You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:
In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:
1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process
2) The prospects for war with Syria and Iran
In order to encourage the Palestinians to enter into direct negotiations and deflect criticism that Israel may be the obstacle to having direct peace talks with them, Israel agreed to a series of goodwill gestures. However, the Palestinians refused to make any reciprocal goodwill steps toward Israel. Instead, the Palestinians are more interested in getting recognition of a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital at the United Nations General Assembly. In doing so, the Palestinians would get their United Nations status upgraded to a non-member state. The Arab League has agreed to support the Palestinians in their effort at the UN General Assembly. Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly at their annual meeting on September 27. The date for presenting the application to the UN General Assembly will be made by the Arab League in a meeting to be held on September 5. Mahmood Abbas will file the application. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Mahmood Abbas recently that if the Palestinians sought a bid before the US elections, the Palestinian Authority would be subjected to political and economic sanctions. In an interview with Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Wolf Blitzer of CNN indicated that all US Presidential administrations from Lyndon Johnson in 1967 to the current Obama administration views East Jerusalem as being occupied in non-recognition that the entire city of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Therefore, the United States doesn’t oppose a PLO state with East Jerusalem as its capital, its rather an issue of the method and timing to achieve the goal. The Palestinians are expected to get 130-140 countries to vote for their request. As a result, the proposal is expected to pass when there is a vote. A vote is expected by the end of 2012. As a result, PLO Foreign Minister Riad Malki told reporters in Ramallah: “In the year 2012, we will achieve a PLO state that enjoys the status of being a non-member of the United Nations.” After achieving this goal, the Palestinians plan to ask the UN Security Council to recognize a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) Israel ‘angry’ at PA failure to reciprocate goodwill
2) Arab League supports Palestinian bid for non-member UN representation
3) PA prepares for showdown over statehood bid
4) Israeli-Palestinian showdown shapes up at UN
In frustration over the situation in Syria, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has resigned from his role as the U.N.-Arab League mediator in the 17-month-old uprising in Syria against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Foreign nations are preparing to fight in the Syrian conflict. Turkey sent a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying troops, missile batteries and armored vehicles to the border with Syria. The U.S. continues its covert war against Syria. The US is mounting a secret but limited effort to speed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without using force by having spies and diplomats block arms and oil shipments from Iran and passing intelligence to the front-line of the Syrian rebels. Behind-the-scenes efforts by the Central Intelligence Agency, the State and Treasury departments and the military point to a broader American role in the effort against Mr. Assad to remove him from power than previously acknowledged is now being admitted by the Syrian rebels . Senior US Officials also say that the US has been providing intelligence about developments in Syria to the Turkish and Jordanian militaries working closely with the Syrian opposition. US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing support for Syrian rebels seeking to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government from power. Obama’s order, is known as an intelligence “finding,” and broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the Syrian rebels oust Assad from power. Seeing a deterioration in the situation in Syria, a Chinese destroyer sailed through Egypt’s Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea in the past week. Meanwhile, Russia is sending three large landing ships with marines aboard to a Russian naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus. In supporting the Syrian opposition, Russia accuses the US of supporting terrorism. Meanwhile, Iran is firmly committed to supporting the Assad government. Saeed Jalili, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and also Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator in the P5 + 1 talks with Iran over its nuclear program went to Syria and expressed strong support for Assad. Iran has now sent more than 3,000 Iranian snipers to fight in the capital city of Damascus. Iran has also now invoked a 2008 Mutual Defense Pact to come to the aid of Syria against foreign aggression. Furthermore, Jalili held talks with Hizballah leader in Lebanon Hassan Nasrallah. Without a doubt, Jalili talks with Assad and Nasrallah about possible future military plans against Israel.
The Syrian opposition started a new strategy against Assad which was successful in Libya that helped to remove Muammar Qaddafi from power by trying to capture one of Syria’s largest cities, Aleppo, which is located in North Syria. The city is a strategic asset for both the Assad government and the opposition. Aleppo is a commercial town and Assad enjoys strong support there from the merchant class. The rebels would like to use Aleppo and the area as a designated safe zone. Because it is close to the border of Turkey, it could also be used to organize, train, and get all the arms needed for a major onslaught against the Assad government. After the rebels had initial success, the Assad government has now gained control of the city.
The Syrian prime minister has joined the opposition by defecting to Jordan. His defection is not surprising given that he is a Sunni Muslim who was a member of a Shi’ite Muslim government. However, his defection along with others who have done so in the past including army generals and soldiers indicate that Assad’s hold on power is cracking. For this reason, the US and Israel continue to believe that Assad will fall from power in the near future. As that day approaches, the questions remains, ‘How would Assad be removed from power?’ Will it take the involvement of Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the US, the European Union and others which will be opposed by Russia, China and Iran and cause a regional war in the Middle East involving Israel ? Pastor Lindsey Williams has given an update from his elitist retired oil executive friend indicating that the elite are 6-8 months BEHIND on their plans for the Middle East because Assad has not been removed from power yet. If Assad believes that his end is near, will he make good on his threat to attack Israel with missiles? If he does, will we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 17 that Damascus will be destroyed? Only time will tell but it is possible that this event may happen in the near future as we watch the current events unfold.
A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles is as follows:
1) Annan quits as international Syria mediator: U.N.
2) Turkish military convoy heads for Syrian border
3) U.S. Mounts Quiet Effort to Weaken Assad’s Rule
4) Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels
5) Chinese destroyer enters Mediterranean via Suez
6) ‘Russia sends navy vessels, marines to Syria base’
7) Russia accuses US of justifying terrorism in Syria
8.) Rebels: Iranian combatants in Syria to aid Assad
9) Iran reaffirms ‘unbreakable’ alliance with Syria’s Assad
10) Jalili in Damascus underscores Iran’s commitment to Assad
11) High Iranian official in Beirut for urgent talks with Hizballah on Syria, Israel
12) Tehran Invokes 2008 Mutual Defense Pact with Damascus
13) Syrian rebels say fight for country’s largest city has begun
14) For Syrian rebels, Aleppo is prize
15) Experts: Aleppo Crucial to Both Regime and Rebels
16) Amid the ruins in Aleppo, Syrian rebels say victory is near
17) The bid for Syria’s first safe haven in Aleppo region is thwarted
18) Syrian rebels hold off regime push into Aleppo
19) Syrian fighter jets strike Aleppo, Assad rides crest of disintegrating country
20) Syrian prime minister defects to Jordan to protest ‘terrorist regime’
21) Assad’s time is running out in Syria
22) Lindsey Williams Interview: Liberty rig, Syria and derivatives
Despite no progress in the P5 +1 (US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) talks with Iran to suspend its nuclear program since April, the US is still refusing to declare the P5+1 talks with Iran a failure. There was an agreement made with Iran to continue the talks at the end of August. Meanwhile, the US Congress passed the strongest sanctions against Iran yet. These sanctions desire to punish banks, insurance companies and shippers that help Iran sell its oil. Obama has not yet signed the law. In any event, US President Barack Obama did enact new sanctions on banks in China and Iraq that the US says have helped Iran evade international sanctions. In doing so, Obama made the following statement: “Since taking office, we have presented the Iranian government with a clear choice: come in line with your international obligations and rejoin the community of nations, or face growing consequences.” China strongly condemned the action by saying, “The US has invoked domestic law to impose sanctions on a Chinese financial institution, and this is a serious violation of international rules that harms Chinese interests.”
While the US continues to be interested in holding nuclear talks with Iran and imposing stiffer sanctions, Iran continues to advance its nuclear program. New intelligence information obtained by Israel and four Western countries indicates that Iran has made greater progress on developing components for its nuclear weapons program than the West had previously realized. New commercial satellite photos continue to show that Iran is trying to cover up work started at the Parchin facility where high explosives tests related Iran’s nuclear program have been conducted. Iran is preparing to enrich uranium from 20% to 60%. Many believe that Iran could have a nuclear bomb within a year. For these reasons, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that time is running out for diplomacy. He said that while sanctions against Iran are having an impact, it is not causing Iran to consider stopping its nuclear program. Israel strongly believes that Iran is approaching the “zone of immunity” mentioned by Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak where it would not be possible to stop Iran’s nuclear program from a military attack. Israel does not believe that waiting on situation with Iran to change its mind over its nuclear program from either sanctions or talks will work. While the US and the EU are still promoting diplomacy, they are also preparing for war against Iran. The current disagreement with Israel is over the timing of a possible attack. The US is worried that Israel may not wait on the US but will instead attack Iran before the November elections in the US. Therefore, the US sent Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to talk with Israel about the situation. While Panetta said that no specific military plans were discussed, he did say that the US discussed with Israel various contingencies. It is widely expected from most analysts that in any war involving Iran that the US would attack Iran and Israel would concern itself with Syria and Hizballah. Concerned over the trend of the current situation, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, summoned his “last war council” and told them to prepare for war within weeks. As a result, it seems that war in the Middle East involving Iran is inevitable. The only question seems to be how long will before it happens. Depending upon how things develop, it could happen by the end of 2012.
A US war with Iran is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles is as follows:
1) Israeli official: US refuses to declare Iran talks have failed
2) Iran and World Powers to Hold More Nuclear Talks
3) US Congress passes ‘strongest’ Iran sanctions yet
4) Obama orders new sanctions on Iran
5) New intelligence reveals Iranian military nuclear program advancing faster than previously thought
6) Activity spotted at suspected Iranian nuclear test facility, analyst says
7) Iran prepares for 60 percent uranium enrichment
8.) Iran Could Have Nuclear Weapons Within a Year, Says Expert
9) Time Is Short For Iran Diplomacy
10) Netanyahu to Panetta: Time Running Out on Iran
11) Op-Ed: Israel’s EMP Attack Can Send Iran Back to the Stone Age
12) Getting set for Iran war
13) US leaks plot to hit Iran N-plants
14) Wartime tasks split: US to smash Iran’s missiles, Israel tackle Syria, Hizballah
15) Khamenei Warns Iran’s Top Leaders: WAR IN WEEKS
16) Report: US pegs possible Iran strike in 18 months
17) Netanyahu: Iran unfazed by threats
18) U.S. presented Netanyahu with contingency plan for Iran strike
19) Waiting won’t work forever
20) Analysis: Not a question of attacking, but of timing
From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).
We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).
Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l