ISRAEL UPDATE: 6.25.22 - Israel Becomes Gas Supplier To Europe

Another Hook In The Jaw Of Magog - Israel Becomes Gas Supplier To Europe – Ben Cohen - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5428 As a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, I remember that the adults around me had a standard explanation for why so many countries around the world kept Israel at arms' length. It was, they explained, something called the "oil weapon." The Arab countries were sitting upon lots of oil and could raise prices sharply and without warning if they wereaffronted by something that Israel said or did. They did exactly this in the fall of 1973, when Israel fought another war of survival against a combined Arab military force. During that conflict, the Arab exporting nations hiked the price of oil by 70% andcut back on production in a bid to wean those countries supportive of Israel away from the Jewish state. From this episode, a narrative was born. Israel was a plucky new arrival on the international stage, equipped with a capable army and a highly educated, motivated population,but not much more. Meanwhile, its Arab adversaries were soaked in oil revenues and reaping the political as well as the economic benefits of this advantage. So, while the 1973 war proved that Arab ambitions of wiping Israel from the map would not be easily realized, at the same time it underlined what many people believed wouldbe a permanent situation: Arab wealth and the reliance of Western countries on Arab oil meant that Israel's interests would be an afterthought as far as international diplomacy was concerned. It's very rare for any situation to be frozen in space and time, instead of evolving and changing. Nearly 50 years after the 1973 war, the Middle East's resources of energyare still highly prized by outside consumers, but the advantage is no longer weighted entirely to the Arab side. Last week, what the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called a "special moment" was marked in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. A tripartite Memorandum of Understandingwas agreed between the European Union, Israel and Egypt to enable the export of Israeli natural gas to European nations for the very first time. The E.U. is rightly concerned with reducing its dependency on natural gas supplies from Russia. At the moment, about 40% of the natural gas consumed in Europe comes from Russia,providing Moscow with badly needed leverage at a time when it is facing Western ire over its brutal invasion of Ukraine. Israel is one of the countries to whom the E.U. has turned for a solution. The signing ceremony in Cairo was "even more impressive when one looks at the string of significant agreements we have signed in the past year, positioning Israel and theIsraeli energy and water economy as a key player in the world," remarked Karine Elharrar, Israel's Energy Minister. Five decades ago, the notion that an Israeli politician could say words like these with a straight face would have been laughed at. No more. The deal is worth $290 million annually and will draw from the two natural-gas fields off Israel's Mediterranean coastline, which contain an estimated 690 billion cubic metersof natural gas. By the standards of past energy deals, this one is relatively modest in fiscal terms, but it's a firm platform to build on. The once outlandish idea of Israel as one of the world's energy powers is gradually taking shape. That's why it's important for Israel to grasp the political advantages of its new status, which are potentially far greater than photo opportunities, warm smiles and mutualreassurances with E.U. leaders. Prior to the signing of the deal in Cairo, von der Leyen visited both Jerusalem and Ramallah for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. While in Ramallah, she announced alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh that following a vote of the European Commission the previous evening, more than $200million of aid to the Palestinian Authority that had been frozen would now be released. Unlike the natural-gas deal, this was a retrograde step. The reason that the funding was frozen in 2021 was because Brussels had finally registered that its money was beingspent in Palestinian schools where children's textbooks are filled with grotesquely anti-Semitic images and messages; math problems featuring suicide bombers, grammatical exercises where the sentence under examination involved an act of violence against Israelis;and, of course, historical and religious lessons emphasizing that Jews have no historical right to the land and demonizing them as colonists and interlopers. According to the Palestinians, the E.U. funds are being disbursed free of any conditions. The Europeans themselves, however, have not made this claim. As IMPACT-se, an IsraeliNGO that monitors the Palestinian curriculum, pointed out, given "the importance of P.A. textbook reform to the [European] Parliament and Commission, one can only assume that a partial funding freeze over textbook incitement remains on the table." If the E.U. wants to reduce its dependency on Russian gas by turning to Israel as an alternative supplier, then Israel is entitled to attach some political conditions to thearrangement. Refraining from financing an educational system that encourages Palestinians to attack and murder Israeli citizens should be, one would think, an uncomplicated decision for the Europeans. In attaching this particular condition, Israel would not be seeking a financial, territorial or any other advantage that might tempt another country in a similar position.It would merely be asserting, as it has done since its foundation, its right to be treated with respect as a sovereign state. The E.U. is committed to a two-state solution and to engineering the transformation of the P.A. into a fully-fledged state alongside Israel. Under the principle of "pay toplay," the bloc needs to maintain its position as the main financial backer of the P.A. if it is to preserve its influence. But where the school textbooks are concerned, that principle is perhaps better understood as "pay to slay" because E.U. taxpayers have been subsidizing the violent rejectionismtaught in Palestinian schools. Now that Israel has its own version of the oil weapon, there is no reason to tolerate that situation any longer. ------------------ Israel�s Energy Hooks The World�s Attention � Amir Tsarfati - https://harbingersdaily.com/mideast-review-w-amir-tsarfati-israels-energy-hooks-the-worlds-attention/ In a historic move, Israel has just signed a deal with the European Union to export natural gas through the year 2050. This is important for several reasons: 1) Israel hasofficially become an energy superpower. 2) The EU has always hated Israel, but now they have become great friends. This is important because it is from that part of Europe that the antichrist will rise, and Israel will ally with him. 3) The countdown to theRussian invasion to plunder the spoils of Israel in the Ezekiel 38 War has begun. Russia�s primary source of income is its energy exports. Losing its number one customer, Europe, to Israel will rapidly become untenable. Once again, please watch my BreakingNews Update for more information on this amazing series of events! Damascus is still reeling from the two Israeli bombings of its international airport in the span of five days. Because the radar was taken out, the airport is closed, andall flights are being rerouted to Aleppo. Although Russia has condemned the surface-to-surface missile strike, they are responsible for a major snag in reopening the airport. The radar system is Russian-made, and Moscow says that they will only repair it ifthey are allowed complete control of the airport. Unidentified fighter jets conducted a strike deep inside Syria near the Iraqi border. Because so many Iranian weapons caches are being destroyed during or just after transport,the IRGC has begun disassembling their missiles into small parts so they can be hidden for transportation. On Tuesday, a convoy of five trucks was transporting these missile parts to an underground facility, where they would be reassembled. Three of the truckscarrying IRGC parts never made it to their proxy militias, having been destroyed at Abu Kamal. If this was Israel behind the attack, it and the strike on the Damascus Airport are all part of the philosophy that says, �If someone is coming to kill you, rise and killfirst.� This can also be seen in the attack in Iraqi territory yesterday by Israeli commando units taking out a convoy transporting weapons from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. It can also be seen in Israel�s preparation for an air attack from Iran by deployingradar in several former enemy Arab countries, such as Bahrain and UAE. In response to these actions, Iran has begun going after ordinary Israelis. All citizens of Israel vacationing in Turkey have been warned to return home immediately afternumerous kidnapping and murder threats and attempts by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In a blatant act of pandering to its country�s influx of immigrant Muslims, Norway has decided to stringently enforce a 2019 decision of the European Court of Justice. Anyproduct manufactured in the disputed settlements in Judea, Samaria, or the Golan Heights can no longer be labeled as being a Product of Israel. Now, they must be identified as being a Product of an Israeli Settlement. Sadly, the ones who will suffer as theresult of the probable loss of business are the Palestinians who will likely be laid off. Last week I told you about Iran�s dust-up with the IAEA and Tehran�s shutting down of several surveillance cameras in their nuclear facilities. Since then, they�ve shut downmany more cameras. They�ve also installed new centrifuges and have begun enriching uranium to weapons-grade 90%. The Islamic regime is all but daring Israel to do anything to stop them. �Israeli officials have threatened to carry out a plan that I do not wantto name. I wish Israel would dare to make a mistake and give us an excuse to delete it from the ground,� said Muhsin Radhai, Vice President of Economic Affairs and adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei. Before Iran decides to come after Israel, they need to get their own house in order. Reports came through yesterday that Ali Natsiri, commander of the security unit of theIRGC, was arrested on suspicion of espionage. This comes after other reports came through of two senior IRGC officers defecting from Iran amid all the recent assassinations. There have been four recent mysterious deaths of Iranian scientists and engineersthat many are attributing to Israel. Two are credited as accidents, Ali Kamani and Mohammad Abdous, and two as food poisoning, Ayoob Entezari and Kamran Amalai. All four were tied in with weapons development for Lebanon�s Hezbollah. Despite the Iranian government determining the exchange rate of the rial to be 42,000 to one US dollar, the actual rate on the market is an all-time low of 332,000 per USdollar. The Iranian economy is collapsing. It seems that the IRGC may be making forays into South America. On June 6, a 747 cargo plane belonging to the Venezuelan state-owned Emtrasur landed in Buenos Aires with aload of automotive parts and a very large crew. It has since been determined that five of the crew are Iranians who worked for companies related to the IRGC�s Quds Force. The plane and crew continue to be detained while the Argentinians figure out what todo with them. Also in South America, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed a 20-year agreement to extend cooperation with Iran. Meanwhile, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega hasauthorized Russian troops, planes, and ships to deploy for purposes of training, law enforcement, and emergency response. At Egypt�s request, the Israeli Air Force is attacking ISIS targets in Egypt! While Egypt shells the terrorists in Rafah in the extreme northeast corner of the country nearthe border with the Gaza Strip, the IAF is pounding them from the air. In order to give its vote for Sweden to be admitted to NATO, Ankara has demanded that the Stockholm government declare the Kurdistan Workers� Party (PKK) to be a terroristorganization and agree to never sell weapons to any of Turkey�s enemies. Sweden appears ready to submit. China is continuing to heighten its rhetoric concerning Taiwan. Recently, Beijing announced that if Taiwan declares independence, it will declare war �no matter what the priceis�. ------------------------ Russia Expresses �Serious Concern� Over Alleged Israeli Strikes In Damascus, Syria � By TV7 - https://harbingersdaily.com/russia-expresses-serious-concern-over-alleged-israeli-strikes-in-damascus-syria/ Unidentified aircraft fired missiles at the Damascus International Airport a week ago, causing the suspension of all incoming and outgoing flights until further notice. The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Israel of responsibility for the attack. The Kremlin, one of Assad�s most powerful allies, has been militarily involvedin the Syrian Civil War since 2015 to help turn the tide in Assad�s favor against insurgents. Russia�s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Israeli Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi in Moscow to discuss the strikes, which he clearly blamed on the Jewish State. �Serious concern was again expressed over the June 10 Israeli air force attack on the civilian airport of Damascus, which damaged the runway, navigation equipment and buildings,and disrupted international civilian air traffic,� said a Russian Foreign Ministry after the meeting. After being informed that �the justification received from the Israeli side regarding the strike� was �unconvincing,� the statement underscored that �Moscow expected additionalclarification.� The two countries establisheda �deconfliction mechanism� to prevent inadvertent clashes between their militaries in Syria amid frequent alleged IDF strikes against Iraniandeployments and arms transfers to its proxies in the neighboring Arab Republic. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the 10 June strike, but Jerusalem has previously acknowledged an ongoing campaign against Iranian-linked targets inSyria, where Tehran-backed forces, including Lebanon�s Hezbollah terror organization, have deployed to help Assad. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the Israeli attack had targeted �warehouses of Iranian militias� near the airport. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian condemned the attack as a �clear violation of Syria�s sovereignty and territorial integrity� (and) contrary to internationallaw and human principles� during a telephone call with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, according to the Islamic Republic�s official media. Israel, whose main ally is the United States, condemned Russia�s 24 February invasion of Ukraine as �a serious violation of international order,� but has since remained largelymuted on Moscow�s actions. When asked about prospects for continued coordination with Russia over Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces underscored that it �will act when needed to counter threats, defendthe people of Israel and our sovereignty.� Israel has carried out numerous strikes in the region of Damascus and elsewhere, working to prevent the transfer of weapons and an Iranian foothold in the Syrian country,which borders the Jewish State to the north. The urgency to prevent an Iranian presence in the region has only been heightened as the Islamic Republic, which is brazenly vocal in its desire to obliterate Israel, inchescloser to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Although many may simply view Israeli strikes in Syria as a regular occurrence in the region, Christians take particular notice when discussing military actions in the country�scapital. That is because Damascus, which is the longest continually inhabited city in the world, has its future end detailed in Scripture. Jack Hibbs, the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, during the last Israel strike near Damascus on May 21st, explained the city�s Biblical significance. �For those of us who know our Bibles, it�s always an attention-getter whenever we hear about Damascus being involved in any form of warfare,� Hibbs described. �The book ofIsaiah chapter 17 tells us that there will be an utter and total devastation that comes to the city of Damascus.� Isaiah 17:1 reads, �The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.� �With all that�s going on in the world right now, keep your eye on the news with your Bible open,� Pastor Hibbs underscored. �It may be that such an event will trigger eithera regional or world war�� According to Hibbs and many other Bible Prophecy students, Damascus�s future destruction may also be the catalyst for �the Ezekiel 38 battle� in-which Russia, Iran, Turkey,and others come together from the north, with weaponry supplied by Russia, to attack the Jewish State. --------------------