“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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David Ignatius— John Kerry’s big blunder in seeking an Israel-Gaza cease-fire:
Secretary of State John Kerry made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire – and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians.
Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. Any deal that reinforces Hamas’ stranglehold – rather than building a path toward change of government and disarmament – is misconceived. In the name of stopping bloodshed, it all but guarantees it in the future.
A wiser course, which Kerry rejected in his hunt for a quick diplomatic solution, would have been to negotiate the cease-fire through the Palestinian Authority, as part of its future role as the government of Gaza. Hamas agreed last April to bring the authority back to Gaza as part of a unity agreement with Fatah that was brokered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kerry has been motivated by two understandable short-term needs: First, he wants to stop the horrific slaughter in Gaza, with its heavy loss of life among Palestinian civilians, including children. Second, he seeks to fulfill the instructions of President Obama, who wants an immediate cease-fire and has become skeptical about solving the knotted Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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SnyderTalk Comment: “Big blunder”? That’s an understatement. I’ll be a little more straightforward: Kerry looks extremely naïve—a less diplomatic person would just say “stupid.” Since we know that he’s not presenting his own ideas, he makes Obama look even worse.
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Anti-Semitism on the “Football” Field
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Richard Cohen: With Israel, the World Is Blaming the Victims—Some accuse Israel of a hideous lack of proportionality without pausing to say what the proper proportion of death and destruction should be. Would Hamas have ceased firing rockets into Israel if Israel had bombed less? Would Hamas have blown up its own tunnels if Israel had ceased its attack? After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did the U.S. go into Afghanistan to kill exactly 2,977 al-Qaeda and Taliban, an eye for every eye extinguished on that infamous day? Israel is a small nation of only about 8 million people, more than a fifth of them Arabs. Proportionality is a luxury beyond its reach.
Irwin Cotler: The UN, Hamas, and Alice in Wonderland—The UN Human Rights Council’s vote to launch an international inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel of “sentence first, verdict afterwards,” because the resolution presupposes Israeli guilt. If precedent – such as the Goldstone Commission following the 2009 war – be the guide, the inquiry will likely marginalize war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas. Israel is systematically denied equality before the law in the international arena. Israel must respect human rights, but the rights of Israel deserve equal respect. Human rights standards should be applied to Israel, but must be equally applied to all others. Regrettably, this prejudicial UN decision will only encourage Hamas criminality, with Israeli and Palestinian civilians themselves as the tragic victims.
Herb Keinon: He Came, He Saw, He Muddled—It takes a certain artistry to irritate and annoy not only the Israeli left and the Israeli right at the same time, but also both Jerusalem and Ramallah. Secretary of State John Kerry has found that artistry. Kerry presented a proposal to Israel that included many of Hamas’ demands but none of Israel’s. This provided Hamas with a badly needed tailwind. Sure, they were getting clobbered, but they were getting what they wanted. The world was talking to them, recognizing their standing in Gaza, presenting their demands. In 2002, just a week after Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield at the height of the Second Intifada and moved back into the major West Bank cities, then-U.S. President George Bush lost patience with Israel and said he expected Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw “now, not tomorrow.” Sharon’s answer: Israel would continue to “fight relentlessly” against terrorism. Israel views its interests differently, and when it feels it’s vital interests are on the line, will act as it sees fit.
David Horovitz: Kerry’s Intervention in the Gaza War Empowers Hamas—It seemed inconceivable that the American secretary of state would have drafted a cease-fire initiative that did not require the dismantling of Hamas’ rocket arsenal and network of tunnels dug under the Israeli border. It seemed inconceivable that the initiative would specify the need to address Hamas’ demands, as though Hamas were a legitimate injured party. Israel and the U.S. are meant to be allies; the U.S. is meant to be committed to the protection of Israel in this most ruthless of neighborhoods; together, the U.S. and Israel are meant to be trying to marginalize the murderous Islamic extremism that threatens the free world. Yet here was the top U.S. diplomat appearing to accommodate a vicious terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction, with a formula that would leave Hamas better equipped to achieve that goal. What emerges from Kerry’s self-initiated cease-fire mission – Israel had already accepted the Egyptian cease-fire proposal; and nobody asked him to come – is that Jerusalem now regards him as duplicitous and dangerous.
David Horovitz: The terrible cost of thwarting Hamas—Israel’s mood at the start of this war with Hamas was one of confident assurance. We wouldn’t be deterred by the rocket threat, and Hamas would be contained. That’s utterly changed. The rockets turned out to be the least of our concerns. And the national mood now is a mixture of anguish at the growing toll of IDF dead, anger at the feckless response of parts of the international community — notably the US — and confidence in the troops and (atypically) the political leadership. To lose the lives of 30 Israelis to terrorism is, appallingly, nothing new in a country that survived the suicide bombing onslaught of the second intifada. As the former Shin Bet intelligence chief Avi Dichter pointed out on Tuesday, 30 Israelis were killed in a single Hamas suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya on Passover Eve March 27, 2002. That was the worst, but still only one of dozens upon dozens of bombings that battered Israel’s buses, restaurants and shopping malls a decade ago.
David Bernstein: Some Israel-Gaza Notes—Secretary of State Kerry recently presented a cease-fire proposal. The Israeli cabinet rejected it unanimously. The cabinet includes individuals from several parties ranging from left to right who rarely agree on anything. How can a diplomat publicly offer a cease-fire proposal to a friendly country when you have no support whatsoever for it. Israel currently prefers Egyptian mediation to American mediation. The media has engaged in journalistic malpractice by reporting casualty figures for civilians coming from Gaza as gospel. The figures come from the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. The ministry counts everyone not in uniform as a civilian. Most Hamas fighters don’t wear uniforms. Al-Jazeera published names and ages of the early casualties, and about 3/4 were men of fighting age. The Israeli media reports that, based on interrogations of captured Hamas fighters, Hamas was planning a major massacre for the Jewish New Year in September, with dozens of fighters simultaneously attacking border towns via Hamas’ tunnels. Most support for an early cease-fire dried up after this report, as Israeli opinion turned from “we need a period of quiet from the missiles” to “we need to get rid of Hamas’ offensive military capacity.”
The Australian Editorial: While Hamas Prevails in Gaza, Prospects for Peace Are Remote—Gaza’s citizens voted for Hamas in 2006. The price of that electoral choice has been a series of armed conflicts, provoked by Hamas, in which Israel has defended itself robustly. Gaza citizens who long for peace, not bloodshed, and economic infrastructure rather than rockets must grasp the reality that while Hamas prevails, the prospect of sustainable peace is remote, at best. Hostilities will erupt periodically while Hamas, with its passionate commitment to Israel’s destruction, retains its hold on Gaza.
Dr. Afshine Emrani: When Anti-Semitism Strikes Science and Medicine—On July 23, The Lancet published an extremely biased analysis of the situation in Gaza by members of pro-Palestinian groups who are hostile to Israel. Two Israeli physicians wrote a response in-between sirens in Tel Aviv and reserve duty in the south. Last week, Israel set up a field hospital near the Gaza crossing to provide care for those caught in the crossfire. Hamas shot mortars at the field hospital on July 23.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Creating freedom without anarchy, order without tyranny— Nine days from now Jewish communities around the world will sit in collective mourning on Tisha b’Av, the day of Jewish tears. So many tears. For the destruction of the First and Second Temples. For the defeat of the Bar Kochba rebellion. For the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 and Spain in 1492. For the day on which Himmler was given the go- ahead for Die Endlösung ,“The Final Solution,” that is, the extermination of the Jews of Europe. Yet as one of the generation born after the Holocaust, whose identity was shaped in the wake of the Six Day War, I believed that Tisha b’Av and its sensibility belonged to the world of my parents and theirs. It was not ours. They were ha-zorim be-dim’a and we were be-rinah yiktzoru. They had sown in tears so that we could reap in joy.
Todd Starnes: Military bars troops from attending Vacation Bible school honor—Bible Baptist Church in Carthage, Missouri is a small country church bursting with American pride. Old Glory is posted in the sanctuary. And every morning at summer youth camp, the teenagers pledge allegiance and sing the national anthem. Patriotic holidays are big doings at Bible Baptist. On Memorial Day, the church ladies put out quite a spread – fried chicken, potato salad. Veterans would wear their uniforms and the preacher would salute them during the morning worship service. “We are a very patriotic church,” Pastor Kent Hogan told me. “We love America. We love this country.” So it was not that big of a surprise when the church decided to honor the military during their annual Vacation Bible School. The theme was “God’s Rescue Squad.” And each day of the week, the church invited local “rescue squads” to visit with the boys and girls. The paramedics came on Monday and on Tuesday, the fire department showed up. The boys and girls were taught how to stop, drop and roll. On Wednesday, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Dept. brought their K-9 unit. But our story picks up with what happened on Thursday…
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Depravity at the UN Human Rights Council
Hamas denies agreeing to 72-hour cease-fire
IDF forces kill five terrorists who emerged from Gaza tunnel entrance
Tibi incensed Knesset didn’t slow down for Id al-Fitr
MK Zoabi banned from Knesset for six months
Poll finds Israelis don’t believe charges of excessive force
German police arrest teen after attack on synagogue
IDF reservist in uniform attacked by haredi extremists in Beit Shemesh
SnyderTalk Comment: Beit Shemesh is very near the Valley of Elah where David killed Goliath. I’m sure that today’s Beit Shemesh residents make David proud—not. Haredi Jews, or Haredim, are ultra-orthodox Jews. They like to think that they are the most religiously authentic Jews in the world. If you visit the area near the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, some of them will try to sell you blessings. Haredi Jews have even “volunteered” to pray prayers on my behalf in Hebrew inside David’s Tomb—for cash of course. I wonder what Yahweh thinks about their behavior. Beit Shemesh, a town in Israel, and Mia Shearim, a neighborhood in Jerusalem, are two places where I would never want to live. If you wonder why I mentioned Mia Shearim, google it.
Gaza’s sole power plant ablaze, Palestinians blame IDF
SnyderTalk Comment: Palestinians blame Israel for hot and dry weather, cold and wet weather, and shark attacks in the Red Sea. I’m not joking, but in this instance they may be right, and I want to emphasize the word “may”.
That said, let’s examine Hamas’ logic, or lack of logic: Hamas tries desperately to start a war with Israel for two years; Israel absorbs rocket and mortar attacks while the world watches in blissful glee; Hamas finally kidnaps and murders 3 teenage boys; at that point Israel had had enough; and now we have Operation Protective Edge.
The leaders of Hamas should take a break from counting their money and calculating their net worth to explore the concept of war. For instance, what is war? How do you fight a war? What are legitimate targets during wartime?
Answers to the most basic questions about war prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israel has been more merciful than Hamas or any other group or nation has any right to expect. As one of Hamas’ Arab Muslim brothers said recently, and I’m paraphrasing, “Hamas leaders should be thankful that they started this fight with Israel instead of an Arab Muslim country.”
Now think for a minute about how much media attention an Arab Muslim nation would receive for real atrocities if this fight was between Syria and Hamas, for example. Come to think of it, Syria has slaughtered about 200,000 people during the past few months, and the fighting continues to this day. How many mass protests of those real atrocities have you seen or read about?
Majority of American public blames Hamas for current conflict
SnyderTalk Comment: The majority of Americans couldn’t find Israel on a map, and many of them couldn’t tell you what country Jerusalem is in. There is no telling what the average American would say if you asked him or her what Hamas is—or Fatah or the PLO or the IRA or the IRS or the CIA.
That’s why you must be careful when reading about polling data. Even when the public is right, it can turn on a dime since it has no depth of knowledge.
Jay Leno will show you what I mean:
SnyderTalk Comment: What do these young, “educated” Americans think about global warming or the war in Gaza or Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Given what you have seen, does what they “think” even matter? Well, it matters to politicians because they end up voting and electing our leaders. That’s a scary thought.
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Kerry: Netanyahu Asked Me to Help Broker Gaza Ceasefire
Five Terrorists Killed After Emerging from ‘Terror Tunnel’
Erdogan ‘Would be Happy’ to Return Jewish Award
Anti-Israel Protesters Block London Traffic, Wave Al Qaeda Flag
Lapid: Hamas is Holding Gazan Civilians Hostage
Meet the Unit Taking Care of Wounded Soldiers
Critical Jerusalem-TA Highway Tunnel Completed
Bennett: IDF Operation ‘Ripping Hamas Apart’
Beit Shemesh: Hareidi MKs Condemn Attack
Khamenei Repeats ‘Rabid Dog’ Insult for Israel
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Hamas ready for 24-hour truce as IDF indicates op reached goals
Why Netanyahu doesn’t want to go ‘all the way’
IDF at Gaza crossroads as cabinet pulls in different directions
PM wants Gaza demilitarized, and the world agrees — but how?
Third of young Americans blame Israel for Gaza conflict
Israel’s UN Envoy Slams Security Council
Hamas Said to Kill over 30 Suspected Collaborators with Israel
Hamas Threatens Journalists in Gaza
Could Israeli soldiers, not civilians, be the target of the attack tunnels?
The terrorist misfire that deepened the conflict
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US expands economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine
EU Confirms New Economic Sanctions Against Moscow
Echoes of a Cold War: US, Europe and Russia face off over Ukraine
In Private, Harsh Criticism for Hamas
U.S.: Hamas Is Responsible for This Conflict
Israel Rejects UN and US Pressure for Ceasefire in Gaza in Hamas’ Favor
Iranian General: “We Will Take Revenge on Israel for Our Martyrs in Palestine”
Gazans Set International Red Cross Office on Fire in Khan Yunis
Investigation: IDF Fire Did Not Killed Palestinians at UNRWA School
ISIS Militants in Iraq Destroy Everything that Isn’t Islamic
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Email Distribution List:
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Genesis 22: 9-14
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of Yahweh [i.e., Yahweh] called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide [Yahweh Yireh], as it is said to this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.”
SnyderTalk Comment: Mount Moriah is where Yahweh provided The Lamb as the Sacrifice for our transgressions. Below is a video of the likely spot where this actually took place. Read His Name is Yahweh.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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Making the Transition May be Difficult for Some Preachers
Click here to download the entire audio presentation for free and with no strings attached. Share it as often as you want.
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
