~ Thursday 13th January 2011 ~
Compiled by David Soakell Tel: 01642 469663
E-mail david@cfi.org.uk Website: www.cfi.org.uk

The Word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty... During the night I had a vision - and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine… And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace." Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.' "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty. "Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.'" (From Zechariah 1:3-17)

• Pointers for prayer: As we mentioned in last week's report, there is so much deception and propaganda surrounding the whole issue of Israel. God is concerned for truth and so should we be. Please "press in" with your intercession regarding this issue that the truth will be revealed and that lies and deception will be cast down, wherever they are found.

• Please intercede in line with your Scriptures for the people and Nation of Israel. 235 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip last year, even though there was no open conflict between Israel and Palestinians during 2010. Already in the new year of 2011, Israel has suffered with over 20 rockets being fired at them from Gaza. As troubles continue, pray that the LORD would continue to shield the nation with His wall of fire. Pray too, that the whole of the Jewish nation would turn to the LORD God, and seek His council, and salvation.

• Please continue to pray that the Word of God would reach the Palestinians and the Arab World. And continue to pray against any division of Jerusalem. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:2-3) If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! (Psalm 137:5)

The battle for Israel Following on from last week's report on 'The battle for Truth', I felt we needed to turn our attention this week to the battle for Israel. Many people today stand opposed to the nation of Israel, however I firmly believe today's Jewish State of Israel is a fulfilment of Scripture and it is to be Israel's final restoration. There is no third restoration mentioned anywhere in the Bible. I personally believe that physical Israel will never again be uprooted out of its land, according to how I read God's promise: "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God (Amos 9:14,15). This final restoration of the Jews to their homeland is a demonstration of the truthfulness of the Bible and the faithfulness of God. That is why I wrote in last week's pointers to prayer: "Israel and the Jewish people are to be a testimony to God's existence, His character and His faithfulness. They prove that His Word is true." However, Amos 9:14,15 simply states that they shall not be pulled out of the land, it says nothing about loosing a section of their land which of course they did when the Gaza disengagement took place. However, the battle that is increasing over Israel, is not about 'sections of their land', but the whole Land! Don't be deceived into thinking that if Israel gave Judea (including East Jerusalem) and Samaria away for a Palestinian state, in exchange for "peace", that the battle will cease, after all, we only need to look at Gaza to see the evidence that this will not happen.

There is something however which has really been on my heart this past couple of weeks and that is the above Scriptures found in Zechariah. Israel is like the myrtle tree and the Jewish people have been and still are, a people despised by the nations until this present day. Jerusalem and indeed the whole of Israel is also heavily contested, and the nations treat Israel with contempt and even hatred. In verse 11 of Zechariah 1 we read, "And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace." The angels mentioned in this verse had the task, as messengers of the Lord, to see how the nations would behave toward Jerusalem. What they discovered is very similar to what we see today:

Thoughtlessness, self-confidence and a presumptuous rest. Nobody cares about Israel. It's more important to have peace among the nations than to take Israel's side. The world is relatively silent when terrorists murder Jewish men, women and children. As my friend Barry Shaw from Netanya, Israel, mentioned this week, "235 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip during 2010. Reminder: There was no open conflict between Israel and Palestinians during 2010. Question: How many rockets fired into your country would you tolerate before demanding that your Government take action to prevent this assault?"

Why is it that hardly anyone lifts a finger in response to the injustice toward Israel. But the same world condemns Israel over every move she makes (which appears to be literally every move she makes)? Take for example one of the stories this week: The routine demolition of an old, vacant building to make way for new development. In any other city or country in the world, this event would go unnoticed, but when such an event involves Jews and Israel and Jerusalem, it is suddenly a cause for international paralyzing dismay. And so the world is in uproar this week when the Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem was demolished so that construction could begin on 20 new apartments. Why are people getting upset by the Shepherd Hotel's demolition? It might be due to the structure being built as a residence by the World War II-era Palestinian religious leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, a known collaborator with the Nazi regime and personal confidante of Adolf Hitler.

However, ownership of the building changed hands several times during the preceding decades, until it was finally bought in 1985 by Jewish American businessman Irving Moskowitz. It has taken until now for Moskowitz to secure authorisation to build what he wants on his own property due to political concerns. As far as the US and Europe are concerned, Moskowitz should never have been granted such freedom, and in fact should never have been permitted to buy the property in the first place. The reason being is due to the fact that the Shepherd Hotel was situated in a part of Jerusalem that the Palestinian Arabs claim as their future capital. But really... has the world gone so anti-Israel that the demolition of one single old hotel (Jewish owned or otherwise) should bring condemnation from the UN and other countries? Needless to say, the Europeans have determined that they must do more to intervene and halt the spreading Jewish presence in the Jewish peoples’ own ancient capital.

Again I ask, why is it that hardly anyone lifts a finger in response to the injustice toward Israel, but the same world condemns Israel every time she makes a move, even when she is defending herself? As terrorists groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran continues to be a real threat, our job of intercession is only starting!

In related news, the people of Israel have called for tough military action against Gaza militants after a violent weekend on Israel's border with the Palestinian coastal area. "The government must consider afresh a policy of zero tolerance, exert a heavy price, not let this situation deteriorate," National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told journalists at the weekly cabinet meeting. It is absolutely clear that the situation in the south is intolerable," said Information Minister Yuli Edelstein, also of Likud. The Israeli military said two rockets hit southern Israel on Sunday, one shortly after midnight and a second later in the morning, bringing the number of rockets and mortar shells fired across the border to 20 since 1st January 2011. On Saturday, three people on an Israeli kibbutz were injured, two of them seriously, by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip, for which the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Close to an Islamic victory? According to Arab News Agencies, Arab Palestinians will achieve a historic triumph in any future confrontation with Israel. Over the past weekend, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar told reporters that victory was close, but the toll will be heavy on the Palestinian side. Mahmoud Zahhar stated, "We are only a few steps away from achieving a historic triumph which might cost us a large number of our children. However, in the coming confrontation with the Zionist entity, we will realise our ancestors' dream and return history to the right track." The Hamas official made the comments at a ceremony held to commemorate the second anniversary of a bombed UN-controlled Al-Fakhoura school in the northern Gaza Strip. The school was hit by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead, a three-week offensive that began in December 2008, from where Hamas missiles were being fired from.

For the forthcoming Holocaust Memorial Day services, I have written a booklet about the atrocities of the Holocaust. The booklet was originally written to coincide with the "Anne Frank In The World Exhibition", which was brought to the UK North East some time ago. It is a gathering of written works originally set to music, along with testimonies that I have collected from Holocaust survivors over the years which try to reflect something of the horror of the Holocaust and beyond. I tried to probe the minds of victims who experienced this and to look through their eyes at a time of history which should never be forgotten – yet which continues even today. However, I realised I would never be able to do justice to the real horrors that those people experienced physically, mentally and spiritually, but hope the work is at least thought provoking. The title of this work is called "Crimes Against Humanity", so you can imagine my shock at finding that title to describe the actions of Israel defending themselves against the Islamic terrorist machine. In the Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar's speech, he stated, "In a few years only, you will see the world abandoning those who committed crimes against humanity. The whole world around us realises that it is a compound crime as they want to divide Sudan, Iraq, and Egypt and plan to divide the whole world," Zahhar said.

Gaza's Interior Minister Fathi Hammad attended the commemoration along with several Hamas leaders and "lawmakers". Abdullah Baroud, a child who was injured in the attack on Al-Fakhoura school, delivered a speech describing how he and his friends had suffered. He questioned why Israeli leaders who "committed crimes against innocent Palestinian children were not punished for what they did."

Muhammad Abu Askra, who lost two sons and two brothers in the attack stated, "How long will the world remain silent before Israeli crimes against the people of the Gaza Strip? Why does the second anniversary go before those criminals are put to justice?" he asked.

Although I can understand his anger at the loss of his two sons and two brothers, what he and indeed most of the world forgets is why the Israeli/Palestinian conflict takes place at all. Pre 1967, when Judea & Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza were under Arab control, citizens from those areas allowed Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia to use their land to attack Israel and constantly incite against the Jewish State. Arab countries used these areas to fight Israel and everything else become secondary in the Arab psyche, even the safety and security of the Arab people themselves. Egypt and Jordan, who occupied Gaza and the "West Bank" in 1948-1967, conducted daily guerrilla attacks on Israel, especially in Gaza 1954-1956. Nasser created the Fedayeen group that carried out cross-border terror attacks against Israelis. That was prior to the 1967 war and “Israeli occupation”. Aspiring to unify the Arab world under his command, President Nasser used the threat to destroy Israel as the badge of pride and honour for Arab leadership. I just don't understand why Arabs cannot stand Jews to live in their vast lands, while Jews respect and allow Arabs to live in their tiny country. The Arabs just do not see the hypocrisy. And yet there is also another dimension to this too.

After Israel pulled every Jew out of Gaza in a land for peace deal, the Arab Palestinians responded by attacking Israel. On the Christmas Eve of 2008, Hamas fired over 50 rockets and on the following Christmas Day over 80 rockets and mortars were fired against Israeli civilians. No country in the world would ignore rockets being fired against its people. Naturally, the world condemned Israel's response and called it "disproportionate". Yet in the three years leading up to Israel's response, Hamas had fired 5000 rockets and mortars randomly against Israeli civilians. What would be the world’s response if Israel fired 5000 missiles randomly into Gaza? Instead Israel targeted Hamas fighters and infrastructure, and tunnels from Egypt. Israel repeatedly offered that if the rockets stop it would also stop its bombardment. But Hamas continued firing rockets. Yes, sadly people like Abdullah Baroud lost family members, however no one appears to acknowledge why this war took place, and the huge cost to innocent Israeli lives. As for Crimes Against Humanity...? Can the terrorist Hamas regime, who suffered from Israel military attack after Hamas had fired 5000 rockets and mortars randomly against Israeli civilians over three years, really use a title that is fitting for the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust?

Arabs were the first Christians? As I mentioned in last week's 'Watching Over Zion', the battle for truth is indeed a battle we need to voice, especially within our Churches in the UK. Erasing Jewish history in the land of Israel is followed by the Palestinian's invention of ancient and modern histories that support its political ideology and claim to the land of Israel. The Holocaust and other aspects of Jewish history are alternately denied, downplayed or distorted, and as I wrote last week, the other distortion is to hide from Palestinian Arabs that Jesus was in fact a Jew who lived in the Land of Judea/Israel. Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders repeatedly define Jesus as a Palestinian who preached Islam, thus denying not only Jewish history, but also the history and legitimacy of Christianity.

This week, an article by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (http://www.icej.org/article.php?id=10396) (ICEJ) state that a Palestinian travel advert denying the existence of Israel as a state was published in this month’s issue of National Geographic. ICEJ write, "The advertisement which states that “Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and Middle East,” is implying that Palestine occupies the whole, or the bulk of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, hence ignoring the existence of Israel. The advert has so far resulted in more than 60 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, the UK body responsible for regulating advertisements in the country’s media. The Board of Deputies of British Jews on Monday released a statement whereby they declared the advert “deeply disturbing, this is not merely an affront to International Law but seems to be a step back to the darkest days of rejectionism and confrontation. In the very strongest terms we call upon the ASA to take immediate action to correct this advertisement’s dangerous distortion of the facts," the statement added."

As I looked further into this area, I discovered that this is not the first time National Geographic have been guilty of seemingly distorting the truth regarding the Land and people of Israel. In the June 2010 supplement we find an article entitled The Forgotten Faithful Arab Christians. In the downloadable National Geographic magazine it states, "Read the full 10 page article and discover how Arabs were among the first to be persecuted for the new faith, and the first to be called Christians. Read more into the Crusades (1095 – 1291) and what impact this era had on Arab Christians and Muslims..." (http://www.national-geographic-magazine.co.uk/pdf_supplement.php?s_id=5&...). Yet this appears wide of the mark when we examine the New Testament. Acts 11:19-26 tells us that the Jewish Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah preached in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, following which, they got out of the borders of the land of Israel, and travelled into Phoenicia, into the island of Cyprus, and into Syria. In the Matthew Henry's Commentary on these Scriptures, it states, "They [the Jewish Believers in Yeshua (Jesus)] preached the word to none but to the Jews only who were dispersed in all those parts, and had synagogues of their own, in which they met with them by themselves, and preached to them. They did not yet understand that the Gentiles were to be fellow-heirs, and of the same body; but left the Gentiles either to turn Jews, and so come into the church, or else remain as they were. They particularly applied themselves to the Hellenist Jews, here called the Grecians, that were at Antioch. Many of the preachers were natives of Judea and Jerusalem; but some of them were by birth of Cyprus and Cyrene, as Barnabas himself (Acts 4:36), and Simon (Mark 15:21), but had their education in Jerusalem; and these, being themselves Grecian Jews, had a particular concern for those of their own denomination and distinction, and applied themselves closely to them at Antioch."

Dr. Lightfoot says that they were there called Hellenists, or Grecians, because "they were Jews of the corporation or enfranchisement of the city; for Antioch was a Syrogrecian city." Even Wikipedia.org states, "The first Christians were all Jews or Jewish proselytes, either by birth or conversion, referred to by historians as the Jewish Christians." You might be reading this thinking I'm just "splitting hairs", however I believe this is important as these errors only add to the erasing of Jewish history of the land of Israel and is promoting the Arab Palestinian's invention of ancient and modern histories that support its political ideology and claim to the land of Israel. For this very reason, we find websites on the internet that allow you to download PDF files which tell you to visit Palestine, the best experience ever… (http://www.visitpalestine.ps/resources/file/visitpalestine%20brochure.pdf) and go on to invent the ancient and modern histories of these alleged "Palestinians".

David Soakell

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