Don’t Bet Against Israel on Iran

Israeli officials are pushing back against what appears to be a growing perception among experts and analysts that its military lacks the capability to deal a significant blow to Iran’s nuclear installations, warning skeptics not to underestimate the Jewish state.

The officials, including currently serving political figures and retired military officers, pointed out in interviews with The Daily Beast that Israel has a history of surprising its enemies and surpassing expectations, from the lightning assault of the 1967 war to the daring rescue operation for hostages at Entebbe in 1976.

You Don’t Mess With Israel!

Geesh! Some so-called Christians these days get on my last nerve. I made the mistake of reading the excellent article, So Jesus Lived in Occupied Territory, by Jan Markell, on the Rapture Ready website and got so disgusted I wanted to stick a pencil in somebody! Up until that point, I was blissfully unaware that an international conference called, Christ at the Checkpoint even existed. Blech!

Apparently this symposium, held in Bethlehem of all places, features some of the ‘intellectually elite Christian thinkers of our time.’ This yearly conference started in 2010 and its overall theme is, (hold your nose!) “Hope in the Midst of Conflict.”

Iranian Threat Heats Up

Iran announced Sunday that it was cutting off crude oil sales to France and England, a mostly symbolic act given that Iran provides England less than 1% of its crude, and France claims that it "practically stopped importing Iranian oil," according to the head of the Union of Petroleum Industries. A few days later, the head of Iran's armed forces threatened to attack Israel preemptively through its terrorist proxies in Lebanon and Gaza. The Iranians are once again using bluster to counter the E.U. ban on Iranian oil slated to begin on July 1, and the threat of Belgium-based SWIFT to ban Iran from its system for facilitating transfers of payments among nations through its international network of banks. As a further provocation, the Iranians sent two warships through the Suez Canal in a show of support for global pariah Syria. This follows the Iranian-engineered terrorist attacks on Israeli targets in India, Georgia, and Thailand.

IDF gearing up to invade Gaza

Israeli media this week reported that the IDF is gearing up for another large-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip to halt terrorist rocket fire and curb the threat posed by groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Jerusalem Post reported last month that the IDF General Staff had ordered the Southern Command to draw up plans for a Gaza incursion. Over the weekend, the paper revealed that a growing number of senior officers in the Southern Command are now pushing for the order to be given to begin the attack.

IDF fears Syria attack as pressure builds on Assad

Today the Jerusalem Post reported in an article that there is growing concern in the IDF that Syrian President Bashar Assad could possibly try to lash out at Israel over mounting internal pressure. As we have been discussing in recent editions of the Rapture Report regarding Syria and the 11-month conflict in that state, the reality that we could see a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 17 seems to move closer and closer into view. The prophecy in Isaiah 17 centers around the "destruction" of Damascus and that it becomes an uninhabited city in the future. With Syria possessing one of the world's largest stockpiles of chemicals weapons, there is a very good chance that Assad might act in a way that could fulfill this prophecy given that Israel has in the past warned Damascus that any use of chemical weapons on the Jewish state would result in a devastating strike on Damascus.