Register today to tour Israel and Jordan with us this Fall.

Dear Friends:

It is with great excitement about God’s love for the people of Israel and her neighbors that I cordially invite you to join us for The Joshua Fund’s next “Prayer & Vision Tour Of The Holy Land.”

The Israel portion of the tour will be October 14-25, 2015.

And for the first time ever, we will lead an optional additional tour to the Biblical sites of the Kingdom of Jordan for those who want to extend their time and learn more. This will be from October 25-29, 2015.

If you have never been to the Holy Land, it is hard to describe what a profound spiritual effect such a journey can have on you and your family. You may have heard others say God’s Word seemed to “come alive” in a new way when they walked where Jesus walked, from the shores of Galilee to the Mount of Olives and into the streets of Jerusalem. Well, it’s true, and I believe our 2015 Israel trip will allow you to experience this for yourself and intensify your desire to walk more closely with Jesus Christ.

If you have been to Israel before, this trip will be a great opportunity to deepen your understanding of how powerfully the Lord is moving there. And this tour is like no other!

• You will visit The Joshua Fund’s warehouse and participate in a practical ministry project to bless the poor and needy.
• You will have the opportunity to meet with and pray for local pastors and ministry leaders on the frontlines of the faith.
• You will have the opportunity to hear solid Bible teaching, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for all the people of the epicenter, and have the joy of worshipping the Lord in the land of Jesus, the prophets and the apostles.
• I will also teach at key locations and answer your questions about the future of the Epicenter.
• And, as I mentioned, for those who want to learn more, we are offering our first-ever extension to visit Biblical and historic sites in Jordan such as Mount Nebo, Petra and the capital of Amman.

Now more than ever, it is vitally important for Christians to “learn, pray, give and go” — to really learn how much God loves the people of Israel, Jordan and the region; to pray with and for Jews and Arabs; to give to ministries that are truly blessing people on both sides in the name of Jesus; and actually go to the Holy Land to stand with these dear people in these challenging times.

To learn more about this Prayer & Vision Tour of the Holy Land — to get your questions answered, and to register — please click here.

Please prayerfully consider coming to visit the Land we love and now call our home to meet the people we love and now call our neighbors. We would love to see you there!

Yours to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus,

Joel C. Rosenberg

Founder and Chairman of The Joshua Fund

>> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

Officials of Britain, Russia, China, France, Germany, European Union, the United States and Iran wait for the start of a meeting on Iran’s nuclear program at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland Monday, March 30, 2015. Negotiations are entering a critical phase with differences still remaining just two days before a deadline for the outline of an agreement. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool)

(Central Israel) — Less than 48 hours remain for a nuclear deal to be worked out with Iran before the March 31st deadline is reached.

Details of a potential deal are leaking out of the marathon talks being held in Lausanne, Switzerland, but they are far from encouraging.

In fact, a growing number of highly respected leaders, nuclear experts and Middle East analysts — both Democrats and Republicans — say they are deeply troubled by the apparent concessions being made to Iran, as well as Iran’s increasingly aggressive actions in the region, most recently in Yemen.

• Sen. Bob Menendez, top Senate Democrat, and a leading voice on preventing the Iranian Bomb, warned the deal is terrible. “If today’s news report from Lausanne is true, we are not inching closer to Iran’s negotiating position, but leaping toward it with both feet.  We have pivoted away from demanding the closure of Fordow when the negotiations began, to considering its conversion into a research facility, to now allowing hundreds of centrifuges to spin at this underground bunker site where centrifuges could be quickly repurposed for illicit nuclear enrichment purposes.  My fear is that we are no longer guided by the principle that “no deal is better than a bad deal,” but instead we are negotiating “any deal for a deal’s sake.”
• Former CIA Director James Woolsey, a Democrat who served with President Clinton, is warning, “‘Given the fanaticism of Iran’s leaders, I don’t think we can do a deal with them. They’ll cheat.”
• Dr. Henry Kissinger, the elder statesman of American foreign policy, warned the talks are going in the absolutely wrong direction. As noted by the Washington Post: “The talks, [Kissinger] pointed out, began as a multilateral effort headed by the European Union and backed by six U.N. Security Council resolutions intended ‘to deny Iran the capability to develop a military nuclear option.’ Though formally the multilateral talks continue, ‘these negotiations have now become an essentially bilateral negotiation” between the United States and Iran “over the scope of that [nuclear] capability, not its existence,’ Mr. Kissinger said.”
• Former Secretary of State George Shultz has warned, “They [the Iranian leaders] have already outmaneuvered us, in my opinion.”
• Israeli leaders say the emerging deal is even worse than they had feared.
• What’s more, Sen.Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat, is warning that the Iranians “are currently involved in activities to destabilize the governments of [U.S.-allied] nations as near as Bahrain and as far away as Morocco.” 
• The Washington Post editorial board is also deeply uncomfortable with the Administration’s approach. In a new editorial, they noted, “As the Obama administration pushes to complete a nuclear accord with Iran, numerous members of Congress, former secretaries of state and officials of allied governments are expressing concern about the contours of the emerging deal. Though we have long supported negotiations with Iran as well as the interim agreement the United States and its allies struck with Tehran, we share several of those concerns and believe they deserve more debate now — before negotiators present the world with a fait accompli.”

Here are the latest details:

• The deal would apparently allow Iran to continue enriching uranium with 6,000 or more centrifuges.
• The deal would allow Iran to keep Fordow operating — its hardened, underground, and previously secret nuclear facility (only discovered in 2009) — with upwards of 3,000 centrifuges operating.
• This deal appears to give Iran a “breakout time” to build nuclear weapons of well less than one year. “Olli Heinonen, who ran inspections for the I.A.E.A. before moving to Harvard several years ago, published a paper on Saturday concluding that, based on leaked estimates that Iran would operate roughly 6,500 centrifuges, ‘a breakout time of between seven and eight months would still be possible,'” reported the New York Times.
• The deal does not deal at all with disclosing or preventing the military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, including how closely Iran is working with North Korea. We don’t know all that has transpired in the talks on Iran’s nuclear program being conducted in Switzerland, but we do know that the White House has shied away from a potentially paralyzing issue: the “possible military dimensions” — the PMDs — of the regime’s program,” noted an analysis in the Washington Post.
• For months, the deal reportedly included a provision by which the Iranians would ship their enriched uranium out of the country, most likely to Russia, but now Iran is saying they never agreed to such a concept. “The export of stocks of enriched uranium is not in our program, and we do not intend sending them abroad,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. “There is no question of sending the stocks abroad.”

For more, here are excerpts from the latest Reuters news story from Lausanne:

• Iran and six world powers tried to break an impasse in nuclear negotiations on Sunday, but officials cautioned that attempts to reach a preliminary deal by a deadline in two days could yet fall apart.
• The two sides explored compromises in areas including numbers of centrifuges used to enrich uranium that Iran could operate, and its nuclear enrichment work for medical research.
• But Israel, which feels especially threatened by the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran, said details of a possible framework agreement emerging from the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, were even worse than it feared.
• Foreign ministers from the six countries [held] their first full meeting with Iran’s foreign minister on Monday morning.
• German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there had been “some progress and some setbacks in the last hours…I can’t rule out that there will be further crises in these negotiations.”
• The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China want more than a 10-year suspension of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work.
• Tehran, which denies it is trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability, is demanding an immediate end to international sanctions that are crippling its economy.
• A Western diplomat said duration could be traded off if there were real efforts on some key parameters. “We all want it to be 15 years, but there will be different durations for various aspects of the deal,” the diplomat told reporters.
• Iranian negotiator Hamid Baidinejad said “15 years is out of question for Iran but 10 years is being discussed”….
• Several officials told Reuters that Tehran had indicated a willingness to cut the number of centrifuges it uses to fewer than 6,000, thereby slowing its program, and to send most of its enriched uranium stockpiles for storage in Russia.
• Senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi told reporters dispatching stockpiles abroad “was not on Iran’s agenda”.
• Western powers were meanwhile considering allowing Iran to conduct limited and closely monitored enrichment-related work for medical purposes at an underground facility, the officials added on condition of anonymity.
• Iran had originally insisted on keeping in operation all the nearly 10,000 centrifuges it currently uses, but said in November that Washington had indicated it could accept around 6,000.
• Iranian officials say they have been pushing for 6,500-7,000.
• Baidinejad said cutting the number of Iran’s centrifuges to 6,000 “was one of the proposed ideas by the other party”….
• “Everything could still fall apart” before Tuesday’s self-imposed deadline for a framework agreement, a Western official told Reuters….
• One concerns Iran’s demand to continue with research into a new generation of advanced centrifuges that can purify uranium faster and in greater quantities for use in nuclear power plants or, if very highly enriched, in weapons.
• Another question is over the speed of removing United Nations sanctions on Iran. A senior U.S. official said there were other unresolved questions but expected those would fall into place if the big sticking points could be worked out.
• The U.S. official said negotiators were working towards something that would be called an “understanding” rather than a formal agreement, which would form the basis of a comprehensive deal, including all technical details, to be tied up by June 30…..
• The powers’ aim is to ensure that for the next decade Iran is kept at least one year away from being able to produce enough fissile nuclear material for a single weapon.
• “It has to be a deal which puts the bomb beyond Iran’s reach. There can’t be any compromise about that,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. “If we’re going to get this done here … Iran has got to take a deep breath and take some tough decisions.”
• His remarks contrasted with hostility from Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal but is not a party to the talks.
• “This deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem.
• Referring to advances made by Houthi rebels allied to Tehran in Yemen, he accused the Islamic republic of trying to “conquer the entire Middle East”.
• “The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous to humanity, and must be stopped,” Netanyahu said.
• Israel has previously threatened to attack Iran if it is unhappy with an eventual deal.

——————-

• “The Third Target” is #1 best-selling novel in Christian market for second month. Special simulcast event for churches, small groups Bible studies and individuals set for Sunday, April 19th. Register today.
• I’m excited to announce The Joshua Fund’s 2015 “Prayer & Vision Tour of the Holy Land.” Come visit Israel & Jordan and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Here are the details.

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

UPDATED: (Central Israel) — Is a divorce coming between the President of the United States and the State of Israel?

Once, it would have been almost preposterous even to ask such a question. Today, however, it feels like it’s a matter of “when,” not “if” Mr. Obama will formally abandon American support for the Jewish State. And the situation is rapidly going from bad to worse.

Readers of this blog may recall that I posted this column on January 14, 2015: “Will President Obama abandon or fully turn against Israel in last two years in office, amidst ISIS & Iran threats? Exclusive poll results.” According an exclusive poll I commissioned late last year, a remarkable 47.4% of Americans fear the President will turn against Israel soon given that he won’t ever face the voters again. I suspect the number would be much higher today

As I traveled through the U.S. in January and February on The Third Target book tour speaking to Christian audiences and meeting with Evangelical leaders, I found many who are becoming deeply concerned that an historic and disastrous break is coming. Speaking at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention recently, I raised this question: “What if America is not simply entering a season of strained relations with Israel, but we are heading towards total American abandonment of the Jewish State?”

Consider just a handful of headlines published since I gave that speech:

• U.S. could abandon Israel at the U.N. (CNN)
• Washington threatens to abandon Israel at UN (The Times of London)
• TV report: Obama left PM ‘with impression US will abandon Israel at UN’ (Times of Israel)
• The U.S.-Israel relationship is at “the lowest point in the alliance that diplomatic sages can recall.” (New York Times)

For an American President, or Congress, or the American people to turn against Israel and the Jewish people would be more than bad policy or unfortunate politics. According to Bible prophecy, such moves would pose an existential threat to the future of the United States.

• In Genesis 12:1-3, the Lord God vows that He will bless those who bless Israel and the Jewish people, and curse those who curse them.
• In Joel 3:2, the Lord God warns that He will bring into judgment “all the nations” who “divide My land,” the Land of Israel.
• In Ezekiel 38-39, the Lord God warns that a group of nations led by Russia (Magog) and Iran (Persia) will form an alliance and attack Israel in the “last days,” andthat no nation will come to Israel’s defense — indeed, Israel will be abandoned by all of its friends and allies when this terrible moment occurs.
• What’s more, in Zechariah 12:2-3, the Lord God warns that the nations will become intoxicated and start “reeling” with the desire to conquer and control Jerusalem and that “it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”
• In Zechariah 14:1-2, the Lord God warns that “a day is coming” when “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle” and “then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations.”
• Also in Revelation 16, the Lord God warns that all nations will not simply abandon Israel but will eventually actively turn violent towards Israel and attack Israel and the Jewish people in the End of Days (the Battle of Har Meggido, the Mountain of Meggido, also known as the Battle of Armageddon).

As noted at the NRB Convention, “the Bible teaches us that all nations will turn against Israel in the last days — and all nations will face judgment for it — but woe into us if it happens on our watch.”

Have we come to that fateful moment? Not quite yet, but we are getting dangerously close. Even though 70% of Americans see Israel favorably and support Israel, we are watching the President:

• negotiate an incredibly dangerous nuclear deal with Iran
• refuse to share the precise details of this deal with Israel, America’s most faithful and trusted ally in the region
• treat the Israeli Prime Minister nearly as persona non grata
• send the VP and Secretary of State out of country to avoid seeing the Prime Minister
• send his political strategists and operatives to defeat the Prime Minister and his party in Israel’s recent elections
• seem to threaten revenge because the PM won reelection
• threaten to abandon Israel at the UN and allow anti-Israel resolutions to pass without an American veto
• threaten to force Israel to divide Jerusalem and roll back to her pre-1967 borders or face severe international consequences
• and now declassify details of Israel’s top secret nuclear program in what is being described as an “unprecedented move”

This is the most dangerous moment in the 67-year history of the U.S.-Israel relationship. What do the next two years hold? I cannot say for sure. I’m praying for the President and his top advisors to back off, turn from this dangerous path and find common ground with Israel, despite policy and personality differences. The Bible has many stories of the God of Israel changing the hearts of lost or confused or proud or rebellious leaders, including leaders of Israel. Will you join me in praying for healing in this relationship between the President and the leaders and people of Israel?

But this much I know: on top of all America’s national challenges and sins, including 58 million abortions, we dare not also abandon or turn against Israel and the Jewish people. If we do, we will seal our fate and face the judgment of God.

——————-

• “The Third Target” is #1 best-selling novel in Christian market for second month. Special simulcast event for churches, small groups Bible studies and individuals set for Sunday, April 19th. Register today.
• I’m excited to announce The Joshua Fund’s 2015 “Prayer & Vision Tour of the Holy Land.” Come visit Israel & Jordan and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Here are the details.

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

(source: Al-Arabiya)

In just a few days, we will reach the March 31st deadline to complete nuclear negotiations with Iran.Yet rather than conclude a deal that would truly stop Iran from getting The Bomb and constrain Iranian aggression in the Middle East, consider the surreal events presently unfolding:

• The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, has in recent days repeated his call for “Death to America,” yet the international community continues to offer Iran a legal path to enrich uranium, expand its nuclear infrastructure, end economic sanctions and remove all nuclear inspectors, and thus have a clear path to The Bomb.
• The international nuclear watchdog agency known as the IAEA is warning the world that Iran continues to refuse to disclose all of the military dimensions of its nuclear program, yet the international community continues to offer Iran a legal path to The Bomb. “The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran has failed to provide the information or access needed to allay the agency’s concerns about the weapons potential of the country’s nuclear program,” reports the Washington Post. “With the deadline nearing for international talks on constraining Iran’s nuclear program, Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, said in an interview that Iran has replied to just one of a dozen queries about ‘possible military dimensions’ of past nuclear activities.”
• Iranian-backed Shia Radicals known as the “Houthis” have led a miltiary coup in Yemen, a Middle Eastern nation that lies on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, a key American ally in the region. Yemen’s president, also an American ally, has resigned and fled the country. ISIS Radicals are also trying to take over the country and has launched a series of horrific suicide bombings in the capital of Sanaa. Chaos is unfolding as Tehran pushes to seize control of yet another country in the region in an effort to surround Saudi Arabia and eventually Israel. Yet rather than counter the Iranian Radicals, the U.S. has evacuated our Embassy and all our military forces from Yemen and has essentially surrendered the country to Iran, even as the world puts Iran on the legal path to The Bomb.
• Now, a Sunni Arab alliance led by Saudi Arabia — and comprising some ten nations, including Egypt, Jordan and some of the Gulf emirates — have launched a major military offensive to stop Iran’s attempt to seize Yemen. The Saudis have committed 150,000 soldiers and 100 fighter jets to a ground, air and naval war they have dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm.” The U.S. is providing some intelligence assistance but little else to block this Iranian coup attempt, even as President Obama prepares to put Iran on the legal path to The Bomb.
• At the same time, consider this bizarre but true headline: “U.S. Backs Iran With Airstrikes Against ISIS.” As Newsweek’s online magazine notes, “The American-led coalition is now launching airstrikes to support Iranian-backed militias and Iraqi troops in the key city of Tikrit, a U.S. official tells The Daily Beast. Those forces had previously kicked off their operation to reclaim Saddam Hussein’s hometown from the self-proclaimed Islamic State without informing the U.S. military. But when that campaign stalled, they turned to American airpower.”
• Meanwhile, the latest reports from the Iran negotiations suggest the U.S. is caving into Tehran’s demands in recent days, desperately hoping to secure an “historic” nuclear deal. As one report noted, “The Obama administration is giving in to Iranian demands about the scope of its nuclear program as negotiators work to finalize a framework agreement in the coming days, according to sources familiar with the administration’s position in the negotiations. U.S. negotiators are said to have given up ground on demands that Iran be forced to disclose the full range of its nuclear activities at the outset of a nuclear deal, a concession experts say would gut the verification the Obama administration has vowed would stand as the crux of a deal with Iran.”
• Increasingly, the evidence suggests President Obama sees Iran as a potential new force for peace and stability in the Middle East while seeing Israel as an obstacle to peace. As one respected Middle East analyst writing in the Wall Street Journal noted this week: “Let’s connect the dots. Data point No. 1: President Obama withdrew U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011 and is preparing to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2016, even while keeping a few more troops there this year and next than originally planned. Point No. 2: The Obama administration keeps largely silent about Iran’s power grab in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, even going so far now as to assist Iranian forces in Tikrit, while attempting to negotiate a nuclear deal with Tehran that would allow it to maintain thousands of centrifuges. Point No. 3: Mr. Obama berates Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly “racist” campaign rhetoric, refuses to accept his apologies, and says the U.S. may now “re-assess options,” code words for allowing the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state over Israeli objections. Taken together, these facts suggest that Mr. Obama is attempting to pull off the most fundamental realignment of U.S. foreign policy in a generation. The president is pulling America back from the leading military role it has played in the Middle East since 1979, the year the Iranian hostage crisis began and the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. He is trying to transform Iran from an enemy to a friend. He is diminishing the alliance with Israel, to lows not seen since the 1960s. Call it the Obama Doctrine: The U.S. puts down the burden, and Iran picks up the slack.”

Please pray that this terrible deal with Iran will:

• fall apart
• by blocked by France or another country at the negotiating table
• be blocked by Congress
• be dramatically changed to become a good deal that blocks Iran from The Bomb

Time is running out. Former Ambassador John Bolton has written an op-ed for the New York Times that the negotiations have failed and the time has come to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Consider this excerpt: “The inescapable conclusion is that Iran will not negotiate away its nuclear program. Nor will sanctions block its building a broad and deep weapons infrastructure. The inconvenient truth is that only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed.”

Clearly, the Obama administration is not going to attack Iran.

Might Israel and a Sunni Arab alliance?

Developing….

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

Arab turnout at the polls this year was much higher than last election, and this is a good thing. (photo credit: Al-Arabiya)

(Central Israel) — Arab citizens of Israel turned out to the polls on March 17th in significantly higher numbers than in the previous election, according to research published today by the Jerusalem Post. Indeed, some 444,000 Israeli Arabs voted last week, compared to only 349,000 last time.

As a new citizen of Israel, I’m encouraged by this. Arabs are full-fledged citizens of the State of Israel. In this country, as in few others in the region, Arab citizens — along with Jewish citizens and all other citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or religion — have the legal right to vote and to be fully engaged in free and fair elections in every possible way.

This is good news. A democracy is healthier when everyone exercises their right not simply to vote, but also their right to speak out, to publish their views, to peaceably assemble, to choose their leaders and to influence public policy according to their own religious and political beliefs, morals and values.

True, the Israeli Arab parties are significantly out of the mainstream. Some of these parties advance Communist ideology, or Islamist views, or anti-Zionist nationalist views. Indeed, the Joint (Arab) List — which just won 13 seats in the Knesset — includes parties that advance each of these views. But that’s okay.

You don’t have to agree with their beliefs to support their right to hold and advance such views in a free and democratic society. Indeed, part of the beauty of truly free societies is that despite their various flaws, they respect and vigorously protect the right of people to hold and advance minority positions.

This isn’t happening in Syria or Iran or Saudi Arabia. But it’s happening in Israel, and it should be celebrated.

Excerpts from the Jerusalem Post article:

• Israeli Arab voter turnout was 63.5 percent in the election compared to 56% in 2013, according to the Statnet research institute, which had predicted a 63.4% turnout prior to the election.
• Yousef Makladeh, CEO of Statnet.co.il shared its research data and polling statistics prior to the election with The Jerusalem Post on Monday, which demonstrated that the polling company was surprisingly accurate in its pre-election polling.
• Makledeh said that 82% of Israeli Arabs voted for Arab parties in the Joint (Arab) List compared to 77% who voted for Arab parties in 2013….
• In 2013, the Arab parties together received 349,000 votes compared to 444,000 in this election, an increase of 27.3%….
• The Joint List ended up with 13 seats in the Knesset.
• Apart from the Joint List, Arab voters supported in descending order: the Zionist Union with 22.8% (25,806 votes), the Likud 15.3% (17,394), Yisrael Beytenu 13.7% (15,538), Kulanu 11.8% (13,432), Meretz 11.2% (12,752), Shas 8.8% (10,016), and Yesh Atid 4.1% (4,662).

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

Netanyahu meeting with Arab leaders on March 23, 2015.

(Central Israel) — During a meeting today with leaders from various Arab communities in Israel, newly-reelected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Israeli Arab citizens for comments he made on Election Day.

“I know the things I said several days ago offended some of Israel’s citizens, hurt the Arab citizens. I had no intention to hurt anyone and I am sorry if I did,” Netanyahu told the leaders. “My actions as prime minister, including the tremendous investment in minority sectors prove the opposite. I think, too, that we must never let anyone outside the state of Israel interfere with our democratic process….I see myself as the prime minister of each and every one of you, all the citizens of Israel, regardless of faith, ethnicity or gender. I see all citizens of Israel as partners in building a prosperous and secure state, a state for all its citizens.”

Good. That was the right thing to do. The PM was right to apologize. His remarks were insensitive and unhelpful. I would encourage him to be pro-active in the weeks and months to come in reaching out to Israeli Arab leaders, including them in his plans for the country, and continuing to invest in the economic growth, development and progress of Israeli Arab communities. As I noted yesterday on this blog, “Israeli Arabs are a vital part of our national culture and society. They are full-fledged citizens of the State of Israel and they should be honored and protected by our leaders, whatever their religious or political views.”

• Netanyahu apologizes to Arab Israelis for Election Day remarks (Jerusalem Post)
• Netanyahu apologizes to Arab community for ‘hurtful’ remarks (Times of Israel)

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

The Third Target — a new international political thriller about the threat ISIS poses to the U.S., Israel and Jordan — is the #1 best-selling novel in the Christian market in North America for the second month in a row.

The novel, which was released on January 6th, recently spent 7 weeks on the Publishers Weekly hardcover fiction best-seller list. It hit the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post best-seller lists, as well.

Amidst the barbaric attacks by ISIS jihadists across Iraq, Syria and North Africa, Christians throughout North America and around the world are asking many questions. Who is ISIS? What do they believe? What do they want? How serious is the threat to us? Is it true that genocidal conditions are emerging for Christians in the Middle East? And is there any good news? How can the Church advance the Gospel amongst Muslims?

In this context, I am pleased to announce that Tyndale House Publishers and I are partnering to present a special simulcast event on Sunday evening, April 19th, to answer these questions.

You, your small group, and/or your church — small, medium, or large — can register now to view the simulcast and to share the message with family, friends and neighbors.

Please go to the website to learn more, share this information with your pastor and with others, and then register today so you can be part of this timely event.

Thanks so much to everyone who is reading the book and telling their friends about it. Please continue to post your reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Good Reads, other online book sites and other social media sites, including at the “Epicenter Team” page on Facebook. Please also keep praying for the U.S. and our allies to develop a bold and decisive strategy to contain and then defeat ISIS, before these apocalyptic jihadists launch new and potentially catastrophic terror attacks.

——————–

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET, please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• To order a copy of THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE, please click here. It is now available as a paperback, as well as in audio and e-book formats.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.
• >> To make a secure, tax-deductible, financial contribution to the work of The Joshua Fund, please click here

>> MONDAY UPDATE (4pm Israel time): With 67 Members of Knesset recommending him to be Prime Minister, Netanyahu to be formally tasked with assembling new government.

UPDATED: (Central Israel) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under blistering criticism for comments he made on Election Day when he urged his supporters to turn out to the polls and vote for him because foreign organizations were mobilizing a larger number of Arab voters than usual to vote for his Left-wing opponents.

Here is specifically what the PM said in an Election Day You Tube video: “The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going en masse to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses….We only have you. Go to the polls, bring your friends and family, vote Mahal [Likud] to close the gap between us and Labor [Zionist Union]….With your help and God’s help, we will form a nationalist government that will protect the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu has been excoriated by those on the Israeli Left and in the international media. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, whose party experienced a crushing an unexpected defeat on Tuesday, bitterly sniped that the PM “resorted to lies, incitement and racism” to win the election. HBO’s Bill Maher called Netanyahu a “racist.”  Other left-wing commentators in the U.S. also accused him of “racism.”

The Prime Minister, however, explained that “what’s wrong is not that Arab citizens are voting, but that massive funds from abroad from left-wing NGOs and foreign governments are bringing them en masse to the polls in an organized way, thus twisting the true will of all Israeli citizens who are voting, for the good of the Left.”

Amidst all the hyperbolic rhetoric, let’s be clear on these facts:

• Netanyahu is not a racist, he doesn’t hate Arabs, and his record shows his respect for Israel’s Arab community, which makes up about 20% of Israel’s 8.2 million citizens.
• Netanyahu has invested billions in the economic development of the Israeli Arab community over the years. (See here, here, here, here and here)
• Netanyahu has carefully and properly protected the rights of Israeli Arab citizens to register to vote, to vote, to have their own political parties, and to serve in government positions, including as justices in the Israeli Supreme Court.
• The PM did nothing to prevent Israeli Arabs from voting, nor has he ever.
• Indeed, this election had the highest percentage of Israelis voting — both Jews and Arabs — of any election since 1999.
• What’s more, there will be a record 15 Arab Members of Knesset in the next parliament, “the highest number to date” — 13 will be members of Joint Arab List, one will be from the Zionist Union, and one from a member of the Meretz party.
• Israel has proven to be the safest, freest, most robust democracy for Arabs and Jews in the entire Middle East under all prime ministers of Israel, including Netanyahu.
• According to a recent poll, during the Netanyahu years as Prime Minister, “65% of Israeli Arabs described themselves as either very or quite proud to be Israeli.”
• UPDATE: Read about the Arab town in Israel that voted 76% for Netanyahu and the Likud.

That said, it also must be noted that:

• The Joint (Arab) List — a combination of Arab parties running together in the recent election — is made up of a Communist party, an Islamist party, and an anti-Zionist Arab nationalist party that seek to divide Jerusalem and roll Israel back to her pre-1967 borders.
• Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint (Arab) List, made it clear in pre-election interviews that “the most important thing is to prevent Netanyahu forming another government.”
• Odeh suggested his Joint List might join the Herzog government and told Al Jazeera, “According to the latest surveys, about 65-70 percent of the Arab citizens want the Joint List to be part of the government. This is evidence that our supporters do want to exert influence on the largest scales, and do support our goal to defeat the right wing.”
• Even the day before the election, Odeh intimated he would support Herzog to be the next Prime Minister, perhaps given that Herzog supports dividing Jerusalem and rolling Israel back nearly to the pre-1967 borders to create a sovereign Palestinian state.

In this context, Netanyahu had every right — indeed a responsibility even — to warn his supporters that Communist, Islamist and anti-Zionist voters were mobilizing to defeat him, and that foreign NGOs were helping get these voters to the polls in large numbers. He had every right — and again, the responsibility — to educate and mobilize voters who want Jerusalem to remain unified and don’t believe in rolling Israel back to indefensible borders to get to the polls to defend their values.

This wasn’t racist, and Netanyahu’s critics know it.

All that said, Netanyahu should have been more careful in how he communicated. He should have taken extra care to be precise about his concerns, knowing how his enemies constantly try to use his words against him. He was not the only candidate to use passionate rhetoric in the heat of a campaign, but he should hold himself to a higher standard.

Israeli Arabs are a vital part of our national culture and society. They are full-fledged citizens of the State of Israel and they should be honored and protected by our leaders, whatever their religious or political views.

So now, the Prime Minister should pro-actively reach out to all Israelis — Arabs and Jews, those who voted for him and those who did not — and bring the nation together. We face grave and common threats and we need each other. What’s more, the world is watching how we treat one another.

“Death to America!” says Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

We are rapidly approaching the March 31st deadline for the Iran nuclear negotiations. Yet while Iran makes few if any concessions, the P5+1 continues to make more and more concessions to the tyrants of Tehran.

Iran’s leaders keep openly and unabashedly threatening America and Israel with annihilation. Yet the Obama administration and the major world powers keep giving Iran what it wants. Under the current deal that’s being discussion, Iran does not have to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure. It will still be allowed to enrich uranium. It does not have to disclose its nuclear weaponization efforts. It does not have to modify much less abandon its efforts to build ICBMs. And it will be given assurances that all economic sanctions will be removed from Iran in due time, and all nuclear inspectors will be removed, as well.

This is a dangerous road. The administration is playing with fire.

The President, the Secretary of State and their top advisors do not understand the apocalyptic, genocidal eschatology driving the leaders of the Iranian regime. Thus, they are engaging in a level of appeasement towards Tehran that would make Neville Chamberlain blush.

Here is the latest:

• “Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei called for ‘Death to America’ on Saturday, a day after President Barack Obama appealed to Iran to seize a ‘historic opportunity’ for a nuclear deal and a better future, and as US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed substantial progress toward an accord,” reports the Times of Israel.
• “Khamenei told a crowd in Tehran that Iran would not capitulate to Western demands,” the Times noted. “When the crowd started shouting, ‘Death to America,’ the ayatollah responded: ‘Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of this pressure.'”
• “’They insist on putting pressure on our dear people’s economy,’ he said, referring to economic sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear program. ‘What is their goal? Their goal is to put the people against the system,’ he said. ‘The politics of America is to create insecurity,’ he added, referring both to US pressure on Iran and elsewhere in the region.”
• The Times noted that “Khamenei’s comments contrasted with those of Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who said ‘achieving a deal is possible’ by the March 31 target date for a preliminary accord.”
• “Kerry was more circumspect, as he spoke to reporters after six days of negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne,” noted the article. “The talks, made ‘substantial progress,’ he said, but ‘important gaps remain….We have an opportunity to get this right,’ Kerry said, as he urged Iran to make ‘fundamental decisions’ that prove to the world it has no interest in atomic weapons.”

————————-

• To order a copy of THE THIRD TARGET — a novel about the rising threat of ISIS and its apocalyptic beliefs — please click here. It is now available in book stores across the U.S. and Canada in hardcover and audio book formats . It is also available in e-book formats like Kindle, Nook & others.
• Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• Receive every blog post automatically via the RSS feed.

We have just heard the news that my first work of historical fiction — The Auschwitz Escape — has become a finalist for the Gold Medallion Award for Best Novel, an annual award given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

The Auschwitz Escape was also recently a finalist for the 2014 Good Reads award for Best Historical Fiction.

Given the personal nature of this book, and our desire to see Christians learn more about the Holocaust and share that knowledge with younger generations, Lynn and I are thrilled that ECPA has named The Auschwitz Escape a finalist. Perhaps this will draw more attention to the novel — and to some of the true stories of heroism and courage in the face of terrible evil that inspired the novel in the first place — and encourage many more to read it, especially young people.

In 2006, my third political thriller — The Ezekiel Option — won the Gold Medallion Award for Best Novel. It was a true honor and one for which we are deeply grateful.

Here are excerpts from last week’s press release:

PHOENIX, Ariz., March 19, 2015 —The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) released today the 37 finalists for the 2015 Christian Book Award® program, honoring Christian publishing’s best book and Bible releases of the year.  The top five titles in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children, Inspiration, and Bibles – with ties in both Bible Reference and New Author – make up the stellar finalist pool deemed as the “best Christian books of the year.”

A winner in each category and the Christian Book of the Year™ will be announced on May 5 among industry leadership at the ECPA Awards Banquet held in conjunction with the ECPA Leadership Summit in Nashville….

Fiction

• The Advocate, Randy Singer | Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414391304

• The Auschwitz Escape, Joel C. Rosenberg | Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414336244

• The Legend of Sheba: Rise of a Queen, Tosca Lee | Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 9781451684049

• The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn: A Novel, Lori Benton | WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, 9780307731494

• The Sentinels of Andersonville, Tracy Groot | Tyndale House Publishers, 9781414359489

“These 37 titles join a premier collection of Christian content carrying our industry’s highest accolade,” says ECPA President/CEO Mark Kuyper.  “We are honored to promote them as the apex of what we do as an industry: produce great books that feed the soul in a marketplace too often dominated by content that starves it.”

Christian Book Award® program finalists and winners receive recognition and support throughout multiple retail and media outlets, including Christianity Today, ChristianBook.com, Cokesbury, Family Christian, LifeWay, Mardel, Munce Group, Parable Christian Stores, Crossings, Innovative/Signature Websites, NetGalley, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.  Christianity Today will continue their partnership with the program through ad campaigns in their digital and print publications, May through December of this year.

The Christian Book Award® program has recognized the absolute highest quality in Christian books since 1978. Based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact, the Christian Book Award® program is the oldest and among the most prestigious awards in the religious publishing industry.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade organization, comprised of nearly 200 member companies worldwide, representing a combined revenue of nearly $1.4 billion. Since 1974, ECPA has strengthened Christian publishing by building Networking, Information, and Advocacy opportunities within the industry and across multiple channels so that our members can more effectively produce and deliver transformational Christian content. For more information about ECPA: 480-966-3998, info@ecpa.org, www.ecpa.org.