Hamas’s barbaric attack on the Jewish state last October was shocking. The way that so many people have since turned against Israel in support of Hamas has been shocking. But of all the developments since that horrible terrorist attack, the most important one is being overlooked completely by most people.

The most shocking problem in the Middle East is not what is happening in Gaza but what is happening with Germany.

When the Jews suffered an unprovoked attack by insane and demoniacal men who brutalized, raped, murdered and beheaded elderly women, children and babies, people responded by criticizing Israel. Even the United States has reprimanded and restrained the Israelis.

Germany, by contrast, has made strong statements of support. It has positioned itself to provide substantial material aid that other nations have not. Few realize it, but Germany is rising mightily in this region. This development is accelerating the fulfillment of some crucial biblical prophecies!

Almost nobody has noticed that Germany has deployed forces to the crucial island of Cyprus and has even practiced using nuclear weapons in this important strategic area.

In fact, Germany is building its diplomacy and its military in preparation to intervene in the Middle East in ways that will shock the world.

Rhetorical Support

On Oct. 11, 2023, Germany’s parliament passed a resolution asserting that “Israel’s right to exist and its security are nonnegotiable for the members of the German Bundestag. … On the basis of international law, Germany must provide Israel with everything that is necessary and desirable for its defense.” These are strong words! Germany pledged everything that is not just necessary but even desirable for Israel’s defense.

“Hezbollah must not intervene in the conflict,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on October 12. Five days later, he said, “I expressly warn Hezbollah and Iran not to intervene in the conflict.” Shortly after October 7, he stated, “Without Iranian support over the past few years, Hamas would not have been capable of these unprecedented attacks on Israeli territory.” This is absolutely true, yet it was bold of the German chancellor to say. By contrast, United States President Joe Biden refused to point the finger at Iran.

Iran issued bold statements of its own, and Germany’s foreign office responded on October 16: “Anyone who plays with fire in this situation, pours oil on the fire, or otherwise ignites it should think twice.” German security expert Roderich Kiesewetter even stated that Germany’s intentions include “sending our own soldiers if necessary.” “I have asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remain in close contact,” Scholz said, “and to inform us of any need.”

This is war talk! This shows real military will!

On October 17, Scholz visited Israel to show his nation’s support. Prime Minister Netanyahu told him, “We appreciate the fact that you are here with us, that you are standing by our side.”

Germany’s words and actions resonated with Hezbollah and other Islamic terrorists. Like Hamas, Hezbollah exists to destroy Israel, but it is far more powerful. Many people, perhaps even many Hamas members, expected it to attack Israel after October 7, but it did not. Hezbollah’s chief terrorist, Hassan Nasrallah, scheduled a speech for November 3, and the world braced itself for him to declare war on Israel, as he had indicated he would do, especially if Israel invaded Gaza. But he did not. Hezbollah did little aside from a few scattered skirmishes. This puzzled people. Why did Hezbollah leaders back down so publicly when they had so many reasons to declare war?

Is it possible they are afraid of Germany?

Germany, the leading nation in Europe, is building up its diplomatic clout in the Middle East.

“Germany is held in high esteem in Israel,” Chancellor Scholz said. “We see ourselves as a country that feels very responsible for ensuring that Israel’s security remains guaranteed.”

As we will see, there is a strong reason why Germany should feel very responsible for ensuring Israel’s security—and the strongest possible reason why Israel should not place its trust in that promise!

Walking the Talk

Public speeches and trips to Israel are important, but Germany is doing much more. Bild newspaper reported that Germany “is one of the most important negotiators behind the scenes” (Oct. 20, 2023).

Chancellor Scholz backed up his assertion that “Hezbollah must not intervene in the conflict.” To keep the terrorist group from joining the war, he was in communication with the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey. Germany’s defense minister and foreign minister traveled to Israel as well as to Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

“The whole region is at the brink of falling into the abyss that this new cycle of death and destruction is pushing us towards,” King Abdullah ii of Jordan said after an October 17 meeting with Scholz in Berlin. “The threat of this war expanding is real.” Jordan used to be an ally of the United States, but now it is trusting Germany, and it appears the Jordanians worked with the Germans to keep Hezbollah and other Islamists back.

Scholz visited Israel before America’s president did and had more success with the Arab nations. Joe Biden’s meetings with Jordanian, Egyptian and Palestinian leaders were canceled. But Scholz, upon returning from the Middle East on October 19, was able to say, “I also used the trip and my talks—with the king of Jordan, the Egyptian and Turkish presidents and the emir of Qatar, among others—to advocate that this conflict should not escalate further regionally. We all agree that such a conflagration would be devastating for the entire region.”

After meeting with Arab leaders in Egypt on October 21, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, “We all know that our views on the conflict differ. However, we are all united by the fact that a conflagration must be prevented.”

Scholz said that Germany’s word in the Middle East is important “because Israel knows that Germany stands by it, but our country also has good connections to the neighboring Arab countries.” This is a key statement! Biblical prophecy tells us that we must be watching these German-Arab connections closely. As recently as World War ii, the Nazi regime had varying degrees of relations with Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, as well as Turkey. And through military conquest, the Axis powers made inroads into Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Turkey is not Arab, but it is Islamic. Shortly before visiting Germany in November, its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called Israel a “terrorist state” and Hamas terrorists “resistance fighters.” And despite Turkey’s position as a nato ally and a national gatekeeper of Middle Eastern immigration into Europe, German leaders directly and openly opposed Erdoğan’s views on Israel.

On that visit, Erdoğan said, “If we can establish a humanitarian ceasefire together with Germany, we will have the opportunity to save the region from this ring of fire.” It was largely through German diplomacy with Israel and Arab nations that the conflict did not spread to include Hezbollah and surrounding nations.

Few see it, but Germany is building a Middle East alliance of its own!

Look closely and you can see Germany developing strong ties with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and beyond. Remarkably, this is all at the same time that it is strengthening its support for Israel.

The foreign powers once dominant in the Middle East used to be London and Washington. Now, more than what most people realize, it is Berlin and Rome. They have an upper hand in the region that few understand.

Weapons Exports

Germany’s strong war talk is significant in and of itself. But the nation’s interventions go far beyond bold statements.

Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe and one of the top five economies in the world. It has learned to use its economic and technological power to quietly advance its foreign policy. This is particularly true in the Middle East, from which it imports much of its energy, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened its supply of Russian energy.

Germany has supplied weapons to countries across the globe. Turkey has been the largest recipient of German weapons systems, including tanks, artillery, warships and warplanes. For over a decade, Algeria, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been in the top 10 importers of hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons—along with Israel. Saudi Arabia receives huge amounts of German armaments and training, and a German leads Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a Saudi state-owned defense company.

Every year, Germany sells billions of dollars in weaponry, specifically “weapons of war.” Supplying and helping to operate and maintain weapons platforms and smaller armaments develops a relationship. It reflects these nations’ trust in Germany, and it even makes them dependent on it. Enough weapons buyers trust Germany to the point that it is now one of the top five weapons exporters in the world.

People have noticed what the German government is doing, and many German citizens oppose it, saying that it violates Article 26 of the German constitution and international law. They protested when Turkey used German tanks to invade Syria, for example, and when frigates and antiaircraft systems were sold to Egypt while it was accused of violating human rights and abetting bloodshed in Yemen and Libya.

But German leaders have consistently pushed such deals through. They are using weapons exports to strengthen their foreign policy! But that is not all they are doing. Germany is also building up its military.

Military Build-up

After Russia expanded its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Chancellor Scholz announced that Germany was creating a special fund of €100 billion (us$109.7 billion) to spend on its military and would raise its annual military spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (for the first time since 1990) beginning in 2024. The German government even altered its constitution to be able to take on this debt. The Luftwaffe announced that it would spend about $10 billion to buy 35 advanced American F-35 fighter jets.

Since World War ii, Germany has slowly built up its military and begun to use it. Beginning in 1991, its pilots flew alongside American and other nato pilots to destroy Yugoslavia and wrest control of that region from Russia for Europe. As many as 5,000 of its soldiers fought in Afghanistan. In recent years it has deployed its military to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Niger, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Uzbekistan. At the peak of the war in Afghanistan, Germany had over 5,000 troops stationed in Iran’s eastern neighbor. More broadly, the European Union has many other deployments in the region.

But such activities only hint at what Germany is actually capable of.

Consider the fact that Germany is part of America’s nuclear sharing program, which means the sharing of nuclear bombs. At the exact same time that the German chancellor was warning Hezbollah and Iran, German pilots were participating in nato’s “Steadfast Noon” military exercises to prepare them to conduct nuclear strikes. Germany has highly advanced technology of its own, a number of allies, nuclear sharing and much more that it can use to devastate Iran or anyone else it decides to attack!

For several reasons, this is a situation 10,000 times more dangerous than the Cold War. And even though it will impact all of us, people are almost completely blind to it.

Cyprus

Soon after the Hamas attack, Germany and the Netherlands deployed troops to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus to prepare for civilian evacuation missions in the Middle East. Germany stationed military transport aircraft and soldiers, special forces command, naval special forces and German Federal Police in and around Cyprus.

This is a key strategic island. Any country that wants to move military vehicles, planes and troops into the Middle East must either negotiate with or conquer a number of nations in order to travel over land and air—or go by sea and deal with just one small nation, Cyprus.

On Nov. 13, 2023, more than 16,000 Israelis fled to Cyprus. The Guardian reported that Cyprus is “only a 40-minute flight away [and] looks set to play [a] critical geopolitical role amid Middle East unrest.” It quoted Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, saying, “Cyprus, by virtue of its geography, has a critical role to play. If the EU is serious about becoming a more significant geopolitical actor, the major test will be here ….”

Cyprus has been a key island for Europe, Turkey and other powers for years—in fact, for centuries! In addition to its strategic location, it possesses several recently discovered oil and gas fields.

Currently, a self-declared government aligned with Turkey controls the northeastern part of the island: The rest is controlled by Cyprus, which has been an EU member for almost 20 years. Britain has had two important military bases there for decades. France is attempting to establish its own military presence on the island, perhaps through a unified European army.

But the power that really rules Cyprus is Germany! Germany rules the EU and has made sure that it dominates Cyprus. This tiny island nation, after entering the EU and adopting the euro, became dependent on the German economy. The situation all but guaranteed that Cyprus’s economy would struggle, and when it fell into crisis in 2012–2013, Germany approved a bailout, increasing its economic and political control there. This move reduced Russia’s influence, which considers Cyprus a useful asset because of its acute interest in Syria.

Those two British military bases have proved valuable to America and its coalition partners waging wars in the Middle East. Secret diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus show that diplomats there are concerned about losing access to Britain’s bases, especially crucial radar and signals intelligence. They believe this will “pose a threat to our national security interests in the eastern Mediterranean.”

In May 2022, Cyprus and Germany signed their first Bilateral Defense Cooperation Program, which includes joint military exercises. In November 2023, their defense ministers signed an additional defense agreement at a meeting of EU defense ministers.

In September 2023, Cyprus hosted a five-day drill that involved naval and air forces, including French fighter jets and Airbus a400m Atlas transport aircraft. President Nikos Christodoulides said Cyprus has “particular geostrategic significance” for the EU.

German troops have been stationed in Cyprus for years as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (unifil). Cypriot Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides said in 2022, “Though not so widely known, our two countries have a long-standing defense cooperation through the facilities offered by the Republic of Cyprus to the German unifil Maritime Task Force contingent, which is based in Cyprus, since 2006. We will continue to support you in this important deployment for the fulfillment of the mission’s mandate for ensuring maritime security in the area.”

Led by Germany, Cyprus is becoming a military base for the European Union!

Our November-December 2019 cover story proclaimed the importance of Cyprus and Germany’s actions there. As I wrote at that time, all you need to do is look at a map to see that it is a stepping-stone between Berlin and Rome in Europe and Jerusalem and other cities in the Middle East.

Rome

Another power intensely interested in Cyprus as a stepping-stone into certain parts of the Middle East is the Vatican. In November, President Christodoulides went to the Vatican for a private discussion with Pope Francis about the escalating tension in the region, migration and religion in Cyprus.

The tension arose from Hamas, backed by Iran, savagely butchering Israeli families. When Israel attempted to defend itself, people warned that “tensions are escalating.”

It is crucial to notice how the Vatican reacted.

The day after the massacres, Pope Francis expressed sorrow over what is “happening in Israel,” and said, “Every war is a defeat.” He did not condemn Hamas. Three days later, after briefly recognizing “the right of those who were attacked to defend themselves,” he directed his attention to the “total siege facing Palestinians in Gaza, where there have also been many innocent victims.” Vatican News said he “invited both parties to restraint.” A couple of weeks later, the pope spoke with Joe Biden on the telephone, and both pledged to supply Palestinians in Gaza with aid and pursue the goal of granting the Palestinians their own state. Francis also had a call with the president of Iran, who said he asked the pope to help stop Israel from attacking Hamas in Gaza.

You need to recognize what the pope and the Vatican are doing in Cyprus, the Holy Land and Jerusalem. That is the key to understanding what Europe is doing, what Germany is doing, why Cyprus is important—and why the Israelis have a hidden threat far greater than Hamas, Hezbollah or even Iran!

There is something deeply, deeply wrong with how the pope responded to those murders! The Vatican responded to “what is happening in Israel”—mass murder, the mass rape of women, the execution of parents and children in front of each other, the decapitation of civilians, and the decapitation of babies—with little sympathy. The pope did worse than try to make the blood-soaked terrorists and the Israeli people equally guilty: He made the Israelis look much more guilty!

Some people noticed. The Israeli Embassy to the Vatican rightly cried out against the pope’s “linguistic ambiguities” and false “parallelisms.”

Why would Pope Francis talk in such a crafty and diabolical way?

One of the most recent clues came the month before the massacres. In September, the Vatican’s foreign minister made a statement that Jerusalem, which is controlled by the Israelis, should be subjected to an internationally guaranteed statute to ensure “the equal rights and duties of the faithful of the three monotheistic religions.” Israel already gives equal rights to Christians, Jews and Muslims—even allowing Muslims to control the Temple Mount and deny Jews access to most of it. This is not about guaranteeing religious rights to various religions: It’s about getting more control for the Catholic Church over Jerusalem!

This is just one of the latest indications of a plan that the Vatican—and Europe—will enact to project power from Cyprus into the Holy Land and right into Jerusalem!

The Holy Roman Empire

Look at history. The Catholic Church has united and guided European empires repeatedly over the past 1,700 years. These combinations of religious and military power have even been called the “Holy” Roman Empire. When militarily strong, this religion has repeatedly launched crusades to wrest control of the Holy Land! (sidebar, “The Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus,” page 3).

In our lifetime, the Vatican and Europe have been weak compared to the Holy Roman Empires of the past and compared to Britain and the United States. But this empire is once again resurrecting, and it has not forgotten Jerusalem!

An intriguing prophecy in Daniel 11:45 describes a powerful leader who “shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” What does this mean?

Plain Truth founder Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in the October 1951 issue: “[T]he capital of this revived Roman Empire, along with the Vatican, will make a lightning move to Palestine—probably Jerusalem! That shall be the last abomination to be set up there! Notice, in Daniel 11:45, ‘tabernacle’ is a place of worship, and ‘palace’ the residence of a king” (“The Pope Plans to Move Vatican!”).

Daniel 8:25 has a related prophecy: “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many …” (see “The Dark Side of the Pope’s Visit to Jerusalem” at theTrumpet.com/11869).

These are dramatic prophecies, and they are being fulfilled right now!

Why is Germany concerned about Cyprus? Why is the Vatican concerned? Why have both made statements in support of the Jews, yet taken actions that obviously weaken the Jews and strengthen the Muslims?

The Vatican and Germany are in the process of resurrecting the power of the Holy Roman Empire, and they want to rule Jerusalem! This has been a powerful religious desire of that institution for some 1,500 years. They want another crusade to conquer Jerusalem.

Daniel 11:40-45 describes something that has not occurred yet in history: a vast military operation in the Middle East led by “the king of the north” leading to world war. This, as Mr. Armstrong showed from the Bible, is Catholic, German-led Europe.

The revived Holy Roman Empire will find a way to carve out more and more control for itself over Cyprus, the Holy Land and Jerusalem. They have an enormous plan for the Middle East! Daniel 11 is describing a much larger military operation than ever seen before, and it will bring horrific results, far worse than the bloodiest crusades of the past!

Christodoulides said Cyprus has “particular geostrategic significance” for the EU. This is truer than he can imagine!

Germany’s Real Objective

Some Israelis might be worried about the pope’s statements, but they fail to see what they are really about because they don’t understand Bible prophecy and they don’t remember the history of the Crusades and other Catholic persecutions of Jews. Many Israelis fail to understand Germany.

As the German chancellor acknowledged, his nation is voicing support for Israel because of Germany’s guilt for its persecution of Jews during World War ii—not that long ago. That was an attempt to dehumanize and exterminate them!

German pilots reinforced the chancellor’s rhetoric by practicing dropping nuclear bombs. Germany used to have a smaller military and was forbidden from developing its own nuclear bombs because of what it did in World War ii against Jews—and against Britain, America and the Allies. Germany was a leading, respected, high-tech nation at that time as well, and it launched the Second World War, leading to the mass murder of 6 million Jews and the deaths of 54 million others!

Don’t you think Germany wants to push Britain and America out of Cyprus, which they used so powerfully in that last world war? Don’t you think this rising empire and its military might turn those bombs against America, Britain and the Jewish nation? That will be their objective. How much they are thinking that way right now, we don’t know, but their motivation is not as pure as most people believe. Do you think they really love Israel? Are they helping the Jews simply to atone for their past? That is not their real objective! That is only the cover they are using to aggressively pursue their goal!

The Bible reveals that Germany wants to loosen the Jews’ control of Jerusalem—but not so Iran and radical Islam can seize it. There is going to be a great clash between the European king of the north and the radical Islamic king of the south. Germany is already planning its foreign policy and its deployments to surround Iran and ultimately destroy it in a whirlwind attack before it can take Jerusalem. And the Islamic king of the south can see that Europe is getting stronger in the Middle East. (Read more about “The Whirlwind Prophecy” at theTrumpet.com/10678.)

Daniel 11:40 states: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.” Radical Islam and Iran are very close to provoking Europe into this whirlwind attack. Daniel 12:4 and 9 tell us that this prophecy is only for this end time and no other!

We are witnessing momentous prophetic events unfolding before our eyes. Study these prophecies and you will see that these events are part of the very final events to occur in this age of man, before God intervenes to establish His Kingdom on Earth! Terrible suffering is about to engulf the Middle East and the world! As a warning to all of us, God has foretold that this is what wicked men will be doing. But He also promises to forcibly stop it after a very short time and to ensure that it never happens again.

When we watch these events with understanding, not only can we see God’s hand at work, we can recognize the tremendous hope that lies just over the horizon!