Day 112 — Friday, January 26

The IDF on Thursday attacked a key Hezbollah-Iranian airstrip in Kilat Jaber, Lebanon, that was used for launching aerial attacks against Israel, in a major escalation between the sides.

Last September, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed pictures showing the joint Hezbollah-Iranian terrorist air base in southern Lebanon, about 20 kilometers from the Israeli border.

The Iranian flag could be seen flying on the runways at the terrorist air base, which the ayatollahs’ regime is using to plot against Israel, he said at the time.

“Put differently, the land is Lebanese, the control is Iranian, the target is Israel,” Gallant said.

Israel must “remain aware and at [the] ready, with our eyes set on the binoculars and our fingers on the trigger,” he said.

If Hezbollah “goes toward a conflict with us, they will pay a high price,” he said.

“We will not allow Iran to turn Syria into a Hezbollah 2.0” with powerful rockets, Gallant said.

Jerusalem Post

Day 112 — Friday, January 26

(Galilee, Israel) — Shalom from Israel! The mood in my country is tense. While the operation in Gaza is going exceedingly well, we know that the big war has yet to commence. The conflict with Hezbollah must come, and it will come. When it does, it will be brutal for the entire nation. Hezbollah is much better armed, much better financed, and much better trained than Hamas. The Iron Dome and our other air defense systems can only do so much against the thousands of rockets that will come racing across our northern border. I fully expect that by the time it is all said and done, the skyline of Tel Aviv will look different, as will many other parts of the country.

The hardship many families are feeling most now, and expect to only get worse, is the separation of spouses from one another and parents from their children. My wife and I already have one of our children who has been called up into the military. We expect that number to rise to three of our four within the next several months. Many have been away from home since the beginning of the conflict, and the resulting closing of businesses and the accompanying financial hardships have been devastating.

Once again, the months ahead will be a difficult time, but a necessary one. We cannot live any longer with the constant threat from a belligerent and active terrorist army just across our border. Again, this will not be a war with Lebanon, but it will be a war in Lebanon. Hezbollah is fully entrenched in that country, and they have so infiltrated the nation’s government and leadership infrastructure that the large percentage of Lebanese citizens who desperately want them out have no power or authority to do anything about it.

The war in Israel’s north will likely not remain just in Lebanon. The many terrorist militias that are based in Syria make it probable that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will have a dual-northern front. Already, Israel’s military has moved four divisions, or approximately 100,000 soldiers, to the north. This is four times the usual number.

Many of Israel’s allies are pressuring us toward an end of hostilities, as are some growing oppositional voices within the nation. I wish we could oblige, but we cannot. If we allow our enemies the peace and the time needed to retrench and rearm, they will undoubtedly one day reengage. And this time they’ll come back even stronger than before. We can’t allow that to happen.

Please pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his leadership team. Pray the same for the generals leading the actions of the IDF. And pray for safety for those of us who will be on the receiving end of the Hezbollah missiles, as well as for the innocent Lebanese citizens who are trapped in the war zone created by Hezbollah.

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

Iran and Turkey have agreed to back terrorist organizations fighting against Israel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi proclaimed on Wednesday following talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Speaking alongside Erdoğan at the presidential palace in Ankara, Raisi said, “In the talks we had with the Turkish president…we both agreed to support Palestine. We both agreed to support the Islamic resistance in Palestine,” according to Tehran’s semi-official Student News Agency.

“We must seek the formation of a just [world] order…and surely our cooperation with Turkey and with other countries can be very effective in this regard,” stated the Iranian leader. “We have no doubt that measures should be taken against the Zionist regime [Israel].”

For his part, Erdoğan said the two had discussed issues relating to Israel, Syria, the South Caucasus and Afghanistan.

“Regarding the Palestinian issue, both Turkey and Iran have a common position,” he noted.

“We talked about Israel’s inhumane attacks on Gaza and the need to end these attacks and to take important steps in this regard. Regarding the Palestinian issue, we reiterated our support once again and we will increase our cooperation in this regard,” concluded Erdoğan.

The Iranian regime’s official IRNA news agency reported that, as part of Wednesday’s visit, Erdoğan and Raisi signed 10 partnership agreements, including in the field of energy cooperation.

Iran has tripled its enrichment of uranium to 60%, reversing a slowdown earlier in 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency recently reported. Uranium enriched to 60% purity is just a short technical step away from 90%, considered weapons-grade.

On Jan. 14, the Islamic Republic declared Hamas’s victory over Israel at an event in Tehran, marking 100 days since the terrorist group’s deadly Oct. 7 terror onslaught on the country’s northwestern Negev region.

JNS

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

A new shawarma and meat restaurant has opened in the city of Al-Karak in southern Jordan, named after the October 7 massacre.

Jordanian media reported that the restaurant’s name is “an expression of appreciation of the Palestinian goals.”

Prior to choosing its name, the restaurant held a contest on its Facebook page, offering a gold ring to whoever suggested the winning name.

The Facebook page has not yet reported who suggested the name, but promised that the winner’s identity would be published at a later time.

Al-Karak previously made headlines when a father chose to name his son after Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.

Arutz Sheva

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

Major South African banks are providing funding for the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group, according to an investigative report Wednesday in the Jerusalem Post that also names a former Muslim community leader as a key figure in the financing operation.

The Post reports:

Research conducted by The Jerusalem Post staff and several sources uncovered what appears to be a network of several South African organizations and straw man companies deeply involved with funding Hamas activities through the Al-Quds Foundation, an international group sanctioned by the US and outlawed by Israel, using accounts registered in major local South African banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, and Absa.

…

Sanctioning by the US and Israel notwithstanding, the foundation continues its operations across the globe, featuring roughly thirteen branches in different countries, sometimes holding different names. In South Africa, a registered organization named “Al-Quds Foundation SA” also exists which openly admits on their new website that they are “a branch of Al-Quds foundation with headquarters in Lebanon.”

The organization itself boasts about its fundraising activities, claiming funds would be transferred to the needy in Gaza. The foundation’s website lists Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels as its director, leading the South African branch since 2019.

Gabriels was once the head of the Muslim Judicial Council, the umbrella body for Muslims in South Africa, with authority over religious matters as well as communal affairs. The Post describes Gabriels as closely connected to leading Hamas officials.

Nedbank, the one bank that replied to the Post‘s queries, would not confirm the identity or existence of the Hamas accounts, while maintaining that it complies with international sanctions. South Africa’s banking sector is viewed as one of the few remaining repositories of expertise and competence in a country plagued by corruption, crime, and an ongoing brain drain.

Hamas’s apparent funding in South Africa could help explain why the country has led the charge against Israel in international fora such as the International Court of Justice, where South Africa is pursuing a case of “genocide” against Israel. The ICJ said Wednesday that it expects to issue a preliminary ruling on Friday, just two short weeks after oral arguments by both sides.

Breitbart

Day 110 — Wednesday, January 24

Scores of Christian supporters from around the world gathered in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday, marking the 20th anniversary of the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus in a show of solidarity amid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The event, which came on a somber day following the single deadliest attack on Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out three and half months ago underscored the growing force of faith-based diplomacy around the globe.

“Over the last 20 years, you have proven in the best possible way what true friendship is, what true love is and what shared goals and values we share,” Caucus co-chair Knesset Member Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told the gathering. The group, comprising mostly evangelical Christian leaders, some of whom have been active in the cross-party parliamentary group since its inception in 2004, had traveled to Israel for the occasion.

“We struggle on the battlefield in Gaza, in the north and in the battlefield of the media, but looking in this room I know that Israel has true friends around the world,” said co-chair MK Sharren Haskel of Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, which is part of Israel’s emergency war government. “We are not just fighting for our country and people but for our identity and who we are,” she said

A commemoration of faith-based diplomacy

The event, held in the Knesset’s Jerusalem Hall, began with a prayer for the State of Israel, Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the more than 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.

“It is very moving to see these alliances and the large presence of people who want to help Israel,” said Yarden Gonen, whose 23-year-old sister Romi is still a hostage after being abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. “It gives me a lot of hope,” she told JNS.

“Today is not a celebration but a commemoration of something that happened in this building 20 years ago: the start of faith-based diplomacy,” said Caucus director Josh Reinstein. “Today everybody understands the importance of Christian support for Israel.”

All the Israeli parliamentarians who addressed the afternoon event stressed that the war against Hamas in Gaza was not just a war on Israel but a war on shared Judeo-Christian values.

“This is a Jewish and Christian war against radical Islam and our way of life,” said MK Matan Kahana of the National Unity Party.

MK Tatiana Mazarsky of Yair Lapid’s opposition Yesh Atid Party said, “It is not enough just to express sympathy—help us get the truth out actively. We don’t have anyone to trust anymore except for you.”

JNS

Day 109 — Tuesday, January 23

Members of the Rutgers-New Brunswick Students for Justice in Palestine, their suspensions lifted, issued further demands of school officials at a recent press conference.

The SJP had been suspended for “multiple infractions of the University Code of Student Conduct,” according to The Daily Targum, which included “disruptions to study environments, events, classes and a demonstration at Rutgers Business School.”

Despite its reinstatement, SJP will remain on probation until the end of the year and faces “education sanctions,” Fox News reports.

On its Instagram account, the SJP called its suspension “political posturing … in response to Zionist pressure.”

At the press conference, a trio of keffiyeh-covered SJP members, standing at a podium complete with banner reading “Rutgers Profits off of Palestinian Suffering,” demanded Rutgers “incorporate anti-Palestinian racism” into mandatory diversity trainings, and establish an “Arab cultural center with resources for Palestinian and Arab students.”

NEW: Rutgers New Brunswick students release a ‘terrorist-like’ message to their school, demanding that the school cut ties with Israel.

This looks like a hostage video. Welcome to the new U.S. education system. Thanks progressives.

According to @thestustustudio who attended the… pic.twitter.com/Jz2ad9Iv6p

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 18, 2024

Other demands included the hiring of more academics who specialize in “Palestine and settler colonial students,” an official university statement on the “ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” and “protection” of Rutgers’ Palestinian students who “exercis[e] their political rights.”

The SJP also wants the Rutgers official who allegedly leaked news of the SJP suspension (which included contact information of an SJP member) fired.

The SJP also reiterated demands from November, such as divestment from “Israeli bonds and corporations.”

“President [Jonathan] Holloway, in your adoption of the Zionist narrative that our existence is a threat to Israel you have knowingly or unknowingly securitized your students,” the SJP wrote on its Instagram page.

The College Fix

Day 109 — Tuesday, January 23

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says a total of 21 soldiers were killed in the incident yesterday in central Gaza, close to the border community of Kissufim.

He says that troops were operating in an area around 600 meters from the border, destroying structures and Hamas sites, as part of the army’s efforts to establish a buffer zone to allow residents of Israeli border communities to return to their homes.

“As far as we know, at around 4 p.m., an RPG was fired by terrorists at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred at two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion, while most of the forces were inside and near them,” he says.

Hagari says the explosion was likely a result of mines planted by troops to demolish the buildings, but the cause of the detonation was still under investigation.

For several hours rescue forces worked to extract the casualties from the collapsed buildings.

President Isaac Herzog says that “more and more of the best of our sons” have died in the war.

“An unbearably difficult morning, in which more and more names of the best of our sons are added to the gravestones of heroes, in a war that has no justice,” Herzog writes.

“The intense battles are taking place in an extremely challenging space, and we send strength to the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces, who are working with endless determination to realize the goals of the fighting,” he writes on X.

“On behalf of the entire nation, I console the families and pray for the healing of the wounded,” he writes. “Even on this sad and difficult morning, we are strong and remember that together we will win.”

Times Of Israel

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

A senior Hamas official has openly admitted that his terror group will never accept a two-state solution — and boasted that its Oct. 7 attack proved it is possible to expand the Palestinian territory and wipe out Israel.

Khaled Mashal — a key figure helping to run the terror organization from Qatar — claimed in a videotaped interview with Kuwaiti podcaster Amar Taki last week that Gazans and Israelis cannot co-exist, a sentiment he said was made all too clear after Oct. 7.

“I would like to say two things about the two-state solution. First, we have nothing to do with the two-state solution,” the 67-year-old terrorist said in a translation provided by MEMRI TV. “We reject this notion, because it means you would get a promise for a [Palestinian] state, yet you are required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state, which is the Zionist entity.

“This is unacceptable,” he added. “We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation and to have our independence and our state.”

Mashal also acknowledged that Hamas was never an organization that would just govern Gaza after it came to power in 2007 but one that would destroy the Jewish state.

The Hamas leader said his group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians, was a clear indicator that his group could do just that.

“I believe that the dream and the hope for Palestine from the river to the sea and from the north to the south has been renewed,” he said, referencing a chant that calls for the erasure of Israel. “This has also become a slogan chanted in the US and in Western capital cities by the American and Western public.

“The Palestinian consensus — or almost a consensus — is that we will not give up on our right to Palestine in its entirety, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, and from Rosh HaNikra to Eilat or the Gulf of Aqaba,” Mashal added.

“I believe that Oct. 7 has enhanced this conviction, has narrowed the disagreements and has turned the idea of liberating Palestine from the river to the sea into a realistic idea that has already begun,” he said. “It is not something [merely] to be expected or hoped for. It is part of the plan, part of the agenda, and we are standing on its threshold, Allah willing.”

Mashal’s adamant rejection of any peace between Israelis and Hamas suggests that the war in Gaza will not end until one of the groups is destroyed.

Mashal and his Hamas cronies live in luxury in Qatar while their people languish in poverty and are treated like human shields.

Mashal alone is worth more than $4 billion, according to the Israeli government.

He especially has been a target of Israeli forces in the past.

In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to assassinate Mashal by having Israel’s elite Mossad agents spray poison on his ear as he walked through the streets of Amman, Jordan.

Then-US President Bill Clinton, desperate to keep Mideast peace talks alive, eventually helped convince Netanyahu to provide the antidote to a dying Mashal, who ended up recovering, according to Time magazine.

Netanyahu himself has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution, most recently denying the possibility for Palestinian sovereignty on Saturday despite America’s push for such an outcome.

“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan — and this is contrary to a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The prime minister reiterated that the IDF will not stop its airstrikes and advances in Gaza until the more than 130 hostages are freed and Hamas is eradicated.

New York Post

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Monday declared two U.S. Navy SEALs who had been missing for over ten days deceased. The intensive search and rescue mission embarked upon following the SEALs’ disappearance during an operation against an illegal arms shipment which has now transitioned to recovery efforts.

According to the CENTCOM statement, the mission began after the SEALs went missing on January 11 while boarding a dhow suspected of transporting advanced Iranian weaponry. In the days that followed, an extensive multinational search effort unfolded over an area exceeding 21,000 square miles. This operation saw significant contributions from airborne and naval assets provided by the U.S., Japan, and Spain in a determined effort to locate the missing service members.

Support for the search operation was widespread, including contributions from the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, the University of San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and the Office of Naval Research’s Oceanographic Support division. The collaboration highlighted the global commitment to the safety and recovery of military personnel in distress.

i24 news

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions presented by Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include Israel’s complete withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.

“In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And leaving Hamas intact.”

“I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

A deal brokered in late November by the United States, Qatar and Egypt saw the release of more than 100 of the estimated 240 hostages who were taken captive to Gaza during an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Since that deal ended Netanyahu has faced mounting pressure to secure the release the 136 hostages who remain in captivity.

Netanyahu also took a stronger line on the issue of Palestinian statehood than previously.

“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control of all territory west of the Jordan River,” he said.

US President Joe Biden on Friday said he spoke with Netanyahu about possible solutions for creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarized government.

In the statement on Sunday, Netanyahu repeated that he would insist upon “full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan.”

Netanyahu said that he faced down “international and internal pressures,” to change this position.

“My insistence is what prevented for years the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have posed an existential danger to Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Israel Hayom

Day 107 — Sunday, January 21

Iran on Saturday accused Israel of a strike in Damascus that killed five Revolutionary Guards members, the latest attack on the Islamic Republic’s personnel abroad, and vowed to avenge it.

Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon who are backers of the Hamas terror group, raising fears that the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it lost five members in the strike that it blamed on Israel, updating an earlier toll from four.

Hamas condemned what it called a “heinous crime.”

The strike was a “desperate attempt to spread instability in region,” said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani in remarks reported by state media. “Iran… reserves its right to respond to the organized terrorism of the fake Zionist regime at the appropriate time and place.”

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi vowed to punish Israel too.

“The Islamic Republic will not leave the Zionist regime’s crimes unanswered,” Raisi said in a statement, state broadcaster IRIB said.

Times of Israel

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

Harvard University’s newest appointee to its anti-Semitism task force has called Israel an “apartheid regime” and defended disgraced former Harvard president Claudine Gay amid calls that she be fired for her failure to condemn anti-Semitic protesters at the school.

Washington Free beacon

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday evening reported the discovery of a tunnel in Khan Yunis in which some of the hostages were held.

“The soldiers located, based on precise intelligence, the entry to a tunnel located in the home of a Hamas terrorist,” Hagari said. “They entered the tunnel, found terrorists, and conducted a battle, at the end of which the terrorists were eliminated. The tunnel was laced with explosives and shock doors, which were intended to protect the terrorists and prevent the hostages from advancing.”

“When we came into this tunnel, there were no hostages in it, but they had been in it in the past. After about a kilometer of walking in the tunnel, at a depth of 20 meters underground, the soldiers found the central room – which according to testimonies from hostages who returned – we understood that this was there they spent most of their time.”

“We found evidence that proves the presence of the hostages, including drawings which Emilia Aloni, age 5, drew, together with other hostages. In the continuation of the tunnel, we located five narrow, barred jail cells, in each of which was a bathroom and mattress.

“According to the testimonies we have, in this tunnel about 20 hostages were held at various times, in harsh conditions, without daylight, in stuffy air, with little oxygen and horrible humidity which made it difficult to breathe. Some of them were released before about 50 days [had passed], and others are still being held in Gaza – and possibly in even harsher conditions,” he concluded.

arutz sheva

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that the only peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict included the creation of a Palestinian state, and he suggested this might need to “be imposed from the outside,” without Israel’s agreement.

Borrell, in a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, said that without international intervention, the “spiral of hate will continue generation after generation,” according to multiple Spanish media outlets.

“The actors are too opposed to be able to reach an agreement autonomously,” Borrell said. “If everyone is in favor of this solution, the international community will have to impose it.”

Earlier, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there was “no way” to solve Israel’s long-term security challenges in the region and the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

International pressure for advancing the two-state solution has intensified in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

But while some international actors believe the violence only underlines the need for a peace deal, Israeli leaders argue the attack highlighted the extreme danger of an autonomous Palestinian entity near its population centers. And amid soaring support for Hamas among Palestinians in the wake of the atrocities, there appears to be little appetite in the Israeli public for peace efforts.

Moreover, Israel fears any boon to Palestinians in the wake of October 7 will only serve Hamas and other extremists a victory, showing violence and terror produce results.

Times Of Israel

HD Editor’s Note:

The current status of Gaza showcases that creating a Palestinian State, providing a deal could even be reached, would not breed a peaceful outcome. When Israel left Gaza in 2005, the land went from a thriving region to a bastion of terrorism against the Jewish State.

In addition, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has continued to demonstrate its genocidal views against the Jewish People, with a report highlighting that nearly $3 million could be paid out to terrorists’ families by the PA for the October 7th massacre.

Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, would continue to funnel money, just as they do with Hezbollah in Lebanon, to accomplish their goals of eradicating Israel.

As Olivier Melnick recently underscored, “As much as the Palestinian narrative has wanted us to believe it was, this was never about the land. This has always been about the complete annihilation of the Jewish people and the complete eradication of the State of Israel from the world map.”

Hal Lindsey likewise wrote: “Even if [Netanyahu] can depose Hamas, the nature of this conflict means that a similar group will arise. Hatred against Israel is not about land, rights, or money. It is a tenet of [Islamic] faith.”

Rewarding terrorists with land and autonomy couldn’t possibly bring peace to the region. So why are the Biden administration and numerous world leaders championing this “solution”? The answer is found in Scripture.

A two-state solution advocates for the dividing of Jerusalem, with the east portion of the city being given to the Palestinians for their state capital.

God told the prophet Zechariah that a time would come when Israel is re-established, and the world would be fixated on the idea of dividing the Jewish State, specifically Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 12:3, God warned the nations: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

Given the current hatred for Israel, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the nation stands alone.

We already see what the Lord spoke to the prophet Joel concerning the last days through the efforts of the nations to divide the Land God promised to Israel (Joel 3:1-3). The goal of Satan is to eliminate the nation; however, the Lord will use his ploys to destroy both his forces and the antichrist. At the end of the Tribulation, God “will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there” (Joel 3:2; see also Revelation 19:17-21).

Although this decisive battle, which we call “Armageddon,” does not happen until at least another seven years or longer, we already see the devil stirring up the hatred of the world that will later lead to it. God will use our adversary to bring about the conflict that will forever end his power over the nations. His sovereignty will trump Satan’s hatred for Israel.

I don’t know what will happen next in the current war. Some say that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent, which could rapidly expand to a regional war with grave consequences for the entire world.

The Bible says that Damacus will experience total destruction (Isaiah 17:1), but this has never happened. Could we see the fulfillment of this prophecy as a consequence of the predicted expansion of current hostilities? It’s possible.

We know two things for sure. First, the continual warfare will make Israel all the more eager to make a future deal with the antichrist, which the prophet Isaiah referred to as the “covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:14-18; see also Daniel 9:27). By the time the man of lawlessness arrives on the scene, Israel’s leaders will readily accept his terms, believing he can assure them of enduring peace.

Day 112 — Friday, January 26

The IDF on Thursday attacked a key Hezbollah-Iranian airstrip in Kilat Jaber, Lebanon, that was used for launching aerial attacks against Israel, in a major escalation between the sides.

Last September, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed pictures showing the joint Hezbollah-Iranian terrorist air base in southern Lebanon, about 20 kilometers from the Israeli border.

The Iranian flag could be seen flying on the runways at the terrorist air base, which the ayatollahs’ regime is using to plot against Israel, he said at the time.

“Put differently, the land is Lebanese, the control is Iranian, the target is Israel,” Gallant said.

Israel must “remain aware and at [the] ready, with our eyes set on the binoculars and our fingers on the trigger,” he said.

If Hezbollah “goes toward a conflict with us, they will pay a high price,” he said.

“We will not allow Iran to turn Syria into a Hezbollah 2.0” with powerful rockets, Gallant said.

Jerusalem Post

Day 112 — Friday, January 26

(Galilee, Israel) — Shalom from Israel! The mood in my country is tense. While the operation in Gaza is going exceedingly well, we know that the big war has yet to commence. The conflict with Hezbollah must come, and it will come. When it does, it will be brutal for the entire nation. Hezbollah is much better armed, much better financed, and much better trained than Hamas. The Iron Dome and our other air defense systems can only do so much against the thousands of rockets that will come racing across our northern border. I fully expect that by the time it is all said and done, the skyline of Tel Aviv will look different, as will many other parts of the country.

The hardship many families are feeling most now, and expect to only get worse, is the separation of spouses from one another and parents from their children. My wife and I already have one of our children who has been called up into the military. We expect that number to rise to three of our four within the next several months. Many have been away from home since the beginning of the conflict, and the resulting closing of businesses and the accompanying financial hardships have been devastating.

Once again, the months ahead will be a difficult time, but a necessary one. We cannot live any longer with the constant threat from a belligerent and active terrorist army just across our border. Again, this will not be a war with Lebanon, but it will be a war in Lebanon. Hezbollah is fully entrenched in that country, and they have so infiltrated the nation’s government and leadership infrastructure that the large percentage of Lebanese citizens who desperately want them out have no power or authority to do anything about it.

The war in Israel’s north will likely not remain just in Lebanon. The many terrorist militias that are based in Syria make it probable that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will have a dual-northern front. Already, Israel’s military has moved four divisions, or approximately 100,000 soldiers, to the north. This is four times the usual number.

Many of Israel’s allies are pressuring us toward an end of hostilities, as are some growing oppositional voices within the nation. I wish we could oblige, but we cannot. If we allow our enemies the peace and the time needed to retrench and rearm, they will undoubtedly one day reengage. And this time they’ll come back even stronger than before. We can’t allow that to happen.

Please pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his leadership team. Pray the same for the generals leading the actions of the IDF. And pray for safety for those of us who will be on the receiving end of the Hezbollah missiles, as well as for the innocent Lebanese citizens who are trapped in the war zone created by Hezbollah.

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

Iran and Turkey have agreed to back terrorist organizations fighting against Israel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi proclaimed on Wednesday following talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Speaking alongside Erdoğan at the presidential palace in Ankara, Raisi said, “In the talks we had with the Turkish president…we both agreed to support Palestine. We both agreed to support the Islamic resistance in Palestine,” according to Tehran’s semi-official Student News Agency.

“We must seek the formation of a just [world] order…and surely our cooperation with Turkey and with other countries can be very effective in this regard,” stated the Iranian leader. “We have no doubt that measures should be taken against the Zionist regime [Israel].”

For his part, Erdoğan said the two had discussed issues relating to Israel, Syria, the South Caucasus and Afghanistan.

“Regarding the Palestinian issue, both Turkey and Iran have a common position,” he noted.

“We talked about Israel’s inhumane attacks on Gaza and the need to end these attacks and to take important steps in this regard. Regarding the Palestinian issue, we reiterated our support once again and we will increase our cooperation in this regard,” concluded Erdoğan.

The Iranian regime’s official IRNA news agency reported that, as part of Wednesday’s visit, Erdoğan and Raisi signed 10 partnership agreements, including in the field of energy cooperation.

Iran has tripled its enrichment of uranium to 60%, reversing a slowdown earlier in 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency recently reported. Uranium enriched to 60% purity is just a short technical step away from 90%, considered weapons-grade.

On Jan. 14, the Islamic Republic declared Hamas’s victory over Israel at an event in Tehran, marking 100 days since the terrorist group’s deadly Oct. 7 terror onslaught on the country’s northwestern Negev region.

JNS

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

A new shawarma and meat restaurant has opened in the city of Al-Karak in southern Jordan, named after the October 7 massacre.

Jordanian media reported that the restaurant’s name is “an expression of appreciation of the Palestinian goals.”

Prior to choosing its name, the restaurant held a contest on its Facebook page, offering a gold ring to whoever suggested the winning name.

The Facebook page has not yet reported who suggested the name, but promised that the winner’s identity would be published at a later time.

Al-Karak previously made headlines when a father chose to name his son after Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.

Arutz Sheva

Day 111 — Thursday, January 25

Major South African banks are providing funding for the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group, according to an investigative report Wednesday in the Jerusalem Post that also names a former Muslim community leader as a key figure in the financing operation.

The Post reports:

Research conducted by The Jerusalem Post staff and several sources uncovered what appears to be a network of several South African organizations and straw man companies deeply involved with funding Hamas activities through the Al-Quds Foundation, an international group sanctioned by the US and outlawed by Israel, using accounts registered in major local South African banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, and Absa.

…

Sanctioning by the US and Israel notwithstanding, the foundation continues its operations across the globe, featuring roughly thirteen branches in different countries, sometimes holding different names. In South Africa, a registered organization named “Al-Quds Foundation SA” also exists which openly admits on their new website that they are “a branch of Al-Quds foundation with headquarters in Lebanon.”

The organization itself boasts about its fundraising activities, claiming funds would be transferred to the needy in Gaza. The foundation’s website lists Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels as its director, leading the South African branch since 2019.

Gabriels was once the head of the Muslim Judicial Council, the umbrella body for Muslims in South Africa, with authority over religious matters as well as communal affairs. The Post describes Gabriels as closely connected to leading Hamas officials.

Nedbank, the one bank that replied to the Post‘s queries, would not confirm the identity or existence of the Hamas accounts, while maintaining that it complies with international sanctions. South Africa’s banking sector is viewed as one of the few remaining repositories of expertise and competence in a country plagued by corruption, crime, and an ongoing brain drain.

Hamas’s apparent funding in South Africa could help explain why the country has led the charge against Israel in international fora such as the International Court of Justice, where South Africa is pursuing a case of “genocide” against Israel. The ICJ said Wednesday that it expects to issue a preliminary ruling on Friday, just two short weeks after oral arguments by both sides.

Breitbart

Day 110 — Wednesday, January 24

Scores of Christian supporters from around the world gathered in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday, marking the 20th anniversary of the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus in a show of solidarity amid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The event, which came on a somber day following the single deadliest attack on Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out three and half months ago underscored the growing force of faith-based diplomacy around the globe.

“Over the last 20 years, you have proven in the best possible way what true friendship is, what true love is and what shared goals and values we share,” Caucus co-chair Knesset Member Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told the gathering. The group, comprising mostly evangelical Christian leaders, some of whom have been active in the cross-party parliamentary group since its inception in 2004, had traveled to Israel for the occasion.

“We struggle on the battlefield in Gaza, in the north and in the battlefield of the media, but looking in this room I know that Israel has true friends around the world,” said co-chair MK Sharren Haskel of Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, which is part of Israel’s emergency war government. “We are not just fighting for our country and people but for our identity and who we are,” she said

A commemoration of faith-based diplomacy

The event, held in the Knesset’s Jerusalem Hall, began with a prayer for the State of Israel, Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the more than 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.

“It is very moving to see these alliances and the large presence of people who want to help Israel,” said Yarden Gonen, whose 23-year-old sister Romi is still a hostage after being abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. “It gives me a lot of hope,” she told JNS.

“Today is not a celebration but a commemoration of something that happened in this building 20 years ago: the start of faith-based diplomacy,” said Caucus director Josh Reinstein. “Today everybody understands the importance of Christian support for Israel.”

All the Israeli parliamentarians who addressed the afternoon event stressed that the war against Hamas in Gaza was not just a war on Israel but a war on shared Judeo-Christian values.

“This is a Jewish and Christian war against radical Islam and our way of life,” said MK Matan Kahana of the National Unity Party.

MK Tatiana Mazarsky of Yair Lapid’s opposition Yesh Atid Party said, “It is not enough just to express sympathy—help us get the truth out actively. We don’t have anyone to trust anymore except for you.”

JNS

Day 109 — Tuesday, January 23

Members of the Rutgers-New Brunswick Students for Justice in Palestine, their suspensions lifted, issued further demands of school officials at a recent press conference.

The SJP had been suspended for “multiple infractions of the University Code of Student Conduct,” according to The Daily Targum, which included “disruptions to study environments, events, classes and a demonstration at Rutgers Business School.”

Despite its reinstatement, SJP will remain on probation until the end of the year and faces “education sanctions,” Fox News reports.

On its Instagram account, the SJP called its suspension “political posturing … in response to Zionist pressure.”

At the press conference, a trio of keffiyeh-covered SJP members, standing at a podium complete with banner reading “Rutgers Profits off of Palestinian Suffering,” demanded Rutgers “incorporate anti-Palestinian racism” into mandatory diversity trainings, and establish an “Arab cultural center with resources for Palestinian and Arab students.”

NEW: Rutgers New Brunswick students release a ‘terrorist-like’ message to their school, demanding that the school cut ties with Israel.

This looks like a hostage video. Welcome to the new U.S. education system. Thanks progressives.

According to @thestustustudio who attended the… pic.twitter.com/Jz2ad9Iv6p

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 18, 2024

Other demands included the hiring of more academics who specialize in “Palestine and settler colonial students,” an official university statement on the “ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” and “protection” of Rutgers’ Palestinian students who “exercis[e] their political rights.”

The SJP also wants the Rutgers official who allegedly leaked news of the SJP suspension (which included contact information of an SJP member) fired.

The SJP also reiterated demands from November, such as divestment from “Israeli bonds and corporations.”

“President [Jonathan] Holloway, in your adoption of the Zionist narrative that our existence is a threat to Israel you have knowingly or unknowingly securitized your students,” the SJP wrote on its Instagram page.

The College Fix

Day 109 — Tuesday, January 23

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says a total of 21 soldiers were killed in the incident yesterday in central Gaza, close to the border community of Kissufim.

He says that troops were operating in an area around 600 meters from the border, destroying structures and Hamas sites, as part of the army’s efforts to establish a buffer zone to allow residents of Israeli border communities to return to their homes.

“As far as we know, at around 4 p.m., an RPG was fired by terrorists at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred at two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion, while most of the forces were inside and near them,” he says.

Hagari says the explosion was likely a result of mines planted by troops to demolish the buildings, but the cause of the detonation was still under investigation.

For several hours rescue forces worked to extract the casualties from the collapsed buildings.

President Isaac Herzog says that “more and more of the best of our sons” have died in the war.

“An unbearably difficult morning, in which more and more names of the best of our sons are added to the gravestones of heroes, in a war that has no justice,” Herzog writes.

“The intense battles are taking place in an extremely challenging space, and we send strength to the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces, who are working with endless determination to realize the goals of the fighting,” he writes on X.

“On behalf of the entire nation, I console the families and pray for the healing of the wounded,” he writes. “Even on this sad and difficult morning, we are strong and remember that together we will win.”

Times Of Israel

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

A senior Hamas official has openly admitted that his terror group will never accept a two-state solution — and boasted that its Oct. 7 attack proved it is possible to expand the Palestinian territory and wipe out Israel.

Khaled Mashal — a key figure helping to run the terror organization from Qatar — claimed in a videotaped interview with Kuwaiti podcaster Amar Taki last week that Gazans and Israelis cannot co-exist, a sentiment he said was made all too clear after Oct. 7.

“I would like to say two things about the two-state solution. First, we have nothing to do with the two-state solution,” the 67-year-old terrorist said in a translation provided by MEMRI TV. “We reject this notion, because it means you would get a promise for a [Palestinian] state, yet you are required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state, which is the Zionist entity.

“This is unacceptable,” he added. “We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation and to have our independence and our state.”

Mashal also acknowledged that Hamas was never an organization that would just govern Gaza after it came to power in 2007 but one that would destroy the Jewish state.

The Hamas leader said his group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians, was a clear indicator that his group could do just that.

“I believe that the dream and the hope for Palestine from the river to the sea and from the north to the south has been renewed,” he said, referencing a chant that calls for the erasure of Israel. “This has also become a slogan chanted in the US and in Western capital cities by the American and Western public.

“The Palestinian consensus — or almost a consensus — is that we will not give up on our right to Palestine in its entirety, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, and from Rosh HaNikra to Eilat or the Gulf of Aqaba,” Mashal added.

“I believe that Oct. 7 has enhanced this conviction, has narrowed the disagreements and has turned the idea of liberating Palestine from the river to the sea into a realistic idea that has already begun,” he said. “It is not something [merely] to be expected or hoped for. It is part of the plan, part of the agenda, and we are standing on its threshold, Allah willing.”

Mashal’s adamant rejection of any peace between Israelis and Hamas suggests that the war in Gaza will not end until one of the groups is destroyed.

Mashal and his Hamas cronies live in luxury in Qatar while their people languish in poverty and are treated like human shields.

Mashal alone is worth more than $4 billion, according to the Israeli government.

He especially has been a target of Israeli forces in the past.

In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to assassinate Mashal by having Israel’s elite Mossad agents spray poison on his ear as he walked through the streets of Amman, Jordan.

Then-US President Bill Clinton, desperate to keep Mideast peace talks alive, eventually helped convince Netanyahu to provide the antidote to a dying Mashal, who ended up recovering, according to Time magazine.

Netanyahu himself has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution, most recently denying the possibility for Palestinian sovereignty on Saturday despite America’s push for such an outcome.

“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan — and this is contrary to a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The prime minister reiterated that the IDF will not stop its airstrikes and advances in Gaza until the more than 130 hostages are freed and Hamas is eradicated.

New York Post

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Monday declared two U.S. Navy SEALs who had been missing for over ten days deceased. The intensive search and rescue mission embarked upon following the SEALs’ disappearance during an operation against an illegal arms shipment which has now transitioned to recovery efforts.

According to the CENTCOM statement, the mission began after the SEALs went missing on January 11 while boarding a dhow suspected of transporting advanced Iranian weaponry. In the days that followed, an extensive multinational search effort unfolded over an area exceeding 21,000 square miles. This operation saw significant contributions from airborne and naval assets provided by the U.S., Japan, and Spain in a determined effort to locate the missing service members.

Support for the search operation was widespread, including contributions from the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, the University of San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and the Office of Naval Research’s Oceanographic Support division. The collaboration highlighted the global commitment to the safety and recovery of military personnel in distress.

i24 news

Day 108 — Monday, January 22

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions presented by Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include Israel’s complete withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.

“In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And leaving Hamas intact.”

“I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

A deal brokered in late November by the United States, Qatar and Egypt saw the release of more than 100 of the estimated 240 hostages who were taken captive to Gaza during an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Since that deal ended Netanyahu has faced mounting pressure to secure the release the 136 hostages who remain in captivity.

Netanyahu also took a stronger line on the issue of Palestinian statehood than previously.

“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control of all territory west of the Jordan River,” he said.

US President Joe Biden on Friday said he spoke with Netanyahu about possible solutions for creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarized government.

In the statement on Sunday, Netanyahu repeated that he would insist upon “full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan.”

Netanyahu said that he faced down “international and internal pressures,” to change this position.

“My insistence is what prevented for years the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have posed an existential danger to Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Israel Hayom

Day 107 — Sunday, January 21

Iran on Saturday accused Israel of a strike in Damascus that killed five Revolutionary Guards members, the latest attack on the Islamic Republic’s personnel abroad, and vowed to avenge it.

Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon who are backers of the Hamas terror group, raising fears that the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it lost five members in the strike that it blamed on Israel, updating an earlier toll from four.

Hamas condemned what it called a “heinous crime.”

The strike was a “desperate attempt to spread instability in region,” said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani in remarks reported by state media. “Iran… reserves its right to respond to the organized terrorism of the fake Zionist regime at the appropriate time and place.”

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi vowed to punish Israel too.

“The Islamic Republic will not leave the Zionist regime’s crimes unanswered,” Raisi said in a statement, state broadcaster IRIB said.

Times of Israel

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

Harvard University’s newest appointee to its anti-Semitism task force has called Israel an “apartheid regime” and defended disgraced former Harvard president Claudine Gay amid calls that she be fired for her failure to condemn anti-Semitic protesters at the school.

Washington Free beacon

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday evening reported the discovery of a tunnel in Khan Yunis in which some of the hostages were held.

“The soldiers located, based on precise intelligence, the entry to a tunnel located in the home of a Hamas terrorist,” Hagari said. “They entered the tunnel, found terrorists, and conducted a battle, at the end of which the terrorists were eliminated. The tunnel was laced with explosives and shock doors, which were intended to protect the terrorists and prevent the hostages from advancing.”

“When we came into this tunnel, there were no hostages in it, but they had been in it in the past. After about a kilometer of walking in the tunnel, at a depth of 20 meters underground, the soldiers found the central room – which according to testimonies from hostages who returned – we understood that this was there they spent most of their time.”

“We found evidence that proves the presence of the hostages, including drawings which Emilia Aloni, age 5, drew, together with other hostages. In the continuation of the tunnel, we located five narrow, barred jail cells, in each of which was a bathroom and mattress.

“According to the testimonies we have, in this tunnel about 20 hostages were held at various times, in harsh conditions, without daylight, in stuffy air, with little oxygen and horrible humidity which made it difficult to breathe. Some of them were released before about 50 days [had passed], and others are still being held in Gaza – and possibly in even harsher conditions,” he concluded.

arutz sheva

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that the only peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict included the creation of a Palestinian state, and he suggested this might need to “be imposed from the outside,” without Israel’s agreement.

Borrell, in a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, said that without international intervention, the “spiral of hate will continue generation after generation,” according to multiple Spanish media outlets.

“The actors are too opposed to be able to reach an agreement autonomously,” Borrell said. “If everyone is in favor of this solution, the international community will have to impose it.”

Earlier, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there was “no way” to solve Israel’s long-term security challenges in the region and the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

International pressure for advancing the two-state solution has intensified in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

But while some international actors believe the violence only underlines the need for a peace deal, Israeli leaders argue the attack highlighted the extreme danger of an autonomous Palestinian entity near its population centers. And amid soaring support for Hamas among Palestinians in the wake of the atrocities, there appears to be little appetite in the Israeli public for peace efforts.

Moreover, Israel fears any boon to Palestinians in the wake of October 7 will only serve Hamas and other extremists a victory, showing violence and terror produce results.

Times Of Israel

HD Editor’s Note:

The current status of Gaza showcases that creating a Palestinian State, providing a deal could even be reached, would not breed a peaceful outcome. When Israel left Gaza in 2005, the land went from a thriving region to a bastion of terrorism against the Jewish State.

In addition, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has continued to demonstrate its genocidal views against the Jewish People, with a report highlighting that nearly $3 million could be paid out to terrorists’ families by the PA for the October 7th massacre.

Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, would continue to funnel money, just as they do with Hezbollah in Lebanon, to accomplish their goals of eradicating Israel.

As Olivier Melnick recently underscored, “As much as the Palestinian narrative has wanted us to believe it was, this was never about the land. This has always been about the complete annihilation of the Jewish people and the complete eradication of the State of Israel from the world map.”

Hal Lindsey likewise wrote: “Even if [Netanyahu] can depose Hamas, the nature of this conflict means that a similar group will arise. Hatred against Israel is not about land, rights, or money. It is a tenet of [Islamic] faith.”

Rewarding terrorists with land and autonomy couldn’t possibly bring peace to the region. So why are the Biden administration and numerous world leaders championing this “solution”? The answer is found in Scripture.

A two-state solution advocates for the dividing of Jerusalem, with the east portion of the city being given to the Palestinians for their state capital.

God told the prophet Zechariah that a time would come when Israel is re-established, and the world would be fixated on the idea of dividing the Jewish State, specifically Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 12:3, God warned the nations: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Day 106 — Saturday, January 20

Given the current hatred for Israel, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the nation stands alone.

We already see what the Lord spoke to the prophet Joel concerning the last days through the efforts of the nations to divide the Land God promised to Israel (Joel 3:1-3). The goal of Satan is to eliminate the nation; however, the Lord will use his ploys to destroy both his forces and the antichrist. At the end of the Tribulation, God “will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there” (Joel 3:2; see also Revelation 19:17-21).

Although this decisive battle, which we call “Armageddon,” does not happen until at least another seven years or longer, we already see the devil stirring up the hatred of the world that will later lead to it. God will use our adversary to bring about the conflict that will forever end his power over the nations. His sovereignty will trump Satan’s hatred for Israel.

I don’t know what will happen next in the current war. Some say that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent, which could rapidly expand to a regional war with grave consequences for the entire world.

The Bible says that Damacus will experience total destruction (Isaiah 17:1), but this has never happened. Could we see the fulfillment of this prophecy as a consequence of the predicted expansion of current hostilities? It’s possible.

We know two things for sure. First, the continual warfare will make Israel all the more eager to make a future deal with the antichrist, which the prophet Isaiah referred to as the “covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:14-18; see also Daniel 9:27). By the time the man of lawlessness arrives on the scene, Israel’s leaders will readily accept his terms, believing he can assure them of enduring peace.