All the signs to me look like Israel is going to war
with Iran, and soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu strikes me as a man who has made his peace with
the task ahead of him, a man who now believes his nation
is capable of winning a war with Iran and has made all of
the preparations necessary to strike if need be. I’m not
saying he’s made a final decision. But he’s talking like a
leader ready to make that final decision in the not too
distant future. Indeed, I believe this trip to Washington
is part of Netanyahu’s process of making a final
assessment of whether the Obama administration will truly
have Israel’s back, as the President promises, or whether
Israel will be completely isolated. And while the White
House is clearly pressuring Israel not to strike, Congress
seems ready to support Israel fully.
Today we’ll learn
more about whether that is really the case as Netanyahu
will address Joint Session
of Congress. His goal: to seek
100% support from Congress and the American people —
diplomatically, financially and with resupplied weapons,
if not full military support – if Israel has no other
choice but to launch massive preemptive strikes against
Iran to defend the Jewish state from another Holocaust.
The PM’s message to Congess is expected to be similar to
the address he gave last night to the
AIPAC conference and
to President Obama in the Oval Office, a clear, powerful
and sobering message: When it comes to stopping Iran
from getting the Bomb, he said, “none of us can afford
to wait any longer.” Translation: buckle up, it’s about
to be a very bumpy ride in the Middle East.
“For fifteen years,
I’ve been warning that a nuclear-armed Iran is a grave
danger to my country and to the peace and security of
the entire world,” the Prime Minister told thousands of
supporters of Israel gathered in the Washington, D.C.
convention center. “For the last decade, the
international community has tried diplomacy. It hasn’t
worked. For six years, the international community has
applied sanctions. That hasn’t worked either. I
appreciate President Obama’s recent efforts to impose
even tougher sanctions against Iran. These sanctions are
hurting Iran’s economy, but unfortunately, Iran’s
nuclear program continues to march forward. Israel has
waited patiently for the international community to
resolve this issue. We’ve waited for diplomacy to work.
We’ve waited for sanctions to work. None of us can
afford to wait much longer. As Prime Minister of Israel,
I will never let my people live in the shadow of
annihilation.”
“Some commentators
would have you believe that stopping Iran from getting
the bomb is more dangerous than letting Iran have the
bomb,” Netanyahu continued. “They say that a military
confrontation with Iran would undermine the efforts
already underway; that it would be ineffective; and that
it would provoke an even more vindictive response by
Iran. I’ve heard these arguments before. In fact, I’ve
read them before — In my desk, I have copies of an
exchange of letters between the World Jewish Congress
and the United States War Department. Here are the
letters [holding copies up for the audience to see]: The
year was 1944. The World Jewish Congress implored the
American government to bomb Auschwitz. The reply came
five days later. I want to read it to you. ’Such an
operation could be executed only by diverting
considerable air support essential to the success of our
forces elsewhere…and in any case, it would be of such
doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of
our resources…’ And, my friends, here’s the most
remarkable sentence of all, and I quote: ‘Such an effort
might provoke even more vindictive action by the
Germans.’ Think about that – ‘even more vindictive
action’ — than the Holocaust. My friends, 2012 is not
1944. The American government today is different. You
heard it in President Obama’s speech yesterday. But
here’s my point: The Jewish people are also different.
Today we have a state of our own. And the purpose of the
Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives and to secure the
Jewish future. Never again will we not be masters of the
fate of our very survival. Never again. That is why
Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by
itself, against any threat.”
What I appreciated
most about the speech was Mr. Netanyahu drawing the
audience’s attention to the Biblical story of the Jewish
Queen Esther, whose prayers and fasting moved the Lord
to intervene to save the Jewish people from a Persian
tyrant in ages past. “This week, we will read how one
woman changed Jewish history,” he explained. “In
Synagogues throughout the world, the Jewish people will
celebrate the festival of Purim. We will read how some
2,500 years ago, a Persian anti-Semite tried to
annihilate the Jewish people. And we will read how that
plot was foiled by one courageous woman – Esther. In
every generation, there are those who wish to destroy
the Jewish people. In this generation, we are blessed to
live in an age when there is a Jewish state capable of
defending the Jewish people. And we are doubly blessed
to have so many friends like you, Jews and non-Jews
alike, who love the State of Israel and support its
right to defend itself. So as I leave you tonight I
thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your
courage. Thank you for standing up for the one and only
Jewish state.“
Earlier in the day,
Mr. Netanyahu gave a decorated copy
of an Esther scroll as a gift to President Obama
during their Oval Office meeting, and discussed
the significance of the story with the President. What is not clear is
whether the Prime Minister explained the ending of the
story: Yes, Esther did her part, praying, fasting and
intervening before the Persian king on behalf of the
Jewish people. And yes, the Lord did his part in
changing Ahasuerus’ heart, and putting the evil Haman on
the gallows, and dramatically changing the dynamic in
favor of the Jews. But it must be remembered that in the
end, the Jewish people did have to fight against the
Persian forces hell bent on their destruction, and with
the Lord’s help the Jews miraculously prevailed. “[T]he
king granted the Jews who were in each and every city
the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to
destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of
any people or province which might attack them…..The
Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the
provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who
sought their harm; and no one could stand before
them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the
peoples.” (Esther 8:11 and 9:2)
Netanyahu’s decision
to give the scroll to the President further reveals the
Prime Minister’s growing interest in the Bible and his
desire to make the Scriptures part of his Oval Office
discussion. You may recall that a
few months ago, Mr. Netanyahu announced that he
was starting a Bible study in his personal
residence.
One other noteworthy
moment from yesterday: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
‘Congratulates’ Putin and Russia on ‘Decisive
Victory’. The Russian-Iranian
alliance continues to build, raising questions of
whether we are moving towards the prophecies of Ezekiel
38 & 39.
In this context, let
us continue praying for President Obama and Prime
Minister Netanyahu that the Lord gives them both wisdom
to know the right thing to do, and the courage to do it.
If there is a peaceful way to stop Iran’s nuclear
program and bring down the Iranian regime so the Iranian
people can live in freedom and all the region can live
in peace and security, let’s pray the Lord shows them
how to achieve this — and soon. “First of all, then, I
urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and
thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings
and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and
one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the
testimony given at the proper time. For this I was
appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the
truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and truth.”
Please pray
especially for Mr. Netanyahu and his advisors, that they
would be like the sons of Issachar, “men who understood
the times and knew what Israel should do.” (I Chronicles
12:32).