Where’s Bibi?

Caroline B. Glick says:

The good news is that Israel has not lost the war. We can win. As the IDF’s long awaited ground assault is demonstrating, on a tactical level, the IDF has been able to learn on the go, and learn well.

The bad news is that Israel’s national leadership has so far managed to take every political and strategic advantage that Israel has, and turn it into an impediment. Today, assuming Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will let us win, what three weeks ago could have been a rapid victory will now be costly and slow. Regionally and internationally, the threats that Israel faces mount by the day. While all eyes are focused on Lebanon, Syria and Iran have both upped the ante. Diplomatically, Israel is a guppy swimming with the sharks. And as the dangers mount, far from learning from their mistakes, Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen Dan Halutz have gone from acting like rookies to acting like amateurs.

And so, as the IDF marches on to an uncertain but still forward marching trumpet, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel’s chief impediment to victory is its government.

I wonder how many who voted for Olmert wish now they have voted for Netanyahu instead.

To date, in the interest of maintaining national unity, Israel’s political opposition, led by Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has been unwilling to publicly criticize Olmert for his mishandling of the war.

What a concept.

A Dome and a Temple

TENSIONS RISE OVER TEMPLE MOUNT

Now come reports that tensions are rapidly rising over the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports that “the Islamic Movement warned Wednesday against the possibility that Jewish groups would try to reach the Temple Mount on Thursday (The Ninth of Av) and damage the Al Aqsa Mosque. The group’s warning follows a Supreme Court decision made earlier this week, ordering police to allow whoever wants to visit the Temple Mount during regular visiting hours on the Ninth of Av.” According to a Jerusalem Post story: “Citing intelligence alerts of possible violence, Jerusalem police announced Wednesday that the Temple Mount will be closed to non-Muslim visitors on Thursday, as the nation marks Tisha Be’av and the destruction of the biblical Jewish temples.”

As one of the lines in The Copper Scroll says, any effort by Jewish groups to build the Third Temple — or attack the Muslims sites — “could unleash the wrath of a billion Muslims against the tiny State of Israel and instantly obliterate any hope of peace.” (p. 82) Now several Islamic leaders have told Ha’aretz almost the exact same thing: “Extremist Jewish groups may damage the Al Aqsa Mosque. If this were to happen, heaven forbid, it would inflame the region.”

There you have it.

I just started The Copper Scroll this morning.

The Copper Scroll

Good News: North Korea

Hey! North Korea isn't just about the Dear Leader, nukes, and missiles. Those are far outnumbered by regular folks who could use your help.

Touching North Koreans:

The World Bible Translation Center continues to ask for prayer regarding the distribution of Scripture in North Korea.

Due to the severe restrictions on religious and personal freedoms, such work is very dangerous and painstaking.

North Korea has topped the Open Doors’ World Watch list for several years.

Their ranking comes among growing evidence of severe oppression in North Korea . . . .

It is against this backdrop that the Center committed to getting 20,000 New Testaments into North Korea over the next twelve months.

Pray that God will protect those involved in the project and that He will open the doors. Pray too, that freedom of religion be granted in North Korea.

Oh, Those Israelis!

The MSM continues exercising their right to free speech. Here's a little interpreting . . . .

Is this another anti-Israeli, pro-Hezbollah propaganda piece disgusted disguised as news?

Israeli commandos have struck deep into Lebanon, snatching five suspected Hezbollah guerrillas in a helicopter raid that spectacularly snubbed international pressure for an end to the three-week-old conflict.

struck deep into Lebanon = “The Israelis are really violating Lebanese sovereignty now.”

spectacularly snubbed = “The Israelis are still thumbing their nose at too many of us.”

while Hezbollah resumed raining rocket fire on Israel.

Hezbollah resumed = “They were provoked by the Israelis.”

Israel had called a 48-hour partial halt to air attacks after a raid on the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday which killed 52 civilians, most of them children.

after a raid = “The Israelis did the Qana thing (and don’t bother us with what the new media is reporting about Hezbollah’s cold-blooded staged event).”

killed…civilians = “Who else but Israelis would kill non-combatants — you know, regular people like you, dear reader? These Jews obviously don’t know how to wage a war in a civilized way (and don’t harass us with the preposterous notion that Hezbollah fighters are dressing as civilians and operating from among civilians).”

children = “Killing harmless civilians living in their own homes out of their own free will is terrible enough, but this is beyond savagery. And we reject the outlandish anti-Arab idea that Hezbollah is callously using children and women as hostages, human-shields, and propaganda pieces.”

Local police said the Israelis snatched five people in the raid

people = “Just like you, these are civilians — not warriors, not terrorists, not Hezbollah. I’m telling you, someone needs to restrain these Israelis!”

That’s enough of that.

Am I being cynical or bothered or mocking or suspicious?

That seems quite likely, eh?

Is This Bad?

Joel Rosenberg reports:

The battle for Jerusalem continues to escalate. Syria is mobilizing its forces. So is Iran. And Israel sent some 10,000 ground troops into southern Lebanon overnight. I write fictionally about a battle for control of the holy city in my new novel, The Copper Scroll. But this morning comes news that another element of my previous novel may be coming true.

On page 243-246 of The Ezekiel Option, I write about the possibility that Germany may participate in the prophetic “War of Gog and Magog” against Israel, along with Russia, Turkey, Iran and other Islamic countries. On page 335 of The Ezekiel Option, Israeli intelligence reports that German troops are being sent to southern Lebanon to join an international alliance against Israel. At the time, this seemed like one of the more far-fetched elements in my political thriller.

But this may not be fiction for long. This morning, the Jerusalem Post reports the disturbing news that German troops may, in fact, be sent to southern Lebanon, ostensibly as part of an international “stabilization” force. This follows recent reports that Turkey could lead this force, and that Russian troops may go to the borders of Israel as well.

Worldwide shock and fury

A belated response to 9/11 perhaps?

Shock and fury at an Israeli air strike that killed 52 Lebanese civilians, mostly sleeping children, rippled across the world from the United Nations to the streets of Arab capitals.

OK, so the shock-and-fury folks mostly opted out of doing their thing related to 9/11.

Have they done their thing when homicide bombers blew up Israeli civilians on purpose time and again?

Probably not. Maybe if those Israelis had been sleeping children it would have made a difference. Probably not.

Now, let’s hear a few screams and rants for shock-and-fury proportionality.

Oh never mind. Allowing these things to bother you really accomplish nothing. The planet is going darker. The darkness is man’s heart continues to express itself more freely.

Things will get worse — much, much worse — before the New Day dawns.

So fasten your soul’s seat belts.

Above all, love God!

since November 9, 2005