“I was stirred by Netanyahu’s action and his bold, aggressive leadership,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry after Israel started bombing Iran last year. “In many ways, he is his nation’s ‘rising lion.’” This weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu showed his lionlike courage in perhaps an even greater test, standing up to his only real ally. He completely rejected Donald Trump’s 15-point Gaza peace plan.

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Netanyahu made clear that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until it is certain that Hamas has disarmed—and Trump’s deal does not give Israel that certainty.

He tried to minimize the damage, referring to President Trump as “the greatest of our friends in the White House.” President Trump has not responded. He’s blown hot and cold on Netanyahu, so it’s hard to know if he’ll ignore his statement or launch another verbal salvo.

Ties are already strained between the two. Netanyahu visited the White House on July 28. You’d be forgiven for not noticing. There were no joint press conferences, photo-ops or even special announcements. He had tried to come the week prior, but according to Axios, Trump wouldn’t make time for him. They wrote that members of Trump’s cabinet “view Netanyahu with disdain.”

President Trump has repeatedly ignored Netanyahu and Israel’s requests, moving forward with an F-35 fighter jet deal with Turkey and a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, for example.

The split could cost Netanyahu the election, scheduled for October 27. The Hamas deal is wildly unpopular with the Israeli public, but a close relationship with Donald Trump was one of Netanyahu’s selling points.

Donald Trump first proclaimed a disastrous ceasefire deal in January 2025. Mr. Flurry wrote:

This deal has exposed Mr. Trump’s flaws in a way that none of us want to see. Something is dreadfully wrong here. What Mr. Trump has done here is going to plague him for the rest of his tenure in office! Just watch and see if it doesn’t happen that way—unless he dramatically changes course.

At times, Netanyahu has gone along with peace negotiations he clearly disliked, gambling that Hamas would break their obligations so Israel would not have to follow through with its obligations. Perhaps the terms of this 15-point deal are so generous that he feels Hamas will not break it until it is too late.

Now he’s taking a bold stand against a bad deal. Mr. Flurry wrote:

In a world this hostile, Britain, America and the Jewish nation of Israel need to stick together and to turn toward God. But they are splitting from God and from each other. There will be no helper for Israel—not even from other modern Israelite nations. It is shameful that we are causing so much of this division and bringing it upon ourselves.

President Trump wants peace, but he’s pursuing it by compromising with terrorists. The Israelis are painfully aware that such compromise leads only to October 7-style massacres, and they cannot go along.

“President Trump Betrayed Israel,” wrote Mr. Flurry, as Donald Trump took office in 2025. Now the split between Trump and Israel is wider than ever.

A Nuclear Middle Eastern Alliance

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a mutual defense alliance on Friday. The agreement’s text is not yet public, but Pakistan specified that it means “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the alliance gives the countries a tool for “combating terrorism,” however that is defined.

The elephant in the room is Iran. Saudi Arabia already has a mutual defense treaty with Pakistan, an agreement Pakistan reportedly almost invoked against Iran in March or April. Pakistan has also signed a similar but separate deal with Kuwait. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been attacked by Iran extensively since March for cooperating with the United States.

• Pakistan has nuclear weapons. Turkey has joint control over American nuclear weapons on its soil. Saudi Arabia is pushing for its own nuclear capability.
• Turkey is on Iran’s western border. Pakistan is on Iran’s eastern border. Saudi Arabia lies across the Persian Gulf from Iran.

The Mecca agreement could result in a nuclear-armed alliance surrounding Iran. This is especially intriguing when analyzed alongside Bible prophecy.

• Psalm 83 is a prophecy of Middle Eastern countries, including “Edom” and “the Ishmaelites” (verse 6), the ancestors of the modern Turkish and Arab peoples, forming a grand alliance under the sponsorship of Assyria (verse 8), or modern-day Germany.
• A related prophecy in Daniel 11:40-43 reveals that Germany forms its alliances in part to war against Iran. Verse 40 specifies this alliance would surround Iran, the end-time “king of the south,” “like a whirlwind.”
• Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry elaborates on these prophecies in his free booklet The King of the South. He speculates in the book that this attack could include nuclear weapons.

Thus far, Germany does not appear to be part of this mutual defense alliance. Pakistan also isn’t mentioned in Psalm 83; its role in these events remains an open question. But given the circumstances, such a momentous alliance as the one agreed to in Mecca may be the formal start of what will become the Psalm 83 alliance.

U.S. Intelligence: Russia May Attack NATO This Fall

Russia could wage a small-scale attack on a nato nation as early as this fall to test the alliance’s response, United States intelligence agencies assessed earlier this year. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal report from Thursday.

• This is different from previous American assessments. As Russia experiences losses in Ukraine, reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin may seek a victory elsewhere before 2029 and as early as this fall.

This news will strengthen Europe’s resolve to rearm even faster.

Russian belligerence has put Europe on edge. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Sunday that although Germany is not at war, it’s “the daily target of hybrid warfare.”

That statement came after an explosives-carrying drone that U.S. intelligence says has links to Russia was found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle in Saxony, Germany, on Tuesday. A second drone struck a civilian cargo plane over the airport, but the aircraft landed safely.

At the same time, Europe is questioning America’s commitment and even its ability to protect it in the event of an attack.

President Trump has threatened to withdraw all American forces from Europe if Denmark does not cede Greenland to the U.S., has launched a war with Iran that many Europeans dislike, has failed to stop Iran from striking cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and is reportedly running low on some munitions due to the war.

Europeans are deciding that the way forward is to stop relying on American security guarantees and to invest the necessary political and financial capital to build a new superpower. Necessarily, the Continent’s most populous, most economically powerful nation will lead it: Germany.

• Germany is planning to join a French nuclear exercise later this year, another clue that it is taking the Russian threat seriously—and that it distrusts the U.S. government and military.

However, Bible prophecy warns that an empowered Germany will not just defend Europe against Russia’s imperialistic ambitions but also attack several of its nato “allies” to the West.

IN OTHER NEWS

Germany and the Netherlands ordered an additional 69 infantry fighting vehicles from German defense company Rheinmetall and European defense consortium knds, Germany’s ntv reported on Friday. This adds to last year’s $5.4 billion order of 222 of Jackal vehicles.

Russia rejects ‘freeze’ in war on Ukraine: Russia refuses Ukrainian efforts to “freeze” the conflict between the two until all of President Vladimir Putin’s demands are met, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday. The statement is the latest evidence that Putin has no real interest in peace but remains a ruthless warlord determined to impose his will in Russia’s periphery, no matter the costs.

Pope Leo announces trip to Latin America: The Vatican announced last week that Pope Leo xiv will visit Argentina, Uruguay and Peru from November 6 to 17. While Pope Leo was born in the U.S., he has strong connections to Latin America. His mother had Spanish ancestry, and he spent decades in Peru. The Trumpet warns based on Bible prophecies that Latin America will break its ties with the U.S. and ally with Catholic Europe. Watch for Pope Leo’s trip and his ongoing public opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump to accelerate the fulfillment of this prophecy.