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 Israel elections
2) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process
3) The current status of the situation with Syria
4) The current status of the situation with Iran
The elected parties to the new Israeli government met with President Shimon Peres to recommend to him their choice for who should be the Prime Minister of Israel and seek to form a government coalition. Over 80 Knesset members recommended Benjamin Netanyahu. Peres is expected to ask Netanyahu to seek to form a government on Saturday night. Netanyahu will have 28 days to form a government. If he needs more time, he can ask for an extension.
So far, Yesh Atid which means ‘There is a Future’, the centrist secular party who got 19 Knesset seats has been drawing the most attention since the results of the Israeli elections. While his party recommended that Netanyahu be Prime Minister, Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, said: ” “our recommendation does not mean we will sit in the coalition, but we will work to have a government that has zero ministers without portfolio; a government that ushers in a more equitable way of sharing the national service burden; and returns to the negotiating table.”
Shas, the Sephardic Ultra-Orthodox religious party also recommended that Netanyahu be the next Prime Minister. Its leader, Eli Yishai, said, “It is clear Lapid [Yesh Atid] wants Shas out of the government despite the approval of PM Netanyahu. If the PM wants the good of the state, to prevent a rift in the nation, I believe we will be in the coalition.”
Yisrael Beytenu, the Russian immigrant party, leader Avigdor Lieberman met with the leader of the modern Orthodox, nationalistic party, Jewish Home and its leader, Naftali Bennett to discuss the different options related to forming the next government. The two leaders discussed the issue of achieving equal burden in army and national service among all Israelis. Lieberman, Bennett and Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, seem to be in agreement regarding this issue as they would all like to see all Israelis, including yeshiva students and Arabs, being drafted into the army or performing national service.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) Peres set to ask Netanyahu to form govt Saturday
2) Lapid: recommendation of Netanyahu doesn’t mean we’ll be in coalition
3) Yishai: “Lapid wants Shas out, unlike PM Netanyahu”
4) Lieberman and Bennett Meet Ahead of Coalition Talks
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the results of the Israeli elections will not alter the Palestinians demands regarding discussing parameters for a PLO state. They will continue to include the following: 1) A freeze on building in the West Bank 2) Release of prisoners 3) An agreement on the final status issues including Jerusalem, the refugees, and retreating to the 1967 lines.
Once Israel forms a government, Abbas desires to go forward with plans to achieve a Palestinian state in the following stages without recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Stage one is to seek recognition of a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital at the UN Security Council. In stage two, he plans to use the measure adopted at the UN Security Council to engage in direct talks with Israel based upon the outline of the UN Security Council Resolution to return to direct talks with Israel with the support of the international community to work out the details of a permanent agreement with Israel. If during this stage Israel continues to insist on its demands, the international community will impose economic sanctions such as those that were imposed on the Apartheid regime in South Africa at the time. Abbas believes that by implementing this plan he will be able to give his people an independent state without having to confront Hamas or face mass demonstrations in the territories and the world.
The Palestinians are counting on the Obama Administration’s complete rejection of Israel’s settlement enterprise, and assume that in his second term the American president will be less sensitive to the wishes of Israel’s supporters in the US and will not rush to automatically back the Israeli government in the UN. The Palestinians are also counting on the strained relations between Obama and Netanyahu to aid the Palestinian cause. To leverage these advantages, Abbas is sending some of his ministers for talks in the USA to coordinate positions with senior officials in Obama’s second administration: The secretary of state, national security adviser, defense secretary and the ambassador to the UN.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal met with King Abdullah of Jordan to discuss Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas and the Israel / Palestinian peace process. Following the meeting, Mashaal said the following: “I am optimistic about Palestinian reconciliation. The international community must respect the Palestinian need to end division.” Regarding the peace process, he said, “”A two-state solution is the only means to achieve security and stability in the Middle East.”
However, Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official denied that Hamas has accepted the two-state solution. Yehya Musa, another senior Hamas official further stated that not only is a two-state solution unacceptable but reiterated that Hamas “will never agree to giving the Zionist state one inch of the land of Palestine.”
Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel further added that there was a difference between accepting a Palestinian state on the 1967 territories and recognizing Israel’s right to exist – something which, he added, Hamas would never do.
Meanwhile, an Arab League delegation is expected to present the US with a Mideast peace proposal soon. The proposal will include “suggestions on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the establishment of a PA state, and security guarantees for both sides.”
The U.N. Human Rights Council issued a report which demanded that Israel must withdraw all of its citizens from the West Bank. They said, “Israel must, in compliance with Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions.” Also, “It must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories.” It also ruled that the Palestinians had a right to go to the International Criminal Court of Justice if Israel does not comply. The Israel’s Foreign Ministry replied by saying that “The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without pre-conditions.”
Following the Israel election results, US President Barack Obama sent a tough message to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that demanded progress toward a Palestinian state once Netanyahu forms his next government. Reportedly, Obama asserted that his administration would make significant changes in U.S. policy in the Middle East during his second term in what a way to increase the pressure upon Israel. The United States is no longer expected to protect Israel from any international backlash to Jewish settlement in the West Bank. It is expected that the United States will take a harder line with Israel’s coming government by switching from a strategy of accommodation to one of confrontation and will begin the process to start letting down its diplomatic shield for Israel. The new secretary of state and defense secretary, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, will be assigned to criticize Israel and link U.S. aid and cooperation to a halt in Jewish settlement in the West Bank. On Jan. 29, the Senate confirmed Kerry as secretary of state. When Obama challenges Israel, he will have the support of the Europeans and the international community.
World Net Daily is reporting that a top Palestinian negotiator revealed that Obama has already secretly pledged to the Palestinians he will press Israel into a new round of land-for-peace negotiations. The negotiator said top members of the Obama administration told the Palestinians the U.S. president will renew talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders – meaning in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and, notably, eastern Jerusalem. The negotiator further claimed Obama quietly pledged to the Palestinians a campaign at the United Nations to renew U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for a Palestinian state in the “1967 borders.” and that a Palestinian state will be one of the main priorities for a second term. If there is no agreement to renew direct peace talks, “Netanyahu will be declared the main person responsible for the collapse of the peace process.”
Finally, newly elected Knesset member Moshe Feiglin has decided that he will visit the Temple Mount on the 19th of every Hebrew month. Because he now has diplomatic immunity, he can do so without fears of arrest. Jews are forbidden to pray or show outward signs of worship at the holy site due to fears that doing so would anger Muslims praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the mount. The Association of Temple Mount movements congratulated Feiglin, and praised him by saying, “We hope the topic of the Temple Mount remains a top priority for other nationalist MKs as well.”
An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) ‘Israeli gov’t might change, but peace terms won’t’
2) Quiet intifada: Abbas’ statehood plan
3) PLO’s Erekat welcomes Hamas acceptance of two-state solution
4) Hamas: Mashaal did not accept the two-state solution
5) Arab League to Present US with Mideast Peace Plan
6) UN: Israel Must Withdraw From Judea, Samaria
7) UNHRC: Israel could be sent to ICC for settlements
8) Obama responded to Netanyahu’s election victory with ‘extremely tough letter’
9) Obama secretly pledges to divide Jerusalem
10) Feiglin Ascends Temple Mount, With No Fear of Arrest
Recently, Israel has expressed deep concern that chemical weapons from Syria could make its way into the hands of the south-Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group due to the chaos of the Syrian civil war, and has said on several occasions that the transfer of chemical weapons to non-state actors, especially Hezbollah, would draw a harsh Israeli response. Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said that such transfer of arms to Hezbollah “would be crossing a line that would demand a different approach.” In concern over these matters, Israel bombed a suspected shipment of antiaircraft missiles in Syria. The strike targeted a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah, the anti-Israel Shiite militant and political group in Lebanon. Syria reported that Israel had hit a military site near Damascus which is believed to be manufacturing chemical and biological weapons. Syrian rebels said that Hizbullah had already received numerous advanced weapons from Syria – including chemical weapons in the past.
The Russia Foreign Ministry strongly condemned that attack by saying, “If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it.” Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon said that Syria had the option of a “surprise decision” to respond to the Israeli attack. An Iranian deputy foreign minister said that the “strike on Syria will have serious consequences for Tel Aviv.”
Meanwhile, over 300 Russian Marines are onboard a flotilla of at least five warships from Russia’s Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet en route to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean, according to Russian and Israeli sources.
A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles is as follows:
1) Israeli Jets Blast Arms Shipment Inside Syria
2) F-16s ‘Fired 8 Missiles, Bunker-Buster at Syria Chemical Site’
3) ‘Israeli jets hit Hezbollah-bound anti-aircraft missiles’
4) Russia concerned with Israeli ‘attack’ in Syria
5) Syria, Iran threaten consequences for Israeli strike
6) Report: Hizbullah Already Has Syrian Chemical Weapons
7) Russian flotilla heads for Mediterranean to counter NATO role in Syria
Iran has told the UN nuclear agency that it will deploy more modern machines to speed up their efforts to refine uranium to a greater level at its Natanz facility. This is seen as a defiant move which will further complicate diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. The US called Iran’s installation of advanced uranium enrichment machines a “provocative step” which would make it in further violation of United Nations resolutions against its nuclear program. The P5 + 1 powers (US, Britain, France, Russia and China along with Germany) are trying to schedule another round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program. However, they have not yet decided on a date and located to meet again.
Such a step could enable Iran to enrich uranium much faster
The link to these articles is as follows:
1) Iran plans to increase nuclear fuel work at Natanz
2) U.S. calls Iran’s plan to upgrade uranium work ‘provocative step’
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