Displaying items by tag: israel

UNPRECIDENTED ROCKET ATTACK, GOVERNMENTAL RESIGNATIONS, A GOVERNMENT POISED TO FALL—RECOVERED, BUT HOLDING ON BY A THREAD.          

Hamas rained down almost 500 rockets on Southern Israel over a two and a half day period. Netanyahu sat 7 hours with his cabinet discussing whether or not to go to war.        

Some of his cabinet felt there was no other choice except to go to war, as these last months of terrorism - sending fiery balloons over the border burning up farmland and forest areas, hordes of Palestinians trying to break through the border, etc., etc., etc. were bringing a living hell to the Israeli citizens in the south.            

Others believed that because of the certain loss of many lives in the IDF that would occur, and the world's condemnation that would surely come, if Egypt could help put together a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, that would be the best direction.        

Netanyahu chose the latter.  Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was furious and resigned, taking his party of 7 Knesset seats with him.  That left Netanyahu with 61 Knesset seats in his coalition.  Netanyahu needs 61 out of 120 to lead the nation.            

Naftali Bennett, who also felt the nation must go to war to defeat Hamas and give relief to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the south, told Netanyahu he wanted to take Lieberman's place as defense minister - or he would leave the government with his 8 Knesset seats.  Netanyahu refused and Bennett says he is also leaving the government. That means elections are here.            

It would seem logical that Netanyahu believes he can win a snap election, or he would not have let his government fall.  He would have given Bennett the job.            

Netanyahu is the most popular politician in Israel.  The issue is that he has the entire group of ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition, as he bends towards the religious.  That means the Haredim (ultras) have tremendous power in Israel.  They basically let Netanyahu do whatever he wishes to do, as long as he fills their coffers with shekels to support their men of whom the majority won't work or serve in the army.  Aside from the harassment and persecution against Messianic Jews and Messianic congregations, the Haredim take far more than their share of finances, and give back little to Israeli society.

Yet, there is no other strong leader in any of the other parties that stands out who the Israeli public have faith that he or she can keep Israel in survival mode. Israel lives in the most dangerous neighborhood in the world.            

So let us pray for God's will to be done in this upcoming election (2019).            

Lord, we pray, in the awesome Name of Yeshua, that You will hear the prayers of Your people who have a personal relationship with You and Your Son, and give us relief from the Haredi persecutors. We pray that You will put together the coalition that You desire.  Hear the words of our hearts, because we don't know who we should pray for or how to pray.  But You have a plan.  You have a plan to save all Israel and to bring revival to the nations of the world.

Use Your people here in Israel that love You. Give us opportunities and freedom to spread the Word of God more and more here in Israel. 

SHIRA SORKO-RAM

PLEASE PRAY:  

• That God will “redeem Israel out of all of his troubles” (Psalm 25:22).  That a government will be put in place which is not out of alignment with those redemptive purposes!
• That while it is time for the present government to stand, it will stand; when it is time for it to be replaced, that it will fall.
• That with the resignation of Defense Minister Lieberman, a man or woman of courage, integrity and wisdom for that job will be chosen to take his place.
• That, as Shira mentions above, the ultra-Orthodox members of the present government (or one which may arise in its place), will not be allowed to work injustice nor take unfair advantage of their positions to coerce the government in a direction which is unrighteous and unjust.
• That God minister strongly to Prime Minister Netanyahu during this time.  That he humble himself before his God, and allow himself to be led in ways which are truly aligned with God’s purposes for Israel this year.  That he fulfills the length of days God has ordained for him to lead.   That a godly, strong God-fearing leader be being nurtured to be raised up to take his place.
• That the warm, strong relationship between the governments of Israel and the United States which God has brought into place during this season would not be threatened or adversely effected by a shake-up in the Israeli government outside of God’s timing. 

Martin and Norma Sarvis

Jerusalem

 “A PRAYER FOR RAIN…THE NEED IS BECOMING SERIOUS.

On Shmini-Atzzeret—the last day of the fall festival of Sukkot (1 October this year), it is traditional to pray for rain. For the “former rains”, which in Israel begin in the fall.  The “latter rains” fall roughly from Passover in the spring, until around middle May.  Afterwards, there is usually no measurable rain in Israel for five months—we are dependent upon the former and latter rains. 

We have often mentioned in these prayer updates the need of rain in Israel.  but during the past five months acuteness of this need has become more evident.  Israel recently completed her fifth year of an officially-declared drought.  On August 26^th, an article in The Times of Israel was entitled, “Israel enters 6^th year of worst-in-a-century drought, girds for even worse.”   The article points out how “Many of Israel’s lakes, riverbeds and aquifers are at unprecedented 100-year lows, with the Sea of Galilee [the nation’s largest natural water source] dangerously close to its “black line,” the level below the intake pipes of the water pumps that send the lake’s water to nearby towns.”  Many of the springs in the north, whose streams supply much of the waters to the Sea of Galilee, have slowed to a trickle.  In May, the Water Authority launched a public awareness campaign to make Israelis aware of the shortage and to encourage them to conserve their water usage.  

But with the construction in recent years of five large desalinization plants (which now effectively provide drinking water from the Mediterranean for the country’s most populated regions along the coast), Israelis have tended to put away concern about water.  After all, Israel invented “drip irrigation” (virtually all her produce is now economically watered that way); 86% of her wastewater is purified and used for agriculture.  And now redeeming water from the Mediterranean Sea seems to be taking care of our needs.  Except that it isn’t—even with the two new plants which are being built, there will not be enough for crops necessary to feed this population.  And if the Sea of Galilee continues to sink, it will mean an ecological disaster there, down the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.  Israel is planning to pump desalinated water into the lake—but that is really a stop-gap measure. And the de-salinized water is lacking in many nutrients, and is even being presently studied in Israel as a possible contributor to heart disease.  

Israel—and our neighbors—are desperately in need of rain water.  The scientists are pointing towards Global Warming as being the most probable cause of the drought.  Yet, the Scriptures often connect the coming or withholding of rains in Israel with the favor and mercy of her God (the Creator of the “globe” which is warming!), and with the humility of His people in acknowledging awareness of their need of that mercy:  

 PLEASE PRAY:

• That God will in mercy send abundant rains on His Covenant Land this year…a land which was meant from the beginning to, “drink water from the rain from heaven, a land for which the LORD God cares; the eyes of the LORD God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year”  (Deuteronomy 11:11-12).
  
• That Israel will awaken to her need for water—and an awareness that her God is the source of that water—as He was for our Fathers in ancient times,  when they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them around the desert…and that rock was Messiah! I Corinthians 10:4).
• That believers in the Land will ourselves take this need seriously, will humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from evil ways—cry out to Him for this need,  that He may hear from Heaven and heal our land.

Martin and Norma Sarvis

Syria has re-opened two border crossings, one at Nassib on the Jordanian border and another on the divide between Syrian- and Israeli-controlled areas of the Golan Heights. Travellers expressed their joy. Nassib will once again be a major trade artery for the region. Its reopening had been anticipated since pro-Syrian government forces took the area from rebels in July. The Syria-Jordan crossing was a major link for direct trade between the neighbouring countries as well as longer-distance transit, which was a significant source of revenue. Its closure cut all land trade routes between Lebanon and the Gulf. Imad Sariheen, a Jordanian taxi driver, called the crossings reopening a source of ‘great happiness for all of us’ which will help ease ‘economic hardships’. Druze living in the Israeli-controlled area can now use the crossing to visit family, attend Syrian universities, or sell apples and other local produce.

On 14 October Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s advisor on religious and Islamic affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habash, declared on TV that ‘Islam’s religious war to destroy Israel’s “culture of Satan” has begun’; and ‘Jerusalem is the arena of conflict between us and the colonialist project (Israel)’. He described the fight as ‘a war between Islamic culture in all its splendour and the culture of Satan, oppression and aggression’. See On 17 October a predawn rocket attack from Gaza struck an Israeli home, and another rocket landed off the coast near Tel Aviv. ‘There are only two organisations in Gaza with this calibre of rocket - Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’, said the IDF. Later the Israeli military bombed twenty Gaza Strip areas including weapons factories, military bases and Hamas’s tunnel-building efforts.

On 28 September, the IDF neutralised 100+ explosives thrown at them by over 20,000 people rioting at five locations along the Gaza Strip frontier. At the border fence protesters, encouraged by Hamas, burned dozens of tyres, using the thick black smoke as a screen to throw rocks and explosives at Israeli troops. IDF soldiers responded with tear gas and gunfire ,and Israeli aircraft carried out two airstrikes on Hamas positions in the Strip. A statement said, ‘With armed terrorists only minutes away from Israeli families, it is the IDF’s duty to protect them’. A tweet said, ‘Imagine a mob of 20K people, throwing bombs & grenades, attempting to reach your home. The people of southern Israel don’t have to imagine; this is happening right now, regularly, on Israel’s border with Gaza.’

During the Hebrew month of Elul, Jewish people mark God's creation of the world. This year’s celebration included an event its organisers believe could be a fulfilment of biblical prophecy. The sound of shofars, scripture projected onto Jerusalem's Old City walls, and music from an orchestra and choir marked the World Creation Concert. The Sanhedrin's spokesman hopes that the annual concert will spread throughout the world to usher in peace, blessing and health, with similar concerts in other venues and with people praying towards Jerusalem: ‘this is our prayer to the entire world’, he said. The organisers are already preparing for next year - the Temple Mount, a house of prayer for all nations.

Most Israeli Jews believe in God. The US is the most God-fearing country in the West. The figures for faith in God are almost identical for the two nations, leaving other ‘Christian’ countries far behind. At a time when Jewish settlers and evangelical Christians appear to run foreign policies in both Jerusalem and Washington, it is hard to escape the conclusion that religion has a pivotal role in the special relationship between them. Also the tense political relations between Israel and the EU and between the EU and Washington are defined by religious beliefs. Israelis and Americans view Europe as godless and decadent, while Brussels believes Israel and the USA are drifting into fundamentalist crazy-land. These specifics come from a recent poll by the Dialogue Institute that surmised, ‘Religious beliefs are also a reliable marker for political views’.

On 17 August, Friday prayers from Intercessors for Israel stated: ‘There has been much spoken and written about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement being made between Hamas and Israel. Only the Lord knows for sure whether it is the right time for such a deal. Lord, we want Your plans to be put in place rather than any plans of men. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord”.’ Their prayers asked God to ‘invade’ the meetings of Israel’s leaders - Netanyahu, Liberman and Eizenkott - so that they might know God’s wisdom. They also asked God to reveal any deception in these negotiations according to Proverbs 26:26: ‘The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.’

On 31 July a Hamas-affiliated TV station was shut down, and the four Palestinians operating it were arrested. Israel had said Al-Quds TV was a terror organisation, and the four suspects are charged with incitement to terrorism as the station was a Hamas mouthpiece. One of the driving forces behind Palestinian aggression is incitement by clergy and Palestinian leadership through its state and local media. Israel is now shutting down all Palestinian media outlets and publications that incite against Israelis and promote terror attacks. The Hamas student groups in Hebron universities were also raided and incitement materials were confiscated. The students’ families were given a warning and told to stay away from terrorism. Twenty wanted Palestinians were arrested.

Under the terms of a 1974 UN armistice that demilitarised much of the Golan, Israel withdrew from the capital of Quneitra province which it had captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Now, backed by Russian aircraft, Syrian pro-Assad regime forces pushed into the Golan border area and raised the Syrian flag and President al-Assad’s Baath Party flag in Quneitra on the 26 July. They are tightening their hold on the strategic Syrian sector of the Golan Heights bordering Israel and Jordan, and have been pushing into Quneitra province since their May offensive that routed rebels in adjoining Deraa province (rebels once backed by Washington, Jordan and Gulf states). The Russians reached a deal with the remaining rebels, which effectively brings the whole of the border frontier under Syrian state control.