Aug 28
Is Israel Getting Ready To Attack Iran?
As the world argues over what to do about Iran's nuclear ambitions, there is growing indication that Israel is making
preparations for a go-it-alone plan.
According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, One senior source in Israel's government said that Iran "flipped the world the bird" by not responding positively to the western incentive plan to stop uranium enrichment. The official expressed frustration that the Russians and Chinese were playing along with Iran's plan to run out the clock.
"The Iranians know the world will do nothing," he said. "This is similar to the world's attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s - they are trying to feed the beast."
Israel's military has been taking steps to get ready for a possible confrontation with Iran. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has appointed Israel Air Force Commander Major General Elyezer Shkedy as the IDF's "campaign manager"
against countries that do not border on Israel - primarily Iran.
As part of his new responsibilities, Shkedy will act as "GOC Iran Command." He will oversee battle plans and manage the forces if war breaks out. According to a security source, Shkedy will be the "orchestra conductor," coordinating the
operational activity of Mossad and Military Intelligence with the IDF's various operational branches.
The United States is in the process of supplying Israel with 500 one-ton "bunker buster" bombs. Because they are part of an agreement made several months ago, the delivery should not be seen as directly connected to any operational policy against
Iran. These bombs do greatly enhance Israel's ability to threaten Iran's nuclear program.
Israel’s problems with Hezbollah in Lebanon contribute to the need for action. Hezbollah, which is back by Iran, proved that the Jewish state can not defend itself against a salvo of rocket attacks. Soon, all of Israel will be within range of missiles from Iran. The fact that this latest conflict is the first time an Arab force has fought Israel to a standstill will only embolden Iran to continue its proxy war against Israel.
Another indication that Israel is getting close to the point of taking military action is the growing belief that the rest of
the world will thank it for dealing with the Iran nuclear problem. Here is what one Israeli paper had to say: "This perfect
solution would please the Europeans because it would remove the spotlight from their appeasement policy which is, at least in
part, responsible for the crisis. They would be able to shake their heads in an 'I-told-you-so' gesture toward the mullahs,
recall the beauties of "soft power" and feel glum about their ability to stand above dirty games played by 'immature powers'
such as the Islamic Republic and Israel."
Over the past several months, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been spouting a number hateful remarks about Israel.
One of the most shocking statements attributed to him was a claim made by Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security
adviser, that he would likely "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel."
Ahmadinejad strongly believes that "Israel's demise is essential to the restoration of Muslim glory, that the Zionist thorn
in the heart of the Islamic nations must be removed. And he will pay almost any price to right the perceived historic wrong.
If he becomes the supreme leader and has a nuclear capability, that's a real threat."
During the 1980s President Reagan believed that the USSR was an evil foe, but he only once jokingly called for its
destruction. The international community would have had a fit if Reagan had announced that God told him to destroy the USSR at
all costs.
The law of self preservation would demand that Israel's leadership take measures to prevent Ahmadinejad from fulfilling his destiny. This is probably the strongest case for the Jewish state eventually having to confront Iran.
It's very hard to know the time frame for when Israel would launch a strike. It all depends on the intelligence assessment of how close Iran is to producing bomb-grade material. Because the U.S. lives on the tail-end of the world clock, I would not be surprised to wake up some morning to the news that a major operation has taken place against Iran.
If an attack should happen, the whole prophetic landscape will instantly change.
-- Todd
IRAN: THE COMING CRISIS –Read this book!
The world perches upon the precipice of a calamitous plunge into apocalypse. No other signal of this impending plunge is more obvious than the nation Israel under threat by its currently most dangerous national adversary –Iran, under the rule of the Ayatollahs, and its Hitler-like president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Probable nuclear conflict festers at the heart of the growing crisis.
And, that’s where Mark Hitchcock’s book, Iran: The Coming Crisis: Islam, Oil, and the Nuclear Threat, leaps to the forefront of cutting-edge analysis about the present realities in the region, examined through the prism of God’s prophetic Word, the Bible.
Those who read "Nearing Midnight" regularly know that I rarely recommend a book to our Rapture Ready visitors and family in this column. When I do suggest a book, it is because it is so relevant to our time, prophetically speaking, that the recommendation is more than mere suggestion; it is strong urging. Iran: The Coming Crisis is a book that goes beyond my urging you to read. I’m twisting your arm. You have got to read this work by Dr. Mark Hitchcock!
We witness daily Iran’s refusal to comply with agreements it has entered, with regard to nuclear non-proliferation. The latest display of hostility, as of this writing, is that nation’s leadership thumbing its nose at the demand to let UN inspectors into their laboratories to examine the exact status of those uranium enrichment operations. Instead, Iran on Tuesday, August 22, put forward a proposal suggesting a new negotiating formula to resolve the crisis with the West. In other words, more talk, no action, which brings the world ever closer to the moment when Israel will be forced to act alone in dealing with its deadly enemy’s nuclear arms development. To complicate things, Russia and China back Iran in the matter, choosing to speciously view it as a good-faith attempt to deal with the crisis.
This book puts into perspective why things have developed to near critical mass, and where Bible prophecy foretells it is all leading.
Hitchcock masterfully dissects the dynamics of satanic rage against Israel and makes understandable the inalterable collision course with prophetic destiny upon which the world has embarked.
Recently, Hitchcock said in an interview: “The oil is drawing the world like a magnet to this area, making the [Middle East] the epicenter of the earth…Iran produces and exports about 5% of the world’s oil. The world right now is consuming 86 thousand barrels of oil per second. That’s an Olympic-size swimming pool every second that’s being drained. We are using now about 86 million barrels a day, and the difference between world demands and world supplies raises debt. We saw that when the hurricanes hit down in the Gulf. It doesn’t take much interruption to drive up oil prices very quickly. With Iran producing about 4 billion barrels a day,…if Iran was to take that off the market [although America doesn’t buy oil from Iran, so the U.S. wouldn’t be directly affected]countries like China [who get their oil from Iran] will have to go get that oil somewhere else. So [Iran’s not exporting oil] would shock world oil markets, and the price of oil would increase greatly” (Dr. Mark Hitchcock, interviewed by Noah W. Hutchings, Southwest Radio Church radio program, aired Thursday, August 24, 2006).
Hitchcock also pointed to the fact that Iran could shut down –at least for a time—the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s petroleum passes from the Persian Gulf. It could do this by such terroristic action as sinking a couple of super-tankers, effectively blocking traffic, he said.
Iran: The Coming Crisis - Islam, Oil, and the Nuclear Threat aims readers' thoughts–in quite understandable language--directly upon the growing problems in the Middle East that certainly look to be unprecedented movement toward the tribulation hour.
Hitchcock said: “Iran is the mother of all this modern terror. It is where it all began, in Islamic revolution with the Ayatollah Khomeini. [Iran is] the nerve center for all of this. If we believe we are safe from this, well, I think we are deluding ourselves. I think many people have forgotten we are in this war. And, Iran is the one nation that we are going to have to deal with. They are the nation that is predicted in the Bible –one of the nations that will invade Israel in the endtimes. We know that they are going to be a formidable opponent, and what we see happening in the world today, I believe, is simply setting the stage for what the Bible predicts” (ibid.)
I recommend this book in the strongest terms possible.
Iran: The Coming Crisis - Islam, Oil, and the Nuclear Threat
-- Terry
