ISIS ON OUR DOORSTEP

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/images/recent/ISIS_jewishthreat.jpg

At 10:54 PM on Wednesday the 8th February the Code Red Alert sirens sounded in the southern resort city of Eilat  as four rockets were fired towards the city from the Sinai Peninsula. As residents rushed to their shelters the Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down 3 of the rockets and the fourth landed in an open area. There were no casualties and no damage but shrapnel from the rockets landed in a hotel swimming pool. Eilat is a popular winter resort and at this time of the year the hotels are full of European tourists seeking respite from their long cold winter.  This incident could have ended with much more serious consequences.

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4919939,00.html

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/224675

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-israel-rocket-attack-latest-port-eilat-launch-egypt-resort-islamic-state-terror-group-a7570991.html

 

The following day ISIS (IS or Day'esh) claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.  According to Ynetnews, "The organization issued a statement saying: “A number of rockets were launched at Jewish centers in Eilat, known as Umm Rashrash. The Jews and Crusaders should know that the war of the apostles will not save them in any way.” http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4919939,00.html
 

 

As the world is preoccupied with the new American President and his activities, awareness of the threat of ISIS seems to have fallen off the radar to some extent. In Syria and Iraq ISIS is in retreat as local forces, backed by Russian, US and others, launch operations against them. Yesterday Iraq announced the beginning of an operation to free the last major ISIS stronghold in their country, in western Mosul.

 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/02/19/iraq-forces-operation-western-half-mosul-islamic-state/98124940/
 
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iraq-launches-offensive-re-take-part-mosul-isis-prime-minister-n722916

 

While ISIS may be in retreat in some areas it is quietly slipping into others and building strength there. One such area is right here on our doorstep in the Sinai Peninsula, where ISIS has an estimated force of some 800-1000 soldiers which fight against Egyptian forces there. Egypt has destroyed some six ISIS tunnels passing into Eygptian territory in just the last month. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4919939,00.html

 

This Saturday (the 18th) the ISIS group claimed that an unmanned Israeli aircraft attacked one of their bases killing 5 of its operatives. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4924789,00.html
 

On Monday (20 February) two more rockets were fired from the Sinai into Israel. They fell in open spaces. http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/two-rockets-fired-into-southern-israel-from-egypt/. ISIS has subsequently claimed responsibility. Meanwhile in the north Ynetnews reports that on the 21st " ISIS-affiliated groups opened a major offensive in the tri-nation border of Israel, Syria and Jordan, attacking various rebel factions and have managed to take control of four villages—Adwan, Saham al-Jawlan, Jalin and Tasil—in addition to the strategic southwestern suburb of Daraa, which is the capital of Hauran" http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4926370,00.html

ISIS TROOPS ADVANCE IN SYRIAN GOLAN
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4926370,00.html

 

In Gaza there are also changes in the power structure and this is ringing warning bells in Israel . Hamas has elected a new  leader, Yahya Sanwar, who is both a radical and extremely militant in his views and actions .

Sanwar is a convicted terrorist who was released from an Israeli prison in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit some years ago. His appointment shatters any hope for a future prisoner exchange that would bring about the release of several Israelis currently being held in the Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Deif will theoretically become the head of the military wing of Hamas, but in reality, Sanwar will be both the political leader and the military leader, as the supreme commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

This is not only bad news for Israel but also for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. It means that now all of Hamas' resources will be subject to the needs of the military wing and their preparations for war with Israel - amassing arms, training combatants and digging tunnels.  The living conditions for the civilian population may well deteriorate even further.

Ismail Haniyeh, a Sunni Muslim, will take over from Khaled Mashal, as the Head of Hamas' political bureau. He seeks to improve  relations with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States
 in order to ease conditions for the people, but at the same time he wants tighter relationships with Iran, which funds military training and the military technologies.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4922229,00.html

Ismail Haniyeh (L), Yahya Sanwar (center), Khaled Meshaal (R)
https://www.israelandstuff.com/khaled-mashal-replaced-ismail-haniyeh-ignored-after-hamas-elections-in-gaza/ismail-haniyeh-l-yahya-sanwar-center-khaled-meshaal-r

 

 Israel's chief of the IDF, Gadi Eisenkot,  had this to say about the situation: " the election of the radical Yahya Sanwar as the head of Hamas's political wing in Gaza proves that any distinction made in the past between the Gaza terror organization's political and military branches was now null and void."

 

He also noted that " that at present, he does not see willingness among enemies both on the northern front and in Gaza to initiate a military campaign against Israel."

 

Earlier this month Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah threatened to attack Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona and the ammonia tank currently located in Haifa in the event of a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4923673,00.html

 

In response to this boast, Gadi Eisenkot, asserted that Nasrallah "was all bark and no bite as his threats against Israel come while his organization is deep in crisis", and that his threats "to fire rockets at the Haifa ammonia facility and the Dimona nuclear reactor were meant to create deterrence and maintain the status quo with Israel as he sees it".

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4926181,00.html

 

 

Earlier this month the Haifa Local Affairs Court ordered the 12,000 ton Haifa ammonia tank to be emptied and relocated within 10 days.  This aging and dangerous tank, established in 1989,  stores all the ammonia imported by Israel. According to a report by researchers at the Haifa Technion Institute of Technology "an enemy strike on the facility and ammonia delivery vessels could bring catastrophe to the area.
While an attack on the container could lead to the deaths of thousands of residents, an attack on the ships conveying the ammonia to the region could kill hundreds of thousands, numbers that were inconceivable in any apocalyptic scenario ever described by the security establishment in the State of Israel,”  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Haifa-toxic-ammonia-gas-tank-ordered-emptied-in-10-days-481309.  The Haifa Chemicals company has applied for an extension and has been granted an additional 3 months to comply.

Haifa Bay’s 12,000-ton ammonia tank. (photo credit:MAX YELINSON/ MAARIV)
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Haifa-toxic-ammonia-gas-tank-ordered-emptied-in-10-days-481309.

 

The day after the rocket attack on Eilat there was a terror attack in the city of Petach Tikva.  A 19-year old Palestinian terrorist, from the Nablus area, opened fire with a homemade rifle outside the crowded market on Baron Hirsch St. Three people suffered gunshot wounds to their legs. Bystanders gave chase and two were injured, one sustaining a stabbing wound to his neck. The terrorist then entered a sewing machine shop where his gun jammed. His pursuers then neutralized him with a sewing machine ( that must be a first!) and he was captured.    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4920284,00.html 

 

On the home front there are some serious social problems in Israel.  A little while ago a video, filmed by a hidden camera,  was released of elderly and infirm people in a nursing home being physically beaten and abused by their carers. This video shocked the nation, and brought to the fore the concern that the situation in many such institutions is similarly appalling. Health Minister, Yaacov Litzman, is calling for the urgent transferrance of funds to totally reform the system, which has 'no supervision, no standards and no budget ' .One wonders why it has taken him so long to take some action?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4925540,00.html.  With the 'baby boomers' now reaching old age there is an urgent need to make better provisions for the  elderly.  It is not only nursing homes that need reform. The pension provisions are also far from adequate, forcing many elderly to live in substandard conditions and work in degrading and physically demanding jobs beyond their capabilities. Some are reduced to begging on the streets.

 

I, myself have been laid off my job and in June will be forced to retire. I will receive the princely sum of 1500 shekels a month from the government to live on, and this after paying national insurance (social security) for around 35 years.  With even the cheapest apartment in Jerusalem costing more than 4000 shekels a month, you can see that it is impossible to make ends meet, unless one has additional resources. For most of the generation now reaching retirement age it has been impossible to save for retirement as the cost of living in Israel is very high and salaries very low in comparison.  Most Israelis finish the month in minus, even if they are working. 

 

There is a serious need for financial reform as the current system favors the wealthy and penalizes the poor. This is something about which the Bible has much to say. Again and again God speaks out against the oppression of the poor, the widows and the orphans. When He gave Moses the Law on Mt Sinai He said:

Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 25: 17

 

The oppression of the poor is one of the main reasons that God allowed Israel to be conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians,

 

"The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.   So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.   Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God."

Ezekiel 22: 29-31

 

 

Please pray for the protection of the LORD from all the enemies that surround us, but also pray for righteousness and justice within the nation.  Our national sin is much more dangerous than the enemies that surround us.  We will not find righteousness until we find our God again. We are like sheep without a shepherd. Pray for the salvation of Israel in Yeshua, the Messiah.   

 

Now to finish I want to share some images of the first intimations of spring in our beautiful Land:

 

 

Floods in Kiryat Yam (Photo: Tunnel flooded in Haifa (Photo: Haifa Coastal District Fire Department))
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4921150,00.html

 

 

Snow in Golan Heights Golan Heights (Photo: Lilach Ashter)

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4923639,00.html

                             

      

Anenomes on Har Hatormusim  (the Lupin hill)

Almond blossoms in Ein Kerem (the birthplace of John the Baptist)

Almond blossoms in Ein Kerem

Mountain lupin and white mustard at Har Hatormusin, Emek Elah (where David fought Goliath)

Wildflowers on Har Hatormusim

Mountain lupin

         

   Thank you so much  for standing faithfully with us and all Israel in your prayers.  We appreciate you so much and pray the God of Israel will richly bless you in return and faithfully keep you under the shelter of His wings.  

I have until now never asked for donations as I have been working full time, however now that I have been laid off my job and am being forced to retire, I am in need of additional finances to live.  If you would like to help out you can give an offering on-line through paypal, click on the donate button below:            

 

 

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.