Bibi vs. the World

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the hard decision to fully conquer Gaza. On Sunday, Netanyahu noted that 75 percent of this Hamas terrorist-controlled territory is already occupied by the Israel Defense Forces. Israel plans to move Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and other areas to “designated safe zones” with “ample food, water and medical care,” which, incidentally, many if not most have been denied by the Hamas regime. Netanyahu is determined to minimize civilian casualties—and eradicate Hamas.

Hamas is a group of fanatical, mass-murdering, genocidal, tyrannical men guilty of perpetrating crimes for 38 years—including the most horrific torture and massacre of civilian men, women and children from Israel and 24 other countries in recent memory. Taking away their last terrorist havens is long overdue.

But many world leaders do not see it this way.

The United Nations has condemned the plan. Germany has halted its military exports to Israel. Leaders in Canada, France and the United Kingdom are speaking out to condemn the plan. Media executives and their talking heads are accusing Netanyahu of attempting a Palestinian genocide. They ignore Netanyahu’s attempt to protect civilians while attacking him for trying to defend his people from one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist networks on Earth.

This stance doesn’t make logical sense! Until you realize that there is a demonic hatred for Jews, the Western civilization they helped found, and the God who chose Israel and inspired the Bible.

After Netanyahu launched strikes on Iran, he said Israel was “changing the face of the Middle East.” Yet most world leaders do not want the face of the Middle East to change. They prefer Islamic theocracies like Iran and Hamas to Western democracies like Israel because they hate biblical precepts that produce the rule of law; individual freedom and accountability; limited government; stable families; freedom of religion, speech and property; and other principles that trace back to the law given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

The Guardian, the New York Times, cnn and myriad other news sources almost completely ignore Hamas terrorist activities so they can paint Israel in the worst possible light. There is something bizarrely illogical and obviously evil about this stark and persistent bias. Even within Israel, most government officials seem more intent on tearing down their own country than rooting out Hamas. So aside from some courageous supporters in Mossad and a few others, Netanyahu is a lone voice trying to defend his country.

Seventeen years ago, my father, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry, wrote about Israel’s faith crisis in “Israel: When the Miracle Victories Ended.” “The Jewish nation was born and sustained by godly miracles,” he said. “But it still refuses to trust God! Its leaders have more faith in terrorists!” What a condemning statement.

Of course, this statement was written before Netanyahu returned to office and doesn’t apply to Netanyahu personally. Yet it still applies to many people in the Israeli government, and it definitely applies to the leaders around the world trying to hobble Netanyahu’s efforts to keep his nation—the region’s only functioning Western democracy—alive.

Courageous, lionlike leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu are God’s instruments to ensure the Jewish people survive. Without men like him, they simply would not! But the Bible, the book of the tribe of Judah and the other tribes of Israel, has prophesied that God will preserve these tribes until the Messiah comes and regathers them under His government. These leaders are also God’s instruments to teach people powerful lessons about what it takes to overcome evil. Defeating evil cannot be done through negotiation, nor with “limited warfare.” To defeat evil, it takes “the wisdom of bouncers,” as Israeli historian and author Gadi Taub said. It must be completely incapacitated to the point where it will not return.

A powerful prophecy in Genesis 49:9 says that Judah will behave like a lion’s whelp in the days just before Jesus Christ’s return. This imagery symbolizes Judah’s royal lineage and future strength and leadership. Netanyahu is certainly living up to this description, but one man cannot save the nation. To save the State of Israel, the people of Judah need to turn to God in repentance. If the Jews and the other peoples of Israel do not repent, Netanyahu’s role will only be to help prevent the Jews from being wiped out before the Messiah’s return.