US Israeli-Palestine policy makes dramatic shift

Posted on Thursday, 28 March, 2013 by Richard Barker

Obama to Palestinians: Accept the Jewish State

Policy shift challenges the core of Arab resistance

Under the above headline and lead-in published as Tuesday’s ‘Editor’s Pick’ in the Washington Times, leading Middle-East analyst Daniel Pipes opens with.:

One key shift in U.S. policy was overlooked in the barrage of news about Barack Obama’s eventful fifty-hour visit to Israel last week. That would be the demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, called by Hamas leader Salah Bardawil “the most dangerous statement by an American president regarding the Palestinian issue…

in his Jerusalem speech last week, Obama suddenly and unexpectedly adopted in full the Israeli demand: “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.””

Pipes is of the opinion.:

That sentence breaks important new ground and cannot readily be undone. It also makes for excellent policy, for without such recognition, Palestinian acceptance of Israel is hollow, indicating only a willingness to call the future state they dominate “Israel” rather than “Palestine.”

The one-page article is very instructive, albeit concise, in its overview of the history of modern Israel and minimal on reference to America. If any reader is unfamiliar with these important facts then I recommend their reading the article (here). It is updated to include reference to hostility to Obama’s speech from a London-based Arab editor.

Obama’s fledgling mentor

Last weekend’s Inside the White House from Bill Koenig reports.:

A naïve, idealistic and inexperienced 35-year-old is molding Obama’s Middle East foreign policy, which is leading the region to Armageddon –

How could that be? President Obama, who had very little real-world experience before he took the office, apparently doesn’t fully understand the great importance of surrounding himself with experienced Middle East staff.

Bill refers to Mark Landler of The New York Times’ article, Worldly at 35 and Shaping Obama’s Voice; ‘Benjamin J. Rhodes, a 35-year-old deputy national security adviser with a soft voice, strong opinions and a reputation around the White House as the man who channels Mr. Obama on foreign policy, has had a very significant hand in some of the great failures in the Middle East in the last three years and nine months.’

Landler reveals that Rhodes first came to prominence after he wrote Mr. Obama’s landmark address to the Muslim world in Cairo in June 2009. The speech was notable for President Obama’s assertion that governments should “reflect the will of the people,” prefiguring his policy in dealing with President Hosni Mubarak and Colonel Qaddafi.’

Koenig adds, ‘The speech Obama gave to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt in 2009, was filled with inaccuracies, falsehoods and total distortions, and was obviously written by someone unfamiliar with the region, the long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the depth of conflict between the Shiites and the Sunnis.

‘Just think’, writes Koenig, ‘Obama spoke to the Muslim world with a speech written by a young ideologue with very little real world experience, a speech that he gained much credit for, which further led to his responsibility for preparing and writing Obama’s major address to the Israelis this week.

‘Rhodes wasn’t even born at the time of the Six-Day War of 1967 or the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Furthermore, he’s had a major influence on some very serious decisions that have had horrible results…’

[Koenig’s in-depth critique of Obama’s Cairo speech is here, my briefer points here.]

Postscript: As ever, Carolyn Glick’s insights and reservations made in advance of the visit make for an interesting read; see Obama’s mysterious visit. Also, my recent post on Raymond Stock covers the issues in some depth.]

Prophetic Perspective

From my perspective this is a most interesting development and yet another to thank the Lord for in answer to the prayer request and prophetic words published late last year. (See original post, with developments here and here.)

UPDATE 25 April: see Viscount Samuel, Meet Secretary Hagel by Daniel Pipes for news of Secretary of Defense Hagel turning over a new leaf regarding Israel.

Butties and coffee with Raymond Stock

Posted on Tuesday, 5 March, 2013 by Richard Barker

Having closed the previous post by recommending Raymond Stock, I thought to take him (rather, his paper) to lunch in the garden-room downstairs. His article had come to me from the Middle-East Forum at the end of January and had remained flagged in my in-tray – until today.

Somehow I got one of those inexplicable ‘nudges’ and saw it buried in the mass of email and checked it out. It was eminently fitting for the matters in-hand – no surprise! Having run off a pdf-copy I read it whilst yet again munching (ham ‘butties’ on fresh bread I’d baked – and yet another coffee). Continue reading →

Iranian forces are “running” Syria says former Syrian Prime Minister.

Posted on Saturday, 16 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

This latest update on Syria may be part of the scenario to one of the many prophecies by Ezekiel, as in chapter 38 against ‘Gog and Magog’ and which this blog refers to as ‘the Ezekiel Alliance’. For earlier reports click on tags shown below…

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

With the implosion of the Assad regime in full swing, the countdown to the fall of Damascus is on, and Iran is moving quickly to fill the vacuum. Now Riad Hijab — the former Prime Minister of Syria who defected from his senior position in Damascus last August — says that Iran’s military and intelligence forces are “actively running” the nation of Syria.

“Syria is occupied by the Iranian regime,” Hijab told an Arabic media outlet. “Who runs the country isn’t Bashar Assad but Kassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds Brigades [within the Revolutionary Guards].”

Evidence is mounting that Iran and Hezbollah, its Radical Shia terrorist organization, are moving military forces into the country so that if and when the Assad regime finally falls, Iran can fully and quickly seize and consolidate full control. Back in August, when I reported on this blog that Hijab had defected, I also quoted a press repors

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Israeli warplanes reportedly strike targets on Syria-Lebanon border; Israel on high alert over Syrian WMD

Posted on Wednesday, 30 January, 2013 by Richard Barker

Joel reports developments after a week of escalating tensions on the Israeli-Syrian border, especially the weekend’s explosion in an Iranian-Hezbollah convoy in the Golan Heights. Debka reported this put Israeli, Jordanian and US special forces in the kingdom on high alert. Breaking news Wednesday afternoon: the airforce attack prevented handover of sophisticated missiles to Hezbollah. Syria’s Assad has since responded in a detailed statement – visit Debka homepage for latest ‘pre-media’ news. On Monday President Obama was reluctant to prevent Syrian (and ex-Iraqi) chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists – hardly surprising in view of the withdrawal of the US naval fleet. So he left matters entirely in the hands of Middle-East regional powers. The next day all Israel’s armed forces went into a higher state of readiness for conflict as a top Air Force commander described Syria as ‘falling apart’. In addition, Egypt’s Defense Minister said about Egypt, “The political strife is pushing the state to the brink of collapse”. On top of all that, Joel covers reports on a mysterious explosion in Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Perhaps a number of things are moving into place as regards the Psalm 83 confederacy and the Ezekiel alliance (as here)?

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

“Israeli warplanes attacked a target on the Lebanese-Syrian border overnight Tuesday, foreign media reported on Wednesday,” according to a report in the Times of Israel. “While some reports said the purported strike was carried out on the Syrian side of the border, according to one source the target was a weapons convoy that had crossed from Syria into Lebanon. The reports come amid rising concern in Israel and the West regarding the sizable chemical weapons stockpile in the hands of an increasingly embattled Syrian regime. Lebanese officials said a dozen Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday, flying close to the ground in several sorties over southern Lebanon. The Israeli military and the Prime Minister’s Office had no comment. A Lebanese army statement said the last of the sorties was at 2 a.m. Wednesday. It said four warplanes, which flew in over the southernmost coastal…

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Weekend catch-up: Israel and UK, and Iran

Posted on Tuesday, 18 December, 2012 by Richard Barker

DSC_8314 credit-The Commentator Readers and visitors will have noted I often quote the Daily Telegraph. I like a number of its columnists but please don’t assume this reflects my politico-religious view. For example , I’ve noticed lately some reports on Israel don’t reflect what I’m learning from those who have their ear close to the ground, or those who are well informed. The paper’s chief political editor, Peter Oborne, usually writes well but has his critics, one of whom took him to task for his recent criticism of David Cameron’s ‘cowardice’ over Israel.

I came across that criticism on one of my dips into The Commentator and spotted an article entitled Conservative cowardice on Israel? Historian Carly Beckerman-Boys raises this question because,

Peter Oborne’s recent comments on the Conservative Party and Israel are overshadowed by his fundamental misunderstanding of British politics and the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In view of my interest this looked a promising read but I dug first into the original article, The cowardice at the heart of our relationship with Israel. I was thus in a better place to follow the historian’s argument. So, if this topic stirs you why not take a few minutes to read Peter Oborne and then click here for an interesting counter-thrust.

Had I come across Peter’s article in my occasional copy of the paper I would have had some reservations, so I’m pleased to have discovered Carly’s well-balanced answer to his perception of the issue. Another critic and contributor to CIFWatch, Richard Millet, is not so gentle in his solid response! (For Richard’s background click here.)

Iran – the game is over

Forget POTUS Obama’s intentions to discuss nuclear energy and weapons with Iranian leaders – talks are dead in the water! That game is now over according to DEBKAfile because Iran now has enough plutonium for 24 Nagasaki-type bombs! This Special Report opens.:

The secret, one-on-one nuclear negotiations President Barack Obama launched with Iran have run into a blank wall. A senior Iranian team member, Mostafa Dolatyar, said Friday, Dec. 14 in New Delhi that the diplomatic process for solving the nuclear issue with Iran was in effect going nowhere, because the demand that Tehran halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium “doesn’t make sense.”

Debka reports that Dolatyar’s remarks would have been authorised by ‘Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who, through him, posted a message to Washington: If the enrichment suspension demand stands, the game’s over’. The report continues.:

‘After more than 15 years of on-and-off, largely aimless, nuclear diplomacy with world powers and evasive tactics with the UN nuclear agency, Tehran is for the first time showing signs of impatience and not just its usual disdain. This is because two things have changed:

‘1. For all those years, Tehran availed itself of every diplomatic opening for protracted bargaining about its nuclear program for the sake of buying time, free of pressure, to push that program forward. Now, the Iranians are telling the US and Europe that they have arrived at their destination. For them, time is no longer of essence, as it may be for the West.

‘2. The second development was revealed on Dec. 5 by The Wall Street Journal in a short leader captioned “From Bushehr to the Bomb”. This revelation was not picked up by any other Western – or even Israeli – publication despite its sensational nature…’ (Click to read before report is filed to premium content archive. More background here.)

So, as mentioned throughout this year the Middle-East pot continues on the boil. But at least it’s not boiling over – yet!

Furthermore, the Iranians stated that installing an American Patriot missile defence on the Turkish-Syrian border is “meant to cause a world war”. With a massive US, British, French and Russian naval presence in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Mediterranean, Obama has tried to defuse the situation and ‘quietly recalled’ two naval strike groups home from Syrian waters. (Debka Exclusive Report.) And this is without considering the several stockpiles of chemical weapons of mass destruction, or lunacy that continues to break out in the Middle-East.

PROPHETICALLY, NONE OF THESE TROUBLES ARE A SURPRISE. I’m intrigued to muse whether Barack Obama has yet started to take his accredited White Ho journalist Bill Koenig’s wisdom seriously. (First-time visitors click for information about Bill and here for previous posts referring to his work.)

ALSO, we know of an anointed man of God blessed with an evangelistic and healing miracles ministry who heard God say He’s setting the stage for fulfillment of Biblical prophecy > AND we have confirmation from economic cyclical theory > ALL in addition to the fullness of what the Lord Himself said whilst here, and through His holy prophets.

What awesome and exciting days we live in…..

By the way, a bit on the Swiss…

Posted on Wednesday, 24 October, 2012 by Richard Barker

Taking a brief break from redecorating our bathroom to catch up yesterday with online news a couple of items got connected – serendipity again? [Definition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: ‘the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for’.]

I didn’t intend writing yesterday, just to scan dozens of emails but one covered Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s pitch. I’ve often read his articles and realised the importance of this so hastily copied it (as previous post). But this time I had to avoid reading around to get a fuller picture. So I didn’t check out William Hague’s speech or follow the link to Daniel Hannan. (He’s one of the few politicians I have time for. As a Member of the European Parliament he’s well informed and frequently stands up against the EU’s nonsense.) I merely noted the reference to his on Swiss economic arrangements with the EU.

Now, where had I spotted another reference to Switzerland yesterday? It was within the plethora of news items posted on Sunday in John McTernan’s Insights, as follows:

“Muslims enraged by cross on Swiss flag: “Many Muslims feel this Christian slogan is a provocation and an assault against Islam” 10/16/12 The Muslims cannot stand the cross, and this shows how they want to dominate any society that they are in.”

John read in The Local, Switzerland’s News in English, about Muslims objecting to a Swiss International Air Lines advertising campaign simply because of a play on words upon their fleet’s ensign! Journalist Malcolm Curtis explains:

Alluding to its logo, taken from Switzerland’s national flag, the slogan says in German, “Kreuz ist Trumpf”, literally, the “cross is trumps”, or the “cross is a plus”. The words are used in a billboard campaign, launched within the country last month, that highlights the white cross on the back of one of its planes.

Muslims in Switzerland have responded negatively to the advertising, which they believe promotes Christianity over other religions. In Swiss internet forums, Islamists complain that Swiss makes reference to the “cross” and not the “Swiss cross”, Der Sonntag newspaper reported….

Swiss maintains that its ad campaign does not carry any religious or political message. The slogan is, in fact, a play on words, referring to “trumps” in Jass, the popular card game that is strongly rooted in Switzerland, airline spokeswoman Myriam Ziesack told Sonntag.

She said it was unfortunate that the billboard advertising appeared at the same time as the anti-Muhammad American film surfaced on the Internet. “We didn’t intend to make any religious or political statement with this advertising message,” Ziesack said. (See full article and links.)

The time is soon coming when most of these folk will be embarrased about extremists’ viewpoints and want to bring their religion into the 21st century. But as that’s according to the Christian calendar, should that be ‘the modern world’? Objections to a nation’s culture and heritage are not the way to bring peace between people.

Incidentally, about that offensive video, there’s more to it than meets the eye if there’s any credence in investigators claims, writes Palestinian Walid Shoebat (read his latest).

Britain has left the EU in all but name…

Posted on Tuesday, 23 October, 2012 by Richard Barker

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor for The Telegraph, writes today under that headline as follows:

To all intents and purposes, the UK is already out. We stayed still. Europe galloped away without us.

No doubt we can find some elegant formula to paper over the split. As my friend Daniel Hannan puts it, we could devise a Swiss arrangement while pretending that we are still EU members. No point frightening the horses.

For those readers who missed it, the UK is preparing to pull out of almost all areas of “Justice and Home Affairs”, the so-called Pillar III of EU jurisdiction. (Pillar I is the single market, and Pillar II is foreign affairs)

This is revolutionary. We are withdrawing from 130 directives, covering everything from the European Arrest Warrant, the European Public Prosecutor, to the European justice department… <emphasis mine>

As ever, this solid journalist logically yet succinctly makes his case; read here to gain its full impact. It brings some foreboding:

Meanwhile, the EU’s onward march to a banking union, a fiscal compact, and variants of fiscal union have simply left us behind. To whom – by the way – will the new banking union be accountable? To national parlia-ments and courts? Obviously not. It will “answer” to MEPs and the ECJ.

A whole superstate structure is coming into being. It cannot be democratic because there is no European political nation or shared political language, and all attempts to mimic the vibrant democracies of the ancient states have failed. The European Parliament has its charms but it is not a body that can hold a powerful executive to account.

Eurosceptics warned from the outset that EMU was unworkable as constructed. Monetary union would engender crises that forced ever more extreme solutions to keep the show on the road, acting as a powerful catalyst for full political union. They have been entirely vindicated. This is exactly what has happened.

Yet there is welcome relief to come for us in the UK because, in Ambrose’s opinion:

It is now clear that Britain’s decision to stay out of the euro at Maastricht was a de facto decision to leave the EU as well, as Britain’s political leaders feared even then. It has a taken two decades but we can almost all see now that a free and self-governing Britain can no longer be part of the Project.

This is the backdrop to William Hague’s speech this morning, his ‘cri de coeur’, his warning that anger over EU encroachment has reached boiling point. “A great machine that sucks up decision-making from national parliaments to the European level until everything is decided by the EU. [Click for report on Foreign Secretary’s speech in Berlin.] That needs to change. If we cannot show that decision-making can flow back to national parliaments then the system will become democratically unsustainable.”

Obviously, nothing is about to flow back. The EU is going headlong in the opposite direction. What Mr Hague is really doing is preparing the ground for withdrawal.

In concluding, he forecasts the next few years will probably be stormy, yet:

once the boil is lanced, we may find that our relations with Europe improve dramatically. The moment that the EU no longer threatens our laws, our parliament, our democracy, and our way of life – that is to say, the moment we take the stone out of our shoe – almost all hostility will drain away. We can all become lovers of Europe again. Good fences. Good neighbours.

YET, even so, I surmise that the trend towards global monetary union will not leave this nation to one side – unless the Living Lord God has other plans…

Israel v. Iran – possibility of breakthrough?

Posted on Thursday, 11 October, 2012 by Richard Barker

Someone has observed that when a nation is attacked then internal divisions disappear and its people act in unity against the aggressor. (If you know the reference source for this remark, please refresh my memory.) By this principle unscrupulous leaders, eg. of totalitarian regimes, have been known to provoke conflict with another nation in order to distract their public from severe internal issues that bring a great risk of internal unrest and rebellion. Perhaps that’s now the case with Iran?

Last weekend brought Israel close to the brink of war as over 55 missiles and mortars were fired into Israel from Gaza and an Iranian unmanned surveillance helicopter flew over highly sensitive installations. The Israelis conducted cyber-warfare against it and it was shot down. Debka reported the barrage was the outcome of a new Hamas-Iran accord (see Is the Mid-East coming to the boil?) and in several reports that Israel has been highly embarrassed by the deliberate act of Iranian belligerence. On top of that, Hezbollah was so confident of success that it published plans to attack Israel from the Golan and Lebanon. Then came speculation of an American and Israeli ‘surprise’ this month!

Amidst all this will be lots of disinformation, but Iranian leaders have promised to be taking action soon. But could all the above-related events be a distraction to provoke Israel into attacking Iran as a knee-jerk reaction and thereby uniting the Iranian public?

There have been reports of public protests and demonstrations in Tehran because of the severe economic downturn the country is suffering. It is on the verge of collapse, and nothing could definitely divert the people’s attention like a ‘jolly’, ‘holy’ war! The people have experienced tough suppression a couple of years ago and if they riot this time would be determined not to lose again – maybe the mad–mullahs will be over-thrown?

Mike Evans has reported this week that these developments are being given serious consideration. Dare we hope for a non-violent solution to this situation – one in which the hand of the Lord is seen? Here’s food for thought from Mike’s valued insights (also see my postscript comment):

The Power of Prayer is Working

Dear Richard,
During my recent trip to Israel, I met with over 41 leaders in the nation. Afterwards, I flew to New York to defend Israel at the UN and confronted the Iranian leaders that were raging against the State of Israel.

Israel’s leaders were fully prepared to courageously attack Iran’s nuclear reactors. Some of the top leaders in the Jewish state told me that the attack was already scheduled between September 15th and October 15th . In the midst of this, the amazing has occurred: Iranian people are rising up, and the economy of Iran is on the verge of collapse due to international sanctions. Because of these events, Israel will not attack before the end of the year.
From my perspective, this has been a direct result of the power of prayer. An attack before the US elections would have resulted in Israel being blamed, and would have placed the nation squarely in the crosshairs of every legislator in the party that loses the election. It would also have created a global economic crisis because of oil flowing through the Persian Gulf. Liability would have fallen on Israel.
The key to understanding Israel’s actions can be found in II Samuel 11:1: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel.”
If Iran experiences a “Persian Spring” much like the Arab Spring, and Admadinejad’s regime is overthrown, Israel will not attack. When Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke courageously at the UN concerning the “red line,” his team was negotiating with Great Britain, France, Germany, and the US, asking for new sanctions against Iran. The top European leaders agreed and will make proposals in the areas of finance, trade, energy, and transportation in Brussels on October 15th. I’ve been told by the highest level of officials in the Israeli government that Iran’s loss of income is between $40 and $50 billion.
The last time this occurred, the Shah of Iran was overthrown. That was confirmed when I interviewed all the top leaders of the country, including Empress Farah Pahlavi and Ambassador to the US, Ardeshir Zahedi. The Iranian rial has lost 80 percent of its value in twelve months. The bazaars in the nation are going on strike, and the people are demonstrating. I can tell you firsthand that not all the top Iranian leaders were given visas to enter the US in September. I am referring particularly to the mullahs who run the country. In addition, Iranian spies who have been meeting in the hotels for the past four years were not in attendance this year. I believe many have been arrested.
Perhaps one of the most telling examples are the Iranian women. In past years, they have gone to the top stores in New York City to shop. That did not happen this year. Instead, the men would return from pharmacies and hardware stores with purchases including boxes of over-the-counter drugs.

Is the Middle-East coming to the boil?

Posted on Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 by Richard Barker

Copy of email circulated yesterday and today about Israel, Iran and Jordan:

YESTERDAY (Monday)

Friends, to keep you in the frame, this update focuses [first] upon Israel and Iran.:

I was amazed this morning to learn that my merely passing thoughts at the foot of this thread, just after my quoting Mike Evans, could have been accurate! [See blog version of Thursday’s email for that reference.] Btw, he’s said to be the only Christian to have confronted Iranian pres. Amadmanjihad last year in New York, where the Lord helped him get through high-security guards. He intends to do so again this week whilst the Iranian’s attending the UN General Assembly. [US House of Representatives passed motion requesting UN not allow him to speak on holy day of Yom Kippur!]

Breaking news today from New York quotes the Iranian president’s lying threat,

“Iran has been around for the last seven, 10 thousand years. (Israelis) have been occupying those territories for the last 60 to 70 years, with the support and force of the Westerners. They have no roots there in history.

“We don’t even count them as any part of any equation for Iran…During a historical phase, (the Israelis) represent minimal disturbances that come into the picture and are then eliminated.” (Reuters’ 1st report; my emphases)

The weekend before last I’d been mulling over media quietness during Rosh Hashanah holy days as perhaps the ‘still before the storm’, and praying there would be no surprise attacks upon Israel.

Thus, my remarks at the close of previous email were merely meant as an observation about Israel ’obviously taking precautions against being caught napping’. Yet little did I know it was the very same afternoon when newly released papers revealed a massive intelligence failure at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, as Joel Rosenberg reports:

Thirty-nine years ago this month, Israel was surrounded by enemies threatening to annihilate her. But Israeli leaders did not take the threats seriously enough, and did not order a pre-emptive strike to neutralize the enemy’s military capabilities. [Read The Times of Israel article on this severe lesson.]

Last weekend’s news:

Yesterday [Sunday], Reuters reported a Brigadier-General in the Republican Guards as stating on Iranian TV that:

Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel if it was sure the Jewish state was preparing to attack it…we can not imagine the Zionist regime starting a war without America’s support. Therefore, in case of a war, we will get into a war with both of them and we will certainly get into a conflict with American bases.

Also, the station paraphrased him as saying:

“Iran will not start any war but it could launch a pre-emptive attack if it was sure that the enemies are putting the final touches to attack it.”

Furthermore, Rosenberg advises that, for the first time, Iran’s highest-ranking military official (minister of defence) has tied the forthcoming confrontation into ‘the era of The Coming’ of the Hidden 12th Imam, or Mahdi. Thus, Iran’s leaders are expecting a highly significant war to facilitate that event and thereby introduce a global Islamic caliphate. (See Joel’s post here and my previous overview.)

BUT JUST AS OMINOUSLY, the general alluded to various means of response which would implicitly include last week’s ‘binding commitment’ by Hamas leaders in Gaza to join Iran, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon in military action against Israel.

Debka’s exclusive military sources (here) disclose the agreement’s detailed and precise directives would make Palestinian Hamas defer to Tehran and not to Cairo’s Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, and instructs them to stop obstructing Iran’s proxy in the Gaza strip.

Thus, we can see Iran’s influence is extending westward like a demonic talon through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza around Israel, whose only trouble-free border is with Jordan. This development will doubtless affect the Egypt-Israel relationship and their counter-terror operations in Sinai, the border of which was breached during Friday’s shootout. Egypt’s new rulers are unable to control or contain Islamist terrorism in Sinai. Therefore, Israel’s latest massive exercise should be regarded in this light, and which left two battalions on the Syrian border!

America’s lack of influence/interest continues to be demonstrated by president Obama’s latest, and as some infer, unhelpful remarks towards Israel, as Debka reports here.

Thank the Lord what’s going in the world doesn’t hinder us from keeping our eyes on Him, and looking to His return – maranatha!

TODAY (Tuesday)

Further to yesterday’s update, this morning’s on-line headline corrects my reference to Israel’s only ‘trouble-free border’, viz :

Jordan on the brink: Muslim brothers mobilize for King Abdullah’s overthrow

Another ‘exclusive’ from Debka reports:

For Israel, an upheaval in Jordan bodes the tightening of the Islamist noose around its borders – Egypt and Libya to the south and Syria to the north, with unpredictable consequences with regard to Jordan’s Pales-tinian population.

Saudi Arabia, already threatened by Iranian aggression, fears the oil kingdom may be next in line if its northern neighbor is crushed under the marching feet of the “Arab Spring.”

The Debka report goes on to analyse the monarch’s plight and his three options, refers to the knock-on effect upon Saudi Arabia and succinctly surmises Obama’s quandary – will he stab yet another staunch ally in the back for the sake of the lynchpin to his outreach to the Muslim world, their Cairo-based brotherhood?

You may recall my reference in Jan 2011 (‘Talks leaks’ aka ‘Palestinian papers’) to:

calls for the overthrow of Jordan’s government (Egypt next?) …Perhaps, therefore, we may soon see whether or not Christian commentators upon the prophesied Psalm 83 Middle-Eastern war and fulfilment of Obadiah 15 are proved correct??’

Psalm 83 (click to read psalm)

In Bible Prophecy Blog of April 1st 2012, Bill Salus refers to the increasing interest in Psalm 83, which he describes as “a prophecy in progress”. His article notes and lists the six primary requirements stated in the psalm that need to be in place before all the nations surrounding Israel ‘wipe out its people…that the name of Israel be remembered no more’ (vv2-4). Six months ago he observed that ‘all six of these prerequisites are in place’ and foresaw with precise perspicuity that:

Apart from fragile peace treaties between Israel and Egypt, and Israel and Jordan, the Psalm prophecy essentially appears to be on the verge of fulfilment.

Many pundits believe that the new majority Islamic fundamentalist parliament of Egypt will soon abrogate the 33 year old peace agreement with Israel. Should Egypt break peace with Israel, there are few that believe Jordan will covet the lone-wolf position of being the only remaining Arab state that possesses a peace accord with Israel. The legitimate concern is reflected in the adage; “As goes Egypt, so goes the rest of the Middle East.”

What Bill describes has indeed started to happen, as is clearly evident from Egypt’s new, Muslim Brotherhood president Morsi’s attitude towards the peace treaty. With today’s exclusive news, we can now expect radical changes in Jordan this year…

To gain a good insight into the Biblical significance of what’s happening read Bill’s lucid, 4-page exposition Psalm 83 – A Prophecy in Progress. (His blog: prophecydepot.com)

The Lord bless you and keep you.

> John McTernan’s Daily Digest commentary of Sept 25th and his several news links.

> Nick Gray in The Commentator on the effect of Morsi’s attitude on the peace treaty. (He writes for Christian Middle-East Watch, a voice coming from the Church in Britain, aiming to bring balance and truth to debates and issues concerning the Middle-East.)

Update 14th Oct: Robert Spencer; Egyptian Copts overwhelmed by “anxiety and fear”, see Muslim Brotherhood government as “worst in memory”.

Historically significant week for the Middle East

Posted on Thursday, 20 September, 2012 by Richard Barker

This brief update is offered in case you may be unaware of developments in the Middle-East. Those who relish detail will enjoy getting their teeth into Bill Koenig’s chronology of events from a perspective of US-Israel relations, Eye-to-Eye: Week of 9-11-12. It has a brief overview. (Also see recent post about his Alert anticipating trouble according to cyclic theory.) Here’s my update:

An unprecedented ‘armada’ of American, British and French naval power is focusing once again upon protecting the Strait of Hormuz (see Telegraph) – this separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman, as in map below.

Barnabas Fund reports growing concern for Christians in countries rocked by violent protests against an offensive movie trailer on Mohammed. According to a number of experts, however, it’s a pretext for Islamist action on several fronts – eg. Raymond Ibrahim and Caroline Glick, here and here respectively. [NB: see update below on investigation into possible terrorist involvement in production of this video in order to commit an outrage.]

Solid grounds for this conclusion as regards the attack in Libya are given in a press release by the London counter-extremism think-tank Quillam Foundation. (Quillam’s founder, ex-hardline Islamist Maajid Nawaz, gives a most informative interview in The Counter Islamist. Their website explains how they are working to change attitudes.)

Also, Mudar Zahran, a Palestinian writer and Jordanian academic resident as political refugee in the UK, reports upon the ‘textbook Islamist’ who ignited the rage by running an Egyptian tv show about the movie. (Thank you Tembisa at World Chaos.) Also, The Telegraph reports that this presenter’s,

inflammatory chat show on satellite television has long prided itself on baiting liberals, Christians and Jews, but last week saw Sheikh Khalid Abdullah stage the broadcasting controversy of a lifetime.

In view of all the hysteria, however, there’s been a news blackout in mainstream media about two places – Sinai and Israel.

Debka reported on Friday and Sunday fierce Al-Qaeda led military attacks in Sinai, one of which was against the 1000+ Multinational Force’s camp established to monitor the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. There, a Colombian battalion protected Americans. Then on Monday I received an email from Mike Evans stating,

“I have received an email from a friend and supporter of the Jerusalem Prayer Team who lives in Jerusalem with an urgent message about massive troop movements underway in Israel. The scale of the mobiliz-ation is like nothing this family has seen in more than twenty years in the Jewish state.”

There have been a number of such reports, which may be disinformation, or as some well-meaning folk think – a hoax! It may be that Israel was taking precautions against being caught napping during the Rosh-Hashanah holy days. However, news of a ‘snap military exercise’ in the Golan Heights did at last surface yesterday morning in a Debka ‘exclusive’ and later in The Telegraph.

Today, we learn about enemy troops moving into the territory across Israel’s northern border, ie. Iran is pouring troops into Syria to bolster Assad and thereby threaten Israel (as here). Link both ‘blackout’ news items with the supposed ‘hoax’ and we can tell that good intel’ had alerted and activated the Israeli military – there’s no smoke without fire!

Events are proceeding at breakneck speed!

ALSO SEE copy email update about these closing remarks!!

Update 27/9: Former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Walid Shoebat, claims on his blog that the offensive video trailer was, in all likelihood, produced as a terrorist scam. This renowned peace activist arrives at that conclusion after examining contradictions and falsehoods within the media accounts, plus his own previous investigations into the characters and his connections in and direct knowledge of the Middle-East. There are far too many facts that can’t be married up!

Keep looking to the Lord…

Well fancy that – US Democrats fall out over Jerusalem!

Posted on Thursday, 6 September, 2012 by Richard Barker

A couple of intriguing items are currently running on World Watch Daily and which I’m copying below in view of rumours of undue influence from the Muslim Brotherhood’s US affiliates, eg. as on the occasion reported in this post.

Dem. Party Heads Ram Through Pro-Israel and ‘God’ Language, Steam Roll Opposition — (video shows the chaos)!!

“Democratic party heads rammed through the revised platform, which includes
updated pro-Israel language and the mention of God, which required a 2/3’s voice
vote, against the clear wishes of those voting at the convention in Charlotte.”

The night the Democrats lost control of the Israel message

“Proposed changes regarding Jerusalem and the mention of God are met with boos by
convention delegates” – read analysis here.

The video clip is well worth watching – it’s quite amusing – especially when we recall the Living God’s promise to prophet Zecharia (see Zech 12):

And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

News Alert: The third straight Republican Convention disrupted by a major storm.

Posted on Monday, 27 August, 2012 by Richard Barker

To view this alert on online click here.

August 26, 2012

Dear Richard,There were two major record-setting, billion-dollar hurricanes at the time of the 2004 (Frances) and 2008 (Gustav) Republican Conventions. They literally became the main news stories up to and during the Republican Convention.

Tropical Storm Isaac, soon to be Hurricane Isaac, has disrupted the 2012 Republican Convention.

On Tuesday, August 21, the Republican platform committee voted to add the “two-state” position pertaining to Israel’s land for formal approval at the convention; this was the same day Isaac formed as a tropical depression.

For detailed information on these events and corresponding activities please CLICK HERE.

William Koenig
White House Correspondent Koenig’s Eye View from the White House
A weekly in-depth news report that is delivered on Friday which offers a concise and informative behind-the-scenes perspective.To review a sample
copy click here.
Click here to subscribe.

Koenig International News

Biblically-relevant news with an emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and other key areaswatch.org

Update 3 of 3 – the Middle-East

Posted on Tuesday, 21 August, 2012 by Richard Barker

Since the brief reference in the latter half of my earlier post on the BBC a great deal has been rolling on regarding Israel and Iran. So I will summarise below all I know, which means this will be a full posting. But first, this morning’s ‘hot off the press’ news:

Two Hamas spies arrested among PA chairman’s personal guards – Debka exclusive reports American, Israeli and Palestinian security services were deeply shocked with the realisation that they had been passing Mahmoud Abbas’s closest secrets to their Hamas controllers for many years. The fact that they had been planted under cover within the Palestinian leader’s 170-strong personal guard has compromised the security standing of his entire national security force of 6 battalions (4000 members).

That security force, Debka comments, “…may be riddled with Hamas undercover agents and an unknown number of sleeper cells awaiting orders to spring into action (also that) high-ranking officials consider all of Abbas’ most confidential political, intelligence and financial moves and private communications with Arab, Israeli and Western personal-ities must be accounted an open book to Hamas.” (The radical Hamas rules the Gaza Strip as a bitter rival of Abbas’ Fatah-led administration in Ramallah). The selection and screening of the whole Palestinian security force was the responsibility of American and British agencies!

In my opinion this will throw yet another spanner into the ‘peace process’ but is not at all surprising in view of two reasons:

my guess as to “a major shaking of the Palestinian leadership” at the start of the Arab Spring. Perhaps Hamas spies were responsible for the ‘talks leaks’?
the long-running political incompetence of Western leadership’s failure to grasp and understand Islamist terrorism.

Now, back to my post about ‘Bibi’s Secret War Plan’, or ‘Shock and Awe’ Israeli-style. William Koenig also reported upon:

Natanyahu’s advisors livid about president Peres’ belief on necessity of US support.
Defense Minister Barak asserts decision against Iran must be made now.
Israeli ambassador Oren’s opinion that strike worthwhile.
Former US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s advice for Israeli not to advise White House in view of many leaks therefrom.
Obama has made offer Netanyahu cannot refuse of more defence aid to delay attack

He also cited various voices in opposition to Israel acting against Iran, viz:

US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dempsey refers to Israeli inability to destroy nuclear capability. (Also see detailed analysis here.)
Haaretz’ senior editor draws attention to likelihood of major tragic mistake.
Former IDF chief of staff against Israel lead, better for USA to thwart Iran.
petition to Israeli fighter pilots to refuse to obey orders.
Fatah Palestinians say Netanyahu using Iran as distraction in peace process.

My Footnote referred to Iranian declarations of Nazi policy. Google reported 18 Aug:

Ahmadinejad’s diatribe against Israel in his Quds (Jerusalem) Day address was the latest in a long line to have drawn criticism from Western governments. “The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour,” he said.

“The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land…. A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists,” he said. His declarations were followed within a couple of days by supreme leader Khameini’s unequivocal support.

Debka reported on 16 Aug that the White House had urgently contacted PM Netanyahu to arrange a meeting with President Obama at September’s UN General Assembly. See this exclusive report on strength of activity for and against proposed Israeli action, as well as calls for expulsion of Iran from UN and IMF.

18 Aug – US National Security Council, UN Secretary General and the EU’s foreign affairs High Representative Ashton all strongly condemned Iranian vitriol and hatred. Reuters reports ‘Catherine Ashton’s language was unusually forthright for the West’s chief negotiator over Iran’s nuclear program’. The agency quotes the statement issued by her spokesman that Ashton:

Strongly condemns the outrageous and hateful remarks threatening Israel’s existence by the Supreme Leader and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel’s right to exist must not be called into question. (my emphasis)

18 Aug – “White House this week scrambles to reconnect with Jerusalem after Obama administration was persuaded that Israel is serious about conducting a Fall military operation against Iran’s nuclear program before the Nov 6 US presidential election”, ie. notwithstanding heavy opposition at home and in States. Proposed UN meeting now overtaken by events and Israel presents 4-point plan for delaying attack, all of which require formal action by Obama (see Exclusive Report). Debka’s sources report that Obama has not objected or rejected this plan. [Note: this is a major breakthrough for PM Netanyahu in view of the continual personal opposition he has been confronted with from Obama.]

19 Aug – Silverstein writes Israel Official refuses to deny authenticity of …document.

20 Aug – US General Dempsey tells reporters, while on a flight to Afghanistan, that he understands Israel’s urgency in calling for action against Iran’s nuclear program. “They are living with an existential concern that we are not living with,” he said according to AFP. Israel and the US see the Iranian threat differently, admitting that Washington and Jerusalem are on “different clocks” regarding Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. [Note: Israel has always been far ahead of USA, which lacked on-the-ground intelligence.] In fact, USA had recognised Israel’s claim that Iran could produce its first nuclear device by October – this year!! (see Exclusive Report.)

LATEST 21 Aug – Western intelligence sources recognise that the likely way to avoid destruction of Israel (whether they attack Iran now, later or not) would be “to disable Iran’s nuclear program by going after its leaders”!! Perhaps it’s a better option than full-scale war, and much less costly. Iran’s goal is to eliminate Israel no matter what, so attack is the best form of defence – unless the Lord sovereignly steps in.

To understand the perilous nature of events we need to have a full appreciation of what is actually happening. You may, therefore wish to consider the latest news, in the form of a Debka special video presentation with textual copy – from those who can often have access to news prior to its breaking into mainstream media (if the BBC can handle it).

Further connected developments are reported in this Postscript.

About the status of Jerusalem

Posted on Tuesday, 7 August, 2012 by Richard Barker

If anyone isn’t sure why potential contender for the Oval Office Mitt Romney caused a stir by his remarks about Jerusalem made during his recent visit there, let’s consider the situation in more detail. Please refer to the brief previous post and watch its very short video-clip from Times of Israel. A short US news transcript on this may be read here.

First, let’s never forget the prophetic Word of God:

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling…On that day when all nations of the earth are gathered against her. I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to remove it will injure themselves…” (Zecharia 12:2-3, also referred to in earlier post here.)

Jerusalem is renowned for its place in religious history and since Israel liberated it from Jordan in the 1967 war it has changed from semi-dereliction to a thriving city. Inter-nationally, however, it is regarded as a disputed territory with Israelis and Palestinians vying for eventual oversight through the supposed ‘peace process’. It’s complicated, so let’s check what others more qualified than me say about Romney’s speech:

Experts’ Commentaries

1. Drew Zahn, a Christian columnist, explains:

The controversy over the nation’s capital exists because many Jews, as well as many of Israel’s supporters around the world, have long understood that Jerusalem is more than just the capital of the country, but the heart and soul of the Jewish people’s understanding of returning to the land of their forefathers.

And even though the presidential residence, government offices, supreme court and Knesset are located in Jerusalem – designated as the capital city by Jewish law – the United Nations doesn’t recognize Jerusalem’s place, and most nations’ embassies, therefore, are located in Israel’s northern city of Tel Aviv. In fact, not a single nation on earth diplomatically recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Even the U.S., long considered one of Israel’s most faithful allies, has fudged its position on the capital controversy as incoherently as Carney answered the press corps. For example, in 1995 Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, a resolution supporting recognition of a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and declaring “the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.” But the act has yet to be carried out, as President Clinton’s administration believed the act was an unconstitutional invasion of presidential authority. No president has yet to act on the 1995 resolution.(Read full article Suddenly, All Eyes Are On Jerusalem.)

2. Deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC, Carolyn Glick has served on the Israeli team during peace negotiations and is highly regarded for her incisive analysis. Thus, on this matter she provides the following insight before proceeding to deal with Palestinian complaints:

…The law granted the president a right to postpone the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on national security grounds. But the law’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was unconditional (my emphasis).

In noting Romney’s very mild criticism of Palestinian society, Carolyn refers to their nonsensical attitude on several issues and cites how they bite the hand that feeds them:

The EU is the largest financial backer of the PA. Its policies towards Israel are in complete alignment with what the purportedly moderate Palestinians claim they want in a peace deal with Israel, including the partition of Jerusalem [….] And yet…for simply upgrading EU trade ties with Israel, Palestinian for Dignity announced its members “will organize to protest the latest manifestation of EU complicity and to challenge its presence and operations in Palestine”.

For how the Republican contender’s policy statements compare with those of Barack Obama’s Administration, especially as applied to the re-election campaign, read her full article Israel – Obama’s ‘Wedge’ Issue.

Carolyn’s opinion on Romney’s speech is ever so brief and may been read here just before the speech’s video on her blog.

3. Founder of The Middle-East Forum who warned of the likelihood of the 911 attack, Daniel Pipes referred to Romney’s rousing political speech as follows:

(He) delivered a ‘stem-winder’ of a speech to the Jerusalem Foundation yesterday, packing emotional support with frank policy statements. The contrast with Obama could hardly be more dramatic. Indeed, one could go through the speech and note the many refutations of Obama….

Also, in contrast to the nonsensical Obama administration stance on Jerusalem being Israel’s capital — sneaking into change captions that mistakenly identified it as that and going through verbal gymnastics to avoid calling it that — Romney came out and plainly called Jerusalem “the capital of Israel”.

For Daniel’s concise summation of the speech see his article in National Review Online, The Corner.

4. Mike Evans, close personal friend of PM Netanyahu for many years, tells about the Israeli’s 35 year-long friendship with the Republican Romney in A Tale of Two Kings.

The two politicians are exceptional among today’s officials. It would be challenging to find two men of such prominence with a similar history. It would also be difficult to envision a world leader who would be more in tune with Israel’s welfare. Romney has already signified that he would be hesitant to make noteworthy determinations about the Jewish state without first conferring with Mr. Netanyahu. This would be an utter about-face from the lackadaisical policies displayed by current US President Barack Obama.

Has your mainstream news fully reported on this? See Not on the 10 o’clock News.

NOTE TO WHITE HOUSE: JERUSALEM IS THE ETERNAL CAPITAL OF ISRAEL

Posted on Wednesday, 1 August, 2012 by Richard Barker

A suitable follow-up to my last post on a personal revelation of the Jewish Messiah…

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

“White House spokesman Jay Carney refused to state the U.S. position on the location of Israel’s capital during a press briefing, Thursday, despite several requests for clarification from a pair of reporters,” reported the Times of Israel. “The exchange, caught on video and uploaded to YouTube, quickly made the cyberspace rounds as the latest example of world bodies’ refusal to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” Click here to see the video. Just to be clear, Jerusalem — not Tel Aviv or any other city — is the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish people. “I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel,” declares the Lord God Almighty (2 Chronicles 6:6). “He has founded his city on the holy mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.” (Psalm 87:1-2) “Jerusalem, the city which the Lord has…

View original post 28 more words

Iranian Leader: We must prepare for the “End Times”

Posted on Thursday, 19 July, 2012 by Richard Barker

Best-selling author Joel is well known for organising Epicentre Conferences which focus upon the politics in the Middle-East, especially Israel, from a Biblical perspective (more here). In this post he calls attention to an important matter which many cannot yet grasp – the End-Times.

See my subsequent post Iranian leader’s End-Time declaration, and Joel’s Exclusive; Ahmadinejad’s End-Time speech to the UN in which the most detailed explanation of the Twelth Imam to date is given and UN leaders are told the Mahdi will “soon” reign over the world.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

(Jerusalem, Israel) — My friend Reza Kahlili published this fascinating and sobering article this week and I commend it to your attention. Reza used to be an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Then he became a double agent for the CIA. Now he is an American citizen who is using his contacts and sources in Iran to gather information to expose the evil regime in Tehran and bring them down before they acquire nuclear weapons and try to usher in the reign of the Twelfth Imam.

Excerpts:

Iran’s supreme leader, for the first time, is telling his nation that it must prepare for war and “the end of times” as it continues to develop nuclear weapons. State-owned media outlets, in a coordinated effort, all ran a similar story Friday highlighting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s message on the coming of the last Islamic messiah.
Until now, the Iranian…

View original post 169 more words

Is Netanyahu signalling a pre-emptive strike?

Posted on Thursday, 3 November, 2011 by Richard Barker

COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’).:

Re below – developments in this serious saga with Iran warrant our closer observation. Therefore, I’m widening circulation beyond friends who watch out for Israel.

Whether current developments are a psychological ploy or not, at long last this deeply critical issue has moved away from Israel’s’ go-it-alone option and into international involvement.

For further details on yesterday’s news please see Joel’s subsequent fuller report here. Of relevance on this side of the ‘pond’, I espied today’s Guardian headlines, UK military steps up plans for Iran attack, following last night’s special report from Debka’s inside sources. These suggest that Israel’s role may be purely that of tactical readiness for self-protection rather than active involvement.

Richard

=================

From: Richard Barker

Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 3:18 PM

To: Undisclosed Recipients

Subject: Fw: [New post] SPECULATION GROWING ABOUT POSSIBLE ISRAELI FIRST STRIKE AGAINST IRAN:

Friends – The following development has been expected for some time, but I’d draw your attention to Joel’s personal observation in 3rd para below.

Also, this afternoon Debka reports the conclusion of an Israeli-Italian air exercise as well as testing a new nuclear-capable missile and extensive preparations in central Israeli for missile attacks. The region’s getting hotter…

.
==================

From: Joel C. Rosenberg’s Blog

Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 12:37 PM

Subject: [New post] SPECULATION GROWING ABOUT POSSIBLE ISRAELI FIRST STRIKE AGAINST IRAN: Netanyahu warns Israeli parliament about Iran nuclear threat, says “a security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone.”

SPECULATION GROWING ABOUT POSSIBLE ISRAELI FIRST STRIKE AGAINST IRAN: Netanyahu warns Israeli parliament about Iran nuclear threat, says “a security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone.”

by joelcrosenberg

Israeli PM Netanyahu speaking before the Knesset on Oct. 31, 2011.

Speculation in Washington and the Middle East continues to grow about a possible Israeli preemptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. This is in part because Iran is getting closer to building nuclear warheads, in part because of remarks Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to the Knesset on Monday about the Iran threat, in part because former Vice President Dick Cheney recently speculated about an Israeli first strike, and in part because the Obama administration is publicly pressuring Israel not to hit first.

“If I had to summarize what will happen in our region, I would use two terms: instability and uncertainty,” Netanyahu told his parliamentary colleagues Monday. “The collapse of Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, the bloody incidents in Syria, the American forces leaving Iraq, the new government in Tunisia, the upcoming elections in Egypt and many other events – these are all expressions of the immense changes occurring around us. These changes can increase the instability within these countries, and the instability between countries….A nuclear Iran would pose a terrible threat on the Middle East and on the entire world. And of course, it poses a great, direct threat on us too….A security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone. It must also include offensive capabilities, which is the very foundation of deterrence. We operate and will continue to operate intensely and determinately against those who threaten the security of the State of Israel and its citizens. Our policy is guided by two main principles: the first is ‘if someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first,’ and the second is ‘if anyone harms us, his blood is on his own hands.'”

I’ve never heard Netanyahu discuss those two principles before (RB’s emphasis) — they certainly lay the moral and strategic framework for preemptive military action, both against the Hamas terrorists that are firing rockets and missiles at Israel from Gaza, and against state enemies such as Iran.

Such developments echo major plot points in my new political thriller, The Tehran Initiative, but this is not fiction. Could a major new war in the region be coming later this year, or early next? It’s too early to say, but there is little question that senior Israeli officials are now actively weighing such an option, or that the Obama administration is deeply opposed. What would a Republican president do differently that President Obama to neutralize the Iran threat? That remains to be seen as none of the GOP contenders has yet offered a major policy address focused on the Iran issue.

Haaretz: Netanyahu: A nuclear Iran poses a serious, direct threat to Israel — PM warns of dangers threatening the world and Israel if Tehran obtains nuclear weapons; Netanyahu also speaks about recent escalation in south, promises to retaliate those who harm Israel
Ynet News: U.S. fears unilateral Israeli strike on Iran
Israel defense chief: Iran our main threat
Barak: Israel has not already decided to strike Iran— “Amidst a flurry of recent reports regarding a possible Israeli attack against Iran, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not already decided that Israel will conduct such a strike.”
Haaretz: Israel warns West: Window of opportunity to thwart Iran nuclear program is closing
Senior Israeli official: Iran is massive threat that must be dealt with
Fmr. Vice President Cheney says Israel may have to attack Iran
Washington Times: Israeli prisoner swamp may be prelude to attack on Iran
Fears an excluded Israel may strike Iran’s nuclear sites
Iran leader says US troop exit “golden” for Iraq
Since Sat (Oct 29), 38 rockets have been fired from Gaza at southern Israel
Iran demands apology from US over Saudi ambassador ‘assassination plot’
Tensions growing inside Iran — Iran parliament to question Ahmadinejad over fraud

Watchers, watch out – a plot may be about!

Posted on Wednesday, 26 October, 2011 by Richard Barker

COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’).:

Dear Friends,

Today, Wednesday, I got a newspaper for once:

one top-headline reads Eurozone talks break down as Merkel rejects rescue deal and the inside business paper puts it, Markets dive aid eurozone chaos

On Monday, Reuters’ item Vatican calls for global authority on economy gave a well edited, concise report about its Justice and Peace Department’s proposal. .

Here are a few points from that summary:

“The Vatican called on Monday for sweeping reforms of the world economy and the creation of a ethical, global authority to regulate financial markets as demonstrations against corporate greed continued to spring up in major cities across the globe…

The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence,” said the Vatican document…
The Vatican called for the establishment of “a supranational authority” with worldwide scope and “universal jurisdiction” to guide economic policies and decisions. Such an authority should start with the United Nations as its reference point but later become independent and be endowed with the power to see to it that developed countries were not allowed to wield “excessive power over the weaker countries”…

Most laudable as all this may be, particular points under sub-head Effective Structures are illuminating:

One section of the document explained why the Vatican felt the reform of the global economy was necessary and called for specific reforms such as taxation of financial transactions.

In economic and financial matters, the most significant difficulties come from the lack of an effective set of structures that can guarantee, in addition to a system of governance, a system of government for the economy and international finance,” it said…
In fact, one can see an emerging requirement for a body that will carry out the functions of a kind of ‘central world bank’ that regulates the flow and system of monetary exchanges similar to the national central banks,” it said. The document acknowledged that such change would take years to put into place and was bound to encounter resistance.
Of course, this transformation will be made at the cost of a gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world authority and to regional authorities, but this is necessary at a time when the dynamism of human society and the economy and the progress of technology are transcending borders, which are in fact already very eroded in a globalised world…”

And Sunday saw an item headed New euro ‘empire’ plot by Brussels about the European Council president’s plan for a new ‘United States of Europe” with a single Treasury based in either Frankfurt or Paris!

Recalling the explanation Daniel was given for his visions, and Jesus’ prophetic words as well as the revelation Father gave to Him (Rev 1.1), we recognise what may be indicated in those proposals together with current events – Is this combination a unique confluence of religious and political purposes moving towards the same goal?

What do you think, my friends?

As Christian watcher John McTernan states in his Daily Digest of Monday:

“The Vatican jumps right into the one-world economy with a statement that is right out of an end-times prophecy book! What truly amazing times we are living. The pope is calling for a new economic order with a central world bank based on fairness and honesty!!!“

A Brief Refresher

If a potted summary of teaching would be helpful, please click on Discerning The Times and the link therein for Matt Leasher’s study The End of The Last Days.

I like his retrospective treatment of scripture,. He writes as though were already in the Lord’s Millenium reign and, like a TV news commentator report’s upon what’s already happened; but, as ever, I take remarks concerning the Rapture carefully.

For example, Leaser omits to mention that Paul states the great apostasy within the Church, which is already under way, will definitely precede the appearance of the ‘Son of Perdition’. Both those events and the stupendously terrifying miracle of the worldwide resurrection of deceased believers would occur before our being ‘snatched’ upwards. (1Thess 4.15 & 2Thess 2.3).

Matt closes with Luke 21.28, which is personally pertinent for its relevance to Jesus rescuing me:

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Would you join me?

Richard

(God-incidentally as I closed, Handel’s Zadok the Priest started on my pc – quietly leading into the anthem “Long live the King!” Hmmmm)

Breaking news on Ezekiel 38 alliance

Posted on Thursday, 14 July, 2011 by Richard Barker

EXTRACT from two pre-blog emails (as in ‘About’):

FASCINATING how the Bible continues to be relevant for today!

If you’re familiar with Ezekiel 38 then maybe you’ve wondered if it relates to current events and what would come out of the melting pot – maybe the outcome would be different to what the holy prophet wrote? This could be inferred from the recent change in Turkey’s position regarding Israel, but there’s a good likelihood that’s only a temporary expedient in view of the existing close ties to Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran’s been secretly beavering away to produce nuclear weapons, as you may recall from William Hague’s announcement a fortnight ago. Here’s what DebkaFile wrote about Russian involvement, and gave our gov’t some credit:

Conspiracy Of Silence Over Four Iranian Nuclear-Capable Missile Tests

In early October 2010, Russian intelligence learned that Iran was about to begin test launches of missiles for carrying nuclear warheads. They reported this to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He then took three steps: He conveyed the information to US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and bound them to secrecy. With their pledges in hand, he used backdoor intelligence channels to persuade Tehran to refrain from bragging about its dramatic progress and keep the tests of the nuclear-capable missiles quiet in order to avert a world outcry against the violation of all their international commitments.

The Iranians bought the deal. In this way, the Russian leader raised a wall of silence around Iran’s advances towards ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and pre-empted condemnations, Security Council action, and other forms of American, European and Israeli action for keeping a nuclear bomb out of Iranian hands. This was the last straw – at least for the British government. Hague, in consultation with Prime Minister David Cameron, went public about what Iran was really up to with a statement to parliament.

[My emphases; 30 June report archived at http://www.debka.com/article/21076/ ]

Also, this morning’s on-line Jerusalem Post reports –

Russia Lays Out ‘Step-By-Step’ Approach On Iran – WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday laid out a “step-by-step” approach under which Iran could address questions about its nuclear program and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions…The target is to hold the talks in Moscow the week of July 25, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Isn’t it fascinating that all four participants of the Ezekiel 38 alliance are intimately and concurrently involved in scripturally significant events?

Are the prophesied pieces of an ‘invisible jigsaw’ beginning to fall into place?

YET far better is the wonderful news of the Lord appearing to many in these areas, particularly in Turkey AND IRAN…more on this another time.

May He continue to bless you and keep you

Richard

Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 6:24 PM Subject: Re: Rewind re. Turkey

Hold on, back to square one? Well not quite…

Despite relatively welcome news in last weeks’ update, whilst tapping out its close I had reservations over the long-term likelihood of matters improving between Turkey and Israel. This is because the Ezekiel 38 alliance is not ancient but modern, as may be inferred from activities between Russia, Iran, Libya and Turkey. The last, with Syria, embraces the region of the ancient peoples of Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togmarah….

Now, Turkey’s PM Erdogan has stopped the reconciliation because the UN inquiry into those events has ruled favourably upon the legality of Israel’s blockade…Recriminations ensued but Western diplomats believe this won’t stop the two countries working together. Perhaps because Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama are hoping to pull off an Israeli-Palestinian summit in Paris for 2nd Sept? However, this important development depends upon concluding the Libyan war! (…archived report at http://www.debka.com/article/21091/) …

The Gravity of Current Events

Posted on Saturday, 26 February, 2011 by Richard Barker

COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’).:

Dear Friends,

Further to my very brief references recently to the dangers behind the unrest in the Middle-East, (ie. effect upon our world economy and secret alliance between Sunni-Shia extremists) I would draw your attention to the opening paragraphs of the following alert. It is worth taking seriously because Iraq’s biggest oil refinery was blown up just this morning! [Details: http://www.debka.com/article/20710/]

Last week, Iran’s leader announced that the region’s revolutions are the work of the coming, hidden 12th Mahdi.

“The final move has begun. We are in the middle of a world revolution managed by this dear (12th Imam). A great awakening is unfolding. One can witness the hand of Imam in managing it,” said Ahmadinejad. [Full report at http://www.france24.com/en/20110211-us-israel-will-soon-exit-middle-east-ahmadinejad ]

The removal of America and Zionism from the Middle East will then lead to the global caliphate! BUT we know the Lord High God’s plans regarding the true messiah, our Lord Jesus.

As Bill Koenig at the White House reports last night,

“With events transpiring at a breathtaking pace in Israel, the Middle East, the United States and the rest of the world, it is becoming extremely challenging keeping up with the weekly news activity.”

Also, the potential for President Obama’s impeachment has increased, says a former Speaker of their House of Representatives, because of his sudden announcement not to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act, contrary to his constitutional duty!

Richard

From:
Jerusalem Prayer Team

Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 10:41 PM

To: Richard Barker

I just hung up from a conference call with a leading Israeli expert on radical Islam, and I must share what he told me

Dear Richard & Janina,
I just hung up the phone from a one-hour conference call with a leading Israeli expert on radical Islam. This brilliant man has spent years studying the plans of Muslim terrorists, and he advises governments around the world on dealing with this crucial threat. This was my third conference call this week with the world’s leading experts on the Middle East and Islamic terrorism. I must share what I have learned with you.
Radical Islamists have decided that democracy is the key to achieving their dream of world domination. They are using the Internet and social networks to overthrow the governments of the Middle East. There are many people who genuinely want freedom and democracy, but they are being used by evil men to gain power to use against Israel and America. The liberal left US media is blindly assisting these efforts aimed at our destruction.
Their goal is to create a catastrophic global economic meltdown. They believe that the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, can be overthrown through “democratic” revolution (like the one that brought Khomeini to power in Iran in 1979) and that they can destroy the oil production and delivery system that powers the entire world economic system. Everything—food, clothing, medicine, military power and transportation—depends on oil. Cutting off the oil supply will be like a heart attack for the world.
Hundreds of millions of poor people in Third World countries could starve to death as a result, but the Islamists regard that as an acceptable sacrifice to conquer the West. The world economy will collapse if this plan comes to fruition. No one will be able to stand against the rise of Islam.
The nations of the world are ignoring this reality, instead continuing to pursue their policy of appeasement by working to create a Palestinian state at great cost to Israel. The plan is for the UN to unilaterally and officially proclaim a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. This action will be taken not far from where Islamic terrorists flew fuel-laden airplanes into the World Trade Center Towers and killed 2,752 innocent men, women, and children and almost exactly ten years after that dreadful attack.
We have launched the “Save Jerusalem” Campaign—a national media initiative to sound the alarm to alert Bible-believing Christians to the danger posed by this plan…and to urge them to join us in speaking out against it. But I urgently need your help. It will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and begin airing this national prophetic television special.
But I have some great news! A lover of Israel has stepped forward and promised to match every donation we receive for this effort. Your gift today will be doubled! Praise the Lord!
CLICK HERE TO HELP US SAVE JERUSALEM
Nations have already begun to jump on the bandwagon: Argentina, Bolivia, Guyana, and Uruguay have announced that they would join with Brazil and many other nations in recognizing Palestine as an independent nation.
This is a battle between politics and prophecy. I can say with every assurance if this is passed, every nation that curses Jerusalem will be cursed by God Almighty. The prophet Zechariah described a curse that will come upon the nations who touch Jerusalem. God says He will seek to destroy the nations that come against the “apple of His eye”—Jerusalem.

Dr. Mike Evans with Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, in December, 2010.

While I was in Israel seven weeks ago, I met with virtually every Israeli leader including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, two deputy prime ministers, the Speaker of the Knesset, and more than twenty of its ministers. I had dinner with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, met with my old friend Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa, eleven generals, and over half of Israel’s college presidents. The one thing I heard over and over was their concern over the demonic plan I am about to share with you.

Dr. Mike Evans and Benjamin Netanyahu in 1983.

No Christian ministry has defended Israel longer than ours. From the day I shared a prophecy with Prime Minister Menachem Begin that Benjamin Netanyahu would be prime minister of Israel twice and asked Mr. Begin to give him a position in the government until now, we have stood strong in defense of Israel.
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT ISRAEL DURING THIS GROWING CRISIS

“For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent …” (Isaiah 62: 1, 6)
A baby will be born in September—just seven months from now. That’s two months less than it takes a woman to carry a child to full term. That baby will be Islamic state number 45 with East Jerusalem as its capital. The UN will officially proclaim its birth, and the world will joyously celebrate with billions of dollars and deafening applause.
In 2001 just before George Bush took office, Bill Clinton attempted to divide Jerusalem. I said then that God’s hand of protection would be lifted from our nation. I said Osama bin Laden would attack the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, and in fact, wrote a book—The Jerusalem Scroll in 1999—depicting an attempted attack. I saw it in the spiritual realm. Politicians scoffed at me when I told them—like the people of Noah’s day scoffed at him.
Today, I am alerting you that this plan is in place. As a member of the Quartet—along with the UN, the EU, and Russia—U.S. President Barack Obama is the only leader with a chance to stop this disaster from taking place. There is still time to save Jerusalem, but only if we act quickly.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION TO SAVE JERUSALEM TODAY
I have written a major book on this crisis—Cursed. I want to send a copy today to everyone who gives a gift of $30 or more to support the Save Jerusalem Campaign.
My plan is to produce a major network documentary on this crisis for U.S. television and to air it on thousands of stations across the U.S.—on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and others. We must awaken millions of God-fearing Christians and Jews to pray and sign the prayer petition to President Obama now. We dare not wait!
I have produced more than a dozen of these specials in the past thirty years. I can tell you: It will work! One of the first was “Let My People Go” to help secure the release of millions of Russian Jews in the USSR. This was before anyone else was talking about it.

Mike and Carolyn Evans with Dean Jones and Tom Poston.

Millions of Americans saw it. It won major awards. More importantly, I presented a million names to President Ronald Reagan and asked him to petition the Soviet premier to let the Jews out of prison. He did, and they were released. I also asked a Dutch government official to open up the Dutch Embassy in the Soviet Union to assist the Jews wanting to leave. He did, and they were allowed to leave the country. To God be the glory!
It will cost millions in air-time to wake-up America; but if we do not do it, it will cost America hundreds of billions … if God’s hand of protection is lifted from our beloved nation. I believe if enough can be raised to launch the project, book sales will underwrite the air-time costs.
Please pray about being a part of this project today to save Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
CLICK HERE TO HELP US SAVE JERUSALEM
In conjunction with this media special, we are also launching a massive petition drive to urge President Obama to reject this evil plan and prevent God’s curse from falling on our nation by standing in support of Israel. There are millions of Christians in America. If we will collectively raise our voices and speak out, we will be heard, and Jerusalem will be saved!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE JERUSALEM
We can’t launch a major media initiative like this without your help. The costs are large, and the time is short. I’m asking you today to send a special, prophetic and sacrificial gift to help the Jerusalem Prayer Team stand for Israel against the powerful forces arrayed against her.

When you send a gift of $30 or more, we’ll send you a copy of my newest book, Cursed. It’s an eye-opening look at the history of the Holy City and the ancient evil driving today’s world leaders to strike against the Jewish people. This book will tell you what the liberal media won’t—the truth about Israel and the Middle East.
When you send a gift of $100 or more, we’ll send you the book and a new pewter collector’s plate made especially for members of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.

This beautiful piece can be hung on the wall of your home or office or displayed on the included stand. It’s a great reminder of your commitment to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and a great way to share that commitment with others.
CLICK HERE TO STAND FOR THE HOLY CITY AND SUPPORT THE JERUSALEM PRAYER TEAM
I urge you to forward this email to everyone on your list and ask them to join with us. This is urgent. We must act now. Thank you for standing for Jerusalem and Israel at this crucial prophetic moment. God bless you!
Your ambassador to Israel,
Dr. Michael Evans

The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a non-profit, non-denominational, 501c3 organization dedicated to developing a prayer movement of people around the world. It receives no support from the Nation of Israel. Donations are tax deductible. The mission of the Jerusalem Prayer Team: To guard, defend and protect the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael until Israel is secure, and until the Redeemer comes to Zion. Dr. Tim LaHaye, Mr. Pat Boone, Mr. Bill McCartney, Rev. Tommy Tenney, Dr. A.R. Bernard, and Dr. Jay Sekulow are just a few of the more than 300 Christian Leaders who are part of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.
In the event that all the required funds are received for a specific project, the Board of Directors reserves the right to use any additional funds received for other projects or outreaches of The Jerusalem Prayer Team.
Visit Jerusalem World News: http://myjwn.com
Do not reply to this email. Please address email inquiries to memi@jpteam.org. To discontinue your membership automatically, please scroll down to the very bottom of this email and click on the discontinue link. You joined this list as Richard & Janina Barker at the following e-mail address: richardbarker@talktalk.net . You must use the correct e-mail address to discontinue your membership.

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Richard's Watch

Looking for the signs of Jesus' return

Tag Archives: #Geopolitics

US Israeli-Palestine policy makes dramatic shift

Butties and coffee with Raymond Stock

Iranian forces are “running” Syria says former Syrian Prime Minister.

Israeli warplanes reportedly strike targets on Syria-Lebanon border; Israel on high alert over Syrian WMD

Weekend catch-up: Israel and UK, and Iran

By the way, a bit on the Swiss…

Britain has left the EU in all but name…

Israel v. Iran – possibility of breakthrough?

Is the Middle-East coming to the boil?

Psalm 83 (click to read psalm)

See also:

> John McTernan’s Daily Digest commentary of Sept 25th and his several news links.

> Nick Gray in The Commentator on the effect of Morsi’s attitude on the peace treaty. (He writes for Christian Middle-East Watch, a voice coming from the Church in Britain, aiming to bring balance and truth to debates and issues concerning the Middle-East.)

Historically significant week for the Middle East

Well fancy that – US Democrats fall out over Jerusalem!

News Alert: The third straight Republican Convention disrupted by a major storm.

Update 3 of 3 – the Middle-East

About the status of Jerusalem

NOTE TO WHITE HOUSE: JERUSALEM IS THE ETERNAL CAPITAL OF ISRAEL

Iranian Leader: We must prepare for the “End Times”

See my subsequent post Iranian leader’s End-Time declaration, and Joel’s Exclusive; Ahmadinejad’s End-Time speech to the UN in which the most detailed explanation of the Twelth Imam to date is given and UN leaders are told the Mahdi will “soon” reign over the world.

Is Netanyahu signalling a pre-emptive strike?

SPECULATION GROWING ABOUT POSSIBLE ISRAELI FIRST STRIKE AGAINST IRAN: Netanyahu warns Israeli parliament about Iran nuclear threat, says “a security philosophy cannot rely on defense alone.”

Watchers, watch out – a plot may be about!

Breaking news on Ezekiel 38 alliance

The Gravity of Current Events

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Psalm 83 (click to read psalm)

See also:

> John McTernan’s Daily Digest commentary of Sept 25th and his several news links.

> Nick Gray in The Commentator on the effect of Morsi’s attitude on the peace treaty. (He writes for Christian Middle-East Watch, a voice coming from the Church in Britain, aiming to bring balance and truth to debates and issues concerning the Middle-East.)

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See my subsequent post Iranian leader’s End-Time declaration, and Joel’s Exclusive; Ahmadinejad’s End-Time speech to the UN in which the most detailed explanation of the Twelth Imam to date is given and UN leaders are told the Mahdi will “soon” reign over the world.

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