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After thinking about this chapter for a full year and collecting notes, I realize that a book could well be written, rather than just a chapter, on this particular year in Israel. Three events, especially, seem to stand out as regarding prophecy. They are the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin; the sudden acceleration of terrorism in the spring of 1996; and the election of Binyamin Netanyahu, which seemed to surprise everyone but those familiar with the Israeli population and their concerns. (The global news-media bias against Israel and in favor of various Arab schemes and causes has given many people a false picture of the Holy Land. The Arabs, 200 million in number, are cast as the underdog to the 4-1/2 million Israelis; and the Palestinians, the perpetrators of terrorism, are considered the victims in the press and electronic coverage. With the media, the U.S. administration, and almost everyone else rooting for Prime Minister Shimon Peres and the "peace process," the world was shocked when the Israeli population elected Netanyahu. But this was easy to understand from the streets of Israel. The population was simply worried about giving away land to people who seemed to have no intention of making peace. The media was dishonest enough to call the election "razor-thin" and "hairline," when actually the Jewish vote put Netanyahu ahead 56% to 44%. The vote of the Israeli Arabs, a monolithic one in favor of Peres, made the election seem close in the pure numbers, but ought not to be taken seriously as valid balloting in a democracy. No Arab nation is now, or has ever been, a democracy, and Arab people pretty much vote as a bloc or as they are told to vote.) Regarding the first of the history-making events of the past year, the Rabin assassination, I looked back at our ministry's coverage of that event. We were certainly asked a host of questions about what really happened and how we felt about it. I devoted my December 1995 personal letter to responding to those questions. At this time, looking back on the assassination, it has seemed to militate toward the End Times in a very direct way. We might describe the subsequent chain of events as follows: Peres takes over the government and accelerates the peace process; the people of Israel polarize and the "right wing" is accused of causing the assassination; the Palestinians also divide, with those not in favor of the peace process heightening their terrorist activities; the bombing of buses in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv causes a majority of the Jewish population to swing toward the right; Netanyahu wins the election. At the time of this writing, there is an uneasy silence in Israel, with both sides (the Israelis and the Palestinians) waiting to see what the policies of the new government really will be. The way in which this militates toward the Tribulation period is that the policies Netanyahu chooses to embrace could have the potential to bring on real conflict — a true shooting war. That is, if he refuses to go ahead with the peace process, the Palestinians will sooner or later escalate the terrorism until life in Israel becomes unbearable. They might also consider that they have enough of an excuse to attack Israel, with the help of Syria or whomever, and they would most likely have world opinion on their side. World opinion is created by the aforementioned media bias, which is invariably anti-Israel these days. If, on the other hand, Netanyahu goes ahead with the peace process and step-by-step gives Israel over to the Palestinians, the Israelis would find themselves on a relatively narrow coastal strip facing the populous West Bank high ground in the center of the country. The Palestinians would then be in a position to launch an attack against a much smaller Israel, which the Israelis might choose to repulse with nuclear weaponry. Thus, in either case, the so-called peace process leads ultimately to war. Or then again, it might lead to the brink of war, giving the Antichrist his cue to enter the negotiations with his own "superior" peace plan. One can imagine the beleaguered Israelis, realizing that the use of nuclear materials in so small a space would be almost as dangerous to themselves as to their enemy, contemplating what to do and glad to have an alternative of a seven-year peace plan. I am purely speculating on the scenario that will bring the Antichrist on stage at last, but the peace process in Israel is extremely suggestive of the administration of the Antichrist. It bears all his characteristics: it is anti-Israeli, it is a false peace, and it leads ultimately to war. I have touched on the media bias that has given Israel an undeservedly bad reputation in the minds of today's generation. We must bear in mind that most of the people alive today did not witness the founding of Israel, nor did they live as adults through the period when a young and brave Israel of kibbutzim and defensive wars sustained itself and grew into the nation it is today. Rather, university-age students and even Baby Boomers are conscious only of a strong Israel and its opposition to the Arabs. That unfortunate opposition means that petro-dollars and Israel are on opposite sides of an ongoing debate. Should we support our sister democracy with whatever blemishes it may have, or should we favor the Arabs and maintain an inexpensive, steady flow of oil to run our civilization? The media, like any other business, give their best customers the most courtesy, and they are utterly ruled by oil money. The advertising of cars, plastics, gasoline, cosmetics, and a thousand other petroleum products, supports the for-profit media enterprises we mistakenly assume are neutral in their reportage. Obviously, they follow an invariably pro-oil-money line. The Arabs have even gone so far as to purchase certain news agencies, including the United Press International, in order to more effectively manage the news we get. I have personally had the experience of speaking to newspaper editors who would not even correct misreported facts in Arab-released news; they simply accused me of bias. I pointed out to the foreign editor of the Dallas Morning News that the paper had reported violence in Manger Square in Bethlehem in December 1994, while my tour group, which stood in the square the whole evening, had seen no violence whatsoever. I also commented that the Morning News was running an Arab news release from Cairo, and they might want to correct their errors. I was told that the editor understood my bias. I replied that it was not a matter of bias but of eyewitness testimony, and that the Morning News was not reporting the facts. I asked if, since they had an Arab writer, did they perhaps have any Jewish editors to look at the copy and see if it was at least accurate. To that, the editor answered, "I consider that a racist question." David Bar-Illan, executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, reported that the New York Times, "the newspaper of record," reported an influx of 200,000 Palestinians from Kuwait into Gaza during the Persian Gulf War. Nothing of the kind happened at all, but that august newspaper refused to print a retraction or even look into the matter, and this important misinformation is now there to be read by future generations as presumably a reason why the Palestinians needed more land. The news on television networks is equally biased. I personally find very repugnant the reportage of Mike Wallace, Robert Novak, Anthony Lewis, Thomas Friedman and Bob Simon. They can all be counted on to criticize Israel virtually 100% of the time. They are also all Jews, though they might not like that fact to be generally known. Jerusalem is a particular bone of contention right now, and that is how the prophets portrayed it in the End Times. Jerusalem is the most wonderful city in the world, not only in its beauty, but also in its significance. The prophets picture the Millennial House of the Lord there on Mount Moriah, where the old temples of God once stood. The book of Revelation also continues the career of Jerusalem beyond the kingdom and into eternity: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:1-2). But Zechariah also chronicles tougher times for Jerusalem before all that good news, and I'm afraid we are now living in that turbulent period. "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zech. 12:3). This is a case where what once was a prophecy to be interpreted, is now daily news that anyone can see. Jerusalem and, indeed, all of Israel are becoming the center of the earth and the focus of all nations. The current peace process, which is still on track even after the recent assassination, prophetically will lead to that "covenant with death and hell" (Isaiah 28:15) warned about in prophetic Scripture. The Antichrist will eventually arrive with his seven-year treaty, and that will be the beginning of the end.
In a world of repeated terrorism, few people care to hear the reports of believers. But it so happens that Jeff Mitchell, one of our Fall Tour passengers, was present at the July bombing in Atlanta. This is a nail-biting story that shows the media for who they are. Read on.
Terrorism in AtlantaOn the night of July 26, I grabbed my videocamera, and my roommate and I headed to downtown Atlanta to visit Centennial Park, which had exhibitions and special events set up in honor of the Olympics. Sometime after 1:00 am, we found ourselves in a corner of the park where a sound tower had been constructed to hold communications equipment for the various news organizations that were covering the Games. We were standing and talking when suddenly five policemen ran past us. We thought that perhaps there was some trouble in the park, such as a fight, that they were going to deal with. An NBC cameraman was standing closer to the tower, and a policeman stopped and spoke with him. Although the police had said nothing to us, they were warning the cameraman that there was a suspicious package nearby and he should move to a different area. He walked toward where we were standing, about 50 feet away from the sound tower. There was no warning when, a few minutes later, the bomb went off. The ground shook and we felt the concussion. Large shards of sheet metal flew through the air, along with shrapnel and pieces of wood from the bench where the bag containing the bomb had been sitting. I immediately knew it was a bomb, but at first thought it was a big bomb that had exploded far away. A road parallels the park about 20 yards from the sound tower, and I thought someone had placed a car bomb there. Almost at once, though, I realized that the long metal pieces in the air were from the tower rather than from a car. Four or five people near my roommate and me were hit with shrapnel. The NBC cameraman, who was about 10 feet away from me, was wounded in the neck. A woman there with her family was struck in the back, and a girl hit in the knees was cut pretty badly. A couple of others dropped to the ground. I still had my videocamera and, although I did not get the actual explosion, filmed about 30 seconds of the aftermath. It was surprising to see how calm people were. They were stunned, but they did not panic. Several policemen were injured, but those who weren't screamed and yelled for people to leave the park. They were more agitated than anyone else present. After being evacuated from the park, my roommate and I stood on a corner outside. I remarked to him, "I can't believe how close we were." A nearby newspaper reporter overheard me and came over with a notepad and starting asking questions. Another reporter noticed and came over. That attracted another and another, and soon three or four newsmen were standing around me with their cameras in my face. Once they realized that I had been close to the bombing, they started peppering me with questions. The first reporter wanted to know how near I was to the explosion, and had I seen anyone hurt. I said yes, and on being pressed for details, I said I had seen three or four people drop to the ground. She asked if they had been hurt badly, and I replied that I hadn't seen them move after they fell. A cameraman asked, "So you saw four dead?" He was putting words in my mouth. It really irritated me that I was being misquoted on camera, and I corrected him. The reporters kept on asking what kind of bomb it was — was it a car bomb, was it a package bomb? I said that I wasn't a bomb expert so I couldn't know. They kept trying to sensationalize the situation. What had I seen? Was there a lot of blood? I find it interesting that in the Atlanta Journal the next day, it was reported that four people had died, when actually there was only one direct casualty. I can't help but wonder if they got that from the cameraman who misquoted me. The other reporters around us might not have heard my rebuttal. After I got home that night, I realized that I had video footage of the crowd in front of the sound tower before the explosion. Thinking it might contain important information, I drove back downtown. There was already a police roadblock near the park. I stopped a policeman and told him I had videotape of the park before the bombing. He called his dispatcher, and five minutes later an FBI agent came up. He said to follow him in my car. We drove through downtown Atlanta at 70 miles per hour (the normal speed limit is 35). When we got to the interstate, we drove the six or seven miles to FBI headquarters at 120 miles per hour. It was just like a high-speed chase on television. Fortunately, there weren't many cars on the road at 3:00 am. The agent took me upstairs and put me in a room that looked just like a command center you might see in a movie. One wall was filled with TV screens showing news programs, activity on the interstates, and scenes from security cameras. There were numerous computers with telecommunications equipment. I felt as if I were in the presence of Big Brother. They interviewed me for 30 minutes, and then they took my videotape and said they would be in touch if they needed me. I finally got home around six or seven that morning. The impact of the bombing was evident right away. Before that, Centennial Park was free and open. It took just a few minutes to get in. After they reopened the park, security guards searched everything and it took 30 minutes to get through. People told me they were scared to go in. The next time we went down to the park, I said to my roommate that the terrorists had won because they had succeeded in disrupting normal life. Although this was a tragic event, I was blessed by the evidence of God's provision for me. People in front of us and behind us were wounded, but my roommate and I were uninjured. I talked later with my sister, who said that she had felt that something would happen that night and had asked God to guard me with His angels. She doesn't normally do things like that, so I know it was the Lord moving to protect me. I have heard that people are often afraid to go to Israel because they think there is danger there. In light of the dangers here in the United States, I think perhaps I should go to Israel to be safe. Zola has visited the Holy Land over 50 times and has never had a security problem. I don't expect there to be a problem on the trip this fall. The chances of us as a tour being near to a dangerous incident is a million to one. And even if something does happen, the chances of our group being near it at the time are very slim. We can't live life in fear. I will not let anything stop me from going to Israel. I won't let fears, founded or unfounded, run my life. There are three conclusions I am taking away with me from the bombing:
The Importance of Netanyahu's Election
The election of Netanyahu, in spite of such unprecedented international pressure, greatly surprised and distressed this coalition of diplomatic entities. Though the election was close in terms of overall votes, when the monolithic Arab pro-PLO vote is removed, the Jewish Israeli vote was overwhelmingly for Netanyahu, affectionately called "Bibi" (Bee-bee) by his supporters. Most pro-Israel Christians are delighted with the election of Netanyahu, and have been greatly concerned over the eagerness of Peres' Labor Party to give in to the demands of the Arab governments, the PLO and the diplomats of the Western powers. They, along with the majority of Jewish Israelis, see in Netanyahu a strong leader who will not compromise the security of Israel in order to obtain an illusory and temporary "peace" with the PLO.
The Significance of the Book
Although the book is published in New York by Bantam Books, it is not widely discussed in the press, and not many Americans seem to be aware of it. We have been informed by the publisher, Bantam Books, that it is out of print but that they may reprint it in the next few months. At any rate, anyone interested in knowing what Netanyahu stands for would be well-advised to read this book.
The Major ThemesIn this review, I would like to look at some of the major themes of the book. One thing that strikes the reader is that Netanyahu, a politician who earned his degrees in architecture and management at M.I.T., demonstrates his prowess as a historian with rare insights. It is his ability to present the long history of the Jewish nation that gives his book such dynamic power and reasonableness.
Britain Helped Create Zionism and Then Betrayed ItBeginning with the early stages of Zionism at the close of the last century, Netanyahu shows that there was considerable goodwill among the European nations toward the concept of restoring the Jewish people to their ancient homeland. Palestine, as it was then called, was very sparsely populated with some Arab towns, and some early Jewish agricultural immigrants from Russia and eastern Europe. Conditions throughout the land were very bad, with either rocks or swamps making it nonarable and/or unhealthy. All reports by travellers described how poor and inhospitable the country was then. The point is that Palestine at that time was an impoverished, sparsely populated backwater of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. No one seemed to care very much about it, so if the Jewish people wanted to try to rehabilitate the country, why not? This was the attitude of much of the European citizenry, which was certainly not opposed to the ideals of Zionism. In addition, there was a strong Christian Zionist movement in Britain, and also in America, at the time that became personified in British Foreign Minister Lord Alfred Balfour at the close of World War I. Netanyahu is one of the first political leaders of Israel to write this forcefully of the importance of Christian Zionism in the development of Israel:
With this humanist stream converged another important current that became ascendant in the last century — Christian Zionism, a movement that promoted the belief that the spiritual redemption of mankind could occur only if it were preceded by the ingathering of the Jewish exiles, as foretold in the Bible. After all, to both Christians and Jews, Zionism was the fulfillment of ancient prophecy (p. 16). In World War I, the British defeated the Turks and received the Mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations, and Zionism became a practical possibility on a large scale. It was Balfour, of course, who worked with Chaim Weitzmann, a leader of the Zionist movement, in the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 that recognized the right of the Jewish people to return to their ancient homeland. Netanyahu traces the resulting early immigration of the Jewish people back to the Land between the two World Wars, sometimes over much opposition and often reaching heroic proportions. Alas, though, there was a competing faction of individuals, especially in Britain, whom Netanyahu describes as Arabists, who believed that the future of the Middle East was in the hands of the Arab nations, rather than with the Jews. Lawrence of Arabia was one of the outstanding leaders of the Arabists. He reflected the aspirations of the Arabs for independence, and their opposition to the settlement of Jews in Palestine. Within a few years after the Balfour Declaration, the Arabists became dominant over the Zionist sympathizers in the British government. This led to increasingly devastating problems as Europe turned to Nazism and began to be even more of a hell on earth for the Jews, and Britain succumbed to Arab pressure to keep Jews from immigrating into Palestine. Thus Britain systematically betrayed the Jewish people, and not only turned a deaf ear to the pleas of those who were being engulfed by the Holocaust, but also did everything it could to slam the door to the escape of the Jews to Palestine, and to frustrate the beginnings of the revived state of Israel. To a lesser extent, the U. S. (along with other Western countries) was also culpable in its desertion of the Zionist cause, although it did not have direct responsibility for Palestine between the two World Wars. Netanyahu uses the term "betrayal" advisedly. Through the Balfour Declaration, Britain made a solemn promise to support the cause of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and this was ratified by the other civilized countries in the resolutions of the League of Nations. However, through the pressure of the Arabists and the Nazis, Britain led the world in reneging on the commitments made to the Jews. Such international actions demonstrated the fact that the Jewish people could no longer (if they ever could) rely on the promises of the nations, and would have to create their own state with their own security. The Prime Minister points out that before the 1948 War of Independence, world opinion was generally negative toward the Jewish people and their national aspirations. However, with the brave stand that was made, and the creation of the new democracy against apparently insurmountable odds, Israel enjoyed two decades of relatively broad public support until just after the Six Day War in 1967. This support was evidenced by such books and movies as the popular Exodus. In those heady days, Israel was seen as "David," and the enormous obstacles they had overcome (the Nazi Holocaust, the British opposition, and the Arab armies) were viewed as "Goliath." After the Six Day War, though, a shift happened. For various reasons, chiefly the propaganda war waged by the Arab interests, somehow in world opinion the Arabs became the underdog and Israel became the aggressor. Netanyahu explains and chronicles this astonishing transition that has occurred over the last two decades. In our next article, we will review the new Prime Minister's revealing description of this most effective scam of the last half of the twentieth century.
Dear Friends, I've just returned from Israel where my tour group and I were present during the recent uproar. We were not even conscious of this action. While a few people were killed, five million went to work and came home oblivious to what CNN told us was "a shooting war." This is not to belittle the political strife in the Holy Land, but it still needs to be said that even at the height of such conflict, casualty rates are far beneath those for crime in American cities. We all live with the fact that somewhere in our town people are up to no good, and that is true in Israel, too. Naturally the American media came down on Israel and publicized the event out of all proportion to its reality. "The future of the Middle East is at stake," wailed William Rogers of CNN. He also observed that disarming the Palestinian police would be "horrible," although I'm not so sure. Policeman who fire at civilians or even soldiers ought to surrender their weapons. As A.M. Rosenthal of The New York Times put it, there was "instant international condemnation of Israel for being in the way of Palestinian police bullets." The summit conference in Washington was irrelevant. The Palestinian demonstrations were not spontaneous, but were organized 24 hours after the opening of the tunnel entrance. I have walked through this tunnel, and so have our past tour groups. It will be much more convenient for Jews, Arabs and visitors now that there is an entrance at each end. The claims that damage was done to Muslim holy sites are nonsense. The tunnel has been in existence for nearly 2,000 years, and it was merely "uncapped." If the Israelis would now acquiesce to closing the new entrance, they would be supporting government by tantrum. It would mean that in any country anyone opposed to some government decision could grab a rifle and start shooting policemen and soldiers. I've led 53 Holy Land tours with no security threats whatever involving any of our pilgrims. I expect no casualties on our next tour. The reason I expect no casualties is not spiritual, but simply common sense. Being injured in a terrorist action in Israel is like getting struck by lightning: it can happen, but it's not likely. And we know where to take our tours in order to avoid thunderstorms. Living in the United States, where crime is rampant and terrorism is now a threat, is dangerous. Going to Israel would be taking a break! But the place is not merely safe for travel, it also presents a one-of-a-kind spiritual experience. No matter how fine a church you attend, or how Christian a community you have at home, none of it is comparable to walking where Jesus walked. Pilgrims by the hundreds have told me that their relationship with Christ was totally renewed by seeing the true biblical sites. And in view of the fact that we will all spend 1,000 years in Israel in the Kingdom to come, a trip to see our new home is certainly appropriate in this life. The phrase I love to hear from our passengers sounds like this: "I just didn't think it would be anywhere near that spiritual, exciting and dramatic." But don't take their word for it — come see for yourself. If you have watched our most recent television series, A Pilgrim's Journey, you have heard the passengers from our Spring Tour express how inspiring and secure they found travelling in Israel to be. Our next tour is coming up very soon and will celebrate the special holidays of December. Both the Basic and Grand Tours will depart on December 11th, arriving in Israel during the final days of the celebration of Hanukkah. Both tours will explore the Land of Abraham from the Galilee to Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Our Basic Tour, with a special price of $1,999, will return on December 20th in time for Christmas at home. Our Grand Tour, with a price of only $2,999, will continue on to the country of Jordan to see Mount Nebo and the ancient city of Petra, and then drive to the Red Sea resort city of Eilat in southern Israel. The Grand Tour will also include that one of a kind spiritual event — Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. It will return home on December 26th. Please call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) or Cynthia at (214) 696-9760 for a full-color brochure.
Your messenger,
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Copyright © 1996 by Zola Levitt Ministries, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All rights reserved. Brief passages may be quoted in reviews or other article. For all other use, please get our written approval.
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