The New Middle East

The Middle East has clearly taken a much stronger anti-Israeli position lately, as radical Islam is gaining more and more control of the region. We've already seen the significance of Iran's influence - and we can never forget how Iran is listed in the coalition who is destined to bring siege upon Israel. In fact, the two most obvious regions involved in this coalition are Russia and Iran.

Now we see Russian involvement in this growing instability in the Middle East:

'Russian missiles could be passed on to Hezbollah'

Following Russia's announcement that it will transfer missiles to Syria, Defense Ministry fears weapons could fall into "wrong hands."

The Defense Ministry issued a statement Saturday regarding publications that Russia intends to complete a deal to transfer cruise missiles to Syria. "This deal was signed two years ago and has been in the process of implementation for some time, despite Israel's appeals to Russia regarding the matter."

Security officials warned that the Russian cruise missiles "are potentially dangerous weapons and they may come fall into the hands of Hezbollah, just as other weapons systems came from Syria."

The announcement came after Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that Russia would fulfill its contractual obligation and complete the transfer of cruise missiles to Syria, according to AFP.

Also on Saturday, Iran and Syria agreed to cooperate on naval training, Iran's official news agency said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The agreement came days after two Iranian warships – the Khark, which has 250 crew members and can carry three helicopters, and the Alvand, which is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles – arrived at Syria's Latakia seaport on Thursday, sailing through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean.

The vice that surrounds Israel is definitely tightening.

Caroline Glick gives us an update of the "New Middle East":

Column One: Playing Israel's good hand

On Wednesday night, Israelis received our first taste of the new Middle East with the missile strikes on Beersheba. Iran’s Palestinian proxy, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood known as Hamas, carried out its latest war crime right after Iran’s battleships entered Syria’s Latakia port.

For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s warships sailed across the canal without even being inspected by the Egyptian, US or Israeli navies.

Mubarak’s departure was a strategic victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and for its sister branch Hamas in Gaza.

As part of his efforts to neutralize the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed to his regime, Mubarak sealed off Gaza’s border with Egypt after Hamas seized power there in June 2007.

Now she analyzes the situation which has been created by Egypt's instability:

The shift in the regional power balance following Mubarak’s fall has caused Fatah leaders to view their ties to the US as a strategic liability.

If they wish to survive, they must cut a deal with Hamas. And to convince Hamas to cut a deal, they need to abandon the US.

And so they have. Fatah’s first significant move to part company with Washington came with its relentless bid to force a vote on a resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria at the UN Security Council.

While excoriating Obama and the US, the PA is actively wooing Hamas. On Wednesday, the PA accepted the legitimacy of Hamas control over Gaza.

At the same time as he publicly beseeched Hamas to join forces with Fatah, Fayyad announced that the PA is willing to forgo US financial assistance if that assistance continues to come with political strings attached.

This is most definitely a new Middle East. Her sobering conclusion:

But instead of pointing out the truth, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues maintain their posture as supplicants to Washington, making concession after concession in exchange for further abuse in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation.

As our region is consumed by the flames of rebellion and revolution, the challenges and threats Israel faces multiply by the day. In these new and trying times, our leaders must shed their failed concepts of statecraft based on weakness and adopt new ones founded on strength. The PA is playing a bad hand wisely.

We are playing a good hand foolishly.

We are seeing more and more Iranian and Russian influence in the region, and that is exactly what we would expect based on a literal reading of Ezekiel 38-39. Russia and Iran are the first and second lands mentioned in the description of the invading coalition of Ezekiel 38.

Their time is almost upon them whether they know it or not. This has been in the works for a while now, and the countries that will align with Russia (Turkey, northern Africa etc.) are already on board philosophically in their hatred of Israel. We're watching this coalition getting firmer and firmer by the day now.

We are just on the verge of entering some interesting times.