WORLD AT WAR: 5.18.24 - The World's Upside-Down Response to Oct. 7 Gets Worse with Each Passing Week

The World's Upside-Down Response to Oct. 7 Gets Worse with Each Passing Week � Tyler O�Neil - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6898 Welcome to 2024, the year where each week brings a new batch of fresh insanity, especially on Israel. While Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee in the upcoming presidential election, sits in the dock and unprecedented numbers of illegal aliensflood across our borders, elites are turning on Jews and demonizing Israel, apparently forgetting that the Jewish state is merely responding to the worst pogrom since the Holocaust. A brief refresher, since the world apparently needs reminding: On Oct. 7, 2023, members of the terrorist group Hamas invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and began slaughteringinnocent civilians. They killed 1,139 and took another 200 or so hostage. More than 30 of the victims were U.S. citizens. The Hamas terrorists attacked a music festival, targeting young women. They raped these women to death and paraded their naked bodies. They killed babies. They called theirparents to brag about slaughtering Jews. Iran, which funds Hamas, reportedly had a role in the terrorist attacks. Other proxies of Iran's Islamist regime have also taken action against Israel and the U.S. in thewake of Oct. 7, and Iran directly attacked Israel last month. Israel responded to Oct. 7 by formally acknowledging the war that Hamas had already declared through its vile invasion. The Jewish state made known its intention to wipe outHamas' military capabilities in order to prevent another pogrom. Hamas, for its part, declared the terrorist attack a victory and promised it would carry out similar terrorist attacks. While Hamas has freed some hostages in cease-fire deals,it remains a threat to Israel. This week, Israel closed in on some of the last Hamas holdouts in the adjacent Gaza Strip, which is governed by the terrorist organization. The Jewish state's prosecutionof the war has not been perfect, but Israel Defense Forces worked hard to minimize civilian casualties, warning about strikes before they take place and urging evacuations of cities before invading. In any morally sane world, people should celebrate Israel's pending victory in a clear war of self-defense. Instead, we are treated to a carnival of topsyturveydom. Biden's Quid Pro Quo Moment On Wednesday, the day after he commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Joe Biden threatened to withdraw aid to Israel if the Jewish state started its military operationin the Gazan city of Rafah. Although Biden had occasionally called earlier for pauses in the fighting, this represented the first time he threatened to remove aid to Israel, and the threat came shortlyafter Congress had approved more military aid to both Ukraine and Israel. Biden had said of Israel after the Hamas terrorist massacre on Oct. 7: "We will not ever fail to have their back." The day before Biden threatened to withdraw aid to Israel, his administration issued a sanctions waiver to enable arms sales to Qatar (where some Hamas leaders reside) andLebanon, where Iran's proxy Hezbollah, another terrorist group, enjoys broad sway over the military. House Republicans filed articles of impeachment Friday, citing House Democrats' 2019 impeachment of then-President Donald Trump. The House voted to impeach Trump over a phonecall in which he appeared to tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would hold back military aid unless Zelenskyy investigated corruption related to Biden's son, Hunter. Some Democrats, notably Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, have spoken out against Biden's move against Israel. Hate in the Schools Meanwhile, antisemitism is rearing its ugly head, not just on college and university campuses, but in K-12 classrooms. House Republicans pressed the leaders of three majorschool districts on their responses to the growing harassment of Jews after Oct. 7. Students at Berkeley Unified School District in California reportedly heard other students say, "Kill the Jews." Some asked Jewish students what "their number is," referringto the numbers tattooed on Jews in death camps during the Holocaust. The Anti-Defamation League argued that the school district failed to curtail the hostile environment. When pressed Wednesday on the issue, School Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel essentially just said, "Trust me, we're dealing with it." In doing so, she appeared to infantilizeher K-12 students. "You can be confident that I am there in my schools every day, in the schools, in the classrooms, with the babies," Ford Morthel said. The Berkeley school superintendent later defended a curriculum that taught students a positive spin on the chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Thatslogan, the official motto of Hamas, calls for eradicating the Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, thus "freeing" the land now known as Israel from non-Palestinian influence. Berkeley's curriculum stated: "For some Palestinians, 'From the river to the sea' is a call for freedom and peace." Rewarding Palestine After Oct. 7 On Friday, the representatives of 143 countries that belong to the United Nations voted to declare the Palestinian Authority "peace-loving" and to extend certain rights andprivileges to the so-called state of Palestine in the U.N. The resolution expresses "deep regret and concern" that the U.S. voted against admitting the Palestinian Authority into the U.N. in April. As Brett Schaefer, a Heritage Foundation research fellow, explained, the Palestinian territories lack key characteristics of statehood and both the extremist organizationsthat rule the West Bank and Gaza reward and encourage terrorism against civilians. The U.N. resolution also opens an interesting can of worms because U.S. law forbids funding to U.N. bodies that give the Palestine Liberation Organization (the political partythat controls the Palestinian Authority) the same standing as member states. Although only the Palestinian Authority represents "Palestine" in the U.N., this attempt to induct "Palestine" into the global body seems a reward for terrorism and an intentionalrebuke to Israel's attempt to defend itself from that terrorism. Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the U.N., shredded a copy of the U.N. Charter to demonstrate how the resolution undermines it. In what world does it make sense for the president of the United States, 143 countries in the United Nations, and American schoolchildren to take the side of proven terroristsagainst the country trying to defend itself against those terrorists? --------------------------- Israel Is No One's Lap Dog�Not Even to The Most Powerful Nation On Earth – By Amir Tsarfati - https://harbingersdaily.com/amir-tsarfati-israel-is-no-ones-lap-dog-not-even-to-the-most-powerful-nation-on-earth/ Remember that best friend you had when you were younger. You were great pals – did everything together – until the day they took the keys to your car and told you that theywouldn’t give them back until you did exactly what they said? Remember that? No, of course you don’t, because that’s not what friends do. Friends don’t extort friends. But that is exactly what the U.S. is doing to Israel. President Joe Biden made a nice speech recently in which he promised that neither the Holocaust nor October 7 would ever be forgotten. But meanwhile, behind the scenes, hewas twisting Israel’s arm to force a ceasefire with Hamas that would open the door for a future October 7 to take place. How is the arm twisting taking place? By withholding promised and much needed munitions that are essential for Israel to prosecute thewar. Just last night on CNN, Biden said, “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – thatdeal with that problem.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has affirmed the president’s action, saying that America has already suspended one shipment of weapons that most believe consists of 6500 advanced JDAM kits for accuracy of unguided bombs. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced on Wednesday that the administration is considering delaying other shipments, too. But don’t worry, they say, “ourlong-term commitment to Israel has not changed.” So, what you’re saying, spokesman Miller, is that as long as we are faithful little obedient dogs, you’ll be nice. But if we ever disobey, then you’ll whap our snouts witha newspaper and throw us outside to the wolves. Israel is no one’s lap dog – not even that of the most powerful nation on earth. At the Yad Vashem ceremony for Yom HaShoah on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made Israel’s position very clear. He said, “From here in Jerusalem, I am sendinga very clear-cut message: You will not chain our hands, and even if Israel has to stand alone, it will stand alone and will continue to fight our enemies until victory.” King David said it a little differently several millennia ago, “Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strengthof His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:6-7). When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came against Jerusalem, his spokesman called out Israel’s King Hezekiah for trusting in Egypt for help, calling Pharoah’s kingdom, “thisbroken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it” (Isaiah 36:6). When it comes to Middle East policy, I think “broken reed” is an apt description of this current U.S. administration’s policies, considering its multiple failures: 1) Hamas is still not ready to reach an agreement on hostages without allowing for its total victory. 2) Saudi Arabia is increasing its demands for an agreement with Israel because it would rather wait for a Trump-brokered deal. 3) Both Republicans and Democrats blocked a Saudi/American agreement because Israel had been left out of it. 4) The terrorist president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, is not ready for any kind of reform and continues to provide blood money to the familiesof terrorists. 5) Palestinian leadership is a mess with Hamas ready to kill any of Abbas’s officials who might set foot in Gaza. 6) The U.S. humanitarian dock/pier under construction in Gaza is under threat and will eventually be bombed by Hamas. 7) Outside of Israel, the Houthis are running riot, U.S. troops are being kicked out of some African nations, U.S. policy is failing in Ukraine, and there is the lasting legacyof the horrendous debacle in Afghanistan. This is why Biden is pushing so hard for this victory. He feels his reelection may depend on peace in Gaza and the development of a two-state solution, and he is willing tosacrifice Israel’s well-being to get it. War in Rafah Despite the U.S. administration’s threats and protestations, the Rafah offensive has begun. There are two main foci for this operation: 1) Controlling the eastern region closestto Israel. 2) Controlling the Rafah crossing into Egypt which is the main oxygen of Hamas above the ground. After a massive undertaking to relocate civilians, during which more than 100,000 people were moved in one day, the Israel Air Force (IAF) began tosoften up targets. Now, ground forces have moved into eastern Rafah in the form of Division 162 under the leadership of the 401st Brigade. Once the IDF has control of the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, they will begin the arduous work ofuncovering the unimaginable web of tunnels under the ground. There was a big scuttle about Hamas supposedly accepting a CIA/Qatari proffered deal on Tuesday. It turns out it was just another attempt to make Israel look bad. Hamas neveraccepted a plan. Instead, they offered their own plan which centered around releasing the bodies of dead hostages. That is the last contingency that we would accept, because there would be nothing stopping Hamas from killing hostages and sending their bodiesover as part of the deal. As I mentioned earlier, the only deal Hamas wants is one that will give them back everything they lost and that punishes Israel. They are on the brink of defeat, and the onlychance they have is if an international coalition of statesmen gives them victory. There are plenty in Washington and other international capitals who are anxious to do just that. War in the North On Wednesday, the IDF fired from the Golan at several targets around Damascus, Syria. Also on Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for at least 10 attacks using dronesand rockets. In one of those attacks, a powerful Burkan rocket was fired at an IDF barracks in Biranit. In response, the IDF is keeping up steady attacks on Hezbollah targets in villages in southern Lebanon. While Israel is going to have to deal with Hezbollah at some point, the questionable support from its allies will ensure that for now, at least, Netanyahu and the IDF willhave to keep their primary focus on Hamas in Gaza in the south. Protests It was good to see a number of universities crack down on the students and outside agitators who took over their campuses last week. Many arrests were made, and it was particularlynice to witness the Dutch police take a bulldozer to the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Amsterdam. But the video that made my day was of a snowflake Princeton student bemoaning the fact that the university was not caring for their health duringtheir hunger strike against the policies of that same university. Want to know how to get healthy? Eat something. Still, there were those universities that caved to student pressure. Brown, Northwestern, and the University of Minnesota were just a few that claimed to have reached an agreementwith protesters to reconsider their continuation of investments in Israel. Successful terrorism breeds more terrorism. It’s true on university campuses, and it’s true in Gaza. Turkey Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found something that he is exceptionally good at. That is crashing his country’s economy. Inflation has reached 70% and the Turkishlira has plunged to 32.3 to the dollar. Three years ago, the rate was 8.3. Most blame the president’s authoritarian rule and his unconventional belief that if he increases interest rates it will push inflation even higher. Orthodox belief holds to the opposite. There was an interesting last-minute development that came through last night. Turkey has authorized temporary trade relations with Israel because of their economic struggles.After Erdogan’s bold words condemning Israel so that he could look like a hero in the Muslim world, he now realizes that the ceasefire he expected isn’t happening. So, now he slinks back to “temporarily” reestablish trade. Yeah, that didn’t quite go as planned,did it, Mr. Erdogan? -------------------------------- Russia�s New Invasion Is Targeting Ukraine�s Second Largest City, And That Could Bring Us To The Brink Of �Nuclear Armageddon� - by Michael Snyder - https://endoftheamericandream.com/russias-new-invasion-is-targeting-ukraines-second-largest-city-and-that-could-bring-us-to-the-brink-of-nuclear-armageddon/ The war in Ukraine has just moved to an entirely new level, but most Americans do not even realize that we are closer to �nuclear Armageddon� than ever. Very early on themorning of May 10th, Russian forces began to pour across Ukraine�s border north of Kharkiv. In the short-term this will enable the Russians to create a buffer zone around the Belgorod region and force Ukraine to pull desperately needed forces away from theeastern front. But eventually I believe that the Russians fully intend to take Kharkiv, and that would be an absolutely devastating blow. Needless to say, losing Ukraine�s second largest city is not an option for Ukraine�s western backers, and they are determinedto do whatever it takes to keep that from happening. It would be hard to overstate the importance of what we just witnessed. Russian forces have come across the border in an area that is far away from any other current conflictzone. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says that Russia has basically �invaded [Ukraine] again�� A Ukrainian regional official insisted Russia�s progress was not yet �significant� but admitted ground fighting in the area was spreading. Meanwhile, speaking on British television,UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron acknowledged it was an �extremely dangerous moment,� adding that Russia had effectively �invaded [Ukraine] again.� He is right. This move by Russia really is essentially a fresh �invasion�, and it represents the most dramatic offensive that the Russians have undertaken since the early days of the war. According to CBS News, the Russians were able to capture five villages on Saturday and four more on Sunday� Evacuation teams worked non-stop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were elderly, out of harm�s way. At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow�s forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavyfighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had captured four villages, in addition to five villages reported to have been seized the day before. It is being estimated that the Russians are in control of about 100 square kilometers in the border area, and this advance is going to force Ukrainian leaders to transferforces from other areas� Russian Federation forces have penetrated the defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 3 to 5 km in Kharkov region, with a control zone in the border area to 110 squarekilometers. This will have a ripple effect in all the 600-mile-long frontline. As soon as Ukrainian top General Syrsky begins to transfer units to the northern regions of Kharkov andSumy, the front in Donetsk will fold, and Chasov Yar, Kurakhovo and Krasnoarmeysk are expected to instantly collapse. Ukrainian Armed Forces in fact have withdrawn some of the units of the 42nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade from the front near Chasov Yar and are hastily transferring troopsnorth. Of course the Ukrainians don�t have enough soldiers anywhere at this stage. The Russians have been steadily gaining ground all over the map in recent weeks, and over the weekend significant gains were made near Chasiv Yar and Krasnohorivka� It is not just in Ukraine�s north that Kyiv�s armed forces are losing ground. DeepStateMap also shows Russia making further gains in two other key areas, most notably towards the town of Chasiv Yar, which has become an important forward military position,and further south in the industrial town of Krasnohorivka, where Russian troops are now in control of the town�s main facility, a brick factory. Ukraine is clearly losing the war, and western leaders are getting desperate. When asked about the new Russian offensive near Kharkiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Face the Nation that we �are not going anywhere�� �We�ve been providing the systems to do that, but it�s a challenging moment. We are not going anywhere, and neither are more than some 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine.That will continue and if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin thinks he can outlast Ukraine, outlast its supporters. He�s wrong.� The U.S. is going to continue to pour billions of dollars into Ukraine, but everyone can see that isn�t going to be enough to alter the trajectory of the conflict. The only way that Ukraine will be able to win is for NATO to intervene directly, and that is dangerously close to becoming a reality. For example, politicians in Germany actually want to use NATO air defense systems based in Poland and Romania �to protect the western regions of Ukraine from Russian drones�� There is a proposal to use NATO air defense systems deployed on the eastern borders of the Alliance to protect the western regions of Ukraine from Russian drones. In particular,Poland and Romania could do this. This idea is supported by representatives of some German political parties, including the ruling Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Union 90/Greens. According to the newspaper, the idea of using NATO air defense systems deployed in Romania and Poland and operated by NATO forces to shoot down Russian drones over WesternUkraine was proposed by Nico Lange, an expert at the Munich Security Council (MSC) and former NATO Deputy Secretary General, and was suggested by Lieutenant General Horst Heinrich Braus. According to Lange, this would create a 70-kilometer safe zone on the Ukrainian border. This could relieve Ukrainian air defense forces in other parts of the front. It is also being reported that the Germans are now considering conscripting all 18-year-olds� Germany is considering introducing conscription for all 18-year-olds, as it looks to boost its troop numbers in the face of Russian military aggression. Military planners in Berlin are in the final stages of discussing three options, two of which involve a form of conscription, according to leaked plans reported in the Germanmedia. I was stunned when I saw that. I don�t think that young people in Germany will be too thrilled about being forced to go into the military. But this is where we are at. NATO really is on the brink of a hot war with Russia. Speaking of NATO, the largest military exercises that the alliance has organized since the Cold War are being conducted right now� State-of-the-art attack helicopters today swooped in a show of force against Vladimir Putin for NATO�s biggest military exercise since the Cold War. British and US troops performed a land assault in Estonia, amid the threat posed by the Kremlin. They were supported by two of our Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, makingtheir debut in an alliance exercise. Explosions rang out during the exercise, with troops simulating a battlefield scenario of seizing territory. Over two years on from Russia�s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,the wargame took place under Exercise Swift Response. During the early stages of 2024, there has been a lot of chatter about the possibility of western troops being sent to Ukraine. If that happens, that will put us just one step away from nuclear war. What would you do if you were the president of the United States and you just learned that the Russians have launched their nukes? Whoever is in the White House when that day arrives will only have a very limited amount of time to decide� Once the president learns from his nuclear command and control team that he must act, he has only six minutes to respond. To �respond� means responding with our own nuclearweapons. President Ronald Reagan lamented in his memoir that six minutes is an irrational amount of time to �decide whether to release Armageddon! �Six minutes to decide how to respond to a blip on a radar scope�How could anyone apply reason at a time likethat?� Yet, the president must respond anyway. In this six-minute window, the president must decide how many nuclear weapons to use and which targets to strike�while also being briefedon estimates of how many tens of thousands, or millions of people, would be instantly incinerated, with an almost equal number dying days, weeks, and months later from radiation poisoning. All this to consider under a literal ticking clock. As I keep warning my readers, the Russians have been feverishly preparing to fight a nuclear war for many years and we have not. If the Russians launch missiles from ultra-quiet submarines parked just off our shores, the nukes will start hitting before they can even get the president out of bed. It is imperative that we avoid such a scenario, and that is why I have been pushing for a peaceful solution in Ukraine for a long time. Unfortunately, no peaceful solution is even being considered. Leaders on both sides are absolutely obsessed with �winning� this war, and that means that �nuclear Armageddon� is getting closer with each passing day. ----------------------- Damascus: Alternative Thoughts � Terry James - https://terryjamesprophecyline.com/2024/05/13/damascus-alternative-thoughts/ Like so many signals of these being the last days of the fleeting Church Age, the destruction of Damascus, Syria, is a matter we see blazing across hourly headlines. Again, Isaiah the prophet said the following: The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. (Isaiah 17:1) Every day, news of military action and diplomatic maneuverings comes from Syria, the oldest occupied city of recorded history. It is the city on the road to which Saul ofTarsus had his life-changing encounter with the ascended Jesus Christ. The location is steeped in biblically prophetic importance. One recent news item demonstrates the significance of Damascus in the ongoing Middle East machinations that are leading to Armageddon and Christ�s Second Advent. Israeli aircraft have reportedly attacked a location on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus late Thursday (local), a security source told Reuters. Widely circulating images have emerged on social media showing plumes of smoke rising high over buildings which were struck. Syrian state media subsequently said that eightarmy soldiers were injured in the attack. The fresh Israeli aggression could be another targeted assassination operation against Iranian generals or IRGC officers, and certainly would also be intended to signal Israelremains undeterred by Iran�s April 13th attack, which was in retaliation for the prior Israeli attack on Iran�s embassy in Damascus� This new attack demonstrates also that Iran-Israel tensions which last month nearly led to a major regional war are not over. (�Israeli Warplanes Strike Damascus as Iran TensionsStill on Edge,� Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge, May 2, 2024) To write that the tensions that nearly led to war are not over is a profound understatement when thinking in terms of Bible prophecy. Damascus has become central in thosetensions as the stage is being set for the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Bible prophecy watchers, including the great scholars, have most often thought the destruction of this ancient city in its modern form will be nuclear in nature. This makessense to those who observe from the view of biblical prophecy, because it indicates the city will not be habitable again. I have held to this understanding that the destruction of Damascus will be due to a nuclear weapon of some sort being used. This brings me to the �alternative thoughts� mentioned in the title of this commentary. A long-time fellow watchman on the wall who is a frequent visitor to Raptureready.com emailed this past week his alternative view of the Isaiah 17:1 prophecy. I find it compelling,thus will share it with you here in its entirety. Dear Terry James, I do very much enjoy the rich bounty of articles you provide, yet I feel compelled to address a common error being touted by several scholars in regards to the destructionof Damascus. Many scholars today have speculated that the destruction of Damascus as a ruinous heap will be the result of an Israeli nuclear weapon. For a city the size of Damascus thatwould make sense in committing such devastation in a short period of time. The problem with such speculation, however, is verse 2 of Isaiah 17: �The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.� It is assured that flocks will not graze on soil contaminated with nuclear radiation. When examining this prophecy in full, we can also identify that it is the hand of God that brings Damascus to a ruinous heap for His glory: �At that day shall a man look tohis Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel� (Isaiah 17:7). In addition, we see within the context of this prophecy the presence of a confederation that is rebuked by the hand of God in verses 12�14 of Isaiah 17. I often wondered, who is the �he� of Isaiah 17:14? �And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and thelot of them that rob us.� It is, therefore, my personal opinion that this �he� is Gog of Ezekiel 38�39. We know from examining the prophecy of Gog/Magog that it is the hand of God that gathers this mighty confederation from the north against Israel for Hisglory. It is clear as prophesied Gog/Magog comes from the north against the borders of Israel; there is little doubt that they will assemble in southern Syria along the Golan frontier.In Ezekiel 39:5, we are informed that this confederation will fall upon the open field or plain. In southern Syria, there is a vast plain known as the Plain of Hauran adjacent to Damascus and the Golan Heights. This fertile plain also happens to be a volcanicplateau with many dormant volcanic cones. Interesting, when we consider the fire and brimstone brought upon this confederation by the hand of God as detailed in Ezekiel 38:22. One of the key elements scholars miss today is the great earthquake of Ezekiel 38:19, 20 that shakes the land of Israel. It is my belief that this great earthquake�s epicenterwill be directed against the main contingent of the Gog/Magog confederation assembled in southern Syria. I further believe it is this great earthquake that brings Damascus and surrounding cities to a ruinous heap in fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1. In conclusion, I will say that there is little doubt that the �he� of Isaiah 17:14 is none other than �Gog� of Ezekiel 38:2. And that day of Isaiah 17:7 is the same day ofEzekiel 39:8, 13. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to address these things. In Christ alone, Rodney Dezar It is heartening to know others are observing these times so near our Lord�s call to us in the Rapture. Recognizing the stage-setting for the Damascus prophecy fulfillment,to those who obey Christ�s command to �watch� (Mark 13: 37), means they are looking for �the blessed hope� (Titus 2:13). Again, Jesus said: And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28) ---------------------------- Biden�s doubleminded Israel Conundrum - Bill Wilson � www.dailyjot.com On May 7, Joe Biden addressed an audience of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Remembrance Ceremony with extremely supportive words for America�s Jewish community. He recalledthe October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, saying, �Driven by ancient desire to wipeout the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people�babies, parents, grandparents�slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a musical festival, brutallyraped, mutilated, and sexually assaulted.� Biden said that antisemitism in America and around the world is �absolutely despicable, and it must stop.� At the same time he was making these remarks, his ambassadors were negotiating a secret deal with Hamas. Hours before Israel was to begin its attack to root out remnants of the terrorist Hamas in Rafah, Hamas announced it had agreed to a ceasefire. During a Monday briefing, WhiteHouse National Security Council spokesman John Kirby played the �sensitive process� card to justify not answering questions about the ceasefire. Then Axios.com and The Times of Israel confirmed that the Biden Administration was involved in the Hamas negotiations,but didn�t tell Israel about the details it had negotiated on behalf of Israel. In other words, Biden was speaking to the American Jewish community about remembering the Holocaust and the atrocities of Hamas at the same time his people were selling out Israelin ceasefire negotiations. But that�s not all. In an effort to thwart an Israeli attack on Hamas in Rafah, the Biden Administration withheld ammunition and bombs from Israel, according to two anonymous Israeli officialsspeaking with Axios. Then ABC News quoted a senior Biden administration official saying that a shipment of some 3.500 bombs to Israel was paused because of concerns they could be used in Rafah. ABC News noted �The decision to pause the shipment and considerslow-walking others is a major shift in policy for the Biden administration and the first known case of the U.S. denying its close ally military aid since the Israel-Hamas war began.� In a White House briefing Kirby refused to confirm or deny the withholdingof the munitions. Later, Biden, himself, said he would withhold weapons shipments if the Israel military went into Rafah. In the news briefing about Hamas announcing it had accepted a ceasefire, Kirby and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre implied that Israel was involved. But Israelwas not aware of the deal. It appears that Biden wanted the Hamas ceasefire so badly that he tried to bully Israel into accepting it without knowing what was negotiated. Yet, Biden is telling Jews around the world that Hamas was driven by an ancient desireto wipeout the Jewish people, while he is negotiating with the terrorists behind Israel�s back and withholding munitions to fight Hamas. James 1:8 says, �A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.� Biden is playing with strange fire and cunning intrigueagainst Israel and the Jewish people. His double minded conundrum is extremely dangerous to us all. It�s, say it with me�Stupidocrisy. ------------------------------ The Lesson To Terrorists � What A Long Struggle Can�t Achieve, A Massacre Can � By Amir Tsarfati - https://harbingersdaily.com/amir-tsarfati-the-lesson-to-terrorists-what-a-long-struggle-cant-achieve-a-massacre-can/ As we came to Sunday evening, the mood in my house, and all across Israel, changed greatly. At sundown began Yom Ha�Zikaron, Israel�s Memorial Day. On this day, every business,restaurant, and workplace shut its doors so we could take time to remember the 25,040 soldiers who have fallen and victims of terror who have died since 1948. This is the first year we�ve had the murdered innocents of October 7 to include in our mourning.The violence and evil actions perpetrated by Hamas on that day were brought right back in front of our faces. While it was a day of mourning, it also steeled us for what is ahead. I appreciated the words on Tuesday of former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley,when he said, �If you take the math and do 1,200 [victims of October 7] and apply it to the United States, that�d be 50,000-100,000 people dead in a morning. Can you imagine what we would do?� You�re exactly right, general, and we�re carrying out preciselythose actions that you would imagine. We�ve mourned those whom we�ve lost, but even mourning must come to an end. As the psalms tell us �Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning� (Psalm 30:5).Or, because in Israel our days change in the evening, joy comes at sunset. When sundown came on Monday, Yom Ha�Zikaron became Yom Ha�atzmaut. Memorial Day became Independence Day! Sorrow turned into joy! This Independence Day celebrated the 76th anniversary of the fulfillment of Isaiah�s prophecy in the final chapter of his book: �Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen suchthings? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children� (Isaiah 66:8). Not only do we celebrate the birth of the State of Israel, but we rejoice in the fact that following one attack after another we are still here! From the river to the sea,Israel shall always be! Gaza The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) completed this past week an operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood of northern Gaza. Word had come that Hamas was regrouping in the area. Forcesfrom the IDF came from the Netzarim corridor and eliminated the threat before it could become a major problem. Sadly, four nineteen-year-old IDF sergeants were killed in the operation. Then, today, the IDF spokesman announced the deaths of five soldiers of the Paratrooper Brigade�s202nd Battalion in the northern Gaza strip. In addition, three more soldiers of the 202nd Battalion were seriously wounded. Rafah has seen significant action in the past week. The IDF is setting up a new secured parameter along the Philadelphi corridor at Egypt�s border, while in Rafah Israelitanks have entered the neighborhoods of Al-Geneina, Al-Salam, and Al-Brazil. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have already fled the area for safety, having been warned by the IDF ahead of time. The civilian evacuation that the U.S. said would take months has only taken a couple of days. Once Rafah is at least somewhat stabilized above ground, it will be time to uncoverthe massive underground tunnel system. Egypt is very concerned about this eventuality because it will show them in a very bad light. For years, these tunnels have been used to transport huge amounts of weapons from Egypt to Hamas. The American CIA is also unhappy about the tunnels being uncovered. They�veknown about them for many years but have kept them quiet. They much prefer a weak and controllable Israel that depends on U.S. armaments for security. Either the United Nations has mastered the power of resurrection or they failed basic math. On May 6, the august body published a report asserting that the dead in Gaza included9,500 women and 14,500 children. Two days later, on May 8, they amended the report to read 4,959 women and 7,797 children. There were no press releases surrounding the change. No apologies. Now, I certainly do not want to make light of those numbers because they are a tragedy. However, the responsibility for their deaths must be laid at the feet of Hamas whoused them as human shields and at those of the United Nations who have been encouraging antisemitism through their words and actions for decades. Want to know the kind of people you find working for the UN? A growing number of posts in a chatroom run by a former United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugeesin the Near East (UNRWA) employee indicate that UNRWA staff are stealing humanitarian aid and selling it for profit. Remember, UNRWA employees have been reported to have participated in the October 7 massacre and harbored Israeli hostages. In the midst of their condemnation of all that Israel does, the UN managed to find time to vote to enhance the rights and privileges of Palestine. Included in the vote wasalso an encouragement to the UN Security Council to reconsider Palestine�s request to become the 194th member of the international body. Only nine countries voted against the resolution � Argentina, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the United States � while another25 wimpily abstained. The North Late Tuesday night, an Israeli aircraft took out a car in the city of Tyre, Lebanon. At least two people were killed, including Hussain Ibrahim Mekky, a senior Hezbollah fieldcommander on the southern front of Lebanon. Mekky was involved in the planning of many terrorist attacks. Hezbollah retaliated with a heavy barrage of rockets fired at Mt. Meron from southern Lebanon. A recent claim by terrorist group indicated that they have now included in theirrocket arsenal new 1200-pound missiles that they call �Jihad Mughniyeh�. The name comes from the son of senior Hezbollah official Imad Mughniyeh. The younger Mughniyeh was killed in an operation in 2015, while the elder was assassinated in Damascus back in2008. US Relations A standoff still exists over certain arms shipments to Israel. U.S. House Republicans have pushed a bill that would force the Biden administration to send the frozen shipmentof bombs to Israel. The president has already indicated that he would veto the bill, should it pass to him. Instead, the administration is putting forth a new $1 billion package of military aid, which includes tactical vehicles, ammunition for tanks, and shells.While the aid is appreciated, it is not what is most needed for the operation in Rafah. And that is the sticking point. The Biden administration is trying to interfere in the IDF�s ability to conduct an operation in Rafah. What the Republicans are saying with their bill is that Israel knows best how to carry out the war with Hamas, and that the U.S. should support their allies in their actions. Biden has a strong ally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the plan for the IDF to complete the war. Sadly, that ally comes from within Israel. Israel�s DefenseMinister Yoav Gallant has aligned with the U.S. president to bring Netanyahu and his government down. And Gallant isn�t the only one. It�s all the generals and ex-generals who were educated in America. They have become liberal leftists, and they are seekingto do to Israel what the hard left has been doing to the U.S. Once they have taken Netanyahu down, it will pave the way for Hamas�s survival and the creation of an international force to rule Gaza. This would be disastrous. Netanyahu�sadministration has no desire to rule over the Palestinians. But Israel is at a place where it is not about what we want, but about what we need. If any other option than Israeli military control of the Gaza Strip is implemented, it is a reward to Hamas anda guarantee that October 7 will one day happen again. It will also lead to the grand prize of the terrorist agenda � a Palestinian state. And what would then be the lesson to the terrorists around the world? What a long strugglecan�t achieve, a massacre can. Butcher, rape, and behead to your heart�s content, and you�ll be richly rewarded. Jordan Jordanian officials announced that they had thwarted an Iran-backed plan to smuggle weapons into the country to carry out acts of sabotage. Iranian proxy militias based inSyria funneled the weapons to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan. When the scheme was discovered, the cache of weapons was seized, and arrests were made. Turkey Could the president of Turkey be facing another coup attempt? If you ask Erdogan, he�d likely tell you that it is very possible. There are reports that he has gathered theheads of his intelligence departments to discuss information about a possible imminent coup, the first since a failed 2016 plot. With the economy floundering the way it is, it would not be surprising to see people rising up. However, it could also be a falseflag that President Erdogan uses as an excuse to crackdown on any opposition. In a possibly related story, the president ordered the arrest of four senior police chiefs in Ankara on Tuesday for connections to an organized crime boss. There are those,however, who say that these chiefs were involved in the planning of a coup. Slovakia A gunman fired five shots Wednesday at Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, hitting him multiple times. The alleged assailant, 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, is reported tobe a former security guard with links to a pro-Russian paramilitary group. As of the time of this writing, the prime minister was in surgery in extremely critical condition. ----------------------- Buried Facts About the Gaza War � Melanie Phillips - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6906 The extent to which the political class and the media are burying facts that undermine their poisonous narrative in order to defame and undermine Israel's war of survivalhas become simply jaw-dropping. The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to appease the genocidal and terrorist Iranian regime. It has funneled billions into Tehran's coffers through sanctionsrelief. It has refused to effectively respond to repeated Iran-backed attacks on U.S. interests. And it is doing everything it can to prevent Israel from taking action that would damage America's relationship with the Iranian regime, such as the destruction of Hamas,a vital force in Tehran's proxy army against Israel and the West. The American appeasement of Iran has left many people mystified. They should have been paying more attention. Twelve days before the Oct. 7 pogrom, Jay Solomon reported on the Semafor site that Ariane Tabatabai, chief of staff to the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for specialoperations and low-intensity conflict, was part of an "Iran Experts Initiative" created by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials to bolster Tehran's position on global security issues, particularly its nuclear program. In other words, Tabatabai was an agent of influence for Iran at the heart of the U.S. government and with the highest level of security clearance. Semafor and the Iranian opposition group Iran International obtained a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails. These revealed that, in 2021, Robert Malley--whowas the point man on Iran under both the Obama and Biden administrations until he was removed in June 2023 following a still unexplained "mishandling of classified materials"--had infiltrated Tabatabai into the U.S. State Department to assist him in his negotiationswith Iran. The day Solomon's article appeared, 31 U.S. Senators wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to express their concern. They wrote: "We find it unconscionable that a seniordepartment official would continue to hold a sensitive position despite her alleged participation in an Iranian government information operation." They noted that, in March 2021, shortly after Tabatabai was appointed senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Iranian dissidentsreported her long history of echoing the Iranian regime's talking points. That month, Adam Kredo reported in The Washington Free Beacon on these dissidents' shock at Tabatabai's appointment. They claimed she parroted the Iranian regime's positionat multiple public appearances and that her father was part of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's inner circle. In April 2021, several members of the House of Representatives requested a review of Tabatabai's security clearance. In response, the Biden administration dismissed theseclaims as "smears and slander." Even more astonishingly, Tabatabai runs the office overseeing hostage negotiations. Three weeks after the Oct. 7 pogrom, a reporter asked White House Spokesman John Kirbywhether it was appropriate for Tabatabei to be in such a position given the claims made against her. Kirby stalled. Tabatabai is still there. Online, several commentators (including myself) wrote about this. The mainstream media studiously ignored it. Over the past few days, they've ignored another vital revelation. From the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has been accused of disproportionately killing Palestinian civilians. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry put out dailyfigures of civilians who had been killed that rose to more than 35,000, of whom the vast majority were said to be women and children. These figures, promoted by the United Nations and used by both the Biden administration and the U.K. government to berate and threaten Israel, have fueled mass demonstrationsand attacks on Jewish people worldwide. On May 8, however, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs halved its figures for the number of women and children killed in Gaza from the number it gavethe day before. Preposterously, U.N. Spokesman Farhan Haq tried to maintain that the claim of 35,000 dead remained "unchanged" and the only new development was that more than 10,000 bodiesstill had to be fully identified. This, however, was merely an attempt to cover up the fact that the U.N. had been putting out Hamas figures that were always demonstrably ludicrous since they did not differentiatebetween terrorists and civilians. In early April, after statisticians authoritatively demolished these figures as "statistically impossible," the Gaza Health Ministry quietly admitted that it had "incompletedata" for more than 10,000 of the individuals on its lists and revealed that it had even obtained some of its numbers from the media. Now the U.N. has felt forced to adjust its own figures while fudging the reason. Given that Israel says it has killed some 14,000 combatants, the ratio of civilians to combatants killed stands now at around 1:1--a far lower proportion of civilians killedthan any other country has ever achieved in war. In other words, this is a total refutation of the incendiary lie of "disproportionate" killing of civilians with which the U.S. and British governments and Western media havebeen beating up Israel and fueling incitement against Jews around the world. Yet not one word has been heard about this from either the government or the media. Now comes an admission by Fatah--the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority whose leader is P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas--that it took part in the Oct. 7 pogrom alongside Hamasand other Palestinian terrorist groups. Abu Muhammad, the official spokesman for Fatah's military arm--the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades--said in a video message last week that the Brigades participated in the invasion"and together with our brothers in the Palestinian struggle organizations captured many Zionists; some of them were transferred to us and some are still in our hands." The Brigades, he said, were participating in the fighting against the IDF in Gaza and had carried out more than 470 "military missions" since Oct. 7. According to a report by Arutz Sheva, the Brigades revealed on Telegram that, over the past few days, their forces had fired an anti-tank missile at a tank in the Jabalyacamp, set off an explosive device aimed at a tank south of the Zeytun neighborhood and launched rockets at IDF forces at the Netzarim junction. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are yet another Iranian proxy army through which Iran can attack Israel under the cover of "plausible deniability." As Phillip Smyth wrote lastDecember in an article for West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, elements in the Brigades have thanked Iran and Hezbollah for weapons and equipment and openly asked Iran for money. In 2023, an unnamed P.A. security source told The Jerusalem Post that thegroup was being paid by Iran via the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Just think about this: The military arm of Fatah, the P.A.'s ruling party, is holding Israeli hostages. Fatah's military arm is fighting Israel in Gaza and the disputed territories.Fatah's military arm is being funded by Iran. The Biden administration is funding the P.A. and appeasing Iran. The Biden administration is trying to force Israel to accept a P.A.-run administration in Gaza after the war. And Ariane Tabatabai is still in her post at the Defense Department. The mainstream media says nothing about any of this because nothing can be allowed to destroy the left's driving narrative of Israeli oppression and Palestinian victimization. Biden's betrayal of Israel is widely attributed to his need to buy off the hard left of the Democratic Party. But his administration was rotten from the start, widely seededwith Obama-retread officials who are viscerally hostile to Israel. Some of them have histories of supporting Palestinian terrorist groups. Now Iran is said to be nearing the ability to make nuclear weapons. When it announces it has succeeded, the United States and the United Kingdom will doubtless say they dideverything they could to stop it. And if Israel tries to defend itself against this nightmare scenario, the West will accuse it of aggression. The dots have been obvious for years. Connect them. ------------------------------