Watchman of Zion

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The Israel perspective of the results of the US Election
2) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process

The relationship between US President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rocky over the past 4 years. At the beginning of Netanyahu’s term, Obama pressured him into making a speech to publicly accept a PLO state. In the June 2009 speech, Netanyahu embraced a demilitarized PLO state that takes into account Israel’s security needs. In November 2009, Obama pressured Netanyahu to impose a ten month settlement freeze of Jewish building in the West Bank. When Netanyahu refused to extend the settlement freeze, the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu regarding the peace process began to deteriorate. In a visit to see Obama in the US in March 2010, Obama snubbed Netanyahu over a planned dinner engagement. At that time, Obama presented Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands intended to build Palestinian confidence to resume the peace talks. This list included a US demand that Israel freeze building Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu refused to accept them. As a result, in May 2011, Obama revealed that he expected that the end result of the peace process was a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with agreed land swaps. This announcement outraged the Jewish world in the US and Israel and Obama was beginning to be perceived in the Jewish world as anti-Israel. Concerned about his reelection that was only 18 months away, Obama began the process of damage control. He quit pushing Netanyahu on major issues on the peace process only calling for direct peace negotiations to resume. Because Israel would not agree to freeze building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Palestinians refused to engage in direct peace negotiations. The PLO decided they wanted the borders of a PLO state to be imposed at the UN Security Council. They made this request before the UN Security Council in September 2011.  Still not wanting to upset his prospects for reelection, Obama threatened to veto the request at the UN. However, the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu remained cold. In the midst of the US election season, Obama refused to meet with Netanyahu when he came to the USA this past September. When a strong Jewish political financial supportr of Benjamin Netanyahu also became a large financial supporter of Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s political campaign, speculation abounded that Netanyahu was trying to influence the US elections by supporting Romney. However, Netanyahu never went public with his private views.

While in his heart, Netanyahu may have preferred Romney over Obama, for all practical purposes Netanyahu’s views were never clearly represented or asserted in the US Presidential campaign. However, Obama’s behavior regarding the peace process over the past 4 years and the pressure that he imposed upon Netanyahu regarding it, it would be reasonable that there would be deep concern within the Israeli government whether Obama would impose his views of the peace process upon Israel if he got reelected for another 4 years as “the handwriting was on the wall” as it seemed that Obama viewed Israel as more of a burden in the Middle East rather than a strategic asset to the USA because during his term Obama actively supported Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria in their countries efforts to bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in replacing the existing Arab leaders in these countries. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has clearly stated that they want to establish a Sunni-Islamic Caliphate under Sharia Law with Jerusalem as its capital.

Initially, several members of Netanyahu’s Likud political party expressed disappointment and regret that Obama got reelected.  One Likud lawmaker said that “Obama is not good for Israel and we’re concerned that he will try to pressure Israel into making concessions because of his chilly relationship with Netanyahu.” Knesset Member Danny Danon from Netanyahu’s Likud party said that Obama cannot be trusted. He went on to say, ” “The State of Israel will not surrender to Obama. We have no one to rely on but ourselves.”  Not wanting officials of the government of Israel to speak negatively about the reelection of Obama and what it means to the future of Israel,  Netanyahu ordered all of his party’s ministers and Knesset members to avoid commenting on Obama’s re-election without coordinating their statements with his office. Netanyahu officially made positive comments about Obama’s re-election by saying that “the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States is stronger than ever.” and he will “continue working with President Obama in order to safeguard the interests crucial for the security of Israel’s citizens.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak congratulated Obama, and expressed confidence that the basis of the US relationship is support for the Jewish state’s security. “I have no doubt that the Obama government will continue with its policy that is based on support for the security of Israel, and which strives to cope with the challenges the region places in front of all of us, while striving for progress in the peace process,” Barak said. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman expressed optimism that Obama’s election victory would usher in four years of bilateral cooperation and friendship. “Together with President Obama we will continue to promote and safeguard the robust friendship between our countries and nations, which is based on shared values,” he said. “We will continue to act together with the US for the strengthening of the State of Israel and for protecting its vital strategic interests.”

Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator sad that Obama would work to isolate Netanyahu and impose a solution to the peace process upon Israel. In converstation with WND, it was revealed that Obama will use his second term to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main party to blame for the collapse of Mideast peace talks. The negotiator further claimed that 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 to be established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem. The negotiator further said Obama had promised the PA that the establishment of a Palestinian state will be one of the main priorities for a second term.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Obama on his victory in the election and praised him for his efforts to boost the peace process. In his letter to Obama, Abbas said that he was prepared to work with the Americans to achieve a two-state solution and mutual respect between Palestinians and Israelis. Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat also welcomed the results of the election and voiced hope that the US administration would support the Palestinians’ attempt to obtain the status of non-member state in the UN later this month. “Obama must stop the policy of settlements and other Israeli violations and not the Palestinian bid at the UN,” Erekat said.

Tensions over Israel building Jewish homes in East Jerusalem increased as on US election day, Israel announced plans to build more than a thousand new housing units in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank city of Ariel. Britain and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton strongly condemned the Israeli initiative. British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said, “I condemn Israel’s provocative decision to advance settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank through the publication of tenders for 1,285 new settlement housing units. The UK has been consistently clear that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and by altering the situation on the ground are making the two state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly hard to realize.”  Ashton made a similar comment by saying, “Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible.”

So the question remains will the US and EU countries translate their view that East Jerusalem is a settlement and it is illegal under international law for Jews to live there by supporting the Palestiian desire to present before the UN General Assembly a resolution recognizing a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as it capital as the Palestinians have stated their intention to do so sometime this month. When Abbas said that Israel should be supported of this request, Israel President Shimon Peres supported it but Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected it. Netanyahu has insisted that Jerusalem remain Israel’s united capital and that a final-status agreement should take into account Jewish settlement blocs. Netanyahu has argued that the issue of borders should not be predetermined and that this is one of the subjects to be negotiated. Netanyahu maintains that he is willing to have direct peace talks with Abbas immediately without preconditions.  Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying, “Abbas has refused for four years now to renew the negotiations with Israel, and this despite a whole series of steps that Prime Minister Netanyahu has taken to allow for the resumption of talks, including the unprecedented settlement freeze [of housing starts for 10 months that ended in September 2010] in Judea and Samaria,” it said.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2, Abbas said, that was needed to restart the negotiations was for Netanyahu to accept a two-state solution on the ’67 lines. “He do it now and tomorrow I will go and sit with him,” Abbas said. Abbas said that no Jews have the right to live in the West Bank or East Jerusalem by explaining, ” This is occupied territory, you do not have a right to send any of your citizens to live there.”

Abbas said that the PA was going to the United Nations this month to ask to upgrade its status to that of a non-member state. Israel defense minister Ehud Barak said Israel and the US must work together to delay a Palestinian unilateral statehood moves at the UN until after the Israeli elections to be held on January 22, 2013. Barak said, “We have a joint interest, ours and theirs, to delay the Palestinian UN bid for nonmember state.” The Obama administration and the European Union are also pushing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to postpone his UN status upgrade bid. Reports suggest that Norway has drafted a General Assembly resolution proposing that the PA receive non-member state status in exchange for pledging to immediately resume peace talks. Norway hopes to secure the support of all 27 members of the European Union but it appears that not all European nations agree on the matter.

One of the arguments being used in talks with the Palestinians by the US and EU is that launching such a move before the Israeli elections will play into the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, put an end to efforts to restart peace talks and weaken leftist and centrist forces. Western diplomats fear that the Israeli elections will result in a tougher Israeli response to the Palestinian UN bid going as far as to suggest that Israel might annex territories, annul the Oslo Accords and adopt the Levy report. Israeli officials estimate that despite US and European pressure, the Palestinians are determined to take their bid to the UN either on November 15 – the day Arafat declared independence in 1988 or on November 29 – the day the UN voted in favor of the Partition Plan and the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

However, senior Palestianian officials are saying that they will press ahead with a bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations despite expressed opposition by Israel, the US and the EU. In a meeting with Middle East Quartet representative Tony Blair, US consul Michael Ratney and French consul Frédéric Desagneaux, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Palestine’s request for non-member statehood of the UN did not contradict the two-state solution, Erekat told the international envoys that Israel’s settlement building violates the principle of two states, international law and signed agreements.  In response, Tony Blair, echoed the importance of resumed peace talks, but was not as clear about his positions regarding the Palestinians’ UN bid. Blair declined to endorse or condemn the PLO’s UN initiative but warned against hasty reactions by Israel if the UN bid was approved at the General Assembly. Blair said: “We have to understand the position the Palestinians find themselves in. It is all about the credibility of the steps towards statehood. It is very much in our interests to offer them a way forward that allows us one way or another to get back to the negotiating table.”  Blair added, “I don’t think there has been any change in President Obama’s view, which is that it is in the strategic interest of the United States and the world that a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is found.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu appealed to Blair saying, “I have a constant suggestion which I renew today – I said it two days ago, I’m saying it again today. I think the best thing to do is to sit down together, negotiate without preconditions, avoid unilateral actions in the UN and try to get on with peace. That’s my suggestion to President Abbas, I hope you can help me with this.” Abbas has said he would only talk with Israel once it recognizes a Palestinian state at the pre-1967 lines or after the UN General Assembly approves that language as part of an upgrade in the Palestinian status to non-member state.

Based upon their intentions to go forward with a resolution before the UN General Assembly, the Palestinians began circulating a draft proposal of their UN bid before UN member states. The draft, detailing the PA’s request to have its status upgraded from “observer” to “non-member state,” was sent to the UN General Assembly’s 193 members, as soon as the results of the US presidential election became clear. Nevertheless, at this point the bid has not been filed with the UN Secretariat – which would be the one to introduce it to the General Assembly’s schedule for a vote. Palestinian Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour said that the PA has yet to decide on the final date for the proposal. The Palestinians are strongly considering  November 15 or November 29 as its goal dates for the vote; but according to Mansour, the PA is only “floating the idea” among UN members for now, to see their reaction to the proposal. The Palestinians said that a final decision on the UN bid will be made after the Arab League summit set on the issue scheduled for Wednesday, November 14.

If a vote is made at the UN General Assembly, it is widely accepted that it will pass. It only requires an approval by the majority and already about 120 countries of the world diplomatically accept a PLO state. Abbas Zaki, a member of the Fatah Central Committee said that the 1993 Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel will cease to exist the day after the UN votes in favor of upgrading the status of a Palestinian state to non-member. Zaki said that once the status of a Palestinian state is upgraded, the Palestinians would be able to pursue Israel for “war crimes” in the International Criminal Court. Saleh Ra’fat, member of the PLO Executive Committee, warned that the PA leadership would abrogate economic and security agreements with Israel if the Israeli government imposed sanctions on the Palestinians in response to the statehood bid. The PLO official said that the PA was planning to call for international conference for peace in Russia after the UN vote.

The Arab League chief says the time is right for the Palestinians to have their U.N. membership upgraded. A representative of the Arab League said, “It’s time for Palestine to be member states at the U.N.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Mahmud Abbas over the issue. “Russia has always stood behind Palestine’s statehood and they will vote for the resolution,” he said, standing next to Lavrov.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Israel on the roulette table
2) PM to ministers: Don’t talk about Obama
3) Netanyahu: I’ll continue working with Obama
4) Netanyahu: Israel-US alliance ‘stronger than ever’
5) Claim: Obama to target Netanyahu in 2nd term
6) Abbas, Erekat hope Obama will push for peace
7) Europe condemns plans to build in East Jerusalem and Ariel
8) EU’s Ashton ‘deeply regrets’ new settlement building
9) Peres lauds Abbas’s negotiations plea, PM rejects it
10) Barak: Palestinian UN bid must be delayed
11) US, EU urge Abbas to postpone UN bid
12) Arab League chief says time is right for upgraded Palestinian membership at UN
13) Russia’s Lavrov discusses UN bid with Abbas
14) Palestinians reject PM’s call to drop UN initiative
15) Palestinians circulate draft UN bill, embarking on first step toward enhanced status
16) PA circulates status upgrade draft at UN

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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
3) The prospects for a political union within the Eurozone

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said that November 15 or 29 were possible dates for submission of a Palestinian bid to the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. If approved, the Palestinians would have their status upgraded at the UN to be a non-member state. “Our status at the UN will be upgraded from a mission to a non-state member in a preliminary step to obtaining full membership after a debate in the UN Security Council that will certainly be reopened after November,” Malki said. November 15, 1988 was the date that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat issued the declaration of Palestinian independence during a meeting of the Palestinian National Council in Algiers. November 29 was the date in 1947 when the UN General Assembly voted to establish a Jewish state, an Arab state and make Jerusalem an international city. It is also the date that the UN celebrates as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.  “It is still premature to give a specific date,” Malki told the official Voice of Palestine radio, saying that consultations with regional groups at the United Nations, including European countries, needed to be completed before the resolution on obtaining the rank of a non-member state could be drafted. I can assure you that November is going to be a crucial month in Palestinian history,” Malki said.

Palestinians have begun a diplomatic blitz among the nations of the world in trying to seek a strong majority in the proposed vote at the UN General Assembly to upgrade their status at the UN to be a non-member state. They Palestinians only need a majority of nations to vote in favor of the resolution in order for it to pass. Therefore, the need about 97 ‘yes’ votes. Palestinian officials say that they can count on around 115 ‘yes’ votes, mostly from Arab, African, Latin American, and Asian states, and expect around 22 no-votes, led by the United States, and 56 abstentions in the 193-member organization. The Palestinians believe that they can get 12 to 15 ‘yes’ votes from the 27 nations within the European Union.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would be ready for negotiations with Israel “straightaway” if the UN recognized Palestine as a non-member state. “We have resolved to go to the UN to save the two-state solution and to achieve the rights of our people as an observer state. Going to the UN is not a substitute for negotiations. We are in need of negotiations to solve the final status of issues that face us both,” he said.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians must be prepared for the possibility that the US and Israel may impose severe economic restrictions on the Palestinian Authority the day after the UN upgrades the status of a Palestinian state to non-member.  Erekat said he expected the US Congress and the US Administration to take a number of “retaliatory” measures in response to the Palestinian statehood bid, such as freezing financial aid to the PA, closing the PLO mission’s office in the USA and exerting pressure on governments worldwide to dissuade them from supporting the statehood bid at the UN. Erekat said he also expected the Americans to suspend funds to a number of UN agencies and organizations, first and foremost the United Nations relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees [UNRWA].

As for Israel’s expected response, Erekat said that the Israeli government may carry out its threat to unilaterally withdraw from some areas in the West Bank, freeze tax revenues belonging to the PA, instigating a “security deterioration” on the ground and imposing restrictions on the private sector and in particular and the Palestinian economy in general. Erekat said he expected Israel to also annex the Jordan valley, expand settlements and walk away from the Oslo Accords that were signed with the PLO in 1993.

Meanwhile, the PLO published a “position paper” explaining its motives behind the renewed statehood bid.

The paper said that the PLO “seeks to enhance Palestine’s status to that of an Observer State, as a significant step towards fulfilling the Palestinian people’s natural, historical, and legal rights to self-determination and independence.” According to the PLO, “This step is a continuation of the standing Palestinian application for membership at the United Nations, which was lodged on 23 September 2011.

“Together with the international community, Palestine believes that the status quo of political deadlock, while occupation, colonization and apartheid policies become further entrenched, is neither acceptable nor sustainable. The Palestinian initiative intends to protect the prospects of peace and accelerate its realization. This step reaffirms and protects the internationally-endorsed two-state solution. It is anchored in relevant United Nations resolutions, including General Assembly resolutions 181 and 194, and international law.”

The PLO paper added that “according to international law, self-determination is a universally recognized inalienable right that is not subject to negotiation. Independence has never been a final status issue and statehood has never been negotiated bilaterally.

The right of peoples to self-determination is non-negotiable and the Palestinian people will thus never negotiate this right or subject it to Israel’s whims. Enhancing Palestine’s status at the UN is a step towards justice and will be an affirmation of the international community’s commitment to the universal values of human rights, as embodied in the United Nations Charter.”

The PLO explained that the Palestinian “initiative seeks to end occupation and realize the establishment of the State of Palestine; it does not seek to delegitimize or isolate Israel. Rather, this step seeks to delegitimize the policies of occupation and colonization and to overcome the paralysis in the international community, especially with regard to ending Israel’s impunity and compelling its compliance with international law.”

The Palestinian step, according to the PLO, is consistent with the formal Palestinian recognition of Israel in 1993, and consistent with the internationally endorsed goal of the peace process — two states living side by side in peace and security on the basis of the pre-1967 borders.

“Recognition is necessary to achieve the ultimate objective of the two-state solution and expedite its realization at a time when Israel is incessantly and recklessly undermining that solution and the prospects for achieving a just peace,” the PLO said. ”

“The international community therefore has a moral and legal obligation to help fulfill this right. Currently, 132 countries recognize the State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders. The PLO calls on all countries that have not yet done so yet to recognize Palestine on these borders and invest in peace.

“Finally, the Palestinian initiative at the United Nations does not contradict, nor is it a substitute for, negotiations. These are parallel paths that complement one another. Enhancing Palestine’s status at the United Nations to Observer State will establish the right framework for negotiations and reaffirm the internationally-agreed upon terms of reference and end game of a credible political process, to which we remain committed.”

Finally, Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood says Islamic Shariah law must be the basis of Egypt’s new constitution, and legislation must be based on Islamic penal code. The statement appeared to be an attempt to clarify the group’s position toward the country’s most contentious issue – the extent of Islamic influence in governance and legislation. The 100-member Islamist-led panel tasked with drafting the new document has been facing heavy criticism, mostly from liberals who fear Islamization of Egypt through its work.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Palestinians ready for UN statehood bid in November
2) Erekat warns of US, Israeli ‘retaliation’ after UN bid
3) Palestinians lobby for convincing win in UN vote
4) Abbas says ready for peace talks if UN bid succeeds
5) Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood calls for Shariah-based constitution

Russian warned the West against campaigning for the removal of Bashar Assad from power.  Russia believes that Syria should decide for itself its future without foreign interference calling on the West and Turkey to start negotiating with Assad as well as the opposition to pave the way for a political solution to the Syrian civil war.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Russia warns West on Syria

On October 24, the Yarmouk Complex of military plants near Khartoum, Sudan was bombed by four fighter-bombers. It is believed that it was Israel who bombed the plant.  DEBKA reports that they were manufacturing Iranian ballistic surface-to-surface Shehab missiles for Iran.

Iran said that in order to resolve the issue regarding its nuclear program, the P5 + 1 powers consisting of the five permanent UN Security Council members (Russia, China, Britain, France and the US) plus Germany must recognize Iran’s right to have a nuclear program.

Israel Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said that an immediate crisis over Iran’s nuclear program was avoided this summer when Iran decided to use over a third of its medium-enriched uranium for civilian purposes delaying the time when Iran would be able to build a nuclear bomb by 8 to 10 months. Barak believes that diplomacy and sanctions will fail to convince Iran to stop its nuclear program. In the final analysis, Barak insisted that Israel would decide for itself whether to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. “When it comes to the very core of our security interests and, in a way, the future of Israel, we cannot delegate the responsibility for making decisions even into the hands of our most trusted and trustworthy ally,” he said.  “But, if no one acts, we will have to contemplate action.” He added: “Basically, it’s about the question of when they come into this zone of immunity, where no Israeli surgical attack, probably somewhat later not even an American surgical attack, can delay them significantly. That’s the issue that bothers us.” As for when Iran will reach the “zone of immunity”, depriving Israel of its military option, Mr Barak forecast this would probably happen “next spring or early summer”.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) The bombed Sudanese factory produced Iranian Shehab missiles
2) Tehran: P5+1 must recognize our nuclear rights
3) Israel says Iran has pulled back from the brink of nuclear weapon – for now

The former prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair, said there is a need for a European President as part of a political union of the European Union. In Sepember, 11 European foreign ministers held a meeting calling for a single, elected European President under a common European defense policy. This plan was supported by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal.

Worldwide economic collapse resulting in a one world government with one-world currency is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Tony Blair: the EU needs a president

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter to US President Barack Obama insisting that the Palestinian bid to submit an application to the UN General Assembly to vote on a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is non-negotiable and is not a unilateral move that is in opposition to a two-state solution.  During a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota and US general consul Michael Ratney, Erekat said the UN draft resolution emphasized the illegality of settlements and noted that an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories should be based on 1967 borders. Nimer Hammad, political adviser to Abbas. said that the UN statehood bid is intended to “solidify the right of the Palestinian people to their land which is under occupation and not ‘disputed territories.’” Hussein al-A’raj, director of Abbas’s bureau, said that the move was mainly designed to “put an end to Israeli claims that the occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem are disputed territories.”

In response, the US said that a Palestinian bid to upgrade its U.N. status to a sovereign country would jeopardize the peace process with Israel and make it difficult to get the two sides to return to talks on a two-state solution. Britain urged the Palestinian leadership to delay its bid for upgraded status at the United Nations general assembly warning that the move is likely to be detrimental to US re-engagement with the peace process following next month’s presidential election.

Meanwhile, the Arab League, the non-aligned movement and Russia expressed support for the Palestinian efforts at the UN General Assembly. Egypt’s U.N. Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil, speaking to the council on behalf of the Arab group of countries, said it fully supported the Palestinians bid. He said, “We expect the General Assembly to adopt a resolution during its current session to upgrade the status of Palestine to become a ‘non-member observer state,’ as a first step towards reaching full membership.” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: “We believe that the initiative to gain broad international recognition for Palestinian statehood … complements efforts to achieve a negotiated solution to the conflict with Israel rather than serve as an alternative. In no case should they be used by Israel to tighten the screws in the occupied territories or exert any other pressure on the Palestinian authority.”

Meanwhile, the president of the U.N. General Assembly said that said Abbas is consulting with U.N. member states and is expected to call for a meeting on the Palestinian issue as early as next month after the November 6 U.S. presidential election. He said, “Most people expect that it is going to be the second half of November.” He warned the US against cutting U.N. funding over the issue.

Israel granted final approval to a plan to build 800 homes near Gilo in annexed east Jerusalem. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton opposed the decision saying  “Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible.” She added that Jerusalem’s continued expansion of Jewish settlements like Gilo and Har Homa “continue the process of separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory.” Ashton reiterated that talks “continue to represent the best way forward in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” and called on both parties to immediately return to the negotiating table.

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman rebuked the EU by saying that they needed to ‘mind their own business’ and stay clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He went on to say that “Jerusalem is not a settlement. Gilo is a Jewish neighborhood. Today there are 32 to 33,000 Jews living there. It’s an integral part of Jerusalem.” Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Israel are not imposing any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem. It is our capital. Just as other nations build in London, Paris, Washington and Moscow, we will continue to build in Jerusalem.”

Finally, Israel has agreed to hold general elections for January 22, 2013. According to the current polls, Netanyahu is expected to remain as Prime Minister.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Abbas defends UN statehood bid in letter to Obama
2) Abbas letter to Obama stresses statehood bid “final decision”
3) Erekat: UN bid to aid two-state solution
4) Palestinian status bid jeopardizes peace process: U.S.
5) Palestinians urged by Britain to delay ‘non-member state’ bid at UN
6) At United Nations, NAM Demands an End to Israel’s Impunity
7) Palestinian push for U.N. upgrade likely to succeed: Jeremic
8.) Israel OK’s 800 new settlements
9) EU chief slams Gilo neighborhood expansion plan
10) Israel to EU: Jerusalem Not Negotiable
11) Lieberman: EU’s Ashton should mind her own business, not the settlements
12) Israel’s PM: No limits on Jerusalem construction
13) ‘We’ll build J’lem like they build London, DC’
14) Netanyahu chooses date of next Israeli general election

Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite Islamic party, is helping Syrian government forces of Bashar Assad on the ground in their fight against the rebel Free Syrian Army.  Furthermore, Hizbollah has begun depleting line of rockets and fighting units it has facing Israel and moving them to the Syrian front line. On October 17, Russia has announced the deployment of advanced S-400 interceptor missile batteries in Russia’s southern military region opposite Turkey.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Russian S-400s relocated near Turkey. Hizballah shifts units, rockets into Syria
2) Hezbollah Offering Direct Help to Syrian Army, Rebels Say

The EU has agreed to impose further sanctions against Iran’s banking, shipping and industrial sectors hoping that Iran will negotiate more seriously over suspending its nuclear program. Before the approval of these sanctions, Iran managed to install the last four clusters of 174 centrifuges each inside in “Fordo’s B Chamber.” Irans nuclear program’s high-speed uranium enrichment plant has now been entirely sequestered in the fortified underground Fordo site near Qom. The Iranians are preparing to change the “active formation” of the Fordo centrifuges and adapt them for refining uranium up to the 60 percent level, a short step before the weapons grade of 90 percent. The conversion is expected to be ready to go in the second half of December or early January, 2013. DEBKA reports that the latest US intelligence info reveals that Iran will have enough enriched uranium for 4-6 bombs by March 2013. France’s foreign minister said that Iran appears on track to reach the ability to produce a nuclear weapon by the first half of 2013. Iran is not expected to give into international sanctions which desires to cause Iran to end its nuclear program.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) EU agrees to new, wide-ranging Iran sanctions
2) All of Iran’s advanced enrichment centrifuges now removed to Fordo
3) Obama to Israel: Iran is piling up fissile material for 4-6 bombs – in Natanz too
4) France: Iran appears to be on track to nuclear weapon by mid-2013

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

This week’s update is now posted.

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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

Palestinian executive committee member, Hanan Ashrawi said that the Palestinians expect the UN General Assembly to vote on their application for statehood on November 29. This date is the anniversary of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine vote of November 29, 1947. It is also the date that the UN celebrates the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinians. Ashrawi said that the PA leadership was determined to achieve the non-member status of a Palestinian state in the UN after consulting with regional organizations and member states.  United Nations General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic told reporters:  “I think that come the middle of November there will be an international debate on the Palestinian issue. ” As a result, Jeremic went on to say: “I am blocking out November. I am not going to go for vacation in November.”

In response, the United States called on European governments to oppose the Palestinian Authority’s bid to upgrade its status to “non-member state” at the UN saying the move is “extremely counterproductive” and warned of “significant negative consequences” for the PA including financial sanctions. Deputy Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas said that the European Union is advising the Palestinian Authority to “be careful” regarding its stated plan to ask the UN for non-member state observer status at its General Assembly. He went on to say: “The EU is advising them to be careful but the decision is theirs.”

As a result of being unable to agree on an economic budget that would pass the Israeli Knesset, Israeli law requires early elections. Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early elections. The election is expected to take place on January 22, 2013.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) PA expects UNGA vote on statehood by November
2) UN: Palestinian statehood bid likely in November
3) ‘US calls on EU to oppose PA statehood bid at UN’
4) ‘EU warned PA of negative costs of UN bid’
5) PM chooses January 22, 2013 as date for elections

Turkish air force jets forced a Syrian 35-passenger Airbus A320 bound from Russia to Damascus  to land in Ankara on Oct. 10 on suspicion it was carrying arms. At the same time, the Turkish foreign ministry released this statement: “All civilian flights in Syrian airspace have been stopped since it is not safe.” As a result, it is seen that Turkey is taking a first step toward creating a no-fly zone over Syria. Tension between Syria and Turkey are extremely high and dangerous.

Assad and Iran are unlikely to sit still and allow Turkey to create a no-fly zone over Syria. It is because of the Turkish initiative that US military officials are concerned that Bashar Assad may be willing to resort to using chemical warfare in the face of outside military intervention in the Syrian conflict. They suggest that the Syrian ruler may judge the peril to his regime on a par with the 2011 Western-Arab intervention in Libya which caused Muammar Qaddafi’s downfall. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that US troops had set up a headquarters in Jordan to help monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria. Similar headquarters are already present in Turkey and Israel.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Turkish F16s force Syrian flight from Moscow to land. Ankara: Syrian air space no longer safe
2) Turkey’s army on high state of readiness, first step for Syria no-fly zone

A drone believed to have originated from Iran penetrated Israeli airspace for about 30 minutes on October 6 and was shot down. The flight by the drone may have been a preparatory step by Iran to attack Israel which triggers a greater regional war. Two days after this incident, Israel stationed Patriot missile interceptor batteries in different parts of northern Israel, including Mt. Carmel, near Haifa. In reality, the Patriot missile interceptors would be used as defense in a missile war against Syria and Hizbollah.

Despite economic pressures and Western sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised that the nuclear program will continue. In discussions with the West over its nuclear program, Iranian officials have begun to describe what they call a “nine-step plan” to gradually suspend the production of the uranium on condition that sanctions blocking Iranian oil sales be removed. The US has dismissed this offer as being unacceptable. The United States has not put a formal offer to Iran on the table but an outline mentioned to Iranian officials is almost the exact opposite of the Iranian plan. The US perspective is that Iran would halt all production of its 20 percent enriched uranium immediately. Then, it would ship the existing stockpile out of the country and close the Fordow plant. Then the United States and its allies would offer some cooperation on Iranian civilian nuclear projects, and would agree not to add new sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council. However, existing sanctions would remain in place until a final deal with Iran is reached.

On the other hand, it is being reported that high Iranian officials have said Iran could announce a temporary halt to uranium enrichment before next month’s U.S. election in a move to save Barack Obama’s presidency. In return, the US would remove some sanctions against the Iranian central bank and oil industry. These negotiations are believed to be an extension of secret negotiations between the US and Iran which started in early January.  At that time, Obama is said to have told Iran: “I didn’t want to impose sanctions on your central bank, but I had no options but to approve it since a Congress majority had approved the decision.” In any event, Iran has threatened that if talks fail between them and the West that Iran will enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity in 2013.

DEBKA reports that  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s personal cameraman defected to the US when Ahmadinejad came to the US in late September to speak at the UN. In doing so, the cameraman brought with him up-to-date photographs and videos of top Iranian leaders visiting their most sensitive and secret nuclear and missile sites. Furthermore, he has given US intelligence the most complete and updated footage it has ever obtained of the interiors of Iran’s top secret military facilities and various nuclear installations including some never revealed to nuclear watchdog inspectors. Among them are exclusive interior shots of the Natanz nuclear complex, the Fordo underground enrichment plant and the Parchin military complex.

As a result of the sabotage of the Fordo uranium enrichment plants power lines on August 17, the Iranian nuclear program has been set back about 6 months. This development enabled Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to move his original red line for Iran from late September 2012 – now – to the spring or early summer of 2013.  In commenting about the possible timing for the US to go to war against Iran, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said that any decision to go to war with Iran must be an American one and not subcontracted to Israel. Furthermore, Kissinger said that the US should not establish public “red lines” which might trigger a US military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, Kissinger said that the focus between Iran and the US should be on diplomacy to resolve the nuclear issue.

On the other hand, DEBKA reports that US intelligence recently warned President Barack Obama that Iran’s nuclear breakthrough point is much closer than formerly estimated, i.e. approximately 7 weeks off. In late November, therefore, Iran will enough 20 percent plus enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb. As a result, there is speculation that the US and Israel might work together to launch an “October surprise” attack against Iran before the US elections on November 6.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) UAV intrusion: Iranian act of belligerence against US and Israeli military targets
2) Two days after UAV, Patriots posted near Haifa and other parts of N. Israel
3) Ahmadinejad: Iran won’t relinquish nuclear program
4) Iran Offers Plan, Dismissed by U.S., on Nuclear Crisis
5) October Surprise? Obama secret Iran deal cut
6) Iran to enrich uranium to 60 percent if nuclear talks fail
7) Defecting Iranian cameraman brings CIA priceless film of secret nuclear sites
8) Fordo sabotage enabled Netanyahu to move Iran red line to spring 2013
9) Kissinger: War with Iran must be a US decision
10) US sources: US, Israel plan October Surprise. Others: Israel can do it alone

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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
3) The call for a political union within the Eurozone

Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi made his first trip to the United States and met with President Obama. Morsi told the United States that if the USA wants Egypt to honor its 1979 peace treaty with Israel that the US should live up to its own Camp David commitment to Palestinian self-rule. He said the United States must respect the Arab world’s history and culture even when that conflicts with Western values.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Turkey on September 21 to discuss when would be the best time to ask the UN General Assembly to vote to upgrade its status to become a non-member state as well as the content of that request. The US is pressuring the Palestinians to postpone their upgrade plans until after the U.S. elections in November.

Mahmood Abbas gave a speech at the UN General Assembly regarding the status of the peace process. Abbas accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, terrorism, racism, house demolitions, imprisoning “soldiers of freedom,” rejecting the two-state solution and undermining the PA and the Oslo Accords. Abbas was trying to convince the international community that the peace process is dead and that the only solution lies in imposing a solution rather than reaching one through negotiations. Abbas said: “We have started intensive consultations with the various regional organizations and the state members in order for the General Assembly to take a decision granting the state of Palestine the status of nonmember state during this UN session.” Palestinian officials said that their bid for recognition will likely be submitted to the General Assembly on Nov. 29 after the US presidential election.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the Abbas speech by saying  “We won’t solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the UN. That’s not the way to solve it. We won’t solve our conflict with unilateral declarations of statehood.” The two sides needed to “sit together, negotiate together, and reach a mutual compromise in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the one and only Jewish State.”

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Egypt’s New Leader Spells Out Terms for U.S.-Arab Ties
2) Palestinian leader seeks Turkey’s support for recognition
3) Analysis: Abbas’s charge sheet against Israel
4) Abbas accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’
5) PM draws clear ‘red lines’ on Iran nuclear program

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is intervening to support Bashar Assad in his effort to remain in power in Syria by taking on the task to train and transform Assad’s Alawite Shabbiha militia into a fighting force modeling the Iranian elite Al Qods Brigade.  Iran has promised the Syrian outfit weaponry on a par with the Al Qods arsenal. Al Qods is the IRGC’s arm of clandestine and terrorist operations in Iran’s foreign arenas. Upon completion of the project, Assad is expected to have an extra 50-60,000 professional Alawite soldiers under arms – the nucleus of a Syrian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Assad along with the Iranian government would have the biggest special operations force in the Middle East. At present, the number of Iranian military personnel present in Syria had grown to 2,200.

Iran is intervening in Syria based upon two conclusions:

1) They don’t believe that the US plans an imminent military strike against Iran’s nuclear program.

2) If a surprise attack against Iran happens from the US or Israel, Iran would be in position to strike against Israel from the Syrian border.

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has given King Abdullah II notice that he has until October to bow to their demand to transform the Hashemite Kingdom into a constitutional monarchy or face a Jordanian “Arab Spring”.  The Muslim Brotherhood has already set a date for mass demonstrations against the King to start on Oct. 10 and ordered its members to go to work at once to mobilize at least 50,000 demonstrators for daily protests against the king and the royal family until he bows to their will. Saudi Arabia fears the oil kingdom may be next in line if Jordan is crushed by the next stage of the “Arab Spring.”

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Jordan on the brink: Muslim Brothers mobilize for King Abdullah’s overthrow
2) Iranian officers reshape Assad’s Shabbiha militia into a second al-Qods

Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahar and deputy commander of its military arm, Marwan Issa, spent time speaking with leaders in Lebanon and Iran finalizing and signing protocols covering a binding commitment by Hamas of the Gaza Strip to join Iran, Syria and Hizballah in a war on Israel. Hamas agreed to obey any orders to attack Israel coming from Iran, Syria or Lebanon.

In a TV interview on the CBS news program “60 Minutes”, US President Barack Obama called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insistance that the US set “red lines” regarding its nuclear program as “noise” that he needs to ignore. He said: “When it comes to our national security decisions – any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people. And I am going to block out – any noise that’s out there.” The US president was crystal clear: By saying he will be ruled solely by American security interests, he showed them that they too were being left to be guided by Israel’s security interests. So forget about red lines for America, he was telling Netanyahu.

In a speech before the UN General Assembly which focused mainly upon the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu insisted that “red lines” should be set by the US and the international community to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu said that the “red line” should be preventing Iran from enriching uranium to 90%. Netanyahu explained that there is 3 main stages to building a nuclear bomb. The first stage is enriching uranium to 70%. The second stage is enriching uranium to 90%. The third stage is using the enriched uranium to actually make a nuclear bomb. “Where’s Iran?” he asked. “Iran has completed the first stage which consists of enriching uranium to 70%.  It took them many years but they completed it.” He said that Iran was well into the second stage which entails enriching uranium to 90%. He estimated that Iran would be able to move into the final stage and be able to produce a nuclear bomb by the spring or summer of 2013.

A US spokesman for the Obama administration said that the United States and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but remains opposed to Netanyahu’s push for Obama to set a red line that Iran must not cross if it is to avoid military action.

On the other hand, the commander of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s “red line” speech by saying Israeli threats of military action only reinforce Iran’s determination to push on with its nuclear program

After speaking at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State, Hilliary Clinton. DEBKA reports that Clinton made it clear that President Barack Obama would not tolerate the Israeli prime minister having a say in US policy over Iran. Clinton said that Obama is committed to diplomacy regardless of Netanyahu’s warning that it was getting “late, very late” to stop a nuclear Iran. Clinton then announced a decision by the world powers to make another effort to go into another round of nuclear negotiations with Iran. EU foreign executive Catherine Ashton was directed to try again to get in touch with Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalilee although both met with each other on September 18 with no agreement. Meanwhile,  it is being reported that the US and Israel have come to an understanding that Israel will hold back from attacking Iran’s nuclear sites before the US election in November while a special team set up by President Barack Obama completes a new paper setting out the end game for Iran.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Hamas signs binding military commitment to Iran-led war on Israel
2) Obama snubs Netanyahu on Iran: My decisions – only what’s right for America
3) Full text of PM Netanyahu’s speech at the UNGA
4) PM draws clear ‘red lines’ on Iran nuclear program
5) US: We share Israeli goal of stopping Iran nukes
6) White House irked by Netanyahu’s “red line” speech, reverts to Iran diplomacy
7) Iran says it’s more determined following ‘red line’ speech

11 European foreign ministers held a meeting calling for a single, elected European President under a common European defense policy. The ministers also proposed sweeping new powers for the European Parliament and further splitting of the EU by creating a new parliamentary sub chamber for the 17 countries of the eurozone. The plan was backed by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal. Recently, European Parliament leader Jose Manuel Barroso called for the European Union to become a “federation” of states under a new European treaty or constitution.

Worldwide economic collapse resulting in a one world government with one-world currency is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Europe’s most powerful countries call for elected EU president

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly looking into canceling the Oslo Accords and the economic and security agreements related to them. This marks the first time the Palestinian leadership has debated canceling the Oslo Accords since they were signed in 1993. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that canceling the Oslo Agreement is “on the negotiating table” in light of “the Israeli denial of the peace process.” Rabbo said that the process of rejecting the Oslo Accords would involve canceling the peace agreement and finding an alternative to push Palestinian causes forward.

The first Oslo accord, the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, established the PA in 1993. It tasked the Palestinian body with governing and overseeing administration in the West Bank. The agreement was meant to last for a five-year period, at which point a final-status negotiation was to be concluded. Oslo II, The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, was signed in 1995. The permanent or core issues of dispute between Israel and the Palestinians — Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security, and borders — were not resolved in the interim accords, and were to have been resolved in a final-status agreement.

Meanwhile,PA President Mahmoud said that he was determined to lead the “battle for recognition” of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month. Abbas said he would deliver a speech before the General Assembly on September 27 before the opening session of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in which he would ask for recognition of a Palestinian state. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the terms of reference for Palestinian negotiations with Israel will be set in a proposed UN General Assembly resolution. He said that he did not know if a resolution would be introduced to the General Assembly before or after the upcoming US presidential elections. He went on to say that in any event, it will happen well before the end of the year. The goals of such a move would be to obtain a draft resolution signed by 150 nations in support of a two-state solution based on 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.

In order to pass, a majority of nations within the UN General Assembly must support it. Right now, about 120 countries have already granted the Palestinians the rank of a sovereign state. It is expected that as many as 130 to 150 countries would support the proposal at the UN.  Upon approval by the 193 member nations of the UN, the PLO would become get an upgrade of their status from an observer to a non-member state of the UN. As an observer state, Palestine could not only participate in assembly debates but also join various U.N. agencies such as the Law of the Sea Treaty and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based in the Hague. Passage of such a General Assembly resolution would be considered a de-facto recognition of statehood. It request cannot be vetoed by any single nation. However, only the Security Council can grant membership rights and full nation status at the UN where Britain, France, the USA, Russia or China could choose to veto the request.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, “The occupied territories are not disputed territories. There is wide consensus among the nations of the world that the border of both states is at the pre-1967 line. When the Palestinians gain recognition, Israel can not argue that these are disputed territories. After the UN vote … Palestine will become a country under occupation. Israel will not be able to say that this is a disputed area. The terms of reference for any negotiations will be about withdrawal, not over what the Israelis say is legal or not legal. Once Abbas delivers his address on September 27, the Palestinians begin geo-political discussions with UN nations to solicit support for their resolution for non-member state status.”

Erekat rejected any attempts to characterize their efforts at the UN as unilateral steps. “We never said our right to self determination is subject to negotiation. When it comes to a two state solution, the PA is focusing its efforts on the UN, as the first and best step. Once Palestine is recognized as a non-member state, he said, the rest of the process will fall into place. Once there is an accepted resolution defining the two state solution along the pre-1967 line, negotiations with Israel can center on staged steps for withdrawal.”

A senior Israeli official said that if the Palestinians went through with their UN bid it would be a “confidence destroying measure” that would “raise extremely serious questions about their real commitment to a negotiated agreement.” If the Palestinians asked for non-member statehood status in the UN, he said, it would break the most fundamental commitment of the Oslo accords: that all outstanding issues would be negotiated between the two sides.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) PLO considers canceling Oslo Accords
2) PA’s Abbas ‘determined’ to lead battle for statehood
3) Erekat: UN resolution will set terms for talks with Israel
4) PMO: PA statehood bid at UN violates Oslo peace process
5) Palestinians seek UN upgrade opposed by Israel, U.S.
6) Palestinians want 150 votes for UN non-member status

Iran continues to fly military personnel and quantities of weapons into Syria to support the government of Bashar Assad.  Iran is increasing its military involvement in the constantly escalating Syrian civil war, broadening it into a multinational conflict which threatens to drag Lebanon in, by means of the Iranian-Syrian ally, Hizballah. Iran is not hiding its actions. On Sept. 16, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Gen. Ali Jafari said openly that Al Qods Brigades units were present and operational in both Syria and Lebanon. The increased Iranian involvement in Syria caused a surprise two-division strength drill by Israel on its Golan border with Syria. These war games are the biggest that Israel has conducted in the six years since the second Lebanon war on Hizballah in 2006, with tens of thousands of soldiers and senior officers, including the artillery and the air force taking part. Last weekend,  heavy traffic of convoys of tank and APC carriers and military vehicles with emergency store markings were seen heading toward Israel’s northern border with Syria.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Iran pours more troops into Syria, ready to target Israel from Syria and Lebanon
2) Tens of thousands of Israeli troops in surprise Golan drill. Khamenei: No bending to the West

Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran “occasionally” gave the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “false information” to protect Iran’s nuclear facilities. He also said “There is no choice but to mislead other intelligence bodies. Sometimes we show weaknesses we don’t have. Sometimes we show strengths we don’t have. Later this is evident in talks with the IAEA.” Meanwhile, the head of the IAEA said that power lines to Iran’s most controversial nuclear enrichment plant  from the city of Qom to the underground Fordo plant had been blown up on August 17.

Tensions between US President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue to rise. Last week, Barack Obama decided to snub Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the coming United Nations General Assembly meetings to be held at the end of September. Now, Obama has also decided to not meet with Israel’s No. 2, Deputy Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak will be in New York next week to attend the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative. Any decision by Israel to attack Iran’s controversial nuclear research program would be a collective decision by both Netanyahu and Barak yet Obama has decided to avoid them both. However, Obama will find time to meet with Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, to discuss the implications of the recent riots by street gangs near the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Furthermore,  Obama told 1,200 American rabbis that he was not willing to impose a “set of conditions” or red-lines on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is attempting to put Obama into a corner by demanding the US president delineate “little red lines” which if passed would prompt US military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities. In response, Binyamin Netanyahu warned that Iran was just six to seven months away from being able to build a nuclear bomb stressing the urgent need to set clear “red lines” over Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu further said that by mid-2013, Iran would be 90 percent of the way toward enough enriched uranium for a bomb. You have to place that red line before them now, before it’s too late.

In any event, the United States, Britain and France warned Iran that time is running out for negotiations to find an agreement with the West to stop its nuclear program. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting discussing sanctions on the Iran, US Ambassador Susan Rice said “time is wasting,” and warned that the West “will not engage in an endless process of negotiations that fail to produce any results.” However, she said, “We believe there is still time and space for diplomacy.” Britain’s UN envoy Mark Lyall Grant said that Iran is “at a crossroads,” and that it must decide “soon” whether or not it wants to be a responsible member of the international community. French ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud also attacked Iran for failing to negotiate over its nuclear program. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded by saying that his country does not “accept the demands of any superpower and makes its decisions solely based on the interests of its people and the country, even if all of the world’s powers get angry at its decisions.”

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Iran atomic chief admits Tehran misled IAEA
2) Iran atomic chief says ‘explosives’ cut power at Fordo
3) Obama snubs another Israeli leader
4) Obama to rabbis: No ‘set of conditions’ on Iran
5) Panetta: ‘Little red lines’ on Iran a political ploy
6) Netanyahu warns: Iran on brink of nuke bomb in 6-7 months
7) US, Britain, France warn Iran: Time for talks running out
8.) U.S. warns Iran: Time is running out on diplomacy over nuclear program
9) West warns Iran time running out for nuclear accord
10) Khamenei: Iran will never cave to Western ‘anger’

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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
3) The prospects for a banking and political union in the Eurozone and the Fed starts QE3.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has urged its 57 member countries to lend its full support to encourage the UN General Assembly to recognize a PLO state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Right now over 130 countries around the world recognize a PLO state.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) OIC shoring up support for Palestine upgrade bid at UN

According to Middle East officials, the Obama administration expressed willingness to negotiate with Russia over providing European countries with a missile defense shield if Russians would no longer support the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Obama offers ‘flexibility’ to Russia

The US and Israel are engaged in a high profile public disagreement regarding the policy of setting “red lines” over the Iranian nuclear program which would trigger military action against Iran. Last week, Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that sanctions aren’t slowing Iran’s nuclear advances “because it doesn’t see a clear red line from the international community.” In response to these charges, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that the US is “not setting deadlines” for Iran and still considers negotiations as “by far the best approach” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Since April, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, the UK, France, China and Russia – plus Germany, have engaged in three rounds of diplomacy with Iran. Even with pressure from an array of new US and EU sanctions on energy, trade, banking and shipping, the talks have failed so far to persuade Iran to suspend aspects of its nuclear program.

Asked if the Obama administration will lay out sharper “red lines” for Iran or state explicitly the consequences of failing to negotiate a deal with world powers by a certain date, Clinton said, “We’re not setting deadlines.” While the US and Israel share the goal that Iran not acquire a nuclear weapon, Clinton said there is a difference in perspective over the time horizon for talks.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the Clinton comments, an Israeli official said, “These sorts of statements will not stop Iran’s centrifuges from spinning, unfortunately the opposite could be true. This won’t deter Iran but could put it at ease.”

The US State Department said setting red lines on the Iranian nuclear program “is not useful”. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: “If Iran decides to make a nuclear weapon, the United States would have a little more than a year to act to stop it. The United States has “pretty good intelligence” on Iran. “We know generally what they’re up to. And so we keep a close track on them.” US President Barack Obama decided to phone Netanyahu over the issue. In their converstation, Obama rejected an appeal by Netanyahu  to make the size of Iran’s stockpile of close-to-bomb-grade uranium the threshold.  Obama told Netanyahu that the US has a “red line” and it is Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

After the phone conversation, Netanyahu replied: “We are facing great challenges. As Prime Minister of Israel, it is my duty to uphold the vital interests of the State of Israel, to ensure its security and its future. The greatest interest today is to prevent Iran from continuing on its clear steps to achieving nuclear weapons, this from a country that calls for our destruction and intends to achieve its goal.” Netanyahu said he would uphold those interests, even if not easy, “because leadership is tested in upholding them even if there are disagreements with friends, even the best of friends. This is what I have done and this is what I will continue to do for the State of Israel and the security of its citizens.”

After making these comments, the next day, Netanyahu said: “The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel. Now if Iran knows that there is no red line. If Iran knows that there is no deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs,” he said.

In angry response to Netanyahu’s insistence that the US set a “red lines” for the Iranian nuclear program, Obama refused a request by Netanyahu to meet him when Netanyahu arrives in the US at the end of September to give a speech at the UN General Assembly saying that he had no time for a meeting.

Israel had been in conversation with the US regarding finding common ground regarding their policy toward Iran. However with the refusal to meet Netanyahu when he comes to the US, talks between Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta collapsed. They had aimed at an agreement to bridge their differences over an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

A Jewish US Senator from the state of Connecticut, Joseph Lieberman, disagreed with the policy of the Obama administration by saying, “I hope he can find a way to really spell out with just a little more detail” what the US is willing to do to prevent Iran from become a nuclear power. He said he wanted Obama to “take it beyond that just all options are on the table, including military force” when it comes to US intentions on the subject. If Iran leaves the world no choice between accepting an Iranian bomb or attacking Tehran’s nuclear facilities, the US should lead an international consortium in striking Iran.

However, another Jewish US Senator from the state of California, Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing him of trying to interfere with the US election by opposing Obama. She also reprimanded Netanyahu and expressed her “deep disappointment over your remarks that call into question the US support for Israel.” She went on to describe them as “utterly contrary to the extraordinary United States- Israel alliance.” Netanyahu responded to these allegations by saying they were “completely groundless.” Netanyahu said: “It has nothing to do with the American elections, because the Iranian nuclear program doesn’t care about the American political calendar. If the centrifuges stop miraculously, if they stop preparing enriched uranium to make atomic bombs then I suppose I wouldn’t have to speak out. But the Iranian nuclear program proceeds unabated and they don’t care about the internal American political calendar. For me this is a policy issue, a security issue, and not a political issue,” he said.

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked by reporter George Stephanopoulos in a TV interview with the US television network, ABC, if his “red lines” were the same as Obama regarding Iran. Romney said, “Yes. My red line is Iran may not have a nuclear weapon,” Romney explained. “Iran as a nuclear nation is unacceptable to the United States of America.”

In an effort to try to persuade Netanyahu to NOT attack Iran if it crosses Israel’s “red lines”, representatives from Britain, France and Germany had conversations with the Israeli government. Sir John Sawyers, the head of England’s MI6 intelligence agency, traveled to Israel to speak with Netanyahu. Then, France’s president called Netanyahu and stressed to him that “a diplomatic solution must be found.” In addition, Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Guido Westerwelle told Netanyahu that Germany is also opposed to a unilateral Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Finally, the United States and its Western allies have persuaded Russia and China to support a resolution critical of Iran’s nuclear defiance, in the hope of showing Israel that diplomacy is an alternative to military force against Iran’s nuclear program. With fears growing over the possibility of Israeli military attack and other diplomatic efforts on Iran deadlocked,  the document is significant in seeking to show a unity among world-powers in opposing an Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear program.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Clinton: US ‘not setting deadlines’ for Iran
2) Official: Clinton’s comments may put Iran at ease
3) Lieberman to ‘Post’: Obama should define how to stop Iran
4) US: Setting red lines for Iran is not useful
5) Panetta: US has a year if Iran decides on a nuke
6) US official: Nuclear bomb is our red line
7) PM to continue pressing for red lines on Iran
8.) PM: World powers have no moral right to block us
9) US: No time for Obama-Netanyahu meeting
10) By refusing to see Netanyahu, Obama sharpens his Iran dilemma
11) Senator slams Netanyahu for interfering in US election
12) Netanyahu: I am not interfering in US presidential election
13) Romney says his ‘red line’ on Iran is the same as Obama’s
14) MI6 chief was British messenger sent to dissuade Israel from Iran strike
15) Hollande: Diplomatic solution needed for Iran crisis
16) German FM to Netanyahu: Israeli strike on Iran nuclear sites could fracture international coalition
17) Russia, China agree to back IAEA resolution critical of Iran

The Federal Reserve announced an open ended policy whereby they plan to purchase $40 billion of mortgage debt a month in a third round of quantitative easing. Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the national economy when conventional monetary policy has become ineffective. A central bank implements quantitative easing by buying financial assets from commercial banks and other private institutions with newly created money in order to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy. Quantitative easing increases the excess reserves of the banks. In doing this, the U.S. money supply is expanded when the Fed electronically credits banks with more funds. A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an asset-backed security that represents a claim on the cash flows from mortgage loans through a process known as securitization. In the United States, the most common securitization trusts are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, U.S. government-sponsored enterprises.

Pastor Lindsey Williams mentioned in talking with his retired oil executive elitist friend that on September 6, China announced that they will permit oil to be traded using the Chinese currency, the yuan. Since WWII, oil has been traded primarily with US dollars. As a result, the US dollar has been seen and used as the world’s reserve currency.  This process will weaken the value and use of the US dollar in the world. As a result, Pastor Lindsey Williams said that with the Chinese announcement on September 6 and the trend of more countries to engage in bi-lateral trade, the US dollar has now essentially died. It will take about 6 to 9 months for the average person to realize the impact that these things will have on the purchasing power of the US dollar.

On 2 March 2012, the heads of state or government of all EU member states with the exception of the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic signed a Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) in the Economic and Monetary Union. This Treaty aims at safeguarding the stability of the euro area as a whole. The TSCG will enter into force after it has been ratified by 12 euro area member states, and it will be open to the accession of EU member states other than the contracting Parties. The target date for entry into force is 1 January 2013.The aim is to incorporate the TSCG’s substance into EU law within five years of its entry into force.

There was a challenge submitted to the German court system regarding the legality of Germany’s involvement in their participation in the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund. The German Supreme Court ruled that it can ratify the ESM.  With the German ruling, the 17 countries of the euro zone will be able to move ahead with the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, something like a continental version of the International Monetary Fund. The mechanism will handle bailouts and work in tandem with the European Central Bank to buy the bonds of countries like Italy and Spain that are straining under high interest rates. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup, following the decision of the German Constitutional Court in favor of the European Stability Mechanism announced the  inaugural meeting of the ESM-Board of Governors in Luxembourg on October 8.

The technocrats who run the EU ultimately want a banking, economic and political union. In a speech to the European Parliament, the head of the bloc’s executive, President Jose Manuel Barroso, said … “Let’s not be afraid of the words: We will need to move towards a federation of nation states. This is our political horizon. This is what must guide our work in the years to come” he said.

Worldwide economic collapse resulting in a one world government with one-world currency is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Fed Undertakes QE3 With $40 Billion Monthly MBS Purchases
2) Federal Reserve launches QE3
3) Mortgage-backed security
4) Quantitative easing
5) Lindsey Williams: The Dollar died on Sept 6, 2012
6) Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance signed
7) German Court Backs EU Rescue Fund With Liability Cap
8) In Victory for Merkel, German Court Backs Euro Rescue Fund
9) EU Juncker: To Convene First Meeting Of ESM Governors Oct. 8
10) Europe must become ‘federation of states’, Barroso says

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

This week’s update (Sept 8) is now posted. It is (1 hr 8 minutes).

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that the Palestinians with the support of Arab countries, Islamic states and the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement will back a Palestinian request to seek a non-member status at the United Nations at the end of September. This will happen, said Abbas, despite United States pressure opposing the move. Abbas said that there are 133 states that recognize Palestine with its capital in Jerusalem and additional states with which we share diplomatic relations. Arab League Secretary Nabil al-Arabi  said that Arab nations will support a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly. He told reporters: “It has been decided to back the request of Palestine for non-member status at the United Nations because of the difficulty to obtain a full membership which requires Security Council approval.” Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said, “Egypt continues to support any move decided by the Palestinian leadership to obtain full membership in the United Nations.” A simple majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly would be enough to bestow non-member observer status to the Palestinians.

The democratic party originally removed reference to God in their platform as well as Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Israel Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said “The fact that the Democrats removed a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital from their platform is more worrying than the argument over Iran. The change may have far-reaching consequences. Anyone who thinks that dividing Jerusalem will bring peace is mistaken and does not understand the Middle East. A united Jerusalem will help bring peace and stability.” Because of political criticism, the democratic party through a voice vote amended the platform to reinstate the reference to God and Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In response to this,  Rivlin said “I have no doubt that [US President Barack] Obama put Jerusalem back in his party’s platform out of political and electoral considerations and because of the sharp criticism from Israel and the US.” The Palestinians criticized the U.S. Democratic Party’s decision to declare Jerusalem as the Israeli capital saying  failure to recognize the Palestinian claim to East Jerusalem will “destroy the peace process” and lead to “endless war.” The democratic platform language on Jerusalem is at odds with official U.S. policy calling for the status of Jerusalem to be resolved through negotiations. Both Israel and the Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital.

Finally, in a 82-page paper entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East”, said that American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Israel. The authors conclude that Israel is currently the greatest threat to US national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal US relations with Arab and  Muslim countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community. The study was commissioned by the US Intelligence Community comprising 16 American intelligence agencies including the departments of Navy, Army, Air Force, Homeland Security, the US state department, FBI and CIA who commissioned the study.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Arabs to back Palestinian bid for UN non-member status
2) Abbas says he has backing for new UN bid
3) Abbas: Palestinians will seek UN recognition, despite U.S. pressure
4) U.S. Democratic Party removes reference to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital from official platform
5) Rivlin: Obama doesn’t understand the Mideast
6) US envoy in Israel to Rivlin: Obama will visit Israel
7) Democrats Change Platform to Add God, Jerusalem
8.) ‘Obama only put J’lem back in platform for votes’
9) Palestinians: Democrats’ failure to recognize our claim to Jerusalem will destroy the peace process
10) US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East?

Foreign intervention in the Syrian conflict has started. Turkey is considered to have stepped directly into the Syrian conflict marking the onset of foreign intervention. Turkish army officers have assumed direct command of the first two Syrian rebel brigades fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces in Northern Syria. After this, Britain and France reported that they were sending aid directly to the Syrian opposition. This was followed by U.S. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham urging the US to help arm Syria’s rebels with weapons and create a safe zone inside the country for a transition government. Lieberman said: “The opposition has effectively seized control of a piece of land in northern Syria. If we help them protect themselves from Assad’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft they can establish a transitional government … I am confident that if we set it up and told (the regime) that if they attacked it there would be a vigorous response, they would not attack it.”  It will now be up to the Syrian rebels, backed and steered by a US-led Arab-Western-European-Turkish coalition, to fight for the safe haven, purge it of forces and militias loyal to Assad and expand it for control of large tracts of territory in eastern and western Syria.

DEBKA analysis of the situation is that the first US-Turkish backed steps for creating safe havens in Syria and possible strategic bombardment of the Syrian army have brought the Middle East close to two dangerous things. First, the increased probability that Assad will use chemical weapons to try to preserve his power and secondly, war between Hizballah in Lebanon and Israel. Hizballah supports the Assad government and if Hizballah feels that Assad is losing his grip on power, they may decide to start a war with Israel.

While Russia announced recently that it will cut back its military aid to Syria, the thinking in some circles in the USA is that Russia’s disengagement from its military support of Assad is making it possible for increased foreign intervention in Syria. In any event, Russia is still strongly supporting Syria in a non-military way as Russia rejected U.S. calls for increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after meeting with US Secretary of State Hilliary Clinton said that Russia is opposed to U.S.-backed penalties against the Assad government because it hurts Russia’s commercial interests. Lavrov said: “Unilateral U.S. sanctions against Syria and Iran increasingly take on an extraterritorial character, directly affecting the interests of Russian business, in particular banks. We clearly stated that this was unacceptable.”

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Turkish officers take command of Syrian rebel brigades. N. Israel on alert
2) U.S. Senators McCain, Lieberman, Graham urge tougher stand on Syria, Iran
3) Chemical threat is back. Hizballah, Israel close to clash
4) Russia rejects US’ calls for pressure on Syria, Iran

Republican Congressman Mike Rogers from Michigan indicated that he witnessed a sharp exchange between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador Dan Shapiro. Rogers said that it was “very, very clear” from the meeting that the Israelis “had lost their patience with the Obama administration. There was no doubt. Right now, the Israelis don’t believe that the US administration is serious when they say that all options are on the table, and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That’s why the [nuclear] program is progressing,” he said.  Rogers said that he walked out of the meeting feeling that Israel was at their “wits’ end,” and feeling that the window for impacting the Iranian program was starting to close. Meanwhile, Netanyahu met with the told Italian foreign Minister and lobbied for the European Union to strengthen sanctions against Iran while pleading with the international community to “set a clear red line for Iran that it knows it cannot go beyond in pursuit of nuclear weapons.”

Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that regarding the timetable for military action against Iran in order to stop their nuclear program that “Israel and the US’s clocks are ticking at different times” and that the US respects that “Israel reserves the right to make sovereign decisions on Iran.” Evangelical Christian leader Mike Evans has spoken with leadership within the Israeli government and he believes that there is a 75% chance that Israel will attack Iran between September 15 and October 15. When they do, Evans says that Israel would begin military action with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack which would cripple Iran’s power grid.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with US President Obama at the UN General Assembly meetings the end of September. If Israel would agree to delay attacking Iran until after the US elections in November, the US is discussing supplying Israel with some advanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs that can penetrate through up to 60 feet (almost 20 meters) of reinforced concrete. This equipment will make it easier for Israel to damage Iran’s nuclear weapon program should it decide to attack Iran.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) US congressman confirms sharp exchange between PM, US envoy
2) PM calls on Europe to step up Iran sanctions
3) ‘US, Israel clocks tick at different times on Iran’
4) Israel readies ‘secret weapon’ for Iran attack
5) Report: Obama, Netanyahu to Meet After Yom Kippur
6) Israel May Delay Attack in Return for MOP Bunker Buster Bombs

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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
3) The prospects for economic collapse in the USA and the world

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran and the growing influence of Islam in countries whose rulers were overthrown in the Arab Spring was a major obstacle in restarting direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Israel believes that if the Iranian nuclear threat was eliminated and its regional influence with the Syrian government of Bashar Assad and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was reduced, it would be easier to strike a peace deal with the Palestinians. The US position is that a breakthrough on the Palestinian issue would have a great deal of impact in dealing with Iran as more Arab and Muslim countries would support the United States effort to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

The Republican Party platform of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney supports a two-state solution in the Middle East. Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas indicates that the Palestinians will ask the UN General Assembly to recognize a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital this fall. Abbas said that such a request would protect the peace process and preserve the two state solution.  It is expected that about 130 countries would support the Palestinian request which is enough to pass the resolution.  If such a decision is made by the General Assembly, it would enable the Palestinians to have the status of a non-member state and be able to join the International Criminal Court and seek to indict Israel for alleged war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel rejects the Palestinians efforts for recognition of a PLO state at the United Nations which bypasses direct peace negotiations. Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel should present Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with an ultimatum: If he doesn’t resume negotiations and abandon his unilateral campaign for UN recognition as a state, Israel will cease to see him as a legitimate negotiating partner. Israel, he said, must take whatever measures is necessary to stop Abbas’ UN application. Meanwhile, the United States is opposed to the Palestinians making a request to the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of a PLO state prior to the November US elections. A senior PA official said that the Obama administration threatened to withhold financial aid from the Palestinians if they made the request to the United Nations General Assembly before November 6. As a result, the Palestinian Authority have decided to delay their request to unilaterally declare a state at the United Nations until after the November’s presidential election in the US. A British official said that Britain will not suspend their financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if the Palestinians decide to submit their application to the UN General Assembly seeking recognition of Palestine as a non-member state of the UN.

India has stated they they support a PLO state with East Jerusalem as its capital. An Indian spokesperson said that India in support for UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 wants a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its Capital, living within secure and recognized borders, side by side at peace with Israel as endorsed in the Quartet Roadmap and UNSC Resolutions 1397 and 1515. Finally, in a meeting with Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi, China expressed support for a PLO state with East Jerusalem as its capital 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) Netanyahu: Iran, Islamic rise are barriers to negotiations
2) Republicans set to endorse two-state solution at convention next week
3) Abbas: UN bid will protect two state solution
4) Lieberman to Haaretz: Israel must launch concerted campaign to delegitimize Abbas
5) Obama to Palestinians: Delay statehood until election over
6) Palestinians put UN recognition bid on hold
7) Britain will not suspend PA aid over new UN bid
8.) India asks Israel to stop all settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories
9) Egypt: Nation, China Back Establishing Palestinian State Within 1967 Borders, Al-Quds As Its Capital

Israel media reports that former Israel prime minister Ehud Olmert ordered the 2007 strike on a Syrian nuclear reactor immediately after former US president George W.  Bush informed him that the Americans would not attack the facility. The US had decided to handle the Syrian threat via diplomacy. The Israelis were convinced that time was fairly short, and that they had to strike the reactor — built by the Syrians with extensive input from the North Koreans — before it went live.  As a result, Israel unilaterally bombed the reactor. Would the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu respond the same way if Israel feels that US President Barack Obama would not be willing to attack Iran within the time frame that Israel feels is necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear program ?

France desires to work with Turkey to create a buffer zone for the Syrian rebels. France has also proposed that the Syrian opposition form a provisional government promising to grant it immediate diplomatic recognition. Russia has suspended the use of its naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.  Russia continues to support the Assad government politically and in a humanitarian way along with providing intelligence and information but is not planning to provide major arms supplies to Syria. A Russian official said, “We cannot, by military means, oppose countries that support the Syrian opposition.” Finally, a significant number of Sunni Islamist militants who are fighting against the Syrian government of Bashar Ashad want a strict form of Sharia Islamic law to be implemented as part of a future Syrian government. As a result of the overthrow of leaders in other Arab countries, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood desires to govern Egypt and Libya by religious Islamic Sharia law also.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Olmert struck Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007 immediately after Bush refused to do so
2) Syrian Rebels Seek Implementation Of Strict Sharia Law…
3) France confirms it is working to establish buffer zone within Syria
4) Russia Will Not Use Military Force to Protect its Facility in Syria
5) Russia is disengaging from Syria: Arms shipments stopped, warships exit Tartus
6) Russian Troops Welcomed Into NORAD, America’s Cold War HQ

Russia reports that the Iranian Busheur atomic power plant is now operating at full capacity. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that Iran has doubled the number of uranium- enrichment centrifuges it has at the Fordow facility to 2,140 from 1,064 in May. Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on the international community to establish a clear “red line” for the Iranian nuclear program so that there would be direct consequences for their actions. He said that that  “time has run out” for diplomacy and it is not acceptable to have open-ended diplomacy regarding Iran’s nuclear program. In doing so, Netanyahu  got into a diplomatic shouting match with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro over US President Barack Obama’s handling of the issue. However, the Obama administration insisted that “there is time and space” for a diplomatic solution.

Furthermore, the US is said to be working with a top Israeli newspaper to stymie Israel’s efforts to strike Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey said that he did not want to be “complicit” if Israel chose to strike Iran’s nuclear program. Dempsey said an attack would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program,” but added that the “international coalition” pressuring Iran “could be undone if it was attacked prematurely”. Meanwhile, Israel Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon said he feared Iran did not believe it faced a real military threat from the outside world because of mixed messages from foreign powers including the United States. Iran sponsored a conference of non-aligned countries of the United Nations where Iran had harsh words to say about Israel. As a result, Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to address the UN General Assembly regarding the threat that Iran poses to Israel and the entire Middle East. He is scheduled to leave for the UN on September 27, immediately after Yom Kippur, and return to Israel on September 30, just before the onset of Succot. Although there has been talk of a meeting at the UN with US President Barack Obama, no meeting has yet been officially announced.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Russia says Iran’s nuclear power plant is fully operational
2) IAEA: Iran has doubled underground nuclear capacity
3) PM: Time for world to set ‘clear red lines’ for Iran
4) ‘PM tells US ‘time has run out’ on Iran diplomacy’
5) Diplomacy With Iran Still Is Viable, U.S. Says
6) Obama ‘Using Israeli Paper to Foil Iran Strike’
7) Dempsey: I don’t want to be complicit in Iran strike
8.) Ya’alon: US is undermining military threat against Iran
9) Morsi to shop for nuclear-capable missiles in Beijing en route for Tehran. Netanyahu, Obama meet Sept. 27
10) PM to ‘speak the truth’ on Iran in UN speech

Germany and France have agreed to form a joint policymaking body to create a more integrated economic and fiscal policy in the eurozone and structure a new banking supervision regime. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s wants European leaders to work on a new treaty aimed at deepening political integration among the European Union’s 27 members at a summit in December. The treaty could include provisions such as giving the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg power to monitor the budgets of member states and punish those who exceed deficit limits. Meanwhiel, legendary investor Jim Rogers warned Americans to prepare for “Financial Armageddon,” saying he fully expects the economy to implode after the U.S. election.

Pastor Lindsey Williams received information that Raytheon gave a warning to the company that US government would shut down soon from a financial crisis. Doug Hagmann reports according to my well-placed source within the Department of Homeland Security apparatus, a final authorization was given to DHS directly from the White House to support a staged event to ensure the reelection of President Obama. “What happens and when it happens depends on the events of the next sixty days. If it appears that Obama does not have a lock on the next four years to finish what he started … then watch for it ‘going hot.’” Liberty man, John Moore, has also received a report than an event will happen in October which will cause the suspension of US elections and cause Obama to remain in power under martial law.

Worldwide economic collapse resulting in a one world government with one-world currency is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) SPIEGEL: Merkel Wants An EU Political Integration Pact
2) Germany and France agree to work together on solution to eurozone crisis
3) Jim Rogers: It’s Going To Get Really “Bad After The Next Election”
4) Pastor Lindsey Williams:  Raytheon Warning – US Government to Shut Down Soon
5) Doug Hagmann told from DHS Source: “It’s going hot”
6) Rick Wiles Interview with Doug Hagmann
7) John Moore: No Election this Fall – Financial Collapse
8.) A Prophetic Word for the USA this fall

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

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the 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
3) The prospects for economic collapse in the USA and the world

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned Israel for plans to expand Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood which is located beyond the 1967 borders. The EU does not recognize East Jerusalem as being a part of Israel. “Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,” Ashton said. “The EU has repeatedly urged the Government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.”

In addition to the EU, South Africa does not recognize the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as belonging to Israel. The South African cabinet made a decision to approve a plan to require labels on products coming from the settlements in the West Bank to NOT be labeled “Made in Israel.” Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon condemned the South African decision by saying it proves that South Africa is still an apartheid state.

If Israel attacks Iran, 10,000 Hezbollah fighters participated in the terror organization’s largest ever military exercise with the cooperation of Iran to “to conquer the Upper Galilee” reports a Lebanese newspaper. While Hezbollah is preparing to invade Israel from the north, the Muslim Brotherhood has taken over the government of Egypt through the decrees of Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. After firing top army generals and replacing them with Muslim Brotherood sympathizers, Morsi is appointing new governors to the 27 regions of the country. Furthermore, Morsi is seeking to control the Egyptian media by replacing 50 editors from the countries leading newspapers. Finally, in possibly preparing to go to war with Israel, for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Egypt is deploying troops and tanks in the Sinai Peninsula.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) EU’s Ashton slams Israel, again, over East Jerusalem expansion plans
2) Ayalon hits back: South Africa remains an apartheid state
3) ‘Hezbollah drill prepares to ‘occupy the Galilee”
4) Analysis: Brotherhood taking total control of Egypt
5) Egypt’s moves in Sinai alarm Israel

The French defense minister called for the establishment of an “international coalition” to implement a limited no-fly zone in Syria suggesting for the first time military action outside of the UN Security Council. However, he ruled out a no-fly zone over the entire country of Syria. The United States and Turkey have already discussed the possibility of a limited no-fly zone  perhaps between the Northern Syrian city of  between Aleppo and the Turkish border.

Russia rejected the idea of a no-fly zone in Syria.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “If you try to create no-fly zones and safety zones for military purposes by citing an international crisis — this is unacceptable,” he said. “We find it appropriate to defend the UN Charter that states the use of force can be only be decided by the Security Council,” Lavrov said. Russia also blamed the West for encouraging civil war in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry said  “Our Western partners have not done anything to influence the opposition and convince it to start dialogue with the authorities. They are openly encouraging the opposition to continue armed resistance instead. It is clear that these methods will not help in finding a political solution to the crisis.”

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons by Syria would be a “red line” that would change his thinking on intervention in the crisis. He said: “There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons.”  DEBKA reports that US C130 transports stand ready at Middle East air bases to fly into Syria US elite units especially trained in combat against chemical and biological weapons and tactics for securing their arsenals. Those units are on standby at bases in Israel and Jordan. Also on standby for stealthy raids into Syria are British special operations forces in Cyprus and French units trained in unconventional warfare in Jordan. Regarding military intervention in Syria, the Obama administration is split between two factions – those who are pushing hard for direct US military intervention – both to end the bloodshed and Bashar Assad’s reign in Syria and to preempt a unilateral Israeli strike against Iran. The other faction is dedicated to no intervention in Syria and Iran.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17)  is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) French minister calls for limited no-fly zone in Syria
2) Russia Rejects No-Fly Zones As Ploy for Military Intervention
3) ‘Only UN should decide on force against Syria’
4) Russia Blames West for Fueling Armed Conflict in Syria
5) Obama warns Syria chemical weapons use may spark US action
6) US, UK, French elite units on standby for seizing Syrian chemical weapons
7) Russia, China warn West on unilateral action against Syria after Obama threats

Western diplomatic sources say that Iran has installed many more uranium enrichment machines in an underground bunker including putting in place additional enrichment centrifuges in its Fordow nuclear facility buried deep inside a mountain to protect it against any strike by the US or Israel. In an effort to be able to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities, talks were held between the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and Iran in Vienna, Austria. The talks concluded without an agreement and no further talks are scheduled. Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Iran of making “accelerated progress towards achieving nuclear weapons”, adding that it was “totally ignoring” Western demands to rein in its atomic program.

The US and Israel continue to remain at odds over the Iranian nuclear threat. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey said that Israel and the United States view the Iranian nuclear threat differently. “Israel sees the Iranian threat more seriously than the US sees it, because a nuclear Iran poses a threat to Israel’s very existence. You can take two countries, give them the same intelligence and reach two different conclusions. I think that’s what’s happening here,” Dempsey said.  Dempsey added: “At the same time, we admit that our clocks ticking at different paces. We have to understand the Israelis; they live with a constant suspicion with which we do not have to deal.”

As a result of these developments, Israel is concerned that the US is not fully committed to stopping the Iranian nuclear program. Former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin said that there are several things that the US can do to give Israel greater assurance. Yadlin presented a five-point plan to the Obama administration designed to convince “allies and adversaries alike that military action is real, imminent and doable.” He called on Obama to visit Israel and tell its leadership – and, more important, its people – that preventing a nuclear Iran is a US interest, and if we have to resort to military action, we will.” Next, Yadlin said that the US should provide Israel with advanced military technology and intelligence, contingent on Israeli pledges to delay a strike. Furthermore, Yadlin suggested that Obama to notify Congress in writing that he reserves the right to use military force on Iran. He added that the US should increase its military presence in the Persian Gulf and should also publicly commit to the security of its allies in the region.

Israel’s Channel 10 TV is reporting that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is determined to attack Iran before the US elections.”

Concerned about Israel possibly striking Iran before the November 6 US Presidential elections, the US is holding discussions with Israeli officials to find out what the US can do to stop an Israel attack upon Iran. Israel is willing to delay an attack against Iran this fall if the US would commit to attacking Iran by the spring of 2013 should Iran continue its effort to achieve nuclear capability.

If Israel does attack Iran, Israel could face retaliation from more than 10,000 missiles based in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, according to Uzi Rubin, the founder and first director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) ‘Iran expands nuclear capacity underground’
2) PM accuses Iran of accelerating work towards atomic weapons
3) IAEA-Iran nuclear negotiations break down
4) Dempsey: Israel, US differ on seriousness of Iran threat
5) Yadlin to Obama: Visit Israel to allay Iran fears
6) US-Israeli deal on Iran? No Israeli strike now if Obama pledged a spring attack
7) Israel Attack on Iran Runs Risk of Massive Missile Retaliation
8) Netanyahu ‘determined to attack Iran’ before US elections, claims Israel’s Channel 10

Paul Tucker, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, told an October meeting of the chief executives of Britain’s largest banks that there was a serious chance that their could be a banking and financial crisis by the end of 2012.

Concerned about an economic crisis prior to November in Europe,  the Obama administration is pressuring European governments not to let Greece fall out of the eurozone before the US November’s Presidential elections.

The summer Olympics ended with an occult ceremony heralding a New World Order and nations and people worshiping the new system.

In anticipation of the collapse of the earo in the near future, Lord Rothschild has taken the position through RIT Capital Partners, an investment trust of which he is executive chairman of shorting – or selling down – the euro. In June, billionaire investor George Soros said that European leaders at that point had a “three-month window” to save the euro.

Also anticipation of a financial crisis, in an SEC filing it was revealed that both George Soros and John Paulson had increased their investment in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest publicly traded physical gold exchange traded fund (ETF). George Soros now has 884,400 shares of the ETF gold fund while John Paulson bought 4.53 million shares, bringing his stake to 21.3 millon. These are significant positions in gold expecting it to rise significantly in the near future.

Worldwide economic collapse resulting in a one world government with one-world currency is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker warned banks they could collapse ‘before Christmas’
2) Barack Obama asks eurozone to keep Greece in until after election day
3) The Occult Symbolism of the 2012 Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies
4) Lord Rothschild takes £130m bet against the euro
5) Are we about to see a Chinese gold rush?

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