Terrorism

March 6, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

ICC Investigates Israel War Crimes…What’s One More Libel?

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands just launched an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israelis against Palestinians. Most people have heard of the ICC, but very few really understand its role and how binding its rulings are. The idea of an international criminal court goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, 1919 to be exact, during the Paris Peace Conference that followed WWI. Various people went back and forth trying to get something organized and started for several decades after that.

Eventually, in 1948, after the atrocities of WWII, the United Nations General Assembly saw the need for such a legal body. At that point, the International Law Commission or ILC (a group of 34 experts helping to develop and codify international law and elected by the United Nations General Assembly), slowly started to work towards the establishment of the ICC. In 1994, the ILC came up with their final proposal and it was agreed that a conference should convene with the various countries involved in hopes of solidifying the ICC statutes. That conference took place in June 1998 in Rome, Italy. Voting followed, and 120 countries adopted the draft, while 21 abstained and seven voted against. Out of the seven votes against, we can find the United States and Israel. in 2002, the ICC was officially born and became active soon after. It currently has 123 member states. The ICC’s maximum possible sentence is life in prison.

The long list of crimes that the ICC identifies is based on the Geneva Convention that established the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in wartime since 1949. According to their own website, the ICC claims that their purpose is, “Trying individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.” This sounds very honorable, and in the world we live in, it would appear that such a body is critically needed. That is of course if that body is truly unbiased, which remains to be seen. I am not implying that the ICC is corrupt at its core, but I wonder about some of the decisions made over the years, especially one that was recently made involving Israel and possible war crimes against Palestinians.

Israel is not part of the countries that signed the Rome Statute and doesn’t agree with its rules and/or jurisdiction of the ICC. As it would appear, the ICC is currently claiming that it has the power to enforce the rules of the 1998 Rome Statute on any country or individual of its choice regardless of that country agreeing or not with the Rome statute. This is definitely a case of overreaching or overstepping boundaries. The United Nations Security Council officially has the power to rule in that arena and the Oslo Accords (1993 and 1995) which dictate the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Palestine was declared a state by Yassir Arafat in 1988 and is recognized by 138 UN members. It is a non-member observer state at the UN. UNESCO accepted Palestine as a member country in 2011, even though Palestine isn’t a country per see. Could “Palestine” influence the ICC? Possibly!

There are several problems with what the ICC is doing right now, and it could have many grave ramifications for Israel and its citizens around the globe. Basically, according to what the ICC is trying to do, any Israeli citizen could become guilty of war crimes against Palestinians and become imprisoned for up to 30 years. Several issues must be considered as we look at the validity of such claims:

• The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel who didn’t ratify the Rome Statute: As one of several countries that do not agree with the Rome Statute, Israel doesn’t have to abide by the ICC’s ruling.
• The ICC claims that Israel can be prosecuted because they committed crimes within Palestine which has ratified the Rome Statute: This is an illegal unprecedented move.
• The ICC has no right to apply the rules of a treaty to any other countries than parties of that treaty:This would constitute a severe departure from the very nature of international law.
• The entity known as Palestine is neither a sovereign state nor has clearly defined borders: The entire case hinges on the acceptance of Palestine as a state, which it is not.

So, the question remains: Why is ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda going after Israel for war crimes, and did Israel really commit war crimes against Palestinians? This goes hand-in-hand with the same narrative being used to justify the accusations made by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. Israel continues to be accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and illegal occupation. That narrative is constantly fed to the world and continues to paint Palestine and the Palestinians as victims. I have a few questions for Mrs. Fatou Bensouda:

• Why isn’t Hamas being investigated for war crimes against Israel?
• Why hasn’t the ICC investigated Syria for crimes against humanity, if not genocide in the last several years?
• Will the ICC ever investigate Turkey for killing so many Kurds over the last few decades?
• Should Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah be held responsible for crimes against Israel?

My concern is the fact that the ICC’s current decision seems to be a very biased one against Israel. We continue to witness a tremendous double standard against the Jewish state. The panel of judges who voted on the investigation comprised of three judges, one of them, Judge Péter Kovács, wrote a lengthy, detailed dissenting opinion in which he concluded: “I am convinced that without the cooperation of the directly interested States in the present and truly complicated, over-politicized situation, the Prosecutor will have no real chance of preparing a trial-ready case or cases.” I commend him for seeing through the real agenda.

I think it would be absolutely accurate to describe Mrs. Bensouda’s move as a libel against Israel and by proxy, all Israeli citizens anywhere in the world. A libel, according to the dictionary is, “a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression.” That is exactly what is happening here. I am not sure that this investigation will result in a trial, let alone a conviction, but it certainly helps in continuing to paint Israel as the problem standing in the way of peace in the Middle East. We don’t need the help of the ICC to further that propaganda. If they were doing their job properly and in an unbiased way, they would come to the opposite conclusion.

December 26, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part I

There are many topics that could be covered to punctuate the year 2020. Most of them are unusually different from previous years. The race riots, the pandemic, or the elections are just three of them. It could also be argued that 2020 will be remembered as the year when we became the Divided States of America. Nobody in America ever saw such polarization between neo-liberals and conservatives, and the chasm will probably get wider as time progresses. There is also a way to look at Jewish life through the year 2020; Antisemitism! I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, and once a year, I review what events have made each year unique from that perspective. 2020 is no different. Events varied from wake-up calls to challenges to crimes, and they were both domestic and global. Keep in mind that even a global act of antisemitism has many ripple effects that will reach the United States. So, let’s review the year a month at a time:

January 2020: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Every January 27, we are reminded to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As multiple heads of state and key representatives gather to pay tribute to the victims and the helpers (Righteous Among the Nations), the rest of the world is also invited to post a photo of themselves with the hashtag #WeRemember. But Hashtags will not defeat Holocaust deniers, historical revisionists and antisemites. Hashtags are the bumper stickers of the twenty-first century, they make a statement in passing as they move to their eternal abode in cyberspace. Instead, people can visit one of the numerous US-based (30 states) Holocaust memorial/museums, read on the topic, share with the next generation and/or attend conferences and peaceful protests.

February 2020: The Aalst Carnival in Belgium
The city of Aalst, Belgium has officially held its carnival since 1923. Parades of that sort actually go back to the Middle Ages. Aalst almost always makes the news for its 3-Day carnival. The organizers repeatedly claim that the satirical tone of the carnival is to be remembered when one considers any of its floats. They regularly ridicule the Jewish people.
The “Aalst Jews of 2020” were wearing oversized shtreimels (fur hats), dressed in black this year, but the bottom half of their bodies were that of insects or vermin; ants to be exact (don’t miss the extermination innuendo here). Joining the crowds were dozens of people wearing caricatural orthodox Jewish garb and large fake crooked noses, not to mention the many flyers with stereotypical renditions of Jews with side curls, crooked noses and curly hair, and the many people wearing Nazi uniforms…All of it in the name of innocent satire!

March 2020: The Covid-19 Vaccine versus BDS
As of March, 149 countries had been infected. The global number of cases exceeded 150,000 and deaths were over 5,600. We thought that it was bad, but we knew nothing yet. Several countries in the world were racing against the clock to research, discover, test and manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. At the forefront of these modern countries was Israel.
And then, there were the usual BDS movement people across the globe, selling the false idea that Israel is an occupying, colonialist and human rights violating country. They convince a plethora of uneducated people to boycott Israel. Evidently, they boycott whatever is not going to be too inconvenient. So, here is the million-dollar question: “Would BDS people refuse the vaccine if it came from Israel?” They should if they were consistent and ethical.

April 2020: A New Bible Without Israel
The Danish Bible Society published a new Bible known as “The Bible 2020.” It should be called the RTV (Replacement Theology Version.) This Bible is no Bible at all, and it is a very dangerous document. It chose to inaccurately replace or just ignore the word “Israel” (73 times in the New Testament), calling it instead “the land” or “the people.”
It is just one more proof showing us how close we are from the final chapter in the “Real Bible”, where Messiah Yeshua returns to establish his kingdom after fighting all those who went against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10), and establishes His messianic kingdom with His people among which the Jews will be the head and not the tail. That is the biblical truth that includes Israel AND excludes the enemies of Israel.

May 2020: Trump, Ford and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion!
In May, President Trump made a very uncomfortable comment as he was visiting a Ford factory in Michigan. As he was addressing executives about the founder of Ford Motors, Henry Ford, he said, “The company was founded by a man named Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, you got good blood.”
Ford’s antisemitism is indelibly printed in the chronicles of history. It cannot be denied, it shouldn’t be minimized and will not be forgotten. I do not believe that President Trump was promoting Eugenics or racial superiority in the way that Henry Ford did when he published The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, but his statement can be used against him by his enemies and also by those who espouse such a view, linking President Trump to a group of fringe antisemites that already are believed by some to support him.

June 2020: Black Lives Matter but BLM doesn’t
2020 saw the tragic death of George Floyd and the rise of the BLM movement. But before we blindly join and support the BLM movement based on somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, from a mix of compassion, rightful indignation and misplaced guilt, we should investigate who the BLM movement supports and promotes.
Black Lives Matter clearly supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). BDS has been pushing for a total boycott (academic, cultural and economic) of Israel and those who support Israel and Israeli products and companies. It has made great strides towards convincing people across the globe that Israel was the perpetrator of crimes against humanity, oppression, invasion and persecution. BLM is also one of more than 150 organizations within the coalition known as Movement for Black Lives (M4BL.) Let’s support all black lives, but not through a manmade movement that has a shaky foundation at best. Rather, because of our Messiah who supported all lives, enough to die for them. We all should support black lives and it definitely matters how we do it!

Part II with the rest of 2020 will be published next week.

December 4, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Asking Wolves to Tend Sheep Never Ends Well for the Sheep!

2020 has been a year that the world will remember even though all of us wish we could forget it. Inevitably and sadly, when the world goes through a crisis, there is always a segment of the population that will favor blaming the Jews for that crisis. So, it has been no different with the current Covid-19 pandemic, as some have irrationally accused Israel and the Jews of the virus. Conspiracy theories abound!

The result has been a global surge in acts of antisemitism. At the same time, people are trying to come to an agreement on some kind of an international definition for antisemitism in a concerted effort to fight it more holistically, and that is commendable. As it stands, most of the world has been adopting the United States Department of State’s definition that is as follows, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” I honestly find it surprising that The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted that same definition in 2016. Additionally, they were quick to clarify that it was a non-legally binding definition. In other words, these are just words.

But even then, that definition is a start, although I find it to be a bit vague or possibly too soft. When I hear “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”, I feel like the use of defining terms should have a bit firmer. For instance, I would have stated “a certain perception of Jews, which is expressed as hatred toward Jews”, because I have yet to see any iteration of antisemitism not being hatred of the Jews or Israel. Then, the definition goes on to say that antisemitism can be “rhetorical and physical”, and we know that to be true, but by introducing the idea that antisemitism may be expressed as hatred, we now open the door to the possibility that rhetorical or physical acts of antisemitism may not be hateful and thus, could be justified. Simply stated, this definition is too soft and too vague. But this is not the only challenge with trying to combat antisemitism. We also have to look at who is speaking against the oldest hatred and how they are possibly spinning the concept to fit their agenda.

When a conference or seminar is organized, it is common sense to gather a panel of the foremost experts on the topic at hand. The last thing that the organizers want to be accused of, is that they have gathered a panel of people who have not earned the right to speak on any given topic. You would not gather a group of white supremacists or KKK members to speak on the ills of slavery, just like you would not ask a group of neo-Nazis to speak on Israel’s right to exist. In reality, such gatherings might take place, but nobody would take them seriously, let alone attend the conferences. Well, you would think so, but this is 2020 after all, and the sky is the limit when it comes to the irrational, and when the working definition of antisemitism is non-legally binding, strange things can happen.

So, when I found out that a webinar-panel discussion was scheduled for mid-December, on the topic of “Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice”, I got excited, be it for a very short moment until I realized who was on the panel. I expected experts like Manfred Gerstenfeld, the Israeli former Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who also founded and directed the Center’s Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism program, or maybe Deborah Lipstadt an American historian, author and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. These people are just two of many experts I can think of on the topic of antisemitism.

Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that the webinar on dismantling antisemitism will be led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Marc Lamont Hill, Peter Beinart and Barbara Ransby. This would provide great material for a Saturday Night Live skit if the topic wasn’t so tragically serious.

Rashida Tlaib just finished participating in a conference titled ” Against All Odds: Palestine beyond 2020“, organized by American Muslims for Palestine. She was also joined by congresswoman Ilhan Omar and terrorist supporters like Hatem Bazian or Tarek Hamoud who has is tied to Hamas. At the end of the conference, Miss Tlaib retweeted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free ” which is a euphemism for the total destruction of Israel and all Jews.

Marc Lamont Hill was employed by CNN until he made some very antisemitic comments and also claimed that we all need to strive for a free Palestine from the river to the sea. Additionally, he was part of a fundraiser for a known terrorist.

American Jewish journalist Peter Beinart is also on that panel. He has called the Jewish state a cancer. He goes as far as comparing modern Israelis and American Jews to Nazis against the Palestinians. Yes, Mr. Beinart is Jewish! Whatever that means to him.

Barbara Ransby is a professor in Chicago and she supports terrorist Rasmea Odeh. She has also promoted violent protests against Israel.

These will be the four speakers on this panel dedicated to the dismantling of antisemitism. Is this to be taken seriously? You better believe it is. These people really believe that they have a message that can make a difference. Maybe they think that by eradicating Israel and eliminating all Jews, antisemitism will cease to exist. After all, “no more Jews” means no more need for antisemitism. What a farce! I find it hard to believe that anybody would take this webinar seriously, but then I looked at who was organizing such an event and I was shocked even further.

The event is co-sponsored by several “Jewish” organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Jewish Currents and the Jewish Vote, among other groups. A quick perusal of these Jewish groups will reveal that they are JINOs or “Jewish in Name Only.” They actually are a disgrace to the Jewish people, the memory of the Holocaust and the modern state of Israel. These groups have proven to have no affinity for the people they claim to represent. They are very liberal organizations that in the name of social justice will quickly throw Israel and the Jews under the bus. They regularly claim that Israel is occupying stolen Palestinian land and that Jews are weaponizing antisemitism to their advantage.

We are told by the event website, “Join social justice movement and political leaders as they share what fighting antisemitism looks like to them and how it connects to their own liberation struggles. Panelists will address their own experiences of fighting oppression, how they learned about and have experienced antisemitism.” I cannot wait to hear how self-proclaimed Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib and African America Marc Lamont Hill have experienced antisemitism.

I am actually not sure if these panelists believe that they can solve antisemitism. Are they so delusional that they could see themselves as the providers of a solution against antisemitism, but still see Israel as a threat to the world and Jewish people as colonizers and murderers? I realize that 2020 has been an upside-down year on so many levels, but to let wolves tend the sheep will never end well for the sheep. If these people are the experts on antisemitism, we are so doomed!

October 16, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

80 Years After the Warsaw Ghetto…Danger Will Robinson!

In a recent article that I wrote, I went over the results of a US survey made with the millennials and Gen Z community. The results were terrifying. One of the questions posed had to do with the ability to name a death camp or a ghetto. Incredibly, 48% of all respondents were unable to name anything, and in some states, it was as high as 60%. Historically, Auschwitz and the Warsaw ghetto are the most known names within that category, and yet half the people didn’t have a clue at all.

This month we remember that eighty years ago in October 1940, in Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto was established. But what is it exactly that we remember, for those of us who do remember? So much can be said about the Warsaw Ghetto, and so much can be learned from what happened there and how it happened. To be sure, the concept of the ghetto didn’t get invented by the Nazis to control the Jewish population, but it was simply re-introduced and “put on steroids” so to speak!

The word ghetto or geto is Italian for “foundry” which is the area where the first ghetto was organized in Venice, Italy in 1516 in the district known then as Gheto Vechio, some four hundred years before the Warsaw ghetto. The large Jewish community that had been expelled from Spain in 1492 was moving to Italy to relocate, and the Venetian community decided to keep things separated for better control. You can still visit the Venetian ghetto area to this day.

Fast forward to 1940. The Nazi Party is struggling to control the Jews. Holocaust historian and author Raul Hilberg explained that there was a progression in how the world got organized to first control and eventually get rid of its Jews, “Since the fourth century after Christ there have been three anti-Jewish policies: conversion, expulsion and annihilation. The second appeared as an alternative to the first, and the third emerged as an alternative to the second.”

While the final solution concentrated on the complete eradication of European Jewry, the institutionalization of the ghetto paved the way and helped to organize that step. Forced conversions and forced baptisms of the Jews to Christianity had been attempted for centuries and had resulted in the loss of many lives. Expulsion seemed to be a good option for those who wanted to get rid of the Jews. It had occurred in Europe on many occasions (England in 1290, Hungary in 1349 and 1360, France in 1394, Austria in 1421, Spain and Sicily in 1492, Portugal in 1497, Nuremberg in 1499, Naples in 1510 and Milan in 1597.)

But for Hitler and his Nazi murderers, expulsion didn’t yield the results expected. Things had to move further along and much faster. Ghettos started to get organized by the Nazis all over Europe as early as 1939. Jews were rounded up and sent to controlled and enclosed areas. Many smaller ghettos were started across Europe, with the first large metropolitan ghetto in Lodz in April of 1940, closely followed by the Warsaw ghetto in October of 1940. Erected brick walls and barbed wires formed new boundaries for various Jewish communities that would have to survive in their new communal prisons.

The ghettos were somewhat organized with occasional, Jewish traffic in and out of their limits, with special authorizations from the Nazis. The Jewish people did their best to maintain a semblance of communal life. Schools were organized and even synagogue services took place. But things started to deteriorate very rapidly. Food became scarce, living conditions were extremely crowded and sanitation was insufficient at best. Typhus and other infectious diseases started to plague the ghettos, and the death toll became very high. Over 43,000 people died inside the Lodz ghetto, and 76,000 within the Warsaw ghetto before the summer of 1942.

In a sense, the ghettos became clearing houses for the “final solution to the Jewish question”, a euphemism for the total destruction of the Jews of Europe. Since the Jews were not leaving fast enough and the ghettos were bulging at their seams, something else had to be done to rid the world of the “Jewish virus.” Slowly but steadily, the Nazis started to deport the Jews out of the ghettos to the death camp of Treblinka, only 50 miles away.

Two heroes of the Warsaw ghetto are worth remembering. The first one was Mordekhai Anielewicz, the young leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) who led the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This was the largest Jewish revolt during World War Two, which inspired others of the sort in various ghettos and camps. He is remembered as the symbol of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

The other hero was a Polish-Jewish historian named Emanuel Ringelblum. He managed to chronicle Jewish deportation and ghetto life. His records were preserved inside tin boxes and large metal milk cans. They were respectively recovered in 1946 and 1950 and have provided the world with over 25,000 artifacts documenting the Holocaust and life in the Warsaw ghetto. This was a priceless find made possible by the selfless desire of a Jewish man to document the horrors he had to live through. Such courage!

What will happen to this crucial part of history if the proponents of the “Cancel Culture” movement had their way? I can only imagine! But there is something that we need to come to grips with even today. I believe that even though we are not seeing the brick and mortar walls being erected with barbed wires around Jewish communities, ghetto life is lurking again. The purpose of a ghetto is to separate, ostracize and control a group of people. Could it be that the global Jewish community is being rounded-up into a virtual ghetto?

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is working hard at accusing Israel of apartheid, colonization and human rights abuse in an effort to ostracize the Jewish people. No physical walls are necessary, just paint the Jews into the unwanted camp.

The Campus Intifadas are indoctrinating our young people into believing that Israel murders Palestinians every day and inviting pro-Palestinian apologists to lecture on US campuses. Jews are excluded from the marketplace of ideas, ironically enough, under the guise of freedom of speech. No physical walls are necessary, just paint the Jews as the oppressor and the rest of the student body will gladly denigrate them.

The myriads of antisemitic acts all over the world are a constant reminder of the danger that Jewish people run, simply for “being Jewish” Cemeteries are being desecrated, synagogues set on fire, diatribes and libels are posted online on all social networks (even though Facebook and Twitter finally agreed to block and cancel Holocaust deniers on their platforms.) No physical walls are necessary, just accuse the Jews of the ills of the world, and the world will gladly pass judgment and inflict the verdict.

When the ghettos proved not to be enough for those who hated the Jews with every fiber of their beings, Jewish extermination became the next logical step. No “Cancel Culture” demagogue will be able to prove otherwise. Today, the Jewish people are no longer in a ghetto between four walls topped by barbed wire, but it can easily be argued that we are being ghettoized by the media, politicians, the entertainment industry and even some of the churches. I dare not imagine what’s next if indeed we do cancel culture and we let history repeat itself!

“Indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, and in a free society,
some are guilty, but all are responsible.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel

September 17, 2020 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

There is Peace, and then there is PEACE!

Don’t quote me wrong, I have no intention of minimizing the event that took place at the White House on September 15, 2020. It was truly historic! Considering the geopolitical crisis that has punctuated the Middle East since Israel’s birth as a modern nation on May 14, 1948, any Israeli/Arab peace treaty is a monumental achievement. There had only been two in 72 years. Egypt was the first in 1978 at Camp David under Jimmy Carter and between Anwar El Sadat and Menahem Begin. It was followed by Jordan in 1994, at the White House under Bill Clinton and between King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin. Then came the 2020 negotiations in the Middle East under Donald Trump and his team, and the impossible took place; the United Arab Emirates declared that they would normalize relations with Israel and soon after them, Bahrain followed suit.

While nobody knows the details of what is to happen next, President Trump hinted at the fact that 5-6 other Arab nations are lined up to normalize relations with Israel. This is truly changing the entire dynamics of the Middle East. The Abraham Accords (Abraham being the father of both Jewish and Arab nations), as they are being called, are truly history being written in front of our very eyes. The positive aspect of such an event is most definitely welcome in 2020, a year that until now, could have been renamed “The year of all tragedies.”

In an exclusive interview with Vice President Mike Pence, Joel Rosenberg confirmed that the current administration desires to go the extra mile to strengthen US/Israel relations after they had been strained by the previous administration. Pence called Israel,“our most cherished ally” and said that “the president had decided from the very beginning of his administration that he was going to do everything he could to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance and try to advance peace.” What a departure from the shaky relations that the US had under Barack Obama! Incidentally, Pence also mentioned that it was Democrat President Harry Truman who recognized Israel literally moments after Ben Gurion had declared independence in Tel Aviv.

The Peace Treaties that were signed are very special because they open the door to more countries in the region, and that is a good thing. Additionally, they put Iran and the Palestinian Authority on notice. When more countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sudan and others decide to normalize relations with Israel, the Middle East as we have known it for the last several decades will be a thing of the past. Iran, already weakened by major US sanctions, is seeing its hegemony of the region erode by the day. As to the Palestinians, their response to the peace deals was still typical of their ideology and agenda; they sent missiles onto Israel from Gaza. The consensus from the Palestinians is that “there will be no peace until Palestine is free.” For now, the Palestinian Authority has decided to dig its heels in the sand, but with a weakened Iran increasingly unable to finance Hamas and Hezbollah, the tide might turn soon. The Palestinian narrative might become irrelevant. Wow, I never thought I would say that in my lifetime! We are truly living as critical history is being written. It is about peace. But there is peace and there is PEACE!

Again, I do not wish to brush aside the momentous event that took place days ago, but I also want to bring some biblical perspective if I may. From a human perspective, nobody can argue that peace is good. The Bible tells us to get along with our fellow men whenever and however possible in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” We are also told not to seek revenge or hold a grudge in Leviticus 19:18, “ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” So, there is definitely a biblical precedent for seeking peace with our neighbors. What about Israel? Does the Bible give us clues as to peace in the Middle East Region and the safety of Israel? I believe it does.

The first thing we must understand is that, from our limited human perspective, peace is simply the absence of war. This doesn’t make peace not worth seeking, but that is not the whole story. The peace we should be seeking is the one that comes from the Prince of Peace, Messiah Yeshua as He is called by that name in Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Yeshua the Prince of Peace will return in the future to establish His messianic kingdom on earth as He promised. Isaiah goes further in describing what life will be in the messianic kingdom, under the just rule of Messiah, the Prince of Peace, in Isaiah 11:6-10 we read, “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also, the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.

We are told that the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord and that the wild will fellowship with the tame as never seen before. The prophet Ezekiel (Chapters 40-48) also tells us with great details about that future time in history when a beautiful Jewish Temple will be rebuilt in a New Jerusalem. That is what real PEACE will be all about, and anything but that is a thin veneer of “pretend peace” painted over a lost world in need of a Savior. The Bible also tells us that a false peace will exist, and while I recognize the incredible events of the last few days, biblically speaking, I still see the region undergoing turmoil. The door has been open for more peace in the Middle East and for Israel to start feeling more secure. Israel will have to feel more secure in order to let her guard down and agree to sign a seven-year treaty with a charismatic new world leader that the Bible knows as the Antichrist.

At first, the world will become mesmerized by this new figure. He is known by many names like “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8), “the prince who is to come” (Daniel 8:23), “the one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27) and “the man of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) to name just a few. He will rise to power very quickly (Revelation 17:13.) Possibly his biggest achievement in the eyes of men will be the covenant he will sign with Israel to bring complete peace to the region. This will allow the resumption of Jewish sovereignty on the Jerusalem Temple Mount (Daniel 9:27.) Needless to say, that this area of Israel is currently sitting on a powder keg with a very short fuse, so when he brings “false” peace, it will be received by many as real peace. That is not the end of the story, but soon after–three and a half years to be exact–this will be the end of peace on earth, as he will claim to be god and will require to be worshipped (Revelation 13:4-8.)

The antichrist will also gather all the nations against Jerusalem as seen in Zechariah 14:1-3, “Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.” and also in Revelation 16:16, “And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.” and yet, this is still not the end of the story.

The false peace that the antichrist will bring to the world will come to an end, but so will the antichrist’s career of lies, abuse and rebellion against God. Finally, he will fight against Messiah when He returns to earth and he will be completely defeated (Revelation 19:19-20.) Additionally, he will be thrown in the Lake of fire and brimstone forever (Daniel 7:11; Revelation 19:20.)

So, truly, there is peace and there is PEACE! What we are seeing right now in the Middle East should be exciting from a human perspective, but even more so from a prophetic perspective since it opens the door for the rest of God’s program to unravel and for the return of the Messiah to rule the earth.

I recommend that we all keep one eye in the Word of God and one eye in the sky because Yeshua is coming soon to rapture the believers before the antichrist steps onto the world stage. Will you be coming with us or will you be left behind? Don’t wait too long to decide.

In the meantime, L’Shanah Tovah for a prosperous New Year!

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