the blockade however Israel continues to facilitate the transfer of fuel into the Strip, but Hamas strategically refuses to buy sufficient to meet the needs of its citizens (suffering citizens are a powerful weapon it its propaganda war), and Fatah, which is contractually responsible for footing the bill, refuses to pay for it. Instead Israeli taxpayers, myself included, are paying for Gaza's power supply.

 What is more, many of the 'shortages' are not because there is insufficient energy being generated or supplied, but because of infighting about how it is allocated and mismanagement of its distribution. Qatar has offered to fund a project to bring more power lines into the Strip. Israel approved the scheme but Palestinian President, Abbas, refused the offer, thus perpetrating the suffering of his people. http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/uproar-in-gaza-as-abbas-rejects-new-electricity-lines-to-address-power-crisis/

This is a prime example of the complexity of issues here. It is rather simplistic to merely blame Israel for the suffering of the Palestinians, which though extreme and regrettable, is very largely the result of their own actions.

This coming week we will mark Israel's Remembrance day when we remember and honor all those who gave their lives in the various wars and in terror attacks, since the founding of the State.  Again places of entertainment will close and ceremonies of remembrance will be held all over the country. Few families in Israel have not lost someone and many visit the graves of the fallen.

http://www.vosizneias.com/assets/uploads/news_photos/thumbnails/700_t6ak6sis4xi0fzkac9wjqnfo39yjncgr.jpg

 With nightfall on the Day of Remembrance (Yom Hazichron) the mood suddenly changes as Israel's Independence Day begins. This year we will celebrate 68 years since the founding of the State. This juxtaposition of moods, mourning followed by rejoicing, is  difficult emotionally but very much characterizes the people of Israel who have endured unimaginable suffering, but still retain their affirmation of life which they live with great courage and even joy.

http://jccsyr.org/images/2016-Israel-independence-day-445.gif

Please pray that we will pass these solemn and joyful national days in peace this year.

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
Our feet have been standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem!

 Jerusalem is built
As a city that is compact together,
Where the tribes go up,
The tribes of the Lord,
To the Testimony of Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
 For thrones are set there for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
 Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
 For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
 Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your good

Psalm 122