Sunday, December 2, 2012

...AND THE BEAT GOES ON


“The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday endorsed an upgraded U.N. status for the Palestinian Authority, despite intense opposition from the United States and Israel. The resolution elevates their status from "non-member observer entity" to "non-member observer state," the same category as the Vatican, which Palestinians hope will provide new leverage in their dealings with Israel.” CNN International Edition

So the United Nations violates earlier UN agreements and recognizes the rights of a Palestinian “non-member observer state” while the Palestinian Charter still retains language calling for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel, a Member State of the United Nations. The timing of this status change could not come at a worse time. It emboldens those who are determined to use terrorist violence to further their cause.

On Saturday, Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Israel  a "terrorist state" while speaking during a Turkish-Arab Forum in Istanbul, AFP reported.

So the constant drumbeat goes on.

What has happened in the last 60 days? Let me mention just a few things that lead me to believe that there is a coordinated effort by Islamist to provoke a war:

·      On October 6, 2012, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) shot down an unmanned drone in Israeli territory. It had entered Israeli airspace from Gaza, having been first tracked by the IDF over the Mediterranean. It was most likely an act of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.
·      On November first, Iranian jets fired upon a U.S. unmanned drone over International Airspace over the Persian Gulf.
·      As of November 2012, over 2,256 rockets have been launched at Israel from Gaza by Hamas militants (Iranian allies) since January 2012. While most of the rockets have been fired from Gaza, some have been fired from Egyptian Territory.
·      Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were targeted in defiance of what Binyamin Netanyahu had previously referred to as a “red line.”
·      On November 11, 2012, a mortar was fired into Israel’s Golan Territory by the Syrian Army (Iranian allies). On the 12th, another mortar was fired by the Syrian Army and Israel responded by destroying the mortar battery. On that same day an IDF soldier was shot from the Syrian side. He was not seriously injured.
·      On Sunday, November 25, 2012, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah stated Hezbollah (Iranian allies) “would fire thousands of rockets into Israel in any future war and target cities in the country’s heartland.”
·      On November 29th, the United Nations elevated the status of the Palestinian Authority from "non-member observer entity" to "non-member observer state." The Palestinian Authority and a coalition of 50 Muslim countries and nexus of states whose interests are contrary to the United States and Israel such as Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba and others pushed this status change.

The Worldwide Media continues to frame the Palestinian/Israeli conflict as if these were two grumpy neighbors, but the strongest neighbor (Israel in this case) is always depicted as a bully and over-responds since more Palestinians are killed than Israelis. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel’s responses are ALWAYS done with extreme care to target the Palestinian terrorists that are attacking them. The Terrorists, however, have innocent families, children, buses, street cafes and synagogues as their primary targets!

There is neither moral equivalence nor “practices” equivalence in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict and the constant drumbeat of “this side did this and this side did that” plays into the worst nature of those who are anti-Semitic.

As people of faith in God’s sovereignty we must PRAY for peace. As citizens of the world we must ACT for peace. Our actions and prayers must be a contrary drum beat to that of the worldwide media. This beat MUST go on!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.