October 17, 2026

October, 17, 2026
October 17, 2026

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World news biblically understood

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A Nation Like No Other: Israel’s Battle In The Court Of World Opinion

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It seems that the memory of October 7 is fading for some in the so-called international community.

You remember October 7, right? When 1,400 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were massacred in cold blood. We’re learning more about it now as videos of Israel’s interrogations of Hamas terrorists are on record, sharing exactly what they did and what they were told to do by their Hamas mastersโ€”gruesome, demonic, wicked acts.

In a few days, the world is going to return to its default position of knee-jerk, anti-Israel bile.

They will basically tell Israel, “It’s a shame what happened, but you had it coming for all that you’ve supposedly done to the Palestinians over the years, and you must have a proportionate response. You cannot act with severity against the Hamas jihadists living in Gaza. Civilians might get killed. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire and an international peacekeeping force, perhaps.” That would be the grand plan of the likes of the UN.

If you have any doubt about what I’m saying, former US President Barack Obama released a statement yesterday that was highly critical of Israel, warning Israel to follow the international rules of war.

This is something that Israel knows, does very well, and doesn’t need Barack Obama lecturing and intoning to them. Nonetheless, he couldn’t resist weighing in and taking some potshots at Israel.

UN Secretary-General Draws Moral Equivalency Between Israel And Hamas

In addition, today, we had an absolute moral disgrace at the United Nations.

The Secretary General of the UN, Antรณnio Guterres, stated, “October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Wait, I thought it was 75 years, in their view? Does he mean since 1967, Israel’s miraculous victory in the Six-Day War, where they reunited Jerusalem and, once again, exercised control over Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland?

Folks read between the lines. This is the Secretary General of the UN, basically saying that Israel had it coming. They provoked this. It’s Israel’s fault. This didn’t happen in a vacuum. This happened not because Hamas is a vicious, genocidal jihadist organization devoted to Israel’s destruction. It happened because the Palestinian people have been supposedly subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

Did he forget that there is not one Israeli living in Gaza right now? Oh, there are Israeli hostages. There are over 200 still in the bowels of hell within some tunnels beneath Gaza in Hamas captivity.

They have very short memories at the UN, apparently. In 2005, every last Israeli “disengaged,” as they called it, and withdrew from Gaza. Beautiful Israeli communities in Gaza were uprooted, and every last Israeli left. There is no occupation of Gaza.

There is also no entity, no nation, or state known as Palestine. There is Gaza, and there is the West Bank, which we call Judea and Samaria because that’s what the Bible calls it. What occupation?

When we’re talking about Judea and Samaria, we are talking about Israelis living in the land where their forefathers and mothers lived 3000 years ago. Call me crazy, I think Jews should be able to live wherever they want to live. But that’s not the view of our enlightened overlords here in the West and at the UN. The double standards continue.

The UN Secretary-General drew a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, blatantly and disgracefully.

Thankfully, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, had a very strong response, calling on Gutierrez to resign. And, rightly so. 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also spoke today before the UN Security Council, saying, “Mr. Secretary-General, in what world do you live?” Has Guterres already forgotten that 1,400 Israelis were just slaughtered in cold blood in the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust?

The World’s Obsession With Israel 

The world is obsessed with Israel. Do you doubt it? Israel was attacked, and yet the world obsessively, after a short grace period, started to bombard Israel with pressure and watch their every move.

Blinken suggested humanitarian pauses in the war. Whoever heard of such a thing in warfare? Has any other nation been asked to do that? Would the US do that? Would Russia or China? I think not. 

Israel is a sovereign nation being lectured to by the world. Why? It’s clearly a spiritual issue.

The book of Zechariah 12:1-3 talks about this, and the Bible is very clear that the days are coming when the world will be absolutely obsessed with Israel and, in particular, Jerusalem.

Israel is not only the center of the world geographically; it’s at the center of God’s prophetic plan. The devilโ€”yes, he existsโ€”hates what God loves. God holds the title deed to that land. God says that Israel is the apple of His eye, and the people of Israel have returned, never to be uprooted again.

Whoever heard of such a thing as Israel’s rebirth in 1948? A people, mostly dispersed for 2,000 years to the ends of the earth, come back against all odds out of the ashes of the Holocaust to reestablish a thriving and successful nation? Do you think God has nothing to do with this?

Ultimately, we can talk about secular reasoning all day, but you can’t separate this from God. Israel is not like other nations, and that’s why the world is obsessed with it.

As the world is crashing down, we know God Almighty still sits on the throne. These are prophetic times, no doubt, and the prophetic chess pieces are moving on the board.


Erick Stakelbeck is an author, analyst, host of โ€œThe Watchmanโ€ program, and the Director of Christians United for Israelโ€™s CUFI Watchman Project.

‘They Want Us To Shut Our Mouths’: Large Banks Debanked, Discriminated Against Customers For Christian Views

Nine of the nationโ€™s largest banks relied on subjective decision-making and the opinions of advocacy organizations to terminate customer accounts or deny service to potential customersโ€”often because of Biblical beliefs on key moral issuesโ€”between 2020 and September 2025. The findings, released Wednesday, were part of a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that charters, regulates, and supervises banks and federal savings associations.

No More Excuses Or Theological Gymnastics: Christians Are Called To Love The Jewish People

I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ, but Iโ€™m wounded when I hear fellow believers dismiss or attack Israel and the Jewish people. The laundry list of excuses for this behavior includes many acrobatic contortions of Scripture that distance Christians from Jewish people. Antisemitic tropes also play a part in these condemnations. So does misinformation about the Jewish nation, as many Christians understand little of the State of Israelโ€™s history of fighting for its life in defensive wars. They look at the nationโ€™s activity in Gaza and Iran as an unforgivable sin because of the negative optics of military conflict, and they refuse to honor Scriptureโ€™s call to bless His Chosen Peopleโ€”even those who have never set foot in Israeli land.

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In A Culture Of Trendy Lies, It Is Time To Speak Up More Clearly In Support Of Israel And The Jewish People

We must remember our friends and our allies around the worldโ€”particularly Israel and the Jewish people, the one distinct ethnic group of people about which God tells us in His Word to bless and to support. In Genesis 12:3, what did God say to Abraham? โ€œI will bless those who bless you.โ€ Yet many people these days, including a lot of Christians, think that it is trendy, intellectual-sounding, or will garner clicks to oppose things all related to the Jews. Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world. 2025 was designated by the Anti-Defamation League as the deadliest year of anti-Semitism. Three months after October 7th in 2023, anti-Semitism had risen 360%.

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Decision

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Decision

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Israel My Glory

untitled artwork 7662

It seems that the memory of October 7 is fading for some in the so-called international community.

You remember October 7, right? When 1,400 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were massacred in cold blood. We’re learning more about it now as videos of Israel’s interrogations of Hamas terrorists are on record, sharing exactly what they did and what they were told to do by their Hamas mastersโ€”gruesome, demonic, wicked acts.

In a few days, the world is going to return to its default position of knee-jerk, anti-Israel bile.

They will basically tell Israel, “It’s a shame what happened, but you had it coming for all that you’ve supposedly done to the Palestinians over the years, and you must have a proportionate response. You cannot act with severity against the Hamas jihadists living in Gaza. Civilians might get killed. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire and an international peacekeeping force, perhaps.” That would be the grand plan of the likes of the UN.

If you have any doubt about what I’m saying, former US President Barack Obama released a statement yesterday that was highly critical of Israel, warning Israel to follow the international rules of war.

This is something that Israel knows, does very well, and doesn’t need Barack Obama lecturing and intoning to them. Nonetheless, he couldn’t resist weighing in and taking some potshots at Israel.

UN Secretary-General Draws Moral Equivalency Between Israel And Hamas

In addition, today, we had an absolute moral disgrace at the United Nations.

The Secretary General of the UN, Antรณnio Guterres, stated, “October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

Wait, I thought it was 75 years, in their view? Does he mean since 1967, Israel’s miraculous victory in the Six-Day War, where they reunited Jerusalem and, once again, exercised control over Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland?

Folks read between the lines. This is the Secretary General of the UN, basically saying that Israel had it coming. They provoked this. It’s Israel’s fault. This didn’t happen in a vacuum. This happened not because Hamas is a vicious, genocidal jihadist organization devoted to Israel’s destruction. It happened because the Palestinian people have been supposedly subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

Did he forget that there is not one Israeli living in Gaza right now? Oh, there are Israeli hostages. There are over 200 still in the bowels of hell within some tunnels beneath Gaza in Hamas captivity.

They have very short memories at the UN, apparently. In 2005, every last Israeli “disengaged,” as they called it, and withdrew from Gaza. Beautiful Israeli communities in Gaza were uprooted, and every last Israeli left. There is no occupation of Gaza.

There is also no entity, no nation, or state known as Palestine. There is Gaza, and there is the West Bank, which we call Judea and Samaria because that’s what the Bible calls it. What occupation?

When we’re talking about Judea and Samaria, we are talking about Israelis living in the land where their forefathers and mothers lived 3000 years ago. Call me crazy, I think Jews should be able to live wherever they want to live. But that’s not the view of our enlightened overlords here in the West and at the UN. The double standards continue.

The UN Secretary-General drew a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, blatantly and disgracefully.

Thankfully, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, had a very strong response, calling on Gutierrez to resign. And, rightly so. 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also spoke today before the UN Security Council, saying, “Mr. Secretary-General, in what world do you live?” Has Guterres already forgotten that 1,400 Israelis were just slaughtered in cold blood in the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust?

The World’s Obsession With Israel 

The world is obsessed with Israel. Do you doubt it? Israel was attacked, and yet the world obsessively, after a short grace period, started to bombard Israel with pressure and watch their every move.

Blinken suggested humanitarian pauses in the war. Whoever heard of such a thing in warfare? Has any other nation been asked to do that? Would the US do that? Would Russia or China? I think not. 

Israel is a sovereign nation being lectured to by the world. Why? It’s clearly a spiritual issue.

The book of Zechariah 12:1-3 talks about this, and the Bible is very clear that the days are coming when the world will be absolutely obsessed with Israel and, in particular, Jerusalem.

Israel is not only the center of the world geographically; it’s at the center of God’s prophetic plan. The devilโ€”yes, he existsโ€”hates what God loves. God holds the title deed to that land. God says that Israel is the apple of His eye, and the people of Israel have returned, never to be uprooted again.

Whoever heard of such a thing as Israel’s rebirth in 1948? A people, mostly dispersed for 2,000 years to the ends of the earth, come back against all odds out of the ashes of the Holocaust to reestablish a thriving and successful nation? Do you think God has nothing to do with this?

Ultimately, we can talk about secular reasoning all day, but you can’t separate this from God. Israel is not like other nations, and that’s why the world is obsessed with it.

As the world is crashing down, we know God Almighty still sits on the throne. These are prophetic times, no doubt, and the prophetic chess pieces are moving on the board.


Erick Stakelbeck is an author, analyst, host of โ€œThe Watchmanโ€ program, and the Director of Christians United for Israelโ€™s CUFI Watchman Project.

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Of News Events Around The World.

‘They Want Us To Shut Our Mouths’: Large Banks Debanked, Discriminated Against Customers For Christian Views

Nine of the nationโ€™s largest banks relied on subjective decision-making and the opinions of advocacy organizations to terminate customer accounts or deny service to potential customersโ€”often because of Biblical beliefs on key moral issuesโ€”between 2020 and September 2025. The findings, released Wednesday, were part of a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that charters, regulates, and supervises banks and federal savings associations.

No More Excuses Or Theological Gymnastics: Christians Are Called To Love The Jewish People

I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ, but Iโ€™m wounded when I hear fellow believers dismiss or attack Israel and the Jewish people. The laundry list of excuses for this behavior includes many acrobatic contortions of Scripture that distance Christians from Jewish people. Antisemitic tropes also play a part in these condemnations. So does misinformation about the Jewish nation, as many Christians understand little of the State of Israelโ€™s history of fighting for its life in defensive wars. They look at the nationโ€™s activity in Gaza and Iran as an unforgivable sin because of the negative optics of military conflict, and they refuse to honor Scriptureโ€™s call to bless His Chosen Peopleโ€”even those who have never set foot in Israeli land.

untitled artwork 6391

In A Culture Of Trendy Lies, It Is Time To Speak Up More Clearly In Support Of Israel And The Jewish People

We must remember our friends and our allies around the worldโ€”particularly Israel and the Jewish people, the one distinct ethnic group of people about which God tells us in His Word to bless and to support. In Genesis 12:3, what did God say to Abraham? โ€œI will bless those who bless you.โ€ Yet many people these days, including a lot of Christians, think that it is trendy, intellectual-sounding, or will garner clicks to oppose things all related to the Jews. Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world. 2025 was designated by the Anti-Defamation League as the deadliest year of anti-Semitism. Three months after October 7th in 2023, anti-Semitism had risen 360%.

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Israel My Glory

Erick Stakelbeck

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YOU CARE ABOUT

BIBLICAL TRUTH.

SO DO WE.

Together, We Can Deliver A Biblical Understanding Of News Events Around The World And Equip The Church To Stand With A Biblical Worldview.

untitled artwork

Israel My Glory

YOU CARE ABOUT

BIBLICAL TRUTH.

SO DO WE.

ย 

Together, We Can Deliver A Biblical Understanding Of News Events Around The World And Equip The Church To Stand With A Biblical Worldview.