July 24What Will Cause Israel To Outsource Its National Security
I’m amazed at the boldness of the critics who think Israel is being too aggressive with its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. After reading some of the commentary from world leaders, I have to wonder if these folks are aware that Israel is a country under attack.
Russia has sharply criticized Israel, saying it went "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire. I hope the cessation of fighting that Russia is demanding includes the rockets that Hezbollah has been raining down on Israel.
One could argue that Russia is a bit hypocritical in the area of force being applied against Muslim extremists. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected Western accusations that it has used too much military muscle in its war against rebels in Chechnya, in which thousands of civilians have been killed. Russia refers to the conflict in Chechnya as an “anti-terrorist operation.”
President George W. Bush is about the only leader willing to admit that Israel has the right to defend itself. "Our message to Israel is defend yourself, but be mindful of the consequences, so we are urging restraint," said Bush.
At some point, the rules of common sense need to be applied to this situation. No other country in the world would allow its citizens to be randomly bombed. And no other country would let world opinion deter it from protecting its people from attack. If Cuban terrorists fired rockets across the Gulf in Miami, Florida, the most liberal members of Congress would be calling for action.
Israel has always been highly focused on its own security. Its military doctrine of self-protection and self-reliance has been forged by experience. The Jewish state certainly must hold the record for being attacked the most number of times by its neighbors.
The establishment of Israel was the direct result of the Holocaust. After Hitler nearly succeeded in wiping out European Jews, the survivors emigrated to Israel, crying, “never again.” Despite that fact that Israel has a good reason not to trust anything but its own defense force, the Bible indicates that it will make the fatal error of turning to the Antichrist for protection. Jesus referred to this when He said, “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43).
To arrive at the point where Israel surrenders its security to a European-led peace-keeping force, there will probably need to be a major event that causes this dramatic shift. We can’t be totally certain of the reason Israel decides to outsource its security; however, I do think the use of WMDs is a strong candidate for being the main catalyst. If Syria or Iran were to attack Israel with chemical weapons, followed by an Israeli nuclear counterstrike, the world community would have a collective heart attack.
When the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were no video cameras to record the horrors of this new weapon. If the type of persuasive media we have today had existed in 1945, TV viewers would have been confronted with ghastly images of people so badly injured by radiant energy that they would have looked like burnt marshmallows.
There has been lot of talk about the prophecy calling for Damascus to be destroyed. Isaiah 17:1 states: “Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” If I were the leader of Syria, I’ve be very concerned about being the closest major target within Israel’s firing range.
-- Todd