Weekly Update – Israel: scorn of the nations
The debate continues about the proposed Israeli extension of its law and jurisdiction to parts of the West Bank. Opinions on both sides (for and against) are very strong. This is a very divisive issue in Israeli society – and beyond. The EU, the German Foreign Minister, the World Council of Churches, leading international lawyers – they are all scrambling to condemn Israel.
What is striking is not so much what they say – whether or not it is legal, or whether it will cause political unrest in the region, whether or not it is going to advance peace with the Palestinians. What is especially interesting is that they get so upset about it.
Sure, it is not entirely clear why the Israeli government wants to make this move, why now. The risks seem high, the benefits debatable.
But to be honest, it is not going to change much on the ground, and Israel can hardly be accused of impeding a peace process that was already not going anywhere. Surely the world has bigger and more important problems to solve.
Why is it that, when Israel decides to take action, everyone is so keen to condemn it, but when the Palestinian leadership blatantly breaches its obligations by unilaterally manipulating the international institutions to achieve recognition as a state, consistently misuses international funds to pay the families of convicted terrorists, and daily incites its people to murder Jews, we turn a blind eye?
Every time the Jewish people have the audacity to take action without the consent of the international community it is enough to send the Western and Islamic worlds ballistic. One suspects that as governments are confronted with insoluble problems (impending economic crisis, global warming, racism, …) they feel they can score an easy victory by accusing the Jews of disturbing world peace, and telling them what they should be doing and where they should be living etc.
Sound familiar?
Shabbat shalom,
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief – Israel & Christians Today
World Council of Churches sends anti-Israel letter to the EU
A few weeks ago the World Council of Churches in Geneva (WCC) sent a letter to the EU Foreign Affairs Council of Ministers. The WCC appeals for a firm and principled stance by the European Union against any annexation by the State of Israel. The WCC also calls for suspension of the trade association agreement between the EU and Israel. As Christians for Israel we are shocked and startled by this attitude of the Churches. So we also wrote to the WCC and to the EU Council of Ministers. Read more..
Israeli extension of Israeli law to parts of Judea and Samaria – the saga continues
The team that has been charged with drawing up the map for the proposed move is having difficulties, and it is unlikely they will finish their work before 1 July: Read more..
Naftali Bennett thinks Netanyahu will not proceed with “annexation:” Read more..
After visit of the German FM to Israel, Germany, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority declared that preventing Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank is paramount: Read more..
European Court of Justice protects BDS
This week the European Court of Justice handed down a decision that French judges were wrong to convict activists who staged a “boycott Israel” demonstration at a supermarket, saying the protest could not be considered an incitement to discrimination. Read more..
Israeli Supreme Court overrules controversial settlement regulation law
Haartetz reports: The Law for the Regulation of Settlement in Judea and Samaria, which was overturned on Tuesday by the High Court of Justice, was unofficially dubbed the “Theft Law.” The High Court did well to remove this anti-constitutional stain from the law books. Read more..
In a nearly unanimous decision, eight of the nine justices on the panel ruled the Regulation Law “unconstitutional,” on the grounds that it “violates the property rights and equality of Palestinians, and gives clear priority to the interests of Israeli settlers over Palestinian residents.” Read more..
Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence against Jews
The PA is actively inciting the Palestinian street to violence and terror against Israel in numerous ways. One method is by broadcasting a constant stream of music videos and fillers that demonize Israel, encourage violence, and justify terror. Israel and the Jews are said to be threatening Islam, its holy sites, and Palestinian and Muslim “honor.” Read more..
The Gaza they do not want you to see
How can Hamas and its supporters around the world continue to complain about poverty and misery when new shopping malls and supermarkets filled with clothes, and various types of luxury goods are being opened every few weeks in the Gaza Strip? Read more..
Two sisters, 2,000 miles and decades of separation, together at last in Israel
Usually we say that when children make Aliyah, their parents follow them. In the case of Inna and Tatiana, two sisters in their 60’s, it is quite the opposite, as they have made Aliyah this week on an chartered “Evacuation Flight” and their children and grandchildren are now planning to follow. Read more..
“The slave girl” – Video teaching by Johannes Gerloff
Episode 27 in the series of teachings by Israeli-based Bible teacher and journalist Johannes Gerloff:
Hagar may have been a daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. To Sarai she looked like the solution of a serious problem.
“Mass media” – Video teaching by Rev. Willem J.J. Glashouwer
Rev. Willem Glashouwer helps us understand God’s prophetic word, and how prophecy is being fulfilled in our generation.
As a young man I used to think: I don’t have to worry because before all nations on earth have been reached with the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom’, my time will be over and I will long be gone, that won’t happen in my days. Then suddenly I realized: it’s happening, for the first time in history. The Gospel is being preached every day. Satellites, radio and television channels, internet, Facebook, other social media: the electronic highways are reaching the whole world. The Kingdom and the King of the Kingdom are coming.
Scripture for the week: Psalm 80
1 Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.
O God, enthroned above the cherubim,
display your radiant glory
2 to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your mighty power.
Come to rescue us!
3 Turn us again to yourself, O God.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
4 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
how long will you be angry with our prayers?
5 You have fed us with sorrow
and made us drink tears by the bucketful.
6 You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations.
Our enemies treat us as a joke.
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;
you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.
9 You cleared the ground for us,
and we took root and filled the land.
10 Our shade covered the mountains;
our branches covered the mighty cedars.
11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;
our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.
12 But now, why have you broken down our walls
so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?
13 The wild boar from the forest devours it,
and the wild animals feed on it.
14 Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies.
Look down from heaven and see our plight.
Take care of this grapevine
15 that you yourself have planted,
this son you have raised for yourself.
16 For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies.
May they perish at the sight of your frown.
17 Strengthen the man you love,
the son of your choice.
18 Then we will never abandon you again.
Revive us so we can call on your name once more.
19 Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.
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