Waves of terror have been sweeping the streets of Israel. Three attacks in just the last week have left 11 dead. All the safety that had been established under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been lost due to the appeasement policies of this new government and the weakness of the new U.S. administration. If you want to hear more of my take on this, watch my short Breaking News Update from yesterday.
It appears that the Israeli government finally recognizes that there is a serious problem. Yesterday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that if you have a license to bear arms, then you should be carrying your gun. Not surprisingly, the number of civilians applying for gun permits has skyrocketed in the past 24 hours.
What is the underlying reason for this violence? According to the Israeli government, it has a lot to do with the belief by many Muslims that Israel will cease to exist by July 8, 2022. This is based on calculations by an Islamic cleric based on passages from the Koran. If you would like more of an explanation of this, please check out my back-to-back posts on Telegram.
Once again, Palestinians in Gaza passed out candies and treats to one another to celebrate the brutal deaths of innocent Israelis. That kind of evil put me in mind of how the world will react during the Tribulation when the Two Witnesses are killed in Jerusalem. The apostle John writes, “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.” (Revelation 11:10) Two of those whose deaths those in Gaza were celebrating were Ukrainians.
In more evidence of the ineptitude of the new Israeli government of change, on Tuesday the country’s defense minister visited the King of Jordan in his palace. Then yesterday, the Israeli president did the same thing. However, on Monday when King Abdullah II of Jordan went to visit the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, he met with no Israelis at all. This was despite the fact that he was a ten-minute drive from Jerusalem. It is obvious who has the upper hand in that relationship. A recent poll showed that should the election be held today, Netanyahu’s party would get 36 seats in the Knesset; Bennett’s would get 4.
A summit was held in Israel on Monday that would have been unheard of before the Abraham Accords. Top diplomats from Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, and Egypt, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at a retreat in Israel’s Negev desert to discus Iran’s nuclear program. A social media account used by the IRGC quickly posted a threat to destroy all the capitals of the Arab countries who attended. This is the same Iranian military that the US is considering removing from their list of terror organizations.
Russia has warned Israel that its strikes in Syria are escalating tensions. They claim that Israel’s military is intentionally “provoking” Russia to react. There is a concern among many that Putin could use this situation as a pretext to attack Israel.
For my latest analysis of the Russia/Ukraine War, please take time to watch the special update, “What’s Next in the Ukraine War: 5 Possible Scenarios”. In it I touch on where things stand now. Then I do a detailed breakdown of the five potential directions that this conflict will go. For reporting and scrutiny of events as they are happening, join the 257k others who have subscribed to my Telegram channel.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting mediation in Turkey this week for Russia and Ukraine. While I certainly wish him great success, I am still going to pause a moment so you can join me in appreciating the irony of a man like Erdogan mediating peace.
The next flashpoint in eastern Europe could come in the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia, which declared its independence from Georgia in 2008. President Anatoly Bibilov has begun the process to legally become part of the Russian Federation. The problem comes with the fact that only five countries recognize the breakaway state – Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria. While Georgia is not part of NATO, it enjoys strong relations with the organization and has been tapped for future inclusion.
At least seven busloads of Russian soldiers are being treated for acute radiation syndrome today after driving unprotected through radiation hot zones surrounding Chernobyl. Ukrainian workers at the site are not surprised saying that the lack of precautions by the Russians since they took over the site has been “suicidal”.
One concerning consequence of the eastern European conflict is that gas flow through the Ukrainian Yamal-Europe pipeline has dropped to zero. Meanwhile, Germany is considering declaring a state of emergency due to it gas supply concerns.
On Friday, an Aramco distribution station west of Mecca in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was hit by a missile fired by the rebel Houthis. This was the fourth attack in the span of one week. In the newfound spirit of friendship, Israel publicly stated its support of the Saudis after the attacks.
