| HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN | March 2002 |
Israel Stands Alone
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“All thy lovers have forgotten thee.” |
BIBLE STUDENTS SEARCHING the prophecies of God’s Word have wondered what the significance might be of the devastating terrorist attack on the United States of America on September 11. It completely destroyed the New York Trade Center twin towers, and caused extensive damage to the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C. One suggestion was that it was a step toward the fulfillment of the prophecies that speak of Israel standing alone to face her enemies.
ISRAEL’S ALLY
The United States of America has been a friend and ally of Israel from the time of the young nation’s beginning in 1948. A wealthy and influential Jewish population in this country has helped to keep it so. The loss of this country as an ally would make it difficult for Israel. As an example of this friendship, we can cite the experience of Israel in 1967, when the Arab League of nations combined to do what they had been threatening to do, and that was to launch an all-out attack against the new, young nation, and push her into the sea.
This was the time of the cold war between the two great superpowers in the world—the United States and the USSR. The United States had a naval task force in the Mediterranean Sea at that time. The USSR contacted the United States and told it not to become involved in that war. The United States responded and said that they would stay out of it as long as the USSR would stay out of it, and not support the Arab League. They both agreed to stay aloof.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMISM
Of course, the USSR expected a quick victory by the Arab League nations they supported. Much to their chagrin, Israel ended the war in six days, with a resounding victory over its invaders, and captured more Palestinian territory for their nation. Apparently, the outcome of this war played an important role in the development of Islamism, the name given to Islamic militant political ideology. An article in the magazine called “World Press Review,” a monthly publication of selected world press articles, in its January 2002 edition, was published with the title “Islamism: Back on the Map.” It was taken from the German publication, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,” dated October 16, and it said:
“Many in the West have been tempted to see in the fanaticism and brutality of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, not just the re-emergence of an old enemy, but also the arrival of a new and mysterious phenomenon that had somehow gone undetected by both academia and the government.
“However, while Islamic extremism has not constantly remained front and center in the public imagination, academics and government officials have been studying the disturbing evolution. After the upheaval in Tehran, literature on political Islam began to flourish in both the Islam and Western worlds. Hardly anyone had considered it possible that a religion—let alone Islam, which had been largely written off as a potent social and cultural force—could undergo a political revival of such intensity and popularity. But that was exactly what happened.
“The movement was first described as Islamic fundamentalism, but later, due to religious and historical objections, was referred to as Islamism, integrism, or simply Islamic zealotry. But from the start, some observers began to worry that the spread of militancy in the Islamic world could someday pose a serious threat to the West.”
Among other analyses presented in this article, the following referred to Israel’s Six-Day War: “Some Arab analysts have dated the emergence of Islamism to 1967, when Israel defeated a coalition of Arab nations in the Six-Day War. The Israeli victory dealt a severe blow to Arab nationalism and to the secular ideology that had set out to combine socialism, Arab independence, and unity. Previously the predominant movement in the Arab world, Arab nationalism began to lose its appeal among the masses, and former Egyptian President Gamal Nasser’s star waned.”
As we look back to that war and the support given to Israel by a superpower, the United States, we can see that without that support the Soviet Union could have stepped in and given their support to the Arab League, as they wanted to do. This would have been premature for God’s plan. Instead, we now stand in history at a point where both the Western world and Israel are trying to cope with Islamism. In spite of the war launched in Afghanistan, seeking to intercept Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorists who were responsible for the destruction of September 11, there are predictions and expectations that terrorists will strike again. How will the American public react to further strikes of this kind?
THE US STATE DEPARTMENT’S STRATEGY
An interesting commentary appeared in the “New York Daily News” on October 3, 2001, shortly after the events of September 11. It was published under the caption, “Twisting Israel’s Arm Will Backfire on Bush.” The commentary read as follows:
“New Yorkers who keep their eyes peeled may have noticed a big fat trial balloon floating over Times Square. Launched yesterday by the State Department from the roof of The New York Times building, it says in unmistakable letters: Put the screws to Israel.
“According to “The Times,” the State Department, after months of post-Clinton waffling, was just about to start twisting Israel’s arm to make concessions for peace when Arab terrorists declared war on America. That caused a brief interruption. But the plan is so detached from reality, it survived and is ready to roll.
“The reasoning, as chronicled by “The Times,” goes like this: a) America is hated in the Arab world because it is ‘biased’ in Israel’s favor. b) Drop that bias and (according to Arab leaders) ‘this will show Arab populations that the United States is not “one-sided.”’ c) Arab states will then rally to the American coalition against terror.
“There’s just one fly in the State Department’s ointment. According to “The Times”, diplomats are afraid of criticism that is bound to come from Israel and from American Jews that the United States is pandering to the Arab states by pushing for a peace settlement now.
“Aside from the highly inaccurate ethnic and religious profiling of Israel’s American supporters, there are a couple of other small problems with State’s scenario:
“Nothing short of Israel’s destruction will satisfy the Palestinians. Israel is willing to make peace, as it demonstrated at Camp David when it offered Yasser Arafat virtually everything he supposedly wanted, including an independent state. This week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, not a peacenik, said that even he is prepared for such a state.
“But the Palestinians (and their Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian and Bin Ladenite allies) don’t want a state if it means accepting Israel’s right to exist.
“President Bush has issued a ringing declaration of war on evil. Countries, he said, are either with us or against us. If his next step is dumping Israel—an ally for more than 50 years and the one nation in the West that actively fights terrorism and knows how to do it—he will become a joke from Algeria to Afghanistan. If Saddam and Yasser and Osama and the ayatollahs can scare the Great Satan into acting like a frightened schoolboy, they will win the fear and respect—and of course, the support—of the entire Arab world.
“If that happens, the Arab countries sitting on the fence will laugh so hard they’ll fall off—onto the side of the jihadists.
“The minute America tries to appease its way out of the confrontation with its real enemies by going after Israel, it will convince Sharon, and the 80% or so of Israelis who support him, they are alone in the world, that it is 1942 all over again.
“During the past decade, Israel has absorbed Iraqi scud missile attacks, Katyushka barrages from Iranian-supplied Hezbollah terrorists, suicide bombings by Islamic Jihad and Hamas fanatics and armed attacks by Palestinian terrorists. It has reacted with restraint, a fact borne out by the low casualty rate on the Arab side compared with the damage Israel is capable of inflicting. Israel has been so restrained because it has an essential confidence in America’s ‘bias’ in the face of Arab aggression. Remove that confidence, as the hot air balloonists of the State Department propose, and there will indeed be a new regional situation, but not the one they imagine.
“An Israel abandoned by its chief ally and surrounded by jubilant enemies will never agree to concessions tantamount to its national suicide. Instead, it will be forced to do what it has not yet done—defend itself unilaterally, ferociously, and without inhibition.”
ISRAEL’S OVERCONFIDENCE
Will Israel be abandoned by the United States of America? This article paints a scene whereby this could happen. Will Israel, standing alone, be able to defend itself as the commentator suggests, ‘unilaterally,’ ‘ferociously,’ and ‘without inhibition,’ successfully? The Scriptures give us a different scenario again. A prophecy in Jeremiah (chapter 30) is very specific. The prophet reminds Israel and us that the Lord (Jehovah) is responsible for bringing both Judah and Israel back from their captivity to the land that he gave to their fathers. (Jer. 30:3) We have seen this fulfilled. The prophecy continues to remind us that these days are not days of peace. (Jer. 30:5) It is called a day of “Jacob’s trouble.” (vs. 7) It is characterized by “none to plead thy cause” (vs. 13); a time when her former allies abandon her.—vs. 14
The overconfidence expressed by the commentator of the “Daily News” article is typical of the people in Israel. After the Six-Day War, visitors to Israel asked some of the people what they would have done if the superpower, the USSR, would have intervened in their war? The answer given was, “Bring on the Russians, we can handle them.” It is for this reason that the Lord will permit the situation in Israel to become very grim. The only way Israel and all the world around them will be able to see the hand of the Lord in their victory is when he fights for them, and miraculously shows his power and support on their behalf. This is why we have yet to see Israel placed in a hopeless and helpless situation.
JACOB’S TROUBLE
In Ezekiel 38 and 39, ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ is presented with much detail. When Gog comes against the nation of Israel, neutral nations, not allied with Gog, are standing on the sidelines asking Gog, “Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey?” (Ezek. 38:13) These do nothing to assist Israel. This is the way it has to be. Israel has to face her enemies alone. It is necessary so that all nations may know Jehovah, as he says: “Oh Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”—Ezek. 38:16, New International Version
This prophecy is one that is found in many other prophecies given to Israel. The language may be different. The circumstances and details may be different. As Ezekiel says, however, it has been recorded for many years. The prophecy says:
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”—Ezek. 38:17-23, NIV
ISRAEL’S PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE TYPICAL
The methods used in prophecy to defeat Gog were illustrated to Israel in some of their previous experiences. When it says, ‘Every man’s sword will be against his brother’ (Ezek. 38:21), we are reminded of Gideon’s triumph over Midian. Gideon had been instructed to select 300 men to surround the camp of thousands of Midianites. (Judg. 7:7,12) The account says, “The three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled.”—vs. 22
When the prophecy says further, ‘I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulphur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him’ (Ezek. 38:23), we are reminded of Barak and Deborah’s victory over Sisera and the Canaanites under King Jabin of Hazor. In the victory song sung by Barak and Deborah, recorded in the fifth chapter of Judges, it is evident that torrents of rain caused the river Kishon in the valley of Megiddo to flood and sweep away the iron chariots and hosts who had come to conquer Barak and the Israelites.—Judg. 5:9-21
None of these events will take place without the assistance and supervision of God’s angels. These invaluable spirit beings were also used in the other battles. In Barak and Deborah’s victory song it is mentioned that “the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.” (Judg. 5:20, NIV) Again we are reminded of the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and his army. Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed to God who sent an angel to destroy the army of Sennacherib. (II Chron. 32:20-22) So also, what will be clearly shown to Israel and all other nations will be that the power of God alone is able to save Israel in her darkest hours.
GOD IS THE VICTOR
None should think that Israel, by her own strength, or the strength of assisting nations, shall gain the victory. The glory must unmistakenly belong to God. Therefore, he says, “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”—Ezek. 39:21-29, NIV
This will be an eye-opening experience for Israel and for all the nations of the world. Then it will be possible for the Lord to say, “I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel.”—Ezek. 39:7, NIV