VFI News December 24, 2019

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6

Hizbullah is a political group with a terrorist wing that represents Shiite Muslims in Lebanon and has close ties to Iran. In a motion adopted on Thur. 19 Dec. 2019 German lawmakers said all activities of Hizbullah, including fundraising, should be banned in Germany. It also petitioned Berlin to persuade other European countries to no longer treat the political organization separately from its anti-Israel terrorist wing, which is already mostly banned from operating in Europe. Mathias Middelberg, the spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in parliament, said, "It is unacceptable that Hizbullah is waging a terrorist fight against Israel in the Middle East, which is being financed through worldwide criminal activities. In view of Germany's special responsibility toward Israel, we call on the government to ban all activities for Hizbullah in Germany.  The separation between a political and a military arm should be abandoned, and Hizbullah as a whole should be placed on the EU terrorist list," he said. The European Union considers only Hizbullah’s military arm as a terrorist organization and not its political arm. However, EU members the Netherlands and the United Kingdom consider all of Hizbullah a terrorist entity, as do the United States, Canada, Israel and even the Arab League. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said, "The Bundestag's resolution is an important step in the international struggle against terrorism, particularly against the terrorist organization Hizbullah and its patron, Iran." (VFI News)

Continue to pray according to scripture against the terrorist enemies of Israel: “May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay”.  Ps. 35:4

This past year many of you have helped us at VFI to make a tremendous difference in the lives of underprivileged children, their families, and the elderly. We want to thank all of you who have given so generously throughout the year. We couldn’t have blessed the needy in the land in so many diverse ways without you. For those who would like the opportunity to bless Israel before the year’s end, there is still time for you to make a tax-deductible gift before 31 Dec. 2019, according to the laws in your own country. Give generously at www.visionforisrael.com. Please continue to help hands and hearts at VFI rebuild hope and provide for the nation’s poor both now and in 2020.

“Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.” Rom. 15:26-27

The USA evangelical magazine “Christianity Today", called for Donald Trump’s removal from office on Thur. 19 Dec. 2019 in the wake of the House vote to impeach him. The President blasted the magazine a day after it published an editorial arguing that he should be removed from office because of his “blackened moral record.” Trump tweeted that Christianity Today, founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham, “would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President.” The magazine “has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years,” Trump wrote. Some of his strongest evangelical supporters, including Graham’s son, rallied to his side and against the publication. Rev. Franklin Graham, who now leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association tweeted that his father would be “disappointed” in the magazine. Graham added that he “felt it necessary” following the editorial to share that his father, who died last year after counseling several past presidents, voted for Trump. The president thanked Graham for the disclosure. Christianity Today “represents what I would call the leftist elite within the evangelical community. They certainly don’t represent the Bible-believing segment of the evangelical community,” Graham told media sources. He wrote on Facebook: “Is President Trump guilty of sin? Of course he is as were all past presidents and as each one of us are, including myself.”  (VFI News) 

“He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.'”  Jn. 8:7

Israel–Turkey relations were formalized in March 1949 with Turkey being the first Muslim majority country to recognize the State of Israel. For many decades, Turkey remained the Jewish state’s closest ally in the Middle East. However, under Islamist–leaning Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reign as that country’s chief politician since 2002, Turkey’s diplomatic relations with Israel have steadily deteriorated. British media sources reported last week that “Turkey is allowing senior Hamas terrorist operatives to plot attacks against Israel from Istanbul.” The UK Telegraph obtained transcripts of Israeli police interrogations, which showed that “senior Hamas operatives are using Turkey’s largest city to direct operations in Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, including an assassination attempt earlier this year on the mayor of Jerusalem.” Erdogan ignores frequent Israel requests asking him to stop Hamas from using Turkey as a launch path for terrorist attacks against the Jewish state and instead allows the Islamist group to maintain a permanent presence in the country of 80 million people. According to Egyptian and Israeli intelligence last year alone, a dozen high-ranking Hamas officials moved their offices to Turkey. President Erdogan's support for Hamas is itself an act of aggression against Israel. In 2015 Turkey agreed to prevent Hamas planning attacks from its territory but has never done so. (VFI News)

Amnesty International defines itself as “a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are”. However, the UK Jewish Human Rights Watch released a report this week revealing widespread bias and racism inside the Amnesty organization. British anti-Semitism expert David Collier of Jewish Human Rights Watch said that such attitudes against Israel and the Jewish people are keeping the international group from its original mission. The new study claims that Amnesty International has become a tool for spreading institutionalized and anti-Semitic hatred against Israel and promoting policies consistent with the goals of the BDS movement. According to Collier, a controversial action by India is almost certain to receive attention. Persecuted Christians are blatantly ignored. Attacking Israel is top of the list. Pakistan can literally make opposition figures disappear and Amnesty International can rarely even be bothered to yawn. Amnesty’s activity is inherently racist. When directed towards Israel, the cumulative obsession can clearly be labeled anti-Semitic," he said. Collier further noted that that Amnesty knowingly employs anti-Israel and pro-BDS activists in its activities related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, creating a one-sided, biased narrative against Israel. Collier claims that the organization even employs activists who openly support terrorism against the State of Israel. The study, titled 'Amnesty International, From Bias to Obsession,' will be reviewed by UK law enforcement agencies to see if the organization's activities do not violate British law. (VFI News)

Continue to pray that Israel and the Jewish people everywhere will be shielded and protected from forces of diabolical hatred and evil. Intercede that organizations promoting anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias will be fully exposed and encounter loss of support and validity until such evils are abandoned.

Prior to 2007, there were 3,500 Christians in the Gaza Strip. Now, there are fewer than 1,300. There is speculation that the more accurate figure of the endangered Gazan Christian community has dropped to around 500 members. One Christian who fled the Hamas-controlled area has lived for years on the streets of Nazareth.  Kamal Tarazi, 60, told media sources that he prefers to stay where he is rather than to return to the Gaza Strip where he had lived his entire life. He said that the moment Hamas took control in 2007, “they started persecuting us, ruining our churches and forcing Christians to convert to Islam." Having spent two months in a Hamas prison, Tarazi, upon release, applied for a permit to travel to Bethlehem to attend religious ceremonies for Christmas. Once in Judea & Samaria he vowed he would never go back. (VFI News)

Palestinian Christians, as well as Christians in most Muslim countries across the Middle East, are undergoing severe religious persecution with the worst abuses being reserved for those who convert to Christianity from Islam. Please intercede for all believers who are living under dangerous and harsh Islamist conditions.

Israeli startup Theranica has developed a medical device for the treatment of acute migraine. Nerivio, as it is called, is worn on the upper arm and uses smartphone-controlled electronic pulses to stimulate the body's neural pathway at the onset of a migraine. “Migraine is a debilitating disease that demands intervention”, said Alon Ironi, CEO of Theranica. "Utilizing the brain's native conditioned pain modulation response has been shown to offer an affordable, drug-free, non-invasive alternative to drug-based medications".  Nerivio is FDA approved and is available by prescription in the USA. It will be offered in Israel in April 2020, the firm said. (VFI News)