Posted on 11/27/2012 4:37:04 PM PST by GiovannaNicoletta
According to the newspaper Al Hayat, Israel offered Hamas and the Islamic Jihad leadership a 90 day cease-fire during which time Israel would gauge Hamas' ability to stop the shelling of Israeli cities and towns prior to discussing Hamas' demands.
The offer was simple enough. "If you stop trying to kill Jews, we'll stop retaliating."
Hamas rejected the offer only hours after Hillary Clinton promised that she would work out a deal that would benefit both sides, promising from Jerusalem that;
"in the days ahead the United States will work with our partners here in Israel and across the region toward an outcome that bolsters security for the people of Israel, improves conditions for the people of Gaza and moves toward a comprehensive peace for all people of the region.”
Why, that's just wonderful! What a great concept! Make everybody happy! The only thing preventing her from accomplishing this diplomatic miracle is that Hamas won't stop attacking Israel until Israel stops attacking Gaza despite the fact that Israel isn't attacking Gaza, it is retaliating.
That is a very important word to understand if one hopes to understand the actual state of affairs between the two parties. "Retaliation" means, "to return like for like, especially evil for evil, or, to pay back an injury in kind."
The key element involved in retaliation is that it requires the other side to hit you first. It is NOT a "cycle of violence" as Western commentators are fond of describing it.
The violence begins with Hamas, an organization whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel as its reason for existing.
Let's take a second and try to get a handle on that reality. If Israel is destroyed, Hamas has no reason to continue to exist. Hamas exists only for the purpose of killing Jews.
I realize I'm repeating myself but it seems necessary to me since the whole "cycle of violence" thing has been so completely accepted by the West.
If Hamas stopped trying to destroy Israel there would be no conflict. Israel has no reason to attack Gaza. It has no reason not to want peace with Gaza. Israel has no need for war with the Palestinians -- there is no advantage they can gain.
Israel doesn't want the territory -- Israel voluntarily evacuated all things Israeli from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israelis don't want to rule Gaza -- they don't want to own it, they don't want to occupy it and they don't want to exploit it. They just want Gaza to stop attacking Israel.
The violence is NOT a 'cycle'. It is entirely one-sided and could be stopped immediately. But that would violate the Hamas charter and eliminate Hamas' reason to live.
THINK about that!
It is as if there were a guy next door who beat you up every time you walked out your front door and the cops respond by telling you not to go out your front door because that action starts a cycle of violence.
Even after the guy TELLS the cops that the only reason he moved next door in the first place was to beat you up!
That is essentially the situation Israel faces with Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza and the Palestinians elected Hamas to press the attack because Israel pulled out.
What is it that Gaza wants from Israel? They want Israel to open the borders. Why did Israel close the borders?
Israel closed the border between Israel and Gaza to prevent Hamas terrorists from infiltrating Israel and attacking Israeli civilians. They closed the border with Egypt to prevent Hamas terrorists from smuggling weapons into Gaza to attack Israeli soldiers.
The only "benefit" the Israelis realize by closing the borders is that it makes it harder for Hamas to attack them. So the demand that Israel open the borders is nothing less than a demand that Israel facilitate Hamas' efforts to destroy them. Where is the logic in that?
Any demand made by the West for negotiations must, by definition, ignore the very reason that Hamas exists, while pretending that both sides are equally culpable.
"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie . . . " (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
The verse is generally quoted in relation to the antichrist and his rise to power. And according to Scripture, the antichrist's rise to power is inextricably linked to the Israeli peace 'process'.
It is via his confirmation of a peace covenant between Israel and the descendants of Esau that kicks off the Tribulation Period. And it is pretty clear that any peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas are delusional, given the circumstances.
In order for negotiations to be successful, Hamas would have to either disband or amend its Charter to remove its reason for being -- in short, commit suicide -- in order to have a peace with Israel that they don't want.
But it is Israel that is under pressure to negotiate. It is Israel that is under pressure to cease fire.
To America's credit, the United States blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement condemning ISRAEL, saying the statement failed to address the root cause of the violence, which is Hamas missiles landing in Israel.
Reuters reported that Erin Pelton, spokeswoman for the US mission to the UN said the statement would not assist the “de-escalation of violence and a durable outcome that ends the rocket attacks on Israeli cities.”
She expressed US concern that “by failing to call for the immediate and permanent halt to rocket launches from Gaza into Israel, this press statement failed to contribute constructively to those goals,” and that “as such, we could not agree to this statement.”
Ok, so as a statement of support for Israel, it is pretty weak. But it is better than nothing.
I've explained it before, but it bears repeating. For two thousand years, the Jews have been the target of mass expulsions, pogroms and persecution simply because they were Jews. Finally, after two millennia, the reestablishment of the state of Israel gave them a Jewish homeland.
Now, as an independent nation, they expected to be accepted into the world community as equals. Instead, Israel is still the Jew among the nations.
There is no logical reason why Israel is the pariah nation that it is. It is the only pro-American, Western-style democracy in the region, surrounded as it is by a sea of anti-American, anti-Western, pro-Islamic dictatorships.
It is even less logical when one considers how many Israelis are actually American-born. When a bus gets blown up in Tel Aviv, or when rockets rain down on Israeli cities, there are ALWAYS Americans among the victims. But because they are also Jews, there is no outcry from the US.
There is nothing about the Jews that makes them more dangerous to world peace than their Arab neighbors. The threat posed to world peace by Israel would be Israel's continued existence, since that is what is responsible for Middle East violence.
There is nothing about Israel that would explain her global unpopularity and even less that would explain her unpopularity among Americans -- especially among mainstream Protestant churches that fully support Palestinian efforts aimed at Israel's extinction.
Israel is a fully-functional, capitalist democracy with Western-style respect for human rights and freedoms. Indeed, she would have to make very few adjustments, if any, in order to qualify for admission as a US state.
Israel, by her very existence and circumstances, is absolute and unassailable PROOF that the Bible is true, that these are the last days, and that the Lord is coming back soon.
Her restoration was prophesied 2500 years ago, and against all the odds, she was restored to the same piece of real estate as was prophesied, under exactly the circumstances foretold.
Her international isolation is mandated by Bible prophecy, which says that God Himself will come to Israel's aid, but only after all the rest of the world had turned its collective back on the Jews, so that God's provision would be undeniable.
Remove Bible prophecy and one finds no explanation for Israel's existence or circumstances. Include Bible prophecy and every single question is clearly and specifically addressed.
Israel stands as a visible reminder that God remains on the Throne and is still involved in human affairs. The god of this world hates that because it reminds him that Bible prophecy also forecasts his eventual and permanent defeat.
There are lots of signs that suggest we are living in the last days, but none more powerful than the existence of a pariah Jewish state called "Israel."
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:32-34)
Ping!
"THINK about that!"
I do,a lot and I keep coming up with the same thing...
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12)
So-called "human nature" doesn't like that and since that same cutting Word came through Israel it's little wonder that throughout history many people have somehow,for one supposed reason or another,gravitated towards hatred of Israel.One fine day that is going to stop.
God's Word says our hearts are deceitfull and we do not fully even know them! The world,on the other hand,is fond of saying "follow your heart".You don't need to be an Einstein to figure out who's quietly whispering that into the world's ear.
Great post Mitch! Thank you!
“There is nothing about Israel that would explain her global unpopularity and even less that would explain her unpopularity among Americans — especially among mainstream Protestant churches that fully support Palestinian efforts aimed at Israel’s extinction.”
I guess being a worshiper in a Southern Baptist church I am unaware of “mainstream” protestant churches being supportive of HAMAS.
If that is so, they are not part of the Church. Just posers.
It's the old, mainstream Protestant denominations that are throwing in with the terrorists who are trying to exterminate the Jewish people but if I'm not mistaken, I did see a Baptist "church" in the mix- I forgot exactly which one but it's some leftist outfit that may or may not have actual ties to the Baptist church.
I actually heard a couple of weeks ago that there are some scholars who are saying that the "Jews of the synagogue of Satan" in Revelation refers to replacement theologists who try to claim to be the "real Israel" when they are not and have bought the demonic lie that the church has replaced Israel. When you see these people, who call themselves "Christians" but are about as Christian as a kitchen table, joining with terrorists to work toward the genocide of God's chosen people, the possibility that that passage in Revelation is talking about these very same people becomes very believable.
The tragic thing is that when Jewish people hear the word "Christian", these are the people that come to mind. And we wonder why the Jews won't give Jesus a chance.
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