ISRAEL UPDATE: 9.30.22 - Palestinian State Issue Now at Center of Israel's Upcoming Elections

 Palestinian State Issue Now at Center of Israel's Upcoming Elections – Alex Traiman - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5613 With just 29 words, from the stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, temporary caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid may have completely changed Israel's fifth election landscape from the first four election cycles over the past two-and-a-halfyears. From the podium of one of the world's largest international diplomatic forums, Lapid stated, "An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy and for the future of ourchildren." To understand the impact of this statement on the Israeli political landscape, it is important to review how Lapid, who has never--yet--come even close to winning an Israeli election as a candidate for prime minister, came to be the one representing Israelon the world stage to begin with. Israel is soon set to go to its fifth election cycle in less than three years. The first four inconclusive elections all focused on one issue and one issue alone: whether then-reigning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fit to continue serving as Israel'spremier, amidst a slew of corruption charges that likely would not hold weight in American or other Western courtrooms. Challengers--including Lapid--argued time and again during the successive campaigns that on major diplomatic and security policy issues, there was virtually no difference from left to right. Lapid finally succeeded after the fourth campaign to remove Netanyahu from office, despite a landslide 13-seat victory by Netanyahu's Likud party in the election. Lapid blocked Netanyahu from forming a government by essentially bribing Naftali Bennett withthe chair of prime minister, despite Bennett receiving barely 5% of the popular vote, in exchange for Bennett's defection from his own voter base and the larger right-wing political camp; Bennett also turned back on his repeated campaign promises never tosit with Lapid in a coalition. Lapid was able to offer the prime minister's post to his parliamentary colleague Bennett, because he (Lapid) could not come close to forming a majority coalition government with himself at the helm. Bennett took the bait to achieve his personal ambitionand became prime minister in a rotation arrangement with Lapid. The coalition they formed included every single left-wing member of parliament; an Islamist, self-proclaimed anti-Zionist party that is an official chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood; and a handful of right-wing defectors that insisted that Netanyahu's continuedrule was a greater threat to Israel's stability than bringing the left-wing and Islamists into key government ministries, including Foreign Affairs, Defense, Energy, Health, Environment and Transportation. The coalition members all agreed on one thing: Regardless of their divergent ideologies, the issue of Palestinian statehood would not be raised. Yet despite the coalition agreement, and despite the supposed right-winger Bennett at the helm, it soon becameclear that Lapid and his partners were laying the groundwork for a future return to a two-state paradigm. Defense Minister Benny Gantz--a former party colleague of Lapid's--and other left-wing ministers including far-left Meretz party members Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg and Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Frej, allmet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, breaking a nearly 10-year boycott by Israeli government ministers, led by Netanyahu. Gantz even went so far as to host Abbas at his home in Rosh HaAyin, the first time Abbas had traveled for a diplomatic visit inside undisputed Israeli territory in more than a decade. Gantz argued repeatedly that the meetings had to do only with essentialsecurity cooperation between Israel and the P.A. Barely a year after it was formed, the Bennett-led government crashed--as many predicted it would. According to the convoluted coalition agreement, the dissolution of the parliament and Bennett's subsequent resignation immediately triggered the installationof Lapid as the "caretaker" prime minister until a new government is formed. Lapid has held his temporary post for barely three months. New elections are slated for Nov. 1. Lapid has embraced every moment of his brief stint as prime minister. He has effectively utilized the caretaker post as the base of operations for his election campaign, seeking to demonstrate to the Israeli public that he is capable of holding the top slot,despite having no security background and little success in brief stints as finance minister or foreign minister. As caretaker prime minister, Lapid traveled in July to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, (who he also met this week on the sidelines of the UNGA). He traveled to France to meet President Emmanuel Macron. He went to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.He hosted U.S. President Joe Biden in Jerusalem. Lapid also launched a three-day military campaign against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and ongoing anti-terror campaigns in Judea and Samaria. On the sidelines of the UNGA, Lapid met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, newly minted British Prime Minister Liz Truss, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and others. All the while, Lapid has been insisting to the public in Israel that Netanyahu--in his 12 years as prime minister--had harmed Israeli relations with the Democratic party, with Western Europe and with America's large Jewish Diaspora community. For Lapid,and his intended voters, Netanyahu was the only campaign issue. Yet, following Lapid's speech at the U.N., a clear difference between Israel's left-wing and right-wing camps has re-emerged. And it has the strong potential to become the defining issue of Israel's fifth election cycle. By officially acknowledging his belief that "an agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy and for the future of our children," Lapid has changed the election paradigmfrom "anybody but Netanyahu" with Lapid as the hopeful anybody, back to the issue that has defined the difference between left and right since former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the infamous Oslo Accords in 1993. The Oslo Accords partitioned the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria into distinct, yet non-contiguous areas of Israeli and Palestinian control, and were meant to lay the groundwork for a formal two-state agreement based on a land for peace paradigm. Yet, during the 29 years since the accords signing, Israel has learned the hard way that it can never count on receiving peace in return for land. The P.A. has rejected formal offers by former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert to establish a stateand well over 90% of the territories in dispute. An Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza led to a Hamas takeover, and the firing of more than 20,000 rockets at Israeli territory. And the P.A. continues to incite against Israel. It spends large portions of its annual budget paying stipends directly to terrorists in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of would-be terrorists that were killed in the act of attempting first-degreemurder, in a terror-financing scheme dubbed "pay for slay." over the past year, Israel has absorbed a noticeable increase in terror attacks. In addition, the P.A. and its dangerous network of non-governmental organizations lead an international delegitimization campaign against Israel that manifests itself in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts around the world. Israel's right-wing politicians, who are by and large more traditional and religiously observant, understand that an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, often termed the West Bank, will never lead to peace. Rather, it will lead to the creation ofa hostile anti-Israel state in the Jewish nation's Biblical heartland, that looks more like Syria than Bahrain. Israel's left-wing politicians, who are by and large secular and progressive, want a divorce from the Palestinians at any cost, in the hopes that ceding territory and creating a Palestinian state will somehow protect Israeli democracy and end dangerous andfalse Western claims (authored by the P.A.) that Israel is some kind of apartheid state. Until now, Lapid, who espouses both left-wing and progressive views, has positioned himself as a "centrist" with the help of Israel's predominantly left-wing media. Yet Lapid's speech clearly identifies him as the leader of Israel's left-wing, and demonstrates where he and his governing coalition will lead Israel if he is elected permanent prime minister. Lapid stated in his address that, "despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two-state solution. I am one of them." Yet a poll broadcast immediately after the address on Israel's left-leaning Channel 12 news program reported that only 28 percent of Israelis actually favor creating a Palestinian state. Chairwoman of the far left-wing Meretz party Zahava Gal-On called Lapid's address a "historic speech," adding in a tweet that, "Finally, the vision of peace is on the agenda. Meretz will stand to Lapid's left to turn his vision into a reality. To put anend to the cycle of bloodshed, to end control over millions of Palestinians." Meanwhile, members of Israel's right-wing have railed at Lapid's controversial remarks. In a lengthy statement immediately following the address, Netanyahu said, "After the right-wing government led by me removed the Palestinian state from the global agenda, after we brought four historic peace agreements with Arab countries that bypassed thePalestinian veto, Lapid is bringing the Palestinians back to the forefront of the world stage and putting Israel right into the Palestinian pit. Lapid has already said in the past that he is ready to 'evacuate 90,000 Israelis to establish a Palestinian state.'Now he intends to give them a state of terror in the heart of the country, a state that will threaten us all." Right-wing Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, a former ally of Bennett told Channel 13 that, "most Israelis oppose a Palestinian state." She harshly criticized Lapid's speech, insisting that the very coalition agreement which has ultimately led to Lapid'scaretaker reign specifically calls for the issue of Palestinian statehood to be tabled. Among many other issues that truly do separate Israel's left and right, the most serious and existential issue dividing Israel's political camps over the past three decades has now returned to forefront. It may turn into a critical error for Lapid in hisslim hopes of defeating Israel's majority of right-wing voters. Whether or not Lapid pulls off an election upset, or Netanyahu re-emerges as prime minister, the primary issue facing Israelis during the current election is now one of substance, not simply personality. ---------------------- All Of A Sudden, There Is A Huge New Push To Establish A Palestinian State- by Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/all-of-a-sudden-there-is-a-huge-new-push-to-establish-a-palestinian-state/ Could we actually see a Palestinian state be established within the next year or two? Just this week, there have been some new developments that have been absolutely stunning. Forthe first time in ages, both the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel are openly calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. But just a couple of years ago, it seemed like such a move was extremely unlikely. Donald Trump wasin the White House and Benjamin Netanyahu was the prime minister of Israel, and it was clear that a Palestinian state would not happen as long as either one of them was in power. Now they are both gone, and everything has changed. This is extremely alarming, because the creation of a Palestinian state is something that I have been warning about for years. When it actually happens, it will have enormous implications for the entire globe. During a major speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, Joe Biden told that world that the Palestinians are “entitled” to their own state… President Joe Biden told the United Nations on Wednesday the Palestinians are “entitled” to their own state, a day after the U.S. State Department announced $64 million inaid to the U.N. agency for so-called Palestinian refugees. “We will continue to advocate for a lasting, negotiated peace between the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and the Palestinian people,” Biden said during his addressat the U.N. General Assembly. “The United States is committed to Israel’s security – full stop. And a negotiated two state solution remains our best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity for thefuture and give the Palestinians the state to which they are entitled,” he said. Of course this isn’t the first time that Biden has said something like this. Back in July, he made similar comments during a visit to the West Bank… President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians during a visit to the West Bank on Friday where he sat down with Palestinianleaders frustrated over lingering Trump-era policies. “The Palestinian people, as well as Israeli people, deserve a state of their own that is independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous,” he told reporters following a meetingwith Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “Two states for two people, both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land, living side by side in peace and security, both states fully respecting the equal rights of the other citizens.” The Biden administration is 100 percent committed to the creation of a Palestinian state, and that has been exceedingly clear for a long time. But up until just recently, Israel did not have a prime minister that was on board with such a move. Unfortunately, Yair Lapid is in charge now, and on Thursday he also called for the creation of a Palestinian state in front of the UN General Assembly… The future Palestinian state that will exist next to Israel must be peaceful and not terror-based, Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the UN General Assembly on Thursday afternoon,just before returning to Israel. If that condition is met, then the best path forward is “an agreement with the Palestinians based on two states for two peoples,” Lapid said. This “is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children.” Wow. We always suspected that this is how Lapid felt, and now he is being very open about it. During his speech, Lapid actually claimed that “a large majority” of the Israeli population agrees with him… “Despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two-state solution. I am one of them,” he said. “Put down your weapons and prove that Hamas and Islamic Jihad is not going to take over the Palestinian state you want to create… and there will be peace,” Lapid said. Could that be true? I haven’t seen any public opinion polls on the matter lately. But if most Israelis do want a Palestinian state at this point, that is a very troubling sign. It has always been assumed that a Palestinian state would be the product of long negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but now it is being suggested thatIsrael could ultimately decide to make a move unilaterally. In other words, one day Israel could just declare that the Palestinians now have a state in areas under their control. According to the Jerusalem Post, a source inside the Israeli government is saying that “we will act on our own” if they feel that is the best option… “If it is necessary,” and “this is agreed upon with the Americans, we will act on our own,” the source said. “We do not have to update anyone, and we do not need to ask permissionfrom anyone.” Wow. Thankfully, I don’t think that Lapid’s government will do anything major before the upcoming election in Israel. And it has become clear that this election will essentially be a referendum on a Palestinian state. If Yair Lapid wins the election, things could start to move very rapidly. Let us hope that does not happen, because as I detailed in Lost Prophecies, the consequences of establishing a Palestinian state would be cataclysmic. We must not be involved in dividing the land of Israel, but that is precisely what the Biden administration intends to do. Biden and his minions are just going to keep pushing this issue, and if Lapid is able to win the election they will be absolutely thrilled. The election is scheduled for November 1st, and so it is just over a month away. It literally could be an election that changes the course of history, and so let us hope that Lapid does not win. ‘Weakness, Defeat and Surrender’: Israeli Interim Prime MinisterAdvocates For Dividing Israel In Speech To The United Nations – HD Staff - https://harbingersdaily.com/weakness-defeat-and-surrender-israeli-interim-prime-minister-advocates-for-dividing-israel-in-speech-to-the-united-nations/ In a speech that was an affront to both God and country, interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the United Nations that he endorses the idea of dividing the land of Israelvia a two-state solution. “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy, and for the future of our children,” the PM told the nations at the General Assembly on Thursday. “Despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two-state solution. I am one of them.” According to Lapid, Israelis “have only one condition” to a splitting of Israel: “That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one.” Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, rebuked Lapid’s dangerous promotion of a two-state solution at the UN. “For years we have worked hard to remove from the agenda the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state at the heart of the State of Israel. And we succeeded. We brought peacewith Arab countries regardless of the Palestinian issue,” Dannon explained, adding that, “Lapid in one speech… may set us back a decade.” Danon further insisted that Lapid is more concerned about his political positioning in the upcoming election than the well-being of the State of Israel. Amir Tsarfati, the Founder and President of Behold Israel, a Christian Ministry based in Galilee, similarly made clear the political motivations behind that statement at theGeneral Assembly. “Regarding Lapid in the UN, it’s just an elections stunt. He isn’t the first prime minister to offer the two-state solution and won’t be the last to lose elections becauseof it. He has zero support from the people and is only serving as interim prime minister until our November 1st elections,” Tsarfati wrote on Telegram. “Lapid won’t divide any land because he has zero public support and no partner on the other side to evendeal with. These are all empty words to appease the hypocrite western world. The Arabs are making peace with us regardless as you can see…” Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who currently serves as leader of the opposition, in his response to the UN speech, underscored that Lapid has recklessly endangeredIsrael. “Tonight we heard a speech full of weakness, defeat and surrender,” Netanyahu wrote. “After the right-wing government led by me removed the Palestinian state from the globalagenda, after we brought four historic peace agreements with Arab countries that bypassed the Palestinian veto, Lapid is bringing the Palestinians back to the forefront of the world stage and putting Israel right into the Palestinian pit. Lapid has alreadysaid in the past that he is ready to ‘evacuate 90,000 Israelis to establish a Palestinian state.’ Now he intends to give them a state of terror in the heart of the country, a state that will threaten us all.” “So I’m letting you know, Lapid: I and my friends will not allow this,” Netanyahu asserted. “We will not return Israel to the Oslo disaster. Lapid endangers our future andour existence both on the Palestinian issue and on the Iranian issue.” Meanwhile, as Israeli left-wing politicians saluted Lapid’s “historic speech,” Wasel Abu Youssef who is a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) said in aninterview that the PM’s words “mean nothing.” Without skipping a beat, US President Joe Biden praised Lapid, saying that he “could not agree more” with the interim PM’s “courageous statement” to the UN. Biden in his UN speech the previous day also took the opportunity to advocate for Israel’s division, insisting that the Palestinians “are entitled” to a piece of the land. “The United States is committed to Israel’s security. Full stop. A negotiated two-state solution remains in our view the best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity… and give the Palestinians a state to which they are entitled.” Pastor Barry Stagner in this week’s episode of “The Line Up – World Events in Bible Prophecy” responded to Biden’s assertion that the Palestinians are “entitled” to a state. “Remember, the so-called Palestinians are actually Syrian Arabs and they have been removed from other countries where they have migrated to. They don’t predate the Jews. Israel’shad a presence in that land for 3,500 years and those who would argue that point are simply ignorant of the facts,” Stagner stressed. “That is the land that God gave [Israel] all the way back in Genesis 17-18. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, through Jacob have been given this land by Everlasting Covenantwith the God who created this Earth, there is no [Palestinian] right to the land,” he explained. “It is not their entitled right as the Palestinian people to have a state in the land of Israel that God gave to them but these will be the efforts in the lastdays.” “Remember,” Pastor Stagner noted, “Amos said the Jews will not be uprooted once they are back in the land: [‘I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulledup out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.’ – Amos 9:15]. So, it is not going to happen but it’s still the idea that the world likes to promote.” The Bible sends a stark and prophetic warning against nations that seek to divide the nation of Israel and, specifically, its capital Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3 states: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all thepeople of the earth be gathered together against it.” A two-state solution advocates for the dividing of Jerusalem, with the east portion of the city being given to the Palestinians for their state capital. Michele Bachmann, in an interview earlier this year with Tony Perkins, cautioned that a two-state solution would not only endanger Israel but also defy God’s warnings. “The Biden administration is seeking to divide Jerusalem so that eastern Jerusalem would become the new capital for the new Palestinian State,” she said. “They’re lookingat statehood.” “There is a direct link, as the Bible says, between nations that bless Israel and nations that don’t,” she described. “In fact, the Bible is very clear in Joel 3:2 that thereis only one criteria upon which nations will be judged, and that is how nations treat Zion, Israel.” “If nations seek to divide the land or scatter the Jewish people from their land or treat Jewish life cheaply, nations will be held accountable for that by the Lord. And thisis God’s law,” Bachmann asserted. -----------------------