Never Trust a Terrorist

As Israel continues managing its almost 80-year conflict with the Arabs, it becomes clear that Hezbollah in Lebanon will not give up its duplicitous behavior. As they seek to sabotage the ceasefire agreement with Israel, hammered out in the fall of 2024, Hezbollah wants primarily to remain viable. Just as their devilish brothers in Gaza hope to merely survive.

Most of the noise is coming from Gaza. Much is also coming from the Iranian front, as the world waits to see if President Trump will actually put teeth into his latest “threats” to Tehran.

The issue in Lebanon is disarmament of the terror group Hezbollah. Those devils, along with the PLO, have destabilized Lebanon for the last 40 years. It should be noted that Yasser Arafat and the PLO ruined that beautiful country in the 1970s. Beirut should be a tourist destination, but instead a state of war has existed for decades. Israel has cleaned-out much of the terror nests in the south, south of the Litani River.

It is the north that remains volatile. One frustrating detail remains active: Western diplomacy is keeping the conflict going. It has always been this way, stretch back at least to the 1960s. As we are seeing in the Gaza Strip, Western weakness and foot-dragging is keeping the terrorists on oxygen. They should have been uprooted and destroyed long ago, but no dice.

The witless American diplomats and White House operatives insist on doing the opposite of bringing about peace and safety. Remember, it has been Washington politicians on both sides of the aisle that have kept the killing going. We do have a serious upgrade in Marco Rubio at State (light years ahead of clowns like Warren Christopher and John Kerry). However, other slots are lagging, particularly with the always-problematic “Middle East envoy.” With Steve Witkoff, we are in as bad a spot as we were with Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk and the other line of mediocre and morally weak players.

Rubio can’t do it all on his own.

Israel wants Hezbollah disarmed permanently, obviously. Before they even think about withdrawing from the buffer zone—the same basic line they held in the 1980s—a serious degrading of Hezbollah must take place. Predictably, traitors like France’s Emmanuel Macron are still mucking it up by hosting terrorists for “talks.”

A fascinating report notes the following:

“The IDF continued attacking Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and the Beqa’a Valley to enforce the November 2024 ceasefire agreement and prevent the organization’s renewed military build-up. In south Lebanon and the Beqa’a Valley the forces attacked crossings on the Lebanon-Syria border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah, weapons depots and a facility of the Radwan Force. In addition, four Hezbollah operatives were eliminated, including the head of a weapons-smuggling network.”

Amid all this is the ridiculous diplomatic push. A coalition committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire continues to embarrass us all.

“The future of the committee overseeing implementation of the ceasefire agreement remains uncertain. Given reports of American and Israeli attempts to shift the focus to the political level with direct talks between Israel and Lebanon and hold meetings at a United States base in Miami, the Lebanese government made it clear it was not prepared to make changes. The head of Lebanon’s civilian delegation to the talks said if he received a mandate from the Lebanese leadership to conduct political talks with Israel, he wanted them held in Tel Aviv.”

Interesting. They want talks on Israeli soil.

Continuing with the predictability of this overall mediocrity is the insertion of Qatar into the proceedings. The Muslim Brotherhood-friendly country—very friendly with the Trump administration and in particular businessmen Witkoff and Jared Kushner—has insisted it will rebuild three destroyed villages in south Lebanon…with help from an American company.

This past week the IDF continued attacking Hezbollah targets to enforce the November 2024 ceasefire agreement and prevent Hezbollah from a renewed military buildup. The forces attacked four crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons for Hezbollah, weapons depots above and below ground, a structure at a Radwan Force camp and other terrorist facilities in south Lebanon and the Beqa’a Valley. Four Hezbollah terrorist operatives were eliminated, including a liaison in the village of Yanouh, the head of a weapons-smuggling network and an artillery commander. The Lebanese ministry of health reported four killed and 26 wounded in IDF attacks (al-Nashra, January 20–26, 2026).

At the Davos summit this past week, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that he is committed to rebuilding the country, and he even claimed that for the first time since 1969, Lebanon was “exercising full operational control” south of the Litani River.

And don’t think the clerics have stopped their incitement.

“In his Friday sermon, Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan accused the Lebanese state of abandoning the south, the Beqa’a Valley and the Dahiyeh al-Janoubia, and claimed a systematic move was underway to weaken and possibly harm the Shi’ite community, with establishment backing or indifference. He criticized demands for a state monopoly on weapons north of the Litani River, arguing that such measures served an ‘American-Zionist project’ whose objective was neutralizing Lebanon’s power factors and leaving it exposed. He noted the role of the state in protecting its citizens and sovereignty and warned against continued official silence in the face of what he claimed was an ongoing war against the Shi’ite community and the areas in which it lived.”

As with Iran, we hope historic opportunities will be taken to de-fang the murderers. It should be obvious to all thinking people that this is the only way to a cold peace as we have seen with Egypt and Jordan. Short of eliminating the snake in Tehran, and the snakes in other Middle East countries, we are just pushing the next outright conflict a few blocks down the street.

Jimfletcher761@gmail.com

www.patreon.com/TheGodThatAnswers

 

(My own counterweight to the Jew haters can be found in my two new books: Zechariah 2, and The God That Answers by Fire. I hope you’ll order copies for yourself and for those in your circle. My aim is to provide powerful proof that the Bible is true and that God not only exists but is in complete control! In these books, you’ll find information not presented anywhere else.)

 

 

 

A Great Documentary

I try to bring somewhat different perspectives for you, the reader, through this Israel Watch column. That means that there are weeks when I don’t do a straight “Israel analysis” column.

This week is another week like that. Instead, I want to talk about something that will hopefully give you an interesting look at how we support Israel.

Over the weekend, I came across a fantastic new documentary, “The Israel Dilemma,” promoted by Answers in Genesis. I found it on their website. Hosted by Timothy Mahoney, of the “Patterns of Evidence” group. A stellar production from start to finish. Now, some personal background about this, then I’ll dive into the documentary itself.

In 2007, I wrote an Israel Watch column in which I mentioned that Answers in Genesis did not discuss eschatology. That was objectively true, but I ruffled some feathers there by stating that fact. Large ministries are sensitive to any perceived criticisms. Ironically, I had in the paragraph before that statement praised AiG for the magnificent work they’ve always done in the area of creation vs. evolution.

In fact, until I left the publisher I worked for, I had been an editor on several AiG projects. I knew them very well.

My point in relating this background is to pivot to AiG’s recent willingness to now broach the subject. It should be obvious that I am giving credit where credit is due. My personal view all these years is that if a national ministry would offer a “bookends” approach—handling both origins and eschatology, and everything in-between—their audiences would mushroom and be energized in a “whole Bible” approach.

(It should be obvious that discussions of eschatology are controversial only because of emotions rising in such discussions. I very well understand that a creationist-based ministry does not want to get bogged-down in ridiculous debates and arguments over Dispensationalism, Replacement Theology, eschatological timelines. But my “bookends” model is sound.) Here is the blurb from AiG:

“While AiG does not involve itself in eschatological discussions, it is still important to study Scripture and understand that since Scripture was true about a past judgment by God (in this case, the conquest and exile of both Israel and Judah), then it will also be true about a future judgment by him. Whether referring to Rome’s conquest of Israel in AD 70 or any future judgments, the principle is the same. God can and does judge sin, and Christ will return to this earth in judgment. We can and should help unbelievers see the connection between past and future biblical judgments so that we might more effectively share the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

So, kudos to AiG for advertising this on their huge website. Now to the documentary itself. By the way, the sequel to it, “The Israel Dilemma II,” is now ready! I am beyond excited to see it, because there they will delve into more specific Bible prophecies. I plan to watch it over the upcoming snowy weekend.

Honestly, I always start out with a skeptical view on these things. Just like I pay very close attention to the translators’ notes on new Bible versions. For example, if a new translation is soft on the creation accounts in Genesis, I write-off that version. Likewise, if they offer Replacement Theology perspectives, or otherwise diss Israel, I stop reading. (This is one reason I study from the King James Version; I don’t need modern translators, many of whom are liberal, to interpret Scripture for me.)

Now to the documentary.

First, Mahoney interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu and the late Shimon Peres. The latter is especially intriguing, because he wasn’t known as a religious guy. Still, he acknowledges the biblical themes of Israel and even showed a very deft understanding of the distinctions between the Holy Land and the Promised Land (in my view, Christians over the years have gotten comfortable calling Israel “The Holy Land,” rather than…Israel. Most do this without malice or agenda, but I do believe many Christian leaders have used this term as a way not to have to say “Israel.”)

Mahoney then talks with conservative thinkers and scholars like Peter Gentry, Rabbi Mannis Friedman, and Brent Kinman. As a matter of balance, he also interviews well-known Israeli archeologist Israel Finkelstein, a person who is not convinced that many biblical accounts are actually factual. Interestingly, Finkelstein later in the documentary does acknowledge the historicity of some events.

Mahoney makes many very relevant points, looking at various prophecies.

If the prophecies are true, then it means life is not a meaningless cycle of events but is part of a Divine plan. It’s mentioned that God’s prophecies are “Headed toward definite outcomes.” In this way, prophecy refutes random evolution! This is an important point. It also forges a worldview alliance with groups like Answers in Genesis.

On this note, Mahoney said, ““This means prophecy can provide a kind of scientific tool.”

EXACTLY!

About the Bible and its prophecies, they are, “A verifiable test of its legitimacy.”

YES!

Joel Richardson also states that a great evidence for the God of the Bible is the People of Israel. Yes, yes, and yes. (This is the hallmark of my own site, The God That Answers.)

All in all, I highly recommend that you watch these documentaries.