Peace Talks are doubtful anytime soon

 

Jerusalem Prayer Team's Mike Evans:

 



 Peace Talks between Israel and Palestinians Denied                                    

The announcement by Secretary of State John Kerry that both the Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to direct peace talks has been refuted by sources on both sides. Many veteran observers have been amazed and even dismayed by the focus Secretary Kerry has placed on this issue with so many other crisis events taking place—civil war in Syria, a government toppled in Egypt, and of course, Iran's continuing nuclear weapons program.

Instead Kerry has focused intently on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Since becoming Secretary of State earlier this year, he has made six trips to try to restart the peace talks. Yet despite his best efforts (some observers viewed his announcement as an attempt to strong-arm the parties into an agreement they had not reached), the Palestinians continue to refuse to even talk to the Israelis unless they first receive the concessions that they would hope to get from any negotiations.

It is not hard to see why Israel has little interest in such a deal. My old friend Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel is prepared to begin talks immediately if there are no pre-conditions. This is the hurdle that Secretary of State Kerry has been attempting to clear…without success.

The reason there is no peace is that one side has no interest in peace, and in truth, even if Palestinian President Abbas reached a deal (which he has no interest in doing—remember this is the man who financed the Black September PLO terrorist raid that killed the Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics), he could not enforce it. His Fatah party is so weak that he refuses to hold elections that he knows he would lose. In fact, Abbas is now in the ninth year of his four-year term as president!

Those of us who love and support Israel must not be deceived by the promises of peace talks. When such talks have been held in the past, it is always Israel that must make concessions and never the Palestinians. Knowing what I know about both Israeli and Palestinian politics right now, it is doubtful that any direct peace talks will be held in the near future. Instead of the current approach of almost worshipping negotiations as an end in themselves, the time and effort and influence of the United States would be far better spent dealing with the real issues.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This is not a problem that will be solved  apart from God's intervention. 

Case of Jonathan Pollard

PM reportedly asked Obama to commute Pollard's sentence, to help persuade
cabinet to approve release of Palestinian prisoners.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried unsuccessfully to persuade American
officials to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard ahead of
diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians, Channel 2 reported on Monday.

The report said Netanyahu told the Americans that if US President Barack
Obama commuted Pollard’s life sentence to the nearly 28 years he has served,
it would help him persuade his cabinet to approve the release of 82
Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. But the Americans rejected
Netanyahu’s request.
When asked for confirmation, sources close to Netanyahu would only say: “We
routinely raise the issue with American officials.”

Netanyahu has tried in the past to persuade the US to release Pollard in
return for Israeli gestures to the Palestinians.

Ahead of the signing of the Wye River Accords in 1998, Netanyahu demanded
Pollard’s release, but then-CIA chief George Tenet threatened to quit if
Pollard was set free.

Pollard’s wife, Esther, declined to comment on the report, but the Committee
for Pollard’s Freedom issued a statement saying that he should be released
regardless of developments with the Palestinians.

“Dozens of top American officials have called for Pollard’s immediate
release due to the values of justice and mercy,” a committee spokesman said.
“Jonathan did not murder anyone. His 28 years of service, including seven in
solitary confinement, is an unprecedented sentence for the crime, so he
should be released immediately without conditioning it on anything else.”

MKs: US should help peace process by releasing Pollard

On Sunday, Knesset members from across the political spectrum called on
Obama to release Pollard as a way to help the nascent negotiations between
Israel and the Palestinians.

Pollard, who is serving his 28th year in prison, has repeatedly shunned
attempts to make him a bargaining chip in prisoner exchanges and diplomatic
processes, especially when murderers were released.

But MKs who support his release said freeing him now would not be seen as a
trade for Palestinian terrorists but as a sign of goodwill by the US to the
Israeli people.

“This is the best time in the world to call upon the Americans to release
Pollard as a gesture for the beginning of negotiations, said Labor MK
Nachman Shai, who is the new co-chairman of the Knesset’s Free Pollard
Caucus. “Pollard should be the American gift to Israelis, and they can do
it.”

Shai noted that many Israelis feel uncomfortable about the American pressure
to come to the negotiating table. He said that a popular issue like freeing
Pollard would go a long way.

“It’s a window of opportunity for goodwill to Israelis, who are not going
through an easy time,” Shai said. “It would build up public support for
negotiations and show that the US also understands the gravity of this
historic moment.”

Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel said he found it incredible that
America continues to hold Pollard and did not even let him attend his father’s
funeral while US officials demand that Israel release unrepentant murderers.

“What is going on in the minds of Americans when they insist on keeping
Jonathan Pollard in prison and demand that Israel free terrorists?” Ariel
exclaimed on Israel Radio. “It really is amazing.”

Likud MK Moshe Feiglin went further, calling America’s behavior shameful and
Israel’s an act of betrayal to its agent.
"If launching the negotiations is such an interest to the Americans, how can
it be that we are releasing terrorist murderers, and they are not releasing
our agent who has been sitting in jail for more than 27 years?” Feiglin
asked.

“The shame is on all of us and not just on [Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu] who made the decision. I would never release murderers for
Pollard, but if they think it’s important to free them, how can they forget
Pollard?” Labor MK Avishay Braverman said Pollard should be freed now,
regardless of whether the peace process begins or progresses.

“He has served so much longer than others who committed similar crimes that
the time has come to free him now, without connection to anything – except
justice,” Braverman asserted.

source IMRA

Declaring The Word of God

Isaiah 2:2-4 "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house, shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say,' Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.'
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

Isaiah 12
"And in that day you will say: 'O Lord, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'
Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say: 'Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.
 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"

Prayer Points

There is constant pressure on Israel from most of the world, wanting it to divide its land, which would compromise its security. Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu needs intercessors to hold up his arms. He is God's appointed man to lead this nation at this time. Yet he cannot do it without God's grace and strength to uphold him.

This is the Word of YHWH to [Netanyahu], saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says YHWH of Hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before [Netanyahu] you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings, Grace! Grace to it!

Zechariah 4:6-7

• God, how we thank You for Bibi. While far from perfect, yet he is Your choice for Israel at this time.
• Touch him deeply with his absolute inadequacy and Your total sufficiency (2 Corinthians 3:5).
• Abba, move on him to study the Torah portion this Shabbat. As he reads it, cause these verses to come alive to him: Hear, O, Israel. YHWH our God is one YHWH. And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
• Abba, in line with that word that You gave us at this year's prayer conference, turn Netanyahu's heart towards Yourself (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19).
• Bind Israel's Prime Minister to Yourself in love and give him a backbone of steel. Let Your hand be on the Man of Your right hand, on the Son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. (Psalms 80:17)
• Protect Bibi from all the wiles of the enemy.
• Surround him with wise counsel (Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 15:22).
• Protect his health and family life.

On Tisha b'Av, it was announced that the EU will boycott all activities and goods that have anything to do with the land Israel re-conquered in the 1967 Six Day War. While this can, in the immediate future, hurt Israel economically, we believe that this blasphemous decision (Ezekiel 35:12-13) will bring God's full judgment on the EU. Their only hope is for the Church in the EU to plead for God to have mercy in the midst of His righteous judgments (Habakkuk 3:2).

 

While we are very upset by this unbiblical decision, we bless You for what is said in this Shabbat's prophetic portion. The timing could not be a coincidence!

 

 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the scales; behold, He takes up the coastlands as a very little thing… All nations before Him are as nothing; and to Him they are thought to be less than nothing, and vanity. (Isaiah 40:15, 17; see also vs. 22-24)

• Give to Israel's leaders wisdom from on high on how to respond.
• We thank You for the ire expressed by many government ministers in many of the parties in the Knesset.
• Use this to draw these ministers closer together and closer to Yourself.
• Turn this curse into a blessing as You have often done in the past (Deuteronomy 23:5).
• May products from the 'settlements' sell even more than before (Romans 8:28).
• Lord, show Israel if it is to drop out of their cooperation deal with the EU concerning R&D, and cause others in the world - specifically in the Far East - to desire to cooperate with Israel in this area.
• Let Israel respond by building and developing more of the area that the world calls 'occupied'.
• Lord, shut the mouths of the ultra-Left wingers and the Left-wing media in Israel - who are all thrilled with this decision and saying, 'We told you so. We need to give the Palestinians a state.' May it never be!
• God, this actually will hurt the Palestinians first - as many thousands of them work for Jewish businesses in these areas. Many of them are also upset by this decision. Somehow may EU leaders see what harm they are doing to the very people they are supposedly trying to help.
• For the sake of Europe, may the Church in Europe wake up and stand before You for mercy.
• Abba, cause many folks like the biblical Esther to arise to see this evil edict be overturned.
• Yet Lord, we recognize that this could be another step in seeing the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:2-3. If so, teach us how to pray.

• Arise, O YHWH; let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O YHWH, let the nations know they are but men. Selah.

  Psalms 9:19-20

The global campaign to see an Arab-Islamic state established inside of Israel's God-given borders continues to place tremendous pressure on this government, and on those of us called to be watchmen on Jerusalem's walls. This week, US Secretary of State John Kerry was here again (he seems to show up once every two weeks or so regardless of success or failure), pressing Israel to sit down with the Palestinians and accept the Arab League's 'peace' offer - which would actually be committing national suicide as it includes the return of six plus million so-called Palestinians refugees! Even the liberal left leaning New York Times wondered why Kerry is so focused on Israel when the rest of the Middle East is in absolute chaos.

 

We bless You Lord, that despite all the noise and headlines, nothing was accomplished this week.

• Continue to strengthen Israel's leadership to not compromise on Your land (Leviticus 25:23).
• Continue to use Jerusalem as a stumbling block (Zechariah 12:2-3).
• Use the EU edict to further hinder the ability of any land-for-peace deal being made.
• Lord, set Kerry free from whatever demonic powers has him obsessed with this Israeli-Palestinian peace.
• We thank You that since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, You have consistently harden the hearts of all of the Palestinian leaders so that even with the most liberal of Israeli offers, they refused and walked away.
• Abba, expose the dangerous deception at the root of the Arab League 'peace' deal.
• Lord, when will You purge the land of Your enemies? YHWH is King forever and ever; the heathen [gentiles who do not submit to the God of Israel] have perished out of His land. (Psalms 10:16)
• God, help the Church to see that the battle over this land has to do with the battle over the return of Messiah Yeshua to this land - to rule and reign from here (Zechariah 14:3-4; Acts 1:11).

portions taken from Intercessors for Israel

This week's Scriptures

The reading for this week 14-20 July 2013 is called V'Et'chanan-"Supplicated":

TORAH: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

HAFTARAH: Isaiah 40:1-26

TORAH

 

This week's is a rich and powerful Reading. In addition to the "preparations and warnings for crossing-over and possessing inheritance" (3:27-28; 4:14, 21-22, 26-28; 6:1), it contains the 'Ten Commandments' (5:6-21); the Shema "Hear O Israel" (6:4); instructions regarding knowing and memorizing God's Word within the home, and other often touchingly earnest counsels and admonitions of Moses to the young generation preparing to enter Canaan.

*Deuteronomy 3:28. "And charge Yehoshua (Joshua), and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see." 
 
PLEASE PRAY: for God to raise up spiritual leaders in Israel-that these be noticed by alert and obedient elders who will charge, encourage and strengthen them in the power and direction of their calling-that the new godly generation will love and trust their God, fight the battles necessary and inherit the land.

*Deuteronomy 4:7. "For who is the great nation whose gods are near to it the way YHVH our God is to us in all the ways in which we call to Him?"

*Deuteronomy 4:29-31. "But from there [i.e. scattered throughout the world] you [the Hebrew people] will seek YHVH your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the last days, when you turn to YHVH your God and obey his voice, (For YHVH your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them." 
 
PLEASE PRAY: For awakening of a powerful longing in the hearts of Jews still in the nations, a longing after the God of their Fathers and faith in this word that He will hear when they turn to Him.

*Deuteronomy 4:43. "Betzer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites."

These are Cities of Refuge in land taken by Israel from the Amorites, running along the eastern side of the Jordan River to Mount Hermon, an area once known as the "Land of the Giants" (Deut. 2:20; 3:13), until Og the last and greatest was defeated by Israel before crossing over into Canaan (3:3-11). The location of the first two lies within land presently claimed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Which modern kingdom came officially into being in 1946); the last is the area of the Golan Heights, taken by Israel from Syria in the 1967 War. Zechariah 10:10 prophesies that someday Jews will return to Gilead and even portions of Lebanon.

PLEASE PRAY: That the Israeli government will sense and move in God's timetable regarding these lands. That they will not despise the land once taken by Moses and bequeathed to Manasseh (the present Golan), now again under the stewardship of His people in these last days. Pray that this strategic land will not be bartered for a false peace with our neighbors. That it will be protected from the forces of violence in Syria which have recently threatened to invade it. Pray that God's Kingdom come!-that in His way and timing the LORD of Hosts will bring all of the land promised to his Covenant people into the borders He has ordained.

*Deuteronomy 6:4-5. "HEAR! [Hebrew: Shma!] ISRAEL; YHVH OUR GOD, YHVH ONE!"
There are other "Hear, O Israel's" in Deuteronomy (4:1, 6:3, 9:1, 20:3, 33:7)-but this one has become the central cry of Jews throughout the world for centuries, and continues to be sung each week in Synagogues (including most Messianic ones). It takes revelation, removal of the 'veil', for this people to realize that Yeshua (Jesus) being the Son of God (Proverbs 30:4) as well as Son of Man does not violate this proclamation. It is a deep, eternal truth that He and His Father are ONE! (John 10:30). Satan hates this truth being voiced-when Yeshua proclaimed it, the religious Jews present took up stones to kill him. 
 
PLEASE PRAY for this revelation of the one-ness of the Father and the Son, and that the voice and false message of the Deceiver be silenced in the ears of the Jewish people.
*Deuteronomy 6:5. "You shall love YHVH your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." 
 
Yeshua quoted this verse in the New Covenant, calling it the First and Greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:29-30). "All your strength" is unique in the Hebrew. Rather than a usual expression for "strength", the word me'od is used. Elsewhere in both Biblical and Modern Hebrew me'od is an adverb meaning "very." Webster's describes the adverb "very" this way: "In a high degree; to a great extent; extremely; exceedingly; used as a qualifier before an adjective or another adverb." Yet here me'od or "very" is used as a noun! To love our God with all of our very "veriness"-in every way, "in a high degree"; "to a great extent"; "extremely"; "exceedingly".
Only once in the Hebrew Bible is this passage repeated-in reference to the Israelite leader, King Josiah (II Kings 23:25), "Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Torah of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him." "With all our heart" implies a tender and humble heart. Significantly, 22:19 reveals that God heard and responded to Josiah "because his heart was tender, and he humbled himself before the LORD when he heard what he had spoken." .

Might we not pray for the current leader of Israel that he will have a softened heart like Josiah which might be pierced when he reads God's word, something which Prime Minister Netanyahu has on more than one occasion claimed that he does with regularity?

 

HAFTARAH

 

Shabbat Nachamu

 

*Isaiah 40:1-2, 9. "Comfort You (plural), Comfort You My people!' says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'" 
 
The Sabbath immediately following the 9^th of Av is sometimes called Shabbat Nachamu-"The Comfort You Sabbath"-after the first words of Isaiah 40 which are read that day. From this Sabbath until Rosh Hashanah (5 September this year), the seven readings from the Prophets will be taken from Isaiah, focusing like a balm upon the comfort and love which God has for His people.

  PLEASE PRAY that Israel's ears will be opened to the Voice of Good News coming from her Father. Pray that the voice of the bearer of Good News to Zion (Meveseret Tzion) will be released strong and clear from high places around the Holy City!

*Isaiah 40:11. "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." 

PLEASE PRAY for revelation and dreams amongst Jews regarding the One who said, "I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:14-15).

*Isaiah 40:26. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing."

  PLEASE PRAY that Israelis remember God's word to Abraham our father, how "He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'"( Gen. 15:5).that they realize WHO is the "Word" referred to in Psalm 33:4-6 who made all these, "For the Word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. By the Word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."

Jeremiah and The New Covenant

Many people fail to realize the New Covenant is Jewish. It was given to the Jewish people through the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus ratified it with His blood on Passover, when He went to the cross.

All covenants must be ratified with blood, which is how Moses ratified the Mosaic Covenant: "Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.'" (Exodus 24:8)

The New Covenant is found in Jeremiah 31, a chapter filled with divine assurances of God's love for and redemption of the nation of Israel in the midst of the chaos of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.

God, who knows the end from the beginning, allowed Jeremiah to look into the future to give His Chosen People hope and a glimpse of the day when they will be back in their land and dwell in safety. He declared His unfailing love for them and promised them a new covenant that they would not be able to break.

As the southern kingdom of Judah's demise drew near, God declared:
Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city (Jerusalem) shall be built upon its own mound (meaning on the same spot as the first Temple)....I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish;...I will punish all who oppress them. At the same time," says the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people" (30:18-20; 31:1).

God also affirmed His eternal love for the Jewish people: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." (31:3).

The Hebrew word translated "lovingkindness" is hesed.  Hesed connotes faithful, unfailing, absolutely steadfast love. It is found more than 250 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and usually refers to God's love for His covenant nation.

Throughout Jeremiah 31, God reminds His people they have a future:
"Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations...Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them for the ends of the earth...They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them...For I am a Father to Israel..."He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock." For the Lord has redeemed Jacob (vv. 7-11).

Today many teach God has rejected Israel and replaced it with the church. But this concept is foreign to Scripture. God repeatedly declares exactly the opposite, particularly in the New Covenant:

"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke...I will put My Law in their minds, and write it on their hearts...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (vv. 31-34).

The first covenant revealed a need. It pointed out how helpless we are because of sin. The New Covenant addresses that need through "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29).

God made one more monumental promise. With unmistakable majesty, He decreed the permanence of Israel's existence:

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light at night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (the Lord of Hosts is His name): "If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the Lord: "If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done, says the Lord" (Jer. 31:35-37).

The apostle Paul, a Jewish rabbi, told the Gentiles in the church in Rome not to think more highly of themselves than they think of the Jewish people because God has a plan for Israel: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins"(Romans 11:26-27).

Nations will come and go. Israel will remain forever. And someday "all Israel will be saved"(vs. 26), to the glory of God.

Multitudes, Multitudes In The Valley of Decision

“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed.” Ps 2:1-2

"For behold, in those day and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The Lord will also roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My Holy Mountain."
Joel 3:1-3,14,16,17

EU REDRAWS ISRAEL BORDERS TO 1949 LINES: Sources in Israel disclosed Tuesday the European Union has issued orders forbidding all 28 member states from cooperating, transferring funds, giving scholarships or research grants to organizations or individuals based in Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and even the Golan Heights. The instructions are for the years 2014 – 2020 and will go into force on Friday, July 18. The decision also states that any future agreement signed with Israel must include a section that says the “settlements” are not part of sovereign Israel and therefore not included in the agreement. The Prime Minister’s Office made it clear the territorial clause is likely to be a great stumbling block in Israel-EU relations. (Ha'aretz/INN)

 Might it be reasonable to conclude - according to scripture – that this latest attempt on the part of the EU to cripple Israel is likely to backfire on European nations in an unpleasant way? “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you....” Gen 12:3

NETANYAHU SLAMS NEW EU SETTLEMENT DIRECTIVES: PM Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out Tuesday against a new EU directive that bars its 28 member states from cooperating with Israeli entities in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu said Israel wouldn’t accept dictates about its borders from any outside forces. “This matter will only be determined through direct negotiation between the two sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he stated. “As prime minister, I won’t allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and in Jerusalem - our united capital - to be harmed,” he said. “I expect those who really want peace and regional stability to deal with this matter of Israel’s settlements after they solve more pressing problems in the region like the Syrian civil war and Iran’s race to get a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu made the statements following a meeting in which he conferred with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, and Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin. Bennett on Israeli television, Tuesday night, declared that “Catherine Ashton [the EU foreign policy chief] will not force us to hand over Jerusalem to our enemies.” Bennett called the decision a “financial terror attack.” He added the European move would likely mean a smaller role for Europe in the Israel-Palestinian peace process. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t ask to be involved in the process and at the same time take one-sided action.” (J.Post/Times of Israel)

Pray for Israel’s leaders and people to be comforted in the wake of this latest EU smite. Ask the Lord to counteract the EU’s attempt to demean, manipulate and discourage the Jewish state.

portions taken from JNN News