#Israel's enemies cast down

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Sanballat's Conspiracy

1 Now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left therein (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates),

2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me mischief.

3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?”

4 Yet they sent unto me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same manner.

5 Then Sanballat sent his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

6 wherein was written: “It is reported among the heathen, and Geshem saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words.

7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ And now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.”

8 Then I sent unto him, saying, “There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.”

9 For they all made us afraid, saying, “Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to slay thee, yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.”

11 And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

12 And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me; for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

14 My God, think Thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.

15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty and two days.

16 And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen who were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought by our God.

17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.

18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. — Nehemiah 6 | 21st Century King James Version (KJV21) The Holy Bible; 21st Century King James Version Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc. Cross References: Genesis 36:39; Exodus 14:25; 1 Chronicles 3:21; 1 Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 1:6; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 4:1-2; Nehemiah 7:1; Nehemiah 13:4; Nehemiah 13:29; Job 13:4; Psalm 52:2; Psalm 138:3; Proverbs 28:1; Jeremiah 20:10; Ezekiel 13:17

[theculturedmarxist]

Posted onJanuary 25, 2024 by Yves Smith

Simplicius the Thinker has an important post up giving evidence that the Israel war against the Palestinians and the US operations in the Middle East are buckling, to the degree that US-friendly sources and even officials are acknowledging setbacks and stresses. Early on, Simplicius describes how the ne plus ultra of neocon strategy, the Institute for Study of War, is reporting that Israel has lost ground to Hamas in North Gaza, an area it maintained it had so firmly under its control that it could pull out ground forces.

The Cradle confirms Simplicius’ overall assessment in Israel loses control of its borders:

For the first time in its 76-year history, Israel’s entire security calculations have been turned upside down: the occupation state is today grappling with buffer zones inside Israel. In past wars, it was Tel Aviv that established these “security zones” inside enemy territory — advancing Israel’s strategic geography, evacuating Arab populations near their state border areas, and fortifying its own borders…. Today, Israel is horrified to find itself retreating from direct confrontation lines with its arch-enemies in Gaza and Lebanon. The formidable capabilities of the resistance now include drones, rockets, targeted projectiles, tunnels, and spanking new shock tactics, casting doubt on the feasibility of Israeli settlers remaining safe in any of Israel’s border perimeters.

There is a big sour note in Simplicius’ otherwise informative piece, in that he follows the US official trope that “Iran” is driving the multi-front military operations against Israel. As others on Simplicius’ beat have pointed out, he is very good on military analysis but weak on politics. Hamas launched October 7 without giving Iran a head’s up. The Houthis and Hezbollah get support from Iran and no doubt share intel, but they are independent actors.

The Axis of Resistance, as some like to call it, has been increasing the intensity of its pressure on Israel as the slaughter in Gaza continues, and importantly, they have likely already detected plenty of evidence of Israeli poor performance, which Simplicius describes in detail as it is becoming more visible and widespread. Experts abroad were inferring poor Israel performance merely from knowledge and press coverage. Very early on after the Hamas attack, Scott Ritter, who had considerable experience in Israel in the 1990s, depicted the IDF as a third-rate army, proficient at ops like breaking the arms of Palestinian teenagers. He also called out the bombing of Gaza as a major mistake, assuming the objective was to get Hamas, as opposed to exterminating Gazans. All that rubble, in combination with the vast Hamas tunnel network, results in a much more defender-favorable environment. John Mearsheimer and Alastair Crooke pointed out the inability of Israel to point to any successes, such as freeing hostages or more than isolated kills of the Hamas leadership. Crooke also said the Hebrew press would report on a high (by Israeli standards) IDF death count in Gaza, only to have those stories quickly yanked by the censors.

Israel, or at least the rabid right wingers running its show, may be running up against the conflict between how they have presented the war to the world and their citizens versus what, based on a cold look at their actions, is the real intent. The scale and sheer destructiveness of the Gaza assault make clear that Israel wanted to clear Gaza, not of Hamas but of Gazans (and the persistent demonization of all Gazans as in cahoots with Hamas is part of a deeply offensive rationalization).

Israel, clearly naively, assumed it could push the Gazans into Egypt. When Egypt resisted fiercely, the next Israel move was to increase the punishment of the Gaza population, based at best the idea that it would increase pressure on Arab states to relent and accept Palestinians, and at worse, regarding extermination as a perfectly acceptable way to get rid of the Gazans. So a plan for ethnic cleansing on a massive scale has become genocide. In case you harbor any doubts about the real war aims:

But the cost to Israel and now the US is spiraling out of control. In Israel, citizens have a good sense that the IDF losses are high, yet an end to the war is nowhere in sight. Families with hostages are successfully creating an uproar over priorities, demanding a cease-fire to secure their return, while Netanyahu and the hardliners insist that Hamas must be defeated first, and the release of the hostages will follow. 1

Another source of political and economic pressure is that Israel is now housing nearly 90,000 citizens evacuated from the Lebanon border. Those settlers insist that there must be no Lebanese visible from their homes for them to be willing to return. That would require taken Southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, as in dispossessing Lebanese families for the psychological comfort of these border dwellers. Netanyahu has promised to take that territory if Lebanon won’t surrender it, which is clearly not in the cards. But quite a few experts opine that if Israel were to try to seize southern Lebanon, that the odds favor Hezbollah occupying Israel up to Galilee.

The Cradle describes how the northern Israel border situation is worse than generally depicted in Western media:

The Israeli Defense Ministry, which pledged a swift and decisive war to safeguard its settlers over 100 days ago, is now actively devising plans to shelter approximately 100,000 people along the northern border, deeper inside its territory. This measure could involve evacuating settlements that may come under fire during any future military escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon. This situation implies three critical outcomes: any immediate return of settlers remains unlikely, additional evacuations are anticipated, and numerous Israeli families – in the interim – may establish permanent settlements in other, more secure locations at a much further distance from the borders with southern Lebanon and the Gaza envelope. Preliminary reports from settler councils in the north assessed settler “displacement” to be around 70,000 in the initial weeks of the conflict. Subsequent reports, however, suggest a vastly higher figure of approximately 230,000.

Recall we already have the US’ supposedly vaunted Navy being unable to provide for the safety of seaborne commerce, and the US now in an attempt to restore its manhood, making illegal and ineffective missile strikes on Yemen. And recall the US is supposed to be a sea and air power!

In the meantime, most non-Chinese and Russian cargo ships are avoiding the Red Sea. While the rise in shipping costs is not all that bad by historical standards, the US looks and is powerless. And the Houthis are succeeding in their main aim, of choking sea transport in and out of Israel.

Indicators of the state of play:

But bear in mind one reason the US can faff around is that we don’t much bear the cost of longer transit times and supply chain uncertainty. It’s Europe. And the fallout has started:

Now to Simplicius’ on-the-ground sightings, first from Gaza:

As we now know, Israel has withdrawn many of its brigades from the north, citing ‘rest and rotation’ when in reality it appears to be ‘reconstitution’, as the brigades took major attritional losses. Now in the wake of that, the latest bombshell reports state that resistance fighters have re-infiltrated the entire north, leaving the map looking like that of below:

I myself was skeptical—could Israel really have abandoned the entire north after “claiming” to have captured it?

But here’s the double bombshell: even ISW admitted it:

After more examples of Israel doing badly in Gaza, Simplicius adds:

Recall that just last month Kirby admitted that Hamas had not been attrited at all, and an Israeli reserve colonel gave a tearful account of piled up IDF bodies which seemed to imply that they are taking far heavier losses than they’re admitting to.

Later in the piece, Simplicius turns to how US bases in Syria and Iraq are under attack. Oddly he does not mention that the US is in Syria illegally, stealing Syrian oil on a big scale and the Iraqis told us to leave but we refused. Suddenly our position is looking tenuous just when Israel (or at least Netanyahu) is acting like escalating is a great idea to make sure we having to get deeply involved and come to their aid. Again from his post:

And quelle surprise, Simplicius found a story in Al-Monitor that suddenly had the US wanting our buddies the Kurds to “partner” with our former super enemy Assad….which looked like a plan to cut and run, which was confirmed by Foreign Policy headlining that he Pentagon is planning to exit Syria. From its account:

And with such a complex regional crisis playing out, it should not come as a surprise that the Biden administration is reconsidering its military priorities in the region. It should be cause for significant concern, however, that this could involve a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. While no definitive decision has been made to leave, four sources within the Defense and State departments said the White House is no longer invested in sustaining a mission that it perceives as unnecessary. Active internal discussions are now underway to determine how and when a withdrawal may take place.

The Daily Sabah reports Türkiye is somewhat skeptical of the story, which it depicts as a rumor, but also lays out some implications if true.

And to round out this remarkable picture, Simplicius includes two stories, one from Reuters, the other from CNN, that the US is negotiating its departure from Iraq.

Simplicius points out:

The US claims these are long-planned talks and have nothing to do with the recent attacks, but that is clearly not the case. The Reuters article above provides one key line: You see, the US previously had preconditions for talks of ending its occupation; one of the conditions being that Iran-backed Iraqi groups first had to stop bombing US bases. But now, the US has apparently dropped this significant precondition, as per the Reuters report. That tells us that US is making concessions out of desperation.

So the US looks to be engaging in a full bore retreat. We don’t begin to have enough weapons, particularly after having depleted our and our allies’ stocks in Ukraine, to wage much of a war, even before getting to that we also can’t land or protect anywhere near enough ground forces and keep them supplied given how the Houthis, and if needed, Hezbollah, have plenty of cheap drones, and the Hezbollah and the Iranians have higher tech, more powerful, longer range precision missiles too.

Given that this is utterly embarrassing, and in an election year to boot, the last thing the US needs is further attention being drawn to its debilities by Israel escalating in a way that necessitates our trying to come to its rescue.

So a nefarious thought: Norman Finkelstein, Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson, and no doubt others, have assumed that the US would join Israel in providing as much pressure as could be mustered on the International Court of Justice judges, and their home countries, to secure a ruling against “provisional measures” to stop what sure looks like genocide. But what if the US has come to realize that both it and Israel are hopelessly overextended, and the best way to limit the fallout is to get Israel that it is risking losing even the US, and not just over time? What if the US has only been going through the motions, recognizing that the press coverage of a South Africa win on some provision measures (South Africa is extremely unlikely to get the court to call for Israel to stop military operations unilaterally) might be loud enough to finally penetrate Israel’s self-delusion and force it to start figuring out how to back out of its Gaza/West Bank overreach?

Now as we all know in reality, no one in the Biden Administration has the sense or even the self preservation instincts that it needs to create some daylight between the US and Israel. In keeping, the only idea for a way out from both the US and UN isabsolute non-starter of a two-state solution (please see our recent post for details). If someone had a more realistic de-escalatory path, perhaps the horrible hostilities could go from a full boil to a simmer. But as a friend saids, if you want a happy ending, watch a Disney movie.

____

1 Alastair Crooke recounted that a row in the cabinet the weekend before last included that 80 aid trucks a day were getting in, a level deemed to be too high to stave out Hamas. By way of contrast, before October 7, about 500 trucks of supplies went into Gaza daily. And in a remarkable show of chutzpah, one of the lawyers presenting for Israel at the International Court of Justice on January 12 claimed that supplies had increased over the last two weeks to 109 trucks…as if that were a good number.

[lepertamar]

the most repeated metaphor for israel's exile in the nevi'im (prophets) in the tanakh is that of an adulterous woman punished by her husband. basic logic: g-d promised us in exodus that we would live well in the land of israel and be protected by It (g-d), but we were not. our enemies said this showed g-d the god of israel was unable to protect us, but we could not abide this, and counter-claimed that g-d was punishing us for our unfaithfulness and that It had sent the nations to destroy us, and It had the power reestablish us when we had repented. the adultery metaphor is obviously tuned to the psychology of its times and audience, but more foundational and less criticized is the assumption g-d can make such promises, that it's preferable that It determines the actions of third parties in the world, that if It can't, It's worse than worthless, a used tissue, because the only people here who should have free will and the power to exercise it are the jews and g-d.

this question continued through the repeated exiles and genocides of the jews in the next 2,500+ years, but began to become increasingly complicated and ambivalent over time, including with the interpretation in kabbalah that g-d was shattered and exiled alongside us.

look closer.

much post-holocaust theology rests on the existential question of g-d's impotence, for the hebrew bible does not present evidence that g-d is omnipotent.(1)(2)

so look closer at this metaphor, back in its times. play with reversing it:

g-d is not your husband (patriarchal definition) but g-d is also not your spouse, husband, or wife (modern egalitarian definition). g-d is your wife (patriarchal definition).

g-d cannot take you in or cast you out g-d cannot save or feed or clothe you g-d cannot give you land or defend you in battle g-d cannot divorce you even though It/She/They rages It will in Its besotted-mortified-crazed grief and abjection after you are unfaithful.

perhaps g-d can make your life hell from jealous sabotage g-d can drive you mad with lust and longing for It's beauty, as you have done to It. g-d can make your people survive forever through being the catalyst for all your children(writings/cultural handing-down/mitochondria). g-d can commit adultery against you and betray you. but if you die by your enemy's hand, g-d has permission to die in your house, for you will need it and It no longer.

(and many jews think this option is the worst one tho lmao.

'i can excuse being malicious and cruel and unjust or nonexistent, but i draw the line at being not-omnipotent!')

let me rewrite some of the prophets:

I G-d, take a millstone and grind meal now, in exile, Remove My veil, strip off (My) skirt; Show My thigh, cross streams, let My labia(3) be publicly shown, My private parts be seen So shall Israel shall have vengeance on Me for My lies of kingship [masculine], For My overthrow by your enemies, And shall encounter no opposition...(4)

For when showers I could not bring, And the late rains did not come, I had the brazenness of a street woman, I refused to be ashamed.(5)

/

Over You, G-d, we bent(6), saying 'For the number of Her sins, dishevel Her hair,' (7) Let Your thighs be uncovered, Your 'heels' violated....(8) Your shame will be exposed to Your face, Showing nations Your nakedness, kingdoms Your labia....(9)

/ or,

My beauty won Me fame among the nations, for it was perfected through the splendor which I set upon you— But haughty with My beauty and fame, I played the harlot: I lavished My favors on your enemies O Israel.... I sullied My beauty and spread My legs to every passerby(10)—I multiplied My harlotries to anger you. For I was jealous of your envy of other nations(11), which you loved more than Me When you bid Me make kings of your children, and cronies of Egypt(12), rather than wrestle Me til dawn And I despised you, when you wished to be a tyrant, As they were once tyrants over you.(13)

....the nations put you to the sword, and took away your finery, and Mine, In exile, because of misery and harsh oppression; When we settled among the nations you found no rest; All your pursuers overtake Me now In the narrow places.(14)

/ or,

Israel, you uncovered your lover's beauty in Egypt; There Her breasts were squeezed, and there Her nipples were handled. Her name was G-d, She became yours, The fierce-wonders and land and laws you desired for-to-live, She placed wide-with-boasting(15) on Her lips and brought you as dowry. But She did not give up the whoring She had begun with the corners of the Earth; For we had lain with Her in Her youth, and we had handled Her virgin nipples and had poured out our lust upon Her.(16) [....] the Babylonians came, and all the Chaldeans, and all the Assyrians with them, all of them handsome young fellows, governors and prefects, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horseback.

They exposed your god and saw how she could be defiled We were roused against you, and came upon you, from all around— /

Further rambling discussion notes and citations:

Marilyn Monroe said, “If they love you that much without knowing you, they can also hate you the same way.” All idealisation is punishing and sadistic.” - jacqueline rose

thoughts on this reversal as something that Reveals -- for the audience i'm writing to it's one that shocks the connotations to something more viscerally s 0 meth1ng/relatable (the way the og was supposed to be for its audience), but more importantly, i'm trying to come up with something more infinitely chewable as a negotiation of fault and interiority-vs-effects, instead of terminating.

but also while my point in rewriting these is about the non-existence of omnipotence, non-existence of omniscience is probably more interesting. because it....reveals.....i guess a parallel to the way ppl talk about Widely Despised Female CharactersTM (both in madonna and whore perfect idealized and evil all-blameful interpretations). as simultaneously incoherently both culpable and agencyless, both agenda-driven and lacking in interiority, threefold responsible: evil for creating the evil of the world, and evil for trying to fix or destroy that evil when she regrets(17) that world, and timelessly still-blamed as evil when she regrets destroying it and admits that she doesn't have the capacity to fix it but promises to never destroy it again(18). (the souring when its clear she's not secretly timelessly omnisciently correct for allowing this evil).

all this entity's choices and preferences are made into a morally-charged one that is a referendum on the moral valence and bestows moral judgment to anyone or anything she likes/doesn’t like or does/doesn’t do. and also those interior feelings, if shown, are open to making her limitlessly blamed for the spurned person’s resulting action. or mysteriously impersonally Morally Right (after those preferences, like liking meat more than grain, are forcibly interpreted as being solely a moral pronouncement that invites and justifies limitless violence and blame)(19). both timelessly nonlinearly unchangingly culpable at each point in a linear sequence of events regardless of what order one shuffles it in, and incapable of having curiosity or ignorances or confusions that make up linear accumulations of knowledge or opinions or back-and-forths that change her mind over time, or that are incomplete without the preexisting elements of the narrative or which have to take place in the context of a dynamic dialogue/tug of war to make sense.

so i think in a similar way to that, but in a way that doesn't...pattern-match....without the pronounflip/husband-wife adultery and shaming flip......people will not think of the full picture of what else entails if one accepts a premise......no allowing for g-d being dumb or irrational or impulsive, or ignorant at earlier periods of time of what consequences will occur later. no allowing It to have the capacity to change Its mind, and therefore no allowing It to make it up to us once the error in thinking or acting has been understood and regretted. no dynamic interiority allowed in It being capricious and poorly-moral or passion-ruled or not having considered what is evil or what isn't, or what is a big deal to humans and what isn't, not omniscient enough to already know this prior to the chance to learn it by observing humans. no considering such a being to be acquiring contradictory ideas over time and It trying to figure out which one should rule in any given moment, struggling with warring impulses and giving into one at one time and another at another time, being stubborn bc It is a person with ideas that contradict too, reaching out in a curiosity or a confusion, putting on an act to try to court and impress and arouse desire in It's mate Israel. eg, people ignoring the implication that a specific method (flood, languages) implies either a limited ability or a specific desire or a specific curiosity, or both (18) (why multiple languages specifically??? why not something way less surmountable if insurmountability was desired? or if timeless omnipotence was available??).

let alone, in some cases the idea of g-d simply being helpless, overcome, raped and despoiled, not omnipotent enough to achieve -- even if It does know what It wishes It could do -- a method that would fix things, stop things.

but apparently a fearsome but vulnerable and morally-heterogenous and linearly evolving/accumulating/learning god with enough raw bursting power do act immorally sometimes, but without omnipotence, is unpalatable. so……idk, the time-collapse of god treatments that mirrors that of misogyny that mirrors that of antisemitism -- no matter what you do or don't, or can or can't, or know or don't know, or think or can't think, it's your fault -- haunts to an un-unseeable extent.

this is all torah/tanakh and jewish thought specific(20), but the bigger issue for me that i have a hard time unseeing after seeing it was like….the classic conception of omnipotence and omniscience is a thought-termination (either as timeless will-always-have-been-morally-right termination, or as infinitely-blamable, uniquely worthy of punishment, betraying anthy-style scapegoat termination, which are just two different sides of the coin).

there is no cognitively nondissonant way to say 'if g-d exists, i am deciding It is shaped in such a way so as to be to blame for everything/should Be Killed/is actively working against our Liberation/must be a concept that is inherently keeping life from snapping back into a happy and suffering-free equilibrium', because if you (like me) are open to the idea of g-d being nonexistent, there is only One excuse for not also being open to the idea of g-d being a non-omnipotent, non-omniscient, dynamic, learning, growing entity, a person who is then subject to whatever limitations a person would have, and also is an-other person whose inner heart, like any other person's you cannot narrow down to the dichotomy of either being the guy you made up in your head, or a deliberate traitor to that guy. It's the same excuse for why a person or group such as the Jews are The Enemy Of All Humanity Who Must Be Killed Or At Least Blamed: laying down one's own interiority as a sentient being, to invent a person who exists to be limitlessly blameable in situations where no one else would be. if you (like me) don't completely believe g-d exists, i suppose we can't hurt It, but i know what it sounds like and who it impacts. i am much more stung about g-d lying to us -- by claiming we could only be destroyed by Them/our own transgressions. ie., lying by claiming other groups of humans totally didn't have the power to exile and genocide us irrespective of our own behavior -- than by the crime of 'not being omnipotent.' lol. but ofc even this too assumes They did actually lie to us at all, and that a more fitting interpretation of the text (let alone reality) isn't just a folie a deux of wishful thinking on one or both of our parts in this lovers affair.(21)

1: Milazzo, G. Tom. “TO AN IMPOTENT GOD: IMAGES OF DIVINE IMPOTENCE IN HEBREW SCRIPTURE.” Shofar 11, no. 2 (1993): 30–49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42941804.

2: eg, Elie Wiesel, Night:

"I heard [a man] asking: Where is God now? And I heard a voice within me answer him:  ...Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows."

3: Eslinger, Lyle. “The Infinite in a Finite Organical Perception (Isaiah VI 1-5).” Vetus Testamentum 45, no. 2 (1995): 145–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1535129. 4: Isaiah 47:2-3, Ibid

5: Jeremiah 3:3

6: Job 31:10

7: Sotah ritual, see Numbers 5:18

8: Jeremiah 13:22

9: Jeremiah 13:26

10: Ezekiel 16:14-15, 16:25-26

11: 1 Samuel 8:5-20

12: 1 Kings 9:16

13: 2 Samuel 22 throughout, 1 Kings 1-10 throughout

14: Lamentations 1:3

15: Everett Fox translation choice for 1 Samuel 2:1

16: Ezekiel 23 throughout

17: Genesis 6:8, 8:21

18: Genesis 11:6-7

19: Genesis 4:4-6

20: Karasick, Adeena. “Shekhinah: The Speculum That Signs, or ‘The Flaming S/Word That Turn[s] Every Way’ (Genesis 3:24).” Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies & Gender Issues, no. 2 (1999): 114–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40326491.

21: Milazzo p. 49:

This is the god which cannot raise the dead. This is not a god which transcends the world in which the drama of life and death is lived. This is a god which, having placed its hands around their heart, stands there with this people [.....] This impotent god walked the road to Babylon and stood among the crematoria at Auschwitz.

[pugzman3]

Psalms chapter 89

1 (Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.) I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.

41 All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.

42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

[comraderosalie]

Incredibly frustrating how difficult it is to talk about Palestine publicly without first jumping through hoops to appease people who will still end up calling you antisemitic anyway once they realize that you actually care about the Palestinian people and aren’t willing to let them be collateral damage for a settler colonialist state. As soon as you reveal that you haven’t fallen for the Islamophobic propaganda, they work as hard as they can to dismiss you and smear you as an enemy, effectively shutting down the conversation. This is a strategy; they know what the Israeli government is doing is indefensible, so they focus on shutting down conversations and silencing dissidents rather than actual discussion. They cannot defend Netanyahu, but they can question your credibility and morals. This is because talking about the actual facts of the situation reveals the truth too clearly, a truth they know but refuse to care about.

That is what’s most frustrating to me, the ghoulishness of all of this; people proudly declaring they support the bombing of hospitals and ambulances, people looking away while children are having buildings dropped on them, people deciding the slaughter of innocents is acceptable as long as they’re not your own children. The utter unwillingness of these people to acknowledge any fault in Israel, the desire to force you to condemn Hamas twelve times in every conversation before you can even begin to talk about the murdered children and the civilian death toll (that they will cast doubt on by saying it’s from the “Hamas-controlled health ministry”). People who still believe the beheading babies myth, while lecturing you about how the IDF said they didn’t bomb THAT hospital so you’re repeating propaganda. All of these rhetorical devices are designed to exhaust you, to discourage you from speaking out at all. Do not let it. Do not let the cruelty of the enemy soften your anger and dull your resolve.

This entire public dialogue is designed to numb you to cruelty. Never let that happen. Never let them exhaust you so severely that war crimes become excusable. Do not allow the cruelty and moral depravity of our leaders to sap you of your empathy. Never forget that the people at the center of this conflict are just that - people. Not terrorists, not people who deserve death, not “human animals,” just people. Do not allow the Zionists to erase the humanity of Gazans. Do not stop being furious.

[eli-kittim]

When is the end of the age?

Eli Kittim

When is the end of the age? Not where, not how, but when? The New King James Version calls this specific time period “the end of the age,” while the King James Version refers to it as “the end of the world.” Biblical scholars often ask whether the end of the age is a reference to the end of the Jewish age, which came to an end with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., or whether it’s an allusion to the end of human history. Given that the signs of the times coincide with this particular age, we must examine whether this is literal language, referring to first century Palestine, or figurative, pertaining to the end-times.

Since “the end of the age” is a characteristic theme of the New Testament (NT), let’s look at how Jesus explains it in the parable of the tares in Matthew 13:37-43 (NKJV emphasis added):

“He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’ “

In this parable, the constituent elements of the end of the age are highlighted, namely, the end-times, judgment day, the wicked cast into the lake of fire, and the end of human history. The key phrase that is translated as “the end of the age” comes from the Greek expression συντελείᾳ τοῦ ⸀αἰῶνος. In a similar vein, let’s see how Jesus explains the eschatological dimension of the parable of the dragnet in Matthew 13:47-50 (italics mine):

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Once again, in this parable, the end of the age (συντελείᾳ τοῦ ⸀αἰῶνος) is described as taking place at the last judgment, when the righteous will be separated from the wicked, while simultaneously placing emphasis on the end of the world, when “there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Similarly, in Matthew 24:3, the disciples ask Jesus to tell them two things, namely, when will the coming of Christ and the end of the age take place. In comparison to Matthew 24:3, the book of Acts tells us that the apostles asked Jesus if he will restore the kingdom of Israel at the end of the age (Acts 1:6). This question was asked just prior to his ascension and departure. Historically speaking, Israel was restored in the 20th century, which is one of the signs that ties in closely with Jesus’ coming and the end of the age. Jesus responds in v. 7 by saying, “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” And v. 9 informs us that Jesus’ response is part of his farewell speech. In like manner, the last recorded words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel (28:18-20 emphasis added) are as follows:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age [συντελείας τοῦ ⸀αἰῶνος].”

If Jesus promised to be with the disciples until “the end of the age,” and if that age is a reference to first century Palestine, does this mean that Jesus is no longer with those who have long since outlived their first century counterparts? Taken as a whole, this would also essentially imply that the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the great tribulation, the lake of fire, judgment day, and the coming of Jesus were events that all took place in Antiquity. Is that a legitimate theologoumenon that captures the eschatology of the NT?

We find an analogous concept in the Septuagint of Daniel 12:1-4 (L.C.L. Brenton translation). Daniel mentions the resurrection of the dead and the great tribulation, but in v. 4 he is commanded to “close the words, and seal the book to the time of the end; until many are taught, and knowledge is increased.” Curiously enough, “the time of the end” in Daniel is the exact same phrase that Jesus uses for “the end of the age” in the NT, namely, καιροῦ συντελείας.

As for the biblical contents, given that the exact same language is employed in all of the parallel passages, it is clear that the end of the age is a future time period that explicitly refers to judgment day, the lake of fire, the harvest, and the consummation of the ages. Obviously, it has nothing to do with the time of Antiquity. Not to mention that the parousia is said to coincide with the end of the current world, when everything will dissolve in a great conflagration (2 Pet. 3:10)!

[hiswordsarekisses]

Psalm 80 is a psalm of intercession - pleading for spiritual revival among God's people, a people whose godly protection has been lost due to disobedience - making them open to attack. They have been overwhelmed with being objects of ridicule. In great humility, the psalmist repeatedly asks God to show his favor once again to those who call out to him for his mercy and salvation. It describes a humble confession of sin and a desperate desire for God to renew the power of His presence among the people. It speaks to all believers, individuals, groups and congregations who are not experiencing the full life, and have wondered off on their own. They no longer experience the power and purposes of God as promised in His Word. We must humbly pray for God to have mercy on us and revive and renew us spiritually by his great power - for “God’s Church” to be “God’s people”again. “Churchianity” is not the same as “Christianity. Churchianity will not save you, because the church can't save. Only Christ can save. And Christianity is Christ. Churchianity cannot keep you. Only the fear of God will keep you.

Psalm 80:

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us! Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! O Lord God of hosts, How long will You be angry Against the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, And caused it to take deep root, And it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, And the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the Sea, And her branches to the River. Why have You broken down her hedges, So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it, And the wild beast of the field devours it. Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, And the branch that You made strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!”

[agentfascinateur]

What Marwan Bishara thinks an honest Herzog would say to Congress today:

I am honoured to speak to you today at the 75th anniversary of my country’s independence. It is an honour that neither I nor my country deserves.

Throughout our history, your steadfast and generous support has made Israel what it is today. President Woodrow Wilson supported the 1917 Balfour Declaration at the behest of the British Empire, committing to our future Jewish state – a commitment made by those who did not own the land to those who did not live on the land, against the will of those who did live on it.

And it was President Harry Truman who first supported the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan to carve that land into a Jewish and Palestinian state, and the first to recognise Israel only 11 minutes after its establishment in 1948. Since then, we have been telling each other how our nations were founded by persecuted migrant communities on the basis of European Enlightenment; how they created strong, vibrant modern states, civilising the savage, and how we have dominated global and Middle East affairs.

We tell each other a tale of how they founded two righteous, God-fearing models to emulate, like “shining beacon of hope” and “light unto the nations”; of sharing common liberal, democratic principles, and of our persistent pursuit of peace.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we should admit that we have also copied the worst of imperial Europe. We share a dark past of settler colonialism, war, ethnic cleansing of Indigenous inhabitants and a persistent history of racism and discrimination including slavery in the Americas, and apartheid in Palestine.

Our success was made possible through the blood and tears of countless victims. We’ve treated our nemeses as warmongers, our critics as enemies, and our enemies as modern-day Hitlers, but no other states have waged as many wars, or embarked on as many military interventions in the past eight decades as we have.

These similarities between our two nations continue to cast a long shadow over our bonds and behaviour.

Since our birth, Israel has had no better ally than the United States. Period. Even though, we have not always been gracious or reciprocated – while generally following in your footsteps, befriending your friends and denouncing your foes.

Whenever the world ganged up on our “Jewish state”, America came to the rescue. When Soviet bloc nations joined Muslim and other developing nations to condemn us for our bellicosity, it was the US that defended us and placated our foes with vigour and zeal. And when Europe joined the international outrage, the US was the only major power ready and able to stand by Israel and block international censures by vetoing consequential UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel.

Indeed, with the exception of that one “mistake” under Jimmy Carter, when Washington voted against Israeli settlement expansion, the US has routinely vetoed efforts to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council, blocking more than 40 such resolutions.

And this week, when a US Congresswoman – one of your own – called Israel racist, you, dear members of Congress, quickly shut her down by proclaiming in a resolution that Israel is not racist. Though I might have put it differently, she was essentially right, you are wrong.

Thanks to you, we have become more confident and assertive. With your military and economic aid that reached some $200bn, we have built a formidable military machine, that allowed us to double down on the repression of the Palestinians, and humiliation of the stubborn Arabs, who refuse to accept our pretence that our culture is superior to theirs, and that our settlement of their land is ours by right of a brief sojourn here a few thousand years ago.

When my late beloved father Chaim spoke to you as president of Israel in 1987, he boasted of our peace accords with Sadat of Egypt. And I am inclined to walk in his shoes and do the same; to boast of our Abraham accords with several Arab autocrats.

But unlike him, I can no longer keep silent as our military and civilian occupation mutates into an apartheid system in the Middle East. I do not say that lightly; I say it with a heavy heart. I do not say it out of pity for the millions of Palestinians, most of whom stubbornly linger under occupation and in refugee camps, I say it out of pity for my people and what’s become of us as decades-long occupiers and dispossessors. Our chutzpah is self-defeating. Our hasbara is wearing thin.

I never was a particularly brave or charismatic parliamentarian and head of the opposition. But that stops now, knowing I will never again have a better platform to address your people and mine. We may have become rich and powerful but we’ve never been so divided, so fanatical; so morally bankrupt.

Friends speak truth to each other. Good friends speak the bitter truth. It befalls upon you, once again, to save us from ourselves. To free us and the Palestinians from an entrenching system of apartheid that is bound to lock us in hatred and violence for decades to come. There is little I can do, as a ceremonial president, other than to speak out.

So, I urge you to condemn racism and apartheid today, as you condemned apartheid in South Africa, albeit belatedly in the past. And I urge you to push us to come to terms with the Palestinians, who soon will become the majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Do not believe a word Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says about the Palestinians; he has made a career out of trafficking in fear.

Like my two predecessors, I also believe we have a peace partner in President Mahmoud Abbas; perhaps the last peace partner. We must stop undermining him, as we will never be as lucky with a strong yet accommodating leader.

My father boasted of our liberal democracy and respect for human rights, albeit for Jews only, considering that in our Jewish state, the right to the land, the right to settle (return), and the right to self-determination is for the Jewish collective.

But even this communitarianism has eroded with time, culminating in a government of hyper-nationalists and religious fanatics that is demonstrably bent on destroying our Jewish democracy and squashing our liberal values.

Hundreds of thousands of my fellow Jewish countrymen and women have taken to the streets every week to protest against new illiberal legislation that is bound to chip away at our institutions and freedoms, and destroy any hope of future peace and democracy in the Jewish state.

This destruction will happen if you, members of this august symbol of constitutional democracy, continue to outbid yourselves in appeasing us as we stumble towards religious autocracy. Your intentions to invite our lying, cheating prime minister to speak here for a record fourth time will only make things worse.

President Biden is right to be concerned and to warn our government of going down this road. So should you. It is a dangerous road that is bound to destroy the fabric of our society.

I urge you to be brave and principled, for a change. It is liberating, as I have discovered.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

9th June >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading Genesis 3:9-15 'I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid'.

The Lord God called to the man after he had eaten of the tree. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 129(130)

R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice! O let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading.

R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive? But with you is found forgiveness: for this we revere you.

R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

My soul is waiting for the Lord. I count on his word. My soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak. (Let the watchman count on daybreak and Israel on the Lord.)

R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Because with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption, Israel indeed he will redeem from all its iniquity.

R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Second Reading 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 We are being trained to carry the weight of eternal glory.

As we have the same spirit of faith that is mentioned in scripture – I believed, and therefore I spoke – we too believe and therefore we too speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn, and put us by his side and you with us. You see, all this is for your benefit, so that the more grace is multiplied among people, the more thanksgiving there will be, to the glory of God. That is why there is no weakening on our part, and instead, though this outer man of ours may be falling into decay, the inner man is renewed day by day. Yes, the troubles which are soon over, though they weigh little, train us for the carrying of a weight of eternal glory which is out of all proportion to them. And so we have no eyes for things that are visible, but only for things that are invisible; for visible things last only for a time, and the invisible things are eternal. For we know that when the tent that we live in on earth is folded up, there is a house built by God for us, an everlasting home not made by human hands, in the heavens.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation John 14:23

Alleluia, alleluia! If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him. Alleluia!

Or: John 12:31,32

Alleluia, alleluia! Now the prince of this world is to be overthrown, says the Lord. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself. Alleluia!

Gospel Mark 3:20-35 A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

Jesus went home with his disciples, and such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind. The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘Beelzebul is in him’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts devils out.’ So he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last. And if a household is divided against itself, that household can never stand. Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot stand either – it is the end of him. But no one can make his way into a strong man’s house and burgle his property unless he has tied up the strong man first. Only then can he burgle his house. ‘I tell you solemnly, all men’s sins will be forgiven, and all their blasphemies; but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness: he is guilty of an eternal sin.’ This was because they were saying, ‘An unclean spirit is in him.’ His mother and brothers now arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[mariacallous]

How depressing and upsetting it is today to recall Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrogance under interrogation about Case 2000, one of the three corruption cases against the prime minister. “This is classified, don’t let it leak, okay?” he said, flattering the police investigators with the magic lure of security secrets. And then he explained his doctrine regarding Hamas and Hezbollah.

“We have neighbors,” he said, “who are our bitter enemies ... I send them messages all the time ... these days, right now ... I mislead them, destabilize them, mock them, and them hit them over the head.” The suspect then continued his lecture: “It’s impossible to reach an agreement with them ... Everyone knows this, but we control the height of the flames.”

This arrogant worldview, so disconnected from reality, isn’t the only thing that blew up in Netanyahu’s face, and ours, on Saturday morning. The other “concept” that collapsed was one many good people warned about: the idea that the leadership of the state could be entrusted to a criminal defendant.

History will judge everyone who lent a hand to this moral distortion – first and foremost the defendant himself and his fanatic supporters, party colleagues, and partners in the governing coalition, but also the media personalities and jurists who mobilized to kosher this abomination.

It will also presumably cast an unflattering light on the 11 Supreme Court justices who refrained from putting their fingers in the dike on the grounds that they lacked the power to do so, while shutting their eyes to the disastrous consequences of their passivism.

But even before that history is written, the state commission of inquiry that will have to be formed once the fires die down will have to delve into the prime minister’s priorities and agenda. It will have to examine how many hours he devoted this year to his dangerous justice minister, to the court’s reasonableness standard and to the Judicial Appointments Committee, compared to how many he devoted to his defense minister and the army’s chief of staff; it will have to examine how much attention he paid to the head of Military Intelligence compared to how much attention he paid to his lawyers and PR people.

It’s infuriating to recall that just a few months ago, Netanyahu found time to appear in the Jerusalem District Court to deter a frightened witness, the businessman Arnon Milchan, while Israel’s own deterrence was eroding. Or to recall his refusal to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi, who sought to warn him about the destructive consequences of abolishing the reasonableness standard, on the day the law doing so was passed.

It’s impossible to close your eyes to the reality. There’s a clear connection between the corruption trial, the government’s judicial overhaul, and the greatest failure since the Yom Kippur War of 1973, perhaps even since the establishment of the state.

Admittedly, the intelligence agencies failed inconceivably at foreseeing the actual attack. But they warned Netanyahu time and again in recent months that Israel’s enemies had identified a historic weakness, making the likelihood of war higher than it has been since the Second Lebanon War of 2006.

Yet instead of quelling Justice Minister Yariv Levin, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich due to this danger, Netanyahu prioritized ensuring his personal survival and the integrity of his coalition at the price of capitulating to insane, messianic racists. To this end, he turned his domestic rivals into enemies and systematically destroyed the connective tissue that, with great difficulty, held Israel society together.

He and his partners in this criminal organization forgot that Israel isn’t Poland or Hungary, but first and foremost a country deeply embroiled in a national conflict. Consequently, it doesn’t have the privilege of entertaining itself with dictatorial games.

Hamas as partner

Effectively, Netanyahu’s entire worldview collapsed over the course of a single day. He was convinced that he could make deals with corrupt Arab tyrants while ignoring the cornerstone of the Arab-Jewish conflict, the Palestinians. His life’s work was to turn the ship of state from the course steered by his predecessors, from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Olmert, and make the two-state solution impossible. En route to this goal, he found a partner in Hamas.

“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” he told a meeting of his Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019. “This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.

The worst terror attack in Israel’s history also strips Netanyahu of his title as “the terrorism expert,” a source of pride ever since he established the Jonathan Institute in memory of his brother Yoni, who was killed during the Entebbe hostage rescue. With its help, he marketed himself for years and eventually reached the Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu learned the lesson of his predecessors Menachem Begin and Olmert and for years, maneuvered skillfully to avoid getting embroiled in a war in which hundreds would die, since he knew that would likely be the end of his road as a politician. But the vertigo of his current term, during which he sacrificed everything for the sake of clinging to power, resulted in “his nightmare scenario coming true,” to quote a man who knows him well.

He has been prime minister for most of the last 16 years, yet what he will be remembered for after he goes is this last devastating year. In a single day, under his reckless leadership, Israel paid a much higher price in blood than it did during the Second Lebanon War, and similar to what it paid during the first Lebanon War in the early 1980s.

Olmert will be credited with destroying Syria’s nuclear reactor and striving to end the conflict with the Palestinians. Begin will be remembered for bombing Iraq’s nuclear reactor and, of course, making peace with Egypt. Netanyahu’s portfolio of achievements is pretty thin, with all due respect to the Abraham Accords.

Not long ago, we marked the 40th anniversary of the cabinet meeting at which Begin announced that he couldn’t go on any longer. Israel was bogged down in the Lebanese quagmire, with fatalities mounting every day, and this overcame him.

“The reason is that with every fiber of my being, I can’t go on,” Begin told his partners in Likud and the governing coalition, who begged him to reconsider. “There are times like that ... If I had even a shadow of a doubt that I could go on, I would do so. But it’s not in my power to do so. What does a man need to do if it’s not in his power? ... Allow me to go to the president [to resign] this very day. Forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement. I can’t do it anymore.”

What we need now is for Netanyahu to follow in the footsteps of Likud’s first leader. But you can’t expect any soul-searching from him, and certainly not self-flagellation or shutting himself up at home à la Begin. Soon, any moment now, he’ll be blaming everyone except himself. The poison machine has already started to work.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation

1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying,

3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. — Romans 11 | King James Version (KJV) The King James Version Bible is in the public domain Cross References: Genesis 29:14; Numbers 15:18; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 10:15; Deuteronomy 29:4; 1 Samuel 12:22; 2 Samuel 19:12; 1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:14; 1 Kings 19:18; 2 Kings 19:4; Nehemiah 10:37; Job 5:9; Job 11:7; Job 15:8; Job 21:22; Job 35:7; Job 41:11; Psalm 31:19; Jeremiah 11:16; Luke 15:24; Luke 20:16; John 4:22; John 15:2; Acts 3:21; Acts 9:15; Acts 25:7; Romans 5:2; Romans 5:19; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:30; Romans 9:19; Romans 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:16

Romans 11 Commentary - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Key Passages in Romans 11

1. God has not cast off all Israel. 7. Some were elected, though the rest were hardened. 16. There is hope of their conversion. 18. The Gentiles may not exult over them; 26. for there is a promise of their salvation. 33. God's judgments are unsearchable.

[bills-bible-basics]

APOSTLES' SIGNS AND WONDERS -- KJV (King James Version) Bible Verse List Visit https://www.billkochman.com/VerseLists/ to see more. "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." Matthew 10:7-8, KJV "Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." Luke 9:1-2, KJV "And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you . . . Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:8-9, 19-20, KJV "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John 14:12-14, KJV "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:17-18, KJV "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God . . . Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." Acts 3:1-9, 4:8-10, KJV "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one." Acts 5:14-16, KJV "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Acts 19:11-12, KJV "And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted." Acts 20:9-12, KJV "And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god." Acts 28:3-6, KJV "And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." Acts 2:43, KJV "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch." Acts 5:12, KJV "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." Acts 6:8, KJV "Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Acts 14:3, KJV "Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." Acts 15:12, KJV If you would like more info regarding the origin of these KJV Bible verse lists, go to https://www.billkochman.com/VerseLists/. Thank-you! https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/apostles-signs-and-wonders-kjv-king-james-version-bible-verse-list/?feed_id=131760&APOSTLES%27%20SIGNS%20AND%20WONDERS%20--%20KJV%20%28King%20James%20Version%29%20Bible%20Verse%20List

[northwest-by-a-train]

I think one of the reasons modern conspiracy theorists always include some sort of lotus-eater Überdrug that makes you unredeemably evil, whether that's adrenochrome or captagon or extended use of cocaine and various acids, it's because there are behaviours that seem so alien to what is normal human experience that drugs feel like the only plausible justification. The horrors of neoliberalism, war, casual human cruelties seem, I think, very alien to a majority of the population, who are unable to recognize that these "cruel" people just do believe in what they are doing. That this is something every human being has potential for. That they themselves have the potential for it. They look within themselves for the potential for these heinous crimes, whether real or imagined, and I genuinely believe most do not find it, or do not recognize it as such.

And if it's not within themselves, it can't be just within other people, it must come from the evil drug. This of course is one of the underlying assumptions of the war on drugs, that the drugs are the cause of whichever social ills, homelessness, mass shootings, petty crime, drug robberies gone awry, awful parenting, etc... And nowadays you see it has expanded to include mental illness. That the political enemy as well as the mass shooter and the homeless person down the street are all some flavor of insane. It can't be something whose potential resides in each and every one of us. It must be the fugue state of evil cast over their minds.

I say this because seeing videos of people in Israel filming themselves saying their Air Force is pummeling Gaza, that soon there will be nothing but bones and ruins, that they'll build a theme park there, that the land is being cleansed of evil, that the prophecy is being accomplished, that this is the land god gave them, that there are no civilians, that children there really do deserve to die... Who say this not with the somberness of realpolitik or ideology but in a kind of gleeful dreamy trance....

And I find that within me I can not believe a fellow human being could do that. I know intellectually that it's very possible that at a certain junction of ideology and personality, it's possible to say that and believe it. But watching some of these people my heart refuses to believe this isn't the result of some combination of cocaine, meth, undiagnosed personality disorders, periods or menopause, lead poisoning, gas leaks, black mold, toxoplasmosis, lack of sleep..... It feels impossible — and I do mean a profound feeling, something within that makes itself felt — that fellow human beings could have a heart this depraved. And here I'd rather feel a deep human connection with every wacko conspiracy person who has ever lived and grossly misapprehended the world, blaming it all on evil magic pills and unstable female hormones and whatever, than to feel for a second a shared human kinship with those profoundly hateful people. There is a limit to reason and thought and imagination within me and it has been reached. And I believe many, observing this conflict, have found this limit in themselves, on both sides of the conflict. And I cannot believe this will end well either.

[pugzman3]

Psalms chapter 80

1 (To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

[hieromonkcharbel]

Glory to Thee, O Lord! Once again we greet the awaited bright days of Christ's Nativity. Let us be glad and rejoice. In order to raise our festivities to a higher level in these days, the Holy Church has intentionally instituted a fast before them - a certain amount of constraint, so that as we enter the festive period we might feel as though we were coming out into freedom. Nevertheless, the Church in no way desires that we give ourselves over to mere sensual delights and fleshly pleasures. Since the Church has from olden times called these days sviatki ("holy days"), they require that our very rejoicing on these days be holy, as they are holy. So that those who rejoice might not forget themselves, the Church has placed a short hymn upon our lips to glorify the newborn Christ, by which flesh is settled down and the soul is uplifted, showing the proper occupations for these days: "Christ is born, give ye glory." and the rest. Glorify Christ; glorify Him, so that by this doxology your heart and soul might delight, and thereby silence any urge for various other deeds and occupations that might promise some kind of pleasure.

I would like to see everyone rejoicing with this very joy, and not wanting to know any other joys; but not everything that comes from Israel is Israel. Now there will begin empty, wild merriment that inflames the passions . . . .No matter how much you tell people to calm down, they only shut their ears and pay no heed. And they always bring these bright days of the Feast to such a point that the merciful Lord is compelled to turn His eyes from us and say: "All of your solemnities are an abomination unto Me". Truly many of our social festivities are really pagan abominations; that is, some of them are brought to us straight from the pagan world, while others, though they appeared later in time, are penetrated with the spirit of paganism. And it is purposely contrived for such festivities to appear in great quantities during the Feasts of Nativity and Pascha. By getting caught up in them we give the prince of this world - our tormentor, the enemy of God - an excuse to say to God, "Look what You've done for me with Your Nativity and Resurrection! They're all coming to me! But let the words of the Fiftieth Psalm be repeated more often in the depth of our hearts: "That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and prevail when Thou art judged."

Enlightenment Europe is attracting us. Yet, the abominations of paganism that were almost completely cast out of the world were first restored there; they have now come from there to us. Having breathed in that hellish poison, we run around like madmen, forgetting our own selves.

Know that God is not mocked. And knowing this, make merry and rejoice during these days with fear. Illumine the bright Feast with bright deeds, occupations, and festivities, so that all who look upon us would say, "They have holy days - not the kind of amusements practiced by impious profligates who don't know God."

St. Theophan the Recluse

[albertfinch]

PROCEEDING INTO THE MIGHTY FLOW OF GOD’S RIVER

 "So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water."  -  Exodus 15:22

For many of us, we have experienced a wilderness while fulfilling God's purpose for our life. We feel lonely, barren, and unfruitful.  We have been so dry and thirsty that we find ourselves crying out to God in desperation. Our life is in disorder, and at times we are confused and irritated. 

God has a purpose for our wilderness -- He does NOT plan for us to stay there!

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt for the purpose of not only proving their hearts, but also to give them an opening to be delivered from a slavery mentality.

"Slave" in a spiritual sense is bondage where one is experiencing a form of imprisonment and captivity.  It is also a person who has no will of his own and is wholly under the control of another.  Also one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as a slave to a passion, lust or ambition.

"Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5

The Israelites, while they were in the wilderness, had many occasions to activate their faith for their breakthroughs, but instead they remained in their slavery mentality of the past -- they remained in a place of total surrender to old thoughts and behavior patterns -- because they could not totally trust God, they remained in their wilderness......and a generation died there.

GOD IS EXPECTING : "THE PROCEEDING WORD"

"....man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!" - (Matthew 4:4)

Proceeding words are God-given declarations (based on the Word of God) which begin to flow from our inner-most being.  Like a mighty river, there should be an outflow of God's Word that gushes forth whenever we are in a wilderness, and the enemy is tempting us.  We allow ourselves to be developed in a wilderness (Luke 4:4-12), so that we are empowered with these proceeding words (Luke 4:22).

Rather than feeling sorry for ourselves because we experience dry places, we realize that God has a much greater plan.  He is empowering us for the miraculous and "greater things!"

BREAKING FREE OF A SLAVERY MENTALITY

A slave mentality says that you will not find YOUR PLACE IN MINISTRY, but a proceeding word says that God has firmly planted you into your DESTINY, and you will not be plucked up! 

We experience our deliverance as we examine every ungodly belief and replace it with God's Word.  We cycle out of our captivity as we begin to respond to every wilderness test with a proceeding word spoken in faith.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY