HEAR MY PRAYER

 

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
² Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me speedily.

³ For my days are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth...

⁸ My enemies reproach me all day long;...
 

¹² But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
¹⁴ For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
¹⁵ So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
¹⁷ He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer...

 

 

Psalm 102

 

A deceptive quiet lies over Jerusalem and the whole of Israel  at this time, as during the day we tend to hide indoors to escape the summer heat ,or relax at the pool, coming out only in the delightful cool of the evening to stroll, make barbecues with our friends and drink coffee at the cafes. The children are on vacation and many families have gone abroad to visit family or just escape the pressures of life in Israel.

 

How to keep cool in Jerusalem in summer
http://www.jerusalemfoundation.org/media/87403/Jerusalem-Summer-Fun-in-Teddy-Park_500x375.jpg

 

Yet the quiet is an illusion. This week it has been 'business as usual' in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel.  On Wednesday a 22 year old Palestinian  woman attempted to kill an IDF soldier by stabbing him in the back at  a military post in the West Bank. The soldier was taken to hospital with light-to-moderate wounds (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4680288,00.html). 

 

At 2 AM on Thursday morning residents of the Ashkelon region scrambled out of bed, grabbed the kids and the dog, and fled to their 'safe rooms' as the code red sirens sounded warning of an incoming medium-range missile  fired from the Gaza Strip. Fortunately it landed in an open field causing no damage or injuries. Later that same morning the Israeli Air Force bombed an infrastructure site in Gaza in retaliation. One passerby was lightly injured. This is just the latest of a number of such attacks in recent weeks. There were six such incidents in the month of June alone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2015 .  In addition, on Friday the 3rd of July, three rockets were fired from the Sinai and two landed in Israel near Eilat, causing no damage or injuries.  An Islamic State affiliated group claimed responsibility. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/isil-affiliate-sinai-claims-rocket-attack-israel-150703192810233.html These rocket attacks are not primarily designed to antagonize Israel, but to destabilize the Egyptian regime in the Sinai and the Hamas regime in Gaza, and to promote the power and ideology of the Islamic State (formerly ISIS). Already by last November polls in Gaza showed that some 24% of the population supports the Islamic State either totally or 'to some extent'. http://unitedwithisrael.org/poll-palestinians-greatest-supporters-of-isis-in-middle-east-2/?ios_app=true

 

This week we also learned of two Israelis being held in Gaza. One, a young man of Ethiopian descent, Avera Mengistu, 28, climbed over the fence and entered the Gaza Strip via the adjacent Zikim Beach shortly after the ceasefire with Hamas in September last year. Mengistu is known to the authorities as suffering from psychological issues and is possibly mentally challenged. He may have been drinking when he crossed into Gaza. Whatever the truth he was captured and questioned by Hamas who claim they released him once they ascertained that he was not a soldier. His current whereabouts is unknown, but Israeli officials believe that Hamas is holding him and a second missing Israeli citizen, an unnamed Bedouin Arab, who for unknown reasons also crossed into Gaza. The fear is that these two prisoners, along with the bodies of two soldiers captured during Operation Cast Lead last year, will be used by Hamas to attempt to broker another prisoner exchange, something Israel has already said it will not countenance.

 

A photo of Mengistu from his facebook page
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.663653

 

The big news this week of course is the Iran deal. After 20 months of negotiations the P5+1 group of nations ( the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany)  and Iran have come to an agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),  aimed at scaling down Iran's nuclear capability and easing economic sanctions against it. 

 



The Negotiating Team
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/07/economist-explains-11

Iran has three uranium mines and the ore from these must be enriched before it can be used. Natural uranium consists of two isotopes U-235 and U-238. Only U-235 can be used for fueling power stations or for making nuclear warheads or bombs. Natural uranium is only about 0.711% U-235.  For fuel purposes the uranium must be enriched so that it is about 3-4% U-235, and for a warhead or bomb it must be enriched to 90%. Enrichment is done by feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges and spinning it so that the heavier U-238 sinks to the bottom and the lighter U-235 rises. It can then be separated out. There are currently two enrichment facilities operating, the main one at Natanz and another at Fordo.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33521655

 

With this background let us look more closely at the JCPOA deal. There are 8 main points:

 

• At present Iran has 19,500 centrifuges at their main enrichment facility at Natanz. Under the new agreement only 5060 of these, will be allowed to operate over the next 10 years, and these will all be first-generation centrifuges, which can only produce low-enriched uranium suitable for fueling power stations and for medical, agricultural, industrial and scientific purposes.  

• At the second enrichment facility, at Fordo, all enrichment will cease and no enriched uranium will be produced for at least 15 years. The facility will be turned into a physics research center.

• Iran's current stockpile of low-enriched uranium (which could potentially be spun into weapons-grade material) must be reduced 98%, from 9,000 kg to 300 kg for the next 15 years.

• The heavy-water reactor at Arak will be redesigned and its original core, which would have produced significant quantities of weapons-grade plutonium, will be removed and destroyed. No other heavy-water reactor will be built for 15 years.

• Inspectors from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will be able to inspect any facility, declared or otherwise, as long as it is deemed to be “suspicious”.

• If Iran refuses access to a military site, a joint commission made up of representatives of the parties to the agreement will quickly rule on whether it must open the facility up. If it still refuses, Iran would then be in violation of the agreement and might face the re-imposition of sanctions.

• The IAEA will also have access to every part of Iran’s nuclear supply chain to ensure that nothing is being channeled to a clandestine facility. Such powers for the IAEA, which will remain in place indefinitely, are more sweeping than those it had under the normal safeguard agreements that had previously applied to Iran under the NPT.

• Iran will address the IAEA’s concerns about what it calls the Possible Military Dimensions of its nuclear program.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33521655

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/07/economist-explains-11#5

 



Is this a 'good deal'? Will it hold? Will the deal be ratified and implemented by all nations concerned? Can Iran be trusted, given its past track record and continued threats against Israel and the USA? Is the IAEA really able to monitor what Iran is doing in its large, mountainous country? Does the world have the will to re-impose sanctions should Iran fail to keep its word? What will happen after the 10 - 15 years are up? These are all questions that only time will tell and history will judge.

 

Perhaps the Deal will buy us a little time, if it can be implemented and enforced ( and that is a big 'if'). But then what?  At the end of the 10 year period Iran will have a legitimate right under international law to reactivate its centrifuges and rebuild its enriched uranium stockpiles. They already boast that they can have as many as 190,000 centrifuges up and running within weeks and, in the same time frame, quickly produce nuclear warheads to load onto the missiles they are continuing to buy from Russia and are producing themselves on a large scale, missiles capable of reaching targets in the Middle East, Europe and even the USA. The Deal does not address Iran's conventional weapon development and proliferation. Nor does it address the risk of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Other Middle Eastern states are already saying that if Iran is allowed to produce nuclear weapons they too must do so.

 

Furthermore, even with the current sanctions imposed against it ,Iran is managing to fund, train and arm many terror organizations including  the Taliban in Pakistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Islamic Jihad in Iraq, Gaza and elsewhere, and the Houthis currently overrunning Yemen. The US State department considers Iran the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, and former Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice described it as " the country that has been in many ways a kind of central banker for terrorism".  http://www.cfr.org/iran/state-sponsors-iran/p9362 .  Under the Deal, Iran will receive at least $US100 billion when sanctions are lifted. Even if it does not channel this money directly into terrorist organizations, an economically stronger Iran will be able to pour even more money into funding terrorism, which is directed at destroying the US and Western influence  worldwide (the 'Big Satan') and Israel (the "Little Satan) . The Deal does not address this issue in any way. No wonder the Iranian delegate to the P5+1 negotiations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, went home with a smile on his faces (more a Freudian slip than a typo!).  And Kerry prayed....

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03249/kerry-zarif_3249914b.jpg

 

And a  worried Netanyahu prayed too....

 

http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2015/04/05/netanyahu-iran.JPG

So what can we do? What is our responsibility in all of these things as believers in the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus)? In my last post I wrote of our responsibility as a 'kingdom of priests'. What is the role of a priest? There are many functions and I will write more about that another time, but one of the main functions is as an intercessor - a 'go-between' between God and the people.  First and foremost we must pray about all these things. God is working out his redemption plan and we need to be working alongside and with Him. This begs the question, "How must we pray?" It is hard to know sometimes, but we can always pray in the Spirit with sighs deeper than words, and allow the Holy Spirit in us to interpret these cries. And God hears our cries. They are effective and they matter. By our prayers we participate in the  working out of the redemption of the world. As I quoted from Psalm 102 verse 17 above,  

He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,And shall not despise their prayer...

We are often 'destitute' as we pray, in that we do not have the understanding to know how to pray, nor the power to change anything ourselves, but the LORD will not despise our prayers . They are a pleasing incense rising to the Him (Revelation 5:8).  He will work it all out and one day, perhaps not so very far in the future, we will see all the nations bowing down to Him - Iran, Israel, the USA and every nation of the Earth. 

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.

Even so, Amen.

 

Revelation 1: 17

THE TREASURY OF SNOW

20 February 2015
 

God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’...

Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God...

then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

... Have you entered the treasury of snow...

 

Job 37: 5-6,14, 38:1,22



The Temple Mount in the snow today (20 Feb 2015)

Here in Jerusalem today, and indeed in much of the country, we awoke this morning to a white world. As I write the thunder is rolling around the hills, and flashes of lightning are illuminating the heavy snow that is falling.  We have about 30 cm on the ground in Jerusalem, and all the city has ground to a stop. Most roads are impassable, buses and trains are not running, schools are closed and very few shops are open. A hush has fallen as we contemplate the majesty of God, his power and our puny impotence in the face of a snow storm. There is an air of celebration and wonder. Who cannot be moved by the beauty of snow? The whole city is like a scene from a Christmas card. Here are some photos:

 

My cat investigates that cold stuff on the balcony



The view from my balcony

In the yard of our building



 

My street this morning

In the passage quoted above it mentions the 'treasury of snow'. Why a treasury? How is snow a treasure? If you live in the US you might not be seeing snow as a blessing right now, but here in Israel every drop of precipitation, be it snow, or rain or even dew, is seen as a blessing and a gift from the Lord. Snow is especially precious as it melts slowly feeding water into the soil and refilling the underground aquifers. This year we have had plentiful rain and snow with most parts of the country exceeding the annual average rainfall already. Coming after last year in which we had less than 1/3 the annual average here in Jerusalem, we are rejoicing in every drop of rain or snow.

 

Snow is mentioned many times in the Bible and clearly it is an image that was familiar to the people during the Biblical period. Snow is a reminder of the power and bounty of God's provision, and also that every word He has spoken will certainly come to pass.







For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

 

Isaiah 55: 10-11

 

Last night as I was watching a news report about the snow, one of the commentators said that we are all glad of the snow as it allows us to escape from thinking about all the threats that so concern us, at least for a little while. I think there was some truth in what he said.

 

A temporary escape is sometimes healthy and necessary, but the continued denial of reality can be dangerous. I just heard President Obama say, " The notion that we are at war with Islam is an ugly lie". What a shocking statement. I am sure if you asked the Islamic State fighters they would have no hesitation in saying that they are at war with the West in the name of Islam, and Iran has repeatedly and openly stated that it intends first to destroy the 'little Satan' (Israel) and then the 'big Satan' the USA and the Western World, and again all in the name of Islam.  It seems to me that Obama is taking political correctness to a dangerous level in an effort to appease the Islamic world. One must ask why? Although it is true that not all of the Islamic world nor that all Muslims support the actions of the Islamic State or Iran, and many oppose them, nevertheless the actions of the Islamic State and Iran are based on the Koranic injunction for Jihad, that is, the conquest of the world for Islam and in the name of Allah.

 

Just this last week we saw 21 Egyptian citizens being beheaded in Libya by Islamic State fighters, simply because they were Christians who refused to denounce their faith. If this is not a religious war, what is? 

 

http://i0.wp.com/the-american-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ISIS_Butcher_Coptic_Christians_Libya.png?resize=940%2C474
 

The Islamic State released a video entitled "A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross" and then showed the beheading of these men, some of whom were seen mouthing the words "Lord Jesus Christ" moments before they were murdered.

 http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/02/21/coptic_church_recognizes_martyrdom_of_21_coptic_christians_/1124824

 

I would challenge Obama to look in the faces of the wives and children of these Coptic Christian martyrs, and say this is not a religious war.

Although I normally steer clear of getting involved in politics, it seems irresponsible at this point in time to not speak out against the policies of the Obama administration, which is exhibiting what, from our perspective, seems at best incredibly naïve, or at worst, knowing complicity with the sworn enemies of Israel, the USA and the Western World.

This latter possibility is explored in some depth in an opinion article in the Jerusalem Post which raises the question thus:

Why does US President Barack Hussein Obama so desperately want a deal with Iran? Why is he so fixated on a grand bargain with the Islamic Republic, the world’s biggest killer of Americans? What explains the president’s passion to embrace the radical mullahs of Tehran, despite the fact that all America’s traditional allies in the region are calling for him to check Iran’s advances? Why the deferential approach that seeks Iran’s partnership, instead of its isolation? The question becomes even sharper when you consider the fact that Iran is patently not seeking integration in the Middle East or reconciliation with the West, but rather obviously domination of the region and apocalyptic victory over the West."  http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Know-comment-What-explains-Obamas-zeal-for-a-deal-with-Iran-391602

It well worth taking the time to read this whole article. It comes to the conclusion that Obama's excessive political correctness does not come so much from the recognition that the USA has overstepped its moral prerogative in interfering in world affairs, particularly in the Middle East, as has been suggested by some commentators, but rather that " Obama’s fervor for Iran lies somewhere much more fundamental: In a deep-seated ideological belief that Islam has a rightful leadership place in the world". In other words, it puts forward the suggestion that Obama is, deep in his heart,  in agreement with the Islamic goal of Jihad. I don't know if this is so, but it would explain his otherwise inexplicable stance, and also his deep anger with the upcoming speech of Netanyahu to the Congress on the 3rd of March.

 

Against the background of Obama's policies in the Middle East, and particularly those regarding a deal with Iran, which are seen in Israel as endangering our very existence, I feel that Netanyahu's speech is crucial and essential at this juncture. The reality of the situation in the Middle East must be exposed or we all stand at terrible risk, not just Israel but the entire Western World. Netanyahu put it this way:

"I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but because I must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country,” http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26028/Default.aspx?article=popular_posts

Please lift up Netanyahu as he prepares his speech as it may be one of the most pivotal speeches in all human history. Pray that he will speak truth, and only truth, and that his words will be guided by the LORD God.

 

Please also pray for the outcome of our elections, just over 3 weeks away, that the Lord will overrule, and the right man or woman, will be raised up as our Prime Minister and the right people sit in the Knesset. I think most Israelis are fed up with all the political mudslinging and corruption in our government, and long for leaders of moral  integrity and who have the best interests of the Israeli people foremost in their hearts. However only God knows who is for the best, and we need to cry out for his mercy and favor in the elections, as in all other things.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;

Daniel 2: 20-21 

 

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS



Sunrise from my balcony this week

“For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.
² But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
³ You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts

 

Malachi 4: 1-3

The balcony of my apartment faces southeast directly towards Basra, once the capital of Edom, and from whence will come Yeshua on the Day He judges the enemies of Israel (Isaiah 63:1). I have always felt it significant that the Lord has placed me here, watching and praying for the coming of the Lord. I do not know when that will be, but the signs are that it could be soon, very soon.

The tide of darkness around us is gathering strength. The enemies of Israel are preparing a monstrous arsenal of weapons for the coming war and boasting of Israel's imminent destruction. To the east the forces of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) this week reached a new level of depravity and barbarism when they released on the social media footage of the burning to death of the captured Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh

Moaz al-Kassasbeh in the cage in which he was burned to death

As if that wasn't monstrous enough, they then executed by firing squad two Imams, and beheaded in public four Syrian civilians who dared to condemn the immolation of the Jordanian pilot. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2940990/ISIS-beheads-four-Syrians-took-Facebook-condemn-burning-Jordanian-pilot-death-two-Muslim-clerics-criticised-murder-shot-firing-squad.html

To the south, the "State of Sinai", a jihadist group linked to the Islamic State and previously named Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, targeted 10 Egyptian military installations in three different cities, El Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, at the same time, leaving more than  35 military personnel dead and 70 others wounded.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/02/04/violence-escalates-in-sinai-as-isis-linked-group-attacks-kill-dozens/

 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/egypt-sinai-wilaya-attacks-army.html##ixzz3QxBdXqfT

Meanwhile also in the south, Hamas is preparing for the next round of aggression against Israel. Last week some  10,000 youngsters, aged 15 -21,  graduated from a week-long military camp run by the al Kassam Brigade, the Gaza based military wing of Hamas. These youths underwent intensive military training, including the use of sniper rifles, simulated tunnel attacks, physical combat training and naval commando operations. The minds of the next generation have already been poisoned with hatred and violence.


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4619982,00.html

In the north, Iran backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon are busy amassing rockets and missiles, including long-range missiles capable of hitting any target in Israel. Last week two Israeli soldiers, Captain Yohai Kalangel and Sergeant Dor Nini, were killed and 7 injured when Hezbollah fired a rocket at their unarmoured vehicle on Mt Dov in the Golan. This attack was in revenge for an earlier attack, attributed to Israel, on a convoy bringing missiles from Iran to Hezbollah killing 12, including Jihad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's commander of the Syrian Golan sector and the son of master terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, Imad Mughniyeh Mohammed Issa, the head of Hezbollah's operation in Syria and Iraq, along with five other Hezbollah fighters and six Iranian military personnel - including Iranian General Mohammed Ali Allah Dadi of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (see my previous blog page). 

The commander of Iran's Basij force, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Reza Naqdi, has been quoted as saying that Israel should await a crushing response from Iran and that "they [the Zionists] should remain fully alerted until complete annihilation of the Zionist regime.”
This week an Iranian website, Shia Online, this week published an article calling for the assassination of the sons of Benyamin Netanyahu, Yair and Avner, and also the sons of former Prime Ministers, Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iranian-website-threatens-top-Israeli-officials-posts-family-pic-of-PM-389204
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2931549/Iran-encourages-terror-groups-assassinate-children-Benjamin-Netanyahu-following-Israeli-airstrike-killed-key-Hezbollah-leaders.html


On the stage of the world's press Israel is more and more being scapegoated as the cause of the turmoil in the Middle East. Israel is being blamed for everything from the 9/11 attacks in the USA, the recent attacks in Paris and even the Ebola outbreak in Africa!   Iran's Press TV reported the  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a meeting this Monday with Jordan’s new ambassador to Tehran, Abdullah Sulaiman Abdullah Abu Romman, saying  that the Israeli “occupation” of Palestinian territories is the root cause of problems in the Middle East.http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iranian-website-threatens-top-Israeli-officials-posts-family-pic-of-PM-389204.  This Lie is gaining strength everywhere and hardly a day passes where it is not expressed in the Press somewhere.  Sadly even in the Church worldwide many are buying into this Lie.  

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a local and relatively minor component of the wider unrest in the Middle East. Historically the conflict with Israel is not based so much on the geo-political  Palestinian issue but on a much deeper clash between Islam and the Judeo/Christian world view.

Although some Muslim clerics, notably Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hussaini, claim that the Koran legitimizes Israel's rights to the Holy Land, the mainstream Islamic view is that it rightly belongs to the Muslim Waqf, an inalienable religious endowment,  and therefore no non-Muslim can be permitted to buy or otherwise usurp that land from the hegemony of Islam. That is the crux of the issue. According to Islam, the purchase of land by Jews from Muslims is anathema. The very existence of the Jewish State is anathema. The Muslim world as a whole does not really care about the plight, tragic as it is, of the Palestinian people themselves.  One could ask why the Palestinian refugees of 1948, and their descendants, are still living in refugee camps in spite of the billions of dollars of aid that has been donated to better their lives. It suits the cause of Jihad to use the Palestinians cynically as a publicity tool and a justification for attacking Israel.

Apart from that, much of the current turmoil is being generated within the different factions of Islam itself, especially between the so-called moderate mainstream and the radical, fundamentalist jihadis. In addition there remains the age-old violent enmity between the Sunni and the Shiite streams of Islam. One could also argue that the so-called Arab Spring, the overthrow by popular uprisings of the regimes set up after WWII , such as that which occurred in Egypt, is the result of misrule and corruption by the leaders of those countries and the consequent poverty of a large discontented underclass - nothing to do with Israel at all.

The Middle East is an incredibly complex region with a long history of violence and warfare going back far into history, and beyond. To try and blame Israel for the current violence is simplistic and not based on any historical or current reality, much less a Biblical perspective. It is rather a resurgence of the type of anti-Semitism that lead to World War II and the Holocaust. Many of the Nazi leaders fled to the Middle East after the fall of the Third Reich and their influence can be seen in much of the rhetoric coming out of the Muslim world. Even the cartoons are adapted from typical Nazi propaganda.

We, who are followers of Yeshua, need to have His perspective on events. To get that we need to study the Bible and ask Him to interpret it to us through the Holy Spirit. We need to be lovers of the Truth and actively pursue Truth. We need to test everything we are taught by man (including every word I write in my blogs), or read or hear, to see if it is truly of the Truth and measure it up against Scripture, for if we do not love the Truth, we may be caught up in the Lie. Yeshua himself spoke of a falling away in the end times, because 'they believed the lie':

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,  not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.  Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,   who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  

 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.   For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.   The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,  and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.   And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,   that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

    2 Thessalonians 2: 1- 12

A REQUIEM FOR THE SINAI

 

Mt Sinai
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25500/Default.aspx
 

One of the greatest dangers of the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) is not so much that it is conquering territory, committing horrendous humanitarian crimes, practicing ethnic cleansing,  and imposing barbaric Medieval Sharia laws on the populations it rules, but that it has drawn the entire world's attention away from all the other threats to peace, especially Iran and its nuclear program, and the spread of radical Islam throughout the world.

 

One area which is largely escaping the world's awareness is the threat crouching in the Sinai Peninsula. When I first came to Israel in 1979, half the Sinai was still under Israeli control. I worked at the Eilat Field School for several months and on our days off we would freely wander and explore the Sinai. I often travelled alone on foot in the desert accompanied by my little terrier dog, and never felt any threat or danger at all from the local Bedouins. Quite the opposite. They always treated me with respect, hospitality and kindness. In those days, the Sinai was a mecca for Israeli holiday makers with the beaches being filled shoulder-to-shoulder with tents and the air filled with the aroma of roasting barbecues. The Bedouin too were enjoying the presence of the Israelis, who brought with them employment, hard dollars, healthcare and schools. The Bedouin drove Mercedes, had fat healthy flocks of sheep and goats, sleek camels and warehouses full of smuggled electronic goods. They had never had it so good. Then in 1982 Israel was forced to return the last of the Sinai to Egyptian rule, and the Peninsula became a neglected backwater, a kind of no-man's land. Over the ensuing years a series of terror attacks, and the absence of any effective law and order, eroded the tourist industry to the extent that no one, certainly no Israeli, will venture there any more. The local economy crumbled and the unemployed young men grew angry and discontent. A perfect recipe for the incursion of the ideology of the Islamic jihadists. A plethora of jihadi terror organizations moved in, recruiting as they came. Now the whole peninsula is a hotbed of terror.

 

The most active and most dangerous of the terror organizations operating in the Sinai is the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Supporters of the Holy House), a Salafi Jihadi group, which has been active since the Egyptian Revolution in 2011.Its activities escalated dramatically after the 2013 overthrow of  Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood controlled government in Egypt. It claims to be acting in retaliation for the consequent crackdown against Islamist supporters in which 1400 have been killed and around 15,000 imprisoned, hundreds of whom are sentenced to death http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/15/Ansar-Beit-al-Maqdis-militants-claim-deadly-Sinai-attack.html .  Over the last few years Ansar Bayt al-Maquis  has been responsible for repeated attacks on the pipelines that bring oil from Egypt to Israel (part of the Sinai return deal), a number of missile attacks on the Israeli city of Eilat, assassinations and bombings in Egypt,  and the brutal beheadings of so-called Israeli collaborators (none of whom were known to Israeli Intelligence). They have also attacked and killed scores of Egyptian police and soldiers. The deadliest attack occurred on October 24th  this year when an explosives-filled car was rammed into a military checkpoint , near the border with Gaza, killing 31 Egyptian soldiers.

 

Immediately following this attack, the Egyptian government created a buffer zone, 13 km long and 500m wide, on its side of the border in Rafah, the 'Palestinian' city that straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border, in order to stop the infiltration of terrorists and arms. In clearing this strip they evicted around 600 - 1000 families (estimates vary), with only 48 hours notice, and destroyed their homes. When they razed the homes they found hundreds of smuggling tunnels.  According to the Times of Israel, this buffer strip will be monitored by surveillance cameras and feature a water-filled trench that will extend to the Mediterranean Sea. (What an outcry there would be if Israel had dared to do such a thing!!!!).  

http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-steps-up-efforts-for-gaza-buffer-after-discovery-of-more-tunnels/ 



Homes being demolished in Rafah, Wednesday 29 October 2014
http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-steps-up-efforts-for-gaza-buffer-after-discovery-of-more-tunnels/

Today a video was posted on Twitter, purportedly by Ansar Bayt al-Maquis, claiming responsibility for the October 24th attack. This comes after a week of yo-yo-ing claims and denials that they had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and renamed themselves the Sinai Province (of that State). http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Ansar-Bayt-al-Maqdis-posts-video-of-deadly-attack-that-killed-30-in-Sinai-381854.  In a statement cited by Reuters Monday this week,  a spokesman for Ansar Bayt al-Maquis said that they had decided to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (leader of ISIS), who has declared himself to be the Caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25500/Default.aspx . The next day, Ansar Bayt al-Maquis denied all involvement with the Islamic State. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187044#.VF-TXJscRLM  It is difficult to know where the truth lies but there is no doubt they share the same ideology and goals as the Islamic State, namely to ultimately destroy Israel and spread Islamic rule over the whole world.  If they have joined forces however, this will effectively bring the Islamic State right onto the doorstep of Israel.

 

Meanwhile, what are our other neighbors doing?   Hamas in Gaza is busy rearming itself and boasting that it will renew missile attacks on Israel very soon. It even boasts that it is rebuilding the tunnels and will carry out a massive terror incursion via those tunnels. Hezbollah boasts at least 200,000 missiles currently aimed at Israel, enough to virtually obliterate every Israeli city and town.  Iran, laughing at the West, continues its development of nuclear weapons,  and at the same time  is supplying  more and better missiles to Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria http://yalibnan.com/2014/11/14/iran-confirms-supplying-missile-production-plants-to-syria-hezbollah-hamas/. According to the Times of Israel today,

"A top Iranian military commander announced Wednesday that Palestinian terrorist groups and Hezbollah received Fateh-class missiles that are able to attack any target in Israel.

 

Tehran has also provided Hezbollah and Hamas with advanced rocket training, Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Sayed Majid Moussavi said, according to the Fars News Agency.

 

If true, this would be the first public revelation by Iran that the Palestinians are in possession of Fateh missiles that have a range of 200 kilometers, according to the Israel Missile Defense Association.

“Considering the range of their missiles, they are able now to attack all targets from southern to northern parts of [Israel]” .

 http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-general-palestinians-have-longer-range-missiles/

As our enemies are busy arming themselves with the aim of obliterating Israel, our main ally, the USA, led by a vague, ineffectual  and seemingly ambivalent  President Obama, is faltering in its support. One student of the situation, Noah Beck, gives voice to how many Israeli's see the situation with the USA in a rather tongue-in-cheek article published today. Its worth a read. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25522/Default.aspx ) 

http://yalibnan.com/2014/11/14/iran-confirms-supplying-missile-production-plants-to-syria-hezbollah-hamas/

Given the scale and malevolence of these threats to Israel's existence, is it any wonder we are feeling alone here in our fight against the jihadist Islamic threat?

  

But we are not alone.

 

 King David declared,

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

 “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
 Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 2

Addressing Jerusalem, the LORD God of Israel has this to say:

Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
    your foundations with lapis lazuli....

 Terror will be far removed;
    it will not come near you.
 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;    whoever attacks you will surrender to you. ‘See, it is I who created the blacksmith
    who fans the coals into flame
    and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
   no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,’
declares the Lord.

Isaiah 54: 14-17

God raises up kings and rulers for his own purposes, sometimes in order to bring Israel to its knees in repentance, but those same rulers and kings will eventually be punished for coming against the LORD's anointed, and in the end, repentant Israel will be victorious.

The day of the Lord is near
    for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
    your deeds will return upon your own head.
Just as you drank on my holy hill,
    so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
    and be as if they had never been.
But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
    it will be holy,
    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

Obadiah 1: 15-17

The LORD stands for Israel, today as in the past, and though our enemies might rise up against us in immeasurable might, the LORD is greater than all the armies and all the weapons, and He will fight on our behalf. I pray that we all will be found fighting  alongside Him on the side of righteousness, and prayerfully doing battle against the powers of darkness, when that day comes.

 



 

 

 

Day 11 of Open Ended Ceasefire

It is a quiet Shabbat morning in Jerusalem and the Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is holding. I can hear the children playing in the swimming pool down below.  Life is returning to 'normal' in Israel. Most families in the southern towns and kibbutzim have returned to their homes to repair their damaged homes and put their lives back on track. Some families however have decided that 'enough is enough' and they will not be returning to their homes in the south.

On Monday this week two million  Israeli children went back to school for the new school year. It was not a normal start however. The Education Ministry decided that the first two weeks would be devoted to allowing the children to express their experiences of the war and doing relaxing activities designed to enable children to process their emotions.  Although most children seem to take  rockets and sirens in their stride, long term emotional trauma is evident in many and can affect them all their lives. Many suffer bedwetting, nightmares, and excessive anxieties. 

http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/fn2/feeds/Associated%20Press/2014/09/01/876/493/Mideast%20Israel%20Back%20to%20School-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

 One mother reported that  "At age 5, kindergartner Daniel Neardea of Rishon LeZion recognizes the different sounds of incoming rockets and Iron Dome interceptors and can identify Israel's chief of staff and the top Hamas political leaders"
.
Describing the summer as "loud," his mother, Enav Neardea, said her children mostly took the rockets and sirens in stride, even when they disrupted their activities at the playground or swimming pool. "I guess they understand this is part of their lives now."
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-schools-20140902-story.html

Although the ceasefire is holding it is possible the rocket fire and hostilities will resume once the talks aimed at bringing about a permanent ceasefire begin in Cairo begin soon. No doubt Hamas has taken the opportunity to rearm and regroup. It is already boasting about the 'next round' as I reported in my last post. Hamas' demands for Israel to remove the 'blockade' of Gaza entry points and ports will never be accepted by Israel. I would hope that this latest war would have made it abundantly evident to all that Israel cannot allow Hamas to have open borders. We have seen how, even with the so-called blockade, they were able to smuggle in thousands of rockets and other military supplies, and build miles and miles of tunnels - a whole underground network. Imagine what they could do if there were no controls on their imports.

On the other hand Israel is demanding that Hamas will submit to disarmament, something they are not likely to agree to, unless the world was to unite against them and force the issue, something it seems little inclined to do.



Victory celebrations in Gaza

So the question now is merely, not whether Hamas will resume rocket fire upon Israel, but rather when. It could be tomorrow or next week or next month or next year, but sooner or later it seems inevitable. Hamas is not cowed nor defeated but  feel they have won a great victory over Israel in that they held out for 50 days and successfully turned many governments and people in the free world against us.

Furthermore, as a result of this campaign Hamas' popularity has skyrocketed amongst Palestinians. Polls  carried out after the Ceasefire began by the Ramallah based Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and Gaza show that 88% of Palestinians support Hamas, and 79% believe that Hamas had won. 94% were satisfied with Hamas military performance and 78% were satisfied with Hamas' defense of its civilian population. 86% support the launching of rockets against Israel should current negotiations fail. http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/489 

These figures are astounding and reflect the disconnect with reality resulting from biased media reporting, and brainwashing that takes place in Palestinian schools and homes from an early age. It also gives a lie to the concept of 'innocent civilians'. Clearly most of the people of Gaza back Hamas and are therefore very far from innocent.

This is what 'victory' looks like in Gaza

Now the UN World Court is intending to try our political and military leaders for 'war crimes'. HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?
The British Colonel Richard Kemp, the former leader of the British forces in Afghanistan, and who observed the IDF operations at close quarters during the Operation Protective Edge, had this to say in an interview with the BBC, " There has never been a time in the history of warfare when any army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and deaths of innocent people than the IDF is doing in Gaza . " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WssrKJ3Iqcw. He tells of one Israeli pilot he spoke to who had aborted a mission 17 times because civilians were spotted in the vicinity.

One might ask, why is the UN  not trying the Hamas leadership for their war crimes - firing over 4000 rockets at Israeli civilians and using their own civilians for living shields and propaganda? What about  the 160 Gazan children who died while being forced to construct the underground tunnels for Hamas? http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/38316-140726-report-hamas-used-child-labor-in-tunnel-building  Is that not a war crime or at least a terrible violation of human rights?

Instead of criticizing Israel at every turn (we are quite good at doing that for ourselves) the world should be thanking Israel for its courageous stand at the very front line of the war against terror, which threatens all of Western civilization and the free world. The world is under its greatest threat since World War II  and slowly, slowly, and perhaps too late,  it is beginning to wake up to that fact. Sadly the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern people, and the displacement of millions more,  were more or less overlooked by the West as the Islamic Salafi - Jihadist groups advanced. It was not until an American journalist was brutally beheaded that the Western world has begun to wake up to the threat.
Today a conference of 19 NATO countries  signed a pledge to bring down the Islamic State (ISIS) using both financial embargoes and military might. Time will tell if they will do so. Will they use 'proportional force'  or hold back when the first civilian casualties occur? Does the Western world have the moral courage to carry out its threats? We will see.

Even if the Nato coalition can bring down the Islamic State militarily it cannot stop the ideology, which thrives on violence and opposition. The battle is spiritual not material or military. It can only be won by spiritual means. This week I was reminded of the part we Christian believers need to play in all of this. Not many of us are soldiers in the armies of the 'free' world but we are all soldiers of God's army. This week I was watching the movie "The Hobbit" on TV. At one point Gandalf, the good wizard, remarked that in his long experience it was not the great and mighty that held back the darkness but the ordinary folk, the little people, with an act of kindness here, a smile there or a word of encouragement. Words of wisdom indeed. No matter how small we may feel ourselves to be we have a part to play in holding back the forces of darkness that are threatening to overwhelm us. Prayer is our weapon and we need in these days to wield it with strength, courage, perseverance and hope. We are all on the front line of the battle and we know that the victory is already won in the heavenly places.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He^[ is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

        II Thessalonians 2 (NJKV)

Clearly the call for Christians today is to stand fast in prayer and to discern clearly on which side they stand. The passage above predicts a  'falling away' in the last times, and a strong delusion in which many will believe the lie. Let us all take great care we are all lovers of truth and diligently search for it.

In our praying we need to pray with understanding and in the Spirit. For this reason  I have put together a short history of Salafi-Jihadism and the Islamic State, outlined below.

Salafism 101 or 'Know Your Enemy'

Most non-Muslims have no idea what Salafist Islam is but it is important we understand what we are facing. Salafism is a fundamentalist movement that arose during the second half of the nineteenth century as a reaction against the spread of Western ideas and the perceived corruption of pure Islamic culture.  Salafists desire a return to the 'pure' form of Islam that was practiced in the earliest days of their faith, particularly during the period when Islam was ruled by the first four Caliphs (religious leaders who succeeded Mohammed). The world Caliph (Khalifa) means 'successor'. They promote jihad which is the  struggle for the supremacy of Islam and this term usually carries a military connotation. Persons who are engaged in jihad are called the mujahideen. Salafists are Sunni Muslims and regard Shiite Islam as heresy.

The Salafi-Jihadi ideology thus aims to:

• return to the authentic beliefs and practices of the pious ancestors who were the companions of Mohammed,
• To establish an Islamic State or Caliphate ruled by the strict and harshest interpretations of Islamic Sharia Law
• promote the concept of tawhid  or the oneness/unity of God ( and the denial that he has a Son!)
• endorse the waging of jihad against regimes they regard as idolatrous, including the Shiite, Jewish and Christian 'infidels'.  

Salafi-Jihadism has been growing amongst the people of Jordan and Lebanon since the 1990s and it is therefore not surprising that the founder of the ISIS (ISL or the Islamic State or Da'ish as it is now called), Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, came from the Salafi stronghold of Zarqa in Jordan. 

After the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Zarqawi, set up the forerunner of today's Islamic State in Iraq. At that time it was made up mainly of Iraqis. This organization first directed its jihad at the Shiites and in August of 2003 it bombed the Imam Ali shrine in Najav, the holiest place of Shiite worship in Iraq, killing 95 worshippers including  Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, the  leader of the Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) .  

  After Saddam Hussein was toppled Shiites replaced Sunnis who had long ruled in Iraq, and this fueled Zarqawi's war against the Shiites. Zarqawi sent dozens of suicide bombers to blow themselves up in schools, cafes and markets in Shiite dominated towns. By 2004 he had joined Bin Laden's al Qaeda and he called his group Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

Al Zarqawi began to see himself as not only an emir (a political and military commander) but as a spiritual leader or caliph. He never reached this goal however because in June 2006 he was killed by a US air force bomb.  Zarqawi was succeeded by Abu Bakr al Baghdahi, who is still the current leader. Under al Baghdadi's leadership the movement became less of a guerilla style terrorist organization and more of an organized army, numbering thousands of trained and armed men.  They opened a second front and attacked  the Shiites of Syria, and the organization was renamed ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Baghdadi imposed strict Sharia Law on the towns he conquered,  and harshly enforced it.

By 2014 President Assad's forces had regrouped and were fighting back. He retook the city of Homs which was the symbolic heart of the ISIS uprising. Consequently Baghdadi planned a bigger strike which led to the taking of the city of Mosul, initiating a new phase in which he demonstrated a willingness to seize and control territory. Baghdadi also promoted himself to "Caliph and renamed his group "The Islamic State".  His ambition is to rule the whole region from the Mediterranean to the Gulf.  In Mosul he gave the command that 'infidels', Christians and Kurds, pay a special tax, leave, convert or face death. Thousands fled as the ancient Christian community there was targeted and those who were unable to flee were beheaded, stoned, crucified and enslaved.

In declaring himself Caliph Ibrahim, as Bagdhadi now styles himself, he may have overplayed his hand. Many more moderate Muslims see it as illegitimate, since according to the tradition, Caliphs were supposed to be chosen in consultation with all Muslim scholars. A Caliph could not appoint himself.  What is more, the institution of the caliphate has not been functioning for around 1000 years. A Caliph must also be physically whole and mentally sane, and must be of the Quraysh tribe of the Arabian peninsula. On the other hand, amongst Muslims there is a mystical belief that if you can establish a caliphate then everything will fall into place, something akin to the Messianic idea in Judaism and Christianity. The promise of  the inexorable, righteous expansion of Islam draws zealous  recruits from all over the world.

Salafi-Jihadist ideology has given rise to many  competing groups and terror organizations, and this lack of unity is their weak underbelly. Al Qaeda, although also Salafi,  disagreed with ISIS' focus on fellow Muslims (albeit Shiites) and were disgusted by their brutality and therefore broke off all ties with them in 2013. ISIS, as it was then called, was too brutal for al Qaeda!

Hamas is also based on a Salafi-Jihadist ideology but ISIS failed to support Hamas in the latest round of violence against Israel, not because it does not want the overthrow of Israel but it has a clearly defined and systematic program and the Hamas offensive did not fit in with its plans. This is its plan:

1. Build a firm base for the Islamic State in Iraq to serve as a springboard for waging war in Syria and Lebanon
2. Weaken the USA politically and economically by means of terror attacks on the USA mainland an US interests in Muslim countries
3. Expand the Islamic State to cover Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and possibly Gaza
4. Then, conquering Jerusalem and destroying Israel.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/isis-a-short-history/376030/2/

If the Islamic State’s history is any indication, then one should be concerned about it deepening political polarization and sectarianism in both Lebanon and Jordan, let alone trying to further its appeal by carrying out spectacular acts of violence in the Middle East or the West. The international community should internalize the fact that the Islamic State is theologically driven to apply Salafist ideology in belief and manifest action by way of jihad in the path of Allah against idolatrous regimes and unbelievers to expand “God’s realm” on earth

Robert G. Rabil  Robert G. Rabil is a professor of political science and the LLS distinguished professor of current affairs at Florida Atlantic University. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-isis-chronicles-history-10895?page=3





Hamas soldiers in Gaza
http://patdollard.com/category/middle-east/page/11/

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY HAMAS FIGHTERS ARE ALWAYS MASKED?