~ Thursday 10th December 2009 ~
Compiled by David Soakell Tel: 01323 410810
E-mail david@cfi.org.uk Website: www.cfi.org.uk

The Word: "I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword." (Zechariah 9:13)

By the rivers of Babylon… we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth-- if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy. (Psalm 137:1-6)

• Pointers for prayer: As we look at the current circumstances within Israel, let us remain watchful and constant in our prayers, and continue to pray that the LORD God would place His Wall of Fire around the Nation and people of Israel. (For I,' says the LORD, 'will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.' " Zech 2:5)

• As you read through this Report, please continue to lift the Jewish nation before the LORD God. Praise God for the Nation of Israel, but pray that their "Independence" would not be independent of the God Who brought her into existence. Please continue to lift before the LORD the tired and embattled Israeli people. Pray that the whole Nation, from the Politicians, through the IDF, to every woman and son, would look to the Lord their God to renew their vision. May the nation of Israel turn to the LORD God of Israel to wait upon Him and seek His face. (Isaiah 40:31)

• Earnestly intercede for the Jewish people as they face much spiritual warfare aimed at thwarting their divine destiny. Pray for their protection and for their spiritual preparation as they continue to face a difficult future. Please continue to pray also for the Arab people struggling under the heavy restraints of Islamic oppression. Pray that they may find freedom in following the Lord God.

• Pray that Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria & the Golan Heights would remain in Jewish hands, now and until the Messiah returns. But pray too, that the Arab communities would recognise and receive their blessing in wanting to live in harmony with Israel.

Is Chanukah still relevant in 2009? In 2009, the festival of Lights, or Chanukah, begins when the sun sets on Friday 11th December. This is an eight-day holiday both in and outside of Israel. Chanukah is not only the Festival of Lights, but Miracles too, and the celebration of the victory of the Word of God over all pagan and anti-Semitic forces – the victory of the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece! BUT... was it prophesied, and is it still relevant today? Well, I believe it was prophesied as the Word of God states... "I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword." (Zechariah 9:13). However, is it still relevant? (See second article).

It was 175 years before the Messiah would be born in the Jewish town of Bethlehem. Israel had a Temple and authentic, registered descendants of priests serving in the sanctuary according to the Torah (or law) of Moses. Many believe that Yeshua (Jesus) was conceived during Chanukah. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35) "His life is the light that shines through the darkness-and the darkness can never extinguish it." (John 1:5 TLB). Nine months after conception… Jesus might have been born in the month of September. What happens in September? The Feast of Tabernacles! Jesus of course came to Tabernacle amongst us!!!! (Matthew 1:23-24 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us.") But let's get back to Chanukah...

Did you know that the dynasty that began with a family known as the Maccabees greatly influenced the nation of Israel for several centuries - even touching the lives of Jesus and the apostles? The story that Jews tell on Chanukah is taken from the second book of Maccabees (which can be found in the Apocrypha). The story begins with a woman traditionally known as Hannah, and her seven sons. Hannah with her sons is standing before King Antiochus, who has commanded them to bow before an idol. As each of the seven sons refuse to bow before the idol, each one is put to death in an appalling manner. Finally after all her sons are murdered, Hannah herself requests to die to be with her sons, and of course, Antiochus happily obliges. It is commonly thought that Judah the Maccabee succeeded in driving the Syrian-Greeks out of the Land of Israel. Yet many believe this is not so. Judah and his brothers succeeding in expelling the forces of the king of Syria from the Temple area, so that it could be cleansed and the Divine service resumed. However, the entire city of Jerusalem was not under complete Jewish control. It was not until 24 years after the miracle of Chanukah that a man called Shimon was able to assert control over the entire country. There is an important lesson here. The Jewish people did not proclaim a festival to commemorate military and political victory — but their joy was at being able to inaugurate the Temple service again, and this is what is celebrated to this day.

In the gospel of John 10:22-26 we read: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication [Chanukah] in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch…” Here we find Jesus (Yeshua) celebrating a non-Biblical, yet very Jewish feast. By non-Biblical, I mean that this is a ‘traditional feast’ not one commanded by God like Passover etc. Yet Jesus was happy to join in with the festivities ~ showing us that Jesus was very much Jewish. Chanukah’s theme is that of a miracle. During Chanukah, Jesus spoke of His miracles (John 10:37-38). Jesus wanted the people of His day to see His miracles and believe in Him as a result. His miracles point to His divine and messianic identity. In this way Jesus personifies the message of Chanukah: God actively involved in the affairs of his people. Chanukah reminds us that God is a God of miracles, not just of concept and religious ideals. He has broken through into human history and continues to do so today. And of course, according to the New Testament, Jesus is the Light of the World.

I had to laugh when I heard Neil Diamond sing this in one of his latest songs. You can hear it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2AUiREAkY Neil sings, "There are so many beautiful Christmas songs around and so few Hanukah songs, so I thought we'd try this one for you... Put on your yamakah, here comes Chanukah... Chanukah is, the festival of lights, instead of one day of presents we have eight crazy nights! When you feel like the only kid in town, without a Christmas tree, here's a list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me!" He then gives a list of interesting Jewish names... but then sings, "Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is, well he's not but guess who is? All three Stooges! So many Jews are on my list Tom Cruise isn't, but Jesus Christ is!" Amen! However you celebrate this time of year... have a good one... and may we all know God's deep shalom. However... as ever, there is still much need for your intercession...

Palestinian Jerusalem? As I reported in last weeks "Watching Over Zion", a resolution was to be discussed at a meeting of European Union (EU) foreign ministers this week with calls for the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of "Palestine," and granted recognition to a Palestinian state outside the framework of a peace deal with Israel. This of course caused much anger within the Israeli government (the Knesset). Well, more anger is expected as this week the resolution was passed by EU foreign ministers. On Tuesday, Israel's Foreign Ministry released a statement in which "to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians."

The Foreign Ministry statement said that the main factor preventing a peace agreement was "the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table... Given the Israel Government's efforts to renew the negotiations, Israel regrets that the EU has chosen to adopt a text that, although containing nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations," the statement added. The draft EU ministerial resolution that was approved on Tuesday said, "The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem." The document also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state comprising Judea & Samaria (the West Bank), Gaza and Jerusalem. "If there is to be [peace] a way has to be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states," it said. Most EU ministers appeared supportive of the draft, although some did state that the declaration should not "antagonise either party" in the dispute at the risk of undermining efforts to restart peace talks. What they clearly appear not to have realised is that they have already "antagonised" Israel by their demand for this resolution in the first place. What added salt to Israel's wound was a rather historically ignorant and insensitive comment from Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. He told journalists, "I don't really understand why Israel does not accept that Palestine consists of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem... The Israelis have a right to live in Israel, the Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine." Along with this, Finish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said the EU must affirm its stand on the status of Jerusalem and insist that Israel must not resume settlement building.

One issue that the EU have appeared to miss, or forget or simply ignore, is "by dividing Jerusalem, what about the Temple Mount". Surely, this is a BIG stumbling block. Naturally, the Arab Palestinians will tell the world that the Temple Mount is theirs and the Jews have no connection to it. And so, once again, as in the days of King Antiochus and Judah the Maccabee, a battle over who has the right to worship on this most sought after real estate in the world, could be about to erupt again.

The biggest problem of course is, did the EU simply forget the issue of the Temple Mount, or did they ignore it... or worse, as I fear, are they completely ignorant over the truth of this place? After all, one of the most popular myths that has become universally accepted as if it was an indisputable truth is the myth about Jerusalem being the third sacred place to Islam. It is quite rare to hear the honest truth, that Jerusalem is the First and Only Holiest place to Judaism! As a matter of fact, Jerusalem is not even mentioned at all in the Koran, and there is no record of Muhammad ever being there. According to many articles on this subject, the Islamic claim to the Temple Mount is very recent - Jerusalem's role as "The Third Holiest Site in Islam" in mainstream Islamic writings allegedly does not precede the 1930s. Many writers claim it was created by the grand mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini.

Excerpts of the article originally published by Dr. Manfred R. Lehmann (http://www.manfredlehmann.com/) suggest that most of the problems surrounding Jerusalem can be traced to two areas of dispute: the political area that asks Jerusalem to be the capital of both Israel and the hypothetic Palestine; the other and most contentious problem is the holiness of Temple Mount to both Judaism and Islam. As any Jew or Christian will know, the role Jerusalem has in the Hebrew Scriptures is well known and not open to debate; however, there are varying opinions on the holiness of Jerusalem, specifically the Temple Mount to Islam. Many, if not most opinions that counter Islam's claim point out that Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran and did not occupy any special role in Islam until recent political exigencies transformed Jerusalem into Islam's "third holy site". Dr. Manfred R. Lehmann states that the Islamic claim to Jerusalem is false - "There were no mosques in Jerusalem in 632 c.e. at the death of Muhammad... Jerusalem was [then] a Christian-occupied city."

Dr. Manfred R. Lehmann writes, "The Muslim "claim" to Jerusalem is allegedly based on what is written in the Koran, which although does not mention Jerusalem even once, nevertheless talks of the "furthest mosque" (in Sura 17:1 ~ glory be unto Allah who did take his servant for a journey at night from the sacred mosque to the furthest mosque). But is there any foundation to the Muslim argument that this "furthest mosque" (al-masujidi al-aqsa) refers to what is today called the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem? The answer is, NO! In the days of Muhammad, who died in 632 of the Common Era, Jerusalem was a Christian-occupied city within the Byzantine Empire. Jerusalem was captured by caliph Omar only in 638 c.e., six years after Muhammad's death. Throughout all this time there were only churches in Jerusalem, and a church stood on the Temple Mount, called the Church of Saint Mary of Justinian, built in the Byzantine architectural style. The Aqsa mosque was built 20 years after the Dome of the Rock, which was built in 691-692 by caliph Abd el-Malik. The name "Omar mosque" is therefore false. In or around 711, about 80 years after Muhammad died, Malik's son, Abd el-Wahd, who ruled in 705-715, reconstructed the Christian-Byzantine Church of St. Mary and converted it into a mosque. He left the structure as it was, a typical Byzantine "basilica" structure with a row of pillars on either side of the rectangular "ship" in the centre. All he added was an onion-like dome on top of the building to make it look like a mosque. He then named it El-Aqsa, so it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran." Lehmann adds, "Consequently, it is crystal clear that Muhammad could never have had this mosque in mind when he wrote the Koran (if he did so), since it did not exist for another three generations after his death. Rather, as many scholars long ago established, it is logical that Muhammad intended the mosque in Mecca as the "sacred mosque", and the mosque in Medina as the "furthest mosque"." So much for the Muslim claim based on the Aqsa mosque.

Here is another interesting statement by Rabbi Joseph Katz (http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/). He states, that the present Arabic name of Jerusalem is "Al-Quds"... but "Al-Quds" is an abbreviation for "The Jewish Temple"! Rabbi Joseph Katz writes, "The Arabic name for Jerusalem is "Al-Quds" (The Holy), which is abbreviation for another Arabic name used for Jerusalem until the last century, "Bayt al-Maqdes" (The Holy House), since the 10th century c.e. The name "Bayt al-Maqdes" is a translation of the Hebrew "Beyt ha-mikdash", which means "House of Holiness", "Temple". But Islam has no Temple, only the Jews did. Thus the Arabic name for Jerusalem makes no reference to Muhammad's alleged trip to Heaven, but rather refers to the Jewish Temple! In fact, it can be seen that significant Islamic interest in the Temple Mount does not precede the Six-Day War in 1967."

The farce of a divided Jerusalem Following on regarding the news of the EU's latest resolution, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week finally "saw the light" and realised that all his talks of peace were pointless. He said that though he pushed hard for Israel to make painful concessions in return for peace with the Arabs, in hindsight he now realises that "Palestinian leaders have no interest in ending the conflict". Ehud Olmert revealed this week that during the last months of his position as Israel's Prime Minister in late 2008 he made a comprehensive peace proposal to the Palestinians that included dividing Jerusalem. According to that proposal, Israel would pull out of nearly all Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and "compensate" the Palestinians with land inside sovereign Israel for the large settlement blocs that would remain intact. On top of this, the Palestinian Authority (PA) would be given "full sovereignty over the Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem, while the Old City area of the city would be administered jointly by Israel, the Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United States".

Olmert actually presented this proposal, together with a detailed map, to Abbas in late-2008. The Palestinians promised to respond the next day, but then said they "forgot" about a scheduled trip to neighbouring Jordan and would have to get back to Olmert later. He never heard from them again. Olmert's newfound scepticism regarding the intentions of his Palestinian "peace partners" mirrors the lesson current Defence Minister Ehud Barak learned when as Israel's Prime Minister in 2000 he offered Yasser Arafat nearly all the land he demanded, only to have the former Palestinian leader reject the offer and launch the "second intifada."

Suffering Israeli's forgotten as world units for Gaza Due to Hamas' constant bombing of Israeli civilian areas, Israel responded with the war on Hamas in Gaza during January 2009. Israel had both a right and an obligation to take military action against Hamas in Gaza to stop Hamas’ almost incessant rocket and mortar attacks upon thousands of Israeli civilians and its other acts of terrorism. Israel was bombarded by some 12,000 rockets and mortar shells between 2000 and 2008, including nearly 3,000 rockets and mortar shells in 2008 alone. Having visited Israeli families in Sderot, I have seen with my own eyes just what trauma this caused... yet today the world forgets the suffering of the Israeli's, even though rockets are still fired at Israel from Gaza.

Instead, the world appears obsessed with demonising Israel and pouring scorn on the Jewish nation, while at the same time banging a huge drum over the Arabs of Gaza. Over 1,000 delegates from 42 countries have signed up to participate in the 31st December "Gaza Freedom March" that will mark the one-year anniversary of the Israeli war on Hamas. The international delegates hope to join some 50,000 Palestinians inside Gaza. The march will start in a neighbourhood in northern Gaza in which nearly every building was devastated during Israel's attack and continue for three miles to the Erez border with Israel. At the same time, Palestinian activists will be marching toward the Erez crossing from the Israeli side. Upon reaching the border, participants on both sides will release balloons, fly kites and wave flags to demonstrate their solidarity with one another. And they will even come from the UK... Nora Hassanaien, a British student at the University of Warwick, has family in Gaza whom she says has not been allowed to visit because of the closed borders. "Watching the atrocities on television last year and not being able to do anything was devastating... It will mean a lot to me to be part of a peaceful march, with people all over the world uniting in solidarity." Another activist, Hilary Minch is an Irish development worker. "This will be a remarkably poignant time to visit Gaza. It will be filled with sadness, given what the people of Gaza have endured and lost and continue to suffer. I want to stand beside them and show my solidarity. This is the least I can do." Maybe that is the least they can do, but how about going the extra mile, and visiting the thousands of Israeli's in Sderot and beyond and seeing just what they have endured and lost and continue to suffer!

David Soakell

Sources: Unless otherwise stated: Personal sources throughout Israel along with The Jerusalem Post, BBC News, Arutz-7 News, Israeli Embassy London, Independent Media Review and Analysis & Israel National Radio