Israel Update for October 2008

Israeli analysts say the PA crackdown on Muslim fundamentalist activists, which has led to the arrest of around 1,500 Hamas-linked Palestinians in recent weeks, is crucial if Abbas is to prevent a coup attempt against his rule early next year when his presidential term is set to expire. Abbas has hinted he will seek to stay in office for at least another year without new elections in order to finalize a peace deal with Israel.

With tensions rising between the rival Palestinian factions, Egyptian officials stepped up their efforts during October to secure some sort of understanding that might head off fresh Hamas-Fatah armed clashes. Despite the fact that the reconciliation talks were reported to be going fairly well, Israeli analysts warned that Hamas leaders seem determined to oust Abbas as PA president, replacing him with former PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh or some other Hamas official. They add that PLO Fatah representatives are unlikely to accept such a situation, at least not while Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip, which the group violently seized from PA security forces in June 2007.

"Jewish Conspiracy"

Extremist Iranian President Ahmadinejad issued yet another anti-Semitic diatribe in October, calling the world's only Jewish-run state "a germ of corruption" that must be eliminated from the regional map. In his typical hysterical fashion, he told Iranian reporters that "a small handful of Zionists, with a very intricate organization, have taken over the power centers of the world," adding that the alleged secret group of "some 2,000 greedy individuals...want to take over all the peoples and countries on earth."

Given Iran's barely disguised nuclear weapons program, the extremist Shiite leader added ominously that "the strong arm of the peoples will wipe these germs of corruption off the face of the earth." Earlier on his way to speak at UN headquarters in New York, the Iranian president indicated that his country might preempt any possible Israeli military strike against its publicly declared uranium enrichment program with action of its own. This came as several Israeli news web sites reported that Iran might be able to assemble a nuclear warhead as early as next February.

The Israeli public watched with growing concern as Wall Street and other world stock markets suffered massive sell offs during October-including the Tel Aviv market. As they did so, Hamas chimed in with an indictment of its own. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum issued a statement in Gaza City on the group's behalf, claiming that the "American Jewish lobby" was behind the financial meltdown. He averred that a "bad banking system was put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby," adding with glee that Allah was bringing due judgment upon the United States for its substantial financial and military support over the years for Israel. The Hamas statement came as a sharp upswing in anti-Semitic statements were posted on the internet, most of them similarly blaming Jews for the international economic meltdown.

Poison

Another regional Muslim leader who regularly blasts Israel is Hizbullah's nefarious Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. On October 22, an Iraqi web site quoted diplomatic sources stating that the prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric had been poisoned the week before. Nasrallah was reportedly saved from probable death by Iranian doctors who were rushed to Beirut to help spare his life. The web site claimed that the fiery Hizbullah chief was in critical condition for several days. The unnamed diplomatic sources maintained that Israeli agents were suspected of involvement in the alleged assassination attempt.

While acknowledging that the Nasrallah had been out of the public eye for several days, a prominent Lebanese Hizbullah parliament member called the Iraqi report "a fabrication." Nasrallah himself appeared on television a few days later to call the allegation that he was poisoned "psychological warfare," which he claimed was part of a deliberate misinformation campaign launched by Israel.

Whether the Hizbullah leader was poisoned or not, Israeli analysts said the Iraqi report underlined ongoing high tensions between Israel and the rogue Iranian-backed militia group, which again threatened in October to launch fresh rocket and ground assaults upon the Jewish state as part of its supposed efforts to secure a tiny strip of disputed border land located near the base of the contested Golan Heights. Israeli leaders insist the area, known as the Sheba Farms, is actually captured Syrian territory and not seized Lebanese land as Hizbullah claims.

In a mid-October report released by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Hizbullah was accurately characterized as "a threat to Middle East security." The UN chief called upon the Lebanese militant group and Israel to "stop threatening each other" via their respective media outlets, and also criticized Syria for continuing to smuggle rockets and other weapons to the rogue Lebanese militia in violation of the UN ceasefire accord which halted the Lebanese group's 2006 war with Israel.

Arms Race Escalates

Regional security analysts said in mid October that for the first time in several decades, Israel will spend more money on weapons this year than the oil-rich Arab country of Saudi Arabia. They said Jerusalem will shell out over 20 billion dollars by the end of 2008, mostly to purchase defense systems designed to protect Israel from a possible missile assault from Iran. This comes as Iran's growing army is preparing for a major military exercise near its northwestern border with Turkey, which is allied with the United States and Israel.

Meanwhile the Israeli Air Force conducted its own military exercise the first half of October, designed to test readiness for a possible simultaneous missile barrage from several neighboring hostile states. The exercise began with a simulated Syrian missile strike upon an unnamed Israeli city, followed one day later by additional Syrian launches upon other targets, supported by missile assaults from Lebanese Hizbullah forces and Shiite Iran. Israeli security analysts say that such a three pronged missile attack upon their small country, supported by local Hamas rocket firings, is a genuine possibility, most likely featuring some chemical and/or nuclear warheads.

With events in Israel and all around this troubled planet increasingly seeming to be swirling totally out of control, it is essential to recall that the God of Israel is much greater than any of the disturbing circumstances that confront us. Indeed, "Great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!" (Isaiah 12:6).