Servant of Messiah Ministries

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Christian Merchants of Death

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Defense stocks rallied after Pres. Trump signed a $350 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia which was the “biggest single arms deal” in US’ history.

The State Department’s Human Rights Report  made no secret of Saudi Arabia’s numerous human rights abuses, saying, “The most important human rights problems reported included citizens’ lack of the ability and legal means to choose their government; restrictions on universal rights, such as freedom of expression, including on the internet, and the freedoms of assembly, association, movement, and religion; and pervasive gender discrimination and lack of equal rights that affected most aspects of women’s lives.”

The State Department report also mentioned the Saudi-led coalition to defeat the Houthi rebels in Yemen, whose airstrikes have “resulted in civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure on multiple occasions.”

  • While 119 countries have banned the sale and use of cluster bombs, the US (the largest merchant of death on the planet) continues its sale to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting a proxy war in Yemen and US cluster bombs are being used on their civilians.
  • Saudi Arabia is in the top five major human rights violators worldwide including the indiscriminate use of the death penalty. Saudi Arabia executed over 157 last year including 47 in one day of which 72% were for non-violent crimes, in violation of  International Human Rights Law.
  • Atheism is a considered a terrorist offense. There are over 60 synagogues in Iran, that “axis of evil state”. There are no synagogues in Saudi Arabia. There are no churches either. Non-Muslim public worship of any kind is forbidden by law.
  • People who are known to be Jewish or to have visited Israel (i.e. with Israeli stamps in their passport) are only allowed into Saudi Arabia if they have a pressing and documented political or financial reason to be there.
  • Women cannot drive – cannot leave the home without a male guardian known as a Mayram. They are refused access to swimming pools and most workplaces have separate entrances for them. A Saudi woman was even flogged for checking her husband’s phone without his permission. The testimony of one man is equal to that of two women in court. Of 137 countries they ranked the 127th as most sexist.
  • Saudi Arabia blocked the UN from inquiring about their war crimes. Amnesty argued the US, and the UK should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia because they are funding war crimes.
  • The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a blockade on Yemen since they began their military campaign two years ago – at times rerouting ships on their way to Yemen’s main port. They have impeded, delayed and restricted the entry and movement of humanitarian aid. Yemen imports 90% of its food. Large parts of Yemen are on the brink of famine, and 21 million people need food assistance while 2.2 million people have had to abandon their homes.

Even though the USA is only 5% of the world’s population we sell 50% of the world’s arms. We cannot fix our roads. The water in Flint is undrinkable. Our airports are 30 years old. Yet 55% of all our federal discretionary spending is for our military – better weapons and improved killing.

Is it no wonder that we need to keep selling death to keep our military-industrial complex busy? Saudi defense spending already is the world’s third highest after the U.S. and China. Their foreign exchange reserves have fallen 30% in 3 years and their budget deficits are 13% of GDP since oil is 90% of their only evaporating income.

They mortgaged their future paying for weapons that they do not need. The young uneducated unemployed Saudis – with no jobs in a country with no industry will become frustrated, restless, and attentive to the very extremism that Trump has just admonished them to shun.  Remember, 15 of the 19 attackers that flew planes into the World Trade Centre on Sept 11 were Saudi citizens, they were not Iranians or Iraqis or Afghani’s?  They are expecting President Trump to repeal the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which has led more than 800 families to file suit in New York against Saudi Arabia.

So what are we as Christians to do?

It does not matter if you are Republican, Liberal or Democrat. This system is not changing. I urge you to look at your King who stood before two Roman governors and said  John 18v36  Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight and campaign and vote and all the rest … But now my kingdom is from another place.”

  • Democracy is Satan’s method of inviting you to share in his running this country. He is the god of this world and the governments in power rule under his sway. 2 Cor 4:4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.
  • Why would you have any part in arming the enemies of Israel – and those sworn to annihilate the children of Abraham?
  • The Bible is very clear. You have to pay taxes, that belongs to Ceasar. You are not required to cast your vote for a Ceasar who has blood on his/her hands….. Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that are not partakers/complicit in her sins, and that you do not receive her plagues.
  • What will you say to your King when He asks you to account for what was done in your name? If you voted – you are an accomplice in this wickedness…

 

Israel becomes a spoil

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Israel is embarking on its largest-ever infrastructure project with the development of the huge Leviathan offshore gas field in the Mediterranean. The development of Leviathan, which is scheduled to take about three years, constitutes both the largest energy project and financial investment in Israel in the country’s history.

Developers of Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field committed last month (Feb 2017) to a $3.75 billion investment to develop the oil and gas reserves. Leviathan was first discovered in 2010 some 100 miles west of Haifa. Located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea area off the coast of Israel, the Leviathan field is estimated to contain 22 trillion cubic feet of gross recoverable natural gas resources.

Phase one – The first phase involves an initial investment of $4 billion to produce 12 billion cu meters of gas annually for domestic customers as well as, initially, Jordanian, Palestinian and Egyptian markets.

The first phase of Leviathan’s development includes the drilling of eight production wells, which are to be linked to an offshore production-and-treatment platform and, from there, by undersea pipeline to two entry points along Israel’s central coast.  Subsequently, the processed gas will be transferred to Israel Natural Gas Lines’ onshore transportation grid for export.

Phase two – A second phase to expand production to 21 billion cu m per year at a cost of $2.5 billion export to Turkey, Egypt, and southern European countries. “A pipeline to Turkey could be operational by the time commercial production begins,” predicted Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s energy, and water minister.  Talks are already underway with Turkey following the thaw in relations between the two countries after a six-year freeze. The Israeli energy minister last month met in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart, Berat Albaryrak, to discuss future gas shipments to Turkey and possibly to Europe using existing networks.

The gas would be transported via a 500-kilometer-long undersea pipeline from the Leviathan field to Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast.   An initial cost estimate of the pipeline is $2 billion. Israeli energy sources said the state-owned Eilat to Ashkelon Pipeline Co. is set to complete in March a technical planning and economic analysis of the proposed pipeline.

In addition to sales to the Egyptian domestic market, discussions have resumed on possible gas shipments from both the Leviathan and the neighboring Tamar fields to two largely idle LNG plants on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.  This plan would entail construction of a 450-km-long pipeline.

Phase three – An even more ambitious plan proposes building a 1,300-km pipeline that would transport gas from the Leviathan field and a nearby, newly discovered field off the coast of Cyprus to Cyprus itself and Greece. Then, it would link up with existing transmission lines to Italy.

A feasibility study conducted by IGI-Poseidon for the European Commission estimated the cost at $5.7 billion, but the report found that total would be substantially less than an offshore LNG plant. “Israel views gas exports to Europe as important from a strategic point of view,” said Chen Herzog, an economist.  But Herzog added that the pipeline to Greece likely would depend on the discovery of more gas at sites off the coast of Israel.

There are dangers ahead….

While Energy Minister Steinitz celebrated the decision, pointing out that the natural gas field will boost Israel’s economy, provide cleaner air, and give the country a measure of energy security in the near term. “If we continue on a responsible and steadfast path, we will also succeed in discovering more gas fields, positioning Israel as an important player in the energy market alongside our neighbors in the Middle East and Europe.”

Could it be not all players want to share?  Russia is the largest provider of natural gas to Europe. A pipeline from Israel to Greece/ Italy breaks the leverage Russia always had over a freezing Europe.

In 2007, Russia provided 38.7% of the European Union’s natural gas total imports and 24.3% of consumed natural gas. That has grown to over 40% now. As of 2009, Russian natural gas was delivered to Europe through 12 pipelines. The largest importers of Russian gas in the European Union are Germany and Italy, accounting together for almost half of the EU gas imports from Russia

Ezekiel 38 and 39 tell of a time in the near future when a consortium of Muslim Nations (including Turkey and Russia) will invade Israel….The identity of those nations includeTurkey, the Southern Russian Muslim States, Iraq, Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia,  Iran and Syria and others.

(Ezek. 38:10-13)  This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme.  You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”

Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?” ‘ (Ezek. 38:10-13)

Ezekiel 38 v 11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, v 12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

  • The target is the people of Israel, only once they are resettled in the land –  Post-1948
  • The motivation will be v 12 – to take a spoil and plunder dressed up perhaps as the “liberation of the Palestinians?”

That never made sense until now – and Israel never had any natural wealth like oil that would make her a target until now.

This oil and gas project competes directly with Russia and Turkey’s energy ambitions.  Completed pipelines to Turkey and Europe to carry 22 Trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas fields are a huge spoil.  A stranglehold on Europe’s Energy supply ….is a Russian bonus. It is a motivation for Russia and Turkey to join the final Muslim attempt to destroy Israel.

We do not prophecy future events since we cannot even predict the next 8 hours of our day. It never goes as planned.  We do however watch world events….and see how Gods infallible word could possibly come to pass in our time.

 

Turkey will leave N.A.T.O.

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Since the coup attempt that killed 270 people Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned a democracy into his autocracy.  The purges in Turkey now makes the McCarthy era during the 1950’s look like a picnic.

A total of 2740 judges and prosecutors have been detained while 4,897 State employees were fired, and 76,567 State workers were suspended.  The military lost 3000 arrested with officers leaving the country to seek asylum in the West.

In Turkey it is not the Communists being hunted but the Gulenists….to date over 40, 360 suspected Gulenists have been detained.  The irony is that Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish preacher, and writer has supported President Erdogan’s rise to power.

During his early years as President after a history of military Coups in Turkey,  Erdogan used to call the widely circulated Gulenist owned newspaper “Zaman” as the “guardians of democracy in Turkey.”   In 2013 those same papers would expose the corruption of Erdogan regime. After the failed coup of July 2016 all Gulenists were labeled terrorists.

There is virtually no independent media left in Turkey with 160 media outlets shut and 108 journalists detained. His threat to bring back the death penalty has alarmed the EU members – as the EU does not allow the death penalty in its member states.

Ankara began its formal accession talks with the EU in 2005. In March 2016, the sides have reached what seemed like a landmark deal, when sealing a joint plan to combat the migration crisis. Ankara promised it would assist the EU in dealing with the influx of migrants in exchange for some funding and also to potential ease the process through which Turkey could gain EU accession and visa-free travel within the Schengen Zone for its citizens.

But despite plans to introduce the visa-free agreement in July, it has so far been postponed, with the EU authorities saying Turkey has failed to comply with all of the EU’s 72 criteria. Ankara’s tough anti-terrorism legislation, especially criticized by Brussels, is the main stumbling block.

Erdogan blasted Merkel, “Germany thinks that they are a first class country, a first class democracy and that Turkey is second class. We want them to treat us as equal partners.”  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “highly alarming” that “freedom of the press and speech are being restricted [in Turkey] again and again,” and provided the example of the arrest of at least 13 editors and editors in chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that Berlin would not extradite suspects to Turkey if they were facing political charges, with the only exception being evidence of “classic criminal activity” presented by Ankara.

Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that people in Turkey no longer wanted the EU membership. The official said the government is under “huge pressure” to abandon its plans to join the EU bloc of 28 nations, which is being accused of “double standards.”  “We are under huge pressure to stop the negotiating process,” Cavusoglu said at a Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

Turkey has since strengthened ties to Russia and it appears its bid for E.U. membership is slipping further and further away.    Ankara’s large dependence on Moscow’s energy and tourism make this inevitable. Turkey’s constitution is shaped by Sharia law which is incompatible with Europe liberal thought.  Turkey (NATO’s 2nd largest military power) is also gravitating towards Russia on the Syrian issue.  This is reducing her ties with the U.S., as Russia continues to fuel tensions in NATO.  Moscow could split NATO apart.

Her future loyalties will lie with Russia and the Middle East and not with Europe. As Russia enlarges her influence in the Middle East, Europe and America will find themselves sidelined. The U.S. wasn’t even invited to a meeting held in Moscow between Russian, Turkish and Iranian officials who discussed solutions to the Syrian war. Turkey is prophesied to be a part of the nine (9) nations including Russia that will ultimately invade Northern Israel. Ezekiel 38 and 39 are future events. That separates her future from Europe. 

US support of Israel withdrawn

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Today the UN Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements. Applause broke out in the 15-member Security Council’s chambers after the vote on the measure, which passed 14 to 0, with the United States ambassador, Samantha Power, raising her hand as the lone abstention. It broke with 36 years of accepted US Policy. Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, denounced the measure, and castigated the council members who had approved it.

In abstaining, the U.S. brushed aside calls for a veto by president-elect Donald Trump who, in an unprecedented move, managed to delay the vote a day by weighing in with Egypt, the initial sponsor of the resolution. Egypt then withdrew its support.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended the move to abstain, saying “one cannot champion” both settlements and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The settlement problem has gotten so much worse,” Power said after the vote, which had been delayed from Thursday. She added that “our vote today does not diminish” the country’s “steadfast” commitment to Israel. The decision to abstain highlighted the increasingly frayed relationship between the Obama administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu’s office, in a statement after the vote, rejected the resolution and said the Obama administration secretly plotted to undermine Israel by not vetoing the proposal. The White House rejected the accusation.

“The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.

Israel argues the final status of the territories should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood. “President Obama and Secretary Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the UN,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity. “The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back.” He called it “an abandonment of Israel, which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN”.

The measure demands Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” It declares the establishment of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.” While the resolution does not call for sanctions on Israel, it amounts to a high-profile rebuke of the Israeli government and could hamper Israel’s negotiating position in future peace talks. Palestinians argue that the expansion of settlements on the disputed land makes a peace deal even less likely.

Under international law, Israeli settlements — built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel — are considered to be illegal. Some 600,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem and on the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war. Putting the West Wall – Israel’s Holiest site in Palestinian lands is unthinkable.

President-elect Donald Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had all called on the Obama administration to veto the resolution before the vote.  “Today’s vote is a blow to peace that sets a dangerous precedent for further diplomatic efforts to isolate and demonize Israel,” Paul Ryan said. “Our unified Republican government will work to reverse the damage done by this administration and rebuild our alliance with Israel.”

In a tweet following the vote, Trump said: “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.”

Palestinian Reaction

Palestinian leaders, meanwhile, welcomed the resolution’s passage. The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement issued in Arabic that the move is “a big blow for the Israeli political policy, a condemnation for settlements and consensus by the international community and a support for the two-state solution.”

Ruling party Fatah spokesman Osama Qowasma called the vote a “historic victory for the Palestinian people, and it inaugurates a new stage in the conflict.”

A time is coming when the whole world will condemn Israel and the US Veto that protected them will be withdrawn. If it had not been for the US Veto and US Arms during the 1967 and the emergency shipments during the 1973 war, there would be no Israel today.

While Donald Trump may be a temporary change – America will abandon her ally and throw Israel to her enemies. The 14-0 vote is but the beginning. Like the Nazi era where harsh anti-Semitic laws were passed on the eve of Holy Days, so this Chanukah echoes of an earlier time. 

Israel fears that the United States and France want to advance another move on the Israeli-Palestinian issue before the Obama administration wraps up its term. The international foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for January 15 in Paris as part of the French peace initiative, a series of decisions on the peace process will be made. These will immediately be brought to the UN Security Council for a vote and will be adopted there before January 20.

God is clear. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, whoever curses Israel will be cursed. America, under Barack Obama’s leadership, has now, for the very first time actively cursed Israel. A red line has been crossed.

All that we can now do, is wait for the judgment that will now fall. It will fall on the United States corporately, and there is nothing that Donald Trump can do to stop it.

The Pope and Palestine

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The U.N. turns 70 years old this year. The State of Israel was created by UN Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. Called the partition plan, Israel accepted the deal, but the Arab governments rejected it and went to war against Israel. It would have created an independent Palestinian state on 52 percent of historic Palestine.

France and New Zealand has been working on draft to be presented to the UN Security Council resolution that would set out the steps for a negotiated end of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and a solution to the nearly 70-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The draft would define the pre-1967 frontier as a reference point for border talks but allow room for exchanges of territory, designate Jerusalem as capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state and call for a fair solution for Palestinian refugees.

Most of the 135 nations that have recognized a state of Palestine did so in 1988, after the Palestine Liberation Organization declared it; Sweden was the last, in October. The British, French, Spanish and Irish Parliaments have in recent months passed resolutions urging their governments to follow suit.

France is also considering sharp economic measures against Israeli goods and businesses east of the Green Line. Settlements are illegal according to international law and the EU should not apply its agreements with Israel to them.  Brussels  has toughened its stance on implementing these policies following Israel’s March 17 elections. The EU, Israel’s biggest trading partner, is exploring guidelines that would require Israel to label settlement products. It already bars goods produced in settlements from receiving customs exemptions given to Israeli goods.

Vatican recognition of Palestinian State

On May 13th on the anniversary of the Palestinian catastrophe known as Nakba when 750,000 Palestinians were uprooted during the war, the Vatican, the world’s smallest country, officially recognized Palestine. Official diplomatic recognition came in the final version of an official joint statement of the Vatican and Palestine.

“The wider Arab world often thinks that it’s a Christian West against a Muslim East,” Father Khader said, “so this is an important step from the Catholic Church to show that, no, it is standing with the rights of Palestinians and with the right to a state of Palestine.”

During his visit to Palestine in May 2014, Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop in Bethlehem, the little town where Jesus was born. He placed his hand on the 30-foot high concrete structure that Palestinians refer to as the “apartheid wall.”

This pope is no stranger to diplomacy and he was effective in facilitating change in US-Cuba relations. President Obama and Raul Castro both thanked Pope Francis for urging them to reach the landmark agreement to swap prisoners and end decades of Cold War animosity.  When the Pope and Obama met at the Vatican for the first time in March 2014, the Pope lobbied the U.S. President to lift sanctions on Cuba.

The Pope visiting  the USA now and his stated position on Palestine is recognition. Would he not lobby President Obama to join the majority of the U.N. as they dictate the establishment of a Palestinian State? The USA veto alone has held back the majority decision in the UN to divide Israel.

The inevitable division of the land is certain. The French diplomatic initiative coupled with the recent Vatican and European support may be enough to cause the U.S.A. to reconsider its use of the UN Security Council Veto.

Then Israel will have its future decided by the same Babylon that gave it birth with the resolution 181 in 1947.   Joel 3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

 

 

Russia, Turkey and Palestine

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President Vladimir Putin opened Moscow’s new grand mosque on Sept 23rd – Yom Kippur . The new mosque, which can accommodate 10,000 people, is the largest in Europe. Islam is the second largest religion in Russia after Orthodox Christianity, making up around 15 percent of the population.
Putin was joined at the ceremony by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Russia’s Kremlin-backed Council of Muftis said private donations covered the construction of the mosque, including contributions from Kazakhstan and Turkey.

For Abbas the meetings extended his early Kremlin contacts with Putin. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had launched his “diplomatic intifada” against Israel with the exit from the Kerry peace initiative back in January. His meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev marked his breakaway from the US-led peace process with Israel. He then signaled his bid for Russian backing for a Palestinian state.

This gave Putin a chance to widen his influence on three very important Middle East issues. He is actively arming the Syrians and has boots on the ground in Syria while providing their government new fighter jets. He has concluded a $1.5 billion dollar purchase of Iranian oil and other trade deals before sanctions with Iran are officially lifted.

Putin accepted Chairman Abbas request for help and they jointly announced a $1 billion Gas project in Gaza section of the Mediterranean with Gazprom to produce 30 Billion cubic meters of natural gas. Russia’s Technoprom export engineering firm was also considering a small oil development project near the West Bank city of Ramallah, hub of the Palestinian Authority government headed by Abbas.

The Palestinian leader began his conversation with Putin by calling Russia a great power that deserved to play a more prominent role in the volatile Middle East region.

This move confronts Israel with two troubling concerns:
1. Russian interests could potentially encircle Israel’s offshore Mediterranean gas and oil sites and Russian pipelines may block Israel’s export facilities.
2. Under international law, the Palestinian Authority is not recognized as an Independent state and is therefore not empowered to establish Special Economic Zones in the Mediterranean as closed areas for prospecting for oil or gas.

By taking charge of the offshore exploration opposite Gaza, Russia is offering its Palestinian partner implicit Russian recognition of its status as an independent national entity authorized to sign international contracts. This will help the process of creeping Palestinian Statehood without any Israeli participation.

Russia’s desire to liberate the poor oppressed Palestinians and their support in the  UN for those motions have far less to do with poor Palestinians and much more to do with Oil and Gas.

A Middle East Spokesman put it bluntly – Russian tactics for Syria and Iran had proved effective, he said, and there was no reason why Moscow could not perform the same function on the Israeli­Palestinian track.  It was time to end the American monopoly on peace making. 

Soon all of the diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East will be in the hands of Israel’s enemies.

Israel – Czech Republic 1938.

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On the 65th anniversary of the UN resolution that created Israel by partitioning British-mandate Palestine into Israeli and Palestinian states, the UN voted 138 to 9, recognizing the State of Palestine as a “non-member observer State.” The Czech Republic was the only European country to vote against the measure. She had learned from her past and stated: “we strongly believe that solutions cannot be imposed from the outside because they do not work.”

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas launched his “diplomatic Intifada” against Israel from Moscow where he had sought Russian help. Palestinian officials have said that vote paved the way for Palestine to join 63 international institutions, conventions, and treaties.

On April 1st (Abib 1) at a PLO meeting in Ramallah, Abbas formally requested membership in 15 UN international organizations and international treaties for the “State of Palestine.” Going to the UN means the potential of going for an Independent State and access to the International Criminal Court.

The UN Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestine, Richard Falk, accused Israel of pushing Palestinians out of East Jerusalem and creating unbearable conditions for the minority. Falk, an ethnic Jewish expert in international law stated that Israeli policies have “unacceptable characteristics of colonialism, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.” The UN, Arab League, and others are setting up Israel like Czechoslovakia was in 1938. The goal is division and ultimate betrayal and invasion.

Just look at the similarities:

  1. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel were supposed “artificially” created by the Allied powers following WWI. (Czechoslovakia was created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and Palestine divided by the UN after WW2).
  2. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel had large minority populations from the defeated nations (Germans and Arabs).
  3. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel were islands of liberal democracy in a sea of authoritarian regimes
  4. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel were accused of mistreating their minority groups.
  5. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel made many mistakes that cost the lives of civilians on both sides of the conflict.
  6. Both Czechoslovakia and Israel were small nations. Both had a strong military.
  7. Both countries’ very existence was being threatened by German and Arab movements that derived their power from the nationalist sentiment of their people’s (the German Reich or  Arab-Islamic League)
  8. Both Germans and Arabs wanted to reclaim the “glory” of their former defeated empires and believed that they needed to correct the “injustice” that was supposedly done to them by the establishment of Czechoslovakia and Israel, respectively.
  9. Both German and Arab regimes prevented a peaceful resolution to the (manufactured) conflicts with Czechoslovakia and Israel.
  10. Sudeten Germans refused all reconciliation proposals until Czechoslovakia was forced to capitulate to British and French demands and give the Sudetenland to Germany. Israel will find herself in that position soon.
  11. Palestinians (at the instruction of Arab leaders) refuse to recognize the Jewish State while insisting on the return of 6 million Palestinian refugees into Israel proper (an act which would in effect destroy the Jewish State).
  12. In both cases Western powers were slow to understand the dynamics of the conflict. They did not see the big picture, and they gradually acquiesced to German or Arab demands with the hope of achieving “peace for our time.”

Using the poor oppressed Palestinians as the cause – the UN and others will divide and sanction and ultimately betray Israel.  As in 1938 the great powers of Britain and the USA and Europe will side with the aggressor.

Middle East – Russian gains.

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In the face of America decline and her loss of strength and reliability, Russia is emerging:

● as a vocal defender of Christianity against Muslim persecution around the world;

● as a plausible peacemaker in the Middle East, with far better relationships with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria than America has today;

● as the monopoly natural gas supplier for Germany and Austria and Ukraine  with the consent of the Franco-German axis;

● as the only country with a credible a nuclear umbrella to protect its friends and deter its enemies;

● as a country that understands the value of relatively free markets – as seen by the 14% flat tax Putin just introduced in Russia and the new economic development zone created in the Crimea.

Vladimir Putin now looks like the heir of Peter the Great, the modernizing Tsar.  He is looking to take the USA’s place as the decisive power in the Middle East. He also wants to play a big role in the next OPEC, based on shale gas and oil. Energy has been Russia’s weapon of choice, against a dependent Europe.

Putin has paid personal visits all over the Middle East and kept contacts with all the players, including the Sisi regime in Egypt, Israel, Syria’s Assad, and Saudi Arabia.

Everybody is now bidding for his support. 

Egypt

Egypt has resumed talks about the creation of a free trade zone with Russia. Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom is considering the construction of a nuclear power plant in Egypt. Egypt is already the largest importer of Russian wheat, buying one fifth of the country’s exports of this commodity.
The military deal-worth an estimated $3 billion-was reportedly signed on February 14 and includes MiG-29 fighters, air and coastal defense systems, Mi-35 attack helicopters and small arms. Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah ai-Sisi slated to be Egypt’s next president, flew to Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  The Saudis have agreed to foot the bill for the arms.

Egypt is buying the weapons from Russia, a long-time supporter of Iran and the Syrian government who are Saudi’s opponents. However the Saudis-and Egyptians do not trust America to counter Iran, so they are doing it themselves.

Iran

Iran has expanded trade and has proposed a second Russian nuclear plant at Bushehr.  Iran is the second largest OPEC oil producer, with a production of about 4 million barrels of oil a day. The country’s recoverable oil reserves are estimated at over 137 billion barrels, or 12 per cent of the world’s overall reserves.  Iran also has the world’s second largest natural gas reserves, estimated at 28 trillion cubic meters.  Moscow has already proved it can bust international sanctions by concluding a $1.5 bn contract with Tehran for the purchase of half a million barrels of Iranian oil a day,  without a word of complaint from Washington.

Iran and Russia have made progress towards an oil-for-goods deal sources said would be worth up to $20 billion, which would enable Tehran to boost vital energy exports in defiance of Western sanctions, people familiar with the negotiations told Reuters. Moscow and Tehran were discussing a barter deal that would see Moscow buy up to 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange for Russian equipment and goods.

Palestine 

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) launched his “diplomatic intifada” against Israel and exit from the Kerry peace initiative Thursday, Jan.23, from Moscow.  His meetings with Putin   signaled his bid for Russian backing for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian leader began his conversation with Putin by calling Russia a great power that deserved to play a more prominent role in the volatile Middle East. Russian tactics for Syria and Iran had proved effective, he said, and Moscow could perform the same function on the Israeli Palestinian track.

Abbas and Medvedev were to sign an agreement for a $1 billion natural gas project in the Gaza section of the Mediterranean Sea. Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom hoped to produce 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the site.

For the Russian leader it was a chance to show that he was several steps ahead of the game on the three hottest Middle East issues –

  • Iran’s nuclear program,
  • the Syrian civil conflict
  • Palestinian bid for statehood.

Meanwhile,  the silence from America is deafening.

Middle East – America’s losses.

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At present none of the strong actors in the Middle East look to the United States for guidance any longer. This includes Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The waste and failure of two wars in the Middle East has convinced the USA to withdraw.  As Rwanda taught the world, the USA has “no friends, it only has interests.”  It appears the recent domestic oil finds have changed “our interests.”

The region’s rulers have concluded that the U.S. is a country that won’t stand up for its friends, but instead lectures them about democracy, and then draws red lines it won’t honor. Many critics in the region see the United Sates as an unreliable ally that cannot be counted on if a regime is threatened internally. Instead of supporting its longtime friends in the Middle East, the United States offers lectures on democracy and talks about human rights. Worse, Washington draws red lines, then hesitates.

President Obama entered the Oval Office in January 2009.  In his inaugural address, Obama swore that the United States was now “ready to lead the world.”

The successful overthrow of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, where the United States played a leading role, has left that country in chaos. The primary beneficiaries of Gaddafi’s ouster seem to be Al-Qaeda’s affiliates in North Africa and the Sahara.

May 2009, President Obama demanded a halt to the expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem….

March 2010, Obama lectured Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a politician Washington installed in office, on the corruption and administrative ineptitude of his government.  He was warned that, if he failed to act, a cut in U.S. aid would follow…

August 2011 Syrian President Bashar ignored calls for him “to step aside.” An unnamed senior administration official insisted, “We are certain Assad is on the way out….”  The United States then promised support to the rebels.  Then it backed away from supporting  the Al-Qaeda-aligned elements which appeared to dominate the rebellion.

Sept 2013 Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would proceed with a plan to build a gas pipeline from Iran, despite objections from the U.S.  He used his speech at the United Nations to hit out against American drone strikes in his country.  Mr. Sharif also spelled out the conditions for a peace deal with Pakistani Taliban. He voiced fears that continued U.S. drone attacks would wreck his policy to negotiate with the Pakistani Taliban, a group linked to Al-Qaeda.

Jan 2014 A rejuvenated Al-Qaeda-affiliated force took control of the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state.  This was a crucial area that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago.

Egypt’s new leaders and those Egyptians who supported the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi are angry at the United States for its condemnation of the army’s actions. To offset Washington’s withholding of some military aid to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates are financing an arms deal worth more than $2 billion between Cairo and Moscow.

February 4, 2014, U.S. chief negotiator with Iran Wendy Sherman conceded that the P5 + 1 agreement, failed to “shut down” Iran’s continuing development of ballistic missiles. Ms. Sherman admitted that if Iran’s nuclear program was only for peaceful purposes, the Islamic Republic “does not need” the fortified, underground enrichment center or plutonium heavy-water reactors. Yet the USA released billions of dollars to Iran which had been frozen.

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Stephens wrote, has disparaged the administration’s dealings with Iran, and referred to Secretary of State John Kerry as “obsessive and messianic,” in his chase after a Palestinian-Israeli agreement.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, with whom Obama said he had established “bonds of trust,” claimed that America was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his Islamist government.

U.S.-Russia relations after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war were at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. The USA felt it could “reset the U.S.-Russia relationship”  by identifying common interests on which to build cooperation with the Kremlin. In 2014 Russia annexed the Crimea amid threats of consequences….

Nature abhors a vacuum and now Russia is eager to influence events in the Middle East.

Palestinian Vote in the U.N.

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Palestinian leaders will ask the United Nations vote by Nov. 29,  2012 on whether to admit Palestine as a non-member state. Palestinian Authority President Abbas said he would submit the bid on Nov. 29 –on the 65th anniversary of the 1947 U.N. vote calling for two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in Palestine.

The Palestinians have more than enough votes to guarantee passage of the membership resolution, with 150 of 193 nations expected to back the proposal.

Once  legally approved, it will mean that Palestine will be formally recognized as a State under occupation. As an observer state, the Palestinian territories—the West Bank and Gaza—could participate in U.N. assembly debates, but could not vote.

The Palestinians could now agree to treaties and join specialized U.N. agencies, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Law of the Sea Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Criminal Court.

The Palestinians goal of the U.N. bid is to gain recognition of a Palestinian State  within the 1967 borders.

They believe this U.N.  bid will protect the two-state solution and give credence to negotiations.

America and Israel have strongly opposed this move. America has no power to veto this decision in the General Assembly. If the U.N. gambit is successful, the U.S. can freeze the  funds designated for the Palestinian Authority, which now receives more than $500 million in American assistance each year. Israeli officials say the Palestinians stand to lose $100 million a month in tax revenue if they go ahead with the Nov. 29 vote.

The risks to Israel are enormous.

The Palestinian could join the Law of the Sea Treaty and effectively end Israel’s blockade.

The Treaty also gives the Palestinians full sovereign  rights over its airspace. The Palestinians could bring claims of violation of its airspace to the International Court of Justice.

The Palestinian authority also could dispute Israel’s claim on a gas field near Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

More troubling for Israel and the U.S. would be the Palestinian territories joining the International Criminal Court.

Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said Thursday  that once the status of a Palestinian state is upgraded, the Palestinians would be able to pursue Israel for “war crimes” in the International Criminal Court.  “Once we become a recognized state, we will go to all UN agencies to force the international community to take legal action against Israel,” Zaki told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.

He said that the Palestinian Authority would consider itself free of all its commitments under the agreements signed with Israel, including economic and security obligations.

The same U.N. that acted to set up Israel in 1947 is now taking steps dismantle that decision of 65 years ago and to further divide the land.  What Israel and the U.N. do not realize is that it is Gods land.  Israel is the beneficiaries of Gods faithfulness to His friend Abraham.

When the world gathers for their  universal destruction at the valley, will they know  why?  Will they remember the majority vote of 190 nations on November 29th, 2012?

Meanwhile the world forgets while   God says   Joel  3 v 2  I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat.  There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people Israel, among the nations, and for dividing up my land.