(Jerusalem, Israel) — With terrorist attacks against Israel suddenly spiking, and the Iran threat growing, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination is showing himself to be a dangerous man at a dangerous time. 

Here’s what you need to know:

• More than 80 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since Sunday morning — there has also been a spike in terror attacks in Jerusalem this month — including an attack that wounded 14 Israelis, one critically (see here, here, here, here and here)
• Israel’s Iron Dome system has shot down most of the rockets, but schools, synagogues, playgrounds and many businesses throughout Southern Israel have been shut down for the past two days.
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad has taken responsibility for the attacks from Gaza — it’s very possible the violence will escalate as we approach the third round of Israeli national elections on Monday, March 2^nd.
• The American Israeli Public Affairs (AIPAC) conference takes place in Washington on March 1-3 with some 18,000 pro-Israel activists planning to attend. 
• Rather than stand with Israelis under fire, and show compassion for the hundreds of thousands of Israeli school children and their families who have less than 15 seconds to run to their bomb shelters as terrorists in Gaza fire rockets designed to kill and maim them, Sen. Bernie Sanders — now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination — has announced that he will boycott speaking to the AIPAC conference (even though major presidential contenders typically address the group). He accuses AIPAC speakers of “expressing bigotry.”
• Sen. Sanders is vowing to cut U.S. annual military aid to Israel.
• Sen. Sanders is calling for a “fundamental change” in U.S. policy towards Israel.
• Sen. Sanders says he will send money earmarked for Israel to Gaza, which is fully controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization.
• Sen. Sanders says he will re-enter the (insane) Iran nuclear deal that is so dangerous both to U.S. and Israeli national security — other Democratic candidates say they will, too, but Sanders is the front-runner.
• If all this weren’t troubling enough, the Kremlin is backing Sanders. “Russia has been trying to intervene in the Democratic primaries to aid Senator Bernie Sanders, according to people familiar with the matter, and Mr. Sanders said on Friday that intelligence officials briefed him,” reported the New York Times. 

Please pray more than ever for the peace of Jerusalem and for God’s grace on Israelis and Palestinians on both sides of the borders.

Please pray, too, for Senator Sanders to have a dramatic change of heart. He is absolutely right that we need to show more love and compassion for the Palestinian people who are suffering. But he is dead wrong in his historic and consistent hostility towards the State of Israel and his malicious and entirely unwarranted attacks against AIPAC and the pro-Israel community in the U.S.

As for me:

• I’ll do my best to keep you posted on all the latest news via this blog and Twitter.
• On Friday, I head to Washington where I’m honored to speak at the AIPAC conference this weekend for the first time.
• My new thriller releases on 3/17, I plan to travel all across the U.S. on the book tour — including an evening with my friend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Iowa I hope you’ll attend — and I hope to post more details on the full tour soon.

—————————

• To pre-order my next thriller, THE JERUSALEM ASSASSIN, which releases on March 17th, please click here. 
• To buy copies of THE PERSIAN GAMBLE in paperback, please click here. 
• To buy copies of THE KREMLIN CONSPIRACY in paperback, please click here.

—————————

• Give your family a trip to Israel & Egypt in 2020! Join Lynn and me on The Joshua Fund’s “Prayer & Vision Trip” next October. Here are all the details and prices. Register today. 

____________________

• Would you like to make a secure, tax deductible donation to The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net)? Come help us educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, strengthen the Church in the Epicenter, preach the Good News of God’s love, teach the Word of God, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and care for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and others. The Joshua Fund is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Please click here to learn more. Thanks.