Report Date:
==================
August 6, 2007
SHALOM
FROM JERUSALEM,
The big news here in Israel today, boldly headlined in the nation’s
largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, this morning, is Russia’s reported
return to two naval bases that the Kremlin largely built and once controlled
in neighboring Syria. The move is said to be part of a large Russian weapons
deal with Syria, at least partially funded by Iran, as I reported about in
last weeks monthly news update.
The dramatic Russian move will undoubtedly increase speculation among
observant Christians and Jews that Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog invasion is drawing
very near. In light of author Joel Rosenberg’s popular novel about
the theme, I get asked about this prophecy all the time now as I travel around
the world, and especially if I see its fulfillment as possibly imminent.
Frankly I do NOT see Ezekiel’s penultimate prophesied event as taking
place in the near-term future. Instead, I suspect that the region could well
witness an apparent massive clash between Syria and Israel—described
in Isaiah chapter 17—unfold in the not too distant future, to which
Russia and other countries listed by Ezekiel would eventually react, but
not immediately in the climactic way described by Ezekiel. I have explained
why I hold this view in several of my books, and also do a bit of that in
the first installment of a new column I am writing for the MJAA web site,
which will be published there soon, and every month thereafter. To read the
column, go to www.mjaa.org later this week. I will also be doing my usual
news report for the Moody Broadcasting Network based in Chicago later today,
which can be accessed at their web site, www.mbn.org
Below is a tribute that I wrote early last week in honor of the late
Christian broadcaster, ministry leader and author George Otis, who
passed away at
the ripe old age of 90 in southern California in mid-July. I worked
with George’s
High Adventure Ministry in southern Lebanon in the early 1980s, and kept
in contact with him and his ongoing work since then. The tribute—which
mentions his views concerning Russia’s role in the region—was
published and released by the ASSIST News Service (ANS), run by veteran journalist
and broadcaster Dan Wooding, who also had a connection to the ministry in
those years. To receive a free subscription to ANS, just send an e-mail message
to Dan at assistnews@aol.com or sign up at www.assist-ministries.com/feedbkdan/index.htm.
If you want to check out stories posted on their website, go to www.assistnews.net.
A Journalist’s Tribute To George Otis
By David Dolan
Special to ASSIST News Service
George Otis Sr
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) -- I will never forget the first time I met George
Otis Sr. It was December 1980, and we were in the Garden Tomb near Jerusalem’s
historic walled Old City.
Several months before, I had been offered a position at George’s Voice
of Hope radio station in southern Lebanon by station manager Chuck Pollak.
I had listened to the station many times while living for one year with a
Christian group on an Israeli kibbutz located just across the tense international
border.
Having picked up hepatitis that September from drinking water directly
from the Hatzbani River (which flows through Lebanon where animals
wade in it
and sewage is dumped in it) before merging into Israel’s Jordan River,
I was in pretty bad shape. So I declined the offer and bought an airplane
ticket back to my native Pacific Northwest.
The fact that the station was frequently shelled by rogue PLO forces
who occupied most of south Lebanon in those days was possibly
a contributing
factor as well!
I only got as far as Jerusalem when I realized that, like Jonah of
old, I was fleeing from God. I headed straight to the Garden
Tomb to seek wise counsel
from an older Idaho couple who were longtime friends volunteering at the
renowned holy site that year. They urged me to return to Idaho for further
physical healing, pointing out I could “always return later” to
work at the gospel radio station.
When I still expressed disquiet, they suggested I go out into the quiet
garden—it
was near closing time—to pray for more guidance from On High. I quickly
noticed that one group of pilgrims was still seated on neat rows of benches
in the lush garden, just above the empty ancient tomb. They were all wearing
the same blue wind blazers inscribed with the words HIGH ADVENTURE MINISTRY:
THE VOICE OF HOPE.
I went to one of the back rows and sat down to listen to an extremely animated
golden haired man, wearing the same blue blazer, who was swishing his arms
through the air while speaking with deep passion to the assembled flock,
who listened with rapt attention. It was George Otis.
I got the Lord’s message, and quickly returned up north to work at
the unique radio station; the only gospel broadcaster in the entire Middle
East.
That was an appropriate place to meet George for the first time, since
the bulk of his long and fruitful life was devoted to the world
renowned Rabbi
from Galilee who had risen from the dead in Jerusalem nearly two thousand
years before.
George was hardly a perfect man, but then again who was or is besides
the Risen One? We sometimes clashed during my two years as News
Director at the
Voice of Hope, located in the lovely Valley of the Springs just below the
Lebanese town of Marjayoun.
For one thing, I was not so certain that four parts country music to one
part gospel—which was strictly upheld by the Big Boss—was the
perfect mix for the crisis-filled region. But that was partly due to my general
dislike for that particular musical genre! In the end, I had to admit that
many Israelis at least had become country music fans, as reported in the
local media, all due to George Otis, who personally chose the musical format.
But mostly I just watched in wonder as this super energized ever ready
bullet of a man shot across the world, frequently arriving at
the always bustling
radio station soon after getting off a plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion
airport following the arduous journey from Los Angeles, always as fresh and
sprightly as a well watered daisy!
It would usually be just seconds before George was donning headphones
and sliding behind the on-air desk to utter his latest words
of encouragement
to the war weary peoples of southern Lebanon, northern Israel and even
parts of Jordan and Syria. That was always welcomed by me and
my disc jockey cohorts,
if only that it gave as an extra coffee break!
But more than that, it was somehow always inspiring to listen to George
speak, if only because he was constantly revved up and positive,
despite the conflict
raging all around us.
A friend of many Israeli officials and of former California Governor
Ronald Reagan, who had recently taken the nation’s number one seat in the
Oval Office, George frequently used his on air pulpit to echo Reagan’s
warnings that the Evil Empire, the Soviet Union, would one day be brought
down. He went even further than the Republican President did by specifically
warning that the Kremlin would be judged by God for backing the Syrians and
the PLO in their ongoing war against Israel. Indeed, just a few months after
I began working at the Voice of Hope, the Syrians and PLO were routed by
Israeli forces, handing a significant black eye to their Soviet patrons.
One of George’s proudest moments during the two years I labored with
his ministry was his sponsorship of the freed “Siberian Seven,” a
group of persecuted Russian Pentecostals who had been allowed to immigrate
by the Kremlin in January 1982 after taking refuge in the US Embassy basement
in Moscow for over three years. While they waited for papers that would allow
them into various western nations, the seven freed Christians were invited
by Israel—under High Adventure sponsorship—to live with our small
Voice of Hope workers community in the upper Galilee. It was a sign of things
to come, and of the very collapse of the Soviet Union that George so often
prophesied.
After the Israeli operation was launched to push the PLO out of Lebanon
in June 1982, George was not content to “just” broadcast the good
news to his war dazed audience—he insisted the ministry must expand
to give aid on the ground to the Lebanese people. I will never forget going
with George and others into a Palestinian neighborhood in the coastal town
of Sidon, where we passed out food and other material aid to needy (and often
raucous) residents. We later found out that the American Frisbees included
with the food and New Testament aid packets—stamped inside with the
radio station’s logo—were mainly being used as plates!
As George passed from his 60s into his 70s and 80s, his energy level
remained incredibly high. Not content to just have a Lebanon-based
radio station broadcasting
into the Holy Land, he worked to expand his broadcasting ministry all over
the globe. I watched with continued amazement as his far reaching plans
became facts on the ground.
Very few people would have had the vision, courage (chutzpa in Hebrew)
and sheer drive to have ventured into a major war zone in the
first place in
order to set up a radio ministry—in the literal line of frequent hostile
fire from the hills above. But George Otis had those traits in abundance,
and he ended up broadcasting from a south Lebanon valley to the biblical
mountains and cities of Israel and Lebanon, and by short wave, to many other
countries beyond the region.
Kol ha kavod (all due honor) George—may you receive your well deserved
eternal reward!
David Dolan is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has worked with
CBS and other media outlets. His website is www.ddolan.com.
DAVID DOLAN is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has lived and worked in Israel since 1980.
=================
August 27, 2007
Shalom from Jerusalem,
Below is my monthly news and analysis report covering the most important news here in Israel during August. As usual, security issues dominated the headlines, and are the focus of this month’s report. The prospect of a new regional war continues to feature prominently in many media reports here despite the Prime Minister’s insistence that no such conflict is on the horizon, as reported below.
I continue to receive enquiries about this topic as well, especially from readers considering a trip here in the coming weeks or month. Again, I have no advice to give other than that each person must seek the right path for themselves, understanding that there is indeed a heightened possibility of conflict, but also keeping in mind that our times are in His hands. Also we should recall that there are floods, earthquakes, major fires, terror attacks, etc in many parts of the world at present, so where can you go that is certifiably “safe”?
I CAN tell you that I have carted out my anti-chemical plastic tent for the first time since it was put into storage following the first week of the US-led war in Iraq in March 2003. But that is not because I am expecting an imminent chemical attack, but only as a precautionary measure, to make sure the air filter system’s battery is fully charged and all the needed parts are in order. The tent—a gift to me from an Israeli friend—is also said to protect from biological weapons and even nuclear fallout to some extent. The tents and air filter systems, which sold like hotcakes in the months before the Iraq war began, are made by German Christians living in Israel at their factory located south of Haifa. What an interesting world we live in!
Assuming things remain fairly calm, I am scheduled to begin another US speaking tour the end of September. I will be posting the entire schedule on my web site soon www.ddolan.com and will also send it out with next month’s new review. I also continue to plan my first ever visit to South Africa next February, and again to the States in April, and to the UK and probably Germany later in the year. Details will be posted on my site.
Peace to all of you, and thanks for your prayers for us who are living and working in Israel at this time of heightened tension.
WAR AND PEACE
By David Dolan
Diplomatic moves toward a peaceful resolution of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian
conflict were again evident during August, but at a far more subdued
pace than in July. This came amid continuing skepticism, expressed by
many Israeli politicians and pundits, that this is the right time to
pursue such a lofty goal, or even the right goal to go after at all.
The main reason for such sentiments was the harrowing fact that the extremist Hamas movement further strengthened its stranglehold over the Gaza Strip during August, launching new attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, while showing that it is still a major political force in parts of Judea and Samaria under direct Palestinian Authority control. At the same time, Hamas allies Hizbullah, Syria and Iran continued to utter boisterous war threats.
Palestinian rockets poured down almost daily from the Gaza Strip onto nearby Israeli communities during the hot days and nights of August, injuring several people and prompting more Israeli army action and further talk of a major military response up ahead. This came as an Israeli report was released stating that the radical Lebanese Hizbullah militia now possesses chemical and biological weapons and the means to deliver them to most parts of relatively tiny Israel.
The militia’s main puppet master, Syria, claimed once again that Israel—under pressure from the United States—was preparing the ground for an imminent armed attack. Israeli officials countered by pointing to Syria’s ongoing wide-scale military maneuvers. The renewed war jitters produced a statement from two senior Israeli government leaders that such a conflict is not on Israel’s agenda, prompting some commentators to note that it takes only one party to start a war, which the other side can then not avoid.
Russian officials confirmed in August that they are planning to significantly strengthen their longstanding alliance with Syria by reopening naval bases that were closed in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This came as the Assad regime in Damascus received new weapons shipments from the Kremlin while cynically expressing concern over a major new American military support package for Israel that was unveiled during the month, along with new funding for military purchases by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The goal of the stepped up US financial aid was said to be the hamstringing of Iran in its apparent goal to become the new Middle East master, obviously with Russian assistance. Adding urgency to this goal, the radical Iranian president again threatened to wipe out America’s closest ally in the region, Israel.
PEACE CHATTER GOES ON
As requested by the American government, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas met again in August to discuss various pressing issues between them. Another meeting is set for later this week. Media reports said the main topic was the parameters of a final status peace accord between the two sides, although both Abbas and Olmert denied that the informal talks had reached that critical stage.
However later in the month, new Israeli President Shimon Peres announced that “serious discussions” about a set of “fundamental principles” were indeed taking place between the two leaders. He added that some sort of agreement about the “principals” will be brought before an American-sponsored international Middle East peace conference scheduled to be held in the United States in November. Press reports said a deal would include Israel ceding Arab portions of Jerusalem to the PA, along with most of nearby Judea and Samaria.
Israeli political analysts said the Nobel peace prize winner was apparently referring to the outline of a final status peace accord, which many warned is bound to set off a new wave of anti-Israel and anti-PLO Fatah attacks by radical states and groups like Iran and Hamas, and also spark political upheaval and chaos inside of Israel since a final status framework accord would probably mandate mass Jewish evacuations from most portions of Judaism’s biblical heartland, as demanded by the PA and its international backers, including the United States.
Prominent Israeli political analysts from across the spectrum, along with several Knesset members, opined that it was entirely premature for Olmert and Abbas—each under political siege in their own backyards—to be discussing such explosive issues as the possible re-division of Jerusalem and uprooting of hundreds of Israeli communities at this stage of the game. Among those who voiced this opinion was Olmert’s very own Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who is apparently preparing the ground for his expected campaign to return to the premier’s chair by positioning himself smack dab in the middle of Israeli public opinion regarding any controversial final status accord.
AMERICA EXERTS MORE PRESSURE
The Abbas-Olmert talks came as the main international advocate of renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visited the region once again. The top American diplomat supposedly came here, along with US Defense Secretary Bill Gates, to help push along the peace process. But many analysts said their real purpose was to shore up an anti-Iran regional alliance in the run up to possible US and/or Israeli military action against that country’s outlawed nuclear program.
PM Olmert welcomed the senior American officials to his office in Jerusalem, as Abbas did to his headquarters in nearby Ramallah. The Palestinian leader—who later announced he would schedule new PA leadership and legislative elections early next year, but not be a candidate himself in them—expressed thanks to the Secretary of State for literally endorsing with her signature the Arab League’s 2002 Saudi peace plan during a late July visit in Jeddah.
Facing an internal revolt in his own Kadima political party—with around one-third of Kadima’s 29 Knesset members threatening to break away from the centrist party if Olmert continues at its helm—the unpopular Israeli leader was less enthusiastic over Rice’s formal endorsement of the Arab peace plan. He realizes it calls for a total Israeli withdrawal from every inch of land captured during the 1967 Six Day War, which means some 350,000 Jews would need to be uprooted from their current homes, nearly half of those inside Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries—a prospect hardly popular in Israel. Olmert also told the US diplomat he thought it was too soon for Israel to hand over security control in PA zones of control to armed Palestinian police forces, as she asked for, especially given the threat posed by Hamas loyalists residing in the area.
Olmert’s office denied a report in the Haaretz newspaper that the Premier had authorized a clandestine backchannel approach to senior Palestinian officials involving dovish new President Shimon Peres. The paper said the elder statesman was authorized to offer the full Israeli withdrawal demanded by the Saudi plan, including from Jerusalem’s historic Old City with its sacred Temple Mount. However speculation that backchannel talks were indeed taking place surfaced again later in the month when Peres announced he would soon meet with Abbas after holding talks with new PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, which the Israeli President claimed centered only on economic issues. The speculation further mushroomed when Peres confirmed that final status framework talks are indeed taking place between Abbas and Olmert.
Just how difficult it would be to uproot hundreds of thousands of Jews from their contested communities was illustrated in early August when the government ordered the immediate evacuation of just two Jewish families living without army permission in empty buildings in an evacuated former market area of Hebron. Pointing out that the buildings had been owned and occupied by Jews until the Arab pogrom of 1929 that decimated the Jewish community in the holy town; the families had resisted Defense Ministry orders to leave. Hundreds of soldiers and border policemen were deployed to remove the families and scores of Orthodox Jews who had come to support them. Twelve observant soldiers who refused to join in the tempestuous evacuation were later jailed for their action. However several subsequent opinion surveys showed just how deep the divisions are over such uprootings in Israeli society, with around 30% of the public saying they supported the soldier’s defiance.
HAMAS ON A ROLL
Olmert and Abbas confirmed that the overall security situation in the area was discussed during their early August meeting. Some reports said those talks focused on recent Israeli and PA intelligence reports that Hamas has succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations in successfully taking over the Gaza Strip. The Iranian and Syrian-backed group has reportedly established a significantly more effective and publicly popular government in the congested coastal zone in just two months time than the ousted Fatah PA administration did in well over one decade of rule.
Despite the intelligence reports, a late August opinion poll showed a popular swing back toward the ousted PLO Fatah movement. However analysts noted that the survey was taken in the sweltering Gaza Strip following several days without electricity supplies exacerbated by a European Union decision to temporarily halt fuel payments amid reports that the funds were going directly into Hamas pockets. And a significant plurality said their personal safety had increased under Hamas rule.
The survey revealed that 47% of Gaza’s residents favor the new government of moderate PM Fayad, which is currently only ruling over portions of Judea and Samaria, while only 31% want to see former Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh restored to the PA premier’s chair. Analysts said some of Fayad’s popularity may have been due to his apparent decision in early August to fund thousands of former PA officials in Gaza with links to Hamas. The move angered both Israeli and American officials
Given that elected Hamas officials still control most of the largest municipalities in PA ruled portions of Judea and Samaria, along with many smaller towns and villages there, the assessment of relative Hamas success in setting up a government in the Gaza Strip was unsettling to US and Israeli leaders. It brought further concern that PA security forces commanded by Abbas may not be able to hold there own if a Hamas armed showdown is launched in the area, as occurred in Gaza. Evidence that Hamas is considering stage two of its June offensive came in early August when a powerful Hamas bomb was detonated in a PA jail in the largest Palestinian city, Nablus. The attack was seen as a stark warning by the radical group that it will not sit still if a PA crackdown on Hamas armed cells continues in Judea and Samaria.
Palestinian Kassam rocket attacks upon Jewish communities were stepped up around the Gaza Strip in August, including a direct hit on a private home and—a thankfully empty—kindergarten in the besieged town of Sderot. In response, IDF action was launched against various Gaza targets during the month amid increasing calls for a major new army operation. Reports said nearly 20 Palestinian fighters were killed, several while trying to attack Israeli ground forces stationed along the border fence. A cross border terror attack was thwarted on August 25 when alert IDF soldiers spotted several infiltrators, wearing stolen IDF uniforms, on their way to attack a Jewish community in the area. In Nablus, an Islamic Jihad terrorist leader was killed in an undercover army operation.
Meanwhile Hamas officials confirmed reports they are drafting thousands of men into a new armed “police force” in the Gaza Strip to replace the overrun PA security force. The new Muslim force will supposedly only act in a policing capacity, and be kept separate from the virtual army that Hamas is also building, with heavy weaponry and Iranian assistance, in the conquered coastal zone.
NORTHERN EXPLOSION?
Reports of a possible major war this year between Syria and Israel, with the probable involvement of radical Hamas and Hizbullah forces as well, and maybe also Iran, continued to boil during the unusually hot month of August. The government-run Syrian newspaper Tishrin claimed on August 19 that “extensive Israeli military maneuvers” signaled an “imminent attack” being planned upon the Arab nation. The report also said that a new large American military aid package for Israel—worth 30 billion dollars over the next decade, with 75% to be spent in the United States, therefore shoring up American defense industries—is designed to provoke war between the two Middle East enemies. The US aid package announcement came amid a reported sharp drop in UK weapons sales to Israel, down a massive 75% since 2005.
The Syrian newspaper did not mention the fact that the White House also announced a $20 billion military aid package over the next decade for Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf Arab countries, apparently to help counter the growing Iranian threat. An additional support grant was also unveiled for Egypt. Israeli officials expressed concern over one aspect of the Saudi deal, which would allow that country to transform regular bombs into laser guided “smart bombs” which could more accurately threaten potential Israeli targets.
Israeli leaders made clear that they have absolutely no plans to order a military strike on Syria. They said stepped up army, navy and air force preparations were only in response to intensified Syrian military activity, which began to be noticed soon after Syrian dictator Bashar Assad announced in the wake of Hizbullah’s supposed victory in the Second Lebanon War that he was ready to take back the Israeli-captured Golan Heights by force. PM Olmert tried to dampen all war talk during the month, saying he does not expect clashes with Syria or Hizbullah this year. He also asked his cabinet ministers to stop talking about the possibility of conflict lest such words actually help trigger a showdown.
The Jerusalem Post dramatically headlined the Syrian threat on August 24, warning that the Assad regime appears to be preparing for a massive missile onslaught upon the small Jewish-ruled state, probably backed by missiles from Hizbullah and Iran. The report said the IDF brass is repositioning the sophisticated Arrow anti-missile system in the north to deal with the prospect of hundreds of ballistic Scud missiles, potentially tipped with chemical warheads, being simultaneously fired upon Israel.
Equally worrisome are hundreds of shorter range Hizbullah and Syrian rockets that can fly under Arrow’s radar range. Israel’s largest Hebrew daily, Yediot Ahronot, reported that Israeli officials now believe Hizbullah possesses chemical warheads supplied by Syria and paid for by Iran. This seemed to be confirmed by Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah who warned in a bombastic mid-August speech that Israel would “face a colossal surprise that would…change the fate of the region” if it attacked his Shiite forces in Lebanon.
Adding to volcanic Middle East tensions, press reports said the first of many announced Russian arms shipments to Syria was delivered in August—containing the Pantsyr-S1 anti-aircraft missiles defense system. With a range of about eight miles, it is said to pose a major tactical threat to any aircraft penetrating Syrian airspace, and even to Israeli jets operating over the Golan Heights. Media reports said Syria plans to send some of the weapons on to Iran in exchange for financial aid from Tehran.
In such dark days, it is certainly comforting to recall that no less than “The Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His habitation. ‘This is My resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it’” (Psalm 132:13-14).
DAVID DOLAN is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has lived and worked in Israel since 1980.
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