(Today marks my 14^th year writing for RR. It has been and continues to be a privilege afforded me by Todd and Terry, two swell guys. Each week I feel like I’m talking to family with this column. Here’s to more years if the Lord so wills. Thank you for reading!)

 

Well, Well, Well

 

It didn’t take long for the underlying issues to surface only a couple days after the “historic” Israel-UAE agreement.

 

Scores of observers, including evangelicals like Joel Rosenberg, have touted this kind of deal for years. It’s been claimed that not only will it usher in a New Middle East of economic nirvana, but that in fact the Arab states have “gotten sick of” the Palestinians and their shenanigans. The prevailing wisdom has been that the Arab/Gulf states are interested in economic ties with Israel and have put the Palestinian cause behind them.

 

That was last week.

 

Now, Saudi Arabia has announced that they aren’t interested in formal ties with Israel until the Palestinian rights are met. And—right on cue—the UAE says that now they expect a Palestinian state to be established!

 

So much for them abandoning their Palestinian brothers. 

 

I want to make two points here:

 

•Peace will not come to the Middle East by human means. The ancient, satanic hatred that manifests itself in Jew hatred is too deep to be cut-out by secular diplomacy (although international diplomacy is a sort of religion). Jesus Christ will bring peace, hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

•The lurid tales of Arab-launched pogroms against Jews in the Holy Land cannot be overlooked. Some of the most famous accounts come from the years between the world wars, when Jews were slaughtered in Palestine by…their neighbors! That’s why I don’t put much stock in modern peace agreements between Israel and her neighbors. I’ve read many accounts of Jewish residents being attacked and murdered by people they’d lived next to for decades. Former dinner companions, business colleagues. The Arab hatred for Jews in that region is satanic in origin.

 

According to a report in Al Jazeera:

 

“Saudi Arabia’s price for normalising relations with Israel is the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a senior member of the Saudi royal family reaffirmed on Friday.

 

“Prince Turki al-Faisal was apparently responding to US President Donald Trump who said on Wednesday he expected Saudi Arabia to join a deal announced last week by Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise diplomatic relations.

“The UAE is only the third Arab state in more than 70 years to forge full relations with Israel. Under the US-brokered deal, Israel temporarily shelved plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians seek as part of a future state.”

 

Did anybody really believe “normalization” was not going to include the very thing we think we’ve moved past—a fulfillment of the disastrous Oslo Accords?

 

And in the Times of Israel, there is this:

 

“In his second op-ed for an Israeli newspaper, the United Arab Emirates’s ambassador  to the US said the new normalization agreement with Israel would allow for ‘direct’ advocacy for the Palestinian cause, including the establishment of a sovereign state, now with ‘stronger’ tools.

 

“’As we have for fifty years, we will forcefully advocate for these ends,’ Yousef Al-Otaiba wrote in the piece for Yedioth Ahronoth. ‘Now, we will do it directly, face to face and empowered with stronger incentives, policy options and diplomatic tools.’”

 

Yes, indeed. People can bare their fangs in a variety of ways, whether overtly menacing or by smiling. But their goals don’t change; they want to eat you. 

 

Let’s continue to pray for Israel, with the knowledge that their God watches over them always. I will continue to pray for the physical safety of the Israelis.

 

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

When Your Enemies Agree With You

When Joe Biden and Thomas Friedman endorse your foreign policy “success,” you know you’re doing it wrong.

The deal struck this week between Israel and the UAE—brokered by the US—provides full diplomatic and other relations between the Jewish state and the “bank” of the Middle East. However, Israel’s move to annex parts of the West Bank are now off the table.

Of course.

Everyone is touting the achievement of the Trump White House, particularly the diplomacy done by Jared Kushner. Friedman, the New York Times columnist that is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is (he’s often profoundly wrong about his predictions), and Biden, are the two most well-known figures giving credit for the deal. Although Biden incredibly claimed partial credit. He has long been “a friend of Bibi,” but no one is more duplicitous when dealing with the Israelis. Biden cares about Joe Biden and that’s it.

Anyway, I was very disappointed to see the groundswell of support for the deal, even among Christians. Even among pro Israel Christians.

For some time, Joel Rosenberg has been advocating for these kinds of deals, the ones that restrain Israel from historic opportunities. Rosenberg has done great damage to Israel’s attempt to annex more territory, but he does love to tout his high-level contacts, including in the Arab world. Good for him, literally. It’s marketing, and ultimately helps him sell more books.

Yes, it’s great the US embassy was moved to Jerusalem. Yes, it’s great the US recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

But notice that when Israel has a chance to annex significant parts of Judea and Samaria, even for security reasons, it’s a non-starter with the international community.

Very disappointing.

We do have to remember that almost no one in the diplomatic and political corps have a biblical worldview, especially when it comes to God’s land promises to the Jews.

The argument with the UAE deal is that it will bring such an economic boon to the Middle East that everyone will embrace and build Paradise. However, I remember the painful stories of the pogroms against Jews by the Arabs in the 20s and 30s, not to mention (but let’s do that anyway) terrorism in the modern era. The historical record will show that Jews can live in peace with Arabs for decades, until the Arabs lose their minds again and start killing all over again.

Dr. Shmuel Katz recently wrote a piece that outlined Israel’s right to the land. Among his arguments:

“The Jewish people had a longstanding claim to the land, which was under the management of the British Mandate following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1917. The Jewish claim was recognized by the Balfour declaration and by the subsequent legally-binding decision by the League of Nations in the San Remo conference. This decision was accepted also by the nascent United Nations. Therefore, it is very clear from the international law point of view, that the presence of the state of Israel in this area is totally legal!!”

He’s correct, of course. But we must always keep in mind that this is above all a spiritual issue. The world despises the Jew. The world despises the Word of God.

What we know in a general sense from the Bible is that the world will not accept Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel until the Messiah comes. Until the Great Day of the Lord.

Until then, Israel will be constrained by self-centered plotters that think they can upend the purposes of our Great God.

May we continue to be on the opposite side of the fence from the Thomas Friedmans of the world.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com