As 2013 begins, Israelis are preparing to head to the polls next week for national elections. In so doing they will choose the Knesset (parliament) and Prime Minister they want to lead them into challenging and uncharted waters. The good news: they’ve discovered massive amounts of natural gas that could soon make them energy independent. The bad news: well, how much time do you have?

Israelis see secular nationalist regimes in the Arab world imploding — Egypt, Libya and Syria among them. This is creating new instabilities and security challenges in an already dangerous neighborhood. They know Jordan’s King Abdullah could be toppled by Radicals. They know a war with Iran over nuclear weapons has been mercifully delayed, but may lie just ahead. Most Israelis see their nation being increasingly isolated internationally. In that context, they highly value a strong, healthy U.S.-Israel alliance. However, tensions appear to be spiking once again between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government.

President Obama — who clashed repeatedly with Netanyahu over the past four years — has been privately telling colleagues that “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” Translation: Netanyahu doesn’t know what he’s doing in foreign policy and he risks alienating the White House.

The Israeli Prime Minister disagrees. “I think everyone understands that only Israel’s citizens are those who will be the ones to determine who faithfully represents Israel’s vital interests,” he said said in what the Jerusalem Post called “his first direct response to Obama’s reported criticism.” Netanyahu has offered to sit down and have direct peace talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas without preconditions. (Abbas refuses to meet.) Netanyahu supports a Palestinian state, so long as it is demilitarized, recognizes the legitimacy and sovereignty of Israel as a Jewish state, and doesn’t not pose a threat to Israel’s security. (Abbas doesn’t believe him and pointedly refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.) But Netanyahu fundamentally disagrees with President Obama’s approach to foreign policy. The President is pressuring Israel to divide Jerusalem, and give away all or most of the West Bank to a Palestinian government allied with the Hamas terrorist movement. The President is pressuring Israel not to take decisive military action to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat. What’s more, the President is claiming that Israeli construction of new homes — or expansion of existing homes — in Jerusalem and in “Area C” portions of the West Bank (where Jewish people live under agreement with the Palestinians) is a fundamental obstacle to making peace.

Next week, Netanyahu and his party are likely to be re-elected. Netanyahu will likely have the opportunity to build a new government. That government will likely be a predominently right-of-center coalition that by-and-large agrees with him on how deal with Iran, the Palestinians and the turmoil in the Arab world. Given that Obama was just reelected — and won’t face voters ever again — and sharply disagrees with Netanyahu’s world view and foreign policy, a troubling showdown, appears to be developing.

Let’s be praying that doesn’t happen. Let’s pray we don’t see a train wreck in U.S.-Israeli relations. Let’s pray the Lord gives wisdom to the leaders of both countries, and that they heed such wisdom. In the meantime, let’s keep our eyes open to the tensions and potential difficulties that lie ahead.

The President’s dismissive quote about the Israeli leadership was quoted in a new column published by Bloomberg and written by Washington-based Mideast expert Jeffrey Goldberg. Let me close with some noteworthy  excerpts, though I’d recommend you read the whole thing.

• When informed about the Israeli decision, Obama, who has a famously contentious relationship with the prime minister, didn’t even bother getting angry. He told several people that this sort of behavior on Netanyahu’s part is what he has come to expect, and he suggested that he has become inured to what he sees as self-defeating policies of his Israeli counterpart.
• In the weeks after the UN vote, Obama said privately and repeatedly, “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” With each new settlement announcement, in Obama’s view, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.
• And if Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah — one that alienates even the affections of the U.S., its last steadfast friend — it won’t survive. Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel’s survival; Israel’s own behavior poses a long-term one.
• The dysfunctional relationship between Netanyahu and Obama is poised to enter a new phase. Next week, Israeli voters will probably return Netanyahu to power, this time at the head of a coalition even more intractably right-wing than the one he currently leads.

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>> To learn more about The Joshua Fund’s work to mobilize Christians  to bless Israel and her neighbors, visit www.joshuafund.net.

>> As Israel needs more Christian prayer and support than ever, consider coming on our “Prayer & Vision Tour of Israel” and attend the 2013 Epicenter Conference this summer.

Keep your eye on Syria, and keep praying for the Syrian people. The bloodshed there continues unabated. And the countdown to something worse may have started.

In early December, media reports suggested the Assad regime in Syria was preparing to use chemical weapons. Now a report by Foreign Policy magazine says Damascus may have actually used such weapons of mass destruction in late December. Could such revelations lead to a U.S. or Israeli strike on Syria’s remaining WMD stockpiles?

“A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month,” reports Foreign Policy magazine under this headline: “Exclusive: Secret State Department cable: Chemical weapons used in Syria.”

FP goes on to report: “United States diplomats in Turkey conducted a previously undisclosed, intensive investigation into claims that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, and made what an Obama administration official who reviewed the cable called a “compelling case” that Assad’s military forces had used a deadly form of poison gas. The cable, signed by the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, and sent to State Department headquarters in Washington last week, outlined the results of the consulate’s investigation into reports from inside Syria that chemical weapons had been used in the city of Homs on Dec. 23….The use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would cross the “red line” President Barack Obama first established in an Aug. 20 statement. ‘We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation,’ Obama said.”

I find myself watching Syria very closely these days and praying for peace and calm in that beleagured country. In my forthcoming thriller, Damascus Countdown (releasing March 5th), Syria and weapons of mass destruction become the focal point of another major war in the Middle East, and one that draws in Israel and Iran with catastrophic implications.

Damascus Countdown will be the third and final novel in the trilogy that began with The Twelfth Imam and The Tehran Initiative. It can now be pre-ordered on the websites of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christian Book Distributors, and many other Christian and general market bookstores.

Naftali Bennett, rising star in Israeli politics.

UPDATED: Few Americans have heard of Naftali Bennett. But the 40-year old former software entrepreneur and his right-wing political party, The Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi), is taking the Israeli political scene by storm. 

Bennett’s party currently has three seats in the Knesset (parliament). But his support is surging. Some recent polls suggest Bennett and his team could end up with 12 or 13 seats after the January 22nd elections. Some polls, however, suggest Bennett’s team could win as many as 15 to 18 seats, emerging as Israel’s third — or possibly second — largest party.

Bennett is married to a secular Jewish woman. He’s the father of four young children, all under the age of eight. Religious. Zionist. Served in one of Israel’s most elite army combat units, Sayeret Matkal. Went into business. Created a software company that he sold for millions. Served from 2006 to 2008 as Netanyahu’s chief of staff before breaking off and charting his own political path, to the right of his mentor. Served as the director of the Yesha Council, the governing body of the Jewish settler movement on the West Bank, from 2010 to 2012. Says Netanyahu is too willing to compromise with the Palestinians, too willing to create a Palestinian state, which Bennett vigorously opposes. “I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state,” he says of the Palestinians. Last year, Bennett — and his top deputy, Ayalet Shaked, 36 (described as “the new secular face of religious Zionism” by the Times of Israel) — unveiled a plan to unilaterally annex much of Judea and Samaria (aka, the West Bank), make it officially part of the State of Israel, and give the Palestinians autonomy in their daily affairs.

Netanyahu in December directed sharp criticism at Bennett, whose recent comments suggest IDF soldiers shouldn’t obey if orders are ever given to dismantle Jewish settlements in the West Bank. “Anyone who refuses [a command] won’t be a minister in my government,” Netanyahu said in his first television interview since the launch of the Likud election campaign. “This is a serious issue. Israel’s existence is based on its army. I was quite surprised to hear that Naftali Bennett supports insubordination as a personal example. I heard Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, who was once the IDF chief of general staff, say the right thing: ‘Israel’s existence is based on the IDF. The existence of the IDF is based on following orders. There can be no insubordination. Not from this side or from that side.’ No one who supports insubordination will serve in my government.”

Bennett quickly backed off and clarified that he — and all IDF officers and soldiers — must obey civilian government orders. But the dust up didn’t seem to hurt him. His name ID soared in Israel, and an analysis by the Times of Israel shows that the more Israelis learn about Bennett’s personal story and style and political views, the more they like him.

The Western media is beginning to pay attention. The New York Times ran a profile of Bennett in December headlined, “Dynamic Former Netanyahu Aide Shifts Israeli Campaign Rightward.” Last week, the UK Guardian ran an in-depth interview with him.

A lengthy profile in The New Yorker this month is worth reading. Manhattan liberal elites — along with Tel Aviv liberal elites — are stunned by Bennett’s rise. Author David Remnick argues that the Israeli electorate is moving sharply to the right because they are exhausted by the conflict with the Arabs; disillusioned with the peace process; increasingly convinced the Palestinians will never make peace; anxious about the instability and anti-Israeli hostility in surrounding nations like Syria, Egypt and Jordan; worried about the Iranian nuclear threat; and convinced that the Israeli left has no fresh ideas and no dynamic leaders. Is he right? I’m not a big fan of left-wing publications like The New Yorker, and I certainly don’t typically see eye to eye with Remnick, but I found it interesting to view Israel through their eyes.

Hard to describe this film concisely. Fascinating. Haunting. Mesmerizing. Troubling. Compelling. Sobering. Language is horrific so I really can’t recommend it, per se. Still, I’m glad I went. The story’s important. All the more because it’s true. (trailer)

This fall I read No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen (one of the Seal Team Six members that killed UBL). I also read Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden–from 9/11 to Abbottabad (by CNN’s Peter Bergen, one of the only American reporters ever to interview UBL). Both were fascinating stories about the tracking/killing of UBL, but Manhunt is the much better, detailed and intriguing of the two. The factual context and background helped, for me, to fill so many details missing from the movie.  

Not going to get into all the controversies surrounding the movie right now. Just want to say I’m grateful for all the men & women in our intelligence agencies and in our military who keep us safe. God bless you.

For more on this movie, and the controversy:

• Magazine story: Inside Mark Boal’s and Kathryn Bigelow’s Mad Dash to Make Zero Dark Thirty
• Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein — chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee — calls film “grossly inaccurate and misleading” re: torture and the hunt for UBL
• Bipartisan group of U.S. Senators sends letter to Sony Pictures about “factually inaccurate” film
• Acting CIA Director Disputes ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Accuracy in Rare Public Statement

Moshe Yaalon. (photo credit: Ziv Koren)

Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon is currently Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs. He’s a senior military and foreign affairs advisor to Netanyahu, and previously served as the Israeli Defense Force’s chief of staff.  Some keen observers of the Israeli political scene believe that when this month’s elections are over and the dust of the political season has settled, Ya’alon will be the next Minister of Defense.

While that is by no means clear, this week Ya’alon was interviewed by an Israeli news service on a range of important issues. Given Ya’alon’s already prominent role in the future of the Jewish State — and his possible rise to even more power — it’s an interview worth reading.

Among the questions he was asked:

• It seems as if the Iranian issue has disappeared from the election campaign. Is this deliberate?
• Will you be the next defense minister?
• Are you concerned over the Hagel appointment?
• What about those who say that [Naftali] Bennett [a very right-wing  emerging Israeli politician] has taken votes from the Likud due to the moderate diplomatic agenda that you have pursued in the last four years?
• Will you have a difficult time sleeping at night [if] Shelly Yachimovich [a left-wing Israeli politician]  becomes Prime minister?

“A car exploded on a busy street in Tel Aviv around 1 pm on Thursday, in what appeared to be an assassination attempt,” Ynet News reports. “The police postulated the incident was criminal in nature. Two motorcyclists were arrested for alleged involvement in the incident. Nine people were said to be lighly hurt. They were taken to the Sourasky Medical
Center….The witnesses added that they saw Nissim Alperon, a criminal, fleeing the scene. Alperon, 58, who is known as a crime boss, has survived eight previous attempts on his life. It appears he has managed to endure yet another near death experience. According to his brother, Alperon escaped unscathed.” Please pray for those wounded, and that those responsible would be apprehended.

Jan Fischer is poised to become the 1st elected Jewish President in the world outside of Israel.

UPDATE: A reader sent me an email to say there have been several other Jewish presidents in history. See end of this article.

A fascinating story is developing this week in the heart of Europe. The Czech Republic may become the first nation in Europe — indeed, the first country in the entire world with the exception of Israel itself — to elect a Jewish President. It’s particularly fascinating given three facts:

1.) Czechoslovakia was one of the first countries Hitler and the Nazis took over at the beginning of World War II, and one of the first places Jews were deported to the death camps.

2.) More than a quarter of a million Jews who lived in the area of Czechoslovakia in 1938 were eventually murdered during the Holocaust and the rest of the war.

3.) The post-Soviet era Czech Republic has become a strong friend of Israel — in fact, just last year the Czechs were one of only nine countries to vote against a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.

“If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first country other than Israel to elect a Jewish president,” reports the Times of Israel. “Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck-and-neck in the polls with another former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections on Friday and Saturday. The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and political prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the second round. ‘He’s like our Joe Lieberman,’ said Tomas Kraus, chairman of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, referring to the failed US vice presidential candidate. ‘Whether or not you support him, you can’t help but be proud he has come this far….'”

“His upbringing is a case study of post-World War II Jewish life in Central Europe. His father survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and his mother was Catholic. He celebrated Czech Christmas and attended synagogue,” notes the Times. “‘My father brought me to the synagogue for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and Purim,’ Fischer recalled. ‘During Pesach, we didn’t organize a seder, but we did have matzah. Father was a member of the Jewish community until the end of the 1950s.’ That changed once Czechoslovak Communist leaders became more virulently anti-religious; Judaism was no longer high on his family’s list of priorities. It changed again — as it did for many of Fischer’s generation — when his son began to discover his Jewish roots….”

UPDATE: Email from a reader: “Panama has had two Jewish presidents in the twentieth century; from 1964-68 Max Delvalle was the first vice president of the Republic and later President. Eric Delvalle Maduro was president from 1987-1988. Janet Jagan (maiden name Janet Rosenberg) she became Guyana’s first female prime minister and president. There has been other Jewish Presidents in South America.”

Shimon Peres. (photo credit: Michal Chelbin for The New York Times)

On Sunday, the New York Times magazine published an in-depth interview with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Actually, it’s material from several interviews conducted in recent months by a respected Israeli journalist named Ronen Bergman.

The piece is entitled, “Shimon Peres on Obama, Iran and the Path to Peace.” I commend it to your attention.

“Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor who had been re-arrested on Christmas Day after serving nearly three years in prison for renouncing Islam, was released today, according to individuals close to the pastor and his family,” Fox News reported Tuesday. “Nadarkhani, 35, had been held since Christmas Day at Lakan Prison in Rasht, the facility where he was imprisoned from 2010 to 2012 in a case that made international headlines. Although he initially faced possible  execution, he had been freed in November, with just 45 days left on a downgraded sentence issued after Fox News and other media outlets drew attention to his plight. But when he was arrested, an Iranian judge said he must finish his sentence.”

Please continue to pray for Pastor Youcef, and for all the persecuted followers of Jesus Christ in Iran. Pray that the Lord would give them courage and strength to endure, boldness to proclaim the Gospel under terrible persecution, and the deep and real sense of Christ’s presence with them. Pray that He also give them His joy as He blesses them for suffering for His Name.

“Blessed are those who have beenpersecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” the Lord Jesus said. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)

Israelis play in the snow in the Golan Heights on Wednesday (photo credit: Flash90)

Jews and Christians often pray for the Lord to give Israel more rain. In recent years, there hasn’t nearly been enough precipitation and the Sea of Galilee’s water levels have been dropping. But this week, Israel is getting more snow and driving rain than it has in two decades. It’s come so fast and furious that the Land isn’t able to quickly absorb it all. As a result, malls are being flooded. Roads are being shut down. Schools and government offices are being closed. The IDF and Navy have even been deployed repeatedly in the last few days to rescue Israelis in danger. Don’t get me wrong: Israel needs the water — but wow!I’ve been in touch with our Joshua Fund team. For the moment, they’re not reporting the need for any emergency food or humanitarian relief assistance. But I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, please pray for everyone to be safe. Pray for the first responders. And let’s thank the Lord for His gracious provision of rain.

Here’s some of the interesting coverage:

“A fierce winter storm that has been raging since Friday is pounding the country harder than ever on Wednesday, causing major power outages and widespread flooding,” reports the Times of Israel. “Schools are closed in the Golan Heights and parts of the West Bank, and Jerusalem is bracing to don white. The Times of Israel is liveblogging The Big Storm of 2013 — the wettest start to an Israeli winter in 20 years (at least!).”

Yesterday, the Jerusalem Post ran this headline: “Tel Aviv underwater: Rain brings city to halt.” — “Tel Aviv braced for further floods Tuesday afternoon, even as the city began to recover from a morning in which its main traffic artery and rail services ground to a halt due to fierce storms that hit much of Israel,” noted the Post. “The rains were so powerful on Tuesday morning that flooding caused the closure of Tel Aviv’s main artery – the Ayalon Highway, or Highway 20 – as well as the city’s train stations. By mid-afternoon, however, both northbound and southbound lanes of the Ayalon reopened to traffic. The section of the central Namir Road, which had also been closed due to flooding, reopened at around 2 p.m., police said.”

“The heavy rain since Thursday has added 17 centimeters to the Kinneret’s water level, and at 211.72 meters below sea level, it is now 2.92 meters below its full level,” reports the Israeli business news site, Globes. “The Water Authority estimates that the rainfall will add another 30 centimeters to the Kinneret’s water level in the next three days. ‘We had hoped for large amounts of rain, but we were surprised by how long and how strong the storm system has been — seven days of rain,’ said Water Authority surface water director Dr. Amir Givati. ‘This is an amazing rate, and we can’t remember anything like it for a decade. There’s a chance that the Kinneret will fill up. It might happen if February is like January, but it’s tough to call.'”

>> Come to Israel with The Joshua Fund and me in the summer of 2013 — details here