Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Its all about Jerusalem

Last week we looked at the current status of Jerusalem and the highly "improbable" prophecy that this relatively small city would receive the world's attention as it has become the epicenter of the Middle East negotiations. To supplement this commentary
("Jerusalem: A ticking time bomb"), we see today's article from Israel national news which adds more detail to the situation:

"Netanyahu Quietly Rejects US Clamp on Jerusalem". In this article we find several revealing facts which lend insight into U.S. - Israeli discussions and the current thinking from the Netanyahu administration. Quotes below:

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has quietly rejected an attempt by the United States to clamp down on Israeli construction within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Netanyahu is not willing to publicly discuss his response to the U.S. criticism, however, nor will he allow anyone else in his government to talk about it."

"During a media briefing Tuesday in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly slammed the decision by the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee to approve a plan to build 900 housing units in Gilo."

"And - just to repeat what we've said all along, our position on Jerusalem is clear, Kelly added. 'We believe that - that Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the two parties."

"'Red Line' Drawn at Jerusalem"
"Prime Minister Netanyahu has been willing to show the 'greatest possible restraint' concerning construction in Judea and Samaria, according to a government source. However, he said. Netanyahu firmly drew the line at Jerusalem."

Jerusalem's city mayor said it all in this quote:

"The demand to cease construction just for Jews is illegal, also in the United States and any other enlightened place in the world. It is inconceivable that the U.S. government would demand a construction freeze in the U.S. based on race, religion or sex, and the attempt to demand this from Jerusalem constitutes a double standard that is unacceptable."

And on que, the rest of the world weighs in on the situation and seems to "know best" what is appropriate for Israel and Jerusalem:

"United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added his voice to the chorus of Western disapproval of the Jerusalem municipality's actions Tuesday night, according to IDF Army Radio. U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement that Ban 'believes such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution.'"

"The British Foreign Office also issued a statement saying 'The Foreign Secretary has been very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital. Expanding settlements on occupied land in east Jerusalem makes that deal much harder, so this decision on Gilo is wrong and we oppose it."


Once again, we see Jerusalem as the "stumbling block" for the entire Middle East peace process, just as biblical prophecy would dictate. We also see that the "nations" are attempting to "move" Jerusalem from Israel - something that is strongly warned against in the book of Zechariah - specifically Zechariah 12. God made no exceptions in this warning, and the United States is certainly not excluded from this warning.

Food for thought.

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