Daylight: The Story of Obama and Israel

The real story of Obama’s “support” of Israel

When it came time to really standing with Israel and our Jewish people, Obama tragically said nothing – time and time and time again!

We’re From the United States Government and We’re Here to Solve the World’s Problems!

Former President Ronald Reagan famously quipped, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” The wisdom of his words has been proved over and over again domestically as we have seen government agencies turn small problems into big ones and create catastrophes where there were none previously, all at taxpayer expense, of course. Not content with domestic bumbling, our leaders are turning their attention to fixing the world and especially the Middle East…(God help us!!)

The Obama administration is delighted with the progress of “democracy” in Egypt and is intent on encouraging the process. The fact that the two major Egyptian Islamist parties have captured 62% of the latest voting doesn’t seem to worry the optimists in Washington. Didn’t you know that the Muslim Brotherhood is now a kinder, more gentle, moderate organization (secular, too!) Funny thing is that the so-called “moderate organization” has never repudiated its founding charter which says, “Allah is our objective, the Koran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our way, and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.” These are reasonable, tolerant folks with whom US negotiators can certainly hammer out a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and beyond. As I reported last week,

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi

“The Obama administration has turned to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading jurist, to mediate secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban.” This is largely “untapped talent” that the US government can utilize to fix the world!

There does seem to be one glitch in this utopian vision – and that is Israel. Those stubborn Jews just don’t seem to be willing to commit national suicide, and that’s a real problem. President Obama in May, 2011, called for Israel to undertake  a “full and phased withdrawal of Israeli forces” from “occupied Palestinian lands” to what he termed “borders based on 1967 lines” - the 1949 armistice lines. Israel’s former Foreign Minister and UN ambassador Abba Eban, in 1967, referred to those lines as the “Auschwitz borders.” The country would, at its most populous places, be only nine miles wide. In making this supposedly helpful demand, the President failed to honor U.S. commitments made to Israel by George W. Bush in 2004, commitments which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.

But Bush was an “evil war-monger” and the current resident of the White House is intent on resetting the parameters of our relationship with the Muslim world (can you say dhimmitude?). Therefore we must overlook small foibles of the Palestinians – like the refusal of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, their glorification of murderous terrorists as national heroes, their attempted unity deal with Hamas, etc. And, in order to fix the Middle East, we must force Israel to sit down at the negotiating table with a bunch of savages who want to wipe them out and sign a “peace agreement” which won’t be worth the paper on which it’s written.

Speaking of peace agreements, the new Egyptian government has threatened to cancel the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of March 26, 1979. This was a land for peace deal in which Israel gave up the Sinai in exchange for peace, albeit a cold peace at best, with Egypt. Caroline Glick, in her latest blog, The Land-For-Peace Hoax, asks the question,“will the US act in accordance with its role as guarantor of the peace and demand that the new Egyptian government give Sinai back to Israel?… if the Obama administration or whatever administration is in power when Egypt abrogates the treaty does not issue such a demand, and stand behind it, and if the EU does not support the demand, the entire concept of land-for-peace will be exposed as a hoax.”

Of course it’s a hoax; it was never intended to be anything else. And the chances of real concrete assistance from the US and the rest of the Western world as suggested in Ms. Glick’s article, are pretty remote. If current attitudes toward us don’t change, when we in Israel hear the words, “We’re from the United States government and we’re here to help!” we’d be wise to run in the other direction as fast as we can go!

It’s Not All Gloom and Doom

Whew! We made it through 2011…perhaps just by the skin of our teeth. As we enter the new year let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the current  “state of the world.” Since I’m not a prophet I won’t make any prognostications about what will happen in 2012. Those gloom and doom pronouncements are floating around all over the internet (usually with an agenda of some sort – sell products, solicit donations, attract devotees to some individual or group); it doesn’t pay to unduly focus on them or have a panic attack and go hide in a cave somewhere with ten years’ worth of food. Where to focus? I’ll tell you at the end of this article. Meanwhile, where are we at right now?

• The United States is now 15 trillion dollars in debt with 4.5 trillion added in just the last 3 years by a President and congress who love to spend other people’s money.

• Homegrown terrorism in the United States is growing. A Pew Poll of US Muslims has indicated some disturbing trends. Among native-born African-American Muslims, 11% have a favorable opinion of al-Qaeda, 16% say that attacking civilians can be religiously justified at least sometimes and 40% support extremism. In another study by Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi, only 19% of United States’ mosques do not teach jihad violence and/or Islamic supremacism.

• Europe is still teeter-tottering financially and its leaders are concerned over its economic future as it enters 2012.

• Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2011.

The Arab Spring has produced the very opposite of the “freedom” that media and government “talking heads” were promising, with Islamic pro-Shariah regimes coming into power.

• Iran has been flexing its muscles as it tested its first domestically produced nuclear fuel rod and tested a new medium-range surface-to-air missile, all in its race toward the goal of producing a nuclear weapon.

• A shocking article by Andrew McCarthy in Family Security Matters revealed that “that the Obama administration has turned to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’sleading jurist, to mediate secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban.”

Sheikh Yusuf-al-Qaradawi

I have written about al-Qaradawi before. He is, without exaggeration, evil incarnate! “Qaradawi urges that Islam must dominate the world, under a global caliphate governed by sharia.” His view of the Jews, not just Israel or “settlers”, is straight out of classic Islamic writings:

This is what is told in the Hadith of Ibn-Omar and the Hadith of Abu-Hurairah: “You shall continue to fight the Jews and they will fight you, until the Muslims will kill them. And the Jew will hide behind the stone and the tree, and the stone and the tree will say: ‘Oh servant of Allah, Oh Muslim, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him!’ The resurrection will not come before this happens.” This is a text from the good omens in which we believe.

Al-Qaradawi believes this? Some impartial mediator!  What could the administration possibly hope to gain by the intervention of a barbaric monster who is still living in the seventh century? The scary thought is – perhaps their intent isn’t to advance American interests. America is the “great Satan,” you know.

• Finally, here in Israel, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is still working on unity talks with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Why bother to come to the negotiating table with “evil Israel” when you can come to the negotiating table with a “terrorist organization.” On top of that, Abbas has just appointed General Mahmoud Damra to the post of special presidential advisor for district affairs. Damra has the dubious distinction of being one of the 1,027 terrorists released as part of the Gilad Schalit exchange. He was directly involved in several attacks that claimed Israeli lives.

OK already, the state of the world is bleak, and 2012 won’t be a year for the faint-hearted. But, as I said earlier, to focus on the craziness will do nothing but make us crazy or depressed. Where to focus? On the One who is ultimately in charge of everything. His solution to the world’s dilemma is much too simple for most people to grasp but it’s guaranteed to work, whether on an individual or national level…and here it is…

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2Chronicles 7:14

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem


How still we see thee lie


Above thy deep and dreamless sleep


The silent stars go by


Yet in thy dark streets shineth


The everlasting Light


The hopes and fears of all the years


Are met in thee tonight

These words, written in 1868 by Rector Phillips Brooks of Philadelphia, have etched into our collective imagination a pastoral scene of harmony and tranquility. Angels proclaiming,…” peace, good will toward men,” shepherds watching over their flocks, the innocent babe in the manger… While that description might have fit the town of Bethlehem in the days of the birth of the Messiah, it is far from the case now. In fact, the village has morphed into an ugly concrete jungle, full of hatred and violence, especially toward Jews and Christians. The reason? Islam!

Once Christians made up more than 85 per cent of the population of Bethlehem. Yet under Jordanian rule (1948-1967) and under the Palestinians (1995-present) that figure decreased to just 12 per cent of the 60,000 inhabitants. Isn’t it interesting that when the hated Israeli “occupation” was in control of Bethlehem from 1967-1995, the Christian population remained stable and Christians predominated in local governance? What’s the difference? Under Muslim hegemony Christians and other minorities live in fear – for good reason! If they don’t behave as good dhimmis there is a heavy price to pay – maybe their heads.

An example of this phenomenon is Victor Batarseh, Christian mayor of Bethlehem. Forget making any mention of the plight of the Christians of his city in his annual Christmas address. Instead he towed the party line, calling for a boycott of Israel in order to bring them back to the negotiating table with the Palestinian Authority. Obviously there could be no allusion to the fact that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown over the last 60 years, from 40,000 in 1948 when Israel was founded to 155,000 today.

We can understand Mayor Batarseh’s unwillingness to confront the issue of Muslim persecution of Christians. He has a lot to lose. But mainstream media has knowingly been complicit in the cover-up. In the rare reports on Muslim-on-Christian violence, the accounts are framed as “ethnic clashes,” making it sound as if there is some kind of moral equivalency in the bloodletting. There is none! The fact is that whenever (throughout the history of Islam) and wherever Muslims become a majority, non-Muslims are severely persecuted.

Raymond Ibrahim, a  widely published author on Islam, and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum, puts out a monthly report of Muslim Persecutions of Christians. This is definitely not light reading, but we ignore this information at our own risk. Leaders of western nations are, tragically, turning a blind eye to the danger: here and here.

So while multitudes around the world are celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace, many of His followers languish in prison, are being tortured or are fleeing for their lives – if they can find a place to go, that is. The silence of the media, academia and even liberal “Christianity” is deafening. Let’s not be silent as the islamic jihad both by violent means and by stealth moves to overthrow the world.

Hanukkah – The Struggle Continues

On Tuesday evening we light the first of eight candles, ushering in Hanukkah – the Feast of Dedication. The holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the miraculous victory of a small band of faithful Jewish men over the Greek Seleucid armies in 165 B.C.E.

   In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple had been seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. While this upset the Jewish people, many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus Epiphanes IV made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods. When in the town of Modi’in Greek soldiers forcibly gathered the Jewish people and told them to bow down to an idol and then eat the flesh of a pig, Mattathias, a priest, and his five sons rebelled and killed all the soldiers. After fleeing to the mountains they were joined by other Jewish people and the Maccabees, as they became known, brought about a great victory for the Jewish people against overwhelming odds.

The struggle that took place back then has repeated itself over and over again. The Jewish people in the time of the Maccabees had gradually been assimilating into the Greek culture. Judaism for these “enlightened” folks meant no more to them than it does to so many of us in the Western world today. Forget spirituality or truth – we have symbolism, social justice and, of course, a gastronomical experience. Because of the disconnect with Judaism and Israel, a majority of us are totally clueless when it comes to defending Israel against Arab rewriting of history. Sadly, many Jewish young people have embraced leftist ideology and blame the world’s problems on Israel.

Daniel Greenfield in his blog entitled, “A Holiday of Resistance”, challenges Jewish complacency by stating, “The Maccabees fought to resist having their culture and their religion replaced with just that kind of empty hedonism and self-worship. They fought because they believed they had something worth fighting for. Not for their possessions, but for their traditions, their families and their G-d. The celebration of Chanukah is not just how we remember them, but how we remember that we are called upon to keep their watch. To take up their banner and carry their sword.”

 In other words, if we view our scriptures and our rich history as nothing more than nice stories and good food, how will we have the strength and courage to defend our right to the land of Israel?

At the first night’s candle lighting ceremony last year at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Knesset Speaker, Reuven Rivlin (Likud), said, “Hebron was the birthplace of the Kingdom of Israel, and on Hanukkah independence was returned to Israel. Hebron was the basis of our right to the Land of Israel, as a moral right that has no superior, and the right of ownership that cannot be questioned; it was our right then and it is our right today.”   Rivlin went on to say regarding Hanukkah, “We did not take a foreign land, nor the property of strangers to us, but rather the Land of our forefathers which had been conquered in the past by enemies.” He then challenged the people, “Will we be able to stand by that today as well?”



In the biblical book of Daniel, written several hundred years before the fact, there is a detailed prophecy about the character and deeds of the Maccabees:

Those who do wickedly against the covenant he (Antiochus Epiphanes) shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. (Daniel 11:32)

The Hanukkah struggle continues today against overwhelming odds. But the same God who brought a miraculous victory for our people almost 2200 years ago is still able to do the same. The question is, will we be the people who know their God, who will be strong and carry out great exploits?

The Uncomfortable Truth

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.  Take which you please – you can never have both.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It has never been easy to speak the truth. The truth is frequently uncomfortable. Human nature prefers to be stroked, lulled into a nirvana of our own imagination. Lest you think this is a new phenomenon, the prophet Isaiah penned these words in the 8th century B.C.E. describing the majority of his nation:

These people are rebellious and deceitful children,
        children who refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.
        They say to those who have visions,
        ‘Don’t have visions that tell us what is right.
        Tell us what we want to hear. See illusions.
            Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path!
        Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’ ”
Isaiah 30:9-11

The problem of ,“Tell us what we want to hear,” is further exacerbated in today’s upside down world in which wrong is right, good is evil, darkness is light and light is darkness.

Dare to speak the truth and literally all the forces of hell will be unleashed against you, especially if you’re speaking about Israel.

On Friday, December 9, Republican primary candidate, Newt Gingrich, in an interview with The Jewish Channel had the chutzpah to say: the Palestinians are an “invented people” … “who are in fact Arabs and were historically part of the Arab community.” So there is no such thing as a Palestinian people. How about the much-touted “peace process?“ Gingrich: “I think it’s delusional to call it a peace process.”

Was Newt simply being opinionated and “islamophobic” or was he speaking the truth? You can judge from this piece of history:

On March 31, 1977, Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member, Zahir Muhsein, in an interview with a Dutch newspaper, Trouw, admitted:

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.”

Reaction to Newt’s words was predictable – rage.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, described his comments as “despicable.” “This is the lowest point of thinking anyone can reach.” Hanan Ashrawi, another top official, said Gingrich’s “very racist comments” showed he was “incapable of holding public office.”

I’m not endorsing Newt Gingrich’s candidacy (or anyone else’s for that matter) but I have to express admiration for a man who isn’t afraid to take the heat.

Then there’s President Obama. The following words were meant to stroke his Jewish constituency, lull them into comfort and keep them on the plantation (can’t run a campaign without those Jewish contributions, you know):

“I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration.”

Very nice – but is it true? Unfortunately it seems that Mr. Obama was trying to be the nice guy while expressing his true feelings and intentions through his high-level lackeys: Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman. Click on the links to view their outrageous comments. Can anyone imagine that they would voice opinions like this without the approval of the “big boss” himself?

Sadly, taking a stand without waffling is rare even in the Israeli government. One exception is Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, who in cooperation with StandWithUs has just released, The Truth About the Refugees. This is the third of the Truth series – the other two are The Truth About the West Bank and The Truth About the Peace Process. All three videos clearly explain the historical facts about the ongoing Israel – Palestinian conflict. I cannot encourage you enough to arm yourself with truth and view each of these videos and then pass them on to your friends and family!

Finally, Palestinian Media Watch has just released a new book, Deception – Betraying the Peace Process, written by PMW Director, Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik which “exposes a year-long duplicitous campaign by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to utilize the various cultural, educational, and media sources under its control to promote messages of hate among Palestinians and undermine the peace process with Israel.” Marcus hopes to distribute his book to every member of Congress as well as those in the European parliaments.

Going back to the sage words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: truth or repose – which will you choose?

Chutzpah!

I try very hard to keep my cool while going through the process of reading many articles each week and deciding which ones are the most relevant for that week’s newsletter. But three pieces posted on Ynet.com this Saturday nearly made me blow a fuse.

The first is ‘Israel must mend regional relations‘. At a speech given to the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “warned Israel against viewing the Arab uprisings rattling the Middle East as an excuse to enter a defensive crouch.” Panetta is encouraging Israel specifically to reach out more to Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Could it be that Mr. Panetta is deliberately ignoring the fact that Egyptian elections have assured Islamist domination in that country? According to Israel National News The Muslim Brotherhood captured more than 40% of the vote and the hardline Islamist Salafist Nour Party received 20%. According to Middle East expert Dr. David Buk’i, “Israel’s worst fears regarding its relationship with Egypt are coming true before its eyes!”

Second, Panetta exclaimed, “With full confidence that the United States is willing and capable of ensuring that Israel can safeguard its security as it takes the risks needed to pursue peace, now is the time for Israel to take bold action and to move towards a negotiated two-state solution.”  Full confidence? With these reassuring words, meant to hold onto the Jewish vote back home, Mr. Panetta is obfuscating the feeble track record of the United States when it come to ensuring Israel’s security in times of crises. As P. David Hornik put it, “There’s an inglorious history of the United States and Europe leaving Israel to fend for itself against threats, sometimes even existential ones.”

Third, demanding that Israel take risks for peace and bold actions is getting old. These ultimatums have been aimed at Israel for years, yet when is the last time that you heard, “the Palestinians must take risks and bold actions for peace”?  Could there be a bit of a double standard here?

Finally, Panetta saved some choice language for Israel. Asked specifically what Israel should do first (in taking bold actions), Mr. Panetta replied, “Get to the d★✗✲ table” — that is, return to negotiations. This statement totally defies all logic given that Mahmoud Abbas has done everything in his power to avoid negotiations with Israel including unilaterally going to the UN to secure Palestinian statehood.

The second article also relates to Panetta’s speech at the Saban Center:  US cautions Israel against solo military op in Iran.  Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem correspondent for Britain’s Telegraph, reported on a private meeting with Panetta, PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister, Ehud Barak. Panetta said that President Obama demanded an unshakable guarantee that Israel would inform the United States before taking any military action against Iran. In Mr. Blomfield’s words, “The two Israelis were notably evasive in their response, according to sources both in Israel and the United States.”  This obviously does not sit well with the Obama administration, but given the existential dangers Israel is now facing, she cannot afford to depend on a “friend” who behaves like an enemy.

The third article is another reality-bender:  ‘Jew-hate stems from conflict‘. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course! Ignoring historic Muslim hatred of Jews which dates all the way back to Muhammed himself, Howard Gutman, American ambassador to Belgium,

Howard Gutman

theorized that, “growing global anti-Semitism is linked to Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.” He even invented a distinction between what he labels “traditional anti-Semitism” and “Muslim hatred for Jews” which hypothetically stems from the ongoing strife between Israel and the Palestinians. In his view “an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism.”

Gutman is a lawyer by training, is Jewish and played a major role in fundraising for the Democratic Party. He was appointed to the post by President Obama. It is clear that Mr. Gutman is only parroting the party line of the Obama administration.

The American envoy’s above speech to a group of Jewish lawyers from across Europe was poorly received. The speaker who followed Gutman, German attorney Nathan Gelbart, sharply rebuked the ambassador when he said: “The ‘Israel critic’ will never state ‘Jews go home’ but is questioning the legality of the incorporation of the State of Israel and therefore the right for the Jewish people to settle in their homeland. He will not say the Jews are the evil of the world but claim that the State of Israel is a major cause for instability and war in the region. There is no other country, no other people on this planet the ‘Israel critic’ would dedicate so much time and devotion as to the case of Israel.” 

Despite the obvious antipathy of this administration toward Israel, President Obama defended his Middle East policy at a recent fundraiser in New York:

      “I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration,” Obama said. “We don’t compromise when it comes to Israel’s security … and that will continue.”

The only attendees at that event who might have really believed the president’s words are those who get their news exclusively from The New York Times or mainstream network news. The better informed public (like you, dear reader) can draw its own conclusions.  I would encourage all of you to view the latest Youtube video from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Obama – The Anti-Israel President.

The War Against the Jews

Like many of you, I was raised in a liberal Jewish home in America where I was taught – or rather absorbed from the atmosphere around me – two supposedly immutable facts. First, that Islam is one of the three great monotheistic religions. Second, that the Western world in general and the United States in particular have become safe havens for Jews. Never again will there be danger of a holocaust; the countries of the “enlightened” West are much too advanced for barbarity like that to raise its ugly head again. I’ll deal with the “Islam as a great monotheistic religion” issue in a future post, but today I want to tear away the façade of “the West as a sanctuary.”

It seems that almost every “progressive” still idolizes Europe and wishes to remake America in its mold. European culture as seen through their eyes is so marvelously civilized as opposed to American garishness; the gentleman vs. the cowboy. How could ancient Jew-hatred rear its ugly head in such a multi-cultural paradise?

Sweden, once an idyllic land of lovely landscapes and peaceful, crime-free towns has become the become the rape capital of the world. Why? Massive Muslim immigration! For the same reason Swedish Jews have begun running for their lives, realizing that the government in which they trusted is unable or unwilling to protect them. Evidently Muslim Jew-hatred has emboldened the home grown variety of haters to express themselves openly without fear of punishment.

Norway, known for its breathtaking fjords, northern lights and midnight sun is no longer the home of the brave Vikings. Forget bravery and standing up for their own values. It’s so passé to think that one’s own country or values are exceptional in today’s world. And so, Norway has, for all intents and purposes, surrendered to the Islamist tyranny that arrived on its shores with Muslim immigration. Rather than assimilate into Norwegian society and culture, these new-comers aspire to take over – Allah’s kingdom must rule over all the earth! And the Jews are fleeing.

The “Emerald Green Isle” is no longer the innocent home of leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. Ireland is now infamous as the “most hostile country in Europe.” Not a comfortable place for Jews…

All of Europe is sliding toward that same precipice, from which I fear there is no return, and European Jews need to have their suitcases packed and not convince themselves that everything will be alright.

What about the U.S.? For now it’s still a somewhat safe haven for Jews, but that status is getting wobbly and it’s by no means guaranteed to remain as such into the foreseeable future.

Our president has chosen as his best international friend an unabashed Islamist who hates both Israel and the U.S.

Islamists are working overtime to convince the American public, whom they see as good-natured idiots, that Islam isn’t so bad after all. A new TV show endeavors to present Muslims as regular folks who just want to make a living and be happy, like you or me. Violence? Jihad? We must be imagining things about the “religion of peace.”

Finally, Muslims understand rightly that the last bastion of support for Israel and the Jewish people is the believing church, particularly in the U.S. By portraying Palestinians as the oppressed under-dogs and the Israelis as oppressors, “moderate” Muslim groups are attempting to peel off support from Christians. And to a certain extent they’re succeeding. Only the groups whose roots are deeply in the Scriptures, who love the God of Israel and who are willing to be stigmatized as ignorant, heartless buffoons will be unmoved by these appeals.

This is a challenge for those of you who call yourselves “Christians.” Where will you stand when the going gets rough (and make no mistake about it, it will!)? And for my Jewish readers – are you willing to recognize and appreciate our friends and not ascribe ulterior motives to them? These brave souls stand with us because of a relationship with our God, something all of us might want to emulate.

The Handwriting on the Wall

The year is approximately 540 BCE. Belshazzar, king of the great Babylonian Empire is hosting an opulent feast for 1000 of his lords. Oriental monarchs frequently indulged in extravaganzas like this one with the sole purpose of showing off their wealth, their power, their wives or anything else they could think of to make others think they were the greatest human beings (maybe even bordering on the divine) to ever walk the earth. But Belshazzar made two fatal mistakes. First, he was so mesmerized  by the myth he had created about himself that he was oblivious to the storm that was brewing around him. Even worse – he messed with the God of Israel. He and his entourage decided it would be a really cool thing to bring out the gold cups and other vessels that had been looted from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and use them to toast the power of the king and the greatness of his pagan gods. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote what was, to all those assembled in the hall, an unintelligible message. The mood in the room changed from drunken festivity to utter terror. The only one able to interpret the message was the prophet Daniel. This is what it said…

God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it
    You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting
    Your kingdom has been divided… (Dan. 5:26-28)

That very night the king was assassinated and his kingdom was handed over to others.

Is the handwriting on the wall of our world today? Are our leaders, like King Belshazzar, blithely going along, too enchanted by the fantasies of their own making to pay attention to the looming catastrophe that may not be as far in the future as many of them hope? More direly – are more and more people and nations messing with the God of Israel? Scripture warns, he who touches you (Israel and the Jewish people) touches the apple of His (God’s) eye. (Zech. 2:8)

• Is a worldwide cataclysm brewing in Iran? A report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shows strong, “credible” evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Rather than being a shock, this was simply confirmation of facts that have been known but ignored or withheld for a long time. According to Caroline Glick, “Since Iran’s nuclear weapons program was first revealed to the public in 2004, Israel has provided in-depth intelligence information proving Iran’s malign intentions to the likes of Sarkozy, Obama and the UN.”    

Won’t sanctions and diplomacy work? NO! First of all, we’re not dealing with rational, albeit evil, political leaders. The Iranian mullahs and their puppet, Ahmadinejad, are demonically-driven, fanatical theocrats whose ambition is to bring about the apocalypse so that the long-awaited 12th imam will come to earth. No big deal if most of their nation perishes in the process!! And now it seems that they have China on their side. According to Fox News, “The Chinese-Iranian relationship has, in fact, been deepening over the last few years.”

So what are Israel’s options? Will she “go it alone” against Iran in what would be a very risky mission? Many feel such actions would precipitate a regional war involving Hezbollah and Hamas along with Iran. Analysts predict that in the event of such a war, the cost of a barrel of oil could dramatically rise to $175 – $200 a barrel. This would not only inflame passions against Israel but against the Jewish people as a whole. It doesn’t take much to arouse Jew-hatred these days. Remember Israel’s Operation Cast Lead offensive in December 2008/January 2009? What was a totally justifiable action meant to protect innocent civilians in the south of the country from incessant rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza  became an excuse for virulent world-wide demonstrations against the “hateful Jews”. For an excellent power point of the anti-Semitic repercussions of Cast Lead, click here and then click on General (in the right hand column and then click on January 2009 – In the wake of Operation Cast Lead). Then there’s this Youtube video of a female Hamas sympathizer in Fort Lauderdale screaming at Jewish people “go back to the oven.”

• Is the world poking God in the eye by their treatment of Israel and its leaders? No one claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is any kind of a prophet or a holy man – but he is the representative of the nation, and when he is the recipient of undeserved antagonism it’s a symptom of a deeper problem. While we hear empty rhetoric claiming, “Israel remains our important partner and key strategic ally,” the truth comes out from behind closed doors. The following exchange took place during a break at the G20 summit in Cannes, France. Presidents Sarkozy and Obama thought the mics were turned off and were having a confidential little chat about Bibi.

Sarkozy: “I can’t stand to see him any more, he’s a liar.”
Obama: “You are fed up with him, but me, I have to deal with him every day.”
The White House refused to confirm or deny the exchange between the two.

Far from being an aberration, the above unscripted comment is part of a continual pattern of disrespect from President Obama. When Prime Minister Netanyahu came to the White House in March 2010, he was given third-world treatment. Obama followed that up at various times by outrageous demands. Israel should cease all construction in Judea and Samaria and in East Jerusalem, even on land that is not being contested. And Israel should begin discussions with the PA based on a return to the  pre-1967 borders, also known as the “Auschwitz Borders.” Obviously this is the most anti-Israel president the U.S. has ever had!

• Is the handwriting on the wall in the U.S.? Not yet to the extent that it is in Europe but universities, the institutions that are training the next generation of national leaders, reek with Jew-hatred.

On October 28 at Kent State University, Professor Julio Pino felt obligated to exercise his First Amendment right by shouting out “Death to Israel” at a lecture given by guest speaker, Ishmael Khaldi, a former Israeli consul official who is a Bedouin. Four days earlier Khaldi appeared at the University of Michigan where approximately 60 students walked out on his message. One of the leaders of the protest, Bilal Baydoun, was quoted in the Arab American News, “our goal is to prevent someone like this from even arriving on campus in the first place and we feel confident that we will be able to accomplish this as we continue to spread awareness.” Free speech and free exchange of ideas on the university campus have become a thing of the past as Arab petro dollars increasingly flow in to fund these bastions of learning and as hard core leftists serve in tenured positions of power.

Pro-Islamic speakers can spout their venom with impunity at campus venues but even questions from the audience are carefully screened. When Gail Rubin, co-chair of the University of California Davis chapter of StandwithUs, a pro-Israel organization, attempted to challenge lecturer Professor Gilbert Achcar’s skewed opinion that the Grand Mufti’s (Haj Amin al-Husseini) anti-Semitism had only a minimal impact on both Jews and Arabs, two professors angrily told her “the questions were insulting and to either stop or leave the room.” As she described it, “So much for free speech and scholarly discourse in academia.”

• Incitement eventually leads to violence. This past Friday (November 11) residents of Flatbush, Brooklyn were awakened to find that three cars had been torched and the area had been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.

The big danger in the western world is that it’s easy to become so comfortable or so involved in our daily lives that we simply pass everything off thinking things have to get better – it’ll all go away eventually. But maybe it won’t.

Shortly after Operation Cast Lead, Douglas Davis wrote an article in the Spectator entitled, The terrible warning of a Holocaust survivor:

As tens of thousands of demonstrators march through the streets of Europe, the chants are modified but the message remains substantially intact: ‘Hamas, Hamas, Hamas — Jews to the Gas’. Or, more simply: ‘Death to the Jews’. Many European Jews, even well-established, affluent Jews, have been checking the suitcase they keep packed under the bed. They have been here before and many are (albeit reluctantly) reading the writing on the wall.

The writing on the wall may be a little more faint in the U.S., but perhaps it’s time we begin reading it.

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