Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Shalom from Germany! I just arrived ahead of this weekend’s conference and pastor Barry has arrived as well. While it was difficult leaving my family and my nation with so much going on, it is a joy to be back on this continent with the opportunity to share God’s plans for Israel and the world.
Our first event together will be a one-day Awaiting His Return conference in Schwäbisch Gmünd, just east of Stuttgart. We will spend a Saturday (May 24) together studying God’s end times timeline. Sign-ups are online! Four days later, we will be in the Netherlands in Veenendaal, east of Utrecht. At De Basiliek event center on May 28-29, we will hold a two-day Discovering Daniel conference which will take us through the entire prophetic book. To be part of this exciting time, you can register here. Our final conference will take place on Saturday, May 31, in Belgium. This will be another Awaiting His Return one-day event to be held in Oudsbergen, near the northeast corner of the country. Registration for that conference can be found here.
I will readily admit to you that I was floored when I received a message from Harvest House Publishers on Thursday that said that The Israel Decree made it to The New York Times bestseller lists! From my first book back in 2018 I was told to not expect to ever make it on their catalogs. The political bias is too left and the advertiser/publisher/crony wall is too thick for some Israeli guy writing about the Bible to stand a chance. Then, it happened, and all I can say is “Thank you, Lord!” The walls were as wide as Jericho’s, but after marching around them for 11 books God finally brought them crumbling down! How great is He!
My encouragement to you is to keep the momentum going. The feedback that we have received at the ministry and have seen online is that The Israel Decree is accomplishing exactly what I had prayed it would do. It is giving people a solid footing – historically, politically, and most importantly, biblically – as to why they can know with 100% certainty that today’s Israel is the same as Old Testament Israel and that the land they are on has belonged to them from the day it was first promised to Abraham thousands of years ago. Our families need to know this, especially those graduates who are heading off to universities. Our friends need to know this. Our churches and our pastors need to know this. The world needs to know this. I purposely wrote The Israel Decree so that it is a quick, entertaining read that packs a powerful punch. Please, let’s keep spreading the truth that is contained in this book to as many people as need to hear it!
MidEast & Beyond
If you missed my MidEast & Beyond Update with Barry Stagner on Tuesday, please check it out. It will take you to a deeper level on many of the stories below. Also, to follow along with news as it happens, be sure to subscribe to my Telegram channel.
Breaking News: Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Assassinated in Washington, D.C.
A young Israeli couple were gunned down last night by a pro-Palestinian terrorist as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. The two victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were members of the Israeli embassy staff when 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez cold-bloodedly murdered them on the sidewalk. After the shooting, Rodriguez entered the event where he was detained by security. While in custody, he chanted, “Free, Free Palestine!” A look at his life reveals that he is a vile antisemitic, radical socialist supporter of Hamas, and that this assassination was planned in advance. Actually, I should say that the murder was planned; the victims were random as long as they were Jews. For more details, please check out my Telegram channel.
On a personal note, my family and many others I know knew Yaron. He was a believer – the son of a Messianic Jewish father and a German believing mother. I got to know Yaron’s father, Daniel, during the time both he and I were tour guides in Israel. Yaron was a good young man who had bought a ring and was preparing to propose to Sarah in Jerusalem just next week. Once again, beautiful young lives were stolen for the crime of being Jewish.
President Trump’s Middle East Business Trip
When US President Donald Trump traveled to the Middle East last week, it was not to sightsee or to visit old friends or, even, to negotiate great political treaties. He was on a good, old-fashioned, “pack your suitcase, rush to the airport, stay in mediocre hotels, and watch bad television on flatscreen TVs bolted to the wall at angles that make them impossible to comfortably view” business trip – except that he had people pack for him, flew in Air Force One, and stayed in royal palaces. I don’t know about his television, but I bet it at least swiveled.
From the moment the wheels first landed in Riyadh a little over a week ago, he was in full Art of the Deal mode. And it worked. By the time he left the United Arab Emirates a number of days later, he had secured $5.1 trillion in business for America. That is called putting America first. Did he step on toes and cause consternation along the way? Certainly. But that’s par for the course when it comes to this president. Was I one of those consternated? For sure, and I’m still uneasy about his palling around with Syria’s President al-Sharaa and his promise to lift sanctions for that country. But I understand his purpose for the trip and most of the methods he employed to gain his success.
One truth that the White House seems intent on making clear, no matter how much the fake news says otherwise, is that this president and this administration stand with Israel and will support Prime Minister Netanyahu in whatever decisions he feels he needs to make to keep our nation safe. And if the prime minister chooses a path that America disagrees with, there have been no indications that the threats of sanctions that were implemented by the previous administration would be employed against Israel today.
The Wheels of Gideon’s Chariots Begin Turning
As I mentioned last week, Hamas has to make one of two choices. Accept the Witkoff proposal that demands hostages for a temporary ceasefire or reject it. The consequence of rejection is the full implementation of Operation Gideon’s Chariots. Hamas has rejected the proposal, so the chariots have begun moving.
The first stage of the operation launched, with the goal of moving all non-combatants to a safe zone between the Morag and Philadelphi corridors. Northern Gaza was blanketed with leaflets telling people that the military is coming, and that there was safety to the south. Once in the safe zone, the Gazans will receive humanitarian aid and will be given the opportunity to emigrate to a new location where they can build a real life.
As that stage progresses, the second stage also began with the military moving into northern Gaza with the intention of destroying everything, both above and below the ground. Israel can never be safe with Hamas terrorists living right across a border, so they are ensuring that it can’t happen. It is these actions that have the world community in an uproar. We’ll deal with those reactions below.
Hamas is fighting back, albeit weakly. They fired a rocket toward Ashkelon yesterday, but it was shot out of the air. When 93 trucks with humanitarian aid traveled into Gaza on Tuesday, 11 were robbed by Hamas gangs. They have become a gang of leaderless thugs. After the assassination of Mohammed Sinwar last week, their commanding echelon has weakened even more. Hamas’s greatest weapon continues to be the crying of the world’s political leaders, but Netanyahu’s administration is no longer to their hypocritical sobs.
Houthis Impose Blockade on Ben Gurion Airport
Just a moment…. Sorry, I lost my breath laughing. That is the way the Houthis wanted the headline to read. But alas….
As I mentioned last week, after 400-and-some-odd missiles fired the Houthis actually had one get through, wreaking havoc on some scrub brush and an ant hill near Ben Gurion airport. After that utter failure, they turned their sights from their attempt to blockade Ben Gurion Airport and instead announced a naval blockade on Israel. They are seeking to accomplish this by blocking cargo vessels going to Israel through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. This is more problematic because all shipping from Asia to Israel must pass through this strait. Its location is also challenging because the country of Yemen makes up the eastern side of the water passage.
Israel has already been creating havoc through air attacks on Yemen’s seaports and the international airport in Sana’a. If the Houthis attempt to cut Israel’s water connection to Asia, it is going to get very ugly very fast. President Trump made it clear last week that the United States will not participate in any actions against Yemen as long as American ships are immune to Houthi attacks. However, they also let it be known that they will support Israel in whatever needs to be done to protect its people and its economy.
Sketchiness in Syria leads to a Turkey/Israel Agreement
As my last novel, The Sick Man’s Rage, made clear, there is no love lost between Israel and Turkey. However, there are occasional places where these two adversaries can find common ground. The instability of Syria is one of those shared concerns. Turkey is battling the Kurds in the north. Meanwhile, Israel is eliminating the remaining elements of Hezbollah and Hamas in the south, while also fighting to protect the Druze population from Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s proxy thug brigades. The last thing either Turkey or Israel wants right now is for their militaries to cross paths, which could lead to this whole mess exploding into something huge. So, the two nations have reached an understanding regarding the coordination of their military activities to ensure distance between both sides.
Israel Busy in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue to be active in Lebanon, particularly in the south. Yesterday in the southern area of Yater, a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander was taken out by a drone strike. The terrorist force has had many years and a free rein to entrench itself in southern Lebanon. Driving them out into the open and eliminating them is a long and trying process.
An awkward moment occurred for the Lebanese president at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican. A Druze cleric approached President Joseph Aoun and shook his hand. Unfortunately for Aoun, that cleric was Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community. A photographer happened to be there for the chance meeting and a picture of the two together quickly swept the internet. Muslims throughout Lebanon created a political storm after seeing the photo. Aoun was quick to release a statement saying he didn’t know who the man was when he approached him, renouncing any familiarity between them.
Countdown for Iran
Iran has rejected the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal and has refused an invitation from Oman for a fifth round of talks. It seems one of the primary sticking points is whether or not Iran keeps centrifuges for enriching uranium. Washington says there’s no reason for Iran to keep them, while Tehran says they’re not letting them go. President Trump has made it clear that he will not allow a nuclear Iran. His administration has also verbalized numerous times that it understands that Israel must do whatever it has to do to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon from becoming a reality.
The Debacle that is Eurovision
Europe, I love so many of you. But I’m sorry to say that most of your governments and media elites are a flat-out mess. Case in point – Eurovision. For those of you on the western side of the Atlantic, Eurovision is an annual song contest between nations. Each country sends a representative who presents their song, and the contestants are voted on. These votes come in two kinds. There is a five-person jury from each country. They are media elites who are very political and very biased. Then there is the public, which is made up of normal, everyday people. Israel’s representative was Yuval Rafael, a young lady who had been at the Nova Festival on October 7 and survived by hiding under dead bodies. Yuval sang beautifully, winning the hearts of the televoting public who voted her to the number one position by a wide margin. The political jury vote, however, placed Yuval all the way down in a tie for 14th place. This is not surprising.
Even before the competition, the Slovenian broadcaster of the program demanded that Israel be excluded. Spanish, Icelandic, Belgian, and Irish broadcasters said that removing Israel from the program must be discussed. Spain’s prime minister declared that Israel should be banned, as did a spokesperson from Belgium. Former contestants weighed in also, with 72 previous participants signing a letter that Israel be removed from the competition. In fact, this year’s winner, JJ from Austria, said that next year, the event should be “in Vienna and without Israel.” The antisemitism wasn’t just surrounding the contest; it was heard during it. While Yuval sang in her final performance, boos sounded from the audience.
But despite this brainwashed anti-Israel bias, the votes don’t lie. The fact that the public voted Israel number one says that not everyone in Europe has fallen into the devil’s trap of antisemitism. Sadly, they aren’t the ones pulling the strings of their countries’ governments, where the hatred of Israel is palpable. France, Britain, and Canada just issued a joint statement saying they will take “concrete” actions against Israel if the war in Gaza is not halted immediately and the pace of humanitarian aid increased. Sweden’s foreign minister has announced she will promote the imposition of sanctions by the EU on Israeli ministers. Spain’s parliament has approved consideration of a proposal to ban arms trade with Israel, and the UK has suspended free trade negotiations with Israel while giving a formal reprimand to the Israeli ambassador.
The devil is angry that one more of his plans to wipe out Israel has failed, and, so, the nations are raging. The closer Israel gets to victory, the stronger the European pressure grows. This pressure is also within Israel as more and more liberal politicians, including two former prime ministers are demanding an end to the war. A former IDF deputy chief of staff and former member of the Knesset, Yair Golan, sparked outrage this past week when he called out the IDF for killing babies “as a hobby”. This is the Netanyahu derangement syndrome that our prime minister is facing. He needs the worldwide church to hold up his arms through their prayers if he is going to finish this fight.
Ministry
On yesterday’s “Anchor Podcast”, I sat down with Israeli Knesset member Ohad Tal to discuss geopolitics, Israel’s internal political struggle, the function of the Israeli government, and other topics. It was an honor to have him on, and I would encourage you to watch this fascinating discussion.
Once again, we have numerous video opportunities for you coming up:
- Public Reading of Scripture – Thursday, May 22, 6:00 PM PDT
- MidEast & Beyond with Pastor Barry Stagner and me – Tuesday, May 27, 10:00 AM PDT
- Truth Be Told: Are Jews Christ Killers? during which I will lead you in a biblical study to answer this all-important question – Wednesday, May 28, 10:00 AM PDT
O Canada! Registration for our four different Canada speaking engagements this summer is now available! Make sure to reserve your spot(s) soon by following the provided link.
Please pray for Barry and me as we travel and speak through Europe. As you’ve read in this newsletter, we are in a dark continent when it comes to the truth of Scripture. While there is great joy in meeting and fellowshipping with other believers, there is an intense spiritual weight in this area that used to be the homebase of Christianity. Thank you to everyone who always prays for Behold Israel and to all of you who give to this ministry. We are blessed because of you.
Awaiting His Return,
Amir Tsarfati
Amir Tsarfati, a Jewish Christian, is the founder and president of Behold Israel, a news site to correct the scarcity in trustworthy reportage on issues and events impacting Israel, and to resolve the uncertainty about who or what to believe.
The views expressed in opinion articles are solely those of the author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Black Community News.
