TRAIN WRECK: CRISIS EMERGING IN U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS

 White House trying to divide Jerusalem. How should Christians respond?
Next Epicenter Conference to focus on this issue.

By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., March 15, 2010) -- With Prime Minister Netanyahu scheduled to arrive in Washington this weekend to address the AIPAC Policy Conference, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told Israeli diplomats in a conference call over the weekend that U.S.-Israel relations face the worst crisis in 35 years.
White House senior advisor David Axelrod said on NBC's Meet The Press yesterday, "I think both the Vice President and the Secretary of State reflected the President's thinking -- this was an affront, an insult [by Israel], but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to this region. And for this announcement to come at this time was very, very destructive."
During Vice President Biden's trip to Jerusalem last week to show American support for Israel, our most faithful and enduring strategic ally in the region, some lower-level officials in the Israeli bureaucracy decided it would be a good time to announce the building of 1,600 new homes in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority immediately went ballistic, and the Vice President was deeply offended, telling Prime Minister Netanyahu that the timing of the announcement made the Israelis appear to be trying to sabotage the beginning to new peace talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu immediately apologized, saying he had not authorized the announcement to be made during the VP's trip and was not trying to derail or disrupt the VP's trip. Biden appeared to accept the apology, and Netanyahu thought the mistake had been resolved.
Since then, however, the situation has worsened significantly. Three days after the incident, Secretary of State Clinton called Netanyahu and reamed him out for 43 minutes. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters on Friday that Clinton told Netanyahu that the U.S. had "strong objections to Tuesday's announcement, not just in terms of timing, but also in its substance." Clinton gave Netanyahu a list of specific demands that Israel must take for the U.S. to be convinced that she is serious about peace with the Palestinians.
First things first: The Israeli government and people have every right to build homes in its own capital and the Obama administration is dramatically overreacting, to its discredit. The President, Vice President and Secretary of State are tipping their hand by their words and actions. They clearly don't believe in Israeli sovereignty over its own capital. They want to force Israel to divide its capital, come Hell or high water. They are applying intense pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem and give away more land even though two recent "land for peace" efforts (southern Lebanon in 2000, and Gaza in 2005) were disasters for Israel and led to two serious wars. This is an enormous mistake. I cannot put into words how strongly I disagree with this administration and their disastrous approach. Jerusalem is the Lord's chosen city. It is His capital. It is and should remain the undivided capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Second, Prime Minister Netanyahu was right to apologize over the timing of the announcement, and not the substance. [More details on this on the weblog]
Third, the management system within the Prime Minister's office is not functioning properly and needs to be fixed immediately, or other diplomatic disasters will occur. [More details on this on the weblog]
Fourth, as U.S.-Israel relations worsen and Israelis feel more and more isolated in the world, it is critical that followers of Jesus Christ build a global movement of Christians who will pray for Israel and visit Israel and bless Israel, come what may.
Christians should assert that Jerusalem is Israel's capital and shouldn't be divided. Christians should call on Washington to stop pressuring Israel to make unwise and dangerous concessions. Christians should write letters to the White House, State Department and Congress showing their solidarity with Israel. Christians should call into radio and TV talk shows in support of Israel and keeping Jerusalem united. Christians should visit Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Christians should care for the poor and needy in East and West Jerusalem, as well as throughout Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, thus demonstrating unconditional love and unwavering support.
This is precisely what the 2010 Epicenter Conference in Philadelphia this summer is all about, and I hope you will make plans to join us. We will analyze the current status of U.S.-Israeli relations. We will look at Bible prophesy. Then we will offer real and practical ways you and your family, friends and congregation can bless Israel and her neighbors at this critical juncture. I would particularly encourage pastors and ministry leaders from across North America to come and be part of this conference, and take the message and practical ideas back to your congregations and communities. Please register today to make sure there's a seat just for you. Please also pray that the Lord would superintend this conference to accomplish His purposes, and reach those whom He is calling, especially given the events of the past few days. Thanks so much.
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Baruch atem b'Shem, Yeshua

Iran Close to Building First Nuke...

DEBKAfile Special Report

September 5, 2009, 5:19 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran's IAEA delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh

Barack Obama has been in the White House for nine months and Binyamin Netanyahu in the Israeli prime minister's office six months. Both have spent precious time batting the numbers of settlement apartments to and fro instead of taking resolute steps to thwart Iran's spectacular advances on the road to a nuclear weapon. DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources note that Tehran has made good use of this time for the longest strides towards its objective than at any time since its program was surreptitiously launched.

The progress confirmed by our sources consists of four major steps:

1. Iran has succeeded in secretly combining uranium processing, airborne high-explosive tests and work on designing a missile cone to fit a nuclear warhead, according to Western intelligence updates.

2. The conflicting reports on the amount of uranium enriched and number of fast centrifuge machines in operation obscure the following hard facts: The Iranians have doubled the number of ever faster centrifuges that are working at their enrichment plants.

They are moreover completing tests on a more advanced homemade centrifuge, the IR4, which will halve the time taken for converting low-grade enrichment uranium into weapons-grade material.

3. By February 2010 - and some say sooner - Tehran will have stocked enough high-grade enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs.

4. Iran has also gone into home production of nuclear fuel rods for plutonium.

Barack Obama' repeatedly held up his plan to engage Tehran in dialogue - first until the June 12 presidential election (hoping a more rational president would replace Mahmoud Ahmedinejad); then, until the popular unrest following the disputed poll died down (for fear of being accused of interfering); and finally on the assumption that the turmoil would divide and weaken the Islamic regime and make it easier to engage constructively.

The six world powers, US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany accordingly gave Iran until Sept. 15 to start talks.

It turned out that these delays, instead of weakening Iran's rulers, hardened their position.

Reacting to the new intelligence presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran's delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Friday, Sept. 4: "The government of the United States has not handed over the original documents to the agency since it does not in fact have any authenticated documents and all it has are forged document"

An anonymous US official in Vienna said Soltanieh's accusations were baseless and the IAEA itself "had accepted the material as credible."

But by then, the Iranian delegate had come up with a new self-serving initiative: a proposal for the agency's board of governors to ban member states from attacking the nuclear facilities of other nations.

Then on Saturday, Sept 5, Soltanieh, made it clear that Tehran was virtually scrapping the Western powers incentives offer which has been gathering dust since last year as the basis for talks and was about to put forward its own "comprehensive package on issues, including nuclear and economic cooperation as well as concerns about the proliferation of atomic weapons."

The Iranian package will be handed in this week.

What do Washington and Jerusalem propose to do now in the face of Iran's aggressive nuclear and diplomatic offensives? Will the foot-dragging continue until Iran conducts its first nuclear test?

Four years ago, prime minister Ariel Sharon said Israel must meet US demands on containing West Bank settlement "because we would need the Americans on the Iran issue."

His successor, Ehud Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni held off Israeli action by reiterating it was up to the "international community" to stop Iran's advance toward a nuclear bomb.

Has anything changed in Washington and Jerusalem?

Baruch atem b'Shem, Yeshua