Netanyahu's Peace Plan

By Barry Rubin

In his successful meeting with President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a superb, workable peace plan backed by a wide Israeli consensus.

Those obsessed with whether Netanyahu would say the “two-state solution” mantra missed it.

In fact, though Netanyahu didn’t accept that framework precisely because he and his Labor party coalition partner are for peace.

If Netanyahu said “two-state solution” it would buy him moments of cheap praise. But then, experience shows, their attention would turn to just one theme only: getting Israel to make unilateral concessions and take dangerous risks.

In the conception of Netanyahu and Barak, the right kind of two-state solution is the only solution to the conflict. But how to ensure it does end the conflict rather than just make it bloodier and on worse terms for Israel?

Netanyahu made this clear in his joint press conference with Obama:

“Everybody in Israel, as in the United States, wants peace. The common threat we face are terrorist regimes and organizations that seek to undermine the peace and endanger both our peoples.”

The real question is how to get peace without strengthening radical forces; how to get a solution that doesn’t make things worse for Israelis and Palestinians? Netanyahu continued:

“We want to live in peace with them. We want them to govern themselves, absent a handful of powers that could endanger the state of Israel.”

Israel wants peace—it has more incentive for that than anyone. When Netanyahu says Israel wants the Palestinians to govern themselves, he isn’t talking about limited autonomy but in the context of a functioning peace agreement, which means a state. What are the “handful of powers?” Obviously, Hamas but it’s also a clear reference to influence and interference by Iran and Syria.

Why should Israel agree to any Palestinian state functioning as a base for destroying it?

He continues: “For this there has to be a clear goal…an end to conflict.” A definitive end of conflict agreement that the new framework ensures is key to any solution: two states not Round Two of the conflict. The Palestinian Authority has rejected such a commitment for very obvious reasons: it hasn’t been ready to accept permanent peace even if it gets a state.

Both sides, Netanyahu continued, must make compromises: “We’re ready to do our share. We hope the Palestinians will do their share, as well.” To reach peace requires the Palestinian side to meet its commitments—which it has done far more rarely than Israel—and make concessions. This may seem obvious but is usually forgotten in Western policy and media coverage. President Obama did make this point about Palestinian obligations as well, more specifically than many observers seem to realize.

Read this carefully. To reach a peace agreement::

"The Palestinians will have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state; will have to also enable Israel to have the means to defend itself. And if...Israel’s security conditions are met, and there’s recognition of Israel’s...permanent legitimacy, then I think we can envision an arrangement where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in dignity, in security, and in peace.”

Here is Netanyahu’s view of the two-state solution. If the Palestinians meet Israeli conditions—including the reasonable demand that Palestinian refugees be resettled in Palestine, not Israel--there can be a two-state outcome. Here, Netanyahu deliberately used Obama’s phrase in the end to make clear how he is defining his goal.

This is critical: a two-state solution is not a gift given at the start of negotiations but a reward for the proper compromises ensuring peace succeeds.

Netanyahu points out another deep-seated Israeli concern: A bad “solution” can make things far worse. Israel doesn’t want to end up with a Palestine that functions merely as “another Gaza.”

Why should anyone be confident this won’t happen? Wishful thinking or faith that being in power makes people moderate—an argument proven incorrect about Yasir Arafat and his colleagues almost twenty years ago?

“If, however,” says Netanyahu, “the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, if they…fight terror, if they educate their children for peace and to a better future, then I think we can come at a substantive solution that allows the two people to live side by side in security and peace and I add prosperity, because I’m a great believer in this.”

He’s right. What’s the point of a two-state solution which could easily:

--Make Palestine a radical state tied to Iran and Syria.

--Leave the Gaza Strip in Hamas’s hands which means, in effect, a three-state solution. Short of a U.S.-led multinational invasion force—rather unlikely—there’s no way Gaza can be included in a peace agreement with Israel. Talking about a two-state solution while the Palestinian Authority doesn’t even control Gaza is unconnected to reality.

--Creates a Palestine in which all schools, mosques, and media teach Palestinians that all Israel is theirs and they must conquer it, a Palestine full of incitement to violence inspiring hundreds to become terrorists, thousands to help them, and hundreds of thousands to support them. In some respects, this describes the Palestinian Authority today, despite its real efforts to limit cross-border attacks.

--Sets off a new cross-border war, with Palestine’s government and security forces either looking the other way or actively assisting terrorists.

--Creates a Palestine that invites in Iranian, Syrian, or other armies, or obtains missiles from them targeted at Israeli cities.

--Extends the conflict another generation by using the state as base for a “second stage” to finish off Israel.

Israel has good reason, based on the 1990s’ peace process experience, to believe its own risks and concessions won’t be reciprocated and that U.S. and European promises of support in that event won’t be kept.

And so Netanyahu and his country says: Peace? Certainly! But only if it’s real, lasting, and stable, making things better rather than worse: a real two-state, not big-mistake, solution

What Are You Going To Do About It?

First of all, - I don’t like politics.

However, I observe what is happening in America.

It used to a country ruled by two main parties: Democrats and Republicans. For a few years the USA would have a Democratic president, then a Republican one. Somehow they always managed to compromise peacefully on their most important issues.

This all changed with the last election. All of a sudden the whole country is ruled unilaterally by Democrats. Republicans who object to his government are now branded as enemies. As a matter of fact, anyone who objects to this president is being now an enemy to the Obama government.

What is the big dividing issue? Most of it has to do with moral values.

1. Republicans don’t believe in murdering unborn babies and support heterosexual marriages. (Adam and Eve! Not Adam and Steve!) Republicans are anti-ABORTION while Democrats favor abortion and homosexuality. Republicans oppose same-sex MARRIAGE while democrats support it. Republicans feel that a good FAMILY background is important. Democrats seek to destroy the foundation of the family.

2. Republicans support the freedom to BEAR ARMS. This gives law abiding citizens the opportunity to protect themselves. Republicans favor a strong MILITARY to protect its citizens. Democrats want strict gun laws so that their citizens are "Powerless". This works toward their ultimate goal of socialism/ communism. Democrats want to downsize our military leaving us at the mercy of countries like China and Russia.

3. Republicans want a smaller federal GOVERNMENT with the power in the hands of its citizens. Democrats want a large and controlling government who seek to exploit us for their benefit

4. Republicans see FLAG burning as unacceptable. Democrats along see this as freedom of expression.

5. Democrats are running up crushing federal debt at a level unprecedented in American history. We are talking trillions upon trillions of dollars in debt. This ensures the future will bring ruinous taxes, runaway inflation, or eventual financial collapse. Obama is lending aid, money, and support to tyrannies and terrorists. From getting chummy with Hugo Chavez to releasing dangerous GITMO terrorists to handing almost a billion dollars to Palestinian terrorists, Obama has yet to meet a terrorist or tyrant he doesn’t seem to like.

Watch out, your freedom in America is on decline. Object as long as you still can. Free speech is about to be snuffed.

Shouldn’t G-D’s will be the only important issue? Isn’t He the one who created the universe and gave the Jews the 10 commandments ? Wouldn’t we be better off heading His advice?

If you want to endure the consequences of your rejection of His rules, - go for it. But as for me and my house, we shall serve the L-rd. (Josh: 24.15)

What are you going to do about it, before it is too late?

- Lilo

Who is a Settler?

There many words to describe the spectacular northeastern corner of Oregon. (Paradise, beautiful, breathtaking, incredible.) The snow-capped mountains around Wallowa Lake are Oregon’s “Little Switzerland”. The rich history of the region is forever connected to the story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé (Pierced Nose) Indians.

"Chief Joseph" was born in the Wallowa Valley in 1840. He was given the name “Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kek”t, or “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain”, but he was widely known as Joseph, or Joseph the Younger, because his father had taken the Christian name Joseph when he became a Christian. - If you ever lived in the mountains, you know that the sound of thunder grows as it echoes from the mountains.

While initially hospitable to the region's newcomers, Joseph the Elder grew weary when settlers wanted more Indian lands. Tensions grew as the settlers appropriated traditional Indian lands for farming and grazing livestock. The “settlers” were mostly Europeans, who forcibly took the land from the native Indians.

With 2,000 U.S. soldiers in pursuit, Joseph and other Nez Percé chiefs led 800 Nez Percé toward freedom at the Canadian border. For over three months, the Nez Percé outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers traveling 1,700 miles (2,740 km) across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. General Howard, leading the opposing cavalry, was impressed with the skill with which the Nez Percé fought, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines, and field fortifications. Finally, after a devastating five-day battle during freezing weather conditions with no food or blankets, Chief Joseph formally surrendered to General Nelson Appleton Miles on October 5, 1877 in the Bear Paw Mountains of the Montana Territory, less than 40 miles (60 km) south of Canada in a place close to the present-day Chinook in Blaine County. The battle is remembered in popular history by the words attributed to Chief Joseph at the formal surrender:

"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before; I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

In his last years, Joseph spoke eloquently against the injustice of United States policy toward his people and held out the hope that America's promise of freedom and equality might one day be fulfilled for Native Americans as well. An indomitable voice of conscience for the West, he died in 1904, still in exile from his homeland, according to his doctor "of a broken heart."

According to the dictionary a settler is someone who settles in new land, like the Europeans in America.

The story made me think of Israel today. - Why are Jews called “settlers” in Israel? Didn’t they simply return to their own country? They didn’t conquer new land that never belonged to them before. They simply returned to their ancient homeland.

Wouldn’t that make anyone else who lived there and conquered their land a settler?

Who is a "settler" in the Mideast? According to the Arabs, only Jews are "settlers." But that simply is not true. Think about it! Arafat himself was born in Egypt. He later moved to Jerusalem. While he was living in the West Bank, he was a "settler" there, not a native.

Indeed, most of the Arabs living within the borders of Israel today have come from some other Arab country at some time in their life. Aren’t they the "settlers"?

Eat fresh, eat kosher: Subway the largest U.S. kosher restaurant chain

By Sue Fishkoff · August 5, 2009

Customers lined up at the Subway inside the Jewish Community Center in Cleveland, Ohio, the only Kosher one in the world when it opened in 2006. (Courtesy Doctor\'s Associates) SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- What’s the largest kosher restaurant chain?

Mendy’s? Six branches, seven if you count the meat and dairy counters at New York City's Grand Central Station.

Dougie’s? Five branches in New York and New Jersey.

Don’t even bring up Nathan’s Famous -- it stopped making kosher hot dogs altogether.

The dark-horse winner is Subway, the made-to-order sandwich giant poised to open its ninth kosher franchise Aug. 18 inside the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach, Fla. New Subways opening in Indianapolis and Skokie, Ill., will make it 11 by the end of the year. Five more are planned for next year.

Subway is not the only fast-food chain with kosher branches. Dunkin’ Donuts, the world's largest coffee and baked goods chain, has 33 kosher franchises, mostly in New York, according to company spokesman Andrew Mastrangelo. They serve dairy breakfast sandwiches, but not full meals.

Subway, the second largest fast-food franchise in the world, didn’t set out to be No. 1 in the kosher market. Staffers at company headquarters in Milford, Conn., seemed bemused by the news.

“Really?” laughed Kevin Kane in the marketing department.

Sure, 11 kosher stores pales in comparison to the 22,000 non-kosher Subways in the United States, or to the hundreds of halal Subways in England and the Arab world. But it’s more than anyone else is offering.

And it’s a creative solution for Jewish community centers that want to offer kosher food but don’t want to take the financial risk themselves. Some would rather offer no food than violate kosher law.

“There are very few JCCs that run successful food establishments,” says Eric Koehler, director of the JCC of Northern Virginia, which has never provided food services in its building. “In this economy, it doesn’t make sense to have something that loses $20,000 to $30,000 a year.”

That’s why the Mandel JCC in Cleveland rented space to the country’s first kosher Subway in May 2006. The center had offered only kosher dining options since it opened in 1986, but none lasted very long. When Michael Hyman arrived in 2004 as the center’s new director, he closed the building’s last struggling cafe without knowing whether he could replace it.

In stepped Ghazi Faddoul, a Lebanese Christian who had opened 100 Subways in Cleveland and was willing to give kosher a try with the clout of a global chain behind him.

Ham and bacon were removed from the menu, the “cheese” is made of soy, and the Seafood Sensation sandwich is filled with imitation crab. Two microwaves and toaster ovens ensure that fish and meat are kept separate, a consideration for more observant Jews. There is a full-time mashgiach, or kosher supervisor, and the restaurant is closed on Shabbat.

“It’s been wildly successful,” Hyman says.In June, the JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md., picked up on Cleveland’s experience, opening a kosher Subway in a space formerly filled by a kosher Dunkin’ Donuts. Executive director Michael Feinstein says the center has been getting much more foot traffic since it opened, particularly from Orthodox Jews.

“There aren’t that many kosher restaurants in the D.C. area, so it’s nice for the community to have this option,” Feinstein says. “And it’s great for us because it gets people into our building who might not otherwise be there.”

The Miami Beach JCC also looked to Cleveland’s example. The center’s director, Gary Bomzer, notes that the building already has an in-house kosher caterer, but no sit-down restaurant.

“Bringing in a national chain gives us real credibility,” he explains. “A brand name like Subway provides more than a cup of coffee.”

The remaining kosher Subways are freestanding stores: two in New York City, in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as one in Cedarhurst in the city's Long Island suburbs; and one each in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Kansas City.

The U.S. stores are the only kosher Subways. Israel opened the world’s first kosher Subway in 1992 but the operation, which reached 23 stores at its peak, shut down in 2004 after the original manager died.

Subway spokesman Les Winograd says the company used its experience with halal, the Muslim standard, to learn how to deal with kashrut challenges such as sourcing specific meat and following strict dietary laws. The first halal Subway opened in Bahrain in 1984, followed by branches in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Zambia and other countries with large Muslim communities. England alone has nearly 60 halal branches.

Kosher Subways are more difficult to keep open, Winograd says. Some open and shut, like one that lasted for about a year in Livingston, N.J., and a Wall Street branch that closed last winter when the economy collapsed.

While Winograd receives lots of inquiries from potential franchise owners in other countries who are interested in the kosher option, none have panned out.

“The population has not always been there to support the business,” he says.

Subway serves meat, so a kosher store requires full-time kosher supervision -- an extra expense added to ingredients that already cost more than their non-kosher equivalents.

Maurice Lichy, owner of the new Miami JCC Subway, says he’s trying to keep his prices “competitive” and hopes to charge no more than $1.50 extra per sandwich.

Will he offer a kosher $5 Footlong?

Lichy hesitates.

“No," he says, "but I’ll try to manage a $6 Footlong. Probably tuna or turkey; not the corned beef.”


Sue Fishkoff writes about Jewish identity for JTA and is the author of the 2003 book "The Rebbe's Army."

What Obama and my wife have in common

Exclusive: Chuck Norris challenges president to live up to promise of transparency

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Posted: August 03, 2009
1:00 am Eastern



By Chuck Norris



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Dear Mr. President:

First, happy birthday. I do hope Aug. 4 is an enjoyable day for you and your family. Coincidentally, I also will be celebrating this week the birth of someone dear to me, my beloved wife, Gena, whose birthday is on Aug. 9.

Speaking of birthdays, I couldn't help but hear and read all over the news last week about the fresh attention to your constitutional eligibility and natural born citizen status. I can hardly believe that individuals are now offering bounty – one for $100,000 – for any personal witness or sufficient evidence to your American birth.

For nearly two years, this debate continues to grow despite all your administration's attempts to diffuse it. And those who are raising concerns aren't just those on the right, but moderate law-abiding citizens like a retired CIA officer who commissioned an investigator to look into the issue.

Still, your press secretary, Robert Gibbs, continues to glibly brush aside the issue by calling it "fictional nonsense." But, in so doing, he devalues the grievance passage of the First Amendment and insults those who are genuinely concerned and inquisitive by categorizing them all as political quacks. He needs to learn that you can't model tolerance for certain minorities while belittling and quarantining those who don't blindly follow your lead.

Believe it or not, I'm not writing you to challenge whether you were born in America, though I see nothing wrong with the American public voicing that constitutionally based grievance with someone in your esteemed position. As one blogger wrote, after all, "We aren't talking about a 12-year-old qualifying to play Little League here." Or as Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust but verify."

Personally, I must admit that I find it a bit of a groundless stretch not to believe in the birth announcements in two major Hawaiian newspapers in August of 1961, in which the Hawaiian Health Department would have been required to post information they received directly from hospitals: "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6085 Kalanianaole Hwy., son, Aug. 4." Nevertheless, that proof still doesn't answer why you refuse to reveal your original birth certificate and end the growing tides of controversy.

I'm writing you because this is no longer a matter merely about proving a presidential prerequisite in the Constitution. Refusing to post a copy of your original birth certificate is an unwise political and leadership decision that is enabling the birther controversy. The nation you are called to lead is experiencing a growing swell of conspirators who are convinced that you are covering up something. So why not just prove them wrong and shut them up?

If the birther movement is truly full of a bunch of conspiracy-fringed kooks or "zombies," as the Los Angeles Times proclaims, then prove once and for all that you are a naturally born citizen by posting your original birth certificate. And all the controversy will fade away like the pains of childbirth.

I agree with CNN's Lou Dobbs, who was chastised by his own media outlet for demanding the release of your original birth certificate. So why is that such a bad request? We certainly know why CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein thought it was a bad idea: because he previously declared that CNN researchers determined that Obama's 1961 birth certificate no longer existed.

But Hawaii's officials confirmed again last week that they indeed have your original birth certificate on file. Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaiian State Department of Health, repeated her October 2008 statement that she had personally seen with her own eyes the "original vital records."

Some claim that even you cannot see or request your own personal birth certificate, because Hawai'i's disclosure law (Hawai'i Revised Statutes 338-18) states that "it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part on any such record ... "

But the law further states that the Health Department "shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any such record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record." (Italics mine)

Isn't categorically satisfying constitutional requirements for a president, or answering the First Amendment grievances of hundreds of thousands of Americans, or ending a national debate or healing a country's divisions enough "direct and tangible interest"?

Mr. President, as more and more people realize that you are refusing to release your original birth certificate, further questions will fuel the fires of debate or at least hinder the embers from ever being snuffed out. Questions like, "Does it really contain the Hawaiian physician's name?" Or "Does it disclose something other than his birth place that he wishes others not to see?"

In fact, last week copies of the 1961 birth certificates from twin girls, who were born a day after you in the same Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, give examples of those typical of the time. They include much more information than certificates today, like the baby's parents' ages, occupations, birthplaces, race, etc., as well as specifics of the medical personnel presiding over the baby's birth and the hospital in which he or she was born.

Of course not every U.S. citizen has access to their original birth certificate, but you do, and that's the only one under debate. As valuable as copies can be, textual critics know that nothing outweighs an original, especially when only it contains the information under question.

So again I ask, why don't you simply request, release and give permission to make public your original birth certificate?

Mr. President, you promised the American people that you are "committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government." In fact, on July 23 in your prime time press conference, you said that your administration was more transparent than those of previous presidencies: "I think that we have provided much greater transparency than existed prior to our administration coming in."

So again I ask, why not live out that transparency promise by posting your original birth certificate and end the division and debate?

Well, I have a birthday to plan, so I better get going.

Again, happy birthday Mr. President.

Yours truly,

Chuck Norris

Is This The Last Generation?

On August 1, 2009, Elliot Avrams wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal: “Why Israel is nervous”.He wrote: “The tension in U.S.-Israel relations was manifest this past week as an extraordinary troupe of Obama administration officials visited Jerusalem. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, National Security Advisor James Jones, special Middle East envoy George Mitchell and new White House adviser Dennis Ross all showed up in Israel’s capital in an effort to…well, to do something.” He went on to explain that the Obama administration has managed to win the mistrust of most Israelis, not just conservative politicians: “Despite his great popularity in many parts of the world, in Israel Obama is now seen as no ally. A June poll found that just 6% of Israelis called him “pro-Israel,” when 88% had seen President George W. Bush that way.”

Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah; there are growing fears that hostilities could erupt again this time with the militant group better armed than ever. According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia Muslim militia is today stronger than it was in 2006 when it took on the might of the Israeli army in a war that cost the lives of 1,191 Lebanese and 43 Israeli civilians. Hezbollah has stockpiled up to 40,000 rockets and is training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv and anti-aircraft missiles that could challenge Israel’s dominance of the skies over Lebanon.

There is also a new reality on the ground in Gaza; al-Qaeda has become so strong that they are now threatening Hamas over leadership of the Gaza Strip. In the past few days al-Qaeda assailants calling themselves “Jaljalat” attacked a wedding celebration in Gaza in the area of Khan Younes- one of the last strongholds of Fatah. In fact the wedding was within the family of Fatah strong man Mohammad Dahlan. There was shooting and throwing of grenades - wounding or killing over 70 of this family. What makes it so notable is that this is the largest operation al-Qaeda has perpetrated against the “Palestinian” people in Gaza. Keep in mind that in this Islamic environment the people are ruled by fear and the terrorist group that can instill the most of that is the one which will take control.
Again, don’t be confused. Although different Islamic groups may have strange names, but they all have the same goal: “To eliminate Israel and to kill you!”

In order to tighten their grip, the Hamas leaders in Gaza have now started what is known as “Modesty Patrols” and have passed a new law requiring that all women in Gaza keep their head covered with the “hijab”. No women can be seen in public with a man who is not a member of her family. These Islamic 'Modesty Patrols' are even stopping cars to check if a woman is with an unrelated man. - We are witnessing the takeover by Hamas and al-Qaeda of the minds and souls of the Arabs in Gaza - forcing them to accept Sharia law whilst establishing another Taliban society. And in all areas of public education the indoctrination of the young, inspiring them to become suicide bombers, continues apace - teaching that to kill a Jew reveals the highest form of love toward Allah.

Yet one US President after the other continues to insist that Israel must surrender its land to these evil people who hate them, and want to control the world.

The Islamic US President Hussein Obama even bowed before the Saudi prince and finds it convenient to accept the Saudi Peace Plan. These are the same Saudis who are promoting and financing the teaching of their brand of Wahhabi Islam in new mosques across the US. In doing so they are putting in place a “plan” that they believe is essential to the next stage in their terrorist scheme.

What Obama really wants is to finish what Bush started, which is to hand Israel over to the Islamic World.

As the world spins into total insanity, the only sane place to be is in God’s Kingdom.

"Hear O peoples and listen O earth!" (Micah 1:2)

Micah begins his message scroll with a divine warning to the whole earth. He ends it with a prediction of God's judgment on the nations (7:10, 13, 16-17). In both cases HaShem is calling the nations to focus in on what He is doing with the Jewish people – to bow the knee in humble recognition of their amazing and irrevocable calling, their tragic failures, and their earth-shaking last days restoration.

Today the world's largest Jewish community outside of Israel supports the official peace process and Middle Eastern policies of a serving American President, while less than 6% of Israeli Jews feel that this President's policies are good for the Jewish state (see Micah 3:5). Unless Israel's leaders back down from God's covenant promises regarding the Land of Israel in Genesis 12 and 15, they will face political pressure, shakings and times of trouble from Western governments.

It is biblically true that God has used worldwide anti-Semitism and the hatred of the nations to purify and restore Israel (as He did with Assyria in Isaiah 10:5-19; see also Micah 2:3). Yet the same Bible warns us that God judges those nations severely and by no means leave them unpunished in the process (see Amos 9:8).

One of God's last-days strategies is the regathering of the Jewish people to their own Promised Land. Though this restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel will incur the hatred of the nations in general and the military onslaught on the part of the Arab nations in particular (see Ezekiel 36:2-7; Psalm 83:2-12; Psalm 2),

Micah saw in a vision that at the end of days Israel will become the center of the world – spiritually and governmentally. Zion will become the world's capital city. The Moshiach will reign from a united Jerusalem as the ultimate Davidic King, and all nations will recognize these facts, coming in worship and blessing to the Mountain of Adonai. Divine patience counsels us that true peace will not be a Middle Eastern reality until that day.

In the meantime, we should remember that all Gentile peace plans, treaties and strategies (be they ever so well intentioned) will fall by the political roadside on the way up to Jerusalem.

"The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations … like a young lion among flocks of sheep” (Micah 5:8-9)

The prophet says that, at the end of days, military victory will be granted to Israel. She will be the unchallenged international superpower in the Middle East. At what exact point-in-time this will happen may not be crystal clear in Scripture (see Zech. 13:8-14:2 etc), but it this future reality is the prophetic word of the Lord. Israel as God's victorious army is a mighty theme in the Bible, and it is the pinnacle of Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones (Ezek. 37:9-11; Psalm 110:3; Micah 4:11-13). "Do not gloat over me, my enemy!" (Micah 7:8)

Micah warns those who believe that God has abandoned His Jewish people – or even those who do not believe that the God of Israel exists – that Israel's present problems will not last forever. God will soon rescue His people from the anger and hatred of the nations. At that point there will be a major reversal of historical roles – Israel's enemies will experience the fate they had tried to inflict on the people of Jacob, while the Jewish people will finally see their enemies defeated forever.

In this Video Rabbi Lazer Brody brings down that we are right here @ the end of the exile! All the great Rabbi's from Every Sect of Judaism are in agreement about one thing; the Moshiach is here & just waiting to reveal himself - get your affairs in order while you still have a chance!

http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/video/video.php?v=111702003417&ref=mf