Obama's Reckless Endangerment

Following Barack Obama's less than thrilling win over Hillary in the last Democratic primary, the newly-crowned nominee for President spoke to AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) one Wednesday. His speech contained all the right "teasers" including a pronouncement of undying loyalty to the existence and prosperity of Israel. But textured within the declarations of support for the Jewish State were the words: "I am thoroughly committed to the establishment of two states living side by side in peace. Furthermore, I will not wait until the waning days of my administration before I begin the effort. It will be of the highest priority from DAY ONE."

In other words, Obama is another earstwhile peacemaker who sees the answer to all of the Mid-East problems being the dividing of Israel. While I commend the desire to stand with Israel, it is sad to see the probably next President of the United States living in a dream world that ignores the same Scriptures that he claims as sacred.

Further, Obama attempted to cover a recent and major gaff in which he vowed to sit down with Iran and Syria without any pre-conditions. Diplomacy would be his method of bringing peace, but he would never sit down and negotiate with terrorists. Unfortunately, in his first declaration we see his true intent. His attempt to clarify and redifine was for the purpose of plugging a hole to his leaky ship, a hole shot through his hull of inexperience. He obviously refuses to understand that Iran posses a clear and present danger to both Israel and the U.S. Listen to the words of Iranian President Ahmadinijad as reported by Joel C. Rosenberg.

AHMADINEJAD VOWS U.S., ISRAEL WILL BE "ANNIHILATED" SOON

Senior Israeli official says war with Iran may be "unvoidable." Meanwhile, Olmert's government on verge of collapse.

By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., June 6, 2008) -- Using some of his most apocalyptic rhetoric yet, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is vowing that the United States and Israel will soon be "annihilated," even as he refuses to abandon Iran's nuclear program.

Marking the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said: "Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started."

He also insisted that "I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene."

Are Israeli leaders thus planning to launch a massive air attack on Iran before the end of the year, or even before new national elections in Israel which may take place as early as November? Or are they trying to persuade the U.S. to do it before President Bush leaves office? Perhaps both. Which underscores the point I've been making for some time -- while we intensify our efforts to pray for peace in the epicenter, we also need to be intensifying our efforts to prepare for war.

"An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks 'unavoidable' given the apparent failure of Western sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential," Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said Friday, according to Reuters report. "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," said Mofaz.

"It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should United Nations Security Council sanctions fail to achieve the desired abandonment of nuclear development by Tehran. Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects. The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iranian turf. Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, 'would disappear before Israel does.'"

(My continuing commentary)
Please understand that things are cycling into a prophetic vortex with a rapidity that defies belief. The fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy draws closer with each new day and development.

What does that mean for the believer in Christ? The times are perlilous, but not for the true follower of Jesus. Rather, it is motivation time....a time when we must work in the fields of harvest like never before. For with the great perils of the end times comes the ripening of hearts. It is a great time to be alive!!
Pastor Jim

Strike Against Iran Still On The Table

The option of military action against a nuclear-weapons-bent Iran must be kept on the table, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.

Livni added that keeping alive the possibility of using force actually made it less likely that military power would be necessary to stop the rogue nation.

Israel must not allow the international community to weaken the pressure on Teheran, Livni said, adding that any "lack of action" on the part of the world community could be interpreted as weakness by Iran and its neighbors.

"Coming to terms with Iran can be interpreted as weakness. We tell the people with whom we are in contact that this is a region in which you either beat the bully, or you join the bully. The world is being tested through its response [to Teheran's nuclear program]," she added.

Livni also said that the international community must stand strong against certain countries that had tried to promote other policies, including agreeing to negotiate with Teheran before receiving proof it had ceased uranium enrichment.

Israel, she said, had begun to emphasizes to the world that it was not just the United States that could and should take a lead role in stopping Iran, but also European states, with whom Livni said Israel had been holding "intimate" conversations concerning the subject. In those talks, she said, Israel had been emphasizing that Iran did not just present a threat to the Jewish state, but that through Teheran's development of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, European capitals could also find themselves between the crosshairs.

Livni said the current tension with Iran was completely separate from the Israel-Arab conflict or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that even if either of those conflicts were to be resolved, the tensions with Iran would continue. Teheran, she added, was working hard to prevent any peace process from yielding fruit.

In the Gaza Strip, she said, Iran has developed "very intensive involvement" with the area's Hamas rulers. Teheran was "in direct communication with Hamas and acts to stabilize the regime in Gaza through streaming money, training and weapons to the area," she said.

Iran's involvement with Hamas was not simply a threat to Israel but also to the Palestinian Authority and to Egypt, Livni said, and no peace deal concluded with the PA could be considered complete unless a solution was also found for the Gaza Strip.

"Just as they say you can't fight terror without creating hope, the opposite is also true," she said, referring to the situation in Gaza.

The September War by Hal Lindsey

(Due to Vacation, I have a Guest Blogger....Hal Lindsey)
According to a number of sources, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to bring his first reactor on line sometime in September 2008, which is just about in line with what the Israeli Mossad had estimated back in 2003 when the full extent of Iran's secret nuclear program became known.

The Iranian announcement came on the heels of a surprise announcement by the government of Israel confirming it had entered into third-party peace talks with Syria's Bashar Assad. The surprising confirmation on Wednesday was the first acknowledged contact between the two parties in eight years, which will be mediated by Turkey. Equally surprising was a statement from the United States saying it had no objection to the talks. Previously, the U.S. had rejected any peace overtures toward Syria as long as it was sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. In fact, President Bush seemed to have been blindsided by the news. According to transcripts of an interview he granted to the Jerusalem Post, Bush responded to the news by stammering; "I expect an explanation, but I'm – he made a decision that he made – or no decisions have been made, except the idea of trying to get some dialogue moving, which is – and I know him well, and know that he is as concerned about Israeli security as any other person that's ever been the prime minister of Israel. And so I presume the decision is made."

Despite the White House's official welcome of the news, privately, officials were furious. The New York Times quoted an "anonymous" (of course) "administration official" who called Israel's unilateral move "a slap in the face."

While Damascus and Jerusalem talk peace, Iranian-backed Hezbollah consolidated the gains it made in fighting against government forces in the streets of Beirut and elsewhere.

After six days of mediation between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, Hezbollah emerged a clear winner in a settlement agreement in which Hezbollah was granted veto rights over the government, affirming its stature as "the preponderant military actor and the super political power in Lebanon," according to political scientist Hilal Khashan of the American University of Beirut. Khashan told the AFP that "it was an excellent deal for the Hezbollah-led opposition and a major defeat for the U.S.-backed government."
The deal was brokered by the Qatari government. The Arab League played a major part in securing the deal, with both Syria and Iran declaring their support for Hezbollah's victory. Under the arrangement, Parliament will elect as president the current head of the Lebanese Army, Gen. Michel Suleiman. Gen. Suleiman will then appoint a new government – one in which Hezbollah holds enough seats to veto any decisions it doesn't like – such as disarming Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Israeli military sources say that Iran is continuing to ship weapons and ammunition, via Hezbollah, to the Hamas-occupied Gaza Strip, including rockets, missiles and rocket launchers. According to the Mossad, these shipments have been stepped up in recent months, reaching a peak in March-April. Using fishing boats, Iran has successfully smuggled Iranian-made 120 mm mortars with a range of up to six miles. The Mossad says that the smuggling operation is overseen by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard using Syrian ports and Hezbollah operatives.

Meanwhile, back in Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is fighting desperately to keep his job while he is under investigation by police on charges of obtaining money by fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax offenses, according to Haartez. And fears are rampant within Israeli circles that Olmert may be considering trading the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace deal he can trumpet to deflect attention away from his legal problems.

If one sits down and connects the dots, one ends up with a very different picture than the one being presented by the mainstream media suggesting the Syrian-Israeli talks are representative of a major breakthrough.

It is worth remembering that it was the Persians who invented chess, and Ahmadinejad seems to be controlling all the pieces. In the first place, Ahmadinejad knows that Israel will attack its reactor the moment that they take it on line. He's been arming and training Hamas to serve as its proxy in the event of war, to harass the IDF on its flanks. To the north in Lebanon, Ahmadinejad has succeeded in rearming and re-equipping Hezbollah since the Lebanon War in 2006. The Mossad estimates Hezbollah is stronger now than it was before Israel invaded. Hezbollah has succeeded, for all intents and purposes, in taking over the Lebanese government.

Hamas controls all of the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority barely has a handle on the West Bank – and in any event, would turn on Israel the second the opportunity presented itself.

Syria's insistence on the return of the Golan Heights as a precondition for peace is a Trojan Horse – particularly considering the timing. It was only last September that Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor that was only weeks from being operational. Syria has built one of the most formidable arsenals of missiles and rockets in the region, all of them aimed at Israel. From the Golan Heights, Syria would control much of northern Israel, as it did prior to losing the Golan to Israel in the Six Days War.

Israel is therefore surrounded with Hezbollah and Syria to the north, Hamas on both flanks, with al-Qaida sympathizers flooding in through Egypt and Jordan. Everything is in place for war except the pretext to start things off.

Starting up a nuclear reactor will do nicely.

Israelis Vilified As Killers And Snakes

Authors of Palestinian school textbooks took small steps toward softening their harsh portrayals of Jews and Israel under the rule of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas - but progress was quickly reversed after the Islamic Hamas won a 2006 election, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) and the American Jewish Committee looked at 120 textbooks published from 2000 to 2006 for how they perceived Jews and Israel.

The report reflects charges by Israelis that Palestinian textbooks are not in keeping with a peace process that started in 1993. Palestinians counter that Jewish Israeli students are not taught about Palestinian suffering.

Arnon Groiss, author of the report, "Palestinian Textbooks: From Arafat to Abbas and Hamas" said most of the textbooks from grade one to 10, issued under the late Yasser Arafat's rule, did not acknowledge any historical Jewish presence in ancient Palestine, nor does modern-day Israel appear on maps. Jews are vilified as schemers and killers.

But in grade 11 books issued under Abbas, there are two maps showing Israel within the so-called "green line" - the cease-fire line before the 1967 war, when Israel captured east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The textbooks issued under Abbas' rule also include a discussion of Jewish history in the region, the report said.

However, in 2006, the Islamist Hamas came to power and issued a grade 12 textbook that dramatically reversed those steps. Jews are likened to snakes, and fighting for the sake of Palestine is praised effusively.

Mixed with anti-Semitic sentiments in the textbooks are genuine Palestinian complaints against Israel, including settlement building in areas Palestinians want for their future state, and the Israeli separation barrier, which often significantly deviates from the "green line."

"Palestinian grievances are legitimate - they were harshly hurt by Israel," said Groiss. "But if (Jewish Israelis) are only presented through that prism, that's wrong. We can't see any balance," he said.

Jamal Zakkout, spokesman for Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said Palestinian textbooks should emphasize connection to the land "and a call for tolerance."

But Zakkout said the main cause Palestinian ill will toward Israel is not textbooks, but Israel's many checkpoints in the West Bank, the separation barrier and military operations in Palestinian towns.