The image from Monday was extraordinary: Donald Trump at his Oval Office desk surrounded by European leaders looking to him for leadership on ending the Ukraine war. President Trump loves it. But you can be sure many other nations view it as humiliating. And in our feature story this morning, “Why European Leaders Bow to Trump,” Josué Michels explores their ulterior motives.

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Israel’s invasion of Gaza City began yesterday, its effort to rout Hamas and end the hostage crisis after 683 days and counting since Oct. 7, 2023.

• Israel Defense Forces soldiers have seized control of Gaza City’s outskirts in the first stages of Operation Gideon’s Chariots B, a military spokesman said today.
• 60,000 IDF reservists will be called up in the coming days.
• The stated goal is not to fully occupy Gaza, but to establish a security perimeter so as to dismantle Hamas and secure the hostages’ release.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing forward despite condemnation from other nations, including traditional allies, and from many of his own countrymen. They are shrieking that the offensive risks exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza—that it will endanger the hostages—that the troops are already exhausted—that Netanyahu is doing this to stave off corruption charges and politically to save his own skin.

However, the reality is that Hamas remains unrepentant for the atrocities of October 7 and would commit more of them given the chance, and that they have steadfastly resisted all other efforts to loosen their grip on the hostages, both sticks and carrots. Hamas calculates that as long as they hold captives, they survive. They don’t care about Gazans suffering: That actually helps them by arousing the sympathies of an addle-headed world.

Netanyahu, “Israel’s rising lion,” has had enough. He is doing what he feels necessary to obliterate Hamas’s perverse leverage and to safeguard his nation.

How will the situation play out? What does Bible prophecy indicate?

Israel’s toughness in this war—nearly a hundred weeks long now—its willingness to defy global opinion and defend itself, has been extraordinary. But pressure is increasing, both without and within. Wars are costly. Troops do wear down. Allies are needed not just for moral support but for materiel.

And in a democracy, you do need the support of the people. In Israel, this could be flagging. The propaganda that is swaying governments like France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to want to reward Hamas by recognizing “Palestine” is also influencing a segment of Israelis. An August 8 poll by left-wing Maariv said 57 percent of Israelis “favor full hostage deal to end the Gaza war”—as if Hamas has ever offered such a thing—while only about half of that, 30 percent, “favor Gaza takeover even at risk to hostages.” These numbers reflect the views of the left-wing press more than of the Israeli public, but they do indicate what Netanyahu is up against within his own country.

Prophecy warns that Israel’s resolve will give out. Wearied and under renewed attack, it will seek help from a duplicitous ally. Read “Jerusalem: About to Explode,” Chapter 3 of Gerald Flurry’s booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy, to learn more.

One factor that will contribute to this prophecy’s fulfillment is the loss of support from the United States. A trend is playing out here that points in that direction:

Americans want a Palestinian state: Nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe Israel’s military response in Gaza is excessive, a Reuters/Ipsos poll reported yesterday. And almost as many—58 percent—believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize a state of Palestine. Only one third of respondents said that would be a mistake. Even 41 percent of Republicans support a Palestinian state.

The question of whether America should support Israel is creating a growing rift among Republicans.

• Some agree with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: “I was taught, from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed, and from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side.” This is a very broad extrapolation from scriptures like Genesis 12:3 and Numbers 24:9, taking biblical references to “Israel” to mean the modern Jewish state.
• Others—like the man across the table from Cruz, Tucker Carlson—believe the Bible says no such thing, and the Jewish state should fight its own battles. Some accuse the Jewish state of corruption and of having undue influence on America. Some even call it “demonic.”

President Trump has both sides talking in his ear. He has made decisions that seemed to appease one, then the other. But the trend line for Israel being able to count on America’s unqualified support seems to be falling.

Zechariah 11:14 prophesies that God would “break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” This may well refer to a future rift between America (biblical Israel) and the Jewish state (Judah).

In the meantime, if you want to know the truth in that argument between Cruz and Carlson, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

Tulsi Gabbard to cut her staff almost in half: Forty percent of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence employees will be gone by year’s end, saving $700 million annually, Gabbard announced yesterday. The number of employees is classified, but sources have said it’s around 1,850 to 2,000.

“We couldn’t move quickly enough,” an anonymous ODNI told the Daily Mail. “We have to move faster … and pivot to an elite workforce.” Another indicated they would be getting rid of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hires, saying “DEI was a detriment to national security issues. Every position should add value.”

Conservative Treehouse points out that the ODNI was set up shortly before Barack Obama took power, making it a perfect tool for him to shape and mold. It was quickly “weaponized for domestic influence operations,” they write. When Obama took over, these “newly formed institutions were viewed as opportunities to create a very specific national security apparatus that would focus almost exclusively against their political opposition.” The ODNI became a key pillar of the “deep state.”

The downsizing of ODNI is another key moment in the prophesied dismantling of Barack Obama’s control over America—a development Stephen Flurry covered on yesterday’s Trumpet Daily.

IN OTHER NEWS

One small step for China: China is overtaking America in the race for space. It successfully tested a rocket’s center core last Friday. This follows a successful test of a lunar lander a couple of weeks ago. China is poised to beat America in sending astronauts back to the moon, Ezekiel Malone explains.

Uniting Asia: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week, a sign that the two once enemy nations are turning a new leaf. The Trumpet forecasts great changes in the China-India relationship, and meeting like this are moving in that direction, as Cliff Lilangen reports.

Justice to be served? A Daily Caller investigation published yesterday claims that intelligence officials knowingly hid evidence the COVID-19 virus came from a Chinese lab leak early in the pandemic. This strongly implicates Dr. Anthony Fauci as a liar and a criminal. Tulsi Gabbard said she would investigate the issue. Andrew Miiller explains the details.