Cloud over the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
(The Mount lies outside of the pre-’67 borders of the modern State of Israel)

“Be Merciful to me, O God, be merciful to Me! For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.”
(Psalm 57:1)

Thus President Obama on Thursday realized the apprehensions we sought to express in last week’s Update. He is the first American leader to publicly propose that Israel basically return to the borders she had between 1949 and 1967, a period within which she endured 18 years of continual attacks and harassment from three hostile nations; until, threatened with annihilation, she struck first, and in six days miraculously drove the armies of those oppressing nations out of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Heights. Now the President would have these borders serve as a point for withdrawal of virtually all Jews now living beyond them (in his speech, the President spoke critically of the continuing of “Israeli settlement activity”); and in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, they would become the defining lines of a new state totally unrelated to the armies which occupied them during those 18 years. Having obtained a draft of the speech beforehand, Israel tried desperately to convince the US Administration to change the”1967″ wording-but to no avail. With the mention of pre-’67 borders, a line was crossed. Before travelling to the US, Prime Minister Netanyahu responded immediately and forcefully: Israel will not be withdrawing to the 1967 borders. 

The next day he met for two intense hours with the President in Washington. At the public press meeting in the Oval Office which followed, a meeting where leaders are usually expected to highlight areas wherein they have come to agreement, Mr Netanyahu took opportunity to speak out publically his strong disagreement with certain tenets of Obama’s speech the day before, “While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines. These lines are indefensible, because they don’t take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground, demographic changes.” 

Following Obama’s emphases that leaders must as friends “tell the truth”, Netanyahu addressed one of the “emotional” issues which the President had suggested be solved later, the Palestinian demand that millions of descendants of those who fled Israel in 1948 be granted “right of return”, a demand which if granted would effectively spell the end of the Jewish State-“It’s not going to happen!” said Netanyahu, “Everybody knows it’s not going to happen. And I think it’s time to tell the Palestinians forthrightly that it’s not going to happen.” As the Israeli Prime Minister pointedly remarked, “A peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality.”

 

All of the President’s remarks and propositions were not distressing. It is not our purpose here to examine them; the speech is readily available on the internet. When President Obama the following day addressed a conference of the Jewish lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), he had noticeably softened his rhetoric. His remarks on the ’67 borders had been misunderstood; the Israelis and Palestinians would negotiate a border which was different than the one existing on June 4, 1967; he had only been expressing publically what had been spoken privately for years, “a well known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation”. And the President this time spoke of taking into account “new demographic realities on the ground”; of not expecting Israel to negotiate with the Palestinian leadership so long as it included an unreformed Hamas. He also strongly reiterated his opposition to the Palestinians unilaterally declaring statehood this fall. And he spoke of his experience at the Western Wall three years ago, when he “touched my hand against the [Wall] and placed my prayer between its ancient stones, I thought of all the centuries that the children of Israel had longed to return to their ancient homeland.” This implication that Israel actually had an ancient connection to the land was a welcome new public acknowledgment from this Administration.

Today (Monday) Prime Minister Netanyahu himself gives a speech before the AIPAC; and tomorrow (Tuesday 24 May) he has been asked to address the joint chambers of Congress. In mentioning our concern about what took place this past week, we are certainly not seeking to bring accusation and condemnation against America as a whole. However, we believe that the President’s latest proposal may have moved not only Israel but America into very dangerous territory. From now on, Israel must face a negotiating partner who will demand for a starting point its interpretation of what the President verbalized on Thursday. And for America-we believe that God takes what happened in 1967 very seriously:  

When special things happen in Zion (the name is related to another word meaning “signpost”), there is a special significance released for the world to see. When in that year Israel, for the first time in over 2,400 years, was granted sovereignty over the heart of its ancient homeland, including Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, there followed a powerful new release of the Holy Spirit which circled the globe, leaping across denominational boundaries; the “Jesus Movement” was ignited; perhaps most telling of all, for the first time in two millennia Jews began coming into the Kingdom in great numbers, Jews who, within a generation would along with the recognition of Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah and Savior, find also awakening within themselves an awareness of their connection to God’s ancient Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob regarding the Land-and a Messianic Body in Israel would awaken!  

God was the author of this, and anything which presumes to attempt to turn it back will find itself in great danger. Although we suspect that a breach may have been made in the heavenlies over America by what was declared last Thursday, we do not think that the situation is hopeless!! We have seen how entire governments can be changed by the influence of the godly; witness what has taken place in Canada in recent years since a godly leader took a stand on behalf of God’s purposes for Israel. It is time for the godly leaders elected by the people in the U.S. to take a stand for Truth while there is still time for their influence to be felt.