In the stark reality of the terrible execution of the six hostages by Hamas the situation has gone far beyond ‘negotiations’ and ‘ceasefires’ and ‘hostage exchanges’ or ‘making concessions.’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understands this is the real situation Israel is facing with Hamas and he is under immense pressure from without and within his own political party to give up and to give in, but he is staying the course!!!
Britain has announced that they will reduce the number of armaments they will send to Israel. PM Netanyahu is facing International pressure from western political leaders to end the war with Hamas. Then you have widespread demonstrations in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv by both religious and secular Israelis demanding the hostages be released and that the government negotiate their release by any means possible with Hamas, as if there have been no attempts already to negotiate with Hamas by PM Benjamin Netanyahu to get the hostages back. Have the Israelis protesting soon forgotten the October 7 massacre last year and now the brutal execution of the six hostages which speak volumes about the real intent of Hamas towards Israel and Israelis and towards the hostages. They need to recognise the source of the dire situation is Hamas, not Prime Minister Netanyahu!
Even the Israeli Military top brass, by and large, are pressuring the PM Benjamin Netanyahu to temporarily abandon the Philadelphi Corridor for the purpose of releasing the hostages. The Philadelphi Corridor is the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt through which Hamas were receiving armaments and weapons to continue their fight with Israel. It is now under Israeli control and must stay under Israeli control.
At a press conference this week PM Netanyahu said that “if Israel relinquished control there would be no barrier to thwart the entry of weaponry, machines to develop weapons, and to dig tunnels, which would have been granted, directed and financed by Iran.” Unity in the nation of Israel is desperately needed. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, the terrorist organizations in Iraq and every other Islamic terrorist organization and the whole Islamic world for that matter, love the fact that there is unrest and division in Israel at the political and civil and religious level.
As for the six hostages after their bloody execution and after the October 7/2023 massacre what do you think the Hamas butchers will do with the rest of the hostages? Bibi must stay the course! God has placed him in that position and he is a strong leader who needs our prayers. How members of his own staff can oppose him and Israeli citizens by the thousands protest against what he is doing, beggars belief! Hostage deals! Cease fires? It has gone way beyond that! The quagmire of so called ‘concessions’ towards Hamas is a wasted effort with the Hamas Jihadist mindset and its ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood propelling them on in their remorseless, vindictive, malevolent and bloody violence against israel.
Biden is demanding and planning another ‘deal’ to be reached between Israel and Hamas and for Israelis to reach for more concessions. Prime Minister Netanyahu re-iterated at the press conference that there had already been concessions made which were rejected by Hamas outright. Biden stated that he did not think that Israel was doing enough to release the hostages and he hoped an agreement with Hamas would ultimately bear fruit. Is Biden “out to lunch?” Are “the lights on but no one is at home?”
At the press conference PM Benjamin Netanyahu set the record straight. He stated that on April 27th the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken said; “Israel made an extraordinary generous offer for a hostage deal” It was turned down by Hamas. Then on May 3rd Israel agreed to a US backed proposal which Hamas refused. On August 16th Israel agreed to what the US defined as “a final bridging proposal.” Hamas refused again. Then on August 19th Secretary Blinken said that Israel accepted the US proposal and that Hamas must do the same. Then on August 28th the Deputy CIA Director said that Israel show serious restraint and that Hamas must also show serious restraint. To the Islamic Jihadist mindset this kind of rhetoric regarding ‘restraint’ is a joke!
In his press conference speech PM Benjamin Netanyahu stated the facts about the Hamas murderers who executed six hostages by shooting them in the back of their heads just as the IDF troops were closing in for the rescue. In light of this brutal execution the PM said “and we are asked to make concessions! What message does this send Hamas? It says kill more hostages!” He went on to reiterate that “the pressure internationally must be directed at these killers Hamas and not at Israel.” Referring to unity in Israel he also said; “the first condition for victory in this existential war is unity within our ranks. We must stand together as one man, facing a brutal enemy that seeks to destroy us all, all of us without exceptions, left and right (political parties), religious and secular, Jews and non-Jews. We witnessed this unity on October 7th and throughout the entire war with Hamas.”
Now with the execution of the six hostages what does this say about Hamas? They are not interested in peace. This is the Jihadist mindset of Hamas and the ideology of Islam if the truth be known. At the press conference PM Netanyahu also added; “I don’t believe that either President Biden, or anyone serous about achieving peace and about achieving the release of hostages would seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We’ve already made them!”
As New Covenant Messianic believers we most certainly can pray that God will supernaturally lead the IDF forces to find the hostages before they are all executed by these bloody sadistic remorseless Hamas butchers. As for the western political leaders it seems they are ‘washing their hands’ to ‘absolve’ themselves from taking action to support Israel in their offensive tactics to eliminate Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the other terrorist organization in Iraq and the Iranian regime and its elite thugs.
The time for defence is past. Israel must keep going on the offensive as they are doing. Biden as yet has to ‘feel the brunt’ of Islamic terrorism on American soil. Are Biden and Co hearing the chants “death to Israel, death to America” being fuelled by Iran? What has to happen to make the western political leaders sit up and take notice? The “Islamic Trojan Horse” is already well entrenched within the western democracies. One could say that “the wolf is already in the chicken house!” Biden is a joke to Hamas and to the whole Islamic world if the truth be known.
When will the western leaders, especially Biden and Harris in America and the leaders of Germany, France, Canada and Great Britain for starters, respond to the wake-up call sounding loud and clear that Islam is on a global Jihad! Israel in fact is “on the front line” fighting against this growing enemy of freedom and democracy, and against Jews and Christians. Islamic Jihadist ideology fuelled by the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood is on the move. From the human perspective one feels somewhat angry that the Israeli protesters cannot see the necessity to band together and more so because of the ‘antics’ of Biden and Harris and the overall indolence of the western nations and their political leaders to make a determined and combined effort to work towards eliminating all terrorist groups.
God has put PM Benjamin Netanyahu in this position at this time and he needs our prayers as he seeks to lead Israel and deal with opposition and enemies on all fronts. We read is scripture that the LORD ordains leaders according to His infinitely wise will and foreknowledge of all things. Somehow even evil rulers are permitted by the LORD to rule for a time. However, we read in Proverbs that; “The LORD has made everything for His purpose— even the wicked for the day of disaster” (Proverbs 16:4).
Daniel writes; “He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:21). And again the psalmist Asaph writes; “but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another. For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs” (Psalm 75:8).
The LORD is dealing with Israel as He has always done down through history. God is a God of love, but also a God of battle where His covenant people are concerned. No one can touch the apple of His eye and get away with it. Israel is the wife of Yahweh and He is more than capable of dealing with her as His wife. He may use nations to come against Israel to bring His wayward wife back to Himself, as He has done as recorded in the Bible, however, woe betide those nations that come against His wife or abuse His wife. He will avenge His wife! He uses these nations and then gets rid of them! Where are the ancient empires of Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Persia and Rome today? God used them for His purposes where Israel was concerned and then got rid of them. As for Israel it is a nation reborn and that in a day after almost 2,000 years of exile! (Isaiah 66:7-9).
When the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes back the blood of Islamic armies will flow for a 180 miles as high as the horses bridles outside the City of Jerusalem (Revelation 14:17-21). A terrible retribution is coming from the LORD to the leaders and armies of Islamic terror and despotism and any other nation as well that have maligned and persecuted His people Israel and by extension and inclusion the Body of Messiah, the faithful Church spiritually grafted into the Olive Tree (Israel). The Islamic beast empire of global proportions will meet its demise in Israel and that by the power of the Messiah our Lord Jesus! We read about this in the prophet Isaiah…
(Isaiah 63:1-6) “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with His garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendour, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.’ Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come. I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so My own arm achieved salvation for Me, and My own wrath sustained me. I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.’”
(Isaiah 34:5-10). “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat – the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch (burning oil), her dust into burning sulphur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise for ever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.”
Israel may be under applied pressure and things are going to come to the point where not only Israel will be hard-pressed to survive, but also its spiritual offspring the faithful Body of Messiah will be in the same situation (Revelation 12:13-17). When it looks like God’s people are finished and the nations are about to celebrate their expectant victory, The LORD will suddenly appear over Israel in the person of His Son the Messiah our Lord Jesus, who, with His powerful angels, will descend to earth to rescue His elect saints, to rescue Israel, to inaugurate His Messianic Millennial rule on earth, and to execute His fiery judgement on all those political leaders and the armies of the nations that have dared to touch the apple of God’s eye! As it is also written “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay says the LORD!” (Deuteronomy 32:35a).
As we read in the prophet Zechariah; “For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you— for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). No matter how things develop we know that God still has everything under control.
As the psalmist writes; “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed (Messiah), saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, My holy hill” (Psalm 2:1-6).
As Moses prophesied “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between His feet, until tribute comes to Him; and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10).
