(I always like to mark milestones. This week marks my 15^th year writing “Israel Watch” for RaptureReady. As always, many thanks to Todd and Terry for allowing me to do so. It’s a great privilege.)

No Human Endeavor

In this crazy world we live in, it’s no surprise that Israel continues to have enemies and difficulties to deal with 24/7. There has been some movement from strictly military and political dangers, to a wide-range of obstacles to peace. Including…ice cream.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the meltdown over Ben & Jerry’s corporate decision to stop selling the famous product in the “West Bank.” The fury that resulted hasn’t really let up. Evidently, the company (sold years ago by the real Ben and Jerry founders) is now “Woke” and demands social justice considerations be accepted; of course, they favor the Palestinian “fight for freedom” over common sense, history, and present realities. These left-wing ideologies, for decades confined to college campuses, has now spilled-over and swamps the overall culture.

Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, issued a statement that they would in fact continue offering products in Israel. This prompted a scathing statement from the ice cream company’s board, upholding support for the Palestinians.

My point? Even something as universal as ice cream is corrupted due to left-wing viewpoints. Whether it’s social justice advocates, or corporations, anti-Semites are everywhere.

Another, more sinister development, occurred just a few days ago. Iranian capabilities have progressed to the point that the terror state’s drone program threatens America and Israel.

On Friday, a ship was attacked off the coast of Oman. A huge tanker, Mercer Street, was attacked by a drone and two people were killed. Supposedly, according to Iranian television, the attack was in retaliation for an airstrike carried out in Syria. Iran blames Israel.

A New York Times report on the attack contained chilling details:

“The attack appeared to have been carried out by several unmanned Iranian drones that crashed into living quarters underneath the ship’s command center, or bridge.”

Israel’s enemies will continue to gain in technology (though the Jewish state’s own capabilities won’t wane) and they will continue to probe for opportunities to attack.

And sadly, I don’t expect the social justice “warriors” to go away anytime soon. So Israel deals with what I’d call a supernatural array of enemies. It doesn’t make sense that a tiny nation would incur the wrath of Ben & Jerry’s, Iranian terrorists, and menacing diplomats at the UN.

Does that make sense in the human realm? I don’t believe it does at all.

The answer then is that the enemy is directing all these things, so we don’t rely on human initiatives to properly and permanently deal with them. Oh, I don’t mean that we stop advocating for Israel in the ways each of us can.

But I do think we should set our eyes on eternity. On the Lord. Pray for those involved, but first and foremost read the Word to see what is really going on in the world.

In this way, your heart won’t be too anxious. If we understand that even Israel’s enemies are but a vapor that will be gone tomorrow, we can find peace for our souls.

I don’t like the things that are happening. I detest attacks on Israel.

But I know Who is in charge.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

www.thegodthatanswers.com

A Return to G[l]ory

Boy, there’s nothing like a coup in Washington to reignite a lunatic diplomatic effort.

During the Trump years, the Palestinian Authority steadfastly refused to negotiate with Israel or the Americans about anything. After a quarter-century of mayhem popularized by the stupid Oslo (“land for peace”) model, the Arab terror chieftains in the Middle East had gotten used to money and power. That their constituents lived in squalor and despair didn’t matter to them.

But just like that, with the Biden Puppet Regime in charge, lo and behold, the PA/PLO is ready to restart talks with Israel. It’s like the return of a chronic headache.

“Civil Affairs Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh is one of the leading figures in the Palestinian Authority hierarchy and is one of President Mahmoud Abbas’ closest advisers. Al-Sheikh is the point person to Israel in all security matters and chairs the dialogue between the Palestinian government and the United States administration.

“Al-Sheikh, who rarely gives public statements and has not given a full interview in some years, sat down with The Media Line’s Felice Friedson in his Ramallah office for this exclusive conversation that included the current political situation, the next steps in jumpstarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the American role in the conflict and internal security issues.”

Not surprisingly, Al-Sheikh is also a member of the PLO Central Council, and the Fatah Central Council. What that all means is that he differs from Hamas only by wearing expensive suits. In a recent interview with Media Line, Al-Sheikh revealed some disturbing things about the PA’s relationship with Biden:

“We went through a very difficult period under President Trump. I think that the main problem we had with the previous administration is the issue of repudiation of international legitimacy (meaning UN Security Council resolutions) and also the Trump Administration’s disavowing of all the previous American administrations’ views. Whether they were Republicans or Democrats, they mainly concentrated on international legitimacy and the two-state solution. Accordingly, when this new administration came, the administration of President Biden, and after the phone call that took place between President Biden and President Abbas, I think President Biden spoke about very important principles with President Abbas that we might consider to be a type of road map for us and for the Americans. This concerns how it is possible for us to move forward from now. He spoke about the status quo on Haram al-Sharif, Sheikh Jarrah, the residents of east Jerusalem, stopping settlement expansion, and stopping the unilateral measures. We agree on all these principles with President Biden; it will be a road map for us and the Americans with the Israeli side. And because of this, the new American administration gives us hope. We started now building a relationship and restoring the relationship with President Biden’s administration. We are in daily contact with the administration. There are committees formed between us and the new leadership. They have already started working.”

Daily contact. Funding restarted (our tax dollars going to pay PLO terrorists). Biden affirming anti-Israel measures.

It’s almost unreal how much the Palestinians blame others for their own problems. It’s Israel’s fault. It’s the Americans’ fault.

I think prophetically, this has some implications. People ask me all the time if I think Gog-Magog is about to break out. My answer is, I don’t know. It could and then again, it could some time off. What I do think though is that developments like the ones outlined here—American re-engagement with a lunatic terror group—tightens a noose around Israel.

And this is the single thing I believe proves that we are living in the last of the last days. A general intensifying of pressure on the Jewish state is the sign of the age. It makes every famous prophecy left to be fulfilled possible in the near term.

If, for example, the Trump policies had continued for many years, we would see Israel strengthened, almost impossible to be threatened. But now we see the opposite.

I believe Joe Biden, the puppet, cares nothing for anyone but himself. He doesn’t care if he says he supports Israel’s security, at the same time he threatens it. People that are soulless care only about their own agendas and appetites.

PA/PLO ministers spouting their pronouncements of what they see on the horizon for “Palestine” is not a good thing.

We are living in volatile times. I am dismayed to see America reach out to killers.

But then again, such developments remind us that this isn’t 1890. There is a lot going on internationally. Israel is, in human terms, in peril.

That is exactly what we would expect to see five minutes to midnight.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

www.thegodthatanswers.com