John R. Houk
© July 17, 2013
You know the Mainstream Media is primarily Leftist in its worldview, right? You know that the Democratic Party is not even close to the projected image of a reputation as the Party of the People, right? You know that Leftists blame Israel’s existence for all the violence projected toward the West, right? You know that Left influenced Western nations – including the USA’s Left Wing government – have joined together to force Israel to give up more of their ancestral land to placate a group of Arabs that were self-proclaimed as Palestinians ONLY in the 1960s under the influence of Jew-Hating Muslim Arab nations under the guise of theopolitical Islamic Supremacism. These Arab nations had no intention of creating a “Palestinian State,” you know that right? From 1948 through 1967 the goal of Arab nations surrounding the rebirthed nation Israel was to destroy it and divvy up the land between the biggest Arab military dogs bordering Israel; viz. Egypt, Jordan and Syria, you know that right?
Under the illusion of “land for peace” the UN, the EU, the USA and Russia are placing unreported (in America anyway) diplomatic arm twisting to force Israel to give up Judea-Samaria (aka West Bank) and the eastern half of the Holy City Jerusalem - which by the way contains the huge wall remnants of the ancient Jewish Temple – to a group of Arabs that really have no ancestral ties to the ancient land of Israel. There are NO Palestinians. There are Arabs that are descendants of refugees that awaited invading Arab armies to kill the Jews and claim the land as conquest in the same way Islam has done for over 1500 years.
Therein lies the real Middle Eastern problem: Islamic holy writings call for Jihad to expel any infidel that has retaken land once conquered by Muslim armies. God help us! That includes that miniscule amount of land that is only a fraction of Israel’s ancestry. Islam must destroy Israel because its existence is an effrontery and insult to Allah and the false-deity’s prophet Mohammed. And if you watch the news YOU KNOW how Muslims react when they believe their deity and prophet have been maligned by non-Muslims. Muslims go hog-wild in rampages of destruction and death against the closest symbols of the West or the unfortunate non-Muslims (mostly Christians) living in Muslim dominated lands.
I am on the Prophecy Update email list. Prophecy Update delivers current events to your inbox relating to the End Times. Below I am posting a couple of news articles in the 7/17/13 email update. Just as an aside there is more to Prophecy Update than just current events. There is also eschatological articles and Biblical tools to purchase. You may not agree with all the End Times outlook that Prophecy Update ministers; nonetheless there is enough there that should wet the whistle of every Christian looking for the Return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
JRH 7/17/13
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Excerpted from Prophecy Update
Sent: July 17, 2013 11:47 AM
It doesn't take a political genius to see how US Secretary of State John Kerry's arrival in Amman Tuesday, July 16, for his sixth bid to bring Israelis and the Palestinians to the table, ties in with the new EU anti-Israel funding guidelines published on the same day. To avoid a head-on clash with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the US president has loosed the Europeans in full cry against Jerusalem and its policies. European Union foreign affairs executive Catherine Ashton chairs the international negotiating forum with Iran. And so, the EU has given Tehran a broad wink that it is worth its while to come to a fresh round of nuclear diplomacy while Israel is kept on the run in the settlements-cum-borders dispute.
Israel is further weakened by its own internal political difficulties.
The third Netanyahu cabinet is painfully shorthanded of ministers for dealing with foreign diplomacy and national security affairs. In the absence of a foreign minister, shackled with a new cabinet which took office in February, and beset with a reshuffle of his close aides, the prime minister is obliged to carry himself most of the burden for key decisions on the essential business of state.
When he decides not to decide on any issue, that issue is shuffled into the pending tray to await his attention - and of late, this is happening too often.
Netanyahu is taxed currently with keeping tabs on the conflict close to Israel's borders in Egyptian Sinai, the threatened spillover of the Syrian war - only part of which reaches the public - and the approach of a nuclear Iran, which he admits is dangerously close to consummation. Every few weeks, he is put on the spot for fast decisions by US Secretary of State Kerry's peace drive.
It is no wonder that Netanyahu drops some of the balls he is juggling.
The last ball to slip out of his hands was the new European Commission's new guideline for the alliance to distinguish between the state of Israel and territories outside the 1967 Green Line for the purpose of co-funding projects and grants.
This guideline is grounded in the EU's fixed determination that East Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan were illegally occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israel war. The "settlements" housing more than a half a million Jews are likewise deemed illegal. Therefore, from Jan. 1, 2014, any Israeli entity seeking European project funding or grants will be obliged to declare it has no connection, direct or indirect, with a "settlement."
There is nothing new about this determination. The European Union has for years boycotted goods manufactured in settlements and demanded that Israel exporters label their products with the source of manufacture. Ever since 1967, the UK has withheld pensions and allowances from British expatriates living outside the Green Line until they relocate to addresses London deems kosher.
And that is only one of many examples.
However, the new guidelines have exacerbated the rift between Brussels and Jerusalem and signal a further deterioration. If in future every Israeli firm is required before every financial or business transaction with Europe to disassociate from EU-proscribed Jewish communities, then bilateral trade, whose volume has climbed to 40 billion euros, will gradually decline, with as much economic fallout for Europe as for Israel.
Israel's prime minister responded fast and hard to the new EU guidelines with a bitter broadside for what he sees as outside interference in the definition of Israel's borders, in a manner which compromises direct Israel negotiations with the Palestinians. Direct negotiations are the only way to define those borders, he stressed, and the EU measure had the effect of tilting them in the Palestinians' favor.
Netanyahu was particularly incensed by the EU dropping its bombshell on the day John Kerry arrived in Amman to pick up his mission for reviving the peace track, which he interrupted empty-handed earlier this month.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon greeted Kerry's arrival by eulogizing his mission, accusing the Palestinians of burying it by sheer obstructionism. Ya'alon no doubt followed the line set by the prime minister.
Kerry spent five hours talking to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday night, in yet another effort to melt his insistence on Israel meeting his preconditions for a meeting.
By Wednesday morning, the US Secretary had not yet arranged to meet Israeli officials this time round.
Israeli policy-makers understand that Washington is dodging a showdown with Netanyahu by using the Europeans to clobber his policies at a moment of internal weakness in Jerusalem. Now they realize they must brace urgently for the next chapter in the Obama campaign: Ashton will build on the EU steps to get a fresh round of world power-Iranian nuclear negotiations underway by persuading Tehran that Brussels, with Washington's backing, is in full flight of a diplomatic campaign for cutting Israel down to size.
By pulling the wires behind the European campaign, the Obama administration is after three goals:
1. Persuading Tehran to return to international diplomacy on its nuclear program by diminishing Israel's leverage.
2. Confronting Israel with diplomatic isolation on an issue of prime importance to its security, i.e., the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, unless the Netanyahu government agrees to concessions to the Palestinians on final borders.
3. Warning Netanyahu that his failure to toe the Obama line on the Syrian conflict and the Egyptian army coup will cost Israel dear. Instead of lining up with what is seen in the region as an ineffectual Washington, Israel struck out on its own to play ball with regional forces on the move, the Arab rulers of the Gulf and the Egyptian army. The US president has used the European Union to make sure Jerusalem understands that he too will pursue his own game - and it will be at the expense of Israel's interests.
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The title above is from Israel National News this evening. The recent re-attention to Israel by the US in its attempts to re-start the peace talks, Israel's hints to engage in a military option very soon regarding Iran, and this bold and highly non-biblical, non-God approved move to re-draw Israel's lines heats the prophetic landscape up to a very prophetic degree.
For the first time, the EU formally forbids trade with bodies located beyond 1949 Armistice lines, including Golan
"The European Union has issued orders forbidding its member states from cooperating, transferring funds, giving scholarships or research grants to bodies in Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and even the Golan Heights, Haaretz wrote Tuesday. The new instruction, promulgated by the European Commission, which is the operative arm of the EU, sets parameters for cooperation between the EU and its members states, on the one hand, and Israeli governmental and private elements on the other. The instructions are for the years 2014 - 2020 and will go into force on Friday, July 18. The decision also states that any future agreement signed with Israel must include a section that says the "settlements" are not part of sovereign Israel and therefore not included in the agreement. A senior source in the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the new EU decision is dramatic, and can be called "a true earthquake."
I agree, it is huge.
How dare they say what Israel's sovereign borders are! Israel is its own nation, and sets its own borders. Going even higher, the LORD takes a personal and intimate interest in His nation and His Land.
"Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)
Israel responded:
Israel Condemns EU Move to Limit Funds Beyond 1967 Border
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would accept "no external dictates" on its borders after a European Union decision to restrict subsidies to organizations operating beyond its 1967 borders.” I would expect that anyone for whom stability and peace in the region is really important to find time to discuss this issue after resolving more urgent problems such as the civil war in Syria and Iran's race to achieve nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said in a text message."
"The European Commission, the union's executive arm, said it will soon publish "guidelines" making good on a December pledge to deny EU funding to Israeli organizations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights.” All Israeli entities whose place of establishment is within the green line will be considered eligible," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters in Brussels today. The green line refers to Israel's pre-1967 borders. The guidelines will cover central EU funding and won't affect contracts between individual European governments and Israel, Kocijancic said. She said the result could be funding restrictions in "a very small number of cases."
'Disconnected Europe'
"Israeli captured the three areas during the 1967 Middle East War with its Arab neighbors. It has since withdrawn troops and evacuated settlements in Gaza and annexed the Golan in a move that has not been recognized internationally. Israel says the fate of settlements in the West Bank must be resolved in peace negotiations."
"The EU decision shows "once again how disconnected Europe is, and why it can't play a real partnership role in negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians, Minister of Regional Development Silvan Shalom said today on Army Radio. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, welcomed what she called a "significant move." "The EU has moved from the level of statements, declarations and denunciations to effective policy decisions and concrete steps which constitute a qualitative shift that will have positive impact on the chances of peace," she said. The decision comes before a visit to the region this week by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to revive peace talks that have been suspended since 2010."
Isolating Israel...it's prophesied. Though the fulfillment will occur at Armageddon, the unbroken line of prophetic history hurtling us down the timeline to that moment is speeding ever closer.
"The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: "Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. "On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it." (Zechariah 12:1-3)
Netanyahu's quote about stability and peace... yes...it's all about peace and security.
"While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
UPDATE
War drums beating again. We've had a little 'time off' from the near misses, brinksmanship and vitriolic rhetoric, but now it's (sic) back. This time with action, not just words. It is widely believed that Israel is behind the strike on Syria's Russian-anti ship missiles
U.S. Officials: Israel Behind Recent Syria Airstrike
"A series of explosions last week at a critical Syrian port was the result of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes, multiple U.S. officials told CNN on Friday. Regional media widely reported the predawn explosions at Latakia on July 5, but no one had officially claimed responsibility. Three U.S. officials told CNN the target of the airstrikes were Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles that Israel believes posed a threat to its naval forces. The officials declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the information. So far, the Israeli government has also declined to comment to CNN. The Syrian rebels said on Tuesday that "foreign forces" had destroyed advanced Russian anti-ship missiles in Latakia, hinting that Israel may have been behind the attack."
But then later the US said for sure that Israel did the deed.
Russia did not take that lightly, or even lying down. "Coincidentally" Russia just ordered 160,000 troops to combat readiness in a "surprise drill" and said to be ready by July 13.
'Russia stages large-scale military drills'
"Russia has staged large-scale military exercises in the country's Eastern military district aimed at enhancing the defense capabilities of its armed forces, Defense Ministry says. The drills, which are the largest surprise check of combat readiness of the Russian military in the post-Soviet period, started on Saturday. The surprise training exercise involves over 80,000 troops, some 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles, 130 aircraft and helicopters 70 warships and will continue until July 20. "The main goal of the drills is to check the readiness of units to carry out their missions, and to assess the quality of their training and technical preparedness," Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement. On Friday, during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Russian, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an unexpected military drill, urging all forces to enter a state of full combat readiness on the night of July 13."
Remember, there is a prophecy regarding a yet-unfulfilled battle of Psalm 83 involving a surprise attack on Israel by all of Israel's abutting neighbors (which Israel wins, claiming the lands). There is also prophesied a surprise attack led by Russia along with Turkey and Israel's further neighbors that is also yet unfulfilled (Ezekiel 38-39). Both of those are widely believed to be end of last day's prophecies or prophecies to be fulfilled during the Tribulation. No one is quite sure of the order, as in which comes first or maybe they are nearly simultaneous, but many believe that Psalm 83 would be fulfilled first because Israel is said to be dwelling in the center of the Land in Ezekiel 37:12 and had accumulated much goods. Israel is prophesied to in the Psalm 83 battle and it is supposed that she spreads out and occupies her abutting, by then defeated neighbors. None of these neighbors make another murmur, and are not listed in the Gog-Magog coalition, so it seems that they would be set aside or nullified first. Many believe that a defeat in Psalm 83 does the trick.
Isaiah 17:1 and onward prophesies the complete destruction of Damascus, Syria and its environs. This also has never been fulfilled.
"On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12:6)
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President Obama's Middle East policy has been an ever-worsening train wreck because it lacks credibility and strategy, as Egypt, Libya, and particularly Syria, have shown. And the region is about to get much worse, unless Obama exercises resolute leadership on the most important global security issue of this generation: Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
In a commerce-critical region where "might makes right" and only the strong survive, Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons could have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond. The resulting dangers potentially include: (i) nuclear proliferation, as other Mideast countries feel threatened into pursuing their own nuclear programs; (ii) the transfer of nuclear materials from Iran - the world's chief sponsor of terrorism - to terrorist organizations and/or rogue states; (iii) bolder attacks by Iranian terror proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc.) protected by Iran's nuclear umbrella; and (iv) an even more belligerent Iran that flexes its nuclear arsenal to: export its radical Islamic ideology, acquire disputed territories and resources from neighboring countries, and/or undertake actions like blocking the Strait of Hormuz to increase the price of oil.
As Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently told CBS News's Face the Nation, the Islamic Republic is now dangerously close to a nuclear capability. Because Iran has stockpiled about 190 pounds of 20% enriched uranium, Iran is just 60 kilograms - potentially just weeks - short of crossing the nuclear "red line" that Netanyahu set in his speech before the UN last September.
Unfortunately, Obama has signaled no urgency over Iranian nukes. Perhaps he hopes for a negotiated settlement to the issue, now that Hassan Rouhani, a so-called "moderate," was elected to assume Iran's presidency next month. But hope is not a strategy with the Iranian regime. Rouhani has been linked to the 1994 terrorist bombing of an Argentine Jewish community center that killed 85 people, and has boasted about how he manipulated nuclear talks with the West about a decade ago to expand Iran's nuclear program. More importantly, Iran's foreign policy is set by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has banned concessions to the West. Indeed, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, made it clear last Friday that Rouhani's election will have no impact on Iran's nuclear enrichment activities.
Obama must also recognize that the sanctions against Iran have demonstrably failed. The Islamic Republic has skillfully outmaneuvered them, as shown in a leaked U.N. report detailing 11 instances of Iran violating sanctions, including attempts to acquire materials for its atomic program. Reuters published an expose outlining how Iran exploits sanctions loopholes to import ore from Germany and France that could be used for making armor and missiles. More importantly, the Iranian nuclear weapons program has never once stopped because of sanctions. The only time that Iran ever suspended its nuclear program was after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Iran briefly feared that a U.S. attack was imminent.
Obama's Iran policy has thus far failed to produce any credible deterrent. It's time for Obama to build on the lead of Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, who warned last month that Iran only has only a few months to demonstrate to the West that it is serious about a negotiated solution to the standoff.
Israel doesn't have the luxury of treating its red lines the way Obama has treated the one he set for Syria's use of chemical weapons; that means that the volatile Middle East of today could become far more engulfed in war and instability. Netanyahu's latest message may be the canary in the coalmine giving its final warning, so Obama should provide bold leadership on this critical issue before it's too late. New Jersey-sized Israel survives only by the strength of the military force that it projects. Critical to that deterrent is making good on its threats, as Israel did with its destruction of the Iraqi and Syrian nuclear programs, in 1981 and 2007, respectively, and its ongoing surgical airstrikes to prevent Syria from transferring game-changing weapons to Hezbollah.
Given such exploits, isolationists might wonder why the U.S. should bother; let Israel bear all of the costs and risks of eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat for us, goes the thinking. But the nuclear program in Iran is far more dispersed, hardened, and distant than what Israel neutralized in Iraq and Syria. Iranian nukes are truly vulnerable only to U.S. military capabilities. Expecting Israel to do the job is like a heavyweight-boxing champion asking his featherweight friend to defend him against the approaching middleweight champion. Such cowardly tactics needlessly endanger the featherweight ally, but - more importantly - there is a good chance that the middleweight won't be fully neutralized and will feel far more emboldened to attack the heavyweight after he concludes (alongside the rest of the world) that the heavyweight is just a paper tiger.
Iran can already attack U.S. interests across the Middle East and Europe. And as early as 2015, Iran could develop and test ballistic missiles that could strike the continental U.S., according to a Pentagon report released last week ("2013 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Assessment"). Obama can wait for the U.S. to be drawn into war with a nuclear-armed Iran, or he can proactively address the threat before Iran acquires nukes. But he cannot hide from the threat or hope it away. Obama must lead - before Iran's nuclear recalcitrance forces Israel's hand, with potentially apocalyptic consequences.
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YOU KNOW the USA and EU Work AGAINST Israel, Right?
John R. Houk
© July 17, 2013
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Excerpted from Prophecy Update
Sent: July 17, 2013 11:47 AM
