Mezuzot Part 2 - Japanesee
April 3, 2025
メズザー（門柱）２
のりは洗い流せます。しかし、瞬間接着剤は削り取ることはできますが、洗剤や溶剤では落ちません。高分子化合物は表皮の上部を角質化して結合します。言い換えると、それがはがれるとき、接していた自分の一部は共に取れ、そこにあるはずがないしるしを残すのです。そのような結合は結婚を保つうえで、神さまが用いたものです。しかし、結婚関係以外において、それは良いものではありません。神はその罪を赦されるのでしょうか？もちろん。ではよみがえりやイエスが戻ってきたときにそれは問題となるのでしょうか？そんなことはありません。しかし、現在そのしるしは残ったままなのです。この結合には相互の弱さがあります。それはサムソンを感情的にし、デリラから霊的に影響を受け易くしたものなのです。
続けて見てみましょう。サムソンは愚かにも、彼の力の源がその髪の毛と関係するということをデリラに教えてしまいました。彼は主に関しての事柄を、主を信じていない者と共有してしまったのです。
『彼が深く眠っているとき、デリラは彼の髪の毛七ふさを取って、機の縦糸といっしょに織り込み、それを機のおさで突き刺し、彼に言った。「サムソン。ペリシテ人があなたを襲ってきます。」すると、サムソンは眠りからさめて、機のおさと機の縦糸を引き抜いた。』（士師記 16 章 14 節）
彼は自分が引き起こした悲運のどん底にいかに近づいているかを知らずに、もう一度うまくやってのけれるのだと思っていました。
15 節『あなたの心は私を離れているのに、―次に注目してください―どうして、あなたは『おまえを愛する』と言えるのでしょう。』
「あなたは私を愛してない！もし愛してるなら殺させてくれるでしょう。あなたは本当には愛してない。愛してるなら、あなたを襲いお金をいただくのに！」サムソンはどんなに愚かになったのでしょうか！彼が能なしのようにふるまったわけが分かります。この男は本当に狂っていました。そして、私も狂っていて、あなたも狂っているのです。罪は簡単にまつわりつきます。
この状況を理解しましょう。これは旧い契約のもとで起こりました。今、聖霊はすべて信
じる者のうちにあるのですが、当時はそうではありませんでした。旧い契約のもとでは、
ある特定の時期、ある特定の目的で、大祭司や預言者、王、族長、さばきつかさのような 人たちにしか聖霊は与えられませんでした。サムソンはそのとき、地上で唯一聖霊を与え られていた人であったかもしれません。彼はイエスの象徴として奇跡的に母の胎に宿りま した。また、主の使いが両親に現れ、その子の誕生を告げ、キリストが十字架を運びその 上に死んだように、サムソンも柱を運び柱をつかんで死にました。このように、旧約聖書 の中のすべての象徴が何らかのかたちでそうあるように、サムソンはキリストの象徴でし た。彼はその生まれる前から神に召されていた者であり、神が力を与えた者でした。彼は 神の御名のためにその御手が置かれている者であり、それは神の民の救いのためでもあり ました―サムソンはイスラエルのさばきつかさであったのです！神に召され、力づけられ、油注がれ、神によって雄々しく用いられました。しかし彼は絶えずその同じ愚かな罪にま いもどって行ったのです。
同じように、あなたは福音を証し、人々をイエスに導き、人の上に手を置けばその人が癒されるのを経験するかもしれません。神は御手をあなたの上にのべ、御霊に満たし、あなたを真に用いることができるのです。しかし、いまだあなたは同じ古い事柄に陥ることも可能なのです。サムソンはそうであり、私もそうであり、あなたもです―私たちすべてがそうです。神がこのジェイコブ・プラッシュのような者をなぜ忍耐しておられるかなんてことを聞かないでください―私も分かりません。幸いにも、私は神ではありません。なぜならもし私が神なら、ジェイコブ・プラッシュはどうなっているか分かりません。神が神であり、私が私であることに感謝しましょう。もし、私が神なら私はここにはいないからです。
次にサムソンがデリラに言ったことは罪が持つ欺く力と、結婚関係の中のみで保たれるべきそのようなつながりが生む弱さを示しています。16 節を見てみましょう、
『こうして、毎日彼女が同じことを言って、しきりにせがみ、責め立てたので、彼は死ぬほどつらかった。』
彼はなぜこのような口うるさい女を我慢していたのでしょうか。そのような関係にある男は誰でもおかしくなるものです。箴言は、争い好きな女と一緒に住むことは雨漏りしている場所で寝ようとすることだと表現しています。サムソンは彼のイスラエルのさばきつかさという地位のために、彼の望むどんな妻でもめとることができました。しかし、サムソンはデリラと固く結びついて、
『それで、ついにサムソンは、自分の心をみな彼女に明かして言った。「私の頭に
は、かみそりが当てられたことがない。私は母の胎内にいるときから、神へのナジ
ル人だからだ。もし私の髪の毛がそり落とされたら、私の力は私から去り、私は弱くなり、普通の人のようになろう。」デリラは、サムソンが自分の心をみな明かしたことがわかったので、人をやって、ペリシテ人の領主たちを呼んで言った。「今度は上って来てください。サムソンは彼の心をみな私に明かしました。」ペリシテ人の領主たちは、彼女のところに上って来た。そのとき、彼らはその手に銀を持って上って来た。』（士師 16 章 17 節－18 節）
そこで、サムソンは全くのでたらめを信じたのです。彼は真実を告げました。
『彼女は自分のひざの上でサムソンを眠らせ、ひとりの人を呼んで、彼の髪の毛七ふさをそり落とさせ、彼を苦しめ始めた。彼の力は彼を去っていた。』（19 節）
ここでペリシテ人が彼を苦しめる前に、デリラが先にそうしたことに注意してください。誰もが自分の罪のために最初に裁かれるのではありません。罪への裁きが最初に起こることではないからです。いやむしろ、最初に起こることは罪による裁きなのです。罪自体があなたに敵対します。その後にその刈り取りが来るのです。
『彼女が、「サムソン。ペリシテ人があなたを襲ってきます」と言ったとき、サムソンは眠りからさめて、「今度も前のように出て行って、からだをひとゆすりしてやろう」と言った。彼は主が自分から去られたことを知らなかった。』（20 節）
彼の力は無くなり、神を去らせたのにサムソンはそれを知りませんでした。私たちの罪は聖霊を悲しませます。聖霊は望ましくない場所には留まりません。聖霊が立ち去るのではなく、私たちの悪い生活が彼を立ち去らせると言ったほうが正しいでしょう。多くの人が私に聞くよく質問は、どの時点で聖霊は悔い改めない背教者のもとを離れるのかということです。この質問には答えることができません。その人自身にも分からないし、知ることもできないのです。「サウルもまた、預言者のひとりなのか」―サウルは主が去られたときに気付かなかったように、サムソンも同じでした。しかし、その後に何が起こるかを私たちは知っています。
21 節『そこで、ペリシテ人は彼をつかまえて、その目をえぐり出し、彼をガザに引き立てて行って、青銅の足かせをかけて、彼をつないだ。こうしてサムソンは牢の中で臼をひいていた。』
神の霊が去られたときに何が起こったのでしょうか？見ることができなくなり、力を失い
ます。それは霊的にも盲目になり、自分の十字架を負うための力を失うということです。
この時点ではもはや何もできません。なぜなら、もう手遅れなほどに行き過ぎてしまったからです。
神の霊はサムソンを去りました。盲目になり力を失いました。それが彼に起こったことであって、もし私たちも注意深くしていなければ、同じ事が私たちにも起こりえるのです。これは誰も免れることはできません。
続けて見てみると、22 節『しかし、サムソンの頭の毛はそり落とされてから、また伸び始めた。』ローマ 11 章 29 節には『神の賜物と召命とは変わることがありません。』とあります。神は一度与えられたものを取り去られはしません。私たちが“頭の毛”を失うことは一瞬ですが、伸びるには時間がかかるのです。それを一晩で失ってしまうかもしれませんが、取り戻すのは容易ではありません。信仰を失ってしまった背教者は、その分ゆっくりとしか回復しないのです。そのような者は盲目になり、力を失い、信仰の破船に遭ってしまったのです。
- 節『さて、ペリシテ人の領主たちは、自分たちの神ダゴンに盛大ないけにえをさ さげて楽しもうと集まり（ダゴンとは魚の姿をした古代ペリシテ人の神です。ロー マ・カトリックの主教が被っている長い帽子は元々ダゴン礼拝に起源があります）、そして言った。「私たちの神は、私たちの敵サムソンを、私たちの手に渡してくだ さった。」』
- 古代中近東の考えでは、実際の敵との戦いは、単純に霊の戦いの延長線上にありました。それはダニエル書や黙示録ではっきりと確認できることです。また、他の説教でもそのことを説明しています。それゆえサムソンを捕らえたことは、ペリシテ人の頭の中では、ただ彼に力が勝ったということだけではなく、彼らの神がサムソンの神よりも強いということを意味していたのです。しかし、神は御名の栄光を現わさずにいることはありません―ご自身の栄光を他の誰にも渡しはしないのです。
- 節『民はサムソンを見たとき、自分たちの神をほめたたえて言った。「私たちの神は、私たちの敵を、この国を荒らし、私たち大ぜいを殺した者を、私たちの手に渡してくださった。」』
しばしば、神はその御名のために、ご自分の民が不信仰であっても祝福を与えます。私たちはそのことを見落としがちです。
『彼らは、心が陽気になったとき、「サムソンを呼んで来い。私たちのために見せ
ものにしよう」』
神に背く者はいつもはずかしめを受ける状態になります。イザヤ 30 章で『しかし、パロの保護にたよることは、あなたがたの恥をもたらし、エジプトの陰に身を隠すことは、侮辱をもたらす。』（イザヤ 30 章 3 節）と書かれてある通りです。
『サムソンを牢から呼び出した。彼は彼らの前で戯れた。彼らがサムソンを柱の間に立たせたとき』（16 章 25 節）
ここでの“柱”という言葉はその町の柱を示しているようです。ペリシテ人はある間違いを犯しました。サムソンは十字架のもとに行く事ができなかったが、十字架を彼のもとに持ってきてしまったのです。
『サムソンは自分の手を堅く握っている若者に言った。「私の手を放して、この宮をささえている柱にさわらせ、それに寄りかからせてくれ。」宮は、男や女でいっぱいであった。ペリシテ人の領主たちもみなそこにいた。屋上にも約三千人の男女がいて、サムソンが演技するのを見ていた。サムソンは主に呼ばわって言った。
「神、主よ。どうぞ、私を御心に留めてください。ああ、神よ。どうぞ、この一時でも、私を強めてください。私の二つの目のために、もう一度ペリシテ人に復讐したいのです。」そして、サムソンは、宮をささえている二本の中柱を、一本は右の手に、一本は左の手にかかえ、それに寄りかかった。そしてサムソンは、「ペリシテ人といっしょに死のう」と言って、力をこめて、それを引いた。すると、宮は、その中にいた領主たちと民全体との上に落ちた。こうしてサムソンが死ぬときに殺した者は、彼が生きている間に殺した者よりも多かった。』
ここでもサムソンはキリストの象徴です。完全に敗北したと思われたときに、その広げた腕はかつてない勝利をもたらしたのです。どうしようもないと思われたときに、犠牲を払いながらも相手を倒しました。
31 節『そこで、彼の身内の者や父の家族の者たちがみな下って来て、彼を引き取り、ツォルアとエシュタオルとの間にある父マノアの墓に彼を運んで行って葬った。サム ソンは二十年間、イスラエルをさばいた。』
サムソンは 60 年間イスラエルをさばいていても不思議ではありませんでした。しかし、たっ た の 20 年間であったのです。私は 無条件の “ 一度救われたら滅びな い
(once-saved-always-saved)”という教えを信じません。カルヴァン主義はキリスト教を歪めてしまいました。また、私は神が人々を失うために救うといったことも信じません。新約聖書で語られている“あなたを守ることのできる方”を知るためには、カルヴァン主義の間違った解釈とその真実を崩壊させた考えは必要ではないのです。「神の賜物と召しとは悔い改めなしにやって来る」と初期の時代に引用されました。
このことを理解するために、新約聖書の並行記事を見る必要があります。私たちは旧約聖書をイエスの現れである新約聖書に照らして解釈します。
１コリント 5 章『あなたがたの間に不品行があるということが言われています。しかもそれは、異邦人の中にもないほどの不品行で、父の妻を妻にしている者がいるとのことです。』
―異邦人とは異教徒のことです。たいていギリシア語の学者たちは父の妻とは、その男の義母であったのではないかと考えます。いずれにしても、信者である人がその義母と近親相姦的な関係を持っていたなんて！パウロは「あなたがたの間に」と言っていることに注意してください。パウロはこのことをとんでもないことであり、醜く、道徳的に嫌悪感を持つほどで、異邦人でもしないことだと言っているのです。異邦人ですら、そんなことをする道徳観を持ち合わせていないのです。パウロは続けて
『それなのに、あなたがたは誇り高ぶっています。そればかりか、そのような行ないをしている者をあなたがたの中から取り除こうとして悲しむこともなかったのです。』
と言います。不品行に対して断固とした態度を取る者を、見かけだけ正しく、妥協しており、半分堕落した現代風の教会は高慢だと言います。それに対して神は、正しくないこと許す者が高慢だと言われるのです。
レイ・マッコーリー（南アフリカのペンテコステ派の説教者）は既婚者だった女性と結婚するために信者の妻と離婚しました。しかし、そのことに対して立ち上がって間違っていると言う者は、神の定める義の基準を守るために非難されるでしょう。教会内の不品行に対して立ち上がったのに、高慢だと言われるなら、あなたは不品行に対して何も言わない者を神のことばから高慢だと言えるでしょう。神は明らかな悪に立ち向かわない者を高慢だと言います。
パウロは 3 節で
『私のほうでは、からだはそこにいなくても心はそこにおり、現にそこにいるのと
同じように、そのような行ないをした者を主イエスの御名によってすでにさばきました。あなたがたが集まったときに、私も、霊においてともにおり、私たちの主イエスの権能をもって、このような者をサタンに引き渡したのです。それは彼の肉が滅ぼされるためですが、それによって彼の霊が主｛イエス｝の日に救われるためです。』（１コリント 5 章 3 節－5 節）
これは誰でも自分の判断でできるものではありません。またつなぐことと解くことに似ています（マタイ 18 章 18 節参照）。どちらも動詞が現在進行形で表されるギリシア語本文を見ると、その言おうとしていることはさらに理解できます。天でつながれているものだけを地上でつなぐことができ、天で解かれているものだけを地上で解くことができるのです。（このことは特定の場所を支配していると言われているような悪霊とは何の関係もありません）同じように、上で読んだ１コリント 5 章に基づいて、パウロはこの人をサタンに渡すように導かれたのです。
ここで注目してほしいことはパウロは宗教改革者のようではなかったということです。彼はカルバン主義者ではありませんでした。パウロはカルバン主義者が言うように、この男は信仰を失い父の妻と寝たのだから、最初から救われていなかったという証拠ではないかとは言わなかったのです。またパウロは無条件に滅びないという考え（一度救われたら永遠に救われるというもの）を支持することは何も言いませんでした。この男がそのような堕落した状態にいながら、救いの確信を持っていられるとはほのめかしもしなかったし、そう考える余地さえ残さなかったのです。むしろ、この男が地獄に落ちる恐れがあるとはっきりと宣言しているのです。
もう一度言いますが、主は誰かを失うために救うことはしません。パウロが言っていることはこれです。もし、この男がこの長い間、習慣的に肉のために種を蒔き、悔い改めないなら敵は彼をほしいままにするということです。そのような状態なら、私たちは彼をサタンに渡し、いのちは失うが終わりに神を恐れ、悔い改めさせるようにするのです。多くの親が自分の子どもは大学に行くまではとても良い子で、信仰心のある子どもであったと言います。しかしその後に男の子は彼女と同棲し始め、女の子なら彼氏と同棲し、悔い改めることをしなくなるのです。（私の子どもたちはちょうどその年頃で、神がその罪から守ってくださるように祈っています）しかし、ある日そのわがままな子どもは家に帰って来て、ドアをノックして言います、「お母さん、お父さん。僕 HIV 陽性なんだ。一緒に祈ってくれない？」「僕カポジ肉腫にかかったんだ。もう余命は長くないって診断されて…。一緒に祈ってくれない？」これほどひどいことはありません！しかし、地獄で火に投げ込まれるよりはましなのです。
私は子どもが妻のお腹にいるときからその救いのために祈っていました。誰もが自分の子
どもを言い表せないほど愛しているように、私も愛していたので、メシアであるイェシュア（イエス）から永遠に離されているよりかは、生まれる前に死ぬほうが良いと実際に神に祈りました。
いのちは失うが、たましいは救われるのです。サムソンはもっと長い間、数十年実りある奉仕をするはずでした。罪は人を殺すことができます。ここで誤解してほしくはないのですが、すべての病気が何らかの個人的な罪の結果であると言っているのではありません。病気は人類の堕落の結果として引き起こされるという意味において、罪の結果です。しかし詩篇 32 篇やヤコブの手紙が言うように、罪は病気の原因となり得ます。現に１コリント
11 章では、主の食卓で心に秘めた罪があるとその飲み食いが私たちをさばくことになるとパウロは書いています。この箇所では主の食卓に対して罪を犯した信者は“死んだ”ではなく“眠った”と書かれているので、彼らがそのために地獄に行ったのではないことが分かります。信者は眠りにつき、未信者は死にます。同様に、父と母の世話をしなければ長生きできないことを新約聖書は明らかにしています。罪は実際に殺すことができるのです。１コリント 5 章やサムソンの生涯でもそれが分かります。私たちや子どもたちに起こってはならないことなのですが、地獄の炎の中で苦しむよりかは良いことなのです。神は失うために救いはしません。
サムソンは敬虔な妻をめとり、より長い期間イスラエルをさばくはずでした。神が備えら れていた恵みをすべて、サムソンは失ってしまったのです。彼はその召し、目、力、恵み、地上でのいのちまでも失ってしまったのです。何という悲劇なのでしょうか。しかし、ヘ ブル 11 章はサムソンのたましいは最後に確かに救われたと明らかにしています。サムソン はまつわりつく罪に倒れされました。それでもなお、神の恵みは勝ち誇るのです。
私が思うに聖書の中で最も難解で、痛ましい本はエレミヤが書いた哀歌です。その終わることのない頑なさや悔い改めることのない罪、国や首都、国民、子どもたちによる神への反抗に対しての報いが詳しく書かれています。聖書の中でも最も痛ましく、重苦しい書のちょうど真ん中にはこう書いてあります。『私たちが滅びうせなかったのは、主の恵みによる。主のあわれみは尽きないからだ。それは朝ごとに新しい。「あなたの真実は力強い。』―哀歌 3 章 22 節－26 節を読んでください。
あなたは最悪の試練の真っ只中にいるかもしれません。しかし、主の確固たる愛は尽きることがありません。
あなたはクリスチャンであってもイエス・キリストを十分愛せていないかもしれません。
しかし、イエスさまがあなたを愛するのを止めることはできません。
確かにサムソンに起こったことは悲劇であり、１コリント 5 章に出てくる名も無き人に起こったことも悲劇、今日私たちに起こることも悲劇ではあるでしょう。あってはならないことなのですが、まとわりつく罪のために起こることがあり、実際に起こっています。今あなたが罪の中にいるのなら、もたもたせずに今そこから出なさい。罪は後にはあなたに歯向かうことが分かっているでしょう。その泥沼に陥るには方法はいくらでもあり、崩壊に向かうことは容易なのです。しかし、ひとつしか出てくる方法はありません。それはイエス･キリストの十字架です。
ジェイムズ・ジェイコブ・プラッシュ
Staying The Course Amidst Isolation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Living in Israel one gets the feeling that the metaphorical walls are closing in. Israel's reputation is being tarnished all over social media and the mainstream media, and this is reflected in massive public disdain towards this country. We are constantly told that there is near consensus amongst academics and commentators that a genocide was committed in Gaza. The very legitimacy of the state is brought into question. The majority of Americans are now hostile towards Israel. There is real fear that the next U.S. administration will turn against Israel. Even if this were to happen passively, by the U.S. refraining from exercising its veto power towards Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli actions this could be catastrophic. Internally it is a fractured society leaning increasingly right wing which further alienates Israel from world opinion. An example in point is how Ben Gvir mocked the most recent participants of a global aid flotilla to Gaza. Such conduct further agitates outrage at Israel. The left-wing media presents the ruins of Gaza as a mortal wound in Israel's side. When the world observes this level of carnage no degree of public relations can ameliorate the sense of indignation towards Israel. We can liken the situation of Israel to that of a depressed person. All he sees is hopelessness and gloom. But this isn't the first time that the Jewish nation has been faced with such darkness. Things change and we don't know how the geo-political map will reconfigure in the future. We need to ride out this storm and keep going. On a historical note, the situation is reminiscent of what our ancestors faced when we returned from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was faced with constant lies and conspiracies designed to entrap him by hostile actors: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They employed deception, slander and ridicule in order to maintain their political eminence. There was also a certain sense of abandonment amongst the Jews in Israel then as in our own day. We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah about the anguish of the leadership in Israel concerning the lack of assistance from the Babylonian diaspora towards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. Only 20% of the exiles returned to the land. It was largely the poor who returned. Most of the affluent, established Jews remained in Exile. This is a continuing theme in Jewish history. It is also important to observe that from its very beginnings there were bible believing Christians who spearheaded the return of the Jews to their land. The idea of organizing a return of the Jews to Israel began as a Protestant Restorationist objective that can be traced to 17th century Puritan England. The protagonists of the Cromwellian Republic viewed themselves as the new Israel fighting the Papist forces of Satan. Alongside this, interest grew in the notion that biblical prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to Israel were a necessary precursor for the return of Christ. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century lent political clout to Christian Restorationism with specific missions to the Jews established. Although there had been a longing to return to Israel as written in the thrice daily Amidah prayer, Jewish Zionism arose in the midst of mid nineteenth century nationalism and was further fermented by European antisemitism. It was an altogether secular enterprise. Although Israel's situation appears rather stark, we can draw strength from the Providence afforded to our ancestors in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they too were faced with defamation. This is also an opportunity to grow closer to our natural allies in the evangelical world who from the beginning of Zionism were steadfast supporters of the project to establish a Jewish homeland in Israel. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
Signs of the Times Tony Pearce Left, right or center – is our democracy in danger “Things fall apart, the center does not hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” W.B Yeats ‘The Second Coming. ’ Labour’s losses in the council elections and the battle for succession to their unpopular leader Kier Starmer have raised the possibility that we may soon have our seventh Prime Minister in ten years. Local elections saw Reform and the Greens make sweeping gains, leading Green Party leader, Zack Polanski to say that we are seeing ‘the end of the old two party system’. Maybe we are. In which case what comes next? Will we head to the far left, the far right or will the center hold on to power? Or will it end with ungovernable chaos as unqualified people take control of local and national government? Behind all this there are fundamental questions, ‘What is government for? Who does it represent and where is it going?’ According to the Bible (Romans 13) the purpose of government is to promote good and restrain evil. The government has the right to raise taxes for the common good of society and people should pay them. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul encourages us to pray for the government that ‘we may live a godly and peaceable life’. In other words, pray that the government will create an orderly and peaceful society and not interfere with our right to set up communities that teach and preach the Word of God. The situation becomes more difficult when we see government promoting things which are harmful and restraining things which are good and clamping down on freedom of speech with a threat to our ability to live a ‘godly and peaceable life’ Since becoming a Christian in my early twenties, I have wrestled with the question of how our faith applies to contemporary political issues. I started this quest on the left politically after leaving university and working as an English teacher with sympathies for Marxism. I then became a born again Christian in 1970, and joined my late wife Nikki in evangelizing the radical left, by handing out leaflets at their marches and demonstrations in London and attending their meetings to discuss matters of faith and politics with them. We had some good discussions with people and hope we made some consider the Christian alternative. However as we looked at Marxism from a Christian point of view and its practice in Communist countries, we understood that behind this ideology there is a strong anti-christian spirit. It denies the existence of God and promotes the idea of human perfectibility by our own effort. This is exemplified in the words of the Internationale, the socialist battle hymn, ‘No saviour from on high delivers, no faith have we in prince or peer, our own right hand the chains will shiver, chains of hatred, greed and fear.’ This Antichrist spirit led to the persecution of Christians in the Communist countries of eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Far from creating the socialist paradise on earth that Lenin wrote about in ‘Socialism and Religion’, it created a society ruled by hatred, greed and fear, controlled by secret police, prison camps and responsible for the death of millions. In western society we have witnessed the growth of ‘cultural Marxism’ a movement aimed at infiltrating and changing society from within, rather than fomenting the workers’ revolution. Labour’s Fabian Society, with its (now discarded) logo of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, has been engaged in this process since the beginning of the 20th century. Social change really took off with the permissive society in the 1960s, which succeeded in changing traditional values, especially in the area of sex and the family. It replaced biblical values with a new ‘morality’ that is fundamentally anti Christian. These ideas have permeated large swathes of our society including the education system, the judiciary, the Civil Service, much of the media, mainstream political parties (including even the Conservative ‘wets’ and parts of the established church). Melanie Phillips describes the results of this in her book, ‘The Builder’s Stone.’ ‘Having decided that the West was rotten to the core, western elites set out to create a new culture that would usher in the brotherhood of man and eradicate hatred, prejudice, and war. Their Brave New World junked biblical religion with all its constraints on behaviour and revolved instead around self gratification. Everybody had the right to live as they wanted; nobody could say that their way of life was better or worse than anyone else’s; no one had the right to say that their culture was better than any other culture. That was ‘racism.’ At the heart of all this was the doctrine that there was no such thing as objective truth. Everything was relative; everything was a matter of opinion. Because there was no truth feelings became more important than facts. So the West abandoned the codes of morality, conscience, truth and lies, personal responsibility, and duty to others in favour of a culture of the self. In the process it junked its inherited traditions and biblical codes on which western culture was based.’ Britain changed from being a society that respected values based on the 10 Commandments and the teaching of Jesus Christ to one that discarded them for relative values. Ideas of ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’ became the norm, together with and a form of ‘tolerance’, that is really very intolerant if you oppose it. This ‘tolerance’ means accepting the virtues of multiculturalism and humanism and believing that all gods are equally valid or true (or none are). We must also accept that all lifestyles and family arrangements including homosexual and transsexual ones are just as valid as traditional two parent heterosexual families, with a father and mother committed to each other in lifelong matrimony looking after their own children. As society accepts this radical change in how we view culture, morality and religion, we are told not to criticize other cultures and world views or imply that they are anything less than equal to the culture, morality and faith derived from the Bible. All this has not improved society. Instead we have a collapse of values with no central idea to hold it together, just a group of competing ‘communities’ which are often only united in opposition to the traditional values and culture of Great Britain. A good example of this is the ‘red – green alliance’ of radical leftists and Islamists who come together to denounce Israel and campaign to ‘globalise the Intifada’. In practice this means a world wide war against Israel and Judaeo-Christian society and a desire to replace it with their version of either Islamism or Communism. However if one of them were to come to power, you can be sure that the Islamist’s would get rid of the leftists or vice versa. In fact that happened in Iran’s 1979 revolution, when Islamist supporters of Khomeini and Communists came together to get rid of the Shah. Then the Islamists seized power, turned on the Communists and wiped them out. Alisteir Heath wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Ruined by decades of political vandalism, the Britain we knew and loved, a land of stability, pragmatism, and ancient freedoms, is no more. Today’s UK is uglier, impoverished, volatile and disorderly. We’ve lost our level-headedness. Anger and frustration have become our defining emotions. Our institutions have wasted away, and we have been taught to despise our history. The decline of family, community and faith have led to alienation, dependence on welfare and the rise of novel ideologies, mostly secular but also sectarian, turbocharged by social media. While the state becomes unnervingly authoritarian, the air reeks of insurrection and every variety of extremism. The British public’s sense of betrayal is as well-founded as it is dangerous. The machinery of state is incompetent and self-serving, a vehicle for social engineering in the global interest.’ Criticism of this process now risks being classed as ‘hate crime’ with a growing authoritarian society monitoring social media posts and public teaching of alternative ideas in ways which risk shutting down free speech in our society. A Christian teacher Enoch Burke is currently in prison in Dublin after he was suspended from his job and jailed after refusing to accept and teach transgenderism in the school. Nick Timothy, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, got into trouble when he questioned mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square. He wrote: ‘Mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan – which declares there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger – is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. The domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook.” He is right in this. Allah hu Akhbar actually means Allah is greater, greater than your God, Muhammad is greater than Jesus and the Koran is greater than the Bible. Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern for our Nation wrote: “The fact that we have mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square at all is indicative of the massive culture change that we have seen in the last few decades. A culture change that was not voted for or ever agreed to by the British people. And, a culture change that can hardly be described as having been entirely beneficial to our culture as a whole. I only need to mention grooming gangs involving mostly Pakistani Muslim men , sharia courts, honour crimes, terror attacks, the assassination of an MP, an attempt to blockade Parliament, mass antisemitic marches through London, a convicted terrorist standing for local elections, sectarianism, and many other examples to make the point. Earlier this month, the Government gave Muslims special protection with the adoption of an official definition of anti-Muslim hostility .” You are not really supposed to question this in public life today. A message circulating on social media is an apt commentary on all this. ‘First they overlook evil, then they permit evil, then they legalise evil, then they promote evil, then celebrate evil, then persecute those who call it evil.’ Soviet dissident Solzhenitsyn wrote: ‘A Communist system can be recognised by how it spares criminals and criminalises its opponents.’ The root cause of all this is the rejection of God and biblical values. The 18th-century French philosopher Joseph de Maistre coined the phrase "people get the government they deserve." David Pawson followed up on this idea, arguing that in democratic societies like ours, the moral and spiritual condition of a nation's citizens is directly reflected in the leaders they elect. If the general public abandons moral truths, they will inevitably vote for governments that reflect those same compromises. David Pawson taught that God may use governmental leadership to judge or bless a nation, depending on the people's obedience. He noted that Hebrew prophets saw wicked rulers as a form of divine judgement on a society that has strayed from God's laws. Therefore a nation's ultimate hope rests on repentance rather than just political change. His conclusion is that Christians should actively stand for moral truth in society. He believed that the church is meant to influence culture upward, and that a decline in national morality inevitably leads to deteriorating governance. Sadly much of the church today has become the ‘salt that has lost its savour’ through compromise with antichristian forces in society and government. It may be too late to save our country and western democracy as social and economic pressures create a collapse of democracy and push us either towards anarchy or dictatorship. Yeats’ poem quoted at the beginning of this article ends with the enigmatic line ‘Some rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’ Most likely he is referring to the coming anti-Messiah who is labelled the Beast in the book of Revelation. Many believe his is now waiting in the wings to replace the true Messiah (born in Bethlehem) and bring in the dictatorship prophesied in Revelation 13. The Bible indicates that the Beast or Antichrist will have power for a moment, but it will be short lived and doomed to destruction at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Messiah and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11.15) and the ‘government shall be on His shoulder’ (Isaiah 9.6). Maranatha come Lord Jesus. Water, water nowhere and not a drop to drink. (Apologies to the Ancient Mariner) While nations worry about supply of oil and gas as a result of the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a much more vital commodity for human survival is water. And it is in short supply in a growing number of nations. As of 2026, over 25 countries face extremely high water stress, with the most severe crises located in the Middle East and North Africa. This region is home to the world's most water-stressed nations, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. India and Pakistan face critical water scarcity due to overexploitation of aquifers and population density. Much of Africa , Somalia and Ethiopia in particular are facing severe shortages due to drought and climate change. Mexico and parts of the United States (particularly Texas and the west coast) are experiencing significant water shortages and declining groundwater levels. Iran is facing a severe, multi-year water crisis as of May 2026, with major cities like Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj approaching the point where taps could run dry due to depleted reservoirs. Groundwater is depleted across most of the country, and nineteen provinces are experiencing severe drought. The crisis is driven by a combination of climate change and decades of poor water management, including excessive dam construction and inefficient, water-intensive agriculture. China is facing a severe, multi-faceted water crisis defined by extreme scarcity in the north, widespread pollution, and mismanagement, threatening its food supply and economic growth. Several countries are significantly affected by upstream dam construction that reduces downstream water flow, causing, environmental, and diplomatic crises. These countries include Iraq, heavily impacted by dams built on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Turkey and Iran, leading to reduced water for agriculture, destruction of forests, and increased sandstorms. Egypt and Sudanface significant water security risks due to the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laosare affected of dams built by China on the upper Mekong River One country which bucks this trend is Israel. Israel manages its water resources by transforming a chronic shortage into a surplus through large-scale desalination, extensive wastewater recycling, and a centralised national water carrier system. The agriculture sector has shifted away from freshwater, using treated effluent instead. Advanced drip irrigation technologies are widely used to minimise waste. Israel has exported its water technologies to countries around the world, particularly Africa where it has given advice on how to use limited water resources to great effect. Without water no society on earth can survive. Bible prophecies indicate that water shortage and pollution will be a global problem in the last days. Most obviously no water equals no food, so famine is an inevitable result of water shortages. Jesus warned of this as a sign of the last days in Matthew 24.7. Revelation 8.10-11 speaks of something called ‘Wormwood’ falling on rivers and springs of water causing it to become bitter and many to die from drinking it. Prophecy speaks of the two great rivers of the ancient world, the Nile and the Euphrates, being affected by a crisis causing the Euphrates to dry up (Revelation 16.12) and the Nile to become contaminated and its waters turn foul (Isaiah 19.5-11). Isaiah 24 speaks of a curse devouring the earth in the last days causing the earth to be ‘defiled (or polluted) under its inhabitants.’ According to the New Scientist, there are massive amounts of water hidden deep beneath the Earth's surface. Scientists have found evidence of a reservoir of water three times the volume of all surface oceans combined, located roughly 250–400 miles underground within the mantle. It may be that the Lord will release this water to replenish and clean up the earth in the Millennial kingdom when ‘waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.’ Isaiah 35. Zechariah 14.8-9 says, ‘In that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.’ Zechariah 14.8-9. See also Ezekiel 47. Rethinking Russia Things are not going well for Vladimir Putin in his ‘special military operation’. Four years after invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia is not making advances and actually losing ground. Russia is losing as many as 25,000- 35,000 casualties a month and over 1.2 million have been killed and wounded since the war began. Ukrainian skills in drone warfare have destroyed large quantities of Russian equipment, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and rocket systems, helicopters, and naval vessels. Russia is spending an estimated 40% of the entire federal budget on the war effort. As a result of this and western sanctions, Russia is increasingly unable to fix chronic infrastructure problems at home. During the bitter Russian winter thousands of people were left without heat, light, or even water. All forms of transport, trains, trucks and planes, are facing logistical problems, making it difficult to transport goods and people across the vast Russian regions. Russia is on the way to an infrastructure collapse that will likely take decades to recover. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov warned the State Duma that Russia's faltering economy risks stoking a 1917-style revolution. He demanded urgent financial and economic measures by autumn to avert a potential economic collapse. This raises the danger of the Russian Federation fracturing. The Caucuses are restive, the far east is looking to China and Siberia is facing an acute problem as a result of melting permafrost, causing buildings, bridges and pipelines to collapse. In the present circumstances it is hard to see how Russia could lead the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). Some have said that it is more likely that Turkey is the lead power in the War of Gog and Magog. They say that Meshech and Tubal are not Moscow and Tobolsk, but regions of modern Turkey. Erdogan’s Turkey is backed by an Islamist world view hostile to Israel, seeking the recovery of its Ottoman Empire. He has his eyes on taking control of Jerusalem. Turkey is possession of a large land army already stationed in the region, some of it occupying part of Syria. The alternative is that the War of Gog and Magog is some way off, possibly part of Armageddon, giving time for Russia to recover from its present distress. We wait and see, but meanwhile spare a thought and a prayer for the people of Ukraine and Russia, suffering as a result of Putin’s futile war, oppressed by his corrupt dictatorship and facing an economic and social collapse caused by his failed policies.
Trump's Visit with Xi Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The tempest path of Sino-U.S. tensions came to a head during Trump's first term in office with the outbreak of Covid. Many commentators believed that the deterioration in relations was in terminal decline and that a major confrontation in the straits of Taiwan was fast looming. Trump held China responsible for the spread of Covid, insisting that he would pursue reparations. The election of Biden halted this commitment. Biden sought a non-confrontational policy towards Beijing. In the aftermath of the disastrous premature withdrawal from Afghanistan handing that country over to the Taliban and the Russian invasion of Ukraine under his watch, Biden became too preoccupied to assertively engage with China. Chinese State media portrayed Trump's visit as being rather unremarkable in the context of other foreign dignitaries lining up to meet Xi, pointing out that just a week later Putin would arrive in Beijing. China manifests that it is winning the trade war that Trump began in 2018, beating America at its own game of capitalism. They frame the U.S. as being in a position of weakness because China is able to source whatever products they buy from the U.S. elsewhere like oil from Canada, and soybeans from Brazil. The oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing's Xi agreed to purchase from Trump were presented as a mere gesture to placate Trump as China has already bought 350 Air Buses in the last year. China would have the world believe that it is only semi-conductors where America has the edge. Here China hints that it is not likely to buy H200 Invidia Chips because it would mean that China will always lag behind the U.S. in building their AI tech. China's major contention and concern is that the U.S. may impose export controls to contain China. China's strategy instead is to invest massively on indigenous innovation. China wants to become an innovation powerhouse that will export its own Chips to the Global South. China is fast catching up with America's lead in AI with the launch of Deep Seek and they claim similar progress with Chip making. China is now ostensibly only eight months behind the U.S. on Large Language Models. Running contrary to this narrative Trump insists that China is desperate to trade with America. China's economy has now peaked. Emblematic of this stagnating growth is rising youth unemployment. China is no longer America's biggest trading partner. Trump has shifted manufacturing back to the U.S. and Trump believes that China can't revive its economy without America. Lined up to meet Xi with Trump were the heads of some of America's biggest Tech Corporations. Corporations like nvidia seek a relaxing of export controls for Chips as they want short term profits, ignoring the risk that China will reverse engineer this technology. More broadly, China and the U.S. are playing a geopolitical chess game spanning the globe. Trump outmaneuvered China in Latin America with the removal of Maduro from power in Venezuela. China is exploiting its influence on Iran in order to get Trump to refrain from taking more active steps towards the defense of Taiwan. Indeed, Trump didn't say anything about Taiwan during his visit. Trump's instincts are of a transactional approach towards alliances, where he is only willing to underwrite defense assistance if allies pay up as an insurer would. It is also important to note that saber rattling the Taiwan card also serves the CCP agenda to distract internal dissent concerning the state of the Chinese economy. Most imminently Trump needs China to pressure Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz and get oil prices down before the midterm elections. China has largely insulated itself from the Gulf energy impact due to stockpiles. Trump would also like China to stop providing Iran with GPS for its missiles. Other Chinese weapons systems and technology sold to Iran have failed to perform well against U.S. and Israeli military hardware. Matters boil down to a leverage between whatever Trump can do on Taiwan, China can do on the strait of Hormouz with Iran. Human Rights concerns, espionage and the alarming rate of Chinese acquisition of U.S. land have been placed on the back burner for the time being. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Phil Malone and family “Please keep me and my family in prayer. My mum passed away on 13th May at the age of 93. It's a time of mourning, but may it be a time for the Gospel of Christ to be preached to my unbelieving family, especially my brother.”
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Sister Joanne Rizzetto, wife of Pastor Dave Rizzetto of Church of The Open Door in New York City. Joanne has developed painful complications and adverse side effects from medications following knee surgery. May The Lord intervene for healing and give guidance to her physicians. Lord, we humbly ask you to intervene in the life of our dear sister. We know you can do all things and that you hear our prayers and consider your servants. Please put a stop to the adverse reaction. Restrain and reverse its effects and restore our sister so that she can continue to serve you in the ministry that you have called them to. We do glorify Your Name. We don't ask as those who treat you as our debtor, but as those who have tasted your goodness and found such mercy and compassion at your feet. Grace and peace and mercy be with Joanne and Pastor Dave.
Will Lebanon miss its golden opportunity? Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Converging new facts on the ground have transformed the political landscape in Lebanon. With Assad removed from power in Syria, a vital lifeline of arms supplies for Hezbollah originating in Iran has diminished. Hezbollah suffered considerable losses in its last round of fighting with Israel. The decapitation of its leadership with the targeted pager attack inflicted a severe blow. Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem is a weak substitute for the charismatic Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel in 2024. Hezbollah in its frail state foolishly fell into line with Iran's instruction to join the fighting against Israel following the recent American-Israeli war with Iran. This was contrary to the wishes of the Lebanese government which was fearful of the inevitable destruction that would be wreaked by the Israeli response. The differing attitudes to Israel amongst Lebanon's population is reflective of its ethnic composition. The predominant groups in order of plurality are Christians, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims with a smaller minority of Druze. The major concern of most Christians in Lebanon is the dire state of their economy. They have no appetite to further their plight by invoking Israel's rage. During the colonial inter war period the French envisaged the demarcation between Lebanon and Syria as carving out enclaves for Christian and Druze control. Within Lebanon there would be a shared government that by convention would have the Executive power split between a Christian President, a Sunni Prime Minister and Shia Speaker of Parliament. The Christians in southern Lebanon (particularly Maronite Catholics) saw themselves as being anthropologically descendants of ancient Phoenicians as opposed to an Arab identity where the Arab Christians were largely Eastern Orthodox. The schism between the Maronites and the Arab Eastern Orthodox dates back to the time of the Crusades. The Maronites were culturally French, speaking French as their main language and held precedence in much of the Lebanese economy. The first threat to Lebanese stability and cohesion was settled by the U.S. Eisenhower administration in 1958 which landed Marines in an amphibious operation. A repeated attempt at this by the Reagan administration in 1983 ended in a military disaster for the U.S. due to suicide bombings by Iranian controlled terrorists. Israeli efforts to bring in stability during the Lebanese Civil War in conjunction with its Lebanese Christian allies led by Major Saad Haddad likewise came to calamity when the Sabra and Shatila revenge attacks took place following the assassination of Lebanese leader Bashir Gemayel. The ''Good Fence'' policy of an Israeli friendly free Lebanon zone in Southern Lebanon eventually ended badly following Menachem Begin's second incursion into Lebanon called ''Shalom HaGalil'' aimed at stopping the PLO rocket attacks on Israeli border communities like Metulla, Kiryat Shmona, Naharya, Rosh Hanikra, Tzfat and Carmiel. The proxy Israeli occupation from the Israeli border to the Litani river became an imbroglio that many in Israel viewed as Israel's Vietnam with widespread domestic protest and a collapse of morale within the IDF. Eventually Israel absorbed Christian war refugees from Lebanon, while the Vatican and most of the Christian world turned their backs on the Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was then saddled with two states within a state. The first was in the aftermath of Black September in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan defended his Hashemite throne and government from Yasser Arafat's attempt to take over Jordan due to Jordan having a 70% Palestinian Arab demographic majority. The Jordanian legion drove tens of thousands of its pro Arafat Jordanian citizens into Lebanon, creating a population base for the first state within a state under Arafat. However the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other factions had their niche interests. Courtesy of the Israeli Air Force Arafat relocated what he saw as his government in exile to Tunisia. This was a missed opportunity by the Lebanese government to assert its autonomy and full territorial control by making a Camp David type peace with Israel inclusive of economic and mutual security provisions. Instead an Iranian backed Syrian intervention replaced Arafat's state within a state with a new one that morphed into Hezbollah. The fall of the Assad regime and the Israeli counter-offensive against Hezbollah re-presents Lebanon with the opportunity that it once lost. The predominantly Christian controlled Lebanese military could and should operationally coordinate with the IDF, to obliterate and remove Hezbollah as the Israelis relieved Lebanon of Arafat's state within a state. Such a rapprochement would likely have strong American and possibly French and British support, allowing Lebanon to be at a non-combative peace with Israel along the lines of Egypt and Jordan, and now some of the Emirates. The natural comradery of the Lebanese Druze community with the Israeli Druze and the pro-Israeli Druze of Syria would additionally re-enforce a regional harmony, as would the Maronite Christian community in Israel with their co-coreligionists in Lebanon. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
PASTOR JOHN ANGLISS It is with profound sadness that we learned of the temporary separation from our friend and brother Pastor John Angliss. We look forward to being reunited with John in the millennial reign of Christ and indeed in God's Eternal Kingdom. Jacob Prasch visited John a few weeks ago in the UK while John was in hospice care having been diagnosed preterminal in his illness. While medically correct, it was of course a misdiagnosis. John is now cancer free and is alive and well in the presence of Jesus awaiting us in glory while his mortal body is being renewed for resurrection and immortality. In the meanwhile, during this temporary season of bereavement we do request prayer for his beloved wife Mary and for his congregation, The Ark Fellowship in England near Reading, England. Because he has recently arrived in the USA and is scheduled to address the Moriel Canada branch conference in Winnipeg, Jacob Prasch will regrettably not be able to attend the memorial service in Britain. Our condolences however are very much with Mary and our brethren in the UK who like us knew and loved Pastor Angliss. John was one of a minority of faithful voices who upheld a traditional biblically based Pentecostalism in the era of counterfeit revivals and apostasy that overtook most of British Pentecostalism. John was a faithful friend of Israel & The Jews standing on the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the salvation of the Jews. John was a loyal friend to Moriel and Jacob Prasch and a colleague of David Pawson and Derek Prince, both of whom likewise stood by God's promises to Israel. John was also a founding leader of CMFI - the Christian Ministerial Fellowship International, former pastor of Three Mile Cross fellowship , and former board member of Focus On Israel (a Pentecostal Ministry to the Jews). While this separation is temporary, John's eternal gain will be our temporary loss. O GRAVE - WHERE IS THEY VICTORY, O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING ? Hosea 13:14 / 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57
We made it this far: Israel at 78 Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Since the last anniversary milestone of Israel at 75, we have been embroiled in relentless wars. Citizens had little respite to enjoy this year's festivities, coming on the heels of a lull in fighting on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts. We are constantly waiting for a breakthrough on the horizon that will normalize our relations with our neighbors and secure our position on the world stage. It is acutely exhausting to be the focus of the world's attention. But also there is a sense of inevitability accompanying the Zionist project. Specifically that Israel is destined to be central in the wider region and global affairs. Why is this? Is it due to it being a western transplant? Being geographically positioned on the crossroads of three continents? Religious believers would point to prophetic fulfillment. It is short sighted to only look at how our problems are rooted in today’s' reality. Greater forces are at work that will dictate the direction that Israel is heading. The Jewish diaspora will likely find itself in a growing precarious position that will lead to increasing Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and will perhaps ferment the emergence of a second Jewish commonwealth that will not need to heed international pressure in the same way that todays' polity finds itself doing. In this light it is interesting to ponder how our posterity would view our predicament and gains. And I frame matters in these terms with intentionality. We are enmeshed in a seemingly intractable conflict with the Palestinians, and yet Israel has made great gains particularly in the technological fields. There is a current of thinking that perceives Israel's way out of its quagmire is by making itself indispensable to technological advancements. We don't know how tomorrows' world will be shaped by the rapidly advancing AI revolution but so far Israel has proven to be uniquely adaptable and innovative to technological change. This has proved to be a boon to Israel's economy, as have offshore natural gas discoveries being developed in concert with Greece, Greek Cypriot and American energy interests that are geographically and strategically removed from any Straits of Hormuz shipping impediments that strangle the Persian Gulf deposits shared by Qatar and Iran. On another note we should contextualize the situation. How different are Israel's challenges from other nations? Is Israel any less stable than other countries (particularly in the region)? Israel doesn't find itself uniquely challenged to define its identity (most European countries do also, particularly in light of immigration). Nor does the government experience any more volatility than other comparable democracies. Israel's real problems lay in the nature of how its Jewish citizens desire to govern themselves. It is arguable whether the judicial reform protests that occupied public discourse in pre-October 7th Israel would have led to serious civil strife. But it is without doubt that this impasse was allayed by the external attack. The underlying tensions remain unresolved and there are many ways that they could play out. It has been framed as a battle for Israel's soul. Israel's enemies predict that Zionism is imploding and that the State won't survive another 5-10 years. Supporting this claim, they point to Israel's increasing alienation and growing pariah status on the international stage. Our Prime Minister has been indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Even public opinion in our staunchest ally the U.S. has turned sharply against Israel. With 80% of the Democratic Party being anti-Israel in a growing climate of anti-semitism we have even witnessed the shift of Alan Dershowitz to the Republican Party which must be seen as emblematic of a trend. There is apprehension in Israel of a post-Trump America dominated by the Democrats. However, these seeming incontrovertible facts may be offset by other measures of fortitude. This may be partially countered by the high investment by Silicon Valley in the Israeli Hi-tech sector, making Israel an asset for purposes of Research and Development in America's AI race against China. New opportunities for economic relations have also been opened with Arab nations through the Abraham Accords and with the powerhouse India. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine a world in which Israel's technological prowess will not carry the sway of western decision makers in the long run. Israel's 78th anniversary is a moment to take pause and not catastrophize what the future may behold. The entire world is currently in a state of transformation and Israel is not an outlier in this context. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
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A critical juncture in NATO'S future Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM NATO was originally established in 1949 to keep the Russian hordes at bay from toppling those European countries not forked over to the Soviet sphere of influence at the Potsdam conference. Europe lay in ruins. Britain had passed on the torch of global hegemony to the U.S. by tacitly acquiescing to the decolonization of its Empire when Churchill and Roosevelt agreed terms of the Atlantic Charter for the post-war new world order in 1941. So from its start NATO was very much an American driven endeavor. American money with the Marshall plan was propping up western European economies and its military might was forming the bulk of their defensive capabilities. The lopsided nature of this dynamic has informed how tensions have persisted and recently erupted in the Alliance. During the Cold War the U.S. felt obligated to shoulder the costs of underwriting Europe's security in light of the broader interests to keep the Soviet's in check. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain European complacency became a sticking point with the 'peace dividend' further exploiting American largesse. European NATO allies spent ever smaller percentages of their GDP on defense expenditure at U.S. expense. Now in a multi-polar world U.S. and European perceived threats are less aligned. This was first tested in the aftermath of September 11th when for the first time NATO elected to trigger its article 5 collective defense protocol. And since then the U.S. has sought to continue to expand the traditional theatre of operations beyond Europe's borders. No longer is Russia perceived by America as being a proximate existential threat to its interests, but rather containing Chinese expansion in the Pacific arena. Parallel to NATO a discrete 'five eyes' intelligence sharing alliance comprising the Anglo-sphere (the U.S., U.K., Canada and New Zealand) emerged. This stands at the center of the U.S. – U.K. 'special relationship'. A relevant question would be can this signals intelligence (NSA-GCHQ) partnership persist should the U.S. withdraw from NATO? Conventional thinking would have led one to believe that with Brexit the U.K. would naturally pivot towards closer U.S. relations but under Starmer the U.K. is distancing itself. European powers misrepresent the present conflict as an aggressive, rather than defensive U.S. adventure while they themselves are more likely to be at risk. In this the Starmer government resembles the Labor party led committee for nuclear disarmament in the 1980's. It opposed the Thatcher supported deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in response to the Soviet SS20's pointed at Britain's cities. The British left branded their response to Soviet strategic escalation to U.S. aggression. This time however there is for the moment no Thatcher to bring common sense into an equation dominated by emotionally driven ideologies in the face of an aggressor with definite aims. In terms of the Russian-Ukraine conflict we are reverting to the old question dating back to the Napoleonic war era: to what extent is London happy with the European nations fighting it out alone for dominance of the continent. Britain was never willing to accept a single power in control. Many variables will dictate what kind of world emerges from the current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. How will power be extracted from potential gains? What will be the strategic impact of this? What is sure, in the age of Trump this pattern of reliance on U.S. muscle is becoming quickly exhausted. Dating back to the Roman Empire, a factor in the decline of major powers has always been astronomical military spending, a budgetary demand that the U.S. under Trump is no longer willing to shoulder alone. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
