Will Germany acquire Israel’s most important shipping company?

Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest container shipping company, has signed a deal to acquire the world’s 10th-largest: Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services. Zim’s board of directors approved the $4.2 billion deal. It now awaits Israeli government approval, though some Israelis hope the government will reject it. Zim has helped Israel in emergency logistics during wartime. Israel’s port authority called the sale an “existential threat,” while 800 of Zim’s workers staged a strike. The Bible warns that Germany will build a massive commercial empire that will ultimately shut Israel, Britain, America and other nations descended from the ancient Israelites out of world trade. Germany acquiring Israel’s largest shipping company could simultaneously help it build that empire, develop a closer relationship with Israel, and give it the means to besiege it economically. Chapter 5 of Ezekiel—the End-Time Prophet explains more.