Israel

Jordan Valley Annexation–Vital to Israel’s Security?

February 28, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

*Uzi Dayan pictured with Bella on the recent tour of the Judea and Samaria (which includes the Jordan Valley).*

The Jordan Valley is a long and narrow valley along the Jordan River. It forms a natural eastern border between Israel and Jordan. Israel considers it to be an important strategic region to protect the country’s eastern region.

Last Wednesday, I (Bella) joined about 300 women from the Likud Party on a trip to the Jordan Valley with Uzi Dayan, our tour guide. Maj. Gen. (reserve) Uzi Dayan was the former head of the IDF Central Command, IDF Deputy Chief of Staff and national security adviser to several Prime Ministers.

Our first stop was a place the Arabs call Qasr el-Yahud (“Castle of the Jews”). Jews believe this was the place at the Jordan River where the Israelites, led by Joshua son of Nun, crossed the river to enter the Promised Land following the Exodus from Egypt. They also believe it is the place the Prophet Elijah crossed the river in the opposite direction and was taken into heaven by ‘fiery chariots’, as witnessed by his disciple Elisha.

“It’s a very special place,” Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan told us. “Maybe the most important historical event of Israel took place here.” Joshua 1:

“The Lord said to Joshua son of Nun: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.“

Dayan also believes this is the place Moses looked on from nearby Mount Nebo when he ended his role as leader of Israel and saw the people of Israel get ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses himself didn’t enter and died on the mountain on the other side of the Jordan River.

For Christians, this place is also significant as they believe that this was the spot in the Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized Yeshua (Jesus). Today it is a baptismal site. Until 2011, this baptismal site was a closed military zone, accessible only to groups with special permission after prior coordination with the IDF-Israel Defense Forces. Today, this area has a few churches belonging to different denominations, mainly Greek Orthodox, open to visitors who come to be baptized.

As we drove across the valley to a place commemorating Israeli soldiers who were killed in a battle protecting the valley, Dayan said that Israeli annexation of the Jordan valley is a ‘security buffer zone that is essential to Israel’. “Israeli security requires three things: fundamental strategic depth; room to wage war against the threat of conventional attacks from the outside, and room that allows for effective combat against terrorism. The minimal strategic depth and air space required is the 65 kilometers average width of Israel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. As for room to wage war, this is the Jordan Rift Valley which ranges between 6 and 14 km wide.”

As he spoke, the General pointed out the mountains on the valley’s western edge (which range from 900 to 1,400 meters edge high) that create a physical defensive barrier. There are only five mountain passageways through them. Even a limited IDF force deployed in the valley can defend Israel against an attack from the east.

The Jordan Valley is the eastern buffer zone that prevents the West Bank mountain region from becoming a terrorist entity. From the time Israel captured the Jordan Valley from Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967, there have been no military invasions from Jordan into Israel. There now exists a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.

According to provisions of the 1993 Oslo Accords, most of the Jordan Valley is part of Area C, where Israel maintains full civil and security control. However, this strategic region is not yet officially Israeli territory.

*See the orange area? That is the Jordan Valley. The yellow is the rest of Judea and Samaria: the Biblical Heartland of the Land of Israel.*

While the peace deal between Israel and Jordan minimizes the threat of attack today, there are still many reasons why Israel needs to control the Jordan Valley. The biggest challenge to Israel’s claim over the Jordan Valley is that the Palestinians also claim the territory as part of what they call the ‘West Bank,’ the same area Israelis identify as historic Judea and Samaria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for applying Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley region and designates the valley a ‘defensive wall’ that, along with related territory, will ensure Israel’s safety with the permanent presence of the IDF.

As we visited the lower part of the Jordan Valley, General Dayan explained the strategic importance of the area. “From the topographical point of view, it’s the ideal region to defend ourselves. The distance to the Mediterranean is just 40 miles, and from north to south, the valley forms a natural border with Jordan, beyond which lies Iran and Iraq. The notion of Israel having defensible borders is based on the Jordan Valley being part of the state of Israel.”

One of 22 communities securing a Jewish presence in the valley is Moshav Na’ama, an agricultural village of 50 families founded in 1982. Today, their main crops are organic herbs, grapes and Medjool dates, all organic. I bought a box of delicious dates.

Like most all the Israeli communities in the Jordan Valley, almost all the workers in the fields and greenhouses at Na’ama are Arabs from surrounding towns and villages. According to Inon Rosenblum, owner of the Na’ama herb farm, “They prefer to work here. They earn twice as much as they could working in Jericho.”

Understanding Israel’s Elections

March 8, 2019 By Bella Davidov 1 Comment

Israelis will conduct elections for the 21^st Knesset
The election is scheduled for April 9, 2019.

There is a crisis in Israel concerning the upcoming elections.

Currently, (and for the past 10 years) Israel has had a government that is basically right wing, with Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu as Prime Minister and his Likud party in the majority of the coalition. Under his leadership, Israel has become a major world power; as a matter of fact, was just listed internationally in the 8^th place of world power nations. (Read about all of his domestic and international achievements here.)

One of the most important laws the Israeli government has passed recently was the State Law declaring that Israel is the nation of the Jewish people, and that while non-Jewish citizens have the same civil rights, they don’t have the Right of Return (only Jews have the right to instant citizenship). The Law of Return is the only aspect of the State Law where Jews and Arabs are not equal.

Bibi’s greatest concern for Israel is security. He insists that any peace negotiation with the Palestinians must include their accepting Israel as a Jewish state and that dismantling settlements will not be a part of a future peace deal. Many Israeli voters like his security-first approach to politics. Also, his fluency in English and decades of experience give him an international stature that no other Israeli politician can rival. He has won three consecutive elections. Elections are held every four years. Under certain circumstances, a Knesset (Israeli Parliament or Congress) may be dispersed before the end of a term and that determines the date of the next elections.

Over the last three years, however, there have been continual reports about police investigations against PM Netanyahu. The accusations are of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate cases. Read more details in our website blog “Cases against Netanyahu”.

As of recent polls, Bibi exceeded everyone else in popularity, as he has for the last three elections. But with the looming legal battles, and other issues of dispute in the coalition, Bibi decided it was the right move to call for early elections. However, probably for political reasons, these accusations led to the threat of a recommendation for indictment, (pending a hearing) by the Attorney General. Bibi and the Likud party requested that indictment not become public until after the election, because he didn’t have time to refute the accusations. But the AG made it public a little over a week ago. Therefore, rather than having a fair trial in the court of law with a full defense, Bibi is being judged by the media and the public, and his popularity is declining. This is what brings us to the current crisis because if Bibi fails in the elections the opposition will succeed.

Who is the opposition and why is it so crucial in this election?

Two very popular men joined together in order to defeat Netanyahu. One of them is Yair Lapid who was a favorite in the previous election but was demoted because of constantly undermining Bibi while serving in his coalition as Minister of Finance. His party, Yesh Atid declined in the last elections and ended up in the opposition in the current government.

The other is Benny Gantz, 59-year-old former Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff, who is a newcomer to politics. He entered the race forming his own Hosen Israel (Strength of Israel) party and immediately jumped in the polls, ahead of Lapid but still behind Netanyahu. Lapid and Ganz joined forces and formed a new party. Their joint new party is called Kahol Lavan (Blue and White), which are the symbolic colors of the state of Israel.

Their platform is unclear, but although claiming to be a centrist party they lean more to the left. One thing Gantz and Lapid declare clearly is that they plan to change the State Law. Their main goal is to replace Netanyahu and become PM of Israel on rotation basis. Gantz, who is in first place, serving as PM for the first 2 and a half years and Lapid serving for the rest of the term.

The electoral process in Israel is complicated and confusing for most of the public, but suffice it to say that the situation is crucial.

The reason the Blue and White party opposition is so crucial is that whichever party is elected has to form a coalition consisting of at least 61 MK (Knesset Members). Blue and White would have to include most of the left and far left wing small parties (the right wing parties support Netanyahu, all claiming that he remains innocent until and if proven otherwise). Blue and White would have to include the Arab parties, who have always been in the opposition, some of them have even been temporarily suspended from the government for siding with Israel’s enemies and calling Israeli soldiers terrorists. The one MK that is the most crucial to possibly being in the coalition is Tibi.

Who is Tibi and why is he crucial?

Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, a former adviser to Yasser Arafat, recently split from the Joint List Arab party in order to run separately as head of his Ta’al party.

Tibi is an anti-Zionist who supports Israel withdrawing to the pre-1967 borders and a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state, including a Law of Return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. He opposes the idea of Israel being a Jewish state and considers it racist. He opposes Israel having a Jewish national anthem and an Israeli flag. He takes the Palestinian side and has even praised the Palestinian Authority’s terrorists, referring to them as “martyrs” at a ceremony held on the “Palestinian Martyrs’ Day”.

Both Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz and co-chairman Yair Lapid have stated that they would amend the “National State Law,” something Tibi would love to see. “We want to topple the Right, we say it openly,” Tibi said. He stated his desire to one day become Israel’s prime minister, “and if not I then another Ahmed, Mohammed or Mahmoud,” Tibi said recently.

Herein lies the danger to Israel. The possibility that a man like Tibi and other anti-Israeli MKs would be in the coalition is what makes this election so crucial for those who love the Land and the People of Israel and believe in God’s promises..

The new Likud slogan is: “it’s Bibi or Tibi.”

I (Bella) am a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and attended last Monday’s evening rally in support of Netanyahu. I witnessed thousands of loyal cheering Likud members shouting “Bibi, Bibi, we love you.” He explained the slogan: “it’s mathematical, simple addition that you learn in first grade: Lapid and Gantz can not reach the minimum 61 KM required for a coalition in the government without bringing in the Arab parties…so it’s Bibi or Tibi.”

The scriptures encourage us to pray for our leaders: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority” 1 Tim. 2:1-2.

Dear Lord, teach us how to pray in this complex situation for the upcoming election. Raise Israeli leaders who are able to care for Your people, as You have promised to do when You regathered Your own people back to the land of Your promise (Jeremiah 23:3-4).

Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”

You know the hearts of men; reveal the truth of all the cases against Netanyahu, if He is Your chosen one to lead Israel for such a time as this. We know you have promised the mountains of Israel, including Judea and Samaria to Your people Israel in Ezekiel 36. Israel needs a leader who can stand against the world and the left wing in Israel who want to divide Your Land. Help Israelis to choose the right leader. We pray for PM Netanyahu to open his heart to Your leading. We pray for Your justice and righteousness to prevail. We pray You will not allow the enemy from without and from within to win. You give Israel the victory. We acknowledge Your sovereignty in this election, in Israel, and in the world. In the Name of our Yeshua, and for Your Glory, Amen.

Names (Part 1): God Changes Names – Man Changes Names

June 10, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

God-Elohim has many names. When Moses asked Him what His Name is, so he could tell the people of Israel that this is Who sent him, God replied: “I will be whoever I will be, אהיה ‬‬‬אשר אהיה (future tense). He calls Himself ‫יהוה‬ (Yehova, Was, Is and Is To Be). In the first name the letter ‫ה ‬ (H) appears four times, in the second it appears twice. When God changed Abram’s name ‫אברם ‬ (high father) to ‫ אברהם ‬ AbraHam, He added the letter ה (H) meaning father of many nations. In the same way, He changed Abraham’s wife’s name Sarai to SaraH ‫ה‬.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

There was a reason for both name changes. It was so that they would know that He has a purpose for the two of them as mother and father of the son of promise. However, by the time God gave Abraham the promise that his seed would be as the stars and sand (Gen. 15:5,) and that through him all of the nations of the earth would be blessed, Abraham and his wife Sarah were too old to have children. Sarah gave her Egyptian maid Hagar to her husband Abraham to be the surrogate mother of their future heir, and Ishmael was born. But he was not the Son of the Promise.

Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God told him that Sarah would bear him a child. Abraham said to himself: “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” (Gen. 17:17-18)

God made it clear to Abraham that Isaac, not Ishmael was the Son of the Promise:
Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac (will laugh – in Hebrew). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you.“

Just as the Lord had said, a year later Sarah gave birth to Isaac. God told Abraham to send Ishmael away (he settled in Paran in Arabia,) that He would make him there a great nation also:
God said to Abraham, “Do not be grievous because of the boy (Ishmael) and because of your slave woman…For from Isaac will your seed be called.” (Gen. 21:12)

So two great nations came out of Abraham; the Arabs from Ishmael (not the Seed of the Promise) and Israel, from Isaac – the Seed of the Promise.
[Read more about the Promise on our Blog]

Where does the name Israel come from?

The name “Israel” comes from the Hebrew words Isra (verb meaning to wrestle) and El (meaning God). Genesis 32:24-30:
“And Jacob remained alone (all night). A man fought with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not prevail, he struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint. The man said, “Let go of me! It’s daylight.” And he said: “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Then the man asked, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel. You have wrestled with God (Elohim) and with men and you have prevailed. Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.” “Why do you ask for my name?” (Don’t you know who I am?) And he blessed him there. And Jacob named the place Peniel (face of God), because he said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive.”

God reaffirmed the change of name, the Blessing, and the Promise, in Gen. 35:9-12:
Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-Aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel and blessed him, saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.” So God renamed him Israel. “And God, Elohim said to him, I am El Shaddai, be fruitful and multiply, a big nation and a multitude of nations will come out of you. And kings will come out of your loins. And the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land.”

Modern archaeology confirms the Biblical account of ‘Israelite’ people in the land of Canaan sometime during the first Iron Age. These people differentiated themselves from the Canaanites by not intermarrying, genealogy, and religion.

In the Bible, Israel is mentioned 2566 times. Only the Name of God is mentioned more times. There are many prophetic scriptures concerning Israel including Isa. 11:12, Isa. 66:8, Ezek. 37:21, Jer. 31:3,10-11, Ezek. 34:28. It is to Israel that God says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love”, and that he is “the apple of His (God’s) eye”.

So Where does the name Israel come from? From the Lord Himself, its the name that God gave to change Jacob’s name, and use for His people and His Promised Land He gave them.

Where does the name Palestine come from?
Read part two in our next newsletter.

Holocaust Memorial and Documentary about the Warsaw Ghetto

April 24, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Last evening Holocaust memorial ceremony, PM Netanyahu spoke about the lesson we have learned through the Shoah (Holocaust) and still face all the time, that in our world the weak have little chance to survive. “That we have to defend ourselves by ourselves. The ones who are planning to annihilate us will themselves be destroyed…It’s the only way to ensure our future and we have the ability to do it…I say it in the name of all the generations of Israelis who have and are building Israel, and in the name of Holocaust survivers here, together we have made this incredible CHANGE from a HELPLESS and DEFENSELESS people to a POWERFUL nation able to defend itself …in less than 70 years we are now one of the strongest nations in the world, and we continue to develop our military, intelligence and technological abilities…”

Today Israel is observing the memorial of the Holocaust. Here is a short clip from a documentary I am watching. My mother escaped from Warsaw Getto and all her family were killed there…

And here is a beautiful memorial ceremony:

From: FJC – Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS – FSU

Israel is Burning – Raging fires throughout the land

November 24, 2016 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Three days ago, due to unusually hot and dry weather and strong winds throughout the land of Israel, over 200 fires broke out in many parts of the nation; beginning on Tuesday in the area of Latrun, not far from Jerusalem Mountains. Residents have been evacuated from their homes in many areas where the fire is spreading.

On Wednesday massive blazing fires broke out in Zichron Yaakov and Gilon in the lower Galilee. They were controlled during the night, allowing some evacuated residents to return to their homes.

In the Jerusalem area, firefighters battled flames all night in the forest while trying to protect nearby villages, the main highway to the Tel Aviv area and vital installations of the Israel Electric Corporation. On Thursday, with winds blowing and weather still dry (temperatures have dropped some) firefighters and emergency services worked hard on the third straight day to gain control over the fires across the land. In the city of Haifa, fires are being spread through many neighborhoods causing evacuations. About 60,000 people were evacuated, among them many elderly and disabled. Some houses were burned to the ground and property lost, but lives have been spared. Most of the injuries are light, the result of smoke inhalation.

In his address to the nation, Israel PM Netanyahu gave praise to the firefighters working around the clock to extinguish the fires. “I salute the firefighters and the pilots, both Israeli and those from abroad,” he said. Currently 14 firefighting aircraft have been sent to Israel from Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, the UK, Italy, Croatia and the US. Some have already helped in the fight against the fires. Netanyahu and Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh visited the fire departments’ command center in northern Israel Wednesday evening, and were briefed on the investigation into the fires.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, told reporters: “Almost 50% of the fires are apparently arson.” He said the police department was bolstering deployment in open areas nationwide to generate deterrence and to help fire detection efforts. “We need to prepare for a new type of terror,” he said on Thursday evening. “The terrorism of arson, which also comes from incitement on social media networks. We will be opening a special unit of investigation into the incidents,” stating that a number of arrests had already been made.

An initial investigation by the Fire & Rescue Authority on Thursday raised a suspicion that at four areas of Haifa the fire was a result of arson. They said that 60-70 percent of the cases were arson and that there was physical evidence, while the rest were a result of negligence fueled by the dry strong winds. Earlier in the day, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh said some of the cases of arson were likely nationalistically motivated.

In the Arab social media there were posts of rejoicing over the fires that are devastating the land of Israel with headlines like: “The Zionist entity is burning”, and of people gloating over Israel’s recent disaster. However, the Palestinian authority offered their help to Israel, knowing that many of the residences of Haifa are Arabs.

Please pray with us about this critical and dangerous fire situation across the land, especially for Haifa, the largest city in Northern Israel.

Father God in heaven, we call on you for help. We desperately need your help for the leaders who are in charge, for all Fire Fighters and all who help. Please Lord send rain to the Land of Israel to put out fires. We thank you, in Yeshua’s Name, Amen.