Response to the death of Hamas terror leader Sinwar
There was satisfaction inside Israel at the news of the killing of Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. He died on the first day of the Jewish Succoth (Tabernacles) holiday, which is interesting because the war he set off with the October 7th invasion of Israel happened on the last day of Succoth in 2023.
However the war goes on and there are still about 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza, being kept in appalling conditions, creating enormous grief for the people of Israel. IDF soldiers continue to face daily danger of death and wounding, while opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon grows ever stronger around the world.
Melanie Phillips writes: “The battle with Hamas is also far from over. It may have been destroyed as a serious military threat to Israel, but it still has weapons and troops that can continue to do great harm and it still poses a mortal threat to the IDF soldiers who are steadily rooting it out from its many remaining bolt-holes. Most important, the key part of the war still remains to be won—against the Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria; in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria where Israeli troops are battling daily against a terrorist infrastructure posing a mortal threat from within the Israeli heartlands; and above all against the head of the snake itself: the Islamic regime in Tehran.
More profoundly, although Sinwar is now no more, the evil he perpetrated has not died with him. Sinwar didn’t create this evil. He was the product of it, and was one of its many diabolical avatars. What created him was fanatical, genocidal Jew-hatred, the desire to remove Israel and the Jewish people from the face of the earth as an Islamic religious duty—the evil that animates the Palestinian Arab cause, the evil that has taken thousands of Jewish and Israeli lives without remission for the past century, the evil that has infused what the Palestinian Arabs have taught their children for generations: that their highest and most sacred calling is to kill Jews and take all their land.
This evil has not just corrupted the Palestinian Arabs but has also taken monstrous root throughout the west. Its media outlets pump out Hamas propaganda and blood libels demonizing and delegitimizing Israel through the Palestinian cause. This cause has fried the western brain with a psychopathic, murderous narrative that masquerades as justice and compassion. It has created followers in the west with minds sealed shut against truth and morality, and turned others into shallow and confused fellow-travellers. They may believe they are supporting the rights of “oppressed” Palestinians but what each and every one of them is supporting—including, tragically, too many diaspora Jews—is a creed of murderous Jew-hatred.
This profound evil is now everywhere in the west. It is promoted throughout the institutions of civil society—in the medical and legal professions, among welfare workers, trade unions, university lecturers and students, the civil service, the literary, theatrical and artistic worlds and throughout the Church of England. It is systematically robbing Jews of their own history, obscenely turning the supreme victims of genocide into the alleged perpetrators of genocide and turning the victims of the Holocaust into the perpetrators of a holocaust—demonizing Jewish victims as victimizers to delegitimize them as the prelude to erasing them from the world.”
Melanie Phillips https://www.jns.org/the-killing-of-yahya-sinwar/ Originally published as melaniephillips.substack.com.
Christian friends of Israel must continue to stand by Israel and pray for her welfare and victory in the fight against evil that it is arrayed against her.
Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack
Since Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1st, Israeli officials have been promising that there will be a very strong military response, but at the time of writing (21st October) that response has not yet happened. There is some speculation that it could include a strike on Iran’s nuclear programme or Kharg Island, site of the oil terminal vital for Iran’s export of oil and its economy. Some Israeli politicians are also talking of helping the Iranian opposition to topple the Islamic regime.
The US Biden administration has been urging Israel to show restraint by limiting its strikes to military targets only. However Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that Israel, not the US will decide how best to retaliate against Iran’s aggression. Russia, which is in an alliance with Iran and has military bases and troops in Syria, has also sent a strong warning to Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.
Now it has emerged that someone high up in US intelligence leaked information about Israel’s plans for retaliation against Iran. Classified Pentagon documents were posted on an Iranian-linked Telegram channel and circulated online on 19th October. They are marked top secret and have markings indicating they are meant to be seen only by the US and its “Five Eyes” allies — Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. They indicate that on October 15 and 16, the Israeli Air Force recently conducted exercises to prepare for a potential strike on Iran in response to the Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier in the month. While the documents did not provide a detailed picture of Israel’s intentions, a U.S. official called the leak “very concerning”.
If or when Israel does strike Iran, the Iranians will no doubt counter attack Israel and then the Israelis could strike Iran even harder than they did the first time. Thus far Israel’s anti-missile system has been remarkably effective in knocking out Iranian missiles, but there is the potential for an all out war with incalculable results.
UN resolution on ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’
The UN ramping up its attack on Israel. Most representatives walked out of Netanyahu’s speech on 24th September, when he gave a compelling reason why Israel has to take the action it is doing against Iran’s terror proxies. He accused Iran of being responsible for the dire situation in Middle East today and also accused UN of hypocrisy and antisemitic bile because of its constant attacks on Israel.
The UN General Assembly has adopted a Palestinian-drafted, non-binding resolution demanding Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months. This means the UN is saying that Israel is occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip against international law. Therefore it should withdraw all military forces and settlements from the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and from East Jerusalem, making way for the establishment of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza.
In the words of UN: “The only viable path towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East is through the two-State solution — with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, in line with international law, the Charter of the United Nations and relevant UN resolutions.” A number of EU countries have recognised the State of Palestine including, Ireland, Norway and Spain. The Saudis have put forward a peace plan which would bring recognition of Israel by the world’s leading Sunni Muslim power in return for a viable Palestinian entity being set up.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said giving the Palestinians a state at this time would be a reward for the massacre of October 7th, which, he said, was supported by 80% of the Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza. It would also place Israel in great danger if the Palestinian Authority takes full control over the territory of Gaza and the West Bank. It continues to support terrorism against Israel and educates its citizens to hate the Jewish people and state with the ultimate aim of destroying them.
Bible students will recognise the connection with these prophecies:
‘Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 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.’ Zechariah 12.2-3
‘For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.’ Joel 3.1-2
Turkey calls for alliance with Russia, Iran and Syria against Israel
Turkish President Erdoǧan said that Russia, Iran and Syria should do more to protect Syria’s “territorial integrity.” “It is essential that Russia, Iran and Syria take more effective measures against this situation, which poses the greatest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity,” Erdoǧan said when asked about the recent alleged Israeli airstrike in the nation’s capital, Damascus. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike in the Mezzah neighbourhood in Damascus on October 8th.
Since the start of the Gaza War last October, Erdoǧan has increasingly attacked Israel and sided with Hamas. He refused to condemn Hamas, saying. “Hamas is not a terror organisation. It is waging a battle for its land.” He condemned Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza, calling Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza.”
In July, Erdoǧan appeared to threaten an invasion of Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza during a party speech: “We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these things to Palestine. Just as we entered [Nagorno-] Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we cannot do. Only we must be strong.” He also called for an “alliance of Islamic countries” to stop “Israeli arrogance.”
Some Bible researchers have identified an alliance of Russia, Iran and Turkey as being the fulfilment of biblical prophecy in the War of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-9).