Gaza Massacre (8) How will this End?

My thoughts on the long-term outcome of the current struggle in Israel and Gaza are as follows.

• Israel’s attempt to eliminate Hamas is failing, because it is impossible to eliminate an ideology. The IDF has taken serious casualties and has failed to release any of its captured soldiers. After fighting for three months, Israel is no closer to its goal.

• International pressure against Israel is increasing. When the International Court of Justice receives a report from Israel on the implementation of its order in about three weeks, the court will probably find that Israel has continued to breach them. That will increase the pressure.

• Pressure from the United States will get stronger, as the presidential election gets closer. At some point, Israel will have to agree to a ceasefire that will bring the current conflict to an end.

• Palestinian support for Hama will continue to increase. As Jonathon Cook explained,

  Most of the Palestinian children now being bombed and terrorised, made homeless along with their families, and witnessing loved ones being killed will not grow up over the next few years to become young peace ambassadors. Their birthright will be the gun and the rocket. Their ambition will be to avenge their families and restore their honour.

  The current massacre has massively increased the popularity of Hamas, both in Gaza and the West Bank.

• I am not sure if they are arrogant enough to try it, but Israel is likely to double down and attack Lebanon in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah. This is likely to end badly, because Hezbollah has a more powerful military than Hamas. The IDF might be forced to retreat from the Golan Heights and parts of northern Israel.

• Zionism has a serious problem, because its goal is a Jewish state between the Jordan River and the Sea. Any Jew from anywhere in the world is entitled to be a citizen of this state. Unfortunately, for this goal to be accomplished, the non-Jewish people living within this region must be either excluded from the area, or made subservient to the Jewish people. If the majority of people in the region are not Jewish, then democracy will have to be given up. However, in the modern world, an exclusively Jewish state will be seen as a form of apartheid that is unacceptable, so international pressure for change will increase.

• Zionism is a political problem, so it needs a political solution. Political problems can’t be solved by military power. Occupation of problem territory is never a workable solution. The current Zionist military strategy cannot succeed. Israel can never be secure without God’s blessing, and it can’t get God’s blessing while ignoring the requirements of the Torah for the treatment of aliens within the land.

  You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt (Deuth 10:19).
  Do not deny justice to a resident alien or fatherless child (Deut 24:17).

  The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the alien who resides with you (Num 15:16).
  

  You are to have the same law for the resident alien and the native, because I am the LORD your God (Lev 24:22).

  You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God (Lev 19:33).

  The same law will apply to both the native and the alien who resides among you (Ex 12:49).

  You must not exploit a resident alien or oppress him (Ex 22:21).

  You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt (Ex 23:9).

  Unfortunately, rejecting the requirements of the Torah leads to military defeat and eventully to exile (Deut 28:15-68).
  

  If you don’t keep all the words of this instruction that are written in this document by acting on them, so as to live in awe of this honoured and awe-inspiring name, Yahweh your God. Yahweh will bring extraordinary calamities on you and calamities on your offspring, big and lasting calamities (Deut 28:58-59 Second Testament).

• Opinion polls show that the population of Israel has become increasingly violent and hostile to the Palestinian people. Pressure to expel the inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank will increase over time. Israeli governments are becoming increasingly right-wing, ruthless and violent, and there is no sign of that changing. This will exacerbate as pressure from the international community increases.

• At some point, Israel will have another go at expelling the inhabitants of Gaza, and next time, it might be more successful. It will continue to expand the settlements on the West Bank and make life difficult for the Palestinian people who live there. Israeli politicians who do not support these objectives will lose popularity.

• Israel’s behaviour is not going to get better soon. It is likely to become far worse as time goes by. Christians who have hitched their horse to the Israeli wagon are going to become more and more embarrassed as time goes on.

• From studying the prophetic scriptures, I believe that at some point, the people of the United States will get fed up with the unruly behaviour of successive Israeli governments. A US President will be forced to invade Israel in an attempt to reduce the scale of atrocities that are occurring. The Israeli government will find itself subordinate to the nation that it has relied on for support. This will be the end of the Zionist dream (See Woman on the Beast).

• God’s long-term goal is to bring all Israel to faith in Jesus.

  A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved (Rom 11:25-26).

  I have explained how this will happen in Israel’s Blessing. This event will bring great blessing to the world and allow the Kingdom of God to come to fullness.

• Israel’s return to blessing will come when the season called the Times of the Gentiles is complete. The transition to a new system will be marked by a Time of Distress on earth. This will be a time of great trouble for the nation of Israel, sometimes called Jacob’s Trouble.

  How awful that day will be! There will be no other like it!

  It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.
  

  On that day—this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies— I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your chains, and strangers will never again enslave him. They will serve the LORD their God (Jer 30:7-9).