One of the divisive issues in Israel for several years, if not a couple decades, was the lack of participation in the general draft at around 20 years old for a year or two of Israelis for service in the armed forces of Israel. Most secular and perhaps even Orthodox Jews have regularly or generally volunteered or agreed to service in the Israeli army for a year or two when they are around 20 years old, likely shortly after they finish high school or college. The haredi Jews generally say they are contributing to Israeli's protection by studying God's word the Torah (Books of Moses or the Pentateuch) and the rest of the Old Testament (Tanakh) as well as the recognized commentary on the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament in the Talmud. The haredi Jews are partly right that as the Jews or Israelites are God's chosen earthly people He does expect them to honour Him by honouring and studying His Word - the Holy Bible including in defending the borders of their nation from enemy people as their Old Testament or biblical history clearly supports. This is one point that probably some of the secular Jews, including in Israel, would do well to better understand and accept. However, most likely God wants Jews or Israelites now including religious Jews like haredi Jews to also do their part in spending a couple years of their lives in accepting military duty in the Israeli armed forces for a couple years together with their other sometimes more secular brethren and sisters. This would also heal some major rift in Israeli society between secular and religious Jews that has, among other things, made them less ready to defend their nation against Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah or their national supporter the government and military of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their Revolutionary Guards Corporation.
Ironically, it has been the recent grizly invasion and barbarous treatment of hundreds of Israelis and some foreign guests at a music concert and in some of the Jewish settlements on the Isreali side of the border with the Gaza Strip earlier in this October that has led more Haredi or Ultra-Orthodox Jews to volunteer or at least agree to join for military service in the Israeli Defence Force or (IDF). This is partly according to what I read in a new article on the Jerusalem Post called Did Hamas inadvertently heal the haredi-secular divide? - opinion by Shuki Friedman on October 21, 2023 at link: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-769325. There has been an unprecedented willingness since the Hamas massacre of Jews and some others visiting or living in Israel near Gaza on October 7 of Israeli haredi Jewish individuals and organizations to co-operate to bring draft age eligible haredi Jews into the Israeli army to helf defend Israel against the common Jewish enemy of Islamic terrorists like Hamas or Hezbollah. This article states the Israeli government has generally accepted and worked with the haredi organizations that have been assisting haredi military draft eligible individuals to join the Israeli armed forces in the ongoing Israeli response against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and to be prepared for any larger conflict with the other regional Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to the north of Israel. According to this article the last time there was significant participation by the Israeli haredi Jews in an effort of Jewish Israelis to defend or fight for a Jewish land of Israel was in the War of Independence in 1948. But this month of October 2023 the haredi Jews of Israel, like the secular Jews or Orthodox Jews or Messianic Jews have all seen what barbarity their adversaries in the Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas are capable of and are willing to do against Israeli Jews or their guests and have come to understand in a greater way that they have to join in a greater practical way with secular and other Israeli Jews (and Orthodox Jews) or Messianic Jews, Christians or even Druze or Arabs who are Israeli citizens and who are willing to fight for Israel as a Jewish but democratic state such as all Israeli citizens Jewish or Arab or other Gentile having the right not just to vote but also to stand for government in the Israeli national parliament the Knesset.
I will just quote the author of the article Did Hamas inadvertedly heal the haredi-secular divide? - opinion for the remainder of this posting that is found near the end of the article under the sub-heading Haredi mobilization: "The ability to sustain the people's army (of all segments of the Israeli public secular or religious) depends on the conscription of the majority of haredim into the IDF in service to their country. This is because the majority of Israelis, who do enlist and serve, will no longer put up with the ever- increasing number of draft-eligible citizens being exempted simply because they are haredi (ultra-orthodox). While until now the haredim have struggled against this possiblity and rejected it out of hand, after the war we can expect and hope for a change." "Like all other Israelis, the haredim saw the horrors with their own eyes, and the need for a military protective wall was driven home to them just as it was seared into the consciousness of us all. The haredi wartime mobilization, and the desire to serve in the army and in quasi-military settings, testify to the green shoots of change that will continue to grow and blossom. After the war, this will enable a historic change that could lead to the healing of a difficult rift that has bedeviled Israel for decades." An example of religious as well as secular Jews or Israelites joining together to defend Israel and seeking God's help in God's word the Holy Bible is the whole of Psalm 144 a Psalm of King David.
On October 7, 2023 many Islamic terrorists from the Hamas terrorist group invaded Israel. There was first a multiple rocket attack of Israel from Gaza. Most of the rockets, I think, were relatively short range but some went as far as the area around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I believe Israel's anti-missile Iron Dome system intercepted some of these missiles, while others fell on fields or other un-occupied areas but some did land on residential or other built up areas and caused some damage and I think deaths and injuries. However, this missile attack was just a distraction from the main attack. The main attack was a well organized invasion by land, sea and air of about 1,000 well trained Islamic terrorists from Hamas from around the Gaza Strip area. This invasion seemed to catch Israel almost totally by surprise and was a major intelligence failure or shortcoming by Israel. The invasion was by sea with some of the terrorists going north of the Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean Sea and then coming ashore in Israel proper where Israel had coastal land north of the Gaza STrip but where Israel was relatively unfortified. Some Islamic terrorists came from the direction of the Gaza Strip from relatively elevated land through the air on hang gliders. However, probably most of the Hamas terrorists came by land such as on motorbikes from Gaza through holes in the fence they had cut. A main and immediate area of casualities for the Israelis and some visiters from other countries was a popular music and meditation concert called Supernova. The Hamas terrorists killed perhaps a couple hundred of the mostly young people at this music festival and abducted or dragged on foot or onto motorbike or perhaps onto some cars or vans hundreds of the people at this party into the Gaza Strip. Some of these killings or torture immediately or later on broadcast by Hamas on social media were quite brutal and heartless and rightly caused a wideranging outcry from civilized people in much of the world. The Hamas terrorists also invaded more than 20 small communities in Israel near the Gaza Strip and openly attacked Israelis and any visitors there even in broad daylight and sometimes breaking into people's own homes. This resulted in a couple hundred more Israelis being killed in a most horrible and fearsome way. Some of these Israelis were also abducted and brought into Gaza. There was widespreading rejoicing in Gaza City and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip and by Hamas sympathize by hardline Muslims in many Muslim nations and by especially Muslim and leftist sympathizers in a many western and some other cities. There were also some demonstrations in support of Israel in some western cities by Jewish and supporting Gentile people of different nationalities in many western of other centres as well as public support shown by lighting up major landmarks in the design and blue and white colours of the Israeli flag such as on the Empire State building in New York City, United States, 10 Downing Street, the residence of the United Kingdom Prime Minister, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, the parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada, the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin, Germany and the Arch of Titus in Rome, Italy. There was also called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council but it did not achieve any significant united statement condemning the atrocities against Israelis likely partly because of the vetoes in the Security Council of Russia and probably also the one of Communist China. There were hundreds of Israelis killed in one day in these attacks and it was a major morale destroyer for Israelis who are used to feeling they can count on their intelligence and armed services for protection even in their territory near the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants occupied about 20 of the Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
Within a day or two after the initial October 7th attack on Israel, especially on their people and land near the Gaza Strip (which is governed by the Hamas terrorist group), the Israeli army (the IDF or Israeli Defence Forces) and their called up reserves went on the counter-offensive. As I speak, on October 12, this counteroffensive is still continuing. Within a couple days of sometimes house to house fighting the Israeli forces succeeded in retaking all the Jewish communities in area of Israel near the Gaza Strip killing many of the Hamas terrorists that had forcibly occupied these centres. Israel also patched up the holes in the Gaza fence so more Hamas terrorists or supporters could not freely come across the border to Israel and terrorize residents of Israel any further. Israel then started air strikes in the Gaza Strip in order to start to neutralize or defeat in a more lasting way the Hamas terrorists and their infrastructure such as an about 12 story Watan Tower in Gaza city that was used by Hamas for their electronic communication and coordination and a mosque that I believe was at one end of a terror tunnel that went under the border fence into Israeli territory. Israel also attacked and killed the residences of many Hamas terrorists and the terrorists although sometimes some of their family members that the terrorists could have been using as human shields. Israel also destroyed many sites used by Hamas to store rockets or to make rockets or other weapons or military objects used or likely planned to be used against Israel. Israeli forces also cut off the electricty and water used by Gaza residents as the electricity and some of the water was also used for preparation of weapons against Israel as well as for legitimate personal needs of residents and some legitimate businesses. As of October 12th Israel has made a siege around the Gaza Strip in order to more fully destroy Hamas terrorists and their terror infrastructure which committed many war crimes just as severe as the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, ISIL or Daesh that terrorized and committed much barbarity especially in much of Iraq and Syria several years ago to which Hamas has come to be increasingly compared or as the ISIS against Israel. It had been thought up to these attacks that began on October 7, 2023 that Hamas was willing to mostly be in a ceasefire with Israel but actually it proved from these attacks that at least for the last couple months they were plotting and preparing a very brutal and shocking attack on Israelis and any visitors of Israelis especially in the area of Israel near the Gaza Strip. The attack took place on the last day of the Israeli or Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Succoth or the Feast of Tabernacles and this last day is usually the most joyful day on the Jewish calendar called Rejoicing of the Law or Torah. This attack by Hamas in this year of 2023 was almost surely not a coincidence as it was almost exactly 50 years after the last major surprise attack by Arab enemy armies on the most solemn Jewish holiday or feast day of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.
On Tuesday, January 3, 2023 as promised Israeli Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He has also visited the Temple Mount many times before and this time he visited for about 13 minutes. He had a substantial contingent of his own body guards and some Israeli Temple police people (about 20) who escorted him through his visit on the Temple Mount. The Public Security Minister is the cabinet position in Israel that is responsible for managing the police including the Jerusalem and Temple Mount police in Israel. In late 2022 the Ben Gvir law was passed in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) that gives the public security minister (currently held by Mr. Gvir) relatively more powers or authority with respect to the Chief of Police of Israel that traditionally. Mr. Gvir did get permission from Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the new Israeli government as well as the head or someone with a leading position with the Israeli security organization Shin Bet for Mr. Gvir to visit the Temple Mount. Mr. Gvir has a habit of going up to the Temple Mount and pressing for more rights there for Jews such as prayer to God including out loud. He has been banned temporarily by the Temple Mount police a number of times before for violating the Temple Mount Status Quo Agreement from just after the 1967 Six Day War. Mr. Gvir did not pray when he was up on the Temple Mount for about 13 minutes this time asfar as I know.
However, one aspect of the controversial nature of Mr. Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount was not immediately obvious to everyone. This was that the date he announced for his intention to visit on and did actually visit on was on the fast day of the tenth month of the Jewish or Israelite religious calendar, which this year was on January 3rd. This fast day of the tenth month, according to the scriptural Book of Jeremiah, was the day and month when the Babylonians began their siege of the city of Jerusalem. This siege just over two years later led to the Babylonians burning and otherwise destroying the city of Jerusalem and the 1st or Solomon's Temple. (However, elsewhere in the Jewish scriptures in Zechariah 8, it is stated that the fast of the tenth month and other fast days that are all associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the 1st Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount around 588 or 586 BC will become feasts of gladness in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom that I and other bible believing Christians including Messianic Jews place as starting with the glorious second coming of Messiah Jesus from heaven to earth at the end of the tribulation to judge the world and set up God's visible Kingdom over all the earth based in earthly Jerusalem. Mr. Gvir is no doubt aware of all this scriptural significance of this fast day of the tenth month and likely believes as some other Orthodox and perhaps ultra-Orthodox Jews that we are at this time just before the beginning of this Messianic or Millennial Kingdom and the Orthodox Jews believe they can hasten the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom by visiting and striving for more Jewish rights on the Temple Mount. I agree with them that the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom of God's Messiah that I believe is Jesus of Nazareth is very near but I believe that we still need to see next from now the rapture of the Church and then about 7 year tribulation before the glorious second coming to Earth of Messiah Jesus and that Mr. Ben Gvir and other Jews or Israelites and also Gentiles or non-Jews need to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are all sinners in God's sight and that we need to all trust in Jesus Christ that He died for all our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead so we can be God's restored children and be part of His visible Messianic or Millennial Kingdom on Earth and then God's eternal Kingdom on the new Earth. All this being said there were no immediate visible or physical indications or reprisals against Mr. Ben Gvir or other Jews or Israelites in Israel or elsewhere but there was widespread and severe verbal condemnations and accusations against him and other Jews or Jewish attempts to gain more Jewish rights or authority over the Temple Mount.
Some of the more intense criticism of Member of the Knesset (MK) Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount was from some Muslim nations, particularly the neighbouring Muslim nation of Jordan and of the Palestinian territory leaders. This is because the Palestinian Arab authorities and Jordanian leaders view the Temple Mount as entirely a Muslim holy site that shouldn't be visited by non-Muslims including Jews. They view it as Muslim since around 700 AD when Muslims under the Damascus based Ummayad Caliphate built the current Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount and designated the Temple Mount that they call Haram Al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary. They and many other Muslims believe a reference to the Muslim religion founder Mohammed a reference to his ascending to heaven from the mosque of the far distant corner (Al Aqsa) is a reference to the mosque of that name in Jerusalem even though the Jerusalem mosque wasn't built until several decades after Mohammed died in Medina, Saudi Arabia in 632 AD and Muslims didn't take over Jersualem until 638 AD a couple years after Mohammed died. There is a mosque somewhat further from the centre of Mecca, Saudi Arabia in area of Mecca in Arabia still called Al Aqsa that is based on a mosqsue standing in Mohammed's day that would have been the Al Aqsa or far distant corner mosque referred to in the Quran in regard to Mohammed's night journey or claimed ascension to heaven.
All this being said the Palestinian Arabs are particularly sensitive to further visits or increased Israeli authority or claims or international recognition of Israeli or Jewish claims to the Temple Mount because the United Nations and international community have alotted the Temple Mount and the rest of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Arabs rather than to Israel as part of East Jerusalem since the end of the 1967 Six Day War. This area was formerly assigned by the UN and international community to Jordan from 1947 or 1948 to 1967 for which time Jordan did not allow any or hardly any Jewish or non-Muslim access to the Temple Mount or even to the Western Wall plaza in some serious denial of relgious freedom or human rights to Jews or other non-Muslims. (From 1917 to 1947 or 1948 the Temple Mount and the rest of Jerusalem and Israel (and Jordan) was under the British Mandate established or overseen by the predecessor of the United Nations the League of Nations that Britain or the United Kingdom obtained authority over as part of the winning side in World War 1 against the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) that was one of the parties on the losing side of World War 1. The leaders of Jordan, including their current leader King Abdullah, are especially sensitive to visits to the Temple Mount by Jews or Israelites or other non-Muslims because they were given custody of holy sites including the Temple Mount as part of the 1994 peace agreement of Jordan with Israel and because Jordan has substantial number of members of the Muslim fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood as members of their parliament and the Jordanian monarchy sees being tough with any Israeli claims or visits or other Jewish religious expression such as praying on the Temple Mount as eroding their claims of authority or control over the Temple Mount especially in the eyes of Muslims in the world including Muslim Brotherhood fundamentalist members of the Jordanian parliament in Amman, Jordan.
There was also some criticism of Mr. Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount by some other Muslims or Muslim nations but generally not nearly as intense, especially by Saudi Arabia or other Arabian Muslim nations that see northern Arab Muslim nations' such as Jordan or the of the Palestinian territory's and their leaders' claims of Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque or of the whole Temple Mount that the Muslims sometimes call Al Aqsa as the 3rd holiest site in Islam as limiting or competing with the more legitimate or substantiable claim of Saudi Arabia as having custody of the two holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia and that are both abundantly mentioned in the Quran in association with actions and visits of their founder Mohammed.
Some of the Palestinian Authority intense criticism of the visit on January 3rd to the Temple Mount, from the BBC article Jerusalem: Palestinian anger over far-right Israeli minister's holy site visit on January 3, 2023 by BBC reporters Yolande Knell and Raffi Berg by Palestinian (Arab) Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh as follows in which he sought the: "thwarting the raids that aimed at turning the al-Aqsa Mosque (the Temple Mount) into a Jewish temple". Mr Shtayyeh in the same BBC article described the visit of Israeli Knesset member as: "a violation of all norms, values, international agreements and laws, and Israel's pledges to the American president". The Muslim terrorist group Hamas, based in the Gaza Strip responded by Israeli Public Security and Jewish Temple Mount activist Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount according to the same BBC article and "called it a 'crime' and vowed the site 'will remain Palestinian, Arab, Islamic', AFP (I believe the French international news service Agence France Press) news agency reported." MK Ben Gvir responded according to his dedication to his Jewish faith in the Jewish scriptures the Holy Bible and to what he and I as an evangelical Christian recognize as the word of the true God by saying according to the same BBC article: "No Israeli government that I'm a member of is going to bow to a dispicable and murderous terror organization ... and if Hamas thinks that I'll be deterred by its threats, it needs to accept that times have changed and that there's a government in Jerusalem."
A spokesman for the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sinan Majali according to an article on The Jerusalem Post "Why are Palestinian Authority, Jordan so worried about what happens on Temple Mount? on January 3 by their reporter Khaled Abu Toameh said in reponse to the Ben Gvir visit to the Temple Mount: the "storming of al-Aqsa Mosque by an Israeli cabinet member and violating its sanctity is a condemened and provocative act and amounts to a flagrant violation of international law, as well as of the historical and legal status quo (in which since 1967 Israel and the Palestinian leadership and international community agreed to let Jews visit the Temple Mount but only allowed Muslims to not only go up there but to pray or carry out other religious expression such as reading from their scripture the Quran) in Jerusalem and its sanctities (holy sites)." According to the same Jerusalem Post article Jordanian Foreign Affairs spokesman Majali also said that: "The international community should take swift and decisive action to put an end to the Israeli practices" and that "Israel was solely accountable for the grave consequences of this escalation, which threatens undermining all efforts made to prevent an upsurge in violence that endangers security adn peace (or peace and safety)." Mr. Majali also demanded: "Israel immediately cease all efforts to alter the legal and historical status quo and impose spatial or temporal divisions (sharing the Temple Mount beween the Muslims and Jews based in Israel either in parts of the area of it or times when it could be visited and the Muslims could worship their god Allah or the Jews or other non-Muslims such as Christians could worshp the true God the LORD, HaShem or Jehovah (Yahweh) that is for Christians especially God the Father through His co-Divine Son the Lord Jesus Christ or the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth.)
There was some criticim of the visit to the Temple Mount by Israeli Public Security Minister by spokespeople from other Muslim nations such as the UAE (United Arab Emirates) but in a much more subdued tones than those above quoted from Palestinian Arab or Jordanian authorities. In reaction to Ben Gvir's visit the United Arab Emirates postponed a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The foreign ministry of the UAE said in response to the visit by Ben Gvir to the Temple Mount on January 3rd according to an article "United States, Hamas and Others Condemn Minister Ben-Gvir's Visit to Temple Mount" by the Jewish Press on January 3rd as saying that: "the Al-Aqsa Mosque must be protected, the provocations must be stopped, Jordan's role in the holy places in Jerusalem must be respected and the status quo maintained." The UAE also requested Israel to avoid escalation on the Temple Mount. The foreign ministry of Persian Gulf state Qatar also: "issued a statement condemning Ben Gvir's ascension to the Temple Mount and emphasized that it warns against the Israeli government's 'policy of escalation'." According to this Jewish Press article some of the response to Israeli Public Security Minister Ben Gvir's recent visit to the Jewish Temple Mount, the site of the 1st Solomon's and the 2nd Zerubbabel's then Herod's Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as follows: "The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemns the provocation carried out by one of the senior officials of the Israeli government when he stormed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Israel's measures are contrary to international principles regarding the respect of holy places."
Some other international condemnation of Israeli cabinet minister Ben Gvir's (in my opinion legitimate and rightful) recent visit to the Temple Mount included a number of statements by US officials including on behalf of US Democratic Party President Joe Biden and a call to have a UN Security Council emergency meeting on the matter initiated by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority but particularly supported by the United Arab Emirates and communist China. However, there was some support by international figures of Israel's action in the person of MK Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount such as by Republican Senator and Republican candidate in the 2016 elections Ted Cruz. (The UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting has since already been held.) According to the article: "United States, Hamas and Others Condemn Minister Ben-Gvir's Visit to Temple Mount there was also condemnation of his visit by France and the United Kingdom. Part of the very critical response by the United States, especially the current Democratic Party administratin of Joe Biden was by the often quite anti-Israel US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. He said in official US response to Israel MK Ben Gvir's recent visit to the Temple Mount: "To be very clear - we want to preserve status quo and actions that prevent that are unacceptable. We have been very clear in our conversations with the Israeli government on this issue." Mr. Nides emphasized a main priority of the US is keeping peaceful relations between Israel and it neighbouring Arab nations. US Ambassador to Israel Nides in the article "US amb. to Israel: We don't like provocative actions on Temple Mount" by Jerusalem Post on January 5, 2023 said: "we got up in the morning and saw many of Israel's allies and friends ... voicing a huge amount of concern about this." Mr. Nides also said, according to this same Jerusalem Post article: "We support maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount, period, full stop. ... This is democracy. If there are values that we believe are contrary to the values that we share ... friends will differ. Friends have arguments."
A spokesperson in the US State Department Ned Price, according to an article: "Biden Admin "Deeply Concerned" by Israeli Ministter's Temple Mount Visit" by Aaron Bandler on January 6, 2023 in the Jewish Journal said at a press conference that the (Biden) administration is: "deeply concerned" over the Ben Gvir visit and that they believe it (the visit) "has the potential of exacerbating tensions and lead to violence." Mr. Price further stated: "The United States stands firmly for preservation of the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem" and "We oppose any unilateral actions that undercut the historic status quo. They are unacceptable. The president has previously underscored the need to preserve the status quo." At the Thursday, January 5, 2023 United Nations Security Council meeting related to Israeli Public Security Department leader Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount, according to an article: "Israel's UN Ambassador: Emergency Security Council Meeting on Temple Mount visit "Pathetic" by Algemeiner on January 5th: "United States Deputy Permanent Representative Robert Wood in his speech to the council said the US was opposed to any 'unilateral actions' that depart from the status quo on the Temple Mount." He also said: "'We note that Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing platform calls for preservation of the status quo with relations to the holy places, ... We expect the government of Israel to follow through on that committment."
In a more positive response to the Ben Gvir visit to the Temple Mount Republican Senator and social conservative and long time supporter of Israel Ted Cruz said, criticizing the US more liberal Biden administration and their critical response to Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount in the article: "Biden Admin "Deeply Concerned" by Israeli Minister's Temple Mount Visit on the Jewish Journal on January 6th: "A visit by a minister from Israel's government to a site inside Israel is not a change in any status quo arrangement, and it should not be controversial for a Jew to visit the holiest site in Judaism." Senator Cruz went on to say: "The statements from the Biden White House and State Department, which suggest otherwise, will further destabalize the Middle East and risk inciting terrorism. They convice Palestinian officials that compromise is unncessary because Democrat administrations will coerce our Israeli allies into making dangerous concessions." According to the Jewish Journal article Mr. Cruz: "went on to accuse the administration of undermining 'Israel's security and sovereignty" and said: "It prohibited even mentioning the 'Abraham Accords', sought to open a Palestinian consulate in Israel's capital Jerusalem, unleashed the FBI against the Israeli army, and publicly ostracized parts of Israel's democratically elected government,". Mr Cruz also said: "Meanwhile, the administration is pouring over a billion dollars into Palestinian areas and bringing officials from the terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to Washington, DC. Now it is doubling down on these disastrous policies."
In response to Israeli Public Security Minister Ben Gvir's recent visit to the Temple Mount and the substantial international condemnation by some Muslim governments and the United States and some other world powers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to a Times of Israel article: "UN Security Council slated to meet on widely decried Temple Mount visit by Ben Gvir" on January 4th: (Israel remains committed to "strictly maintaining the status quo" at the site. Prime Minister Netanyahu further stated: "The claim that a change has been made in the status quo is without foundation." According to the January 3rd article on the Jewish Press: "United States, Hamas and Others Condemn Minister Ben-Gvir's Visit to Temple Mount" Israeli Prime Minister also said in defence of MK Ben Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committed to strictly maintaining the status quo, without changes, on the Temple Mount. We will not be dictated by Hamas. Under the status quo, ministers have gone up to the Temple Mount in recent years, including Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan; therefore, the claim that a change has been made in the status quo is without foundation."
Just before the UN Security Council meeting on January 5th, Israeli Ambassador the UN Gilad Erdan said in the article in Algemeiner: "Israel's UN Ambassador: Emergency Security Council Meeting on Temple Mount Visit 'Pathetic'": "To hold a Security Council session on a non-event is truly absurd,". Mr. Erdan went on to say about the UN Security Council meeting: "Israel's Minister of National Security's (Ben Gvir's) visit to the Temple Mount lasted 13 minutes in a peaceful and orderly fashion, without causing any destruction. This visit was not an incursion into Al-Aqsa or any other fabrication that the Palestinians branded his visit. Minister Ben-Gvir's visit was in line with the status quo, and whoever claims otherwise is only inflaming the situation." Mr. Erdan also mentioned some other Arab Muslim nations such as the United Arab Emirates were being more tolerant of other religions, including Judaism, than the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah party. Mr. Erdan said in that connection: "There are some countries that believe in religious tolerance and they are building, right now, interfaith complexes where Jews, Christians, and Muslims can pray side by side," and he added: "Tragically the Palestinian terror authority prefers violence over tolerance." The Algemeiner article states in reference to this UAE interfaith location: "The UAE is currently constructing a mosque, church, and synagogue in Abu Dhabi in a single complex called the Abrahamic Family House that is set to open this year." Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan claimed before the UN Security Council that: "it was the Palestinians, not Israel, who threatened the status quo on the Temple Mount." Mr Erdan said in this connection: "'The Palestinian Authority is making it clear that not only is Jewish prayer intolerable on the Temple Mount, but so is any Jewish presence," Erdan said. "This institution and the Security Council in particular must stop legitimizing the Palestians' lies and promoting their false and dangerous narrative."
After his visit to the Temple Mount on January 3, according to an article on Israel 365 News with title: "Rabbi Glick: Ben Gvir ascending to Temple Mount may bring Zechariah's prophecy" Israel MK Itamar Ben Gvir said himself of his visit there: "Our government will not surrender to threats from Hamas," and, "The Temple Mount is the most important place for the people of Israel. We maintain the freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians, but Jews also go up to the site, and those who make threats must be dealt with with an iron fist." According to another article about Ben Gvir's Temple Mount visit on January 3rd, Israel National News or Arutz Sheva on January 4th in an article: "Ben Gvir: I will fight against racism so that Jews can enter the Temple Mount", Ben Gvir said himself about his Temple Mount visit after the visit: "I thought it would be a great maneuver to go up to the Temple Mount like that. I would have gone up anyway, but the fact that you let Hamas understand that someone in the government caved - the government does not cave. There is no need to tell Hamas when and how to respond." Ben Gvir also stated in this article: there is "serious racism on the Temple Mount against Jews" and he stated "that it is illogical for Jews to experience racism in the country where they live." He further stated: "Jews aren't permitted to drink from the water fountain because they (Muslims) say we are unclean. I will fight against racism so that Jews can enter the Temple Mount," MK Ben Gvir used wisdom in not being more specific about Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount when asked about it by avoiding the question and simply saying: "When I don't want to answer, I don't answer." He was likely not wanting to be pinned down so some in the media or others couldn't use his words against him and his desire for more prayer on the Temple Mount in the future.
In mid February 2022 there were a couple drones illegally come into Israeli airspace from Lebanon and one from the Gaza Strip. These drones were sent by the Islamic terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas respectively according to the Jerusalem Post. There drone incidents intruding into Israeli airspace continue to be fairly common and Israel has developed means to confront them. One of the two drones that came from Lebanon returned back to there safely and the other one was shot down by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) while the drone from the Gaza Strip that came into Israeli air space was shot down by Israel. According to recent articles in the Jerusalem Post, Israel is preparing for a wave of drone intrusions into their airspace, especially from Iran after the US shot down some Iranian drones over Iraq. There was some concern that these drones could be intended to explode over Israel or used for surveillance of military or other important Israeli national security sites. There could also be more drone intrusions from the Iranian backed Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah from Lebanon soon. The Israel anti-missile or general anti aerial intrusion, including against drone, system Iron Dome apparently was prepared for use on Thursday, February 17th following these three drone intrusions, perhaps in anticipation of more drone intrusions into Israeli airspace soon including by Hezbollah from Lebanon. According to the Jerusalem Post articles, Hezbollah had about 200 advanced Iranian made drones in 2013 and now has about 2,000 mostly advanced Iranian made drones but has developed a capability to make their own less advanced drones. Drone instrusions for the purposes of causing terror or anxiety, exploding at or above different sites in Israel or for gaining intelligence at sensitive military or other similiar sites in Israel continues to be and shows indication of developing a larger role in Islamic terrorist attacks against and into the airspace of Israel especially backed by Israel's archenemy the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In late November 2019 Israeli Supreme Court Top Judge or Attorney General Avichail Mandelblit delivered his verdict on the outstanding charges against standing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These charges were some somewhat less serious charges under the so-called 1000 and 2000 categories that were more related to charges of Netanyahu putting into his own account some gifts from foreign leaders to him while Prime Minister instead of maintaining them in the account of the office of Prime Minister of Israel. The more serious charge, the so-called 4000 level charge, included bribery in relation to charges that Netanyahu offered money to one of the Israeli TV stations or networks in an election coverage in return for their giving him undue positive coverage in reports of him and other candidates in the Israeli election campaign. Judge Mandelblit found Netanyahu guilty on all counts. More specifically Judge Mandelblit charged Netanyahu with bribery and fraud and breach of trust in the 4000 level case and fraud and breach of trust in the 1000 and 2000 level cases according to an article Netanyahu forced to give up ministerial positions in Israel National News. An immediate result of this legal decision was that Netanyahu had to give up all cabinet or ministerial positions although he was allowed to keep the office of Prime Minister. This is because there is apparently already a legal precedent where some Israeli cabinet ministers were charged and found guilty and had to give up their ministerial position. So this means that Netanyahu has already had to give up his cabinet positions of Health Minister, Welfare Minister and Minister of the Diaspora (Jewish or Israelite people who live outside Israel). As of the date of this writing, in early December 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu is still the acting Prime Minister of Israel. (Of course the other main consideration here is that it is looking more and more likely that there will be the 3rd election campaign in a year called in Israel as neither the more right wing coalition led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party or the centre-left Blue-White coalition led by retired Israeli General Benny Gantz and former television producer Yair Lapid seem able to gain at least 61 out of 120 Israeli parliament (Knesset) seats to form a government.) These charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu going forward are despite strong efforts by his legal team to insist he wasn't guilty of those charges and that they should be dropped in the court proceedings leading up to the decision of judge Mandelblit.
A main result of the decision by judge Mandelblit to follow through with these corruption charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu is that Netanyahu's opponents have seized upon this to insist he is no longer fit to govern and should be replaced. For instance this has been stated by Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid and even more forcefully by some leaders of the Joint Arab List party in the Knesset. There have also been demands that Netanyahu should step down immediately, including from the office of Prime Minister, by some of his foreign adversaries such as Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and I believe Turkish leader Raycep Erdogan and I believe also top authorities in Iran. The latter foreign leaders mostly don't like Netanyahu or the idea of him continuing as Prime Minister of Israel because they know he has been an especially strong supporter of the Jewishness of the land and state of Israel including the Golan Heights, all of Jerusalem including the so-called East Jerusalem and of the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria. One other major result of the corruption charges being decided against Netanyahu is that there have already arisen some popular petitions etc. by some sectors of the Israeli public to insist that Netanyahu step down from the Prime Minister's position immediately. One such group that has advanced such a petition is the group The Movement for Quality Government in Israeli that submitted such a petition to the High Court of Israel (Supreme Court) on November 24th, 2019 according to an article on Israel National News. The petition demanded in part that Netanyahu step down immediately from the Prime Minister's office with the wording: "Netanyahu's severe impediment to his majority to his ministry duties is expected to cause a drop in public trust in the government authorities, in the correctness of its operations and in its purity." The chairman of this Movement Dr. Eliad Shraga stated concerning Netanyahu, his continuing in the position of Prime Minister after the sentencing of the corruption charges and their Movement's petition that he step down the following: "A prime minister under indictment cannot serve for even one minute. He must be allowed to exhaust all possibilities and fight for his innocence as a private person, but we will regret if it the prime minister pulls the whole state into court with him, it is unfair and unethical." By November 24th, Israeli Supreme Court Justice Menachem Marzuz had already rejected the petition by the Movement for Quality Government saying it was too early or too soon after Supreme Court Chief Justice Mandelblit decided against Netanyahu to hear petitions that Netanyahu step down from being Prime Minister. On the other hand many fellow Knesset members of Netanyahu's Likud party and of some of his coalition fellow party Knesset members as well as general supporters of Netanyahu and the Likud Party have publicly insisted that Prime Minister Netanyahu be allowed to continue in the Prime Minister's office, at least until a new election is held and if Netanyahu and his party and coaltion don't win that 3rd election in a year. A major Israeli national poll also determined that a majority of the Israeli public wanted Prime Minister Netanyahu to step down from the Prime Minister's office following confirmation of the corruption charges against him. According to an Israel National News article Majority of public believes Netanyahu cannot continue as PM (Prime Minister) there was a poll taken on this question by the Israeli media company Channel 13 News. In that poll 56% of respondents to the poll said they believed Netanyahu should step down from the Prime Minister's office, 35% said he should continue and 9% said they didn't know. The other main result of the Attorney General Mandelblit deciding against Netanyahu on the corruption charges is that now the Attorney General has formed a team or committee to determine the legal consequences of the indictment or charges being confirmed against Netanyahu. Such legal consequences to be considered are can Netanyahu now continue to be Prime Minister, can he lead a coalition government in the future and does he have the right to immunity. There would also be other matters to determine such as whether Netanyahu still has the authority to act on behalf of Israel as Prime Minister in the US proposed Deal of the Century Middle East peace deal or other foreign affairs matters.
From a bible prophecy perspective, especially a literal dispensational perspective as I have that views us right at the end of the current Church or Grace Age or Dispensation and just before the 70th week of Daniel or tribulation or time of God's wrath when among other things God will more heavily focus on the restoration to Himself and their land and to His Messiah Jesus of Nazareth these charges confirmed against Netanyahu are quite ominous. They indicate, with the failure of Netanyahu or the alternate Blue-White coalition to form a government and the possiblity of an imminent 3rd Israeli national election in a year, that there is a leadership crisis and a polarized society in Israel. This could make it more likely that people, society and institutions in Israel will more seriously look for a leader outside the normal type of leaders offered by the existing Israeli political parties. This could lead to the rising up and popular support in Israel for a Messiah like figure that the Antichrist and Beast out of the Sea or his colleage the Beast out of the Land or False Prophet will present himself as. According to God's word the Holy Bible especially from the Books of Revelation and Daniel such a Satanic and deceptive leader will arise after the rapture of the Church at the beginning of the tribulation including to lead Israel and let them build their third temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and at least one of those two leaders the Antichrist or False Prophet will be ethnically Jewish or Israelite with the other probably being a Gentile or non-Jew. In view of all these events, instability and possible futher setting the stage for the revelation of the Antichrist on earth and beginning of the tribulation I urge the reader, if you haven't already done so, to immediately admit you a sinner in God's sight (that you aren't completely sinless all the time in action, word and thought according to God's definition of sin in His word the Holy Bible) and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. If you do or already have trusted in Jesus as your personal SAviour who died on the cross to pay for all our sins, and rose from the dead to give us new eternal spiritual life and enable us to be eternally and spiritaully restored children of God with a prepared eternal glorious home in heaven you will also be certain of taking part in the rapture of catching up to heaven of the true Church, avoiding being on earth in the 7 year tribulation during the tyrannical rule of the Antichrist and God's judgment of the world with many plagues of unparalleled severity and that you will come from heaven with Jesus and the rest of the true Church and Old Testament saints and holy angels to the earth at Jesus' second coming at the end of the tribulation to enjoy God's sharing rule in God's visible Messianic or Millennial Kingdom on Earth. This Kingdom will be ruled in Jerusalem through restored Israel and the to some extent the restored to God of the nations and the true Church under the primary rule of God through His Son Jesus Christ in Jerusalem then.
After the last general election in Israel in 2019, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was first given a chance to form a government by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. This was because President Rivlin judged that Netanyahu and his Likud led coalition had the best chance at forming a majority government of at least 61 seats in the 120 seat Israel parliament (Knesset). Those efforts by Prime Minister Netanyahu failed coming up with at best about 55 to 57 seats. Then President Rivlin gave a chance, also for about 30 days, to the centre left Blue White coalition led by Benny Gantz to form a coalition. By now, the beginning of December 2019, the opportunity for Blue White leader Gantz to form a coalition also passed with his efforts to form a coalition also coming short of the at least 61 seats needed to form a majority government. He and his Blue-White led coaltion were also able to attract at most about in the mid 50s with the number of seats in their coalition. Blue-White coalition leader Benny Gantz admitted failure to obtain the needed 61 seats by the evening of Wednesday, November 18th according to Israel National News article Gantz returns mandate to president. Gantz then returned the mandate (the authority from the President of Israel to form a majority coalition government to the Israel President Reuven Rivlin). That means the 21 day period, according to Israeli law, kicked in in which any member of the Knesset (MK) could recommend any other member of the Knesset to lead efforts to form a majority government. This period then will end about December 8th or 9th. If no MK or party in the Israeli government is able in that period to form, probably with other members of their party, a majority coalition government Israel under the Israeli President would be required to call new general election. This would then be the 3rd general Israeli election in a year.
There are some clear reasons or perceived reasons why Israel has so far not been able to form a coalition government. These include unwillingness on both sides on the right wing coalition of parties to settle their differences about whether to draft Haredi or Ultra-Orthodox background Israelis into the Israeli army for their couple year term of duty when they are around 20 years old. The Haredi or Ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism insist that Haredi young men and perhaps women are doing their share to protect Israel by studying Torah and the Talmud or the Word of God and other Jewish religious literature in Yeshivas (Jewish religious laws) as they believe, in my opinion with some justification, that they are pleasing the true God including the God of Israel and the Jews (as well as the God in the Christian New Testament as I and other Christians believe) that results in having confidence God will also protect Israel as a Jewish state from surrounding Muslim or other potential enemy nations or terrorist groups. On the other hand, the party of Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beyteinu or Our House of Israel I think, is right wing but much more secular. He and his party that have about 8 seats in the Knesset insist that the Haredi young men should fully serve their terms in the Israeli armed forces like Israelis of around 20 years old of other background and that studying Torah or Talmud isn't a good enough alternative to contribute to the defence of the state, land and people of Israel as a Jewish state. There are other differences between Lieberman and his party and the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox such as how much existing laws in Israel that favour the Ultra-Orthodox and their strict interpretation of Torah or the Law of Moses in Israeli society should be maintained or required to give way to more secular laws or practices. Another main difference in some parties in Israel is between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue White party led by Benny Gantz. Their are two major areas of disagreement that are preventing a unity government favoured by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and some others. These are that Blue White leader Benny Gantz and many other members of his party and coalition insist that any coalition between the Blue White party and the Likud party would not include Likud led by its current leader Benjamin Netanyahu any more. This is because of the then outstanding charges against Netanyahu for corruption under the 1000, 2000 and 4000 law charges. This division didn't seem be overcome since Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that he could and would stay at leader of Likud and Prime Minister of Israel even if these charges are confirmed against him. By now all these bribery and fraud or breach of trust charges have been confirmed against Prime Minister Netanyahu by the verdict brought down by Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Israeli supreme court on November 19th, 2019 but Netanyahu is still the acting Prime Minister of Israel as well as leader of the Likud party. The other issue dividing the Blue White party and Likud from forming a unity government with Lieberman's Yisrael Beyteinu party is that Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that any unity government include his right wing allied parties that were part of his governing coalition in the last at least two Israel coalition governments. The Blue White party and its leader Benny Gantz and probably even more its deputy leader Yair Lapid insist including these other right wing and often quite religious including Jewish and biblical values for running the land of Israel is not consistent with their more secular values including for how to run the state of Israel. There is also the division between some of the main leaders of the right wing coalition between the Likud Party of Benjamin Netanyahu and the more national Zionist parties insisting on the Jewishness of the state of Israel whether any leader of the Likud Party led right wing coalition other than their current leader Benjamin Netanyahu is acceptable. Most of the voters who support the Likud Party insist that any leader not only of the Likud Party but of any right wing coaliton government other than Benjamin Netanyahu is not acceptable but leaders of the New Right and some other Zionist parties insist that some of the New Right (national Zionist) party led by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked should also be considered as potential leaders or co-leaders of the next right wing coaliton government that would include the Likud Party. Naftali Bennett was the Education Minister and Ayelet Shaked was the Justice Minister in the last right wing coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It should be pointed out as a reminder that the two largest parties by seats including in the latest polls in Israel remain the Blue White party with about 35 or 36 seats and the Likud Party with about 33 seats. This means that if they did find a basis of agreement for a unity government their parties alone would be sufficient to form a coalition government with at least 61 seats which is most likely why Israeli President Reuven Rivlin voiced such as unity government as his first preference. Such a unity government is thought to also give Israel more unity and stability against economic international political or diplomatic and military or strategic threats or dangers. For now it seems all these divisions are not going to be bridged and the parties are maintaining about the same amount of popular support including number of likely seats in a new government and that a 3rd general Israeli election in a year is the likely outcome. The main thing that could cause a change one way or another, including more or less seats for the Likud led right wing coalition versus the Blue White centre left coalition of parties is whether current Likud leader and acting Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu can retain these leading positions of his. This will be more of a challenge with increased opposition to his continued leadership due to his failure to form a majority right wing coalition government in the last 2 national Israeli elections and the confirmation of the outstanding corruption charges against him by Attorney General Avichail Mandelblit in mid November.
In view of all these points and the associated division and instability in Israeli politics and society there seems to be a dissatisfaction with the existing leadership and perhaps a readiness for new leadership in the society and people of Israel more than ever. According to a Christian biblical prophetic view this could mean that the people and society of Israel are more prone than ever to be vulnerable to a new charismatic leader who could be Jewish and promise to champion Israel in a united way above her adversaries in this world. Such a person is probably waiting in the wings and alive today and could be revealed very soon in the biblical prophetic person of either the Antichrist or Little Horn of Daniel or Beast out of the Sea or his colleague the False Prophet or Beast out of the Land. The Antichrist with support from the False Prophet will start the seven year tribulation or wrath of God period or 70th week of Daniel with getting Israel and likely other neighbouring nations and world powers to agree on a Middle East peace treaty (covenant) that would include allowing the Jews or Israel to build a third Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and resume the sacifices there for the 1st half of the 7 year 70th week (seven) of Daniel 9:27. I would therefore in light of the currently very unstable situation in Israel including leadership vacuum and likely association, due also to other biblically significant events or trends in the world, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour so you can avoid going through this very near or imminent worldwide tribulation period on Earth. If you have or do trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour who died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day from the dead according to the scriptures you can also be assured you will be part of the true Church of God and His Son Jesus Christ and be caught up to heaven to our eternal heavenly home in new spiritual bodies just before the tribulation on earth begins. If you have or do very soon trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour you will then have all your sins forgiven through Jesus' blood shed on the cross, become a spiritually and eternally restored child of God and part of God's family in this age the true Church by God's grace and be allowed to reign and be rewarded with Jesus in the His coming visible Millennial or Messianic Kingdom then eternal Kingdom on earth. This visible reign will start when Jesus comes from heaven with His true Church and Israeli and some Gentile saints or believers of previous ages from heaven to earth to judge the world including the Antichrist and False prophet at the end of the tribulation and sets up the kingdom of the true Creator and Saviour or Redeemer God in Jerusalem and his restored earthly people Israel there as well as the restored to him of the nations in His rule over all the Earth then.
The United States in November 2019 changed its position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria in that they no longer regard them as illegal under international law. The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the legality of the Israeli settlements would be something that should be left to the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate. Israel supported this foreign policy decision that reversed the policy regarding the Israeli settlements of the previous Barack Obama United States government. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in this statement of changed US policy on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria: "After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, The United States has concluded that "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law. Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn't worked. It hasn't advance the cause of peace."
The Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria are mostly residential communities of Jews or Israelites that were established there after the 1967 Six Day War with surrounding Arab nations and Israel. That war was fought because Israeli intelligence at the time determined the governments of the surrounding Arab nations of at least Egypt, Jordan and Syria were about to immediately carry out a joint attack on Israel to attempt to drive all the Jews in Israel into the sea or kill them and take over all the land of Israel for the Arabs and mostly for Islam religiously. Israel carried out pre-emptive attacks on the surrounding Arab nations starting with their military airports and by God's grace ended up winning the Six Day war dramatically including winning the territory of the West Bank and East Jerusalem from the neighbourbing Arab nation of Jordan as well as the Golan Heights from the neighbouring Arab nation of Syria. It is true that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria have long been a topic of dispute or controversy between the Israelis and Palestinians but it is also true that the idea of a distinct Arab Palestinian people was only invented mostly by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) led originally by Yasser Arafat from Egypt and now led by Mahmoud Abbas and called the Palestinian Authority (PA). Both the PLO and PA have been and is still called the Fatah Party.
It is true that the issue of Jewish or Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Judaea and Samaria is one of the most contentious issues between the Israelis and Palestinians. There are about 600,000 Jews or Israelits living in approximately 140 settlements or communities that were built since Israel took over the land for them in what some call an occupation but what the Jews in Israel rightly see the reward for their victory in the 1967 Six Day war in a war thrust upon them with indication from surrounding Arab nations of a then immediately approaching co-ordinated attack on Israel and the Jewish people there by the surrounding Arab nations to try to annihilate or at least totally subjugate the Jewish people even in what is recognized now as Israel proper and no doubt also of Jews then living in the West Bank or East Jerusalem that had survived living under the Jordanians for several years since 1948. Most of the Jews or Israelites living in the Jewish settlements in so-called East Jerusalem, that includes the Temple Mount and all the Old or biblical city of Jerusalem, believe they are just reclaiming the land the true and living God of the Bible covenanted to give to them in the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and King David etc. and that God said He would restore to them at or near the end of the time of the Gentiles (nations) before God came with His Messiah (who I and other Christian believe is and will be Jesus of Nazareth) to set up His visible rule over all the world from Jerusalem through restored Israel. However, it is true the Jewish settlements are generally considered illegal under international law such as through the United Nations but that Israel continues to dispute this. This disputing of this international law is based on some of the above reasons of the Six Day War, the Bible especially the Old Testament as well as earlier international law from the Balfour Declaration and the predecessor of the United Nations the League of Nations and their declarations about the division of the Holy Land. It is true that the so-called Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs have long called for a Palestinian state on land including most or all of the West Bank and would like all Jews uprooted from the Jewish settlements to better facilitate an establishment of a Palestinian State also in those parts of the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria. It is also true that the continued presence of the many Jewish settlements in the West Bank make it more difficult for the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state there as well as the United Nations and other international community such as the European Union and sometimes the US as well as some other nations to establish the so-called Two State solution or Road Map to Peace for a lasting Middle East peace settlement. The BBC in an article: "US says Israeli settlements are no longer illegal" mirrors much of the western and worldwide media when they say about the American move to no longer call the Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law when they say: "Dismissing the international legal prohibitions on Jewish settlements undermines the legal framework for the peace process, including the notion of Palestinian national rights and the principle of self-determination. It will almost certainly boost the movement to expand and annex the Jewish settlements. There has already been a sharp increase in settlement planning and construction since Mr. Trump took office."
Former United States President Jimmy Carter and his government was the first US government to clearly state that it was US policy to regard to the Jewish settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samara illegal under international law. Jimmy Carter to his credit did succeed in achieving a lasting peace between Israel and Eygpt in meeting at Camp David in the US which included Israel returning to Egyptian sovereignty the Sinai Peninsula that Israel had captured from Egypt as another part of the 1967 Six Day War. Unfortunately, much less praiseworthy, Jimmy Carter was the US President or famous person of any sort that really came up with the term apartheid in association with the Jewish settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem etc. and this term was not justified then and has been used as a slanderous and exagerated term by anti-semitic people worldwide ever since including at the present time. In 1981, also according to this BBC article, then US President Ronald Reagan stated publicly that he disagreed with the policy of the Jimmy Carter government regarding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and publicly stated that his administration didn't view these settlements were necessarily illegal. Since the terms of Ronald Reagan as US President the United States has apparently states that their view of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Judaea and Samaria are illegitimate but not illegal. The US has also continued to protect Israel in the United Nations from motions or remarks seeking to condemn Israel for the Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) or East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights and formerly in the Gaza Strip since handed back by Israel to the so-called Palestinians and then quickly taken over by the Palestinian Arab terrorist group Hamas. It is true that President Trump has been much more accepting of Jewish settlements in the West Bank than the administration of former US President Barack Obama. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that President Trump and his administration had examined all aspects of the debate over international legal status of the Jewish settlements and agreed with former US President Ronald Reagan and the position of his administration.
In some of the international recognition of the US new position on the Jewish settlements in the West Bank the European Union has expressed their disapproval of it. In an article in the EUObserver web site: "US and EU go separate ways on Israeli settlers: they state that the recent US policy change was: "aggravating its (the EUs) split on international norms with Europe." The statement of the US policy change on November 18th regarding the Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo included the following: "The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per asy, inconsistent with international law." He also said in this regard: "The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict". He also said that the final decision for the future status of the West Bank was " for the Israeli and Palestinians to negotiate." According to EUObserver this statement of Mr. Pompeo ended 40 years of mutual EU and US policy on the Arab-Israel conflict which is mostly true but with the possible except of the administration of the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s as noted in the BBC article. The statement of the US around 1978 in favour of viewing the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law by the administration of former US president Jimmy Carter was apparently called the "Hansell Memomorandum" according to EUObserver. The EUObserver article noted that the recent statement announcing more US acceptance of Israeli settlements in the West Bank was only shortly after previous statements relating to the Israeli-Arab dispute and that also led to more diplomatic clashes between the EU and the US. These other recent US Middle East foreign policy moves under the government of US Presidend Donald Trump, which I as a Bible believing or evangelical Christian also support, including the US recognition of Israel incorporating the Golan Heights into its territory since 1981 earlier this year of 2019 and the US about two years ago publicly declaring its approval of Israel's incorporating since 1967 so-called East Jerusalem including all the Temple Mount and the rest of the Old City of Jerusalem into its already controlled so-called West Jerusalem. A spokesperson for the European Union said officially in regard to the recent US decision to no longer necessarily regard the Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law as follows: "The European Union's position on Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: all settlement activity is illegal under international law and it erordes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace." This EUObserver article also states: "A recent EU court ruling on how to label food imports also cited UN resolutions, charters, and opinions by the International Court of Justice (in the Hague, Netherlands) on the illegality of settlements." In the literal Bible interpretation view of myself and other Bible believing Christians including many evangelical Christians the European Union is and will continue to develop until Jesus' second coming in glory to earth at the end of the tribulation as the revived Roman Empire of Daniel chapters 2 and 7. This revived Roman Empire of the European Union will include more and more intolerance of Bible believing Jews and Christians and after the departure of the true Church at the rapture very soon the EU will likely become the power base of Satan's men the Antichrist and False Prophet for the 7 year 70th week of Daniel or tribulation period. However in the second half of the tribulation part of their government will be in the then seized by them rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as the then throne of Satan's man the Antichrist or Beast out of the Sea or Man of Sin or Abomination of Desolation and head of the revived Roman Empire as well as the rest of the world. However part of the capital of the Antichrist and head of the European Union in relation to the revived Roman Empire in the tribulation will likely continue to be in the city of Rome as it will probably start to be more from the beginning of the 7 year tribulation. The leader of the European Union from the beginning of the Tribulation after the rapture or catching up to heaven of the true Church will probably be the Antichrist or Beast out of the Sea and he will make a Middle East peace deal that will allow Israel to build their next Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem but he will probably not have Israel or the Jews' interest truly at heart and will take over this temple and persecute the Jewish or Israelite people in an unparalled way as well as anyone who trusts in Jesus or doesn't swear allegaince to the Antichrist in the second half of the tribulation until Jesus comes from heaven to establish God's kingdom on earth and judges the world including its then leaders the Antichrist and False Prophet.
Also in response to this US decision to no longer regard the Israeli settlements illegal under international law leader Palestinian negotiator for the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Saeb Erekat said it was a danger to "global stability, security, and peace". He also said it threatened to replace international law with "the law of the jungle" according to the previously mentioned BBC article. Mr. Erekat also said according to the EUObserver article: "US and EU go separate ways on Israeli settlers": "(it was) demonstrating the extent to which it's threatening the international system with its unceasing attempts to replace international law with the law of the jungle." The same BBC report on the US decision on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) stated: "Palestinians will be dismayed, although not surprised. Palestinian analysts I have spoken with say the growth of Jewish settlements has essentially killed the potential for a viable two-state solution. They speak in terms of a war of position, saying that staying on the land and simply continuing their lives is a kind of non-violent resistance."
Of course the Israeli reaction, including by the current conservative and Jewish land of Israel supportive government of Benjamin Netanyahu was very positive about the recent change of policy position by the United States in terms of what it recognizes concerning the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In the BBC article Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the US policy change "rights a historic wrong". Prime Minister Netanyahu also encouraged other nations to follow the US example and no longer state that they regard the Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law. In more detail from an article on this matter from Israel National News with the title: "Netanyahu: 'Trump policy reflects historic truth'" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu states: "Today, the United States adopted an important policy that rights a historic wrong when the Trump administration clearly rejected the false claim that Israeli settlements in Judaea and Samaria are inherently illegal under international law." Prime Minister Netanyahu went on to say: "This policy reflects an historical truth - that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in Judaea and Samaria. In fact, we are called Jews because we are the people of Judaea. The Trump administration policy is also correct in stating that those who categorically denied any legal basis for the settlements not only deny truth, history and the reality on the ground, they also set back the cause of peace, which can only be achieved through direct negotiations through parties." Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also added according to the Israel National News article on the US policy change under President Donald Trump and announced by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that no longer regarded the Israeli settlements illegal under international law the following: "Israel's legal system has proven itself capable of addressing legal questions related to the settlements, is the appropriate place for these matters to be adjudacated - not biased international forums that pay no attention to history or facts. Israel remains ready and willing to conduct peace negotiations with the Palestians regarding all final status issues in an effort to achieve a durable peace but will continue to reject all arguments regarding the illegality of the settlements. Israel is deeply grateful to President Trump, Secretary Pompeo and the entire US administration for their steadfast position supporting truth and justice, and calls upon all responsible countries who hope to advance peace to adopt a similiar position."
Knesset (Israeli parliament) Speaker Yuli Edelstein described the announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a: "clear Israeli victory in the face of the scandalous ruling by the European Court of Justice, which required labeling solely of goods produced by Jews." Mr. Edelstein added: "This step is historical and ethical justice of the highest order, which serves to strengthen the State of Israel. I congratulate President Trump for this unequivocal and bold statement. The next step - extending Israeli sovereignty to Judaea and Samaria!" In the Israel National News article it was also mentioned that the Israel Tourism Minister Yariv Levin stated: "(this was) another historic step of the friendliest administration (modern) Israel ever had." Israeli Tourism Minister Levin added: "Recognizing the legality of the settlements in Judaea and Samaria (together the West Bank) is another significant milestone on the way to Israeli sovereignty in all parts of the land of Israel. This is further proof that relations between the US and the Israeli government are stronger and better than ever. It is time that even circles of the Israeli left recognize the fact that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel." (Of course at this time at the beginning of December 2019 it looks likely that new elections will be called for Israel for early 2019 and there is a real possibility that the more right wing and Jewish state or Zionist parties led for some time by Israeli Prime Minister and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power to a more centre-left party led by Benny Ganty with Yair Lapid and the Blue White Party. They might be much more likely to trade land in the West Bank for peace with the Palestinian and other Arabs according to rules of the international community. Also as many people know US President Trump is still under an impeachment investigation and there are also national including presidential election coming up soon (in November 2020) in the United States and there is a real possibility, if the Democrats can get a strong challenging candidate for president, that current US President Donald Trump and his more conservative and Israel friendly administration could lose power and a democratic administration could take power that would likely not be supportive of continued Israeli settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. This would especially be true if this election is held before the rapture of the Church and beginning of the 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. Such a Democratic Party administration would probably support the two state solution for a Middle East peace and United Nations (UN) led international policy including that still supported by the European Union and some other nations on earth.
In light of all these developments regarding Israel and the Israeli Palestinian or Israeli Arab peace process and the continued high profile of it and strong positions one way or another regarding it in many parts and people in the world and that the ongoing situation or a big change again in policy against Israeli settlements in the West Bank from new elections in Israel and the United States I would encourage the reader if you haven't already done so to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Adonai Y'Shua HaMashiach in Hebrew) as your personal Lord and Saviour so you can be taken to heaven with the true Church before the Antichrist from the revived Roman Empire probably from the European Union signs the false Middle East peace with Israel and others of Daniel 9:27. Of course that false peace pact will start the 7 year tribulation, period of God's wrath and 70th week of Daniel that will start with allowing the Jews or Israelites to build their 3rd Jewish Temple on at least part of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. There will probably also be some items of that covenant or peace pact that Muslim or other Palestinian or other Arabs would find appealing such as possibly giving them sovereignty over more of the West Bank. Of course the Antichrist will show his true colours from the mid point to the end of the tribulation where he will demand all people left on the world worship him as God from his then position in the holy of holies of his then seized former Jewish temple in Jerusalem or be killed. He will in that second half of the tribulation also have his worldwide government under the power of Satan the devil seek to hunt down all Jews (children of the woman in Revelation 12) and people who trust in Jesus in the tribulation to kill then, keep in hiding or force them to renounce their faith in the true God the God of the Bible. So you can avoid living in these soon coming dire times I strongly encourage you to as soon as possible trust in your heart as well as your head and to some extent confess publicly to other people that you and all humans except Jesus according to the flesh are sinners in God's sight according to His word the Holy Bible and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that He died on the cross for all our sins and rose again the third day bodily from the dead to offer us eternal life and to be restored children of God and an assured home in heaven as well as the assurance you could then avoid being on earth during the tribulation. We need to become restored spiritual and eternal children of God because we are all sinners by nature and practice going back to our first parents Adam and Eve who took of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and lost spiritual and eternal fellowship with God automatically and can only have it restored by trusting in God's gift of His perfect righteousness ultimately in the offering of His Son Jesus Christ and His rising from the dead. If we trust in Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour we also have the assurance from God in His word the Holy Bible we can reign with Him in His visible Kingdom starting with the second coming of Messiah or Christ Jesus from heaven to earth at the end of the tribulation to start the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom following by His eternal Kingdom in the new Jerusalem on the new Earth and the new Heavens as mentioned in the last chapters of the last book of the bible Revelation 21 and 22.
From the results of the latest about February 2020 Israeli elections the Israeli electorate again gave an almost evenly split support for the right of centre coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party and a left of centre coalition led by Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party. Both these blocks had 55 to 60 seats with Avigdor Lieberman and his National Home party again having the balance of power with their approximately 5 to 8 seats. Mr. Lieberman still refuses to join a coalition of Mr. Netanyahu if he still has ultra-orthodox parties in his coalition as some of Mr. Lieberman's main goals for office still include forcing ultra-orthodox young men to help Israel's security by spending their share of 2 or three years in military service instead of holding to the usual ultra-orthodox position that their young men studying in Talmud-Torah religious schools equally well contributes to Israel's security by studying the word of and honouring God or commentaries on His word to persuade God to give more protection to Israel. Mr. Lieberman also wants to reduce the hold of the ultra-orthodox community in Israel by reducing their regulations on observing the Sabbath in Israel and reducing their insistence that marriage and divorce can't be in secular settings but only in religious and often quite fundamentalist ultra-orthodox Jewish religious establishments. This led to Mr. Lieberman before the 15th of March, 2020 having his contribution to the Blue and White coalition of Mr. Gantz give Mr. Gantz a minimal majority when the Joint List Arab party Balad led partly by Mr. Odeh to offer all 15 of their seats in the Knesset in support of Mr. Gantz for a total of 61 seats and enough for a governing majority in the Knesset or Israeli Parliament.
However for two main reasons the minimal majority coalition secured by Mr. Gantz wasn't realized as a government due in part to the Covid-19 corona virus health scare that was already hitting Israel quite hard with many cases with some serious ones including some deaths and serious quarantine or other motion restriction or monitoring measures to attempt to reduce the spread of the disease in Israel. The other main factor was that Mr. Gantz was still thinking there was a need for a larger unity government in order to more effectively deal with the Covid-19 corona virus crisis and regarded crisis. This unity government would necessarily include the other large party in Israel the Likud Party of Benjamin Netanyahu but Mr. Gantz also wanted to include some of the other right wing parties. However Mr. Netanyahu and the Likud Party, Naftali Bennett and the Yamina Party and the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties all refused to talk with Mr. Gantz because of their objection to the inclusion of the Joint Arab List with their significant 15 seats I believe rightly pointing out that the inclusion of a large Arab party that has often sided against the security interests of Israel and even sometimes sided more with Arab terrorist groups like Hamas that with Israel would not be in the security interest of Israel. This has all led to Mr. Gantz' abandonnment of forming a narrow left of centre coalition government led by his Blue and White Party and the Arab Joint List.
One other main factor that probably led to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to join a unity government with Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was the leaving the office of Knesset speaker by veteran Likud speaker Yuli Edelstein in response to a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court by the Blue and White Party and Joint Arab List. Apparently, according to Israeli law, the Israeli Supreme Court is not obligated to accept petitions such as this but in this case they did. This would have meant that Mr. Edelstein would have had to carry out a vote for a new speaker for the new possible Blue White led coalition. So Mr. Edelstein resigned rather than carry out that vote. So far, Mr. Gantz has expressed strong interest in seeking the speaker position for himself but Mr. Netanyahu and the Likud Party have not yet totally agreed to give the speaker position to Mr. Gantz instead of someone in the Likud Party. However an immediate effect of Mr. Gantz and the members of the Blue and White Party that are his faction called the Israel Resilience Party are about 15 members of the Knesset and about half the number of seats of the former Blue and White Party. The other factions of Blue and White are led by Mr. Yair Lapid and Mr. Moshe Yaalon and are somewhat less accepting of the right wing politicies of the Netanyahu coalition so will continue to hold together in a more limited Blue and White coalition. But the 15 seats of Mr. Gantz and his Israel Resilience Party and the 55 seats or so of Mr. Netanyahu's Likud Party and his right wing allies will give a total of about 70 seats out of a total of 120 in the Israel Knesset or Parliament which is a quite secure majority. There are some talks now between Mr. Gantz, Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli President Mr. Rivlin as well as some other leaders of Mr. Netanyahu's coaltion to determine which party gets what cabinet positions or what party gets what other important positions such as leadership of some important Knesset committees. There are also attempts by the three main leaders to include some smaller left wing parties such as the Labor Party etc. in the unity government. As of now at the end of March 2020, it looks promising there will be a unity government including Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu and their parties and most of Mr. Netanyahu's allied parties and the desire on all of them to have a strong government to fight the Covid-19 virus and to ensure stronger Israeli security as well as avoid an immediate 4th election campaign will contribute to their efforts to do their utmost to make concessions with each other for cabinet positions etc. to make the unity government work. A unity government would also put Israel in a stronger bargaining position for other foreign policy matters such as promoting Israel's interests in US President Donald Trump's Deal of the Century Middle East Peace Deal and the competing peace proposals of the European Union and the United Nations or the US Democratic Party etc.
There was always some uneasiness and divergent perspective between the leaders and their parties of the latest and also somewhat short-lived Israeli government. That uneasiness and divergence was especially between long-time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and more politically centrist and leader of the new Blue and White party Benny Gantz. Benjamin Netanyahu continue to lead the right of centre Likuk Party. There was differences between the two leaders of this coalition over a number of issues both domestic and foreign policy but the two issues that co-leader Benny Gantz put forward for a willingness to contribute to the dissolving of the coalition government were co-leader of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu' policy in handling the Covid-19 virus situation in Israel and Mr. Gantz' claim that Mr. Netanyahu is continuing to put first his self-interest over some possible still somewhat outstanding legal cases against him. Anyway Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party have been doing considerably better than Mr. Gantz and his Blue and White party in recent Israeli national polls with usually about 28 or 29 seats out of a total of 120 Israeli Parliament seats for Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud Party and considerably less for Mr. Gantz and his Blue and White party. There has also been a significant increase for Mr. Naphtali Bennett and his right of centre Yamina Party with them for a while in December getting around 20 to 22 seats in national polls in coming in 4th or 3rd overall. However in the end of December around the time of the election call another long-time Israeli politician Gideon Saar started a new centrist party and almost immediately was receiving about 20 seats in the Israeli parliament in national polls. Many, but not all, of these seats were at the expense of the Yamina Party led by Mr. Bennett that dropped to 10 to 12 seats, a drop of about 10 seats. Netanyahu's Likud Party remained fairly constant in the high 20s in the number of allotted seats even after the introduction of Mr. Saar's new party. Mr. Gantz and his party were still far behind and remain so as of this writing in early January 2021 a little while after the election call. What brought the government down was a confidence vote on the annual national budget which did not receive enough votes to pass which I think is a majority of the seats or members of the Knesset which would mean it would have needed at least 61 votes. This means that Benny Gantz and his Blue and White Party will not be able to carry out the part of the coalition government agreement with Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party that would be the benefit of Mr. Gantz and allow him to rule the coalition government. This part of the term of the coalition government in which Mr. Gantz would rule the Israeli government was agreed to be the second part of the term of the coalition government with Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud Party having already carried out most in not all of their alotted first part of the coalition government term in office, having ruled since the last national election in March 2020. In a loophole of that coalition agreement Mr. Gantz and his Blue and White Party will not be able to lead the Knesset because Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud Party were able to make use of the loophole that if there was a confidence vote, such as a vote on an annual national budget and the confidence vote didn't pass (which it didn't), that the second term of the coalition government Mr. Netanyahu arranged with Mr. Gantz wouldn't be realized in this term of the Knesset the national Israeli parliament. This latest session, the 35th since the founding of modern Israel, lasted less than 1 year and was the 4th in less than 2 years. The new election date was set about 90 days after this recent 35th session of the Knesset dissolved in around December 22, 2020. That is the new election for the 35th Knesset is set for March 23, 2021. Most of the material of this addition about the dissolving of the 35 Israeli Knesset in December 2020 that will end the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition government and the call for the next election in March 2021 can be found in the article: "23rd Knesset dissolved, Israel going to elections" by Israel National News Contact Editor Hezki Baruch on December 22, 2020 at link https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293568 and some from Israeli National News articles Gantz: Netanyahu will no longer by Prime Minister on December 11 and Israel National News article Gantz to Likud: Time time for lies is over on December 18, 2020.
The speaker of the outgoing 35th session of the Israeli Knesset, Yariv Levin, summed up the short lived last term of the Israeli coaltion government with its unstable agreement between Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz and under international pressure to deal with the claimed serious Covid-19 virus crisis and in the shadow of the end of US President Donald Trump's first term in office and the so far very successful wider Middle East peace agreement the Abraham Accords between Israel and some of its mostly Muslim Arab neighbour states as follows: "We are embarking on a difficult election campaign. I call on each and every one of us, and each and every one of the citizens of Israel, to refrain from escalating tensions and to do everything possible so that the election campaign is conducted and ended in an orderly manner and without violence". Mr. Levin then further stated about the situation ending the latest Israeli parliament and the call for the next federal elections in Israel for next March 2021: "I thank all the members of the Knesset, the Knesset management and the Knesset staff for the great effort to maintain a parliamentary routine under the complicated conditions of this challenging period."
Although there are probably a number of Bible prophecy implications related to the most recent fall of the Israeli government and call for new elections there for March 2021, I will just focus on what I think is the most important and timely one. I believe that this is the fate of the Abraham Accords Middle East peace agreement that was negotiated by this last Israeli government especially Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party in their time to lead the coalition government and the US government under US President Donald Trump is his first term in office as US president. This Abraham Accords peace agreement was assisted in negotiations by US negotiators Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, Israeli foreign minister David Friedman and Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the earlier US Secretary of State and United Arab Emirates (UAE) foreign minister Mr. bin Zayed with behind the scenes support from leaders of Saudi Arabia and others. The problem is that now there are not only new elections in Israel where Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party that especially supported the Abraham Accords are not certain to win the next election or at least not certain to be able to form a coalition government after the next election but also that the recent November 2020 national elections in the United States likely will result in a new US government at least led by centre-left Democratic Presidential President Elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamela Harris and a Democratic Party controlled Congress. This is whether the Democrats won fairly the 2020 Presidential Election and the Electoral College when the controveries over the electronic voting systems etc. are considered and I myself am still undecided on what actually happened with quite contradictory reports from the mainstream media and politics and some more social conservative media and politicians who I still give considerable respect to. Anyway, especially if the next American and Israeli federal governments support the continuing development of the Israeli-Arab Abraham Accords, that has already resulted in normalized diplomatic relations of Israel with the Arab nations of Bahrain,United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco with more including possible Saudi Arabia to come, there could still be progress to a Middle East peace that could alter the main Israel Arab peace agreement about jurisdiction over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. This is because some Arabian Arab nations are more open to sharing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem with the Jews or Israelis now for both Jews and Arabs to pray there and possibly later to allow the Jews to build a synagogue, temple or other Jewish house of worship on another part of the Temple Mount that would allow the Arab Muslims to worship their god Allah on the Al Aqsa Mosque or possibly also the Dome of the Rock Islamic mosques on the Temple Mount. The Arabian Arabs led by Saudi Arabia seem now much more open to sharing the Temple MOunt with the Jews for their respective worship and holy sites than more northern Arabs such as the Arabs of Jordan, the Palestinian territories or Syria with Jordan and the Palestinian territories having main Muslim jurisdiction over the Temple Mount since the Arabs and Israelis set up sovereign states in the holy land from the British Mandate there around 1947 or 1948. Such a shared Israeli Arab place of worship on the Temple Mount that the Arabian ARabs, such as supported the Abraham Accords with the backing of Saudi Arabia, could quickly lead to the false Middle East peace including the permission for Israel or the Jews to build their next or 3rd Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by the coming Antichrist. The Antichrist or he who causes abomination or the man of sin or the beast out of the sin will be the coming world dictator empowered by the devil or Satan who will make an agreement with Israel to allow them to build their next temple on the Temple Mount and resume the Levitical animal sacrifices to the LORD on the Temple Mount that will begin the tribulation and publicly reveal the Antichrist to the world at the beginning of the 7 year 70th week of Daniel in Daniel 9:27. Just before this Middle East false peace all the true Church or true Christians from over the last 2000 years since Pentecost to the soon coming rapture of the Church will be removed from Earth and raptured or caught up to heaven to be with our Lord Jesus Christ in our resurrection or changed immortal bodies with just the new sinless born again nature in the Lord Jesus Christ. God will refocus further in the tribulation in calling out, refining and restoring to Himself and His promised land of Israel for them HIs chosen earthly people the Jews or Israelites as well as saving many people of other nations through faith in God's Son Jesus Christ in a time of unparalleled trouble, tribulation and social and natural and supernatural unrest that will be concluded at the end of the 7 year tribulation by God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ coming with His true Christians and other saints and holy angels and glory of God the Father to judge the world and set up His visible Kingdom on Earth centred on Jerusalem and His restored nation of Israel. Since all these things could get underway in a much greater way very soon and so you could have peace with God as His spiritually and eternally restored child and have forgiveness of all your sins, an eternal home in heaven and be part of God's eternal family of all nations the true Church as well as restored Israel and the saved of the nations I encourage you to trust in your heart and head in the Lord Jesus Christ and pray to God in Jesus' name to admit you are sinner (not perfectly good according to God's Word the Holy Bible) and that you want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead to offer us eternal life and peace with God so you can also with the above benefits also be taken with the rest of the true Church to heaven at the rapture of the Church and not left behind on Earth for the tribulation with others of the unsaved world if you havne't already trusted in your heart in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In March 2021 Israel had its fourth election in less than 2 years because of a close divide between right and left leaning voters and the number of seats each did or would get in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. With almost 90% of the votes counted in Israel there were 59 seats won by the right leaning coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party out of the 120 total seats in the Knesset. In more particular there were 30 seats for Likud, the somewhat left of centre Yesh Atid party led by Ya'ir Lapid with 18 seats, the right of centre Sephardi ultra-orthodox party Shas with 9 seats, the right of centre Ashkenazi ultra-orthodox party United Torah Judaism with 7 seats, the centrist party Blue and White led by Benny Gantz with 8 seats, both the left wing Labor and the right wing Yamina party led by Naftali Bennett with 7 seats each, Yisrael Beytenu, Religious Zionism, the Joint Arab List, New Hope and Meretz with 5 seats each. Since the election day President Reuven Rivlin has given the first chance to form a coalition government with at least 61 seats to Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party. He or any party and their leader given this opportunity has a limited time, usually a couple weeks, to form a coalition government of at least 61 seats past this time and if they do they will have a chance to lead that government for up to a full term of government but if not the president, now Mr. Rivlin, can either give more time to that party or give a chance for some other party and their leader with quite a few seats to form a government coalition in about the same period of time. If becomes clear there can be no coalition government formed led by any party the president of Israel, now Mr. Rivlin would be obliged to call again for new elections.
The last government in Israel that was elected in 2021 did last for over a year that is an extensive time in Israeli politics as a politically wide-ranging coaltion from right to left did have some internal tension. This could have contributed to them ultimately coming short of the votes needed to form this next government and for them to fall I believe in a confidence vote ending their coalition government. Part of the reason for this is the ongoing violence and security problem in parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) and the Israeli government seen by many in Israel as not capable of dealing with the violence and ensuring more peace or security of some Jewish people in the holy land, especially part of Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria). There was also the issue that there was an Arab party as well as the more right wing Jewish Home party of Naftali Bennett and Ayalet Shaked and other more central parties such as Ya'ir Lapid's own Yesh Atid party in the coalition that of course had quite different preferences on a number of issues including security for Israeli settlers in the West Bank. There was also the issue that some in Israel, especially on the right wing, saw the new Israel Lebanon deal on settling the marine border off their coasts from the Mediterranean end of their land border as giving up too much to Lebanon. (Most of the disputed Mediterranean area was granted to Lebanon including some further possible undersea natural gas fields. There was also the issue of some in Israel thinking some international powers, especially more Liberal globalist ones, such as the European Union, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in the US, the United Nations etc. putting pressure on Israel during the election campaign to concede more to the Palestinian or other Arabs with getting back to the Oslo Accords or 2 State Solution, putting pressure on Israel about upholding Jewish settlements or letting Jews pray out loud on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or the United Nations instructing Israel to declare their nuclear weapons by a very lop-sided vote in the United Nations General Assembly during the Israeli election campaign leading up to November 1, 2022 that could have led to Israel shifting more votes to re-elect Benjamin Netanyahu and a right wing coalition. I heard Benjamin Netanyahu's high power tactics in politics could have also led to this right wing coaltion by his burning bridges with other potential coaltion partners such as Benny Gantz' National United Party that is somewhat more to the centre of Netanyahu's Likud Party.
The near final results with about 86% of the votes counted, and that turned out to be close to the currently almost completely counted votes, from Israel National News for the 2022 Israeli election are the following: Likud -23.33% (32 seats) Yesh Atid -17.93% (24 seats) The Religious Zionist Party (led by Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich) 10.31% (14 seats) National Unity Party (Benny Gantz) 8.92% (12 seats) Shas (Sephardi Ultra-orthodox party) 8.39% (11 seats) United Torah Judaism (Ashkenazi Ultra-orthrodox party) 6.13% (8 seats) Yisrael Beytenu (Avigdor Lieberman's party) 4.36% (5 seats) United Arab List (Ra'am) (Mansour Abbas' party (that was in Lapid's previous coalition government) 4.34% (5 seats) Hadash-Ta'al - 3.93% (5 seats) Labor 3.56% (4 seats) Meretz 3.19% Balad (Arab party) 3.03% Jewish Home - 1.16% B'Omtez Beshvilcha - 0.32% Economic Freedom 0.29% New Economic Party 0.28% Tzeirim Boarim 0.16% One other thing that led to the right wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu getting a majority this time was that it was two of the more left wing parties (Meretz and the Arab Balad party that did not end up clearing 3.25% of the popular vote that is required to get any seats in the Knesset the Israeli Parliament. Under Israeli election law is any party in an Israeli election does not end up getting at least 3.25% of the popular vote they don't get any seats in the following session of the Knesset and their votes are distributed among all the parties that did get at least 3.25% of the popular vote in proportion to the % of the popular vote those other parties received.
Anyway all these and probably some other things resulted in the end of this election with Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party and his right wing allied parties of the ultra-orthodox Jewish religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism and and the religious Zionist (wanting Jewish or Torah biblical law or principles in the land of Israel applied or upheld supporting) party of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich getting about 64 seats in total out of the 120 seats available in total in the Israeli parliament. Therefore they will likely be asked first by the existing Israeli president Isaac Herzog to form a new government (also because Nethanyahu's Likud party got the largest number of seats in this election of any individual party with about 32 seats.) Netanyahu and his Likud Party and his coalition government proposed included parties will have some time I think about 2 weeks from the election date to agree on a government (what they finally decide on what parties to include and what ones not to in their proposed government coalition.) Then if Netanyahu and his government succeed in forming a government coalition by that date (that now seems likely) they will have to determine amongst themselves what leading members of each of those parties get what cabinet or other positions in the upcoming session of the Knesset for the coalition government. (There has already been some requests and demands from both Netanyahu and his Likud Party and the leading members of the coalition partner parties for some specific cabinet posts.) When those cabinet or perhaps other committee leadership positions have been selected or agreed on for different members of the proposed coalition government they will be ready to govern for the next session of the Knesset Israeli government.
One of the biggest or most notable results from this election, perhaps even greater than the re-election of a right wing coalition under Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party is the increase in the share of the popular vote and number of seats for the religious zionist party (more devout, including to the Jewish land of Isrel, mostly Orthodox Jews or Israelites). This is partly due to the general growing trend of support for Messianic ideology in Israel that in this case is a belief based quite a lot on the Bible especially the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures or Tanach that the time of rule of the nations or Gentiles on Earth will end with the coming of the Israeli Messiah (Annointed One or Christ) who will come to Earth to rule the world from restored to God and prominence in the world and to more faith in God Israel or the Jews and that this world rule of the Messiah or King of the nations or God in some form will be based and especially through Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish or Israelite people as God's chosen earthly people based on covenants He made with them, including to give them authority over Jerusalem including the Temple Mount and the rest of the land of Israel in covenants or agreements with them in the Hebrew scriptures through their leading ancestors or fathers Moses, Abraham and David. Some of these religious Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox Jews count these treaties or covenants God made with their ancestors in the Hebrew scriptures the Holy Bible as more important that recent or current world international agreements including about who has authority over what parts of the Holy Land the Jewish Israelites, the Palestinian Arabs, the Jordanian Arabs or the government or people of any other mostly Gentile or non-Jewish nation.From a dispensational evangelical Bible prophecy perspective that among other things supports a last days long-term restoration of Israel (as well as a short last days demonic world ruler the beast or antichrist) the most important thing about this Israeli election is that if this coalition government in Israel holds together for some time, probably for at least a year and especially if there is some real power such as important cabinet posts given to members of the religious zionist party of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. I think Smotrich might want the Education Minister cabinet minister position and Ben Gvir wants and has definitely has for the Internatal Security post that includes leadership of the police in Israel, including Jerusalem and on and around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, there could be quick progress towards a main condition in Bible Prophecy for the end this current Church Age or Age of Grace (and main time of the Times of the Gentiles or non-Jewish nations as dominant in the world) and progress towards Israel being the head (leader) not the tail of the nations. (They think there is literally nothing other than their Messiah and King of the nations to come or be manifest on the Earth to happen before these things become a reality but myself and other evangelical Christians who support the restoration of Israel (what some people sometimes in a derogatory sense call Zionist Christians) believe there has to first be the completion of the Church's part of the Great Commission (to complete the task Jesus gave the Church to win some people of every nation (that I believe to be the 70 nations from Noah in Genesis 10 but many other Christians believe to be about 12,000 people group or ethnic nations) to saving faith in God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ upon which realization the complete Church will then be raptured or caught up to heaven or resurrected from the dead and caught up in their new resurrection spiritual body and caught up to heaven or Christians who have physically died since Pentecost in about 33 AD. We believe that right after the rapture of the Church God will shift His plans of salvation etc. on Earth from the true Church to His chosen earthly people Israel starting by allowing them to get re-familiarized with the Levitical sacrifical system in a physical temple that the Antichrist or the prince that will come or he who causes abomination will allow them to build on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as probably part of a wider Middle East treaty that will immediately give him more world acclaim for accomplishing something world leaders have failed to do in over 7 decades of trying since 1947 or 1948 when Israel became a nation again. The Jews that want to build the temple again and have more prayer to the God of Israel the true God and God of the Bible especially on the Temple Mount and to praise or worship him there or teach or hear His word on the Temple Mount such as the Orthodox Jewish groups The Temple Mount Faithful, the Temple Institute and others of The United Temple Mount Movement and some other religious zionists such as politicians oriented that way such as those in the Religious Zionist Party or the Otzma Yehudi Party of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are all set and would welcome with open arms most proposals from a Messianic type of individual that would allow them to rebuild their fully functioning Jewish Temple or House of the LORD or HaShem on the Temple Mount or Har HaBayt (Mount of the House (of God)) in the Old City of Jerusalem in part of what the Jews call their eternal and undivided capital of Jerusalem but what the Palestinian and Jordanian Arabs, some other Muslims of the world and much of the globalist and international community such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the G20 or Group of 20, the Democratic Party of the US and the European Union and the Arab League believe the Old City of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount is all part of East Jerusalem that should be controlled or administered by the Palestinian Arabs or Jordan under United Nations agreements or other international Middle East peace proposals such as the Oslo Accords or 2 State solution. Elsewhere according to the Bible the Jews or Israelites or at least about 1/3 of the ones who go into the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel mentioned with the false peace that will allow them to rebuild their temple in Daniel 9:27 will come to be restored to God and His Son Jesus Christ by the end of the tribulation Zechariah 13:8-9, Zechariah 12:9-14, 14:1-12, Malachi 3:1-3, 4:1-6, Romans 11 and Revelation 11 partly through the two Jewish witnesses that believe in Jesus who will be Elijah and either Moses or Enoch. We believe that the Antichrist or Beast and all the current ungodly, secular, selish and this life prioritized or antichrist world system will be defeated at the end of the 7 year tribulation as well as the devil and all other demons by God coming in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ to judge the world (system) and establish His visible kingdom with the believing remnant of Israel, the true Church and the saved of the nations over all the Earth based in Jerusalem for a thousand years before doing that forever on the new earth in scriptures such as Revelation 19 to 20, Zechariah 14, Revelation 5:9-13, 7:9, Jude 14-15, Matthew 26:62-65 etc. In view of these major prophetic events closer than ever and perhaps this recent Israeli election results setting the stage even more for some critical aspects of these last days bible prophecy to be fulfilled very soon and that will affect everyone on earth now I urge you dear reader if you haven't already done so to acknowledge that you are also a sinner before God in our as human beings being sinfully inclined in nature and practice from the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and to trust in God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for all our sins and resurrection from the dead to enable us to part of God's new creation, resurrection life and spiritually and eternally restored children to have a relationship with our Creator God through Jesus and His Holy Spirit in this life according to His word the Holy Bible especially the New Testament and be ready to be taken to heaven soon at the rapture of the Church or go in spirit to heaven if we die physically before that and not have to go through God's wrath and Satan's rule on earth in the 7 year tribulation or God's eternal wrath for our sins for people that haven't received God's love by His grace or undeserved favour through His righteous payment for all our sins through His Son Jesus and so it won't be a time of judgment at the Second Coming of Jesus to Earth at the end of the tribulation or time in hell or the lake of fire for you in your sins for eternity instead of everlasting life and joy in Jesus in the New Jerusalem, the New Earth and the new Heavens after enjoying the 1000 year Millennial or Messianic Kingdom.
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Part 13 Israeli Palestinian Conflict