The U.S. vs Israel

The distain for Israel coming from the U.S. administration is palpable. Although it is necessary prophetically, as we know from prophecy that all nations will be aligned against Israel, it is still sad to see - what was once a strong alliance in the quest for freedom, has now deteriorated to this state of affairs:

Obama: I know What's Best For Israel

US President Barack Obama apparently believes that he knows better than Israel's democratically elected leader what is best for the Jewish state.

In further evidence that US-Israel relations will remain on the rocks for the foreseeable future, a prominent American columnist revealed this week that President Obama has been repeatedly stating that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading Israel toward isolation.

Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for the Atlantic, wrote on the Bloomberg network that when Netanyahu recently announced plans to build new Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria in response to provocative Palestinian moves at the UN, Obama didn't even bother getting angry.

Goldberg noted that an "inured" Obama simply started telling people that "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are."

The entire affair is representative of Washington's typical reaction to the failing Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Netanyahu's challengers are already playing on fears that he will damage vital US-Israel relations at a time when the Jewish state needs Western support in its nuclear face-off with Iran.

But unlike many Israeli politicians, Netanyahu knows well that Obama alone cannot turn the US against Israel, and that while the White House may be antagonistic toward the Jewish state, Congress and the majority of Americans lean far in the opposite direction.

Presidential-Sized Brouhaha

With less than a week left to the elections, what’s on everyone’s mind is what’s on US President Barack Obama’s mind regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Jeffrey Goldberg ran an article in Bloomberg news saying that the president privately and repeatedly said “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are” and that Netanyahu is a “political coward” who’s driving Israel towards international isolation.

Maariv calls the Goldberg article “Obama’s sniping” and says that senior Israeli officials regard the statements from the White House as “callous intervention in the [Israeli] elections.” It does not elaborate further on that issue, but quotes AIPAC saying that Obama will not affect US-Israel strategic relations.

Yedioth Ahronoth clarifies that senior Likud party members contend that Obama is intervening in Israeli politics by “slandering Netanyahu.”

“Obama needs to internalize that the future prime minister will be Netanyahu and he will have to continue to work with him,” the paper quotes a senior Likud member saying.

Haaretz reporter Barak Ravid writes that “the most interesting element of Goldberg’s revelations is the timing,” less than a week before national elections.

“Netanyahu and his associates aren’t admitting it, but one can assume they think Goldberg was briefed on this by the White House now so he would put out the story a week before the Israeli election,” he says. Though he expresses skepticism that the article was an effort to intervene in the elections, he notes that in the past few weeks there has been an increase in information leaked in the US media regarding what Obama has in store for Israel’s prime minister.

“So far, it’s looking like Netanyahu’s next term, too, will entail confrontation with the White House,” Ravid writes.

PM Hits Back At Obama: I know What's Best For Israel

A day after US columnist Jeffrey Goldberg quoted President Barack Obama as saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not understand what is in Israel’s best interest, Netanyahu visited the Gaza border on Wednesday and essentially shot back, “Yes I do.”

Netanyahu said over the past four years he had withstood “enormous pressure,” including demands that Israel curb its pressure on Iran, withdraw to the pre- 1967 lines, divide Jerusalem and stop building in the eastern part of the capital.

“We fended off all those pressures, and I will continue to stand firm on Israel’s vital interests for the security of the citizens of Israel,” he declared.

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Iran Navy To Deploy To Mediterranean

Iran will deploy a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean Sea, Navy chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday.

“The Navy’s 24th fleet of warships will patrol the north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea for three months and will even sail as far as southeastern Asian countries,” Sayyari was quoted by Press TV as saying.

The 23rd fleet of warships will return to the country next week, he added.

Referring to the Navy’s recent drill, dubbed Velayat 91, Sayyari said the maneuver displayed Iran’s naval capability and its ability to counter any threat against the interests of the Islamic Republic.

Germany To Bring Gold Reserves Back Home

Last October, when hurricane Sandy was rampaging along the US west coast, the Federal reserve was quick to say that its vault in New York, where Germany's and other countries' gold reserves are stored, is safe. "The bank's security arrangements are so trusted by depositors that few have ever asked to examine their gold," it noted.

The same month, he German court of auditors complained that many of the gold bars have never been checked by independent experts to see if they are genuine and to check how much they really weigh.

A member of the Bundesbank board, Carl-Ludwig Thiele, who presented the decision on Wednesday, told reporters the move is "independent" of the auditors' report.

In The News

Who Is Naftali Bennett And Why Is His Party Climbing So Fast In The Israeli Polls?

Few Americans have heard of Naftali Bennett. But the 40-year old former software entrepreneur and his right-wing political party, The Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi), is taking the Israeli political scene by storm. 

Bennett’s party currently has three seats in the Knesset (parliament). But his support is surging. Some recent polls suggest Bennett and his team could end up with 12 or 13 seats after the January 22nd elections. Some polls, however, suggest Bennett’s team could win as many as 15 to 18 seats, emerging as Israel’s third — or possibly second — largest party.

Bennett is married to a secular Jewish woman. He’s the father of four young children, all under the age of eight. Religious. Zionist. Served in one of Israel’s most elite army combat units, Sayeret Matkal. Went into business. Created a software company that he sold for millions. Served from 2006 to 2008 as Netanyahu’s chief of staff before breaking off and charting his own political path, to the right of his mentor. Served as the director of the Yesha Council, the governing body of the Jewish settler movement on the West Bank, from 2010 to 2012. Says Netanyahu is too willing to compromise with the Palestinians, too willing to create a Palestinian state, which Bennett vigorously opposes. “I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state,” he says of the Palestinians. Last year,Bennett – and his top deputy, Ayalet Shaked, 36 (described as “the new secular face of religious Zionism” by the Times of Israel) — unveiled a plan to unilaterally annex much of Judea and Samaria (aka, the West Bank), make it officially part of the State of Israel, and give the Palestinians autonomy in their daily affairs.

The Western media is beginning to pay attention. The New York Times ran a profile of Bennett in December headlined, “Dynamic Former Netanyahu Aide Shifts Israeli Campaign Rightward.” Last week, the UK Guardian ran an in-depth interview with him.

A lengthy profile in The New Yorker this month is worth reading. Manhattan liberal elites — along with Tel Aviv liberal elites — are stunned by Bennett’s rise. Author David Remnick argues that the Israeli electorate is moving sharply to the right because they are exhausted by the conflict with the Arabs; disillusioned with the peace process; increasingly convinced the Palestinians will never make peace; anxious about the instability and anti-Israeli hostility in surrounding nations like Syria, Egypt and Jordan; worried about the Iranian nuclear threat; and convinced that the Israeli left has no fresh ideas and no dynamic leaders. Is he right? I’m not a big fan of left-wing publications like The New Yorker, and I certainly don’t typically see eye to eye with Remnick, but I found it interesting to view Israel through their eyes.

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Why is this story significant? See below:

Report: White House 'Concerned' About Bennett

According to the report, the U.S. is particularly concerned over the growing strength of the Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) in the polls and over the fact that there is hardly talk about negotiations with the Palestinian Authority as part of the election campaign.
The U.S. is concerned, according toChannel 10, that Bennett's strengthening will cause Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in turn, to strengthen the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

As for the American concern over Bennett, Netanyahu is reportedly planning to keep Bennett out of his coalition in favor of parties that would likely be more favored by Obama, such as Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and Tzipi Livni's Hatnua.
A senior Likud official told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday that Netanyahu has indicated in private conversations he would prefer to form a coalition Lapid and Livni and that he "fears a strong Bennett", because his party will make it difficult for him to make diplomatic moves.

In other words, the U.S. is concerned that the presence of Bennett could push Israel towards policies which strengthen Israel (rather than weaken) and may push back against U.S. influence in Israel's decisions. This will be an interesting development to follow.

Government Pushes Ahead With New West Bank Housing

Weaned On Hate: Why Morsi Means What He Says About Israel

In today’s day and age where double standards reign supreme, Israel perpetually finds itself on the receiving end of criticism and condemnation above and beyond what any other world democracy (and, if we look to the UN’s member-states, a good portion of the world’s dictatorships) has ever had to endure. Indeed, the Jewish State is on the defensive, forever being expected to prove herself and explain why she has the right to exist. The frightening part is that the provocateurs from which Israel defends itself are not only Islamists bent on its destruction, but also Westerners whose worldview is mired in moral relativism, guided by propaganda, and crippled by the misguided notion of political correctness.

Take, for instance, the Muslim Brotherhood. From the nascent stage of the Arab Spring the group was characterized by many, including National Intelligence Director James Clapper, as a largely moderate, “secular” organization. Of course the term secular is laughable considering the Islamist group’s very moniker bears the word “Muslim.” It is doubly so considering the it is also the grandfather of all jihadist groups including but not limited to al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.

But alas, the Brotherhood, which allegedly sought to usher in a new era of democracy and tolerance in the Middle East, succeeded in staking its claim across much of the region: Egypt elected Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammad Morsi to be the country’s president; Muammar Gadhafi was ousted in Libya only to be replaced by Brotherhood progeny, al Qaeda; and Brotherhood proxies are circling Assad’s Syria and King Abdullah’s Jordan like a vulture. This is all bad news for the West and worse news for Israel.

It is no mystery that since his ascension, Morsi has already put an unsettling frost over what was once a cool peace between Israel and Egypt. It is no mystery that his spiritual adviser, imam Yousef al Qaradawi is a rabid anti-Semite, and it is no mystery that Morsi is rumored to be soon coming to the White House for a meeting with the upper echelons of American government.

This is the same Morsi who in 2010 referred to Jews as “bloodsuckers” and “descendants of apes and pigs” and encouraged his fellow Arab nationalists at home to “nurse” their progeny on Jew-hatred as a means to furthering the destruction of the Jewish State.

“We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews,” Morsi declared in a speech that is now making its rounds across the Internet. “[Egyptian children] must feed on hatred; hatred must continue…the hatred must go on for Allah and as a form of worshiping him.”

 Anyone who has followed the Muslim Brotherhood knows that Morsi’s vitriolic comments and world view are entirely genuine and completely in line with the Brotherhood manifesto, which is, not coincidentally, equally in sync with all Islamist ideology.

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Remarks at the White House - by James Hansen

Remarks at the White House¹

15 January 2013

James Hansen, screenshot

Let us return for a moment to election night 2008. As I sat in our farm house in Pennsylvania, watching Barack Obama's victory speech, I turned my head aside so my wife would not see the tears in my eyes. I suspect that millions cried. It was a great day for America.

We had great hopes for our new President. It is appropriate, it is right, in a period honoring Martin Luther King, to recall the hopes and dreams of that evening, and the hopes and dreams that we…will… never  -  give up.

We have a dream – that our President will understand the intergenerational injustice of human-made climate change – that he will recognize our duty to be caretakers of creation, of the land, of the life on our planet – and that he will give these matters the priority that our young people deserve.

We have a dream – that our President will understand the commonality of solutions for energy security, national security and climate stability – and that he will exercise hands-on leadership, taking the matter to the public, avoiding backroom crippling deals with special interests.

We have a dream – that the President will stand as firm as Abraham Lincoln when he faced the great moral issue of slavery – and, like Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill, he will speak with the public, enlisting their support and reassuring them.

It is not easy to find an Abraham Lincoln or a Winston Churchill. But we are here today looking to find that in you, Mr. President. And until you summon it within yourself, let me assure you that we will return, and our numbers will grow.

Mr. President, we will be here until the promise of a safe world for our children and grandchildren, and your children and grand children – is not a dream. We will be here until we are assured that the history books will rightfully record – that you were the person we were looking for  - the person who turned these dreams…into reality.

______________________________
¹ Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, Pray-in at NY Ave. Presbyterian Church and the White House
(www.interfaithactiononclimatechange.org) on Martin Luther King's birthday.
"We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now…" Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reports: Syria Ordered To Attack Israel If Assad Falls

This comes from Israel Today, and if true, would be consistent with an array of stories at the beginning of this conflict in Syria. It could also serve to trigger the anticipated wars of Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38-39. The knowledge that Iran lurks behind the scenes also makes one question if Iran could use Syria to land some solid blows against Israel now -  in efforts to weaken Israel's capabilities, in anticipation of future wars.  

Either way, this is a very interesting development:

Reports: Syria Ordered To Attack Israel If Assad Falls

Embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has ordered his military chiefs to launch ballistic missiles at Israel if he is killed by rebel forces, according to sources in Damascus cited by Israeli media this week.

The online newspaper Inyan Merkazi reported that Assad met with his top generals recently to express concerns that he could be taken out by advanced American missiles recently provided to rebel forces, or by a violent mob similar to the one that violently murdered former Libyan dictator Muamar Gaddafi.

Should either of those scenarios become reality, Assad reportedly told the generals to unleash Syria's considerable missile arsenal on Israel and Egypt.

The reason for attacking Israel is obvious. Syria is officially in a state of war with Israel and hosts numerous terror groups dedicated to the Jewish state's demise. Even with all the regional hostility toward him, Assad would secure a positive legacy by making his final act the destruction of Israeli cities.

Assad is angry at Egypt because of the new Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government's support for Syrian rebel groups, many of which are fellow Islamists.

Last year, when the Syrian rebellion was first heating up, Assad warned that if his rule were truly threatened, he would ignite the powder keg that is the Middle East. That threat remains a very real concern.

Also of interest:

Despite U.S. Efforts, No Egypt-Israel "Hot Line"

This article underscores the deterioration in relations between Israel and Egypt, while Egypt draws closer to Iran - both scenarios falling in line with expectations from biblical prophecy - below are just the highlights:

However, according to our sources, Vickers’ mission to reactivate the Libyan and Sinai fronts against Islamist terror ran into a spirit of non-collaboration in Cairo. He found Egyptian leaders immersed in a process of rapprochement with Tehran brokered by Qatar, and was told that fighting the terrorist networks rampant in Sinai was not exactly convenient at that moment.

Instead, they were busy entertaining distinguished Iranian guests.  DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report the first was Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who paid a secret visit to Cairo last month, followed last Wednesday, Jan. 11, by Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akhbar  Salehi.  

It seems that President Mohamed Morsi has become a fan of Gen. Soleimani. He was deeply impressed by the feat he masterminded of keeping Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in power against all odds. The Iranian general was invited to Cairo to give Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood expert advice on keeping their regime safe from internal and external conspiracies.

By working for détente with Iran, Egypt and Qatar could end up opening the Palestinian back door for Tehran to walk through in both territories. This prospect was behind Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent warnings that Hamas could land with both feet in the West Bank in a matter of days.

On Aug. 24, 2011, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, announced the IDF was no longer treating the Egyptian frontier as a border of peace in view of new perils. His words marked the end of the decades of calm Israel and Egypt enjoyed after signing their 1979 peace treaty.

On Dec. 26 2012, the IDF inaugurated the new Eilat Division, set up for defending southern Israel against the terrorist forces making free of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

On Jan. 2, the Prime Minister marked the completion of a new security fence built along the former peace border at a cost of NIS1.8 billion. However, Israeli strategists have concluded that a defensive border fence would not provide enough security against the teeming Islamist terrorists and al Qaeda networks occupying Sinai. Hence, the new security strip which closes Route 10, the main highway linking northern and southern Israel, to civilian traffic.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s primary strategy for combating the menaces besetting Israel is defensive. However, fences may alleviate local threats for a time but cannot affect the big strategic changes overtaking Cairo, Damascus and out-of-control Sinai on Israel’s doorstep.

EU Pushing Middle East Peace Plan

This situation is always worth watching extremely closely. We know that the prophetic figure known as the antichrist will arise from the revived Roman Empire, once it reaches the 10 kings stage in the progression of events. We also know from Daniel 9:27 that ultimately, the antichrist will 'confirm the covenant' at which point the 7-year tribulation period begins.

At some point on this continuum we would expect the revived Roman Empire to assume a leadership role for the Middle East peace process and indeed we may be seeing the beginnings of this process. 

EU 'To Propose' Peace Plan After Israel Vote

The European Union is drawing up a detailed new plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and expects to present it after this month’s Israeli general election, Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday.

Citing diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Israel’s top-selling daily said the plan was intended to “bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital.”

The plan will include “clear timetables for the completion of the negotiations on all the core issues in the course of 2013.”

The newspaper said the plan is expected to be presented around March, to give time for the formation of a new Israeli government after the general election on January 22.

The newspaper said the plan “apparently will also include a demand to freeze all construction in the settlements.”

The report said the British and French foreign ministries are sponsoring the initiative, which is also backed by Germany and could be adopted by the full EU.

“There’s a lot in the works behind the scenes,” the newspaper quoted high-ranking Israeli political officials as saying.

“The Europeans don’t have the capability to force an agreement on us, but they definitely may embarrass us,” they added.

“It is reasonable to assume that the Palestinians will accept a document of that sort, but Israel will be hard put to do so. That’s going to paint us into a corner.”

EU Working On New Mideast Peace Plan

The European Union is working on a detailed plan meant to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and establish an independentPalestinian state based on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Israeli diplomatic sources as saying.

The plan will set a clear timetable for a discussion on all core issues over the course of 2013. It will likely be presented in March after a new Israeli government is formed.

Efforts are being made to internationalize the plan: The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton is examining the possibility of making the plan an all-European proposal.

Several reports revealed that the plan will also include a basis for a regional Middle Eastern committee with the participation ofEgypt, Jordan and the Gulf states.

Such a committee will marginalize Israel, but a refusal to join it will be perceived as a general rejection of the peace process. The Palestinians have already said they will accept the invitation if issued.

EU Reportedly To Offer New Middle East Peace Plan

The plan is reportedly to be presented in March, once a new Israeli government is in place following the January 22 elections. Sources said that the plan will include land swaps between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as well as a complete freeze on all Israeli construction in the settlements.

The new plan has been initiated by the British and French foreign ministers, according to the report, with the support of Germany. Additionally, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was said to be considering the option of adopting the plan as the official European stance. The Europeans have apparently already initiated contact with US President Barack Obama and incoming secretary of state John Kerry regarding the plan as well.

Diplomats cited in the report said that it would be difficult for Obama to oppose the plan, which was said to closely mirror his own stated views on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

EU To Propose Peace Plan After Israel Vote: Report

Britain And France 'Spearheading New Middle East Peace Plan'