Stand against Israel at your own peril: Psalm 2

The case against replacement theology – the belief that the Church has replaced Israel regarding God’s promises to Abraham – can easily be made by Romans 11 as clear evidence that God has a future plan for Israel. I’m so thankful the Holy Spirit inspired Paul with those words because they are so clear to point out that God does have a beautiful future for the Jews in the Kingdom to come.


Then, this past Sunday, my pastor was teaching on Psalm 2 and I was struck with how powerfully this Davidic psalm also shows God’s plan for Israel.

God’s word in Psalm 2 clearly points out that any Gentile nation who stands against God’s plans will be broken and shattered. The passage tells of nations that rage against God, His Messiah and Israel. The psalm, through literary form, claims God laughs at the nations that take a stand against Israel and Jesus Christ.

What is God’s response to nations who take counsel and actions against Israel and the Messiah? God will terrify these nations and tell them that He “has installed My King upon Zion.”

Notwithstanding preterist viewpoints, does anyone living today believe this won’t take place? Look at what God the Father tells God the Son. “’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.’”

And for the nations’ disobedience, the Messiah is told “’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”

Though the picture is violent, the point is that all nations will be subdued under the rule of God’s anointed king, Jesus Christ.

But, the picture isn’t bleak for all Gentiles. There is hope for the nations. The psalm ends with a stanza of assurance. God invites the leaders of nations and their peoples to worship Yahweh and honor Jesus Christ as the Messiah so that they may be saved and even be blessed.

What’s the takeaway? Nothing is going to stop God’s plan for Israel and Jesus Christ as the one who will sit on the Davidic throne without end. No nation, no religion, or no alliance can put a halt to what God is doing today and what He will do in Zion.

God has not abandoned Israel, though others have

Recep Tayyip Erodogan, the Turkish prime minister, was in talks with Egypt in Cairo this week which could foretell further political isolation for Israel, according to a report from the U.K.’s The Guardian. The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood writes that this is an attempt to seek an alliance between the two countries “with the aim of increasing the Jewish state’s isolation in the region.”


It’s believed that Turkey’s money will give voice to its influence in Egypt and the growing influence of Islam there. This follows Turkey’s expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Turkey and dissolution of all military agreements between the two nations.

When you add this to the concerted and massive public relations effort the Palestinian National Authority is expending against Israel and in favor of its own statehood, Israel could use more praying and supportive friends from its Christian younger “brethren.”

All this leading up to the expected vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state by the United Nation’s general assembly later this month. “Turkey and Egypt are backing the Palestinian bid,” Harriet wrote.

I want to impress on all believers the need to pray for Israel and God’s protection. But, God has not abandoned Israel, and according to the original promises to Abraham and the Spirit-inspired words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 11, we can be fully assured there is a future for Israel in the kingdom to come.

Another deterrent to violence is removed in the Middle East

In this humble observer’s opinion, another cog slipped into place that is creating a context for escalated violence in Israel following the United Nations’ vote that is anticipated to recognize Palestinian statehood.


Today, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador to Ankara and suspended all military agreements following the U.N. report of investigations regarding Israel’s Gaza Strip blockade. At the heart of the issue is the “excessive and unreasonable” force Israeli commandos used to stop a Turkish ship attempting to break the blockade.

The U.N. reported in their findings that the boarding raid was a legitimate security measure and in accordance with international law. The report also explains that the Israeli commandos who boarded the Turkish vessel used force to protect themselves in response to what it called “significant, organized and violent resistance” from some of its passengers.

So, how is this a cog slipping into place? There is a sort of deterrence to Middle East conflict if Turkey and Israel aren’t battling. This damage to the Turkey-Israel relationship will embolden anti-Zionists.

But, I think a bigger question is how will the White House dance its delicate waltz with Turkey expelling the Israeli ambassador and severing military agreements? Will the Obama administration feel tugged in different directions here, or will this be another excuse for this administration to continue its slow divorce from Israel?

A concerted call for prayer for Israel

September will likely be a month many believers won’t soon forget. September is the month the United Nations general assembly is expected to vote in favor of Palestinian statehood.


Consensus of the situation on the ground in Israel indicates that violence will escalate, possibly leading to full-scale war. The Israeli Defense Forces have already been planning for Palestinian demonstrations, attacks, and terrorism in West Bank settlements.

According to Haaretz.com:

The IDF has conducted detailed work to determine a “red line” for each settlement in the West Bank, which will determine when soldiers will be ordered to shoot at the feet of Palestinian protesters if the line is crossed. It is also planning to provide settlers with tear gas and stun grenades as part of the defense operation.

Media are reporting that officials have already assumed that when the Palestinian declaration of independence is made, it will incite mass disorder. Settlers have been given means to disburse protests and maps indicating where the red line is located.

I believe that Israel’s right to defend itself combined with demonstrations and attacks by pro-Palestinian forces will lead to a conflict level that we haven’t see in quite a while. Thus, our need to pray for Israel and her people is great.
Please pray for our ‘elder brethren’ and God’s will in Israel and the conflict.

Why give a madman a bullhorn?

I find I’m at odds with myself today. I’m trying to refrain from lashing out against the lunacy that is Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Reports from Haaretz.com and other outlets tell us that he is reiterating the anti-Semitic claim that the Holocaust is a lie.
“The Zionist regime’s establishment was based on numerous deceptions and lies and one of the biggest lies was the Holocaust,” Ahmadinejad said in his speech at a rally in Tehran.

But, after observing Egypt and Libya, I’m now believing that rebels will one day end this madman’s dictat… er, presidency. Many in Iran are oppressed and it can only be hoped that a grassroots effort will continue to grow in and around Iran to bring about this end.

I confess that he is a headline magnet. However, the global media must stop giving this guy a platform to spew his idiocy. He’s not making real news anymore. When will the impotent United Nations take a stand and stop affording this man a chance to demonstrate his inability to communicate in a lucid manner?

A quick study of Romans 11 will reveal that there is a place planned for Israel and we can trust that as part of God's plan.

The Roman church continues its anti-Zionist, supersessionist rhetoric

In October 2010, at a special Vatican meeting on the Middle East, Cyrille Bustros, a native of Lebanon and a bishop in Newton, Mass., claimed, “We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people.”

This was part of the Greek-Melkite bishop’s comments during a recent news conference where attendees presented the final document that emerged from a Vatican synod of Middle Eastern bishops.

I’m not sure what scriptures Mr. Bustros is studying, but I know the Bible teaches that God’s covenant with Israel cannot be broken and that the Apostle Paul clearly illustrates a future for the actual Israel of the Old Testament. To me, it’s apparent that Mr. Bustros has not embraced the idea the Apostle Paul teaches that we are no longer Jew nor Greek or that our alliance is no longer with our nation, but our alliance is with Christ – Mr. Bustros is clearly Lebanese first.

The notion of supersessionism isn’t new thinking. Both Justin Martyr and Augustine are reported to take this position in their writings. But, when studied as a whole, the Bible clearly teaches that God has a plan for Israel and that plan includes the land that was promised. In Luke 21:24, God teaches us that “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” This is an indication that Jerusalem will be restored. God also teaches us of the eternity of His promises in Romans 11:28-29, “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Supersessionism is the view that the church is the new or true Israel that has replaced or superseded national Israel as the people of God. If the Roman church has replaced Israel, then Mr. Bustros might be correct in his assessment that there is no exclusive right that Israel holds for the promised land. However, this simply isn’t the biblical case.

Because God does not break His covenants, those who say the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people then have to deny the traditional and orthodox interpretation of the Old Testament and deny there is a prophesied future restoration for national Israel. They also have to claim that the New Testament reinterprets the Old Testament rather than is a continuation of God’s revelation of His will (Ezk. 36-37; Deut. 30:1-6; Jer. 30, 31, 32; Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 13:34-35; Acts 3:19-21; Romans 11).

Charles Spurgeon apparently felt that the future of Israel’s sure role in God’s plan was not considered enough by either theologians or the laity. He wrote, “I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this.”

In case that was too vague for some, the famous Old Testament scholar Walter C. Kaiser Jr., wrote succinctly, “To argue that God replaced Israel with the church is to depart from an enormous body of biblical evidence.”

When the Roman church takes an institutional position in favor of replacement theology (which it has), it simply is an expression of its anti-Zionist viewpoint and is clearly not aligned with the Bible. Whether viewed from a secular or spiritual viewpoint, the self-determination, and subsequent self defense, by the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland is part of the expressed plan of God.

Admittedly, there could be confusion on the part of members of the Roman church. The Second Vatican Council took the position that there existed an eternal covenant between Israel and God and that covenant was linked with the land of Israel. Yet, the Roman church has since issued calls for Israel’s withdrawal of occupied lands, removal of border barriers between Israel and the West Bank and support for a sovereign Palestinian nation. It naively stated that Israel would live peacefully and in security if it would only withdraw from conquered land it won in war. How could the Roman church believe this in light of the codified objective of Islamic groups to eradicate the nation of Israel? This call to return to pre-war boundaries is not biblical and goes against God’s desires (Joel 3:1-2; Gen. 15:18-21; Ex. 23:31a).

In all practicality, this is either an official departure from the Second Vatican Council or the Roman church is taking both positions in the polemic. Regardless, this is in opposition to the biblical position.

In his “12 Reasons Why Supersessionism/Replacement Theology Is Not a Biblical Doctrine,” Michael J. Vlach, Ph.D., points out that “the New Testament does not call the church ‘Israel,’ and nowhere does the New Testament state the nation of Israel has been permanently rejected by God.” He also states in his conclusion, “Various texts such as Matt. 19:28; 23:37–39; Luke 13:35; 21:24; 22:30; and Romans 11 refute supersessionism in that they teach or reaffirm the Old Testament expectation of a restoration of Israel.”

This shouldn’t surprise me because the scriptures teach that all nations will stand against Israel, and all will be defeated. In this case, all includes the United States. Unfortunately, I see it happening far sooner than I would have expected due to the influence of global anti-Zionist institutions, such as the Roman church, the United Nations and a spineless European Union.

More 'clergy' showing their anti-Semitism, and lunacy

This past week a Greek Orthodox bishop showed more than his lunacy, he completely destroyed his credibility as a member of that order.  Bishop Metropolitan Seraphim is claiming that Greece’s financial troubles as a nation is a Jewish conspiracy and that the Holocaust was a plan orchestrated by Zionists.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Bishop Seraphim spewed his anti-Semitic remarks during a television interview in Greece when he said “that there is a conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy.”

The bishop then said that “Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism.”

Of course Jewish groups have come out and raised objection to Bishop Seraphim’s inflammatory remarks. But, the Greek Orthodox church must take serious action against this anti-Semite. If they don’t defrock this man, it will reveal the Orthodox church’s own similar position regarding Jews and Israel.

Why must the erroneous teachings of some sinful early church fathers continue to be perpetuated through the Orthodox, Reformed and Roman churches? Bishop Seraphim is obviously not reading the scriptures where it is abundantly clear that, despite its waywardness, God has a future plan for Israel and that Christians should have a special regard for their “elder brethren.”

“It is completely unacceptable that someone senior in a mainstream European religious denomination can make such repulsive and hate-filled claims,” said the president of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor who called for the bishop to be fired.

In a statement, the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants said his remarks constitute a brutal assault on the memory of all Nazi victims, Jew and non-Jew.

It’s either insanity or sinfully motivated anti-Semitic hate to claim Jewish leaders would execute such a self-flagellatory plan to have millions of their brothers and sisters slaughtered by the Nazis. Either way, this man proved his deserving of losing his ordination and commanded never to lead a flock again.

No division of Israel’s land can be tolerated

There’s no political, social, religious or even militaristic reason a person or entity should advocate for any division of the land that God promised to the ethnic decedents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why? Those who do will incur God’s judgment.

For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land, (Joel 3:1-2).

The United States (its government and its people) should be very careful not to advocate any division of the land promised to the Jews as described in Genesis and Exodus, which includes the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Gaza and every inch of Jerusalem. The boundaries are described as:

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite," (Gen. 15:18-21).

I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates, (Ex. 23:31a).

If someone believes there should be both a Jewish state of Israel and an Arab state of Palestine, then they clearly are not reading the Holy Scriptures. The Bible clearly teaches us that this land is not to be divided for any reason, even for what some claim as peace.

When someone advocates that Israel should return lands acquired in conflict, they do, at best, not understand that the land does not belong to any other but whom the Creator (its original owner) has deeded it for a homeland – the ethnic race descended from Jacob.

Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you," (Gen. 35:11-12).

There is no event in history that can abrogate God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. No collection of governments or majority of people can nullify this covenant. But, did the Almighty end the agreement Himself? This cannot be. If God can break His covenants, then what word of His can be fully trusted? No, God cannot break His covenant with the Jews and they have full right and deed to the land God promised as described in His word.

Finally, this covenant God made with Israel cannot be spiritualized to mean that it is now transferred to the church of true Christians. This supersessionism cannot be supported by any normal or logical exegesis of God’s revelation in His word. This erroneous teaching has led many well-meaning Christians to think God is done with Israel as an ethno-political entity. We learn this simply is not the case when we study Romans 9-11 and the Revelation. Yet, this has not stopped hundreds of years of false teaching by some denominations, which leads many of their congregants to anti-Zionism, which as Martin Luther King Jr., so aptly points out, is actually nothing more than anti-Semitism.

Special love for Jews, the Bible tells me so

After an extended hiatus from the Portico Dialogue one thing has burdened me while away – the near complete neglect Christians have for evangelization of Jewish people. I’ve examined my own life and rearing in a Bible-teaching church and the general Christian culture today and I can detect little effort to love and therefore evangelize Jewish people.

I can confidently say that part of this failure is that a great portion of the believing church adheres to the erroneous supersessionist teachings of some early church fathers and subsequent patristic denominations. These, to a measurable degree, have historically proven to prompt anti-Semitism and in some cases, have led to sinful ideology toward Jews as individuals and Israel as a nation.

Dr. Gary Hedrick, president of CJF Ministries wrote:

Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, was a supersessionist. Near the end of his life, he said that synagogues and Jewish schools should be burned to the ground, Jewish people run out of their homes, their prayer books and Talmudic writings burned, and the rabbis forbidden to preach or teach on penalty of death (“On the Jews and Their Lies,” Trans. Martin H. Bertram, in Luther’s Works [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971], pp. 268-271).

In his book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer wrote:

It is difficult to understand the behavior of most German Protestants in the first Nazi years unless one is aware of two things: their history and the influence of Martin Luther. The great founder of Protestantism was both a passionate anti-Semite and a ferocious believer in absolute obedience to political authority. He wanted Germany rid of the Jews. Luther’s advice was literally followed four centuries later by Hitler, Goering, and Himmler (William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich [New York: Simon & Shuster, 1960], p. 236).

Notwithstanding whether Shirer proved that the Nazis were partially motivated by Luther in his best-selling book, the words of the founder of the Reformation cannot be denied. Luther wrote, “that their synagogues or schools be set on fire, that their houses be broken up and destroyed ... and they be put under a roof or stable, like the gypsies ... in misery and captivity as they incessantly lament and complain to God about us.”

The lamentable fact there is an umbilical between supersessionism and anti-Semitism cannot be denied. History proves the connection. But, the reader should note carefully that I am not claiming by definition every supersessionist is anti-Semitic or anti-Zionistic – that would be unfair. What I am trying to point to is the serious lack of love for Jews by modern Christians and, to a great degree, this comes to us through the Reformed movement.

Why was I not brought up to have a special place in my heart for God’s elect nation? Why are the true Christian pulpits of the world not a source for clear understanding of the future of Israel, the believing remnant and the reason the apostle to the Gentiles teaches we are to take the gospel to the Jew first, then to the Gentile?

Thus I was prompted to study Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s excellent commentary on the book of Hebrews and a careful study of Chapters 9-11 of Romans and have concluded that I have little esteemed the people to whom God gave special and irrevocable promises. I am guilty of not seeing Israel in the proper eschatological light and not seeing Jewish people as those whom I should have special consideration for evangelization.

I have never claimed a label for my theological understanding – not covenant, not dispensational – but I move forward from this moment to accurately see God’s future for the ethnic, spiritual, political, and territorial future for Israel as outlined in His word and my divinely given commission to herald the Gospel of Christ to “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The world has a short-term memory

Fellow blogger, Joel Griffith, over at The Seventh Sola makes a succinct but excellent point about the double standard most of the world holds when it comes to Israel. His latest post there follows:

Brief post today, but it's a whopper.
Look back to the United States in World War II. We were attacked by Japan, and our war policy was "unconditional surrender." (Yes, include Nazi Germany in that, too)
Israel gets attacked with thousands of rockets launched into her. But she is supposed to "show restraint."
Please tell me why "unconditional surrender" is okay for the United States when it is attacked, but not for Israel when she is attacked.
I'd love some reporter to get the cojones to ask the Secretary of State that, or even the President, if the opportunity arises. Somehow, I don't think they'll do it.

Q&A on the end times - Part 1 of 2

I recently asked my pastor what would be 10 short, but critical things to understand about the end times. What Pastor Chuck Johnson gave me was 11 questions that, as he puts it, "need to be answered to identify where one is eschatologically" speaking. Our intent is not to give exhaustive answers, but to provide short, abridged responses to basic eschatological questions. To keep the posts a reasonable length, I’m going to publish his Q&A in two installments. Here are questions 1-5.

Question 1: Does God have a plan for Israel?

Answer: This is the question that determines if you are Covenant in your theology or Dispensational, though some people today want to have a gray area. My view is that God's unfulfilled promises to Israel in the Old Testament will not be fulfilled spiritually in the church today, but will be fulfilled literally in Israel in the future. So passages like Romans 9:25-29 do, in fact, reveal God has a future plan for national or ethnic Israel.

Question 2: What is the timing of the church being caught up (the Rapture)?

Answer: Normally Christians who in any sense take passages such as I Thess. 4:13-18 as literal, believe that the Rapture of the Church takes place either before the seven year tribulation or about mid tribulation (Pre-Wrath), or at the end of the tribulation just a few minutes before the second coming of Christ to earth. I believe the Rapture is pre-tribulational for a number of reasons including that the 70th week of Daniel 9, 7 years, is for the completion of Jewish history having nothing to do with the church, and Rev. 4-19 which describes the tribulation period never once mentions the church.

Question 3: What is the "blessed hope", Titus 2:13?

Answer: How can the second coming of Christ be a blessed hope if the church is going to go through the awfulness of the tribulation? It is more logical that the blessed hope is referring to the imminent, any time rapture of the church.

Question 4: Is the Messianic Kingdom figurative or literal?

Answer: The Amillenialist believes the Messianic Kingdom is figurative, and we are in it today where Jesus is ruling from His throne in heaven. I believe it is not figurative, but is literal and is still future because, why would the promises of Messiah's first advent be literally fulfilled, and yet the promises of the second advent and the millennial kingdom be figuratively fulfilled in a spiritual sense. Also in Matt. 23:34-39, it is clear that kingdom that Messiah has been offering Israel is being taken away from that generation, and will be offered again in the future. Matt. 25 also makes it clear it will come after the second coming of Christ.

Question 5: Is the Kingdom offered by Jesus totally future?

Answer: God has always ruled the earth in a Theocratic Kingdom. Yet Jesus was offering a Messianic Kingdom to Israel. That Messianic Kingdom offer as we have said in Matt. 23 was taken away, and would come in the future. So, though God still Sovereignly rules the universe, the Messianic Kingdom aspect of that rule is totally future.

Pastor Johnson earned his Masters of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and is the pastor at Kearney Bible Church in Kearney, Mo.

Standing with Israel's right to defend itself

by Dan Grubbs

After reading the transcript of Ambassador Bolton’s interview on “Hannity & Colmes,” and reading Secretary of State Rice’s remarks about Israel, I have finally succumbed to the harsh realization that our two nations are effectively alone on one side of the geo-political world stage. Yes, we have friends in Great Britain, Poland and Canada, but they really are inconsequential in the matters of the Middle East.

I’ve never really subscribed to notion there is overwhelming lingering anti-Semitism in Europe. So, the change in the sentiment of Europeans is based on something else. I’m of the opinion that change is fueled by something identifiable.

As the volume of Muslim immigration into Western Europe continues to grow, the incoming ideology becomes a solute in the old solvent of Europe that gives us a new social solution that is the new European soup. I believe France’s Sarkozy does not have the fortitude to do the right thing due to the swelling Muslim population in his country. Instead, it motivates him to little more than a public relations stunt by visiting the region in the name of peace.

There is no social or political will in Europe or Asia to stand with a free Israel that simply demands its right to exist without threat of attack.

Where is the outrage that missiles are landing on Israeli soil, killing Israeli citizens? Where is the international pressure to stop missiles from terrorizing hundreds of square miles populated by human beings? I don’t hear Europe’s outcry against these attacks when they kill. I don’t see news broadcasts focusing on the dead Israelis and the mourning families and the destruction caused by Hamas missiles. Yet, I do see protests all around the world when, in its own defense, Israel launches reprisals. I see news broadcasts telling biased stories and showing scenes specifically designed to raise ire against Israel’s fighting to remove the threat against it in Gaza.

Blogger Joel Griffith in the blog The Seven Sola discusses how Europe carps against Israel for strongly defending itself and frustratingly writes, “In my more irritated moments, I sometimes wish someone would lob a few mortars into a Western European city, and see who calls for being “proportionate” then.

No, Griffith is not literally wishing for mortar fire, but uses the expression to illustrate the hypocritical nature of the vocal opposition to Israel defending itself from attack. I agree with Ambassador Bolton who denies there is such a thing as a disproportionate reaction and attributes that idea to the rhetoric of academia and the impotent whimsy that is the United Nations.

Imagine that someone is shooting a rifle at your child and fires twice. Also imagine that you have a rifle with a magazine of six rounds loaded in it and you have the sniper across the room from you. Does the number of times the sniper fired at your child matter to you? No, you’ll use all the force you have to stop the sniper up to and including firing all six rounds of the rifle in your hands to protect your child. The notion of proportionate reaction is ludicrous. Israel has the right and is warranted to launch retaliatory attacks and to initiate military action to remove any threat to its people and its stability.

The United States and other free nations should make it clear that Israel is justified in its actions. The diplomatic cry to Israel for cease fire is misdirected. I guarantee you that if there would have been no missiles being fired into Israel, there would be no retaliation. The UN and France should be applying pressure on Hamas to end their attacks, not applying pressure on Israel.

I have no idea where President-elect Obama’s administration will stand (actions, not rhetoric) on Israel’s right to eliminate the threat of violence to its people. I hope that he makes an international statement by standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel, strongly rebuke both Hamas and Hezbollah, and support all actions to stop Iran from gaining nuclear arms.

But, my loss of hope for international solidarity with Israel cautions me not expect the new administration to rally the world together to support our friends along the Jordan.