The most important event in Israel and world history since 1948 happened this week. This event has implications far beyond what most people can see and it’s all connected to the current Rabbinic Jubilee.
It is no coincidence that this week Presidents Trump and Putin, along with Prime Minister Netanyahu, handed over the border area – the de-escalation zones of southern Syria – to Russia, and the Knesset passed the Jewish Nation State bill. Yep… That big army YHVH will use to spark the Great Tribulation, starting with Israel, just got bigger in its spot at Israel’s border.
Read while you listen!
Thank you for listening!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown
BeastWatchNews.com
Theme music by Mishkanim.
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The Jews are divided over the Jubilee year as they are about the newly passed Jewish Nation State bill. Let’s take a look.
Chabad.org says this about the Jubilee: According to biblical law, the Jubilee is only observed when all 12 tribes of the Jewish nation are living in Israel, as is derived from the verse, “And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live on it,” which implies that the Jubilee is only sanctified when “all who live on it”—meaning, all who are meant to be living there—are in the Land of Israel. Furthermore, the Jubilee is only observed when every tribe is living in the specific part of the land which was it was allotted when the Land of Israel was divided. However, some are of the opinion that the Jubilee is observed as long as there is a partial representation of each tribe, even if most of the tribe is not in Israel.
…With the exile of the Northern Kingdom the required condition for the Jubilee to be sanctified was lost.
We eagerly await the day when G‑d will bring our entire nation back to our homeland—including the ten “lost” tribes—and we will again resume observing the Jubilee year, as well as so many other mitzvot which we are incapable of performing until that awaited day.
Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson wrote this Chabad article. He has it right. The Jubilee is about restoration and unity. This Nation State bill is about separation and disunity.
The issue behind the new Nation State law is citizenship – who gets, who doesn’t, and under what conditions.
Aliyah is governed by the Israeli “Law of Return”. That law states that the returnee must be a child and grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person who has been a Jew and has voluntarily changed his religion.
There are all kinds of Jews living in Israel. Not all of them practice the Jewish religion, but all of them are within a couple of generations of Jews who could prove their ‘Jewishness’ with documents showing Jewish connection (These may include: a letter from a rabbi or Beth Din, conversion documents, and marital and/or burial records.)
While this strict right of return law was necessary for the time when the Jews first gained access to the Land under the United Nations, and they needed to expand and settle the Land, they must recognize that what Chabad and other Jews say is true, as well as to listen to the Tribes who not Jews, but who also belong to the Land and are crying for Aliyah!
The last Jubilee in Israel would have been 1967, but no one was anticipating the Jubilee. They were anticipating war and they got it. The nation had not been settled enough to have YHVH put interest in the Jubilee in their hearts. They were too busy performing their military duties. I believe that YHVH gave them reprieve on that last Jubilee because it had been almost 2,000 years since His people had been recognized as a people in Israel.
The return at the end of days is not like the time of Joshua when all 12 Tribes entered at once. This end time ingathering is different in that most of YHVH’s people don’t know they belong to Him yet. Some are stuck in Christianity. Some in Islam and some in other religions or no religion at all.
The Jewish people are blinded by their self-importance and Jewish exceptionalism the same way they were 2,000 years ago when Yeshua allowed them to decide whether they would accept His message that the lost Tribes could return. Yeshua’s message to the Jews was that He had come to bring back the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 10:6, Matthew 15:24, Matthew 18:11, all of Luke 15, John 6:12, John 18:9) – those that had been scattered and had no other way to return to YHVH or to the Land. But the correct Priesthood and King were not in power and they rejected His message because they rejected submitting to Him as King.
This is why the Temple was destroyed, Jerusalem ransacked by the Romans and Jews were scattered. The Talmud says their 9th of Av Temple destruction was because of baseless hatred of their brethren. They are right in that. But it wasn’t just because there was Jewish infighting between the various sects. It was because they rejected the returning House of Israel who was being brought back by the Apostles. Paul was reviled by the Temple authorities for bringing 4 men to finish their Nazarite vows (Acts 21). These were non-Jewish men from the scattered Tribes in Asia Minor.
Paul did not bring uncircumcised men into the Temple to make sacrifice. However, these men were not part of “the circumcision”, a colloquialism for having converted to Judaism. The Jews were determined that the Temple of YHVH would not be what YHVH said it was to be: a house of prayer for all people (Isaiah 56:7, 1 Kings 8:59-61).
Why did the Temple veil rend as Yeshua was dying? The two pieces of the veil was a symbol that the two Houses would still be separated, but through their separation all people of the earth would one day have the right to come to YHVH’s House of Prayer. There were two veils in the Temple. One to separate the entrance to the Holy Place from the people. Only the Priests could enter the Holy Place and the people were not permitted to view inside it. The second veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies because the Priests were not permitted to enter the Holy of Holies. This was the domain of the High Priest only and the Priests were not permitted to look inside that area.
This veil that tore was one entering into the Holy Place where the Table of Shewbread sat with the 12 loaves of bread so that everybody could see the 12 Tribes on that Table of Shewbread. Yeshua’s miracle of gathering 12 baskets of bread after having served only five loaves to the people signifies His purpose to restore the 12 Tribes back to the five books of Moses! So the torn veil exposed the Table of Shewbread with the 12 loaves of bread because His work of dying in the place of all 12 sinning Tribes was finished.
It would take another 2,000 years before YHVH would allow a part of His family to re-enter His Land. He brought them back so they could restore all 12 Tribes, but now they have declared, once again, that they are not willing to comply with the Kingdom’s mandate to contain 12, not 4 Tribes.
The controversial nation-state law now officially defines Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and asserts that “the realization of the right to national self-determination in Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” with 62 MKs voting in favor of the legislation and 55 opposing it.
The law also includes clauses stating that a united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that Hebrew is the country’s official language. Another says that “the state sees the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation” and “the state sees developing Jewish settlement as a national interest and will take steps to encourage, advance, and implement this interest.”
This exclusionary bill was not necessary. Annexation would have begun solving YHVH’s Jubilee commandment if the Jews were of the mind to obey.
Immediately after the law passed, Arab lawmakers tore it in protest, and were subsequently thrown out of the Knesset plenum.
Ahead of the vote, opposition MKs said the law meant to harm the status of Israel’s Arabs. They also charged that the law would encourage the building of communities exclusively for Jews.
It is not only Arab MKs who see how destructive this bill is. Jewish voices inside Israel and in the Diaspora voiced concern about the bill as being a political ploy by Netanyahu and Likud for the upcoming election. One Jewish voice from the Diaspora, Rabbi Dr. Ariel Picard, who is director of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Kogod Research Center, writes, ” With a whiff of early elections in the air, this bill likely will be the Knesset’s ultimate action before the curtain falls. Netanyahu would have it as a last-minute buttress to his right-wing credentials.”
Picard also said the bill will harm Israel’s Arab population and relations between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews which are already shaky.
He further writes, “The effect of this measure is to humiliate non-Jewish citizens of Israel, especially its Arab citizens. If it passes and remains on the books, Israeli Arabs will be told that they may be citizens but will be reminded every day that they are not part of the nation. The new Basic Law would enshrine that [attitude] in a way that comes close to making non-Jewish Israelis second-class citizens, a slap in the face to Israeli Arabs.”
And about relations between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews, “What should especially concern Diaspora Jews about the bill is Article 6B, which says “The State of Israel will make an effort in the Diaspora to reinforce the link between the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
On its face it may look OK, but it reinforces the misguided Israeli perception that only in the Diaspora is the link between Israel and world Jewry weakening. In fact, Israel and world Jewry are supposed to be a partnership, reinforcing one another. Just as we know many in the Diaspora are drifting away from Israel, we know many Israelis do not recognize their connection to the Diaspora.”
The words “in the Diaspora” were added because of pressure from haredi Orthodox parties afraid the law would push the State of Israel to accommodate the religious concerns of non-Orthodox Jews as a show of their connection to Israel. The haredim feared that the previous wording could have been used to establish in law such things as the enlargement of the egalitarian Western Wall prayer area that has been scuttled by the government. It would have been a sign of the state’s recognition of Diaspora Jews with different Jewish practices.
But now the bill’s wording makes clear that the government’s efforts should be done only in the Diaspora. Israeli law would not require Jews in Israel to make any effort to accommodate Jews coming from the Diaspora. In other words, Israelis have nothing to learn from you and owe you no favors. We are the big brother; we know it all.”
If I had made these remarks, I would be called an anti-Semite. It is a relief to know that there are Jews with the same opinion as me although we arrive at the same place from different directions.
Former Likud Defense Minister Moshe Arens — no left-wing liberal — called the legislation “a needless law and damaging to Israel. That Israel is a Jewish state is too obvious to need repeating in the form of a law.”
The point of the bill, according to its backers, is to give constitutional status to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. The bill was proposed as a basic law — roughly the equivalent of a constitutional provision in a country without a written constitution — and as such would be difficult to overturn once enacted.
Speaking moments after the bill passed into law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This is a defining moment- long live the State of Israel.“
He was right. This was a defining moment that sealed Israel’s fate in this Jubilee year. YHVH must now punish His people once again if He is a just and righteous God.
The prime minister also said that “in the Middle East, only Israel respects [rights]. This is our country, the Jewish state. In recent years there have been those who have tried to undermine that and question the principles of our existence. Today we made it into law: This is the country, the language, the anthem and flag.
Netanyahu’s sentiment is correct. It is the approach that is wrong. This Nation State bill is the Jews fighting for themselves rather than allowing YHVH to fight for them. God said He will go ahead of us to fight for us when we go to take the Land. So not trusting God to fight for them is their second sin.
Opposition head Isaac Herzog also spoke up at the plenum, saying that “it’s a little sad to me that the last speech I make will be against this kind of backdrop. The question is whether the law will harm or benefit Israel. History will determine. I really hope that we won’t find the fine balance between a Jewish and democratic state to be hurt.“
In the end, there will be no “Jewish and/or democratic State”. There will only be the Kingdom of Israel with all 12 Tribes.
The nation-state law establishes as a basic law, or quasi-constitutional law, a set of values, some of which already appear in existing laws [such as] that Israel is the Jewish nation’s historic homeland. The new laws anchors the flag, menorah, Hatikva anthem, Hebrew calendar, Independence Day and Jewish holidays as national symbols.
The law states that the “whole and united” Jerusalem is the state’s capital, which appears today in Basic Law: Jerusalem. The nation-state law further grants the status of an official language only to Hebrew.
Another controversial clause stipulates that the state will invest resources in preserving Israel’s affiliation to world Jewry, but not in Israel. This wording was demanded by the ultra-Orthodox parties to prevent the state from linking up with the Reform and Conservative communities in Israel.
This Nation State bill now furthers the split already apparent among the Jews. They will have some Jews, but not others. All Jews must be Orthodox Jews – the Jews with the Jewish conversion agenda. This effectively seals off any possibility of being a first-class citizen in Israel unless conversion to Judaism happens.
Any people – Muslim Palestinians, Christian Palestinians – who do not convert to Judaism will be made citizens, but their nationality will prevent them from being equal to a Jew who practices Judaism or a Jew who practices homosexuality or atheism because that person has parents or grandparents who practiced Judaism. You see the problem?
However, another view is that even the Homosexuals will not be equal citizens even though they will be allowed to continue practicing their abomination on YHVH’s sacred soil.
J Street’s president and founder, Jeremy Ben-Ami, harshly criticized the nation-state bill and Netanyahu’s government: “It was born in sin, its only purpose is to send a message to the Arab community, the LGBT community and other minorities in Israel, that they are not and never will be equal citizens. Two months ago we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, where it was written that the State of Israel ‘will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or gender.’ Today Netanyahu’s government is trying to ignore those words and the values that they represent.“
The Jewish nation-state bill alienates Israel’s Arab citizens for nothing, states Haaretz.
Another Jew’s view of this bill comes from Ynet News in an article titled, Is the nationality law a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Yedidia Stern’s Op-ed says: A unilateral nationality law contradicts the vow we made to ourselves and to the world in the Declaration of Independence, which says the state is the national home of the Jewish people, but at the same time will ‘maintain full equality for all its citizens, regardless of religion, race or gender.’
The Knesset [voted] Wednesday night on the nationality bill, which will determine—hold onto your seats—that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. It turns out that the Declaration of Independence, the existing Basic Laws, the elaborate ruling of the courts and the fact the overwhelming majority of Israeli and world citizens see Israel as the state of the Jewish people are not enough.
But if the bill states the obvious, why would people for whom Israel’s Jewish identity plays a vital part in the shaping of their being, such as myself, oppose it? If the bill is so innocuous, why would the coalition need to flex its muscles—forbid any type of absence—to pass a bill that says nothing new? A closer examination shows that it is a case of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The bill seeks to change the existing law, suggesting, inter alia, to downgrade the status of Arabic from an official language to one with a “special status”—a move which is meant as an act of defiance against the Arab minority. The bill also initially sought to allow the establishment of separate communities based on nationality despite the opposition of the attorney general.
However, and without diminishing the importance of the aforementioned issues, the bill’s most dramatic damage is the violation of the balance between the Zionist enterprise’s particular aspect and its universal one.
Let me interject. Even here we see there are different definitions of ‘zionism’. Yedidia Stern’s is a secular Zionism. Mine, and probably yours, is Biblical Zionism.
In 1948, when we were few, weak, and under attack from every direction, we managed to present a moral and decent stance without lowering our national stature. Are we now to withdraw from it?
The nationality bill contradicts constitutional norms across the world. Countries that enshrine into their constitutions their status as a nation state always balance it with a constitutional provision addressing the “other.” Most of these countries ensure in their constitution equal treatment and bar ethnic discrimination, or otherwise determine the country is also the nation state of the minorities residing in it. Is the State of Israel—which claims to be a light unto the nations—willing to be the only democratic nation state that does not guarantee equality to all its citizens?
The unilateral nationality bill not only contradicts the Israeli ethos and international norms, but also the basic Jewish message on how to treat a foreigner living among us. The Torah speaks directly to our generation in saying: “When ye are come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you … One law and one ordinance shall be both for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”
The decent way to treat the foreigner derives directly from our fundamental historical memory—”Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
After 70 years of resounding success in the physical aspects of the Israeli existence—security, economy, science, and more—it is time to deal with our identity aspects with a careful, balanced, generous and trusting hand. It cannot be done while denying all that is dear to us—our humanity, our Judaism, our Israeliness and our membership in the international community. Let us not shame ourselves.
Yedidia Stern is the deputy president of the Israeli Democracy Institute and a law professor at Bar-Ilan University.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this is the timing. This Sunday, July 22, 2018, is the 9th of Av anniversary – the day of destruction. And this week is the time just after the Matot/Massei Torah Portion containing the commandments about oaths.
Secular sources don’t understand the connection between the peace process and the the Iranian threat and the Jubilee. But you need to understand it because the Jews in Israel made an oath to YHVH. I only understood with full impact what this Jubilee declaration means during this past week’s Torah Portion. The Bible is a living entity and every year the Torah Portions are fulfilled in our daily lives. This year, however, Matot/Massei is being fulfilled on a national level in Israel.
The oath commandments are about personal oaths, but the Book of Joshua in chapter 9 is where we begin to understand the national implications of making an oath before the LORD. Joshua made a covenant with 5 enemy kings in the Land. Even after they discovered they had been duped, they still upheld the covenant because they said it was an oath (verses 15 and 20) ‘before the LORD’. The reason they got themselves into this trouble was because they didn’t seek the LORD (verse 14) in that matter.
Now, we must move along to the next upheaval inside Israel.
Israel’s LGBT community was up in arms Wednesday after their favorite bill was not passed. Netanyahu blocked a legal change that would have given gay men the right to become parents. This sparked protests by Israel’s LGBT community with calls for strike action next weekend.
Here is God’s Law regarding this crime on His sovereign soil:
Lev 20:13 “If a man has sexual relations with another male, as he would with a woman, both have committed a repulsive act. They are certainly to be put to death.
Homosexuality is not only rampant in Israel, but Israel leads the world in homosexuality per capita. Unfortunately, Gays are in the Knesset thanks to former MK, Moshe Feiglin, who started the Zehut political party and is now running a lesbian for its seat in the Knesset. Here’s the article from Jpost.
Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin has come a long way since writing a controversial article a decade ago in which he declared himself “a proud homophobe.” [But] Now that Feiglin has his own party, Zehut, he told The Jerusalem Post he “doesn’t check who people sleep with” and has welcomed Chicago immigrant Lisa Liel, an Orthodox Jewish lesbian who ran in Zehut’s primary.
This Orthodox Jew who once stood against homosexuality in God’s Land is now leading the way for homosexual leadership in the Knesset! Do you remember that a few weeks ago I ran a Haaretz article that stated, from a poll taken in Israel of Ultra-Orthodox Haredi men, over 50% of Haredi men have homosexual contact at least once a month?
Here’s another for ya! 76% OF JEWISH ISRAELIS SUPPORT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE OR CIVIL UNIONS!
Feiglin reiterated his stand on homosexual rights, saying that he has discussed his ideas at length with members of the homosexual community many times. “In short,” said Feiglin, “the human rights of homosexuals (and all other people) must be strictly safeguarded. I will always go to bat for their rights, regardless of my personal beliefs.”
This just brings out the righteous indignation in me. It infuriates me! It should enrage all of YHVH’s righteous people! Jews need to become more interested in righteousness than their exclusionary nationality!
Another problem comes to the forefront of Jewish culture this week – that of Israelis marrying outside of the Jewish religious confines. This is a problem that declaring Israel to be a Jewish Nation cannot fix because it has to do with rebellion against the Rabbinic authorities. Obedience cannot be legislated. It must come from the heart.
A growing number of Jewish couples are choosing to wed in Israel outside the Orthodox-run Chief Rabbinate, knowing full well that their marriages will not be recognized by the state. The study found that at least 2,434 Jewish marriage ceremonies were held in Israel outside the Rabbinate’s authority in 2017 – up 8 percent from the previous year. According to the study, most couples holding private wedding ceremonies in Israel – 55 percent – are secular Jews opposed to the institution of the Rabbinate and what it represents.
One-third of these couples are Russian speakers who cannot marry in the country because they are not considered halakhically Jewish. Some 8 percent are gay couples, who also cannot marry in Israel, while 4 percent are individuals who appear on a blacklist of “unmarriageables” kept by the Rabbinate. This list refers to individuals who are recognized as Jewish by the Population Registry but who are prohibited from marrying in Israel for various reasons. These include mamzerim (the offspring of relationships forbidden by Jewish law – ‘bastard’ in plain English), individuals suspected of still being married and divorced couples who have resumed living together [against the Torah]. Russian speakers who marry outside the Rabbinate, the study found, show a preference for Orthodox-style ceremonies – going so far as to request that the officiating rabbi have a beard.
The report notes that Israel is the only country in the Western world that does not permit civil marriage. However, these ceremonies are civil ceremonies with or without legal approval. A gay marriage took place under a chuppah in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park in July 2016. Among gay couples, the number choosing to hold private ceremonies in Israel has remained steady in recent years, the study notes. Most Israeli gay couples prefer to marry abroad or to hold small, intimate ceremonies in Israel that, in most cases, do not find their way into the data.
In other words, there’s more of this crap going on in Israel than anybody really knows about.
The ceremonies in question were conducted by Conservative, Reform and, in some cases, even Orthodox rabbis, as well as by nonaffiliated wedding officiants. The couples married in these ceremonies did not register with the Rabbinate or hold their ceremonies with one of its certified representatives, as is required.
The findings provide further evidence of the growing contempt in Israel toward the Rabbinate and the power it wields, even within Orthodox circles. Officiating at such ceremonies is against the law for Orthodox rabbis and they could face two years in jail if convicted. To date, though, no Orthodox rabbis have been charged or convicted for officiating at such weddings. The findings show that 150 such weddings were performed in Israel last year, by 14 Orthodox rabbis.
Many couples who wed unofficially in Israel later hold a civil ceremony abroad so that they can then register as married in the country.
The study found that most Israelis who opted for these private ceremonies were eligible to wed under the auspices of the Rabbinate – i.e., there was no question about their Jewishness – but chose not to, a sign of rebellion against the Rabbinate.
[One] advantage of holding a private ceremony in Israel is that if the couple does not follow up with a ceremony abroad in order to register as married in Israel, in the event of divorce they can avoid the Rabbinate. By contrast, Israeli couples who wed abroad in civil ceremonies and then register as married upon their return – as many do – are required to go through the Rabbinate if they get divorced.
The number of weddings performed outside of the Rabbinate in Israel is probably much higher than the estimate provided in the study, its authors believe, because it was impossible for them to include every single ceremony in their tally.
This is related to ‘assimilation marriages’ in Israel. Assimilation has caused Member of Parliament (MP) Sharren Haskel, to start encouraging young Jews to procreate with other Jews – local, foreign, whatever – just not with non-Jews.
[Haskel’s] predecessor, Danny Danon, who became Israel’s UN Ambassador, commandeered a Knesset committee to incite against mixed-race relationships – assimilation relationships and assimilation marriages. In Judaism a mixed race relationship is Jew with non-Jew. Danon made the claim that these marriages were not consensual, and that Palestinians were whisking away hundreds of Jewish-Israeli women against their will. Police officials in attendance corrected Danon, noting that they did not have evidence of even a single instance of this kind of inter-racial ‘kidnapping’.
But Danon was never alone in the crusade against mixed couples. The Israeli government has long attempted to prevent romantic relationships between Jews and non-Jews. Religious groups receive state funding to patrol the so-called “mixed cities” – the few remaining areas of the country where Jews and Palestinians still live next to one another – in an effort to discourage mixed-race relationships.
One such religious group is Lehava. The word means ‘flame’. When mixed Jewish-Palestinian couples decide to spend their lives together against all odds, anti-miscegenation street gang Lehava brings hundreds of protestors out in full force to chant “Death to the Arabs!” outside the wedding hall.
When a small number of Jewish and Palestinian families send their children to study together at one of the rare schools that instruct in both Hebrew and Arabic, Lehava goons torch it and leave graffiti at the scene reading “No miscegenation”.
The head of the Lehava gang used to receive financial support directly from the Netanyahu government. Since that funding channel was exposed, Lehava’s leader now turns for money to the Falic Family – the largest funders of Netanyahu’s own election campaigns.
Earlier this year, two young Israelis were convicted of lynching an African refugee in public, pulverizing his face to the point he was unrecognisable, even to his own brother. The killers allegedly attacked because the non-Jewish black man had dared to briefly stop to speak to a group of Jewish-Israeli female teenagers.
In the United States and elsewhere in the West, however, where opposition to so-called mixed marriage is rightly considered to be bigoted, proponents of racial purity must be more careful, and couch their anachronistic ideas in more neutral language.
Haaretz reports that the incoming chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Isaac Herzog, said remarks he made comparing Jew/non-Jew intermarriage to a “plague” were misunderstood. He had used the Hebrew word for “plague” to describe marriages in the Diaspora between Jews and those of other faiths and said there must be “a solution” to the issue.
PEACE NEWS
Israel plans to take another 200 dunams of land from Bethlehem’s residents. [Bethlehem is mostly Palestinian.] Palestinians make up about 88 percent of the West Bank’s population, but only 400 of those acres — 0.24 percent of the total allocated so far — have been earmarked for the use of Palestinians. The other 99.76 percent of the land went to help Israeli settlements.
Might I add that the West Bank and the northern territory belongs to the 10 lost Tribes. It appears to me as if the message to the House of Israel from the House of Judah, the Jews, is ‘we don’t want you – any of you’!
COALITION NEWS
President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin made a deal you need to know about. Debka.com reports that their deal provides for the handover to Russian responsibility of all parts of southern and southwestern Syria abutting on the Israeli and Jordanian borders, including, most importantly, surveillance and observation elevations that oversee all parts of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and the eastern Mediterranean. Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu thereby gave Putin a valuable asset for boosting Russia’s military presence in Syria and the region at large.
Many months ago, probably over a year ago, I reported that I believed it would be Russia who would provide the way for Iran to attack Israel without Israel being able to retaliate because it would have to go through Russia to do so. This new situation sets up the scenario I told you about. And it was brought to you by your own American President.
This effectively makes a war between Israel and Iran a certainty. Trump and Netanyahu believe they can trust Putin. These are two chickens letting the bear into the henhouse, and this bear has a friend called Iran. And it lets its friend into the henhouse, too.
The Syrian civil war may be reaching its [end] but concern in Israel is only increasing as the Syrian regime and its allies – Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, along with other Iranian proxies – draw ever closer.
In the last few days Bashar Assad and his allies have moved on Quneitra province. Ron Ben Yishai, a veteran Israeli military correspondent,said, “The Syrian [side of the] Golan will now almost certainly fall – like a ripe fruit – to the Assad regime.”
Israeli analysts contend the Syrian regime could take back the region in short order [because] the ‘Iranian-led axis,’ is setting up sleeper cells with an eye to turning Syria into another front against the Jewish state.”
The IDF has reinforced the Golan division with additional heavy firepower …and is prepared to uphold the two red lines the government has set. The first red line is already being crossed with those new sleeper cells.
In the distance due east from Breiqa, seven kilometers away, the imposing Tel Hara peak rises up from the dark brown Golan plains. Tel Hara fell to Assad-backed forces mere days ago, and is one of several regime-held pockets closing in on the rebels. Every so often, regime forces and rebels exchange stand-off fire from mortars, artillery pieces and tanks held by both sides. Every so often, errant regime shells cross the border into Israel, drawing reprisal fire from the IDF. And therein lies the rub.
One day Israel will respond and Iran will come across the border.
As Phillip Smyth and Hanin Ghaddar of the Washington Institute have shown, Iranian-backed Shia militias simply switch uniforms, thus integrating into Assad’s formal military. And according to Aymmen Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syrian war analyst, as many as 80 percent of the forces fighting on behalf of the Syrian government are Iran-backed. Hezbollah officers are even helping command the southern offensive, according to one pro-Assad official quoted by Reuters.
The Syrian civil war may be coming to a close, but for Israel, things are likely only getting started.
Now, Republican lawmakers are pressuring the Trump administration to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights since he made this deal with Russia. This kind of declaration will only add to the tension.