If you follow my Telegram channel, you know that the actions in and around the Israeli Knesset continue to be interesting. Following the collapse of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government last week, the struggle to fill the power vacuum has reached epic proportions.
So much of the discussion centers around who the various parties will not back, instead of who they would. Chief among those vilified is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So many of the actions of Bennett’s government were to prove that they weren’t Netanyahu. They hate the man passionately and want the world to know that they are doing all they can to change Israel into a non-Netanyahu state.
The problem is that by reversing so many of the previous prime minister’s policies, they have left the nation much weaker – focused more on social justice than on military strength. That may be fine if you are sitting in western Europe where everyone thinks the same as you do. It doesn’t work if you are surrounded by enemies who want to push your whole nation into the Mediterranean.
Whether Netanyahu has enough sway to get back into the Prime Minister’s seat remains to be seen. His enemies are so concerned that he might sweep in even before the November 1 elections and steal the government away, that they even put forward a controversial bill that blocks any politician under criminal indictment from forming a government.
Netanyahu remains under indictment for some politically motivated corruption charges. The only bill that could have been more transparently directed at the former Prime Minister is if they put one forward that banned anyone with the initials “B. N.” from holding the office.
Not surprisingly, the legal counsel of the Knesset shot the bill down immediately. It’s too important of a precedent just to rush it through during an election period, particularly since it is so blatantly not against something but someone.
Still, in their efforts to ensure that Netanyahu doesn’t get near the office any time soon, they have rushed in about as unqualified an interim prime minister as one can find, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. This is a man who has no true military background and never even received his high school diploma. He has more skills in the application of hair gel than he does the making of public policy.
For a government that for the past year has put the priority on form over function and feelings over strength, the liberal, progressive Lapid fits right in.
It will be interesting to watch as the “government of change” is changed. Through it all, however, we don’t fear or worry. God is in control in this, as He is in all governments in all parts of the world. Sometimes He intercedes; sometimes He leaves nations to their own devices. But no matter what, we know that it is all under the great umbrella of His plan for His creation as He leads us forward to the time when we will be with Him forever in the new heavens and the new earth.
Revelation 21:1-4 KJV – “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Right across the border from Eilat, where we just had our Young Adults Tour out enjoying the Red Sea, is Aqaba, Jordan. In Aqaba’s port on Monday, a crane loading storage tanks of chlorine let one slip. When it landed, it exploded shooting toxic yellow smoke onto the dock. Thirteen people were killed and at least 250 were sickened.
It was an up and down week for our Iranian friends. On the upside for them, their terrorist militias are scoring some points, particularly on the Emirati Dana oil company. Saturday saw the third attack on the facility in four days, this one landing in a housing area. So far, there have been no casualties. In other good news for Tehran, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, announced that Iran has begun to install their new IR-6 centrifuges, which are needed for weapons grade uranium, at their Fordow nuclear facility. They are also increasing the number of these centrifuges at the Natanz facility.
On the Iranian downside, there is a purge taking place in the IRGC following Israel’s success in their attacks against the Iranian nuclear program and the embarrassing failed kidnapping and assassination attempts of Israeli citizens in Turkey by Quds Force assassins. First, Hossein Taeb, IRGC Intelligence Chief was removed. Then, on Tuesday, Ebrahim Jabbari, head of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s personal protection unit, was given the boot. Other personnel changes are taking place within the IRGC, as well.
The second major blow to Iran was a cyberattack on the country’s steel industry. Relatively unknown activist group Gonjeshke Darande – Persian for “Predatory Sparrow” – shut down the Khuzestan Steel Co., a leading steel production plant, leading to a major upheaval in the industry. It is unclear the extent of the physical and economic damage, but it is significant. There are rumors that the Mossad could be somehow connected to the Predatory Sparrow. If this is true, I would like to apologize to our Iranian friends for Israel getting in the way of your weapons and missile production. We know how much you enjoy passing them on to your proxy militias to shoot at us.
In a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president expressed his concerns that Lithuania and Poland were getting a little too aggressive in their policies. Putin responded by promising to send Iskander-M tactical missiles which, as the Russian president is quoted as saying, “can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions.”
Russia has defaulted on its external debt for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution in 1918. The Kremlin, however, denies the default, saying that they have the money from their gas and oil revenues. They complain that they are being kept out of the world financial system as part of the sanctions for their actions in Ukraine. Alexei Moiseev, Russian deputy finance minister, complained last week, “I believe that a financial nuclear bomb was used against us, no country in the history of mankind has experienced such sanctions pressure as Russia is now.” An official reply from the rest of the world read, “Cry us a river.”
In a classic move of tit-for-tat, Germany is nearing a point where they will have to implement gas rationing due to Russia cutting back supplies. “There’s no point pretending – the throttling of gas deliveries amounts to an economic attack on us by Putin,” said German minister for economic and energy affairs, Robert Habeck.
In NATO news, Turkey has lifted its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance. This opened the door for an official invitation to be issued to the two Scandinavian countries yesterday from NATO’s summit in Madrid. Vladimir Putin warned the two countries to not avail themselves of the invitation, saying there will be a response if they do. Meanwhile, NATO has decided to increase their “high alert” troops sevenfold from 40,000 to 300,000.
In other NATO news, the alliance issued an official document on June 14 in which it presented China as a threat, writing, “China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to Alliance security.” Meanwhile, the G7 countries have implemented a rigid line against China manipulating global markets.
Spanish and Moroccan border police opened fire on African immigrants killing 37 and wounding hundreds more. The immigrants were trying to get into the Spanish enclave of Melilla, located on the Moroccan border. The videos are horrific and clearly depict the tragic overreaction by authorities. The irony is that, as I mentioned earlier, Madrid is currently hosting a NATO summit. The purpose of NATO is to defend those countries that are too weak to defend themselves. Yet, here is the host country opening fire on defenseless immigrants.
Imagine the reaction if those slaughtered had been Palestinians storming an IDF position. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.
