blog.Tribulationperiod.com

The mid-term election Concerns,

Secret flight part of Obama Plan,

To Regain Pre-election Popularity!

A New Middle East Modus Operandi,

For Temporary Victory in Afghamistan!

BHO made a left in His mode of Operation,

Obami Modus Operandi for Israeli & Palestini,

BHO Betrayal OF Israel is an Act of Anti-Semitism,

And an unveiling of BHO’s true colors of Islamic Favor!

BHO will never commit U.S. ground troops to defend Israel

In a future final war of this age I believe will begin before 2015!

March 29, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Ephesians 6:10-13 – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. [11] Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against

the wiles of the devil. [12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IN THE EVIL DAY, AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND.

Matthew 6:33,34 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF.

Mark 6:50 – For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

WHAT FOLLOWS ARE A LONG SERIES OF EXCERPTS FROM MANY SOURCES THAT MAY BE HELPFUL IN UNDERSTANDING MASSIVE POLICY CHANGES SINCE OBAMA WAS ELECTED, AS WELL AS THE SUDDEN ACCELERATION NOW OCCURRING IN FOREIGN POLICY.

Began Excerpt from Columbus Dispatch Politics

Secret flight

Obama presses Afghan leader during surprise trip

Overseas visit emphasizes war, corruption fight

Monday, March 29, 2010 2:49 AM

By Dion Nissenbaum and Steven Thomma

KABUL, Afghanistan – President Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan yesterday as he sought to steel American forces for a tough summer and deliver a political jolt to Hamid Karzai as the Afghan president weighs potential peace talks with the Taliban.

In his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office, Obama firmly prodded Karzai to take more-decisive steps to reform his corruption-tainted government so that both leaders can capitalize on the surge of 30,000 more American troops into the war zone.

Speaking to nearly 2,000 military-service members, Obama warned that they face “difficult days” in the escalating fight against Taliban insurgents.

“There are going to be setbacks,” Obama said in the 20-minute speech at Bagram Airfield near Kabul. “We face a determined enemy. But we also know this: The United States of America does not quit once it starts on something.”

The six-hour trip capped a week in which Obama won congressional approval of a health-care overhaul plan that was the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, signed it into law and announced a treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to reduce the nuclear arsenals of both countries.

His visit came at a pivotal moment for both the U.S.-led military coalition and the Karzai government.

After a successful military campaign in opium-saturated Helmand province, American forces are preparing for a bigger showdown in Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

The recent military offensive in Marjah helped shore up flagging public support in America. A new Washington Post poll found that Afghanistan is the only issue tested on which Obama’s handling merits majority approval (53percent) and more strong approval than disapproval.

But support at home could waver as the fighting intensifies this summer.

At least 77 American servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press survey. That’s more than twice the number killed in

the first three months of 2009.

At the same time, Karzai is preparing to hold a nationwide conference – a peace jirga – in April to discuss ways to end the eight-year war by holding talks with pragmatic Taliban leaders.

Obama made no public mention of the potential peace talks, a contentious step that has not won broad support in Afghanistan or the United States.

Some Obama administration officials believe the U.S.-led military coalition needs to deliver a more-decisive blow to the Taliban insurgency before entering any serious peace talks with its leaders.

In his speech, Obama told the American troops that their job is to “reverse the Taliban’s momentum” and disrupt, dismantle, defeat and “destroy al-Qaida and its extremist allies.”

After meeting Karzai for about half an hour, Obama told reporters that Americans are encouraged by the progress in Afghanistan, but that more work lies ahead.

The Obama administration has struggled to find the right mix of pressure and praise to persuade Karzai to crack down on rampant government corruption that has severely undermined the Afghan president’s political stature.

Karzai “needs to be seized with how important that is,” Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, told the small pool of reporters brought along on the trip under tight secrecy.

Jones also said that Obama wanted to impress on Karzai the need to step up the fight against Afghanistan’s dominant opium trade, which helps finance Taliban fighters.

Aides to Karzai and Obama described the meeting as friendly and businesslike.

The Obama administration said Karzai is to visit Washington on May 12, about a week after he is scheduled to wrap up the peace jirga.

“Relations now are stronger than they’ve been in the last eight years,” Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said after the talks.

In his late-night speech at Bagram, Obama also praised neighboring Pakistan for acceding to persistent American pressure to clamp down on al-Qaida and Taliban sanctuaries.

“We can’t uproot extremism and advance security and opportunity unless we succeed on both sides of the border,” Obama said.

As was the case for Obama’s surprise visit to Iraq in April, the trip to Afghanistan was shrouded in intense secrecy. Air Force One arrived in Kabul early yesterday evening after a nonstop, 13-hour flight from the United States.

The Obama administration informed Karzai of the trip Thursday, giving the Afghan administration little time to prepare for the visit.

After dinner at the presidential palace with Karzai and members of his cabinet, Obama flew to Bagram, where he changed into a leather Air Force One bomber jacket and took off his tie before speaking to troops.

Although the visit was short, Jones said it was critical. “We have to have the strategic rapport with President Karzai and his cabinet to understand how we are going to succeed this year in reversing the momentum the Taliban and the opposition forces have been able to establish since 2006.”

Begin Series of Excerpts from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily alert

Excerpt 1 – Miami Herald

In Confrontation with Israel, Obama May Double His Bets

Warren P. Strobel

After nearly three weeks of open confrontation with Israel, President Obama may be about to double his bets. Obama, fresh from his legislative victory on health care, is planning an attempt to turn the current disaster into a diplomatic opportunity, according to U.S. officials, former officials and diplomats. The administration is said to be preparing a major peace initiative that would be Obama’s most direct involvement in the conflict to date, and would go far beyond indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks. “It is crystallizing that we have to do something now. That this can’t go on this way,” said one official. (McClatchy-Miami Herald)

Excerpt 2 – Ha’artz

Israel Fears Obama Heading for Imposed Mideast Settlement
Ari Shavit

President Obama’s demands during his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu

last Tuesday point to an intention to impose a permanent settlement on Israel and the Palestinians in less than two years, political sources in Jerusalem say. Israeli officials view the demands that Obama made at the White House as the tip of the iceberg under which lies a dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Israel. Of ten demands posed by Obama, four deal with Jerusalem: opening a Palestinian commercial interests office in east Jerusalem, an end to the razing of structures in Palestinian neighborhoods in the capital, stopping construction in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, and not building in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo. The fact that the White House and State Department have been in contact with Israel’s European allies, first and foremost Germany, is seen as part of an effort to isolate Israel and put enormous political pressure on it.

(Ha’aretz)

Excerpt 3 – Politico

President Obama’s Mideast Gamble

Ben Smith

The question facing Obama is whether he will be able to turn a perception of increased “evenhandedness” into an Arab engagement in the peace process that the administration sought, but did not get, last year. Obama’s new focus, and the intense pressure his administration has placed on Netanyahu, have stirred deep concern among Israel’s allies on Capitol Hill, they say, because it represents an acceptance of the Arab narrative that Israeli intransigence lies at the heart of the Middle East conflict. David Rothkopf, a former Clinton administration trade official, said the new model drawing attention from Democratic foreign policy hands is to build support among Arab leaders for a U.S. plan and then present that to Israel – to serve as the Arabs’ lawyer, rather than as Israel’s. (Politico)

Excerpt 4 – Polititico

Fierce Debate on Israel Underway Inside Obama Administration

Laura Rozen

Since Netanyahu’s tense visit to the White House last week, an intense debate inside the Obama administration about how to proceed has grown more heated. Sources say within the inter-agency process, White House Middle East strategist Dennis Ross is staking out a position that Washington needs to be sensitive to Netanyahu’s domestic political constraints including over the issue of building in east Jerusalem in order to not raise new Arab demands, while other officials including some aligned with Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell are arguing Washington needs to hold firm in pressing Netanyahu for written commitments. (Politico)

Begin Collection of Excerpts from the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)

ZOA: Obama Shows He’s No Friend Of Israel By Disgraceful Action Toward PM Of The Jewish State

March 26, 2010

Morton A. Klein

Obama actions are an insult and affront to all Jews

Reports and editorials from around the world state that President Obama treated Prime Minister Netanyahu of the Jewish state of Israel in a disgraceful and unwarranted manner.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly condemns President Obama for his behavior toward the Jewish state. We consider Obama’s actions an affront and an insult to all Jews in America and throughout all the world. Obama apparently also made new and substantial demands of Israel while making no demands of the anti-peace regime of Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.

The ZOA concurs with the words of Commentary Magazine’s Jennifer Rubin who wrote, “… the Obami are sticking with their modus operandi – preconditions and ultimatums for the Israelis, and water-carrying for the Palestinians;

Netanyahu reportedly wanted to know where the “reciprocity” was and why he was the one making all the concessions. (“Netanyahu, according to senior officials, said that while the US held him responsible for the timing of the announcement to build 1,600 units in Ramat Shlomo, rather than holding Interior Minister Eli Yishai responsible, Abbas was not held responsible when it came to the PA – which recently presided over the naming of a square in Ramallah for the terrorist responsible for the Coastal Road massacre.”)…

It is not that the Obami fear daylight between the U.S. and Israel; it is that they flaunt it. It is not credibility as an honest broker that the Obami are establishing but rather fidelity to the Palestinian negotiating stance. And after all this, and the revelation that the proposed sanctions will be pinpricks at best, would any reasonable Israeli leader believe this administration will do everything (or even anything too strenuous) to remove the existential threat to the Jewish state?

The low point in the history of U.S.-Israel relations has come about not because of a housing permit but because we have a president fundamentally uninterested in retaining the robust, close relationship between the two countries that other administrations of both parties have cultivated. The Obami set out to separate the U.S. from Israel, to pressure and cajole the Jewish state, and to remake the U.S. into an eager suitor to the Muslim World. In the process, anti-Israel delegitimizing efforts have been unleashed as Israel’s enemies (and our own allies) sense that we have downgraded the relationship with the Jewish state, the Israeli public has come to distrust the administration, the American Jewish electorate is somewhere between stunned and horrified, and Israel is less secure and more isolated than ever before.

If mainstream Jewish organizations are serious about their stated mission, it is incumbent upon them to protest this state of affairs clearly and loudly and make their support for this president and his congressional enablers conditional, based on a change of policy in regard to Israel. Otherwise, they are enabling a potentially fatal assault on the security of the Jewish state. Silence is acquiescence, meekness is shameful. A generation from now, Jews will be asking those who led key American Jewish organizations, what did you do to protect Israel

? What did you do to protest the creep toward a “containment” policy for a nuclear-armed Iran? They better have a good answer.”

Following is a selected sample of articles discussing the Netanyahu-Obama White House meeting —

Washington Post – Jackson Diehl – March 24, 2010

“…for the second time in a year, the Middle East peace process has been stalled by a U.S.-engineered deadlock….

…Obama has added more poison to a U.S.-Israeli relationship that already was at its lowest point in two decades. Tuesday night the White House refused to allow non-official photographers record the president’s meeting with Netanyahu; no statement was issued afterward. Netanyahu is being treated as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator, needed for strategic reasons but conspicuously held at arms length. That is something the rest of the world will be quick to notice and respond to.

Just like the Palestinians, European governments cannot be more friendly to an Israeli leader than the United States. Would Britain have expelled a senior Israeli diplomat Tuesday because of a flap over forged passports if there were no daylight between Obama and Netanyahu? Maybe not…

…Obama chose to challenge Netanyahu on a point that is not material to the creation of a Palestinian state. As the Israeli leader has pointed out, previous U.S. administrations and the Palestinians themselves have already accepted that Jewish Neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem will be annexed to Israel in exchange for territory elsewhere…

…A new administration can be excused for making such a mistake in the treacherous and complex theater of Middle East diplomacy.

That’s why Obama was given a pass by many when he made exactly the same mistake last year. The second time around, the president doesn’t look naïve. He appears ideological – and vindictive.

Jerusalem Post blog – Mayor Ed Koch – March 23, 2010

I consider the Obama administration’s recent actions against the Israeli government to be outrageous and a breach of trust.

What is most disturbing about the truly harsh and inflammatory rhetoric of both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton directed at the government of Israel, is that it is speculated President Obama himself may have ordered Biden and Clinton to make the statements they made. The Times of March 16 reported, “…Mr. Obama was deeply involved in the strategy and planning for Mr. Biden’s visit and orchestrated the response from Mr. Biden and Mrs. Clinton after it went awry, these officials said.” President Obama and his administration’s overly harsh public reaction to the construction in east Jerusalem appears to have emboldened Israel’s enemies and provided a cover for their extremist views. It has also created a serious crisis of confidence among the Israeli public that it can depend on this administration for its security.

…the relations will never be the same again. Humpty Dumpty has been broken and the absolute trust needed between allies is no longer there. How sad it is for the supporters of Israel who put their trust in President Obama.

New York Times – Ethan Bronner – March 26, 2010

…news coverage of his Washington trip, describing his treatment at the White House as deeply humiliating because neither photographs or ceremony mark his visit.

There is little doubt that Obama administration officials thought it was appropriate to reciprocate the embarrassment felt by Mr.

Biden here and to send a tough message….

Commentary Magazine – Jonathan S. Tobin – blogs – 03.25.2010

No Denying White House Animus Toward Israel

…But the cold reception of the Dalai Lama now seems like a wild party compared to the way Obama received Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week….it was an excuse for the administration to renew its war on Netanyahu…

…But never has the leader of America’s ally Israel been treated with such open contempt as shown by Obama to Netanyahu. The Israeli’s visit to the White House was closed to the press – with not even one photo released of their encounter. The fact is that Obama didn’t even want his picture taken with Netanyahu. That’s particularly strange since the president has never any qualms about getting snapped next to a wide variety of international leaders on his travels….Coming from a president that has spent his time in office making non-stop efforts to reach out to and engage America’s enemies around the world, this open hostility to Israel is breathtaking in its brazenness.

…Something that not even the elder Bush and James Baker ever tried to shove down Shamir’s throat. There was no joint statement released after the talks ended but the White House let it be known that they expected the Israelis to make further concessions as in indication of their willingness to build confidence….the Palestinians, who have refused to even negotiate directly with Israel and who refused only a year and a half ago to accept an Israeli offer of an independent state that would have included part of Jerusalem, have not been asked by Obama to make any gestures of their own to enhance the non-existent chances of peace.

This White House’s cold shoulder to Netanyahu…even the most shameless Obama apologist can pretend that it was anything but an indication of the president’s hostility…The question for Jewish Democrats and other liberal friends of Israel is whether they are prepared to hold Barack Obama accountable in the same fashion.

Jerusalem Post – Caroline Glick – 03/22/2010

…This is the behavior of an adversary.

…U.S. President treating Israel like an enemy…

Obama has made clear that he is not Israel’s ally….he will do everything he can to downgrade US relations with Israel while maintaining his constant genuflection to the likes of Iran, Syria, the Palestinians and Turkey.

The Times of the United Kingdom – March 26, 2010

Binyamin Netanyahu humiliated after Barack Obama ‘dumped him for dinner’

For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of.

Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.

…”It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”,…Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea.”…

…He [Netanyahu] returned to Israel yesterday isolated after what Israeli media have called a White House ambush…

“The Prime Minister leaves America disgraced, isolated and altogether weaker than when he came,” the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz said….
…Newspaper reports recounted how Mr. Netanyahu looked “excessively concerned and upset”…

Commentary Magazine – Jennifer Rubin – 03/26/2010

As Jonathan has noted, we don’t know exactly how shabby the Obami’s behavior toward Bibi Netanyahu was. It is cause for alarm if it was remotely like this:

…the projected air of chilliness and the ensuing deadlines that we have learned have been imposed on the Israeli government are enough to confirm that the relationship between the two countries is anything but “rock solid”…

Victor Davis Hanson on Israel

Some strong supporters of both Obama and Israel are disappointed in the latest hysterical Biden-Clinton-Obama smack-down over the settlement issue. But why, I don’t know – this is a logical, not an aberrant, development from President Obama.

Once it was thought to be unprincipled guilt-by-association for pro-Israeli, anti-Obama groups to question candidate Obama’s dubious associations; after all, Reverend Wright, Rashid Khalidi, Samantha Power, et al.

were all on record as hostile to the Jewish state. Few likewise seemed to take note when a key Obama campaign foreign policy advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, in September 2009 suggested that the U.S. might, and perhaps should, shoot down Israeli planes over Iraq on their way to Iran; e.g., “If they fly over, you go up and confront them.

They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse.” Then there was the nomination of Charles Freeman. And of course the present outreach to the two most terrorist-friendly regimes in the Middle East, theocratic Iran and authoritarian Syria. Someone from Mars might conclude that the United States has spent far more effort in courting Ahmadinejad and Assad than Netanyahu.

…in aggregate they paint a pretty clear picture that for this administration the benefits of supporting Israel are far outweighed by the downside.
…Israel’s multiple enemies now are almost giddy in sensing that America is not all that into protecting the Jewish state, intellectually or morally….

Associated Press – Tom Raum – 03/25/10

Analysis: Obama risks alienating Jewish voters

…And in a break from tradition that many U.S. lawmakers saw as a snub, the White House accorded Netanyahu’s visit none of the trappings usually extended to an important ally.

The news media were not allowed into any part of the initial 90-minute Tuesday evening meeting between the two leaders, or a follow-up 35-minute session. There was no joint news conference afterward, no statements about what transpired, not even a White House-produced photograph….

…Since Obama took office, his relations with Israel have been tense. He has visited the Middle East twice as president but has yet to schedule an Israeli visit….
…Netanyahu’s reception at the White House was frosty….

The Jerusalem Post – Herb Keinon & Khaled Abu Toameh – 01/25/2010

…Nevertheless, the administration’s treatment of Netanyahu during his meeting with Obama created the impression of a deep crisis in relations….

Politico – Laura Rozen & Ben Smith – March 23, 2010

After meeting, deafening silence

The Obama administration shifted this week from red hot anger at Benjamin Netanyahu to an icier suspicion toward the Israeli Prime Minister…

…made sure to reward Netanyahu with a series of small snubs: There were no photographs released from the meeting, and no briefing for the press.

And as of late Tuesday evening, neither side had released the usual “readout” of the meetings’ content – a likely indicator of the distance between the sides.

Haaretz – Aluf Benn – 03/26/10

Netanyahu Leaves US in Disgrace

…The visit – …only highlighted the deep rift between the American and Israeli administrations.

The Prime Minister leaves America disgraced, isolated, and altogether weaker than when he came.

…But then calamity struck. At their White House meeting, Obama made clear to his guest that the letter Netanyahu had sent was insufficient and returned it for further corrections. Instead of a reception as a guest of honor, Netanyahu was treated as a problem child, an army private ordered to do laps around the base for slipping up at roll call.

The revolution in the Americans’ behavior is clear to all…

The moment the bill was passed, however, a victorious Obama was free to deal with his unruly guest.

The Americans made every effort to downplay the visit. As during this last visit in November, Netanyahu was invited to the White House at a late hour, without media coverage or a press conference. If that were not enough, the White House spokesman challenged Netanyahu’s observation at AIPAC that “Jerusalem is not a settlement.”

…It was not the behavior Washington shows an ally,, but the kind it shows an annoyance.

Haaretz – Yossi Verter – 03/26/2010

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from the United States Thursday with egg all over his face but also with a painfully sharp insight – gone are the days when the White House was considerate about the intricacies of Israeli domestic politics.

…Obama is not making any effort to show sensitivity to Netanyahu’s distress and worse – he’s ignoring it as though he intends to wreck some political chaos here.

“Obama isn’t only sticking the knife in,” a minister said, “he’s twisting it and enjoying it.”
Shock treatment, a senior Likud figure said Thursday about Netanyahu’s experience in Washington.

The New Republic blog – Marty Peretz – March, 2010

…Hillary Clinton, addressed AIPAC with the emptiest reassurances that Israel’s real security will be assured in any American design for a peace agreement….

…And the president didn’t allow even a formal goodbye today. I don’t think there was even a photo op….

An American source close to the administration said that Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have decided to ‘test’ Netanyahu and see whether he will carry out his promised gestures of good will toward the Palestinians.

So am I crazy

?

Obama and Clinton are going to test Bibi’s bona fides? What about the bona fides of Abu Mazen? What about his capacity to make an agreement, let alone his will?

Obama and Clinton seem to trust the Palestinians more than they trust the government of Israel. And they trust them without the Palestinian Authority uttering anything other than demands.

The administration’s capitulation to proximity talks as a formula for the negotiations is a very bad sign that it will accept anything from the Palestinians, including their and their Arab cousins’ nearly hundred years design for failed talks….

Arutz – 7 – Gil Ronen – March 24, 2010

Obama Dresses Down Netanyahu: No photo Ops or Statements

President Barack Obama appeared to carry on a policy of intentionally humiliating Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week by ignoring custom and abstaining from any public appearance with him during Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.

In a particularly unusual step, no press coverage or photographs of Netanyahu’s meeting Tuesday with Obama at the White House were permitted.

,,,Mark Toner, the deputy State Department spokesman, said that “the US made clear it is looking for steps to increase confidence and show commitment to the process.”

A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said the White House continues to believe that Israel building in eastern Jerusalem is ‘destructive’ to the Middle East peace process….

Haaretz – Bradley Burston – 03/18/2010

Israel’s Titanic moment: Does Obama want Bibi’s head?

To the delight of Mahmoud Zabar and Mahmoud Ahmdinejad, Israel’s homemade weapons of mass destruction – pro-settlement bureaucrats with conflicts of financial and ideological interest – have done in one meeting what Israel’s foes have sought for generations: driving a stake through the heart of Israel’s relationship with the White House…

End of the Long Collection of Excerpts from the Zionist Organization of America

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Exposition of Psalm 91 in the Light of Psalm 110 – Part 4

March 29, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Psalm 91 is one I have titled “God Watches over His Own, Past, Present, and Future – Trust Him to Watch Over You!” If you take that as the theme of this Psalm, you can make numerous duel applications of verses that can be applied to Jesus, David, the nation of Israel, and many of the faithful in both Old and New Testament examples. There are several verses that fit Jesus, some Jesus and David, some Jesus, David, and the nation of Israel, and some include all faithful believers, but there is a common thread that weaves them all together – God will provide deliverance, so trust him to do what he said he would do in his own way and time.

The concept of David recognizing that the Messiah, who was to come was also the Lord, is clearly stated in Acts 2:29-36 by Peter, by David in Psalm 110, and by Christ in Matthew 22:41-46. The Seven Part Exposition of the 110th Psalm in our Prophecy Update Archives sheds a great deal of light on our Exposition of

Psalm 91.

PSALM 91:5 – Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Verse 5 is directed toward what believers should not be afraid to encounter from the enemy during a surprise night or day attack, because the Lord is with them.

In the interior of Vietnam there were numerous Fifth Special Forces outposts, which were subject to surprise night attacks. They were most likely to occur when there was no moon or overcast cloud cover, so they were always interested to know when either would occur. God watches over his children even when they cannot see them until they are almost on top of them. In the daytime, even when the enemy is visible, one does not usually see a bullet or arrow until it strikes its target, but God can see the

arrow or the bullet. Many of my comrades, who had never been close to God before Vietnam, did get close to him while serving there, and I can truthfully say, I got a lot closer. I believe I am alive today because of him.

PSALM 91:6 – Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

Verse 6 also spe

aks of attacks against human flesh, but not by enemies one can see even in broad daylight or a full moon.

The pestilence here refers to attacks from the spiritual realm, which can come upon humans in the night or day, such as the plague that came upon the Egyptians in the Exodus at night when the firstborn of many died. It also refers to any type of pestilence that preys upon man from the unseen virus and bacterial world around us, which causes the human body to waste away in the daylight of noon as well as the blackness of midnight. It is the Spirit of God who works in this realm to protect his children as it suits his will and purpose.

Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Philippians 2:13 – For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

PSALM 91:7 – A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

By this time, if you have read Parts 1 through 4, you can see that the verses of Psalm 91 can, in part, at times be applied to occurrences in God’s protection of Jesus in his life, as well as his protection of David, the nation of Israel, and that of individual believers in all the ages.

Verse 7 makes it very plain that no matter what great adversaries come against a believer, whether they be by man’s devices, the many harmful biological elements of the environment, or great armies of unbelievers beyond number, or anything else, he will never allow them to separate you from him.

Romans 8:37-39 – Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. [38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:28-32 – And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one.

Psalm 91:8 – Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

The main emphasis of this Psalm is to encourage all that know Christ to keep their trust in him no matter what befalls them in the this life, knowing in his own way and time God will deliver them from their bodies of flesh, and they will see with their glorified eyes destruction of their unbelieving enemies, as well as pestilence, spiritual tormentors, and death itself.

II Thessalonians 1:6-10 – Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; [7] And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, [8] In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: [9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; [10] When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Jude 1:14,15 – And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Malachi 4:1-3 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

[2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. [3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

I Corinthians 2:9-12 – But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. [11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save

the spirit of man which is in him

? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but

the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

PHARAOH of United States Hardening Heart toward Israel,

But in the End God

will again lead Israel out of the Wilderness,

And His Son will rule over all the World for 1000 Years Thereafter!

March 28, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

ARCHIVE PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 66 ON MICAH 5

WHAT IS THE NATIONALITY OF THE ANTICHRIST?

Part 5

May 3, 2003

Micah 5:1-4 – Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. [2] But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. [3] Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. [4] And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

These verses, exposited in Parts 1 through 4, were written more than 700 years before the birth of Christ. And yet they present: Bethlehem as His birthplace, His rejection as ruler over Israel, His last Passover in the daughter of troops Jerusalem, His head beatings by the troops of Pontius Pilate, Herod, and the High Priest, His rejection as the judge of Israel, His Father’s siege against Israel because of their rejection of the Son (which has lasted some 2000 years), Christ’s temporary rejection of Israel, His Second Advent as Messiah after Israel’s travail of 1260 days in the Negev Wilderness, at which time His brethren will return with Him to the nation of Israel, and the first 1000 years of His eternal kingdom, which phases into the final heaven age when the present earth and heavens pass away.

(SEE PARTS 1 TO 4 IN OUR ARCHIVE PROPHECY UPDATES 62 TO 65)

Micah 5:5 – And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise aga

inst him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

Now, in verse 5, we find that “this man” will himself “be the peace” because He personally brings it in by Himself when he returns to be “great unto the ends of the earth” for 1000 years. “This man” who brings “the peace” of a thousand years is, of course, Jesus Christ. He is the primary contextual subject from verses 1 through 5.

What happens to motivate His return to bring in the millennial reign is the movement of the Assyrian into the land of Israel. It is the final defeat and destruction of “the Assyrian” that will mark Christ’s Second Advent, and the beginning of His millennial reign.

When Micah wrote his prophecies the Assyrians had already driven into the northern Kingdom of Israel, and all that remained of Israel proper was its southern Kingdom of Judah. So what were the borders of the land of Assyria when Micah wrote the fifth chapter of his book? The borders of the Assyrian territory stretched northward from roughly where Ramallah is located in the West Bank to the present day southern border of Turkey, and eastward to the Mediterranean Sea to establish its western limits, then westward across the Euphrates River to the Tigris River north of modern Baghdad in Iraq.

Technically, I suppose one might be able to say this future “Assyrian” might come out of southern Turkey, northern Iraq, or Lebanon, but since modern day Syria occupies some 85% of the area covered by the Assyrian empire at the time of Micah’s writings, I am persuaded the Assyrian antichrist will come out of Syria. The possible argument that Micah 5:5 was fulfilled during the old Assyrian invasion of Micah’s day, is thwarted by the context pattern of the four verses before it all still being unfulfilled at the time they were written, and then being linked contextually to verse 5 by “this man,” and “the peace.” Additionally, this argument is smashed by the verse that follows it.

Micah 5:6 – And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from t

he Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

From the time of Micah’s writings to the present day, Israel has never “wasted the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof.” I will exposit specifically on both these locations in Prophecy Update Number 67, Lord willing.

The “Assyrian” of Micah 5:5 is not a Europe

an, an American, a Russian, an Eskimo, an Aborigine, an Ethiopian, or a platypus. He is an Assyrian, who becomes chief prince of the land where the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were dwelling when Ezekiel wrote his prophecies. I will elaborate on this in future updates, Lord willing.

The expression involving “seven shepherds and eight principal men” is most assuredly an oft used Hebrew idiom.

It was the Hebrew manner of expressing “more than enough.” Seven is the Hebrew word for “complete,” implying “enough,” and when “eight” is added to it, the expression means “more than enough.” When the Assyrian comes into Israel, and treads within its borders north of Beersheba for 1260 days, then Jesus will return to restore peace for 1000 years on this planet. Christ’s Second Advent is accompanied by some 5/6 of the Assyrian’s armies being destroyed by the brightness of His coming. His destruction of the Assyrian and his false prophet will make whatever force Israel is able to muster up in the Negev for the battle of Armageddon “more than enough.”

When the Assyrian sets on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as the willful King of the North preparing to launch his final attack on Israel at the battle of Armageddon, he will be beyond all help by men and Satan.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ezekiel 38:14-16 – Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? [15] And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: [16] And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Revelation 12:6 –And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Daniel 11:45 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

II Thessalonians 2:8 – And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

[20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with

their flesh.

Ezekiel 38:22 to 39:2 – And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. [23] Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. [1] Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: [2] And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

Micah 5:5,6 – And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. [6] And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. (SEE ARCHIVE PROPHECY UPDATES 67 TO 69 FOR CONTINUED EXPOSITION)

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST

‘PM won’t drop coalition partners’

By GIL HOFFMAN

26/03/2010 01:38

Yishai blasts US “hypocrisy”; Danon compares “condescending” Obama to Pharaoh.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not intend to change his coalition, despite pressure from US President Barack Obama’s administration to shift leftward, sources close to Netanyahu said following their return from Washington Thursday night.

[——-]

Israel Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman sent a message to Netanyahu that he did not want to sit in a coalition with Kadima when he fiercely attacked the party on Channel 2 Thursday night.

“Kadima leaders must have Alzheimer’s,” he said. “They forgot that when they led the disengagement from Gaza, they said it would bring prosperity. Kadima now wants to bring a second disengagement that would be a second surrender.”

Shas chairman Eli Yishai reserved his attack for Obama, who accused him last week of purposely initiating building projects in Jerusalem to harm Israel’s relations with the US.

Yishai told his party’s newspaper Yom Leyom that the Obama administration had failed to accept that Israel had an election that changed the government’s path.

“I thank the Creator of the world for giving me the honor of being the minister who builds thousands of homes in holy Jerusalem,” Yishai said. “There is a lot of hypocrisy in the American attack on me. The US government has been giving Abu Mazen excuses to not come to the negotiating table.”

[——-]

Hawkish Likud MK Danny Danon compared Obama to the Egyptian ruler who was the adversary of the Jews in the Pessah story.

“As Jews around the world prepare to celebrate Pessah – the festival of freedom – President Obama’s condescending and insulting behavior reminds us of how we were treated by Pharaoh in Egypt,” Danon said. “President Obama must understand that we are a sovereign nation in our own land and won’t bow to foreign rulers.”

Bracha Kurtzer contributed to this report.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site.

However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Exposition of Psalm 91 in the Light of Psalm 110 – Part 3

March 28, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Psalm 91 is one I have titled “God Watches over His Own, Past, Present, and Future – Trust Him to Watch Over You!” If you take that as the theme of this Psalm, you can make numerous duel applications of verses that can be applied to Jesus, David, the nation of Israel, and many of the faithful in both Old and New Testament examples.

There are several verses that fit Jesus, some Jesus and David, some Jesus, David, and the nation of Israel, and some include all faithful believers, but there is a common thread that weaves them all together – God will provide deliverance, so trust him to do what he said he would do in his own way and time.

The concept of David recognizing that the Messiah, who was to come was also the Lord, is clearly stated in Acts 2:29-36 by Peter, by David in Psalm 110, and by Christ in Matthew 22:41-46. The Eight Part Exposition of the 110th Psalm in our Previous Blogs sheds a great deal of light on our Exposition of Psalm 91.

I have already exposited on verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 9

1 in Parts 1 and 2. I will begin by expositing on verse 3.

PSALM 91:1-3 – He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

[2] I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. [3] Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Luke 21:34,35 – And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

[35] For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Luke 21:25-28,35 – And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; [26] Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

[27] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

[28] And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. [35] For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

I Thessalonians 5:9 – For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

PSALM 91:3 – Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Revelation 16:1,2 – And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. [2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

While the vials of wrath are being poured out on the earth, the saved will be in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ.

We will be in heaven when he is destroying those who have morally destroyed the earth.

Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

PSALM 91:4 – He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Malachi 4:1-3 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. [3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

John 17:17 – Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Matthew 24:21,22,35 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

[22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

[35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not

pass away.

Unjustified Measures Against the Israelis by Former Allies,

While Bowing and Scraping to Appease Her Islamic Enemies,

Now puts the Apple of God’s Eye where God is all she has Left

To deliver Her from the 1.7 Billion Islamic Followers on the Earth,

Which God will do all by Himself at the Final Battle of Armageddon,

In the person of the Son when He gloriously returns at 2nd Advent!

March 27, 2010

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Luke 21:25-28 – And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, w ith

perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; [26] Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. [27] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Revelation 16:15,16 – Behold, I come as a thief.

Blessed is he that watc

heth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

[16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. [1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Began Excerpt from Middle East Online

March 25, 2010
Netanyahu’s bid to end US row ends in ‘humiliation’

Israeli PM fails to patch up rift with US as media says he was ‘disgraced and isolated’.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the United States to patch up relations ended in “humiliation” as Washington dressed down its close ally over illegal settlements, Israeli media said on Thursday.

Leading newspapers said Netanyahu now has his “back to the wall,” with US President Barack Obama demanding major steps to revive the peace process that threaten the premier’s mostly right-wing coalition.

Netanyahu insisted ahead of his departure that the two sides had made “progress” in resolving a row over continued illegal Israeli-occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem which has hindered US efforts to revive the peace process.

But Israeli army radio said the visit had done little to repair relations and was at best a “disappointment” and at worst a “resounding failure.”

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said Netanyahu had left Washington “disgraced and isolated” after a flurry of meetings that unusually included no public statement or joint photo opportunity.

“Instead of a reception as a guest of honour, Netanyahu was treated as a problem child, an army private ordered to do laps around the base for slipping up at roll call,” it said.

Israel’s Maariv newspaper said: “There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage.

“Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea,” it added, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Israel’s Yediot Aharonot said the carefully coordinated dressing down came with an explicit demand from Obama that Netanyahu take measures to restore confidence with the Palestinians, who have refused to negotiate with Israel without a settlement freeze including occupied Eeast Jerusalem.

Obama demanded that Netanyahu extend a limited 10-month settlement halt past its deadline, pull Israeli forces back from parts of the West Bank and release hundreds of prisoners in a gesture to Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, the daily said, citing unnamed sources.

“Everyone understood that this time Obama had Netanyahu with his back to the wall,” it said.

The two close allies have been mired in a diplomatic crisis since Israel announced plans to build 1,600 illegal settler units in Palestinian East Jerusalem earlier this month during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.

The move dealt a major blow to US-led peace efforts, coming just two days after the Palestinians had reluctantly agreed to indirect talks, and was seen as a major challenge to Washington’s credibility as a mediator.

Netanyahu apologised for the timing of the announcement but has vowed to continue building in Israeli-occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem, which has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967 and was later annexed in a move not recognised by any other government or international law

The Israeli leader’s trip served to illustrate the continued distance between Israel and Washington.

Netanyahu had cancelled planned interviews with reporters, Israeli media said, and he had none of the customary public appearances, even for photo ops, with US officials during his trip.

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST

Israel is the easiest target

By OLIVER WORTH

25/03/2010

What better way to deflect domestic criticism in the UK

than to pander to swaths of bigoted voters by taking unjustified measures against the Jewish State

?

The decision of the British government to expel an Israeli diplomat is just the latest in a spate of hypocritical, discriminatory actions

the United Kingdom has implemented against Israel. However, such moves are not only grounded in a long-held British willingness to victimize Israel, but in a British government with no qualms about abusing its relationship with an ally to cover up its own failings.

How convenient that on Tuesday the BBC news service’s headline changed straight from “Labor suspends three ministers” to “Britain expels Israeli diplomat.”

Of course, this sudden change is more than just convenient – a contrived act on behalf of the British to use Israel as a smoke screen for its own problems. Even more worrying is the distinct possibility that Britain is simply following the US lead on how to divert domestic problems – by picking on Israel.

That this trend has been propagated by Israel’s supposedly greatest friend, the US, is truly disturbing and requires immediate action. It didn’t take President Barack Obama long to realize the best way of dealing with the embarrassment of seeing his foreign policy goals fall by the wayside was to focus on Israel.

While in Egypt there has not been so much as a sniff of democracy since Obama’s “historic” speech in Cairo, and Guantanamo Bay looks less likely to close than a McDonald’s during rush hour, Obama is guaranteed a plethora of great international headlines by manipulating a friendly nation, and dangling the prevention of Iran’s nuclear program – undoubtedly an existential threat – in front of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The gross hypocrisy of the British is as baffling as it is disgraceful; after all, the British response to terrorism has been to launch wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which, however justifiable, were both immensely costly in term of civilian casualties.

Naturally, the mere suggestion of the UK being castigated like Israel in the UN Human Rights Council, despite widespread allegations of torture and various war crimes, is laughable, never mind the idea of British leaders being prevented from fulfilling their duties under laws of universal jurisdiction.

REGARDLESS OF whether Israel was involved in the Dubai assassination or not, the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was an exercise in what Britain has proven inept at doing itself – taking care of a dangerous terrorist with the loss of no civilians whatsoever.

The question begged is why, when thousands of refugees are purposefully displaced in Sri Lanka, human rights are consistently clamped down on in China and more than half of the world’s population fail to have their right to democratic leadership realized, is Britain picking on Israel for a crime it hasn’t even been convicted of?

The answer is simple. Israel is by far the easiest target, guaranteed to captivate the media and win over a public salivating at the thought of seeing it strung up.

What better way to deflect domestic criticism than to pander to swaths of bigoted voters by launching unjustified measures against the Jewish state?

As Gilad Schalit languishes in Gaza in contravention of the Third Geneva Convention, Britain can be counted on to do the bare minimum to secure his release, while accusing Israel of being the nation showing a disregard for the two countries’ diplomatic relationship. It is, rather, the British, unable to prevent their own legal system being abused for racist endeavors, who should be red-faced over the recent breakdown of relations.

The wording of Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s announcement to Parliament on the decision to expel the Israeli diplomat was grounded in irony. Why Miliband feels in a position to talk of the “intolerable” way in which a “friend” operates is deeply questionable. Britain is in no place to be preaching morality, never mind to a free, democratic nation.

British Jewry, in its muted action, has goaded the willingness of the British government to stab Israel in the back. We are undoubtedly in a situation where the British government has no fear of provoking the pro-Israel and Jewish population

into meaningful action, rendering Israel by far the easiest target when finding a scapegoat to cover up domestic misgivings. This must be the wake-up call.

While the British Jewish leadership was happy to let the disgraceful universal jurisdiction fiasco get sorted out behind closed doors, this expulsion is a step too far. The expulsion of an Israeli diplomat is grounded in discrimination and bias. Britain would not take such measures against any other state, even those hostile to the UK.

This is not just an attack on the State of Israel but on Britain’s own Jewish population. If British Jewry does not now stand up and be counted, then when

?

The writer has been a frequent observer of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and is now based in the United Kingdom.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.