Amir Tsarfati: God is Carrying Out His Plan to Perfection

Happy New Year from Israel! “But, Amir, how can you say that this new year is happy? Have you not seen the atrocities in Syria? Have you missed the ballistic missiles coming from Yemen? There is war in Gaza and Ukraine and Russia and Mali and Somalia and Myanmar and other places. And did you watch what happened in New Orleans, Louisiana?” Yes, my friend, I have seen all that. It is tragic and I will get to those topics later in this newsletter.

However, despite the struggles taking place in this world, I refuse to let the negative destroy my positive. I will not let the sad kill my happy. My glass will always be half-full because I am the child of the true, compassionate, loving God. He is not a distant deistic Creator, but is involved in His creation. He has a perfect plan for this world and for me, and He is carrying it out to perfection. I must admit that there were times in 2024 that it was difficult to remember these truths. When the missiles flew overhead and I worried for the safety of my family, when countries were abandoning my nation and the verbal threats were overwhelming, when I thought of the hostages held in misery in Gaza and the hopelessness that they must feel every moment of every day – those were dark days when I wrestled, not with my trust, but with my understanding of what God could possibly be doing.

It is in dark times that faith often becomes stronger. Just ask Elijah when he fled from Jezebel or Paul when he was locked in a Roman prison. If there is nothing left but to trust God, then there is nothing you can do except – you guessed it – to trust God. When you do, it is one hundred percent guaranteed that He will show Himself faithful and your dependence on Him will grow.

So, yes, there are difficult things around this world, but I will still choose to wish you a Happy New Year! Let 2025 be a year of change for you. Let it be one in which you intentionally seek to draw closer to God through prayer and studying His word. And ask the Lord to make this year one in which you are able to make an impact on those around you. My dear friend, Dr. Rick Yohn, prays each morning that the Holy Spirit will put at least one person in his path whom he can encourage with the hope of Christ. Do you know that there has not been one day in which the Lord has not come through for him? It may be sharing the Gospel or giving away one of our books or just offering words of hope and truth. If this 87-year-old man can do it, so can you and so can I.

I don’t know what God has planned for this next year, but I am excited about it. For me, it will mean traveling to many places around the world to teach the word of God. Here at CONNECT, we will continue to grow in excellence as we produce online programs that share what’s happening in the world and how it all relates to Scripture. With Behold Israel as a whole, we see greatly expanding opportunities to reach people through books, videos, and social media. We know that as long as we keep our eyes on the Lord, this will be a great year no matter the circumstances around us.

So, let me encourage you to keep your eyes on Jesus this year. Expect Him to use you as you open yourself up to His lead. Be ready to make a difference. Let 2025 truly be a happy new year!

The Middle East and the World

The United States
It’s not often that I have to begin this section with the U.S., and when I do it’s usually due to tragedy. This is no exception. In the early hours of New Year’s Day, 42-year-old Texas native, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove a rented truck around barricades and onto Bourbon Street in New Orleans where he proceeded to mow down victims with his vehicle. Eventually, Jabbar exited the truck, at which time he was killed by police gunfire, wounding two officers in the process. In the end, ten people lost their lives and at least 35 were wounded. That this was an act of terror can be verified by more than just the ISIS flag that was tied to his bumper. Police have also identified three men and one woman placing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the French quarter. A remote control linked to the devices was purported to be found in Jabbar’s truck. The city continues to be in a state of fear and college football’s Sugar Bowl Game, scheduled to be played in New Orleans last night, was postponed until tonight.

Later in the morning, the city of Las Vegas was shaken when a Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the front doors of the Trump Las Vegas hotel. The driver of the truck was killed and several others were injured. Whether it was a coordinated terror attack or just a random idiot, there is no question that it was intentional due to the “firework-style mortars” found inside and the fact that obvious coincidences of this Trump/Musk magnitude only happen in bad spy novels and Hallmark Christmas movies.

Israel
It was a study of contrasts in Israel this past week. Prime Minister Netanyahu experienced a boon to his life as he is recovering well having undergone surgery on his prostate on Sunday. The same cannot be said of his political rival, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who experienced the death of his political career when he submitted his letter of resignation from the Knesset yesterday. He will not be missed.

Gaza
It’s time everyone stops talking about potential hostage deals. Despite the rhetoric that Hamas spews out, a deal will never happen because they don’t want one to happen. They know that as soon as they release the hostages, their time is up. The only leverage these broken-down, barely breathing barbarians have are the innocent lives of the people they stole from southern Israel 15 months ago. So, they’ll say whatever they need to say to win the hearts of a world that is desperate to find a reason to love them and hate Israel. But their words are disingenuous, so the fighting will go on.

As evidence of the continued hostilities, Hamas suffered a devastating defeat late Sunday night. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received intelligence that a large group of terrorists were planning to attack their forces in order to break out of Jabaliya. The IDF struck and by the end of the night 106 Hamas terrorists were dead. If that sounds harsh to you, just remember that 600 people were beheaded on October 7. They weren’t enemy combatants. They were innocent children, along with their mothers and fathers. These were the actions that Hamas and their compatriots took that horrific day. Recently, it’s come out that the terrorist group spent seven years planning the October 7 attack. Seems they should have spent a little more time strategizing for October 8 and thereafter.

Syria
Questions have swirled through diplomatic circles about how to deal with radical Islamic group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the organization fronted by new Syrian strongman Ahmed al-Sharaa. Should countries remove them from their list of terrorist groups now that they’ve gone “legit”? Al-Sharaa has given relief to those wrestling with this question by saying he will dissolve HTS, which makes sense. Why lead a group when you can lead a nation? But as this former ISIS and al-Qaeda militant desperately seeks legitimacy, the country he has taken charge of is still a mess. Murders, lynchings, and tortures continue in the Alawite areas of Syria. The Turkish army is going after Kurdish areas in the north of the country. On the positive side, the first aid plane from Qatar has reached Syria, and Saudi Arabia is launching a humanitarian air bridge to Damascus. It is interesting to see the new players and the old players conglomerating in this jumbled up nation. Currently, all countries of the Ezekiel 38 war are invested to some degree in Syria. The one thing that unites these countries together is their belief in what they each feel they can individually gain from the destruction of Israel.

In an action reminiscent of my Nir Tavor thrillers, the IDF recently revealed a special forces attack they carried out four months ago, on September 8, deep in Syrian territory. Coined Operation Deep Layer, this assault began with an elite Shaldag unit rappelling from helicopters and raiding an Iranian underground nuclear center in Masyaf, Syria. While in the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS), the commando group stole documents, killed the guards, blew up the facility, then made their escape. Going to have to remember that one for future use.

Yemen
Yemen went after America’s reaper drones and the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group. The U.S. hit them hard, including on New Year’s Eve. Yemen won’t stop firing ballistic missiles at Israel, with one large fragment falling in Bet Shemesh, west of Jerusalem. Israel continues to hit back, causing major damage around Sana’a International Airport and other locations. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said last week that the Houthis are on the verge of getting the Hamas/Hezbollah/Syria treatment. What are we waiting for? In international eyes, Trump’s already the de facto president. There’s no reason to wait until January 20 to bomb all Houthi missile capabilities to dust.

Double Standards
In Israel, we know that we live on the short end of a plethora of double standards. We’re used to it. But sometimes they are so egregious that they bear pointing out. There were two cases of this in the past week. First was the suspension of Al Jazeera by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Qatar-based media company was accused by the PA of “inciting terror” in the West Bank. “These measures shall be applied until Al Jazeera chooses to act in accordance with basic media ethics, including its duty to prevent deliberate disinformation, ban the glorification of violence, and end the incitement to armed mutiny,” claimed the Palestinian group. What was the international response to this deliberate censoring of the press? Crickets. Yet, when Israel banned Al Jazeera’s operations months ago, the global condemnation was deafening. Two standards.

On December 27, Shadda Tsaba’ died of a gunshot wound to the head on Mahyoub Street in the Jenin Refugee Camp. The issue is that Tsaba’ was a journalist and the shot came from a Palestinian gun. There should be public outcry around the world that a journalist’s life was taken by Palestinians. There certainly was a couple years ago when Shirin Abu Aqla, an Al Jazeera journalist, was accidentally killed by what may have been an Israeli bullet. At that time, Israel was painted as an enemy of the press and censorial on a military level. But when a journalist’s life is taken by Palestinian gunfire, once again we hear crickets. No Jews, no news.

Russia
The era of Russia’s energy stranglehold over Europe ended yesterday, when gas supplies passing through Ukraine to the western nations was halted. Knowing this day was coming, most of Europe has prepared itself by looking for other providers. This is also a major reason why Israel is anxious to get an underwater pipeline built that will supply gas to Europe. The loss of this market will cost Russian gas supplier, Gazprom, $5 billion per year. This void of Europe’s revenue and the growth of competition is one of the chief reasons why Russia may likely target Israel during the Ezekiel 38 war.

In that same vein, both Russia and Turkey are deepening their relationships with Libya and Sudan. This is a scenario that has not happened in the past, but which is necessary for the Ezekiel 38 war to take place. It is prophecy being carried out right before our eyes.

Iran
While the Iranian regime was lamenting the fifth anniversary of General Qassem Soleimani’s death, the locals were setting fire to banners bearing his likeness. The Iranian people are angry. Their currency dropped another 2.5% in the last week of the year reaching 820,000 rials to the dollar. Power outages are disrupting their lives, but all they see is that their leaders are funneling billions of dollars into terror rather than taking care of their citizens. They’re fed up and it’s leading to protests in the markets of Tehran. This is the optimal time to hit the head of the snake. Once the regime is cowed or gone, groups like Hamas, the Houthis, and others will become much more pliable.

Air Crashes
It was not a good week for air travel. On Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Airlines flight left from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia. As it approached the Grozny airport, it had some problems either due to weather or something technical causing it to attempt to land three times. On the third attempt, passengers felt something hit hard into the plane. The pilots aborted the landing, gained altitude, then flew over the Caspian Sea to Aktau, Kazakhstan. Upon reaching this new unexpected destination, the plane crashed upon landing,killing 38 of the 67 on board. Russian authorities first said that it was a flock of birds that hit the plane, but further investigation points to shrapnel from Russian air defenses severely damaging the aircraft’s body. The investigation continues.

Four days later, on December 29, a flight operated by South Korean Jeju Air crash landed at Muan International Airport. This time it appears that it really was a bird strike that caused this plane to go skidding off the runway. Only two of the 181 people on board survived, making this the deadliest crash in South Korean aviation history.

The Ministry

As I mentioned earlier, this next year is going to have me traveling all around the world. If you want to see if I’ll be in your area, then be sure to check out our website! I hope to see you at one of my locations!

Exciting news! Registration opens for our 2025 Bible Experience Tours and the Young Adults Tour to Israel on January 7^th at 10 am Pacific Time on our website. We have been waiting and praying for when the time would be right, and we believe it is finally here. You can find more information on our website, including dates, pricing, and itineraries.

If you missed my CONNECT Q & A with Pastor Barry on Monday, you may want to check it out. It was a great batch of questions that the viewers fed to us getting into everything from the tribulation temple to the 144,000 saints.

Here at Behold Israel, we are looking forward to a great new year. Thank you for your prayers and your partnership. We’re excited to see what God has in store for us in 2025!

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.