Israelis once again took to the streets and blocked major thoroughfares as the bill to remove the judiciary’s “reasonableness” review of laws and decisions passed its first reading. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters say that this ability within the courts to determine “reasonableness” gives the judicial branch of the government way too much power.

Ultimately, it means the courts rather than the legislature have the final say in the laws of the land. No other country gives their judiciary that much power. Unfortunately, the media buys into the lies of the liberal left, and the people eat it up. For the sake of the country, judicial change must happen. But it is going to be a long battle.

IDF Busy on Three Fronts

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked an area near Damascus, Syria, Wednesday night. The targets were warehouses which stored “advanced Iranian weapons.” Closer to Israel’s border, three Lebanese suspects attempted to damage the fence between Israel and Lebanon. The IDF used non-lethal weapons to chase them away.

Finally, in the West Bank city of Nablus, two men suspected of carrying out a terrorist attack on June 5 were killed in a shootout with Israeli security forces. This, sadly, has been indicative of the State of Israel since its inception in 1948. We are constantly surrounded by our enemies, forced to strike either preemptively or in retaliation for what is perpetrated upon us.

War with Hezbollah Nears

It is almost inevitable that a war between Israel and Hezbollah will break out soon. And, because Hezbollah has so much power within Beirut’s government, the entire country of Lebanon will likely be brought in. Currently, Lebanon is a rudderless ship. There is no sitting president. The terrorist group Hezbollah is looking for regime change and seeking to bring it about by installing their own candidate in the country’s top spot. It is quite possible that we will soon see assassinations within the country itself, as the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah seeks to rid itself of competition.

Meanwhile, the terrorists are continually antagonizing Israel along the border seeking to draw Jerusalem into a shooting war. We are now at a place where the best option may be to give them what they want. At least if Israel launches hostilities, they will be able to do it in their time and in their way, rather than being in a reactive position.

Israeli Citizen Kidnapped in Ethiopia

An Israeli in his late 70’s was kidnapped from the Gondar region of Ethiopia this past week. A voice message from the victim indicated that he was being held in a very rainy portion of the jungle, and that he was not being given food. The kidnappers originally demanded millions of shekels for his release but have since lowered their asking price to hundreds of thousands of shekels.

Just last week, the Prime Minister’s office announced the ongoing rescue work to bring back Elizabeth Tzurkov, whose story I led with in the last newsletter. She is being held in Iraq by the Shi’ite terrorist militia Kataib Hezbollah (“Brigades of the Party of God”).

Iran Behind Attempted Attack on Israeli Embassy in Azerbaijan

Israel has officially blamed Iran for a foiled plot against the Israeli embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement, “Iranian terror is a global threat, as we saw in the past few days in Azerbaijan in an attempted attack against the Israeli Embassy in Baku, as well as in recent months in Cyprus and Greece in attempted attacks against Israelis and Jews.”

Earlier this week, an Afghan national was arrested for the plot. So far, Israeli intelligence has done well thwarting Iran’s terror attempts. But all it will take is one missed attack to bring devastation to many people.

Syrian Lira Hits All-Time Low – Again

It seems there is no rock bottom for the failing Syrian lira. In February of this year, it had fallen to 7000 lira to the US dollar. In the last five months, the currency has lost another 40% of its value, hitting an all-time low of 10,000 lira per US dollar. And still, there is no economic hope in sight for Bashar al-Assad’s failed regime.

Tension Builds Between Moscow and Reelected Erdogan Government

It seems that the love story between Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hit some choppy water. Since his reelection, the Turkish president has voiced his support of the liberation of Crimea, vowed to help Ukraine’s acceptance into NATO, freed some of Ukraine’s Azov fighters to return home, agreed to back Sweden’s inclusion in NATO, and renewed his interest in Turkey becoming part of the EU. Meanwhile, Putin is back in Moscow saying, “Recep, my man, what gives?”

For those of us, however, who understand Bible prophecy and the Ezekiel 38 coalition, we know that this is not a breakup. Soon enough, the two world leaders will kiss and make up before setting their eyes southward toward a little country called Israel.

Bulgaria to Sell Russian Nuclear Reactors to Ukraine

Half a decade ago, Bulgaria purchased two nuclear reactors from Russia. The plan was to install them at their Belene nuclear power plant project with the help of Moscow. But now Putin has decided to withhold Russia’s assistance. Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said, “Okay, Vlad, if it’s like that, then we’ll just sell these nuclear reactors to Ukraine.”

The EU, who are always looking for a way to poke Putin in the ribs, jumped up and said, “Hey, we’ve even got €600 million laying around we could put toward that.” Said a spokesperson for the EU Commission, “Ukraine can use EU funds to buy nuclear reactors from Bulgaria, as this would help strengthen the Ukrainian economy.”

France Continues to Burn

Violence, looting, vandalism, and arson are still filling the nights in many French cities. It all began with the death of 17-year-old Algerian, Naher Merzouk, shot by police in a Paris suburb. Now most major cities, along with many smaller villages which in the past were immune to this type of unrest, have been rocked by the riots.

“Unfortunately, the increase of uncivil behavior, of violence, is developing even in modest towns like ours…. It’s very hard to solve,” said Philippe Van-Hoorne, mayor of L’Aigle in Normandy.

It certainly is a hard problem to solve. After years of open immigrations policies, the cultural and religious makeup of France has changed dramatically. What we are seeing is the result of these leftist policies, and, unfortunately, it is likely too late to do anything about it.