Israel is the key to all end-time prophecy.

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May 12

An Inconvenient Truce

By Jim Fletcher 

Hamas is like a horror movie villain that can’t be vanquished. They keep coming back with their murderous agenda, and evidently the international community thinks Israel should take it and like it.

Ever since the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon ordered a pullout of Gaza in 2005, the Hamas terrorist group has been the entrenched Strongman of the region. The result is more misery for the Palestinian people themselves, and more killings of Jews.

Periodically, Hamas proposes a “truce” with Israel. This always occurs when the Israelis finally have enough and move in to cause Hamas some pain. In the world of Islamist terrorism, a “truce” is really a way of saying, “Give me a minute to wipe my bloody nose and stuff some rolled quarters in my fist, then we’ll decide when to start fighting again.”

The profile of this terrorist group, that operates inside Israel (in contrast to, say, Hizbollah, which technically operates outside the state borders), is strikingly similar to the enemy attitudes outlined in Psalm 83, Ezekiel 36, and elsewhere in the Bible. That is, they are single-minded. Their focus is on the destruction of Israel. If they were focused on educating their people and developing technology or agriculture, one could admire their single-mindedness.

Jimmy Carter is only the latest Westerner to give Hamas legitimacy, but his groveling manner toward the terrorists is evidence of a widespread capitulation in the West. We no longer see evil for what it is.

Just this week, a FOX News anchor interviewed Dwight Eisenhower’s granddaughter, who has decided to support Barack Obama for president. When asked what her grandfather would say about that, she replied, “He’d say ‘Go for it!’”

I’ll go out on a limb here and call nonsense on that. I have difficulty believing the supreme allied commander in Europe during World War II would be enthusiastic about someone as weak in foreign policy as Obama. But it’s as if people are blind and don’t know they’re blind.

The Israelis are, sadly, no exception.

Under pressure from the Americans, Ehud Olmert’s tottering government continues to fight this enemy that was formed 20 years ago, during the “First Intifada.” Unwilling to strike a knock-out blow, Israel allows Hamas to strengthen itself in the area of public opinion. The longer the terrorists “hang in there” against Israel, the more emboldened the terrorists become.

On April 19, a coordinated attack on two crossing points in the Gaza Strip narrowly missed killing more Jews. After a mortar attack and under cover of ground fog, two Armored Personnel Carriers (stolen from Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah terrorists!) manned by Hamas operatives tried to enter Israel. IDF troops fired on them and killed them, but the sheer brazenness is breathtaking. Why?

Hamas named the operation “Explosion Warning” to — get this — protest deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip! The very conditions directly brought about by the corrosive, evil core of Hamas itself. The hatred, jealousy, and raw hubris spawned by Hamas (and its ideological counterparts like Islamic Jihad) ensures that violence will continue.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas “spokesman,” promised that more attacks would be forthcoming if Israel did not lift the blockade on Palestinian movement. A blockade that exists solely, of course, to prevent more Jews from being murdered.

Insane.

During this attack on crossings, more than a dozen mortar hits landed in the besieged Israeli town of Sderot. A day later, terrorists fired on Israeli farmers gathering potatoes at Kibbutz Nir Oz. What is the aim of these terrorists, whether they are attacking soldiers or potato farmers?

Just this: the same goal that drove their spiritual ancestors down through the ages, particularly intensifying in the last 100 years.

Is it any surprise that Egypt, that old Jewish antagonist, is working with Hamas to bring about a truce? Is it any surprise that Egypt was the birthplace of the Muslim Brotherhood, the forerunner of Al Qaida.

Days after the Gaza Strip attacks, Egypt’s Cairo intelligence chief met in Gaza with Hamas. They concluded a deal and then announced that the ball was in Israel’s court.

Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar also said that the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held since 2006, would be delayed until the “lull” was in full swing, whatever that means.

All this reveals the depth of Arab cynicism and media manipulation.

Some readers lately have given me feedback (which is always appreciated, no matter the tone) by saying that my writing has been too pessimistic lately. This week’s column could elicit the same claims.

I’m not doing a good enough job conveying what I really think: we are in a difficult period of time that is casting its beam of light on coming glory.

This is tremendously exciting! It causes news of rising fuel and food prices to pale in comparison. If we are passing through difficulties, it is because God has been kind and merciful to allow us to live in this age. I will not live and die in the 19th century, before the rise of the modern Jewish state. I live in the times the prophets spoke of.

We are living in surreal, exciting times. As we see leaders making bad decisions, and see the enemy sharpening its resolve, we know, from Scripture, that God knows exactly what is going on. I find faith-building information in the news on a daily basis, as I look simultaneously at my Bible.

Malcom Hedding, director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, says that God invites us to hold up His claims and see if they are as He says they will be.

Ultimately, I am sad for the naïve, blinded Hamas terrorists who are cannon fodder for their evil leaders. But they show us where we are. Hamas and other terrorists around the world want us to enter into a “truce” with them, so that they can re-gather their strength and come back at us stronger than ever.

But I know who I am and I know whom I have believed.

You might live in a crowded city. You might be reading this at the kitchen table down on the farm. Wherever you are, dear friend, bow your head and pray, then look up, for your redemption is near.

What could be more positive than that?