‘Black Sabbath’
On Saturday 7 October 2023—which happened to be one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar—approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists from Gaza broke through the Security Barrier and massacred more than 1,200 Israelis in the nearby towns and kibbutzim in a frenzy of utter barbarity. In addition to that the terrorists took some 240 people hostage, nearly half of whom have since been released. It was, in fact, the deadliest attack against the Jewish state in Israel’s 75-year modern history. It was also the worst slaughter of Jews in any one day since the Holocaust. Jewish people around the world, and especially in Israel, are still reeling from it, but it is now fast fading into the distant past for many people in the West.
What is not so well known is that the terrorists of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had designated the attack of 7 October to be called ‘The Al-Aqsa Flood’. Gaza is situated some 50 miles (80 km) from the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, so what is the significance of ‘Al-Aqsa’ with the horrors they perpetrated? The attack was largely motivated by the Palestinian Arab obsession with the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israel’s alleged aggression against the Islamic holy sites. These accusations are nothing new. Air-raid sirens sounded early that morning in Jerusalem as Hamas fired barrages of rockets towards the Jewish capital.
Historic Accusations of Jewish Desecrations of Al-Aqsa
Over the last century, falsely alleged attacks by Jews and the Jewish state on the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been the excuse for the shedding of Jewish blood on many occasions. One of the most notable occasions was the massacre of 133 Jews in both Safed and Hebron in August 1929. That resulted in Hebron, then one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, being ethnically cleansed of its Jewish population by the British Mandatory administration. In 1996, when the Western Wall tunnel was opened up to tourists, Israel was accused by Yasser Arafat of “tunnelling under the Al-Aqsa Mosque” in order to undermine its foundations. In reality the tunnel does not go within 200 metres of the mosque, yet the Western media bought the lie hook, line and sinker and reported it as fact, which resulted in riots in which dozens of people were killed. Similar accusations of Israeli desecration of the mosque were used to justify the Gaza war of 2021 in which Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli citizens.
Historic Significance of Al-Aqsa
Ever since the restoration of Israel in its historic Biblical homeland was declared an intent in the Balfour Declaration, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the adjacent Dome of the Rock have become icons of Islam’s battle against the Jewish return to the Land of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem. And yet the Qur’an doesn’t even mention Jerusalem—not once—and neither of these iconic buildings were constructed until the late 7th century AD, several decades after the death of Mohammed. Perhaps more important is the fact that the founder of the Muslim religion did not live until 1,600 years after King David made Jerusalem the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. The Arab conquest of Jerusalem in the name of Islam was completed in 637AD, five years after Mohammed’s death. Over the following decades and centuries Muslims went on to conquer and colonise the whole of the Levant, large parts of North Africa and the Mediterranean basin—and even Rome for a short season. They also spread east into large parts of Asia. In most territories they conquered, the people were forced to convert to Islam or face death. The only exceptions were for ‘the People of the Book’ i.e. Jews or Christians. They were spared if they were prepared to accept ‘dhimmie’ status (which was like second-class citizenship with limited civil rights) and pay an annual Jizya tax, which was often quite exorbitant. Islam was proclaimed to be the only true religion, having superseded both Christianity and Judaism. That is what most Muslims are taught today.
Dar Al-Islam and Dar Al-Harb
Radical Islamists divide the world into two main areas: Dar Al-Islam which comprises territory or countries already under Islamic control or law; and Dar Al-Harb which refers to territory or countries yet to be submitted to Islamic rule. Typically, many belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, which gave birth to Hamas, would subscribe to this world view today, as do the Ayatollahs in Iran. It is well-known that the Iranian regime has repeatedly called for the State of Israel to be wiped off the map—which is nothing short of a call for the genocide of the Jewish people—and the international community basically ignore it. Acquisition of nuclear weapons will bring their ambition to becoming an achievable goal. Beyond destroying Israel, their ultimate aim is to subjugate the rest of the world under Islamic rule.
About ten years ago I had the God-given opportunity to interview one of the co-founders of Hizb’Allah. The terrorist group that today threatens Israel and holds Lebanon hostage was originally established in Iran shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The man we interviewed, Dr Daniel Shayesteh, a former radical fundamentalist Shi’ite, fell out of favour with the Ayatollah Khomeini and was forced to flee Iran. He later came to faith in Christ. You can read his story on his website https://www.exodusfromdarkness.org. In the interview we filmed he made it very clear that the Ayatollah’s goal is not only the eradication of the Jewish state, but to bring about Dar Al-Islam across the globe. He said that the West ignores these threats from the Iranian regime at their peril. Israel understands this, while other nations—particularly the Biden Administration in the USA—engage in what amounts to nothing more than efforts to placate them, especially in regard to the regime’s determination to get nuclear weapons.
There is no doubt that Iran is behind the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’, even if Hamas jumped the gun with the actual timing of the attack against Israel. That in itself, I believe, was God watching over Israel. Had Hizb’Allah attacked at the same time, the death-toll in Israel would have been much higher, the IDF’s ability to respond in the south would have been much diminished, and the Hamas terrorists would have created greater carnage and perhaps even succeeded in reaching Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the shockwaves of the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ have reverberated around the world. The ‘Palestine’ cause has become the iconic rallying point.
An Islamic Revolution in the West?
Has Hamas succeeded in igniting an Islamic revolution across the Western world? The massive anti-Israel/pro-Hamas demonstrations across the West certainly indicate that is so. As mentioned in a previous article, the Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned Hamas in 1987, has infiltrated most of the countries in Europe, the USA and Australia. Recently the Australian government announced it would take in some 800 Gazan refugees. How many of them will be Hamas terrorists or agents? Since 2015 well over a million ‘asylum seekers’ have migrated to Europe, most of them single young men. How many of these are jihadists—even undercover members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps? The British Home Office recently revealed that some 17,000 ‘asylum seekers’ who crossed the English Channel illegally in small boats have simply ‘disappeared’.
With the ‘Operation Swords of Iron’ war now in its fifth month the Biden Administration is doubling down on its insistence that a “revitalised” Palestinian Authority take control of Gaza on “the day after” and, moreover, they will have their own state. PM Bibi Netanyahu, speaking on behalf of 99% of Israelis—at least on this issue—has said emphatically that Israel will maintain security control of all the territory west of the Jordan River. The truth is that the PLO/PA is no less of a terrorist entity than Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They are not interested in a ‘two-state solution’ but one Judenrein ‘state’ from “the River to the Sea”. The demonstrations we have been witnessing on our streets is evidence of that.
The Nations Coming Against Israel
The Biden Administration is not alone in pushing this suicidal agenda on Israel. It is backed by the British Foreign Office and the present Australian Labour government. Last month Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong made that very clear as she toured the Middle East. The West—unwittingly or otherwise—has become part of the campaign to help the Al-Aqsa Flood to reach its goal of disinheriting the Jewish people of their God-given Land of Israel, and their capital city of Jerusalem.
But the goal of the Al-Aqsa Flood doesn’t end there. As has often been said: “First it’s the Saturday people, then it’s the Sunday people.” The goal is to subjugate the West and bring it under Islamic rule. Hamas has said it, the Ayatollahs in Iran have said it, and the Muslim Brotherhood and others in our midst are working towards it.
Is the Lord’s Judgement Imminent?
More than twenty years ago well-known British Bible teacher, the late David Pawson, publicly stated that he believed the Lord would allow Britain and Europe to be overrun by Islam as judgement for abandoning its Judeo-Christian heritage—to say nothing of betraying the right of the Jewish people to live in their Biblical heartland of Israel in favour of a fabricated claim by the people called ‘the Palestinians’.
Another great Bible teacher, the late Derek Prince, in the last days of his life on earth had on his heart the warning in Isaiah 60:12 concerning the way nations treat Israel: “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.” Is this not beginning to come to pass?
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