Shalom friends,

I want to emphasize once again that this newsletter covers issues – both theological and political – with my aim being to help you have a better understanding of foundational biblical truths and current background truths that will help you to discern what is happening in today's world – from a biblical perspective. To keep up with current events surrounding Israel please sign up to receive Intercessors for Israel's Friday Prayer Alerts, where there are specific prayers which we weekly lift up to God with our focus being His kingdom coming to earth as it is already in eternity (Luke 11:2). Obviously, most of that centers on Israel as I am called to be a watchman on Jerusalem's walls (Isa. 62:6-7), and most end-time prophecies that need to be fulfilled before the Lord Yeshua returns are focused in and around Israel today. So that leads me to the first topic.

Where are we at prophetically today?

A biblically astute friend of mine told me that a good way to determine where we are on God's prophetic clock is to look at things backwards – to start with His ultimate goal for this dispensation and then see what needs to happen for His kingdom to come on earth.

- God's ultimate goal is for the knowledge of His glory to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Num. 14:21; Psa. 57:5; 72:19; Isa. 6:3; 11:9; Ezek. 43:2; Hab. 2:14; 3:3; Mal. 1:11).

- That will not happen until His Son, our Lord Yeshua and Israel's King Messiah, returns and sets up His throne in Jerusalem, ruling as David's Greater Son and reigning from Zion over the whole world (Psa. 132:11; Isa. 9:7; Jer. 23:5; 33:17, 20-21; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:29-36; Rom. 1:3; Rev. 22:16).

- Before He returns, all Israel – which in context is a remnant (Jer. 31:7, 31-34; Joel 2:32; Mic. 7:18; Zeph. 3:13; Rom. 9:27; 11:5, 26) must be saved so as to welcome Him, by saying Baruch haba b'Shem YHWH [Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH] (Psa. 118:25-26; Matt. 23:39).

- For a remnant of His chosen nation to become disciples of Messiah Yeshua, they need to be back in the land as this is where all Israel is prophesied to be saved (Deut. 30:3-6; Jer. 32:37-40; Ezek. 11:17-20; 36:24-32). And this means all of God's Promised Land – at least from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, if not further afield (Jer. 32:41-44).

- For this to happen, God must make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and a stone of stumbling to all the nations, at a minimum to all who are located physically near Israel (Zech. 12:2-9), as all Israel is saved in that context (Zech. 12:10). Meanwhile, today, most nations are less than thrilled with the Jewish State as the overwhelming majority of UN General Assembly resolutions against Israel are constantly passed overwhelmingly!

- For the remnant of His chosen nation to be saved they obviously need to be alive – thus as the nations come against Jerusalem, Israel must have that exceedingly great army which was prophesied about in Ezekiel 37:10, and which we are seeing today as the IDF is constantly ranked by military experts as one of the best armies in the world. In fact, Israel's Air Force is often said to be the number one Air Force period!

- A lot of this includes gentile Christians standing with and helping Israel during its time of restoration. Please note that often in our Bibles, when the English translates the Hebrew goyi'im as either "nations" or "heathen," it would be better to use "gentiles" and according to the context, often the only gentiles it can be referring to are gentile Christians (Psa. 126:1-3; Isa. 40:1; 43:5-6; 49:22; 60:3-11; 61:5; Jer. 31:5-6).

It seems to me that we are swiftly seeing the fulfillment of many of the above stages and that His return is likely sooner than many Western believers think – that is if Western believers even think about His return. After all, that would mean studying prophecy and preaching on it as well as declaring the centrality of Israel. Yet the enemy has sent so many false prophets into the Body today, which Yeshua, among others, warned us would happen (Matt. 24:4-5, 11, 24-25), that many believers just do not want to deal with this biblical topic, even though prophecy makes up about one-third of our Bible.

One reason why I suspect that we are close is that we are experiencing prophetic events – especially about Israel – happening with greater frequency and with greater intensity – like a woman in labor pains just before her child is born (Isa. 13:6-8; Mic. 5:2-3; Mar. 13:8 ["sorrows" = birth pangs in Greek]; 1 Thess. 5:3).

For example, the change in Israel since the October 7^th 2023 [10/7] Hamas massacre is astonishing. Most Israelis are now dead set against a Palestinian State being created in the land whereas before 10/7 it was about 50-50. This is seen also by the push to extend sovereignty over all of the land from the river to the sea – and Israelis actually know which river and which sea the deceived demonstrators in the West were shouting about – has also increased greatly, even to the point where a significant minority want Israel to repossess Gaza as well!

The IDF strategic outlook has also changed as it now takes a much more aggressive stance against Israel's enemies, preempting and setting up buffer zones in enemy territory whereas before 10/7 the outlook was to not stir up trouble and to occasionally "mow the lawn" when the enemy got a bit too rambunctious.

Also, many Israelis who have left Israel are for the most part Greek-thinking humanists, while those making aliyah – immigrating home – are for the most part Zionists. This will have a positive impact on Israel upcoming national elections which will be held at some point later this year.

And that leads to the next section.

The Sons of Zion vs. the Sons of Greece (Zech. 9:13)

Someone wrote to Intercessors for Israel asking for an explanation of the terms "sons and daughters of Zion" and "sons and daughters of Greece." Here is an edited version of my reply:

Simply put the sons of Zion are those who see God as the center of the universe, who hold the Bible as the revelation of ultimate truth as it comes to us from God, and who live their lives in a way that honors Him.

The sons of Greece are those who see humans as the center of the universe and unless truth lines up with their logical human-centered thinking, then they reject it.

I have written a book exploring and exposing Greek thinking: Humanism, the Last of the Giants. is available in the IFI store.

Operation Roaring Lion

This is the name that Israel has chosen for its part in the joint American-Israeli war against the Iranian regime and it has strong Biblical links.

Genesis 49:9: [Jacob prophesying over Judah] Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

Numbers 23:24: [Balaam prophecies] Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

Numbers 24:9: [Balaam again] He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesses you, and cursed is he that curses you.

Joel 3:16: YHWH also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but YHWH will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Micah 5:8: The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he goes through, treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.

We at Intercessors for Israel have prayed for many decades for God to fulfill Jeremiah 49:35-39 which is directed at Elam, which is the location of parts of modern Iran. For that to happen, there needs to be regime change since God says He would destroy the king and its princes.

There also needs to be a destruction of Iran's missile launchers – that is their bow that can shoot the arrows, or modern day ballistic missiles – and that has happened to a large degree.

Also, there must be a growing Body of Messiah in the midst of that nation, as that is how we interpret what God means when He states that He will set up his throne there. That is also happening as many missiologists and others state that the Iranian Church is one of the fastest growing churches in the world.

After this is over, will we also see the return of many millions of Iranians who left Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and are waiting to return home?

This has all been very intense and exciting, yet it required, and still requires, persistence in prayer over long periods of time that unfortunately is lacking in many believers in our modern micro-wave, instant coffee, ultra-fast-computers, generation. As a sign in the office of a pastor I worked with in Florida said, "Lord, give me patience. But give it to me now!" This lack of persistent patience, especially in intercession, is the biggest chink in the armor of the Body in the West (Luke 8:15; 21:19; Rom. 15:4; Heb. 6:12; 10:36; 12:1; Jam. 1:3-4).

The current situation with this war and US President Trump's apparent addiction to declare "ceasefires" – hudna in Arabic with a totally different concept to what it means in English, as Muslims view it is a time for their forces to regroup, rearm and prepare to attack again with greater force – is covered in IFI's Friday Prayer Alerts which are able to keep up with the ongoing and often changing scenarios surrounding Israel each week.

Romans 8:28 & the October 7th 2023 Hamas massacre

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28) Not only are the Jewish people and their nation specifically the called according to His purpose, but even without a personal relationship with God through Messiah, many actually do love Him.

For example, about 90% of Jews in Israel celebrate Passover with their families and around 70% fast and pray over Yom Kippur. The "secular" or "traditional" Jews in Israel are definitely more religiously observant than secular citizens anywhere else in the West.

Right after the 10/7 Hamas massacre, we at IFI reminded God of Romans 8:28 and asked Him to watch over and fulfill His word. So far the results of our God working good out of that horrific day are mind-boggling. Ethan Bronner wrote about this in the Jerusalem Post in March.

"At dawn on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, as rockets and gunmen poured into Israel from Gaza, Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif declared the Jewish state finished: 'To our brothers in the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, the day has come'." The day did come – but not even close to what he imagined.

Deif and a "generation of fellow Islamist leaders," are all dead thanks to Israel "which has emerged as a regional hegemon." Today, Hamas' main backer Iran "is being systematically dismantled." Also, the issue of a Palestinian State is now openly rejected by a huge majority of Israelis – politicians, military leaders and civilians – whereas before 10/7 around 50% of Jewish Israelis were in favor of this abomination being set up on God's land.

Israel calls its still unfinished war against Hamas the War of Redemption. Ophir Falk, foreign affairs adviser to Netanyahu remarked, "We took out the Islamist leadership and commanders across the region, and now we're removing the existential threat of the ayatollah's regime [in Iran] that's been terrorizing the world for 47 years."

Yet many people in the world do not "see the connection. For them, the 2023 Hamas attack and the brutal Gaza war it triggered," killing around 70,000 Palestinians of which half were terrorists, and turning vast areas of Gaza into rubble, "are a tale of Israeli oppression and vengeance." That has severely damaged its international standing and pushed the idea of expanding ties with ME nations further away.

"Forget normalization," ex-Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince al-Faisal told CNN recently. "This is Netanyahu's war." Of course, now that Iran has brazenly attacked Saudi Arabia and most of its Arab neighbors, Israel is looked at differently. Again, Romans 8:28 at work.

"But perhaps more importantly, Israel's actions since 10/7 have alienated many" Americans, Israel's most vital allies. An early March Gallup poll "showed for the first time more Americans sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis." Among the younger 18-34-year-olds, the shift is more stark as "barely a quarter favor Israelis."

The joint war against Iran "has drawn similar bipartisan condemnation, with politicians and commentators across the political spectrum accusing Israel of dragging Washington" into the battle, which is ridiculous. When asked about this, Bibi responded, asking how anyone who knows Trump can think that Israel could force him to do anything he was against.

Still, there is a different perspective between Israel and the US as America "sees it as a conflict of choice," yet Israel sees it as an existential battle. While the US administration has emphasized that "its targets are military and nuclear," Israel's aim is to degrade the regime to such a point that it will ignite "an internal uprising that will topple the Islamic Republic." So far that has not worked, although that is exactly what we are praying for.

In Israel, "polls show more than 80% backing the current war," as 10/7 woke up Israelis to see how dangerous their complacency had become. The owner of a hair salon in Tel Aviv, which is more left-wing and humanistic than most of the rest of Israel, said, 10/7 "was a national wake-up call. We will never again let down our guard. For a lot of us, it was a kind message from God." Yes and amen!

The horrific events of 10/7 shook up the entire nation and exposed the arrogance of many Israeli intelligence and military officers who viewed things through a humanistic, sons of Greece, viewpoint. "Israel found itself in a multi-front war for which it was unprepared." It was also a massive shock for Netanyahu who has campaigned "as Mr. Security and touted his unique ability to anticipate threats to the nation."

Yet he was fooled, "along with most of the security establishment," into thinking that Hamas would not dare to attack Israel. He had even "encouraged Qatar to send money to Gaza; permitted some Gazans to work in Israel," and tried to set Hamas against the more secular Palestinian Authority [PA] in Judea and Samaria as a "kind of divide-and-conquer strategy to prevent Palestinian sovereignty.

"As he sprang into action on that day, pale and shaken, Netanyahu was considered to be done. In the middle of a corruption and bribery trial, presiding over the worst security lapse in the country's history, he would resign or be forced out, according to a chorus of commentators."

Yet today Bibi, working with Trump, another politician who was "widely dismissed as a has-been," is in his words, "changing the face of the Middle East." All that began with Hamas' 10/7 major geopolitical mistake and with God watching over Romans 8:28.

Despite the world's almost unanimous condemnation of Israel's war against Hamas, in Israel, the "focus was on freeing the hostages and the legitimacy of a war against a group" openly seeking Israel's destruction. "The political battle in Israel was over fighting harder, not pulling back."

Netanyahu once again, reinvented himself. "The son of a historian, he faced his Neville Chamberlain moment by…remaking himself as Winston Churchill." And like Churchill, he showed America their need "to join him in defeating his enemy," which is, like Hitler, an enemy of every nation that is still based somewhat on their inherited Judeo-Christian foundations.

Some use another historical figure to describe Bibi today: "Franklin Roosevelt, US president during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Rather than cowering after that failure, Roosevelt turned it into the basis for US military supremacy and Allied victory over Germany and Japan in WW II. Netanyahu followed a similar path, promising on Oct. 8, 2023, to remake the ME."

Since then Israel's military and intelligence services took the war to its "regional enemies," killing leaders and taking out many Hizbullah terrorists using modified pagers/beepers. "A ground incursion into Lebanon followed soon after," and there were many "air sorties over Syria, Iraq, and Iran."

Israel has also taken the opportunity of the war against Hams to expand its control of Judea and Samaria, thus "making the prospect of a Palestinian state even more remote." This is one of the greatest results of 10/7.

Bronner noted that 10/7 changed Israel's security outlook as it invests more money into its military, "while many of its young people turn rightward" and turn more to God. This is also an answer to prayer that God would raise up more sons of Zion throughout his nation. And while this turning to God is mostly based on traditional Judaism, still it is a step in the right direction.

Israel's security doctrine has changed as it is stationing "troops outside its borders…and shifting focus from its opponents' intentions to their capacity. The aim now is to strike first rather than wait and react to an attack." Today, if Israel senses an opposing army or terrorist group that is a threat to it, "it will act preemptively. That's considered by many a violation of international law," although strictly speaking it is not unless of course, the Jewish State is doing the striking. "So far, the US under Trump has backed Israel."

As have global markets. After an initial plunge, "Israeli assets rose during the course of the war. Israeli stocks have been among the world's best performers since the start of 2025…" And while stocks slumped globally, as Iran closed "the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices," spiked, yet the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange 35 Index, Israel's "benchmark equities gauge, gained almost 7% in dollars. It was the world's second-best performer, while the shekel strengthened more than any other currency." Once again, we see this as the hand of God!

He then wrote that "Netanyahu is no longer being written off. Even those who despise him suspect he may be reelected this year." Aluf Benn, editor of the extreme anti-Bibi, left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, wrote with grief that if the war with Iran and Hizbullah "ends quickly, Netanyahu will proudly ride it to the ballot box."

Yet there are many in the nations who watch this war with Iran "with alarm, remembering the 'forever wars' of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan." Then there are "regional and military experts" who are "horrified by what they consider is poor planning by Israel and the US" for the day-after in Iran.

However, in Israel, "there is cautious optimism, despite ongoing missile attacks." The consensus is that Israel "is in a much stronger position geopolitically and militarily than two-and-a-half years ago. And no matter what emerges in Iran, it will be weaker and less of a threat. Israel's ultimate goal is to see a new Iranian government that…has warm relations with it and the US." Not many expect it to happen soon, but our expectation is that God will prevail even if it takes some time to see exactly what He is working out – for His glory (Psa. 115:1-3). ("For Israel, Iran war culminates battle begun by Hamas' Oct. 7 invasion," E. Bronner, JP analysis, 8 Mar. 2026)

Israeli Arab Khaled Abu Toameh, a Muslim, writes that the West's – including America's – dealings with terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hizbullah, basically ignore the ideological/theological background that drives them to kidnap and kill Jews and all others who are not Muslims, or their brand of "kosher" Muslim.

[Chuck: I see this as the foundational error of an arrogant West which just refuses to consider that there are other people who do not view life as they do. After all, who would not want to live comfortably with lots of money and nice new stuff to play with? More money, more convenience, more comfort, an easier life. Isn't this what everyone on planet earth wants? Yet those who think this way usually also think that they have matured as a human to no longer need any crutch like God. Thus they cannot imagine someone being willing to serve a god as the ultimate aim of their life, let alone kill or die for one. Still most of humanity does not see life this way. And neither does the Bible.]

Both Hamas and Hizbullah have made commitments to disarm based on a Trump "ceasefire" deal late last year. Yet to this day both still refuse to do it. Hizbullah's resumption of attacks against Israel was a "violation of the November 2024 US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and the terror organization." It is also a violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701 passed in August 2006 which required the "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."

Hezbollah made "a calculated decision to help its patrons in Tehran," by attacking Israel. Its leaders obviously knew that "would elicit a strong response from Israel," resulting in great "destruction on Lebanon" and causing hundreds of thousands of civilians to suffer. Yet for Hizbullah, serving their Iranian overlords has always come before "the well-being and safety" of the Lebanese people.

Most westerners just do not comprehend that "Iran's terror proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, are deeply rooted in jihadist ideology" and while they "originate from different branches of Islam (Hamas is Sunni, Hezbollah is Shia), both employ the concept of jihad (holy struggle) to justify armed conflict against Israel, a country they regard as a totally unacceptable, illegitimate presence in the Middle East."

Hamas' 1988 charter defines their war against Israel as a religious struggle: "Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." Hamas and Hizbullah view "all of Palestine as sacred Islamic land. Their primary goal is to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state." Both "use the 'jihad of the sword' and martyrdom as central pillars for political mobilization and violent, armed struggle."

As already mentioned, the ceasefire agreements that Trump essentially forced on Israel with Hizbullah and Hamas require them both to disarm, yet "the US administration has failed to take a firm position on this issue." Over the last few months, Trump threatened Hamas with "hell to pay" if they do not lay down their weapons, and he admitted that Hizbullah has "been behaving badly" yet America "expects them to adhere to disarmament agreements."

It is clear by now that "Hezbollah and Hamas are unfazed by Trump's threats." Both are "determined to pursue their jihad to destroy Israel," therefore they will never disarm. "They view their weapons not merely as military tools, but as existential symbols of honor, pride, and dignity." In fact recently Hamas' leader Mashaal said, "Resistance and its weapons are the honor and pride of our nation." Or as the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah once declared, "They will take our souls before they take our weapons – not because we love the weapons, but because weapons are a symbol of honor and pride."

Abu Toameh adds, "It is time for the Trump administration and other international parties to understand that ceasefire agreements or threats will never convince the jihadists of Hezbollah and Hamas voluntarily to lay down their weapons. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) did not surrender their weapons or abandon their jihad against the West because of deals or threats. Both groups were crushed through the only language that they understand: force."

He concludes, "It is incorrect to assume that there is a difference between one jihadi group and another. They all share a fundamental hostility toward the West, in particular the US and Israel. Given that no Arab or Islamic country is prepared to disarm Hizbullah or Hamas, the only two countries that have the will and ability to do so are, like it or not, Israel and the United States." ("A dangerous prelude to Trump's 'Board of Peace' in Gaza?" K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 9 Mar. 2026)

Islamic Jihad – Holy War

David Levine is the author of a soon-to-be-released book, Prayer: In their own words – Islam-Catholicism-Judaism – What do they pray for? He wrote an article exposing the truth behind Islamic Jihad which supports what was written above.

While Islamic jihad is often described by the media as just "anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, or anti-Israel," which it is, yet jihad is actually "an ongoing holy war against infidels," that is, all non-Muslims, and in fact any Muslim who does not measure up to the standard that the jihadist Muslim sets. Thus it pits "the entire Islamic Muslim world against everyone else."

Proof of this was heard in the streets of Tehran, Iran's capital, as well as in many American cities today, as cries of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" are accompanied by "desecration of their respective national symbols." The "death to" chants have been Iran's Shi'ite Islamic regime's declared goals since 1979.

While many liberals struggle to believe it, "the Muslim goal of world dominance" is seen in all of Islamic history up to today. A current example is found in Bethlehem, Israel, which Christians honor as the birthplace of Messiah. "In the last year of British rule over the region (1947), and even under Israeli control until 1993, approximately 85% of Bethlehem's population was Christian." Bethlehem has been under the control of the Palestinian Authority [PA] since the 1993 Oslo Accords. "As of a 2017 census, the current percentage of Christians in Bethlehem…was around 10%."

In Islam's holy book the Quran, "Islam repeatedly claims superiority over everyone and clearly defines how Muslims should deal with non-believers or 'infidels'." Levine supplies his reader with some excerpts:

Superiority: [Allah] …has sent His messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) that He may make [Islam] superior over all religions. (Quran 48:28; cp. 61:9).

Dealing with non-believers: I [Allah] will cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, so strike [them] on the necks and cut off every fingertip. That is because they opposed Allah and His Messenger. And whoever opposes Allah and His messenger – indeed, Allah is severe in penalty. (Quran 8:12-13); Those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and go about the earth spreading mischief, their recompense is that they either be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off from the opposite sides or be banished from the land. (Quran 5:33)

Islam views the world in one of two ways: "Dar al-Islam" [House of Islam] is territory controlled by Muslims where "Islamic-based Sharia law is implemented." The other "Dar al-Harb" [House of War] is any area where Islamic rule and law is absent. Today, Israel and the West plus all other non-Muslim nations are categorized as Dar al-Harb.

He adds this sobering note on Islamic prayer: "Every daily prayer begins with [a] declaration against Jews and Christians and is repeated at least five times a day." ("Not just an anti-Jewish thing, Islamic jihad is so much more," D. Levine, JP Op-ed, 11 Aug. 2025)

[Chuck: Islam can never have a genuine reformation, as even if it does, they will still be worshipping a false god. The only genuine hope for Muslims is a saving relationship with the One True God through His Son. The good news is that millions of Muslims throughout the Middle East and beyond are getting saved. Let's continue to pray into this huge harvest field – and let's not forget that most Palestinians are Muslims.]

The war against civilization

The following excerpts are from a Gatestone Institute interview with Pierre Rehov, a French documentary filmmaker, director, and novelist, who is known for his movies about the Arab-Israeli and Israeli–Palestinian conflict, its treatment in the media, and about terrorism.

When asked about Israel's right to the land, Rehov replied, "Jews have lived on that land for nearly 4,000 years." Yet Palestinians are a fake people as PLO senior official Z. Mohsen said in 1977 in an interview with a Dutch daily: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel…In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

The Palestinians are a mixture of Arabs who were in Israel in 1948, and who "chose to leave after five Arab armies invaded" the nation of Israel on the day of its birth. They left to escape a war zone or were urged to leave by "their fellow Arabs who told them to get out of the way to make it easier to kill the Jews." When they tried to return "after the Arabs lost the war," an event Arabs call the Nakba, the catastrophe, Israel refused to let them in. Yet Arabs who did not leave "now make up just over 20% of Israel's population of nearly 10 million, are called Israeli Arabs, and have equal rights with the Jews, except for not being required to serve in the Israeli army unless they so choose."

After that war, known as the War of independence in Israel, in order to pressure Israel, Arab nations refused to let "their roughly 700,000 Arab brethren" become citizens of their nations, yet "Israel, the size of New Jersey, made room for a commensurate number of Jews who had fled Arab countries."

Thus Hamas' attack on Israel on 10/7 was not "in retaliation" for anything. "It was just the latest episode in a multi-millenary history of attacks on Jews. It was a declaration of intent, of ideology, and of a civilizational fault line that many in the West have spent decades refusing to see."

Rehov then said that a "pogrom or a jihad is not defined by a map; it is defined by a mindset: the idea that Jews may be hunted as such – women, children, the elderly – because their very existence is deemed illegitimate …Hamas did not attack military targets to 'end an occupation'. It attacked families to affirm an old doctrine: the Jew is not an opponent; the Jew is a problem to be erased."

To understand 10/7, forget the comforting lie of "desperation turning violent." Pogroms do not come from desperation; "they are born from permission – social, religious, political permission to commit the unthinkable and feel righteous doing it."

He added that 10/7 "exposed the West's moral confusion." Many saw the "videos of barbarity" and yet tried to "contextualize, rationalize," and excuse Hamas' behavior. This attitude actually encourages future pogroms.

Today we see a revival of "the blood libel, the accusation that Jews murder children. This medieval myth, responsible for countless pogroms," has been the goal of "Pallywood," that is an industry run by Palestinians of "anti-Israel films, frequently built on falsehoods, and masquerading as pro-Palestinian…" Pallywood excels at a "systematic staging, scripting, and amplification of imagery designed to fit a predetermined accusation."

Mostly what is depicted is a total lie to what actually happened in various battles against terrorists. It exposes a modern mindset that is difficult to overcome: "a good story has priority over reality." Thus the "genius of the system is psychological. Once the image circulates, correction becomes irrelevant. The emotional verdict has already been delivered."

Asked what Israel is really fighting for, Rehov responded, "Israel is fighting, obviously, for its survival, but not only that. Israel is fighting to preserve Western civilization, and at a frontier the West prefers not to name: Islamic extremism and its call for global political control. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime do not hate Israel for what it does. They hate Israel for what it is: an infidel state in their midst. If Israel were a Christian state, the same problem would exist." An example is the current Nigerian genocide with more than 52,000 Christians slaughtered in the last 14 years in a nation that is basically a "free society, which is a visible rejection of the Islamic totalitarian dream."

If the West rewards 10/7 "with political gains," like pressing for the creation of a Palestine in the midst of Israel, "it teaches a lesson to every violent movement on earth: massacre pays. So yes, Israel is defending itself, and in doing so, it is also defending the principle that civilization cannot survive if it negotiates with barbarity as if it were a partner who is misunderstood."

Concerning Trump's propensity to make "deals," Rehov said that does not concern him as such although he does "fear deals that confuse calm with peace. If a deal buys time for the 'wrong' side," it becomes "an extension of the threat. Hamas and the Iranian regime have proven that they interpret restraint as opportunity." Thus the real "question is not whether America prefers short operations or long wars," but will America draw credible lines and enforce them.

"As for domestic political constraints, every [US] administration has them." The reality is that Israel dare not "outsource its survival," and the US must not "pretend that totalitarian jihadism can be 'managed' indefinitely. Either you dismantle the infrastructure of terror, or it regrows."

And while there are legitimate debates in America "toward foreign entanglements," yet Israel's enemies "are imposing a war on civilization."

He then said, "We are living through a war of reality. Weapons kill bodies. Propaganda kills judgment. When judgment collapses, democracies begin to hate themselves, to doubt their right to defend their citizens and to romanticize forces that would destroy them…The West will not be defeated by lack of power." If it is defeated it will be "by the refusal to oppose danger when they see it." ("The War on Civilization: 'Israel cannot outsource its survival'," Gatestone Institute, 29 Mar. 2026)

Zvika Klein wrote that 11 years ago, two Muslim brothers murdered 12 people in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo for drawing cartoons of Mohammed. Two days later, a gunman "pledging allegiance to ISIS, walked into a kosher supermarket and murdered four Jews" who were shopping for Shabbat. "We thought we were watching an atrocity. We were actually watching the beginning of the end of Europe as we knew it."

Those acts of violence were "demonstrations of how terror rewrites the rules of free societies without the need to pass laws." The lesson was simple: "Publish what we don't like, we'll kill you. Be visibly Jewish in public, we'll kill you." Once they do this a few times, fear completes the work for them, and that is "the evil genius of the strategy. You only have to strike once or twice before the inhibition becomes self-sustaining."

Free speech in the West was murdered at the Charlie Hebdo offices, or as Klein labels it, "censorship by Kalashnikov." What happened in Paris impacted "every editorial meeting," dictated what could be said in "every university classroom," and was a part of "every synagogue security briefing," in the West. The terrorists did not need to murder again. "The inhibition is already installed, running quietly in the background like software that updates itself. That's how you know the strategy worked." They accomplished what they set out to do: "killing the confidence of an entire civilization in its principles."

Thus the "Europe that existed before January 2015, the Europe that believed it had settled the question of blasphemy in the Enlightenment, thought secularism was a done deal, and assumed Jews could live openly without armed guards at every synagogue" – that Europe started to die that week.

This is the strategy that has ruled for ages "across the Middle East and North Africa. Speech about religion functions as a criminal offense in nearly every country in the region. The infrastructure of censorship operates openly, backed by state power, social coercion, and sometimes mob violence. Pew Research found that 18 out of 20 countries in the region [90%] had blasphemy laws on the books as of 2019. Thirteen of those countries made it illegal to leave Islam. This tells you everything you need to know about whether these legal systems believe people have the right to think their own thoughts."

In 2025, Freedom House reported that every ME nation it examined "blocks political, social, or religious content online. The information ecosystem across an entire region is shaped by the principle that certain ideas are too dangerous to permit and that offense qualifies as a form of violence."

Jihadist terrorism "exports that principle at gunpoint. It seeks to make the reflex automatic in societies that spent centuries trying to build something different." You don't "talk about Muhammad, Islam, or religious reasons for violence. This is because you've already thought about what might happen if you do. You have decided that exercising discretion outweighs the risk of being murdered."

This is "what Western Europe has been doing for 11 years." Each individual compromise can make sense. We avoid certain topics and progressively ban outward Jewish observance "because security costs are prohibitive." Yet collectively, these compromises "amount to defeat. They amount to the slow-motion collapse of the principles that made Western civilization worth defending in the first place."

Klein then says that this "is what the beginning of the end looks like. It doesn't come all at once. It comes in a thousand small accommodations. It comes in the form of a thousand quiet retreats – a thousand moments where you decide that maintaining peace is more important than defending principle."

It is past time to "recognize these murders for what they were: the opening salvo in the collapse of Western Europe. This is an enemy strategy that has proven far more effective than we are willing to acknowledge, that continues working every single day, and that depends entirely on our willingness to continue accommodating it." ("Are we watching the collapse of Western Europe in real time?" Z. Klein, JP Op-ed, 7 Jan. 2026)

Refusing to learn from history

Journalist Nira Broner Worcman, author of A Sisyphean Task which looks at the media coverage of the war between Israel and terrorist groups, wrote that today's "ideological manipulation echoes the rhetoric that paved the way" for the Holocaust. "Eighty years ago, the world swore it would never again allow barbarity to present itself with an air of legitimacy." The Holocaust and its "systematic extermination of millions of Jews and other minorities…highlighted the catastrophic consequences of tolerating hatred and persecution." Historical records show that many "were aware of the growing antisemitism and persecution of minorities in Germany" and other Nazi occupied areas, but either kept quiet "or minimized the facts," thus contributing to the final outcome.

"Today, from universities to newsrooms, from parliaments to international organizations, we witness a disturbing moral déjà vu. After Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on 10/7, those who should defend life and truth stand with terror, whether by ignoring, distorting, or applauding the crimes the terrorist group committed."

The Holocaust began before the extermination camps, "in classrooms, in newspapers, and in coffee shop conversations, when hatred disguised as a cause gained intellectual prestige. Professors relativized, journalists 'contextualized,' politicians calculated, and institutions – guardians of ethics and reason – embraced the cause of the criminals as if it were legitimate."

This is being repeated today by the same groups of people. With each terrorist massacre, "part of the press rushes to 'explain' the inexplicable, transforming victims into culprits and murderers into militants. Prestigious academics organize debates and publications that present terror as legitimate resistance, while manifestos and articles repeat slogans that relativize the murder of civilians." And of course many politicians talk of "historical context" or "inequalities" as a way to justify the horrific violence.

Also, "international human rights bodies," including well known NGOs, and the UN, often see "terrorists as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinians, minimizing or ignoring crimes against innocent civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian."

All of this "sends a dangerous message: it legitimizes hatred, normalizes violence, and weakens the concept of international justice," while declaring that the "victims can be forgotten in the name of a convenient narrative." Anyone who today downplays terrorism contributes to "the complacency that, in 1930s Europe, legitimized antisemitism with academic and journalistic language. The words have changed," but the methods are the same.

The use of the phrase "just cause" provides "a veil for hatred," while the manipulation of emotions "replaces reason." Once again, people "pretend not to see;" or pretend that the issues are too complex to discern right from wrong; good from evil.

"What is most disturbing is that this blindness does not stem from ignorance but from moral expedience. It is easier to defend a popular villain than to uphold the unpopularity of the truth. It is more profitable, politically and academically, to adhere to the narrative of the moment than to confront historical distortion." [Amen!]

Therefore "lying becomes virtue, silence becomes prudence, and cowardice" can be called "neutrality. Each act of current complacency reinforces patterns of injustice and creates precedents that erode the values ​​of an entire society, compromising not only the present but the memory and ethics of future generations."

Yet there is a basic "difference between those who erred in the past and those who err now: we know what came after. We have photos, testimonies, museums, films, and archives – and yet we repeat the same moral error, fully aware of the abyss it heralds. Every omission," every excuse, each "silent applause for terrorists brings us closer to the normalization of evil, making repetition of the tragedy not only possible but predictable."

The State of Israel emerged as a historic response to the Holocaust, "offering a safe haven to Jews and preserving the memory of a tragedy that must never be repeated. It is not history that has failed to teach us. It is we who refuse to learn." ("Refusing to learn from history: The world looks away as terror is legitimized, excused," N. B. Worcman, JP Op-ed, 6 Nov. 2025)

More religious and conservative

At the end of 2025, Dr. Shuki Friedman, director-general of the Jewish People Policy Institute [JPPI], and a senior lecturer in law at the Peres Academic Center, noted an exciting trend among especially younger Israelis. "Tamid Ohev Oti" ('Hashem [God] Always Loves Me') was selected song of the year on Israel's leading radio station Galgalatz. TikTok is flooded with clips of young people wearing tzitzit [religious fringes] proudly studying Torah. Entire battalions prayed together before entering Gaza." What is the meaning of these things? JPPI's Nov. 2025 Israeli Society Index had a survey of 18–24-year-olds, which looked at this question in depth: "Have young Israelis drawn closer to religion as a result of the [10/7] war? The short answer: yes.…"

While Israel has been seen as a "Western, secular country," in recent years, and especially since 10/7, "Israel's public sphere has taken an increasingly traditional [Jewish] tone. This is not a mass religious revival… Rather, it reflects cultural, linguistic, musical, and religious practices that more Israelis are choosing to embrace. The trend is visible across large swathes of the population, but since Israel is a young country, it is especially pronounced among young Israelis…"

The JPPI survey showed a clear trend emerging: young Israelis are strengthening their faith. "35% say they now believe in God more than before," while only 10% believe less! Around the same percent "report that they observe more traditional practices than in the past – 38% pray more; 27% read the Bible more."

This pattern is strongest among those with "pre-existing degree of religious identity…Yet, when asked about their friends," young people from all backgrounds "overwhelmingly report that 'many'," and for those who are more "traditionally affiliated, even 'most,' have become more religious."

The survey revealed that "political shifts are no less dramatic. Young Israelis have moved decisively to the Right. Across every ideological cohort, from the hard Left to moderate Right, nearly half of respondents say they have shifted rightward since the war began…"

Since demographically it has been proven that "the more religious the group, the higher its fertility rate," the results point to a clear direction for Israel's future: "Israel is on track to become more religious and more right-wing." ("Will young Israelis' rightward, traditional shift impact the country's future?" S. Friedman, JP Analysis, 3 Dec. 2025)

And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.Jer. 29:13

Blessings from Zion

Chuck Cohen

Rev. 22:21