~ Thursday 26th May 2011 ~

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

The Word: "Son of dust, prophesy to Israel's mountains [The West Bank]. Tell them: 'Listen to this message from the Lord. "'Your enemies have sneered at you and claimed your ancient heights as theirs; they have destroyed you on every side and sent you away as slaves to many lands. You are mocked and slandered. Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. He says to the hills and mountains, dales and valleys, and to the ruined farms and the long-deserted cities, destroyed and mocked by heathen nations all around: My anger is afire against these nations, especially Edom, for grabbing my land with relish, in utter contempt for me, to take it for themselves… My people Israel will walk upon you once again... No longer will those heathen nations sneer, for you will no longer be a nation of sinners," the Lord God says. (Ezekiel 36:1-15 TLB)

• Pointers for prayer: As we once again approach the Throne of grace in our intercession, may we continue to cultivate absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers. Many within the ministries connected to Israel have felt a wave of satanic attack, and have stated they feel "oppressed". As the enemy presses in, pray for all of us who stand with Israel and for the people of Israel, that fear would flee, as we put our trust in God! (Isaiah 41:10-11)

• This week we look at the speech US President Obama gave on the Middle East which could weaken Israel's position further. Do pray into this whole area. And as mentioned in the past few week’s, please do share this information with your prayer groups and may it enable you to cry out to our LORD regarding these issues. And please pray for great wisdom & discernment. We are living in days of uncertainty. However the LORD God has given us His written Word to enable us to know the times that we are living in. May all your intercession be based on the correct reading of the Scriptures.

A roller coaster seven days It's certainly been an interesting week over these past seven days. For me personally, it has also been a difficult week with many CFI speaking engagements and conferences all surrounded by a funeral of a 43-year-old friend of the family who died of cancer. It certainly put other issues into context of the values of life. In the world of politics, US President Obama last Thursday stated that the United States believes Israel should go back to the 1967 borders as part of the peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. In an unexpected move on Friday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Mr. Obama that this would simply not happen.
Then of course there was Saturday 21st May ~ the day of my Derbyshire conference which would coincide with the day when the world was supposed to end! The rapture that was proclaimed by US Pastor Camping naturally failed to materialize. This "Rapture" was predicted by the Oakland-based evangelical broadcaster, who warned that each time zone would experience cataclysmic events last Saturday at 6 p.m. In the UK, the dreaded hour came and went without incident, the British media gamely reported. "Cheer up, the end of the world isn't nigh … it looks like Heaven must wait for the Rapture believers," the Daily Mail trumpeted. "Apocalypse not right now," quipped the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The New Zealand Herald said, "Armageddon proves a squib," and the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia said, "World still here."

In California, a large group of US Atheists gathered at a conference that was doubling as a "Rapture that wasn’t" party later Saturday night. "You haven't partied until you party with the godless!" one participant tweeted to The Times. In many ways, the American church led by Pastor Camping deserved all the criticism it got. They spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away belongings or draining their savings accounts. On Saturday, they waited vigilantly for the appointed hour to arrive. When 6 p.m. came and went at various spots around the globe and no extraordinary cataclysm occurred, Keith Bauer, who drove his family 3,000 miles from Maryland to California for the Rapture stated, "I had some scepticism, but I was trying to push the scepticism away because I believe in God," he said outside the gated Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been predicting the apocalypse for years. The sad thing about all this is that it is making a mockery of the Christian faith. Yet the truth remains, and the true church needs to keep their eyes upon the Middles East, as we see these current issues unfold in these days of drama within the Arab nations.
Drawing up the battle lines As mentioned, it certainly has been an interesting week over these past seven days. Following US President Obama speech in which he stated that Israel should go back to the 1967 borders, Israeli officials on Sunday had harsh criticism for Barack Obamas' demands after he strongly suggested that Israel is the obstacle to peace in the region. Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu said "Thanks, but no, thanks!" In reality, the Israeli Prime Minister could have challenged Obama with his own attack and turned the tables by speaking about the injustice and hardship Mexicans have endured since American forces annexed Texas in 1845. Tens of thousands of ordinary Mexicans were driven out of their homes – the only homes they had known for centuries - and forced to live in poverty and squalor south of the border imposed by American aggression. Netanyahu could have suggested that the US put their own house in order before they interfered in other countries. How dare Obama tell Israel what to do with their 4000 year old plus land, when America occupy land they stole from the Indians and Mexicans?

In a televised foreign policy speech last Thursday, Obama stated that "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines," and insisted that "the Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves and reach their full potential." A day later, Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House where Netanyahu completely rejected Obama's premise that peace must be based on the 1967 borders. The main reason for this is the 1967 borders are simply non-defensible! Israel is surrounded by enemies on every side. The recent uprisings in Egypt, as well as protests in Jordan are giving way to anti-Israel protests in both countries. While President Mubarak was tolerant towards Israel and kept the peace agreement with her, and King Abdullah still is, the forces on the ground are taking advantage of the mass demonstrations and inciting the people against Israel, demanding to break these agreements and destroy Israel. Without doubt, the Muslim Brotherhood are getting stronger by the week, and it is clear that this extremist Islamic group will use democracy to destroy democracy.

The Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United States Congress in an historic and much anticipated speech on Tuesday. Netanyahu urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to tear up the pact with Hamas and recognize a Jewish state and also noted that Israel will withdraw from some West Bank settlements. Netanyahu received a particularly warm welcome in Congress. "I'm deeply moved by this warm welcome and I'm deeply honoured that you've given me the opportunity to address this congress for the second time," he said. "I see a lot of old friends here and a lot of new friends as well, democrats and republicans alike," he noted. "Israel has no better friend than America and America has no better friend than Israel." Netanyahu then went on to say, "I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve peace. As a leader it's my responsibility to lead my people to peace. It's not easy, because I recognize that in a genuine peace we will be required to give up parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland." He added: "We'll be generous about the size of the Palestinian state but as Obama said the border will be different than 1948. Israel will not return to the border of 1967." Netanyahu stressed that Israel is not a colonial power. "The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We're not the British in India, or the Belgians in the Congo. This is the land of our forefathers… no distortion of history will deny the 4,000-year-old bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish land." Netanyahu reminded Congress again that Israel is the only democracy in a turbulent Middle East. "In an unstable Mideast, Israel is the one anchor of stability," he said and noted Israel will always be America's friend.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama on the Middle East stated, "For six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary change take place in the Middle East and North Africa. Square by square, town by town, country by country, the people have risen up to demand their basic human rights. Two leaders have stepped aside. More may follow. And though these countries may be a great distance from our shores, we know that our own future is bound to this region by the forces of economics and security, history and faith.... Today I would like to talk about this change -- the forces that are driving it, and how we can respond in a way that advances our values and strengthens our security. Already we have done much to shift our foreign policy following a decade defined by two costly conflicts. After years of war in Iraq, we have removed 100,000 American troops and ended our combat mission there. In Afghanistan we have broken the Taliban's momentum, and this July we will begin to bring our troops home and continue transition to Afghan lead. And after years of war against al-Qaida and its affiliates, we have dealt al-Qaida a huge blow by killing its leader, Osama bin Laden."

Barack Obama continued, "Bin Laden was no martyr. He was a mass murderer who offered a message of hate -- an insistence that Muslims had to take up arms against the West, and that violence against men, women and children was the only path to change. He rejected democracy and individual rights for Muslims in favour of violent extremism; his agenda focused on what he could destroy -- not what he could build... By the time we found bin Laden, al-Qaeda's agenda had come to be seen by the vast majority of the region as a dead end, and the people of the Middle East and North Africa had taken their future into their own hands." Though I would agree that Bin Laden was a mass murderer, for Obama to state al-Qaeda's agenda has come to "a dead end, and the people of the Middle East and North Africa had taken their future into their own hands" is rather naive to say the least. The problem Obama doesn't see (or refuses to acknowledge) is that al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah etc. etc. are all linked and by attacking one yet promoting another with a "Palestinian State in the heartland of Israel" is pure hypocrisy. As I've already stated, the Muslim Brother-hood are getting stronger by the week, and it is clear that this extremist Islamic group will use democracy to destroy democracy. Meanwhile, a Saudi woman, Manil al-Sharif, was detained by Saudi Arabia's religious police on Saturday after driving in the eastern city of Khobar. Not a lot of democracy there then!

In closing his speech, Barack Obama stated, "For decades, the conflict between Israelis and Arabs has cast a shadow over the region. For Israelis, it has meant living with the fear that their children could get blown up on a bus or by rockets fired at their homes, as well as the pain of knowing that other children in the region are taught to hate them. For Palestinians, it has meant suffering the humiliation of occupation and never living in a nation of their own. Moreover, this conflict has come with a larger cost to the Middle East as it impedes partnerships that could bring greater security, prosperity and empowerment to ordinary people." Actually Mr. Obama, you're wrong again. After Israel was carved in half, a Palestinian State was created... they called it Trans-Jordon. It's strange how Obamas' speech centred on the new "democratic Arab Middle East", while demanding of Israel to give yet more land away. Strange how little attention was given to the tens of millions of Arabs who have been suffering for decades from brutal oppression from their own Arab leaders, many of whom have been tortured and imprisoned and women humiliated and dissidents killed. Yet it would appear that Obama, along with the rest of the world has become obsessed with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as if the Palestinians, who have rejected one peace offer after another, were the only victims in the Middle East.

Regarding the area Obama and Abbas are demanding as a "Palestinian State, the Word of God states: "O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD: In my burning zeal, I swear with uplifted hand that I am concerned for you and will look on you with favour. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will settle people on you, I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign LORD." Let us pray in line with this Scripture.

A man of all seasons? With all this attention on Barack Obama, it got me thinking... who is this man, and what really lies behind that deep stony face (as clearly seen whilst being rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister)? And can Obama really be the "Christian" man of faith whilst holding onto Muslim beliefs? I have photographs on my Facebook page of Obama standing in an Evangelical Church singing hymns, whilst other photo's portray him with his shoes off, kneeling face down in a Mosque. Then of course on Monday Obama was in Ireland tracing his "Irish" past (?).

Debbie Schlussel, a conservative political commentator and columnist was more pointedly critical about Obama's Islamic connections. She wrote on her blog, debbieschlussel.com, "while Obama may not identify as a Muslim, that's not how the Arab and Muslim streets see it. In Arab culture and under Islamic law, if your father is a Muslim, so are you. And once a Muslim, always a Muslim. You cannot go back. In Islamic eyes, Obama is certainly a Muslim. He may think he's a Christian, but they do not."

On the international stage, Obama has also put out a very confused message. He sat on the fence on whether to push Egypt's Hosni Mubarak off his throne. On Libya, he procrastinated on action against Gadhafi, then signed on to a French and British-led United Nations resolution to protect the rebels, with a limited American participation, soon to be suspended. He has since offered a puzzling definition of his foreign policy doctrine, which seemed to say the U.S. might or might not intervene in instances of aggression, and he ordered the killing of Bin Laden, yet backs a Hamas/PLO State within Israel. Could the real Muslim/Christian/Irish Catholic please stand up?

Abbas taunts Netanyahu The Palestinian Authority (PLO) held official events in Ramallah and in Gaza to mark the day the Palestinian Authority mourns the creation of the State of Israel, called "nakba" (catastrophe) day. Mahmoud Abbas's speech in Gaza was delivered in his name by his advisor and representative. In the speech Abbas denied that Jews have a history in the Land of Israel and claimed a fictitious 9000 year old Palestinian history dating back to 7000 BC, which he said made Palestinians "the owners of history."

Abbas's words taunted the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as the representative of Israel: "Oh, Netanyahu, you are incidental in history; we are the people of history. We are the owners of history." It should be noted that Abbas's taunting Netanyahu about history is a brazen distortion of known facts. Judean/Israeli history in the Land of Israel dates back thousands of years, and is documented by ancient Jewish and non-Jewish sources, and corroborated by numerous archaeological finds, from Hebrew coins to Jewish ritual baths. The Kurkh Monolith, for example, an Assyrian document from the reign of King Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE), includes the words: "King Ahab of Israel sent 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers."

On the other hand, only since 1964 have Arabs in the region been identified as "Palestinians". No historian other than Palestinians have claimed that there was an ancient Palestinian history, and there isn't any reference to a Palestinian-Arab nation in antiquity, as Abbas claims. This is true of Islamic sources as well. The Quran refers to the people of Israel and even the destruction of the Temple [Sura17], but not to Palestinians. The PA moderator of the Gaza event stated, "The speech of President Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian Authority, will be delivered by the comrade, the great fighter, Abdallah Al-Ifranji, representative and advisor of the President... National reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is required in order to face Israel and Netanyahu. We say to him [Netanyahu], when he claims - that they [Jews] have a historical right dating back to 3000 years BCE - we say that the nation of Palestine upon the land of Canaan had a 7000 year history BCE. This is the truth, which must be understood and we have to note it, in order to say: 'Netanyahu, you are incidental in history. We are the people of history. We are the owners of history.'" (PA TV (Fatah), May 14, 2011).

And finally... Scottish council bans Israeli books This final piece of news will anger our Scottish Reps and supporters, and we would ask that action be taken. According to sources, West Dunbartonshire Council in Scotland has sparked outrage after it ordered that its libraries ban "any new volumes by Israeli authors, printed or published in the Jewish state." It follows an earlier decision by the local authority to boycott Israeli goods and produce as part of a pro-Palestinian display. Needless to say, West Dunbartonshire Council will not cease to use their computers or mobile phones, irrespective of the fact that the majority of these were designed and the chips created in Israel. It has since emerged that district's libraries have been told not to stock any new books at all from Israel.

A similar boycott move by Dundee City Council was abandoned because legal experts advised such a move is illegal under EU law. Other Scottish politicians strongly criticized the move by West Dunbartonshire Council. Labour member of the Scottish parliament and the party's newly-appointed Culture and External Affairs spokesman, Ken McIntosh said the council's ban was "deplorable". He said: "This is not just anti-Israel, it is anti-knowledge. While everybody, including councils have the right to express opinions, this simply smacks of a closed minds and actually shuts down debate. I find the move pretty deplorable. This reflects not so much on Israel, but on West Dunbartonshire Council." However, a West Dunbartonshire Council spokesman stood by their Israeli ban, saying that "ten other Scottish Councils responded to our request to join the boycott." So come on our Scottish Reps and Advocates... action is needed, and for all of our readers/recipients ~ please pray that this outrageous decision will be overturned.

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