TIME TO CONNECT THE DOTS

Sadly, there is no more chance to bring peace to Israel and Gaza than before. Hamas leaders now admit that they did kidnap and murder the 3 Israeli teenagers back in June. It was this act, along with the firing of thousands of missiles that initiated the recent conflict in Gaza.

Three weeks ago, a few of the thousands of rockets that have been fired from Gaza landed south of Jerusalem around Bethlehem and Gush Etzion. Shrapnel fell a short distance away from the bus stop from which the three teens were abducted in June.

Now NBC News has reported: "A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip. Saleh Arouri told a conference in Turkey on Wednesday that Hamas's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, carried out what he described as a ‘heroic operation’ with the broader goal of sparking a new Palestinian uprising. 'It was an operation by your brothers from the al-Qassam Brigades,' he said. "

“A heroic operation.” The abduction and murder of Eyal Yifrach,19, Gilad Shaar,16, and Naftali Fraenkel,16, is a “heroic operation”in the minds of these terrorists. Hamas does not want peace; they want to destroy Israel…men, women and children.

So, let’s try to connect some dots:

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the ones who beheaded American reporter Jim Foley this week and who are prepared to kill another, are the same people who have murdered hundreds of Christians and other religious minorities in the past few weeks. They have openly declared their intentions to wipe away Israel and the United States. This is real, war has been declared.

Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist movement in Nigeria which killed so many Christians and kidnapped hundreds of little girls is growing. They have already killed over 4,000 people.

Last March, in Ain Shams, a suburb of Cairo, Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church. They fired guns on the ancient church and set parked cars aflame. Four people died. One of the slain, a young Coptic woman, was savagely mauled and molested before being murdered-simply because her cross identified her as a Christian to the Brotherhood rioters.

Please understand; The Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, Boko Haram, the al-Qassam Bridades, Al Qaeda and scores of other Islamic Jihadi organizations are all the same people with the same intentions. Hamas is one of them. Hamas IS them!

Just today REUTERS reports: “Hamas gunmen executed 11 Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel at an abandoned police station in Gaza earlier on Friday, Hamas security officials said. Shortly afterward Hamas killed seven more Palestinians  in a public execution in a central Gaza square on Friday, witnesses and a Hamas website said. The victims, their heads covered and hands tied, were shot dead by masked gunmen dressed in black in front of a crowd of worshipers outside a mosque after prayers, witnesses and al-Majd, a pro-Hamas website, said.”

Let me repeat, Hamas, both its goals and tactics are the same as all of the other Jihadists.

In today’s news cycle many reports are declaring that ISIS is a bigger threat than previously thought. Typically, the schizophrenic focus of the media has shifted away from Israel and Gaza to report the situation in Iraq. While the newest debate seems focused on the political optics of a golfing president, no connection is made to the fact that ISIS is but one battalion in a worldwide Islamic army filled with hatred for people of biblical faith, Jews and Christians alike. It frankly seems as if the worldwide media is incapable of connecting the dots. Or do they simply refuse to connect the dots?

Now is the hour for people of biblical conviction and faith to pray for our leaders, pray for truth to prevail, and above all, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.