~ Thursday 5th August 2010 ~

Compiled by David Soakell Tel: 01642 469663 E-mail david@cfi.org.uk Website: www.cfi.org.uk

Please note: I will be away from my office for the next two weeks due to our family holiday. This will be the last News Report until 26th August 2010.

The Word: Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." (Psalm 2:1-6)

"But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' "Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, and those who strive against you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them-- Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.' (Isaiah 41:8-13)

• Pointers for prayer: As you read through this week’s Watching over Zion News Report please continue to proclaim the Word of God over these issues. Please pray in line with the Scriptures: "Arise, O Lord. Do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men." (Psalm 9:19,20) "The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever... The people He has chosen as His own inheritance." (Psalm 33)

• Please pray for those within Israel and throughout the world who plan evil against the Jewish nation. Pray for protection of the borders around Israel. "…he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalm 121:3-4)

• Please continue to pray for the problems in and around the nation of Israel. It is not for us to stand in judgement over the Arab Palestinians, but to remain faithful in our intercession. Bless you all as you continue to stand in the gap for Israel.
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?

Just in case you missed it at the top, I will be away from my office for the next two weeks with my family on a much needed holiday. So this will be the last News Report until 26th August 2010.

As mentioned in last week's report, one of the biggest threats to lives in Israel is that of terrorists. I wrote last week of the fact that the United States and Israel have collected data that profile ”average” suicide terrorists as those who are usually "persuaded, not forced, to carry out their missions.” The conclusion of this was very significant due to the Palestinian Authority’s continuing incitement against Israel despite previous commitments, dating back to the Roadmap Plan of 2002, to stop encouraging hatred and violence against the Jewish people. The report explained that the Palestinian Authority’s glamorisation of suicide bombers encourages similar attacks. Earlier last month, a Palestinian Authority minister said the mastermind of the Munich Olympic Games massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972 should serve as "a role model for Arabs". This is just one of many areas we need to continually pray against.

Israeli intelligence and military information of suicide terrorists also led officials to rely more on the security/ separation barrier and checkpoints to stop suicide bombers. As reported last week, the checkpoints at the barrier have enabled Israeli authorities to catch several would-be bombers and prevent mass casualty attacks in urban centres, the favourite target of suicide bombers. Yet Human rights organizations have continued to condemn Israel for what they claim to be “degrading” searches at checkpoints. However, Israel are continually under threat. This week, five Katyusha rockets hit the city of Eilat on Monday morning. According to Israel's police force, two exploded in open areas and three fell into the sea. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. Residents of the city reported hearing loud blasts early Monday morning. Jordanian officials reported that a rocket hit Aqaba as well, exploding next to a local hotel. Four people were wounded.

Earlier, a Kassam rocket exploded at the Sderot area college on Saturday night, causing heavy damage. Amazingly, the building, which houses a school and centre for disabled people, was empty for the weekend, a circumstance that prevented the mass casualties that could have occurred. Our dear friends in Gilo, Norman & Lola Cohen stated, "Imagine how different it would have been had Israel fired the rocket... has anyone in the UK, USA or Australia heard about this on national news outlets?" Sadly not even a five second airing in the UK! Noam Bedein, Director of the Sderot Media Centre (http://www.sderotmedia.org.il/) writes, "As we approach a total of 400 aerial attacks launched from Gaza since the cease fire which halted Israel's Cast Lead' military incursion into Gaza on January 19, 2009, an upgraded Kassam rocket scored a direct hit on the ceiling of children's hydrotherapy rehabilitation centre on Saturday night, located in the heart of Sderot's Sapir College. The Kassam attack followed the explosion of a Iranian Grad missile that hit the city of Ashkelon on Friday morning, July 30th. Hamas controlled Gaza has targeted Ashkelon, with a population of 125,000 Israelis, since March 2008."

Noam Bedein continues, "The child hydrotherapy rehabilitation centre at Sderot's Sapir College provides therapy and workshops for special-needs children who live in the Western Negev and is used by children from the entire country. The facility was totally decimated. Our crew arrived at the destroyed Children's Centre hours after the attack, and heard an IDF Home Front Command officer estimate the carnage from the upgraded Kassam rockets. While the crew filmed, a child care worker arrived at the destroyed office and was overwhelmed with emotion as the sight of the devastation. She walked through the rubble that had been her office the day before and, looking through the mess, she picked up a photo of her two children that had been hanging on the wall. The child care worker was in a state of shock. On any other day, a catastrophe would have taken place, killing all the children at the centre. During week days, the Centre closes at 10 p.m. and is packed with hundreds of children and therapists. This missile hit not far from where Sapir student Roni Yechiah was blown to bits on February 27th, 2008."

Noam Bedein concludes, "If, indeed, there were children at this rehabilitation centre during the kassam strike, the IDF would have no choice but to re-enter Gaza, and we would then witness the release of thousands of upgraded missiles which can reach Tel Aviv. Israeli intelligence confirms that the Hamas regime has now assembled an arsenal of over 5,000 missiles with a range of 40 kilometres/ 25 miles. Yet until there is a human catastrophe which would seemingly justify an appropriate military response, Israel continues to supply the Hamas regime in Gaza with thousands of tons of humanitarian aid, as well as the currency it needs to maintain its enterprise. It is common knowledge that everyday items such as sugar and fertilizer are used to manufacture fuel for Kassam rockets. Cement intended for civilian reconstruction is, instead, used to build and reinforce bunkers and tunnels. Metal intended for use as water pipes and streetlight poles ends up in the rocket manufacturing facilities managed by Hamas. Israel provides Gaza's electricity, water, and sewage, and constructed the power plants in Ashkelon that provide over 70% of Gaza's electricity, which has been a favourite target of the terrorist militants in Gaza. Ignoring these facts about Hamas, the world holds Israel totally responsible for the Gazan population of 1.4 million. Yet, exactly five years ago, Israel withdrew its key military and civilian presence from Gaza, giving land for the hope of peace – something that no other democracy in modern history has done." (Noam Bedein is a photojournalist, lecturer and founder/director of Sderot Media Centre . He has conducted briefings and tours for government officials, diplomats, foreign press, and students from around the world.)

Meanwhile, the demand from Israel that Gaza remains a no-go for delivering potential weapons remains in place. Yet Flotillas are becoming fashionably adopted by the politically ignorant. With Real Madrid & World Cup winning footballer Casillas, and Wimbledon tennis champion Rafael Nadal taking on this cause, it would appear these "peace movement flotillas" are getting out of hand. The European campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, which organised the aid flotilla that turned into a lethal incident with international repercussions, is trying to create hype around "Freedom Flotilla 2", scheduled to set sail in September. On top of this, believe it or not, we now even have motorbike demonstrations going on in the UK in support of Gaza. Bruce Burgess will use his passion for Royal Enfield Motorcycles to help what he states "raise public awareness of the complicity of the British government in arming Israel's illegal occupation and oppression of the Palestinians." Where he gets his distorted facts from we're not sure, however he intends to ride his vintage Enfield 350 motorcycle from Southport (near Liverpool) to London, a distance of over 200 miles (which is nothing on a motorbike really... I used to ride 100 miles on a racing cycle most weekends!), and deliver a petition to Parliament demanding Britain 'stop arming Israel'. http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10398

As these protesters continue to bang the drum over the alleged "prison cell" that is David Cameron's understanding of Gaza, I pondered on Psalm 2. Why indeed do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? As the old Irish saying goes... "May those who love us, love us, but those who don’t loves us, may God turn their hearts…And if He cannot turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping... or in Mr. Burgess' case... their exhausts clanking.

A need for accurate reporting

As on many occasions with the media, we should always try to check out a story that appears to blame Israel without giving the Israeli account of events. As in the case of the Gaza-bound Flotillas, we know for sure that the truth was covered up initially by the media, and even now, the world's politicians appear blind to that truth. With this in mind, I could not understand why the opposition leader of the Israeli Government, Tzipi Livni, lashed out on Tuesday at Israel's decision to cooperate with a United Nations investigation into its raid on a Gaza-bound "aid" convoy. Livni accused the government of pushing itself into a corner. Livni attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly exposing the Israel Defence Forces to international scrutiny from an inquiry set up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. However, I'm not sure why she was so angry, for if Israel want to clear their good name, they need to go down this path, and after all, there is plenty of video evidence to prove Israel's actions were not illegal, nor "heavy handed". The evidence proves that those on board the flotilla were not peace activists, but terrorists willing to die for Allah in their cause for Islamic rule. The armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organizers' intent was violent, their method was violent, and unfortunately, the results were violent. Check out these links: Gaza Flotilla , Gaza Flotilla - What Really Happened
Yet it would appear that wherever incidents of trouble occur with Israel, the world's media appear to paint a poor picture, tell a distorted version of the story, and do very little to give an accurate account, thus causing all those Pro-Palestinian activists to demand more action to be taken against Israel. The question has to be asked... "Why"? Why do the media go to extreme lengths to distort the truth? Now I'm not saying Israel is innocent all the time, but more times than I can count, they have been portrayed as the aggressor, when in fact the opposite is the truth. Take for example the latest reports this week of the Lebanese and Israeli soldiers who exchanged fire along their shared border, with each reporting casualties. The BBC were quick to write the following story. This is a word for word quote from the BBC News Website: "Three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist were killed, Lebanese sources confirmed. Lebanon said the Israelis had crossed the border. Israel's foreign ministry warned Lebanon of "consequences" if violence continued. "Israel views the Lebanese government as responsible for this serious incident," a ministry statement said. In a statement, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned Israeli "aggression" and said Lebanese sovereignty had been violated."

So what did happen on the Lebanese border this week? The Israeli and Lebanese armies did engage in an armed clash along Israel's northern border on Tuesday. However, according to military sources, the incident was sparked when Lebanese soldiers confronted Israeli troops. "The Lebanese refused to depart the area and instead opened fire on the Israelis." Earlier, during the mid-day hours, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fired at an IDF position along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. The force was in Israeli territory, carrying out routine maintenance and was pre-coordinated with UNIFIL. The border area is West of the Israeli town Misgav Am. The incident occurred east of the internationally recognized "Blue Line" (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and west of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

UNIFIL Commander's political advisor explained that the Lebanese Army blatantly violated the UN Resolution 1701. In an interview on Wednesday morning (4th August) with Israeli Army Radio, Hungarian diplomat Milos Strugar, who is serving as the political advisor to the UNIFIL commander, explained that the work carried out by the IDF along the border with Lebanon took place within Israeli territory and was co-ordinated ahead of time with the Lebanese army. The Hungarian diplomat said that UNIFIL personnel "face many complaints regarding provocations and arousals by the Lebanese Army against IDF soldiers on a daily basis. There are many incidents and we operate in order to prevent them. This happens almost every day. There is a great deal of tension on the border." Even the Lebanese newspaper A-Nahar on Wednesday reported that the Lebanese Army was first to open fire in the fatal border clash with Israel Defence Forces soldiers.

And finally... a story to gladden the heart

With all the bad press that Israel get, along with the grim news I have to report, every now and again you hear of something that makes you realise it's not all doom and gloom. I came across this story on Maoz Israel Ministries website, and it certainly is one that gladdens the heart. The story is of Saed Awwad, a member of a Christian group Team Xtreme. When Team Xtreme was invited to participate in the Elav worship conference, organised by Rick Ridings in Tel Aviv, Rick was unaware of Awwad's Palestinian background. Once Rick Ridings found out, Awwad was asked to share his testimony with the hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian young adults who had gathered there.
Awwad has also shared his testimony at other places including Tiferet Yeshua Messianic congregation in Tel Aviv. At Tiferet Yeshua, Awwad recounted how despite growing up in an Arab Christian home, he hated the Jews of Israel as much as he hated his Muslim neighbours. He actively took part in the First Intifada, hurling stones at Israeli soldiers on a daily basis. However, the pressure of the situation began to effect Awwad, and he decided to use the American passport he had thanks to his mother's American citizenship and spend some time in the US. While in the States, Awwad was invited to attend an Arab church, where he was astonished to hear the pastor preach that Arabs must practice forgiveness and love towards Israel, just as Yeshua had taught. Needless to say, Awwad was determined to stay away from Evangelical Christianity, convinced that it was nothing but a Zionist ploy. However God had other plans, and spoke to Awwad's heart, forcing him to make a decision between the things he had grown up believing were right, and the truth he could find only in Yeshua.

In his testimony, Awwad states, "I gave my life to Jesus then and there... For three days I could not eat or drink. I just read the Bible, and in everything I saw Jesus Christ." However, Awwad still did not like Israel or Israeli's, so after being a Believer for six months, it seems the Lord challenged Awwad and showed him that he had to forgive the Jewish people, and eventually his heart was softened, and Awwad knew he had to surrender to God's nature of unconditional love and forgiveness. But it didn't end there... to demonstrate the fullness of his transformation, Awwad invited every active and reserve soldier in the Tiferet Yeshua congregation to join him on stage, where he embraced and professed his love for them, the very people he had fought hardest to defeat. "I am a Palestinian - you are Jewish. The world calls us enemies - but we are brothers! Brothers and sisters in Yeshua. Nothing can separate us. The world will not separate us, politics will not separate us, walls will not separate us. We have a place in Heaven. You and I will bow our knees and worship the Messiah Yeshua, our King together! He is the Real Thing!" And Awwad concluded by asking the Israeli soldiers to also forgive him, and was greeted by a great outpouring of love. Click here to read the full story: http://www.maozisrael.org/site/News2?abbr=maoz_&page=NewsArticle&id=7932#1

David Soakell

CFI UK Website: www.cfi.org.uk
CFI Jerusalem Website: www.cfijerusalem.org
CFI UK Young Adults website: http://www.isrelate.com/

Read the report online at Steve Maltz's Saltshakers www.hebrewroots.com Weekly News and Prayer report on Israel

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