8 Mar 2021

Some Things Never Change

If some new developments are happening in the Middle East (peace with Arab countries!), some old things linger.

Iran (not an Arab country, but of course an Islamic terror state) is now 40+ years into its mischief-making, with the target always the Jews. Collateral damage is the damage done to other states, such as Iraq (the 1980-89 war with Iran was a classic meat-grinder that weakened Saddam Hussein).

But whether it’s bombing a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, or developing nuclear weapons in remote areas of Iran, the mullahs are always looking to murder Jews. The realignment of Washington with Tehran is but the latest misstep by the West in helping Iran achieve its goals.

So…Israel is forced to always stay on alert. The Jewish state has been in a state of perpetual war with neighbors since the evening of May 14, 1948. That’s a long time to stay awake.

This week, Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Israel continues to refine its attack plan on Iran’s nuclear facilities. I’ve always been struck by the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu has always maintained that Iran will never be allowed to have nuclear weapons with which to attack Israel. I don’t believe this is mere rhetoric. Several times in the past Israel has faced existential threats. In 1973, premier Golda Meir was urged by leaders like Moshe Dayan to use battlefield nukes to beat back the Syrians and Egyptians. In 1981, Menachem Begin dispatched a fighter group to bomb Iraq’s reactor at Osirik. In both cases, Israel survived with daring innovation and speed on the battlefield.

I don’t have any reason they won’t win again.

Gantz said as much:

“The Iranian nuclear aspiration must be stopped. If the world stops them before, it’s very much good. But if not, we must stand independently and we must defend ourselves by ourselves.”

According to the Jerusalem Post:

“On Thursday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Vice President Kamala Harris that Israel was totally committed to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons designed to destroy Israel.

“The White House said that the two leaders agreed on the need for close cooperation and partnership on regional security issues, ‘including Iran’s nuclear program and the regime’s dangerous regional behavior.’”

This is all the more interesting because it is not really Netanyahu speaking directly to the United States. He is speaking to Iran. I will go further in saying that I believe Harris—a coup participant in the November 3 election—is far more ideologically compatible with Iran than she is her own country. In other words, as Netanyahu very well knows, Kamala Harris and his “old buddy” Joe Biden are enemies of the Jewish state. They do not have Israel’s best interests at heart; they don’t even have their own country’s best interests at heart.

That’s why Israel will continue to develop daring and innovative plans to prevent Iran from doing the unthinkable (and, according to Scripture, the impossible): destroying Israel.

That will not happen.

God’s provision for His people will never change.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

www.thegodthatanswers.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Mar 2021

Ruthie Knows

One of my favorite Middle East analysts is Ruthie Blum, who writes for a variety of publications, including the Jerusalem Post. Her parents are the peerless Norman Podhoretz (founder of Commentary magazine) and Midge Decter. So Ruthie’s great writing skill comes from good stock.

Norman Podoretz was and is an arch anti-communist. His wife is a marvelous writer.

I met Ruthie Blum in Jerusalem in about 2005. Since then, I have enjoyed her writing, especially a very insightful look at Obama: To Hell in a Handbasket. Get that book!

Anyhoo, Ruthie’s piece in the JPost this week highlights just one of the problems with the Biden “presidency.” Just as a child that reaches out to touch a deadly spider is clearly doing the wrong thing, the Biden gang is hell-bent on reviving the disastrous Oslo paradigm for the Israelis. With unprecedented peace deals sprouting around the Middle East (and certain Arab states signaling that, no, they are not wed to the Palestinian’s psychotic agendas), Israel is in a better position than perhaps at any time during statehood.

From the Post:

“The capacity of peace-process addicts to delude themselves about the Palestinian war against Israel is as bottomless as it is peculiar. It is they, after all, whose repeated attempts at solving the conflict have failed”

It defies belief that, just as the Americans did in 1991, the PLO bailout (when the terror organization is on its heels) has occurred again. Thirty years ago, Yasser Arafat was just another central casting terrorist in a cave in Tunisia. Next thing you know, Bush Sr. and his advisors dusted off the old killer and made him a statesman. What followed was thousands of Israelis dead and maimed. No Western diplomat cared.

Ruthie rightly points out that Trump followed a new and successful model. As a businessman, he couldn’t afford to adopt policies of failure. Predictably, his stances toward Middle East peace paid off in a huge way. Now, look at what awaits the Middle East:

“Palestinian Authority leaders heaved a sigh of relief. For them, dealing with Democrats in the White House, State Department and Capitol Hill is as second nature as manipulating the European Union and United Nations.

“Their satisfaction at the outcome of the US presidential election only increased with Biden’s appointment of Hady Amr – a foreign-policy wonk with a history of hostility to Israel and sympathy for Hamas – as deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs. Due to his role in the new administration in Washington, Amr was handed an official letter sent to the White House last Saturday by the PA.

“The letter, whose contents were revealed by the Palestinian news site Amad, averred that all factions in Ramallah and Gaza, including Hamas, agree to establish a state along the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital; commit to abiding by international law and recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The missive also included a vow to continue to exercise ‘peaceful popular resistance’ until statehood is achieved.”

It is painful to watch. Painful to watch the PLO move back into a position of prominence and continuing the mayhem. Does anyone seriously believe Hamas will live in peace with Israel?

In the days ahead, pray hard for Israel. I am praying for the plans of the evil to be thwarted.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

www.thegodthatanswers.com