SOUND THE TRUMPET
Over recent months Israel has continued its attacks on Iranian bases in Syria and against Iranian arms shipments intended for Hezbollah. Last week the Syrian news media announced that the Syrian army had shot down an Israeli plane and a missile. This report was not true and later the same day the Syrian news media admitted as much. Earlier in the week, according to Israeli Intelligence, Iran used a Boeing 747 passenger plane to ship electronic missile guidance systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon last. This is a serious threat to Israel as it gives Hezbollah the ability to strike any target in Israel with precision. Hezbollah has been posting taunting threats against Israel in the social media, with images showing their intended targets, including the IDF Central Command in the Kiryia in Tel Aviv. There are also reports of a buildup of Syrian troops, led by Iranian officers, along the Syrian border with Israel. Any confrontation with Hezbollah which is backed and supplied by Iran is likely to also involve Russia which is backing Iran. The alignment of these armies in the north resonates with the prophecy of Joel. Is this the beginning of the great day of the Lord? That I do not know, but I do know that we who are called by His name are also called to be priests before Him (I Peter 2:9) , and thus we are commanded to;
In the south
In the south, the ceasefire with Hamas seems to be holding, more or less. There have been no rockets or missiles flying into Israel but there have been riots, and attempted infiltrations every Friday at the border fence. The numbers participating are decreasing, but still reaching about 10,000. According to a Palestinian interviewed on i24 TV news today, Hamas pays every person coming to the border fence to protest $100 per month. This is very attractive to young men who have no work and no other way of earning money. He also claimed that every person who is injured receives only $200, and that Hamas encourages women to come to the protests because they bring their younger children with them. If a woman or child is hurt it is 'good' propaganda against Israel.
I have not heard of any fires being started by incendiary balloons or kites recently, but I do not know whether this reflects a real cessation of attempts or merely a result of the onset of the winter rains and a change in the direction of the wind lately.
Terror in Israel
 |
| One of my favorite restaurants in Jerusalem Botanical Gardens December 2018 Credit: Talia |
One day this past week I sat with a good friend at my favorite restaurant enjoying the warm winter sun and the view of the lake at the Botanical Gardens. As we drank our coffee I thought how blessed it is to live in this beautiful land, and the thought occurred to me that this is the life all the peoples of the Middle East could have if only they would renounce war and accept Israel. Sadly it is not to be - yet anyway. Today I asked the Lord what I should read in His word and this is what He said, "Read the book of Joel". As I came to chapter 2 my heart skipped a beat and my stomach clenched - it read just like the news headlines.
Fear not, O land....
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand...
A people come, great and strong,...The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;For strong is the One who executes His word.For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;Who can endure it?...
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord,"Turn to Me with all your heart,With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep between the porch and the altar;
Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should rule over them.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’
The Lord will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, ...
I will remove far from you the northern army,
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back toward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done monstrous things.”
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back toward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done monstrous things.”
Fear not, O land....
In the north
Is such an attack by a huge army from the north imminent? It would appear so. Two days ago i24 TV News claimed that Israel was poised for an attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon and that 4 European countries had naval warships hovering offshore in a show of support, including a French frigate that was docked in Haifa. This was not reported on Israeli media. Yesterday Netanyahu made an urgent trip to Belgium to meet with the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Today news headlines in all the major Israeli papers announce that the IDF last night began "Operation Northern Shield" along the northern border, the Blue Line, to expose and destroy the network of tunnels that Hezbollah has dug under the border into Israel, in clear contravention of the ceasefire agreement that ended the 2006 Lebanon War (1). The Operation is intended to take place only within Israeli territory but there is a potential for serious escalation should Hezbollah respond by attacking Israel.
Over recent months Israel has continued its attacks on Iranian bases in Syria and against Iranian arms shipments intended for Hezbollah. Last week the Syrian news media announced that the Syrian army had shot down an Israeli plane and a missile. This report was not true and later the same day the Syrian news media admitted as much. Earlier in the week, according to Israeli Intelligence, Iran used a Boeing 747 passenger plane to ship electronic missile guidance systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon last. This is a serious threat to Israel as it gives Hezbollah the ability to strike any target in Israel with precision. Hezbollah has been posting taunting threats against Israel in the social media, with images showing their intended targets, including the IDF Central Command in the Kiryia in Tel Aviv. There are also reports of a buildup of Syrian troops, led by Iranian officers, along the Syrian border with Israel. Any confrontation with Hezbollah which is backed and supplied by Iran is likely to also involve Russia which is backing Iran. The alignment of these armies in the north resonates with the prophecy of Joel. Is this the beginning of the great day of the Lord? That I do not know, but I do know that we who are called by His name are also called to be priests before Him (I Peter 2:9) , and thus we are commanded to;
"Weep between the porch and the altar;
Let them (the priests) say, “Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should rule over them.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’"
Joel 2: 17
In the south
In the south, the ceasefire with Hamas seems to be holding, more or less. There have been no rockets or missiles flying into Israel but there have been riots, and attempted infiltrations every Friday at the border fence. The numbers participating are decreasing, but still reaching about 10,000. According to a Palestinian interviewed on i24 TV news today, Hamas pays every person coming to the border fence to protest $100 per month. This is very attractive to young men who have no work and no other way of earning money. He also claimed that every person who is injured receives only $200, and that Hamas encourages women to come to the protests because they bring their younger children with them. If a woman or child is hurt it is 'good' propaganda against Israel.
I have not heard of any fires being started by incendiary balloons or kites recently, but I do not know whether this reflects a real cessation of attempts or merely a result of the onset of the winter rains and a change in the direction of the wind lately.
I am also glad to say that with good rains falling and warm temperatures, the vegetation is again growing in the burnt areas. Tourism coordinator in the Gaza region, Livnat Glanzburg, said
“We are opening a new chapter in our lives and this is the time to call upon the citizens of Israel to come visit this beautiful region... There were rumors that the fires damaged the blossoming of the anemones, this is not true, and in a few months we expect a spectacular flowering of anemones. We only hope for calm on the security front and lots of rain” (2).
 |
| Before and after the rains bring regrowth of burnt areas in the Negev https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5416066,00.html |
I thank God for the rains. So far they are good especially along the coast, and in the north and the south. Here in the Judean Mountains we have not yet had a lot of rain, but the landscape is beginning to turn green. Please keep praying for abundant rain in the region. It is too soon to say the drought has ended. We still need a lot more rain. especially in the north and along the mountain 'backbone' in order to recharge the aquifers.
Will the government fall?
In my last blog update I mentioned that Israel's Minister for Security, Avigdor Lieberman, had resigned in protest over the decision to accept the ceasefire with Hamas. This means the government now has a shaky majority of only one vote. A few days later the Education Minister, Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, also threatened to walk out of the coalition, which would have toppled the government. We were all shocked when Bennett and Shaked backed down from their threat and decided to stay in the government (3). I believe this was a direct consequence of prayer. Whatever our political shade, no one wanted the government to fall at this delicate point of time. Bennett now however has a lot more power as he can hold over Netanyahu the threat to bring the government down.
Netanyahu is facing yet another threat to his government today. The police announced that they have sufficient evidence to indict Netanyahu on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust for actions benefitting the telephone company, Bezeq, in return for favorable press coverage by the media company, Walla (4). Netanyahu denies the charges and dismissed the accusations as a 'witch hunt orchestrated by the media'. He said,
"The police recommendations regarding me and my wife don't surprise anyone. These recommendations were decided upon and leaked even before the investigation began.The police recommendations have no legal status. Just recently, the authorized bodies completely rejected the police recommendations against a series of public officials. I am sure that also in this case the relevant authorities, after examining the matter, will reach the same conclusion— that there was nothing because there is nothing. (4)"
This is the third accusation of bribery and corruption that Netanyahu has faced. Both the earlier ones were not taken up by the Attorney General because of insufficient evidence. It remains to be seen if the Attorney General will indict Netanyahu this time. Is this all just another 'witch hunt' as Netanyahu claims, or is it a case of 'no smoke without a fire'? In any case, it is yet another threat to the stability of the government and many are calling for Netanyahu to stand down and call early elections.
Our enemies beyond our borders do not understand that this squabbling, and the internal divisions of opinion, are not weakness but a sign of a healthy democracy and public debate. They should be aware that should there be any threat to the existence and survival of the State, we will forget all our differences and come together as one.
Terror in Israel
There has recently been an increase in the number of terror attacks and attempted attacks within Israel. The head of the Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency), Nadav Argaman, claims that they had foiled some 480 Palestinian terror attacks in the last year, including 13 suicide attacks and 8 kidnappings. They also arrested some 1100 potential lone-wolf attackers. (5). Recently the Shin Bet thwarted an attempt by Hamas to establish a terror network in the West Bank, recruiting and training potential terrorists to bomb large buildings, shopping malls, hotels, trains and buses, in order to escalate the security situation both in the West Bank and in Gaza. According to Ynetnews,
The Shin Bet noted this plot was at a much larger scope and posed far greater danger than similar attempts in the past, as it was directed by Hamas's high command in Gaza and not by former Palestinian security prisoners expelled from the West Bank, as previous attempts had been (5).
Apparently, Hamas used people allowed into Israel for life-saving medical treatments, or businessmen with contacts in the West Bank, to carry messages to coordinate these planned attacks.
Rewriting History
Another, more subtle but more insidious, attack on Israel comes by means of the Arab world's plan to rewrite history denying Israel's claim to possession of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. On Friday the UN General Assembly passed a resolution by 148 votes to 11, with 14 abstentions, which disavowed Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. That resolution and a more global one about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict referred to the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name, al-Haram-al-Sharif (6). Israeli permanent representative to the UN, Noa Furman, said, "This omission was deliberate. It shows yet another instance of the Palestinian refusal to recognize the proven historical connection between Judaism, Christianity, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem as a whole." She also called on the international community to "stop participating in such a blatant denial of history" (6).
Throughout the Arab world a distorted view of history and geopolitics is propagated through school textbooks. Here are some excerpts from a Saudi Arabian textbook, for example (7):
 |
| Some excerpts from Saudi Arabian school textbooks https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5411308,00.html |
I am also astounded when people claim that modern archaeology does not support the Bible or Israel's claim to the land. Where does such an idea come from? There are massive amounts of archaeological evidence all of which support the Biblical accounts. This week another archaeological find added to this accumulation of evidence. The inscription on a signet ring found at the site of the Herodion near Bethlehem 50 years ago was recently deciphered for the first time and discovered to read in Greek script "Pilatus", and is believed to have belonged to Pontius Pilate who sentenced Jesus to death (8).
Another interesting archaeological find this month is the discovery of an image of Jesus painted onto the wall of a 6th Century church in the Byzantine city of Shivta in the Negev. It depicts the head of a young man and follows the well-known iconography of the period depicting Jesus (9). It shows Jesus as having a somewhat Semitic appearance, unlike the long-haired European looking Jesus of the later church art we are more used to seeing.
 |
| Dr. Emma Maayan-Fanar’s reconstruction on top of the face of Jesus found in a Byzantine-era North Church at Shivta in the Negev. (Dror Maayan) https://www.timesofisrael.com/jesus-image-hidden-in-plain-sight-at-negev-church-is-one-of-earliest-in-israel/ |
Transport woes
If you have lived and worked in Israel you will know that one of our biggest difficulties is traffic congestion. Israelis are very mobile people, always on the go, and many commute long distances to work. Israel has an extensive and well-developed road system but with nearly 10 million vehicles on the roads in a small area, which could fit inside Lake Michigan, this translates to choking congestion at times. Some 230,000 new cars are being imported into Israel every year. Add to this Israeli impatience and general disregard for the traffic rules and you have a high number of traffic accidents, injuries and deaths.
 |
Gridlock on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv in 2015
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-seek-private-sector-help-to-limit-transportation-woes/
|
This is a great challenge for those responsible for our transportation and this week it was announced that they are turning to the private sector for help, an admission of defeat in view of the government's poorly executed rail projects (10).
At the end of September the long-awaited, 1.8 billion dollar, fast train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was opened, but only the Ben Gurion (Airport) to Jerusalem section. Its first weeks of operation have been blighted by a series of incidents and failures, including one in which passengers were trapped inside a 13 km tunnel, the longest in the Middle East, for 3 hours due to a power failure. These delays and concerns about its safety have meant that most people have continued to use their cars for the TA to Jerusalem commute. Now there is talk of building a new highway into Jerusalem from the Motza interchange bypassing the current narrow, winding and very dangerous section at the entrance to the city.
 |
View of the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train seen over the Ha’Arazim valley just outside of Jerusalem, September 25, 2018 (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-seek-private-sector-help-to-limit-transportation-woes/ |
The good news is that help is on its way. Noah's Ark is coming to Israel. A Dutch Christian, Johan Huibers, has constructed a replica of Noah's Ark as described in Genesis and is intending to sail it to Israel from the Netherlands (11). This project cost 1.8 million dollars and I cannot but wonder if such a sum of money, and the immense effort involved, might not have been put to better use.
 |
| This full-size replica of Noah’s Ark, built by Johan Huibers (Photo: EPA) https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5415765,00.html |
Old Age Pension in Israel
Israel, like many Western countries, is facing an aging population as the 'baby boomers' reach old age. I have been on the national pension now for over a year and I receive just over 2000 shekels a month. Given that the average rent in this area is around 5,000 shekels a month and the cost of food per person is about 2,000 shekels, not to mention the costs of clothing, medicines and transport, you can imagine that ends don't meet for most elderly folk. Poverty amongst the elderly is a growing crisis. This last week a bill was proposed in the Knesset to increase the national pension to be equivalent to the minimum wage, of 5300 shekels per month (compare - the average wage is 9200 shekels). Sadly this bill failed to pass by two votes, apparently because of the absence of two opposition members, one because he was taking a personal phone call at the time and the other because he was "on a diplomatic mission in China" ( my guess - this is code for 'on personal business'). These MKs will be reprimanded but as the MK who proposed the bill, Itzik Shmuli, said " the government spat in the faces of the elderly citizens who founded our country. Voting against the bill, after a measly NIS 60 were added to the old-age pension, is a crime." (12)
On that note I will bring this update to an end, go eat my lunch and head off to the pool for a swim. Life goes on....
On that note I will bring this update to an end, go eat my lunch and head off to the pool for a swim. Life goes on....
References:
1. https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-launches-Operation-Northern-Shield-to-destroy-Hezbollah-terror-tunnels-573459
2 https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5416066,00.html
4. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5418366,00.html
5. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5412061,00.html shin bet foils major terror attacks
https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Shin-Bet-thwarts-Hamas-terror-attacks-inside-Israel-572543
6. https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/148-nations-disavow-Jewish-ties-to-Jerusalem-Temple-Mount-573295
7. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5411308,00.html
8. https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-ring-of-roman-governor-pontius-pilate-who-executed-jesus-found-in-herodion-site-1.6699353
10 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-seek-private-sector-help-to-limit-transportation-woes/
year.http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164663
11. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5415765,00.html
12. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5416606,00.html
Minimum Monthly wage:NIS 5,300.00 (as of Jan 12, 2017) https://www.btl.gov.il/English%20Homepage/Mediniyut/GeneralInformation/Pages/MinimumWage.aspx
Under article 1 of the law: NIS 9,802 (as of Jan 01, 2018). Average wage per month
