Transcript [00:00] Welcome to the weekly update of Israel [00:04] and Christians today. [00:06] The world may look like a mess, but God [00:09] is in control. Corrie ten Boom, whose [00:12] family hid Jews in Harlem and paid for [00:15] it with their lives, explained this by [00:17] using the metaphor of a tapestry. Corrie [00:20] used to hold up a piece of embroidery [00:22] with the back facing her audience. It [00:24] showed knots, loose ends, and tangled [00:27] dark threads. Then she would turn it [00:29] over to reveal a crown, a beautiful [00:32] image. "We see the underside," she said, [00:35] "but God sees the pattern that he is [00:38] weaving." [00:39] This week the underside of the tapestry [00:41] looks like a mess. The UN has celebrated [00:45] Durban's legacy while more than 40 [00:47] nations stayed away. 12 countries are [00:49] imposing sanctions on settlement goods. [00:52] Talks over the Strait of Hormuz have [00:54] stalled. [00:55] The Palestinian Authority tells the UN [00:58] it has reformed while all the video [01:00] evidence says otherwise. [01:02] And Israel heads into an election on [01:05] October the 27th under threat. None of [01:08] it looks like a design. [01:11] But the upper side of the tapestry shows [01:13] God's pattern. [01:15] The Jewish people are celebrating the [01:17] Feast of Tabernacles this week. [01:20] Jews around the world are now sitting in [01:22] fragile structures called sukkah, [01:25] which remind them that God sheltered [01:27] their ancestors in the wilderness when [01:29] nothing else did. [01:32] This reminds us that God, who promised [01:34] that Israel would last as long as the [01:36] sun and moon, has not dropped the [01:39] threads. [01:41] Now we see in a mirror dimly, [01:44] we read in 1 Corinthians 13, but then we [01:47] will see face to face. [01:50] So let's turn to look at what is [01:52] happening in the world. [01:54] First of all, Durban at 25 celebrating a [01:57] conference that weaponized anti-racism [02:00] against the Jews. [02:02] On September the 28th, the UN General [02:05] Assembly held a high-level meeting in [02:07] New York to mark 25 years since the 2001 [02:10] Durban Declaration and Program of [02:12] Action. [02:14] Its theme, "Mobilizing global public [02:17] support for the full and effective [02:19] implementation of the Durban text, [02:22] and a political declaration reaffirming [02:24] the original made plan [02:26] that the UN was not reviewing Durban, [02:29] but celebrating it. [02:32] More than 40 countries stayed away, [02:34] up from 38 at the 20th anniversary of [02:37] Durban in 2021. [02:40] Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon [02:43] summed up their message, "Anti-Semitism [02:45] should not be celebrated, and hatred of [02:47] Israel should not be legitimized under [02:50] the guise of fighting racism." [02:54] So, Durban was about combating racism. [02:58] So, why boycott a document that is [03:00] against racism? [03:03] Well, writing during the days of war of [03:06] or in Dispatches from the Ship of the [03:09] Wise, [03:10] Gregory Lafitte traces the answer back [03:13] to 1975 when the General Assembly [03:15] Resolution 3379 declared Zionism a form [03:20] of racism. [03:22] Warnings came at that time from every [03:24] continent, and Britain said it risked to [03:27] bring this whole organization into [03:29] disrepute. [03:31] Ethiopia called the equation [03:32] inconceivable. Zambia feared it would [03:35] undermine the fight against apartheid. [03:38] America's Daniel Patrick Moynihan, [03:41] ambassador to the UN, saw the deepest [03:44] danger. He said, "Corrupt the language [03:46] of human rights, the only language by [03:49] which the small can be defended, [03:51] and the vulnerable lose their means of [03:54] appeal. [03:56] Resolution 3379 [03:58] was repealed 15 years later in 1991, [04:03] but as Laffe puts it, repeal is not [04:05] repair. [04:07] In other words, the idea that Zionism is [04:09] racism is still embedded in the United [04:12] Nations. [04:14] And Durban is where the poison [04:16] resurfaced. [04:18] Israel and Jewish NGOs were shut out of [04:21] the preparatory meeting for Durban back [04:24] in 2001. [04:26] In Tehran, and early drafts of the [04:29] Durban declarations spoke of Holocausts [04:31] in the plural, [04:33] and likened Israeli policy to Nazism. [04:37] A parallel NGO forum in Durban branded [04:41] Israel as a racist apartheid state [04:44] guilty of acts of genocide, [04:47] and demanded the return of resolution [04:49] 3379, [04:51] and called for South Africa-style [04:53] isolation of the Jewish state. [04:57] Young Jewish activists found themselves [04:59] pushed out of the anti-racist cause [05:02] because of their attachment to Israel. [05:05] The United States and Israel walked out. [05:08] The final government text stepped back. [05:10] It remembers the Holocaust and condemns [05:12] anti-Semitism, and yet [05:15] it was never purged of the framework [05:17] that made Israel the one conflict [05:19] singled out, [05:21] and the NGO declaration was never [05:23] repudiated. [05:25] And that is why a reaffirmation of [05:27] Durban is, in effect, an endorsement of [05:30] anti-Semitism. The Durban playbook of [05:33] stretching words like apartheid and [05:35] genocide [05:37] until they deliver the condemnation [05:39] sought [05:40] was written 22 years before October the [05:43] 7th, 2023, [05:46] and it is being replayed today. [05:49] With South Africa's case against Israel [05:51] still before the International Court of [05:52] Justice, Ireland has asked the court to [05:55] broaden its interpretation of genocide, [05:58] which Lafitte calls a repetition of 1975 [06:01] in legal form. [06:03] To reaffirm Durban without reckoning [06:05] with any of this is to bless the method [06:08] that turned anti-racism into a weapon [06:11] against Jewish dignity. [06:14] Lafitte does not ask the world to [06:15] abandon the fight against racism. He [06:18] asks for a new declaration that [06:20] confronts racism in all its forms and [06:23] rejects anti-Semitism unequivocally. [06:26] He also appeals directly to African and [06:28] Caribbean nations, "Anti-Semitism must [06:31] never be advanced in your name." [06:34] The days of awe teach teshuvah. [06:37] Maimonides defines true repentance as [06:41] facing the same situation again and [06:43] choosing differently. [06:45] On September 28th, the UN faced Durban [06:49] again, and it chose repetition. [06:54] Moving on to Iran, 7 days to reopen [06:57] Hormuz, and Trump says, "No." [07:00] 7 months into the war with Iran, the [07:02] Strait of Hormuz remains the pivot of [07:04] the conflict. [07:05] At the UN General Assembly last week, [07:07] Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, [07:11] who met US envoys Whitcoff and Kushner [07:14] on September the 23rd, unveil unveiled a [07:18] 7-day plan. [07:20] If Washington agreed to a ceasefire on [07:22] all fronts, including Lebanon, [07:24] lifted its naval blockade of Iranian [07:27] ports, removed all sanctions on oil, and [07:31] released frozen assets, Iran would [07:34] reopen the strait at the end of the [07:36] seventh day, and peace talks would [07:39] resume with nuclear discussions to [07:42] follow. [07:44] President Trump dismissed this proposal [07:47] the next day. [07:49] "I'd like to make a deal, too." he told [07:51] reporters outside the White House. [07:53] But that deal would not be acceptable. [07:55] He later denied offering Tehran any [07:57] sanctions relief. "I offered them [07:59] nothing." he said on [08:02] social media. The sticking point is [08:04] sequencing sequencing. [08:06] Iran wants the pressure lifted first and [08:09] the nuclear question left for later. [08:11] While Washington insists any agreement [08:13] must address the nuclear program. [08:17] Trump says Iran is failing very badly [08:20] and that Iran will not have a nuclear [08:23] weapon. [08:25] Tehran, however, is not softening. [08:27] Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher [08:30] Qalibaf warned that in a region where we [08:33] do not sell oil, no one will sell oil. [08:36] "And if our security is not ensured, no [08:39] infrastructure will be safe." [08:41] The Revolutionary Guards in Iran spoke [08:44] of an irreversible Iranian order over [08:46] the strait. [08:48] On September 28th, a ship was hit by a [08:50] suspected projectile while passing [08:53] through the Strait of Hormuz. [08:55] And on September 29th, the US Treasury [08:57] sanctioned 10 more suppliers to Iran's [09:01] Iran's military. [09:03] Iran's rial has fallen past 2.5 million [09:07] to the dollar. [09:09] Indirect talks continue and a US [09:12] official described them as positive and [09:14] constructive. [09:16] For Israel, which goes to the polls on [09:18] October the 27th, the stakes are clear. [09:22] Prime Minister Netanyahu says there are [09:24] indications that enemies will attempt [09:27] attacks before the election. [09:32] Moving on to the Palestinians, reforms [09:35] are complete, but can the UN take Abbas [09:39] at his word? [09:41] Addressing the UN General Assembly last [09:43] week, Palestinian Authority President [09:45] Mahmoud Abbas said his government has, [09:48] quote, completed the national reform [09:50] program, close quote. [09:52] He claimed stronger, quote, [09:54] transparency, accountability, the fight [09:57] against corruption, and the rule of law, [09:59] close quote. [10:01] And a welfare system based on need, [10:04] schools reformed in accordance with [10:06] international standards, [10:08] and a firm rejection of terrorism. [10:11] All sounds very good, but as Khaled Abu [10:14] Toameh, [10:15] journalist from Israel, shows for [10:17] Gatestone, the [10:19] the evidence says otherwise. [10:22] Take pay for slay. The PA says it has [10:26] replaced payments to terrorists and [10:28] their families with a means-tested [10:30] welfare. And yet the US State Department [10:33] put the 2025 payments at $156 [10:37] million. In [10:39] April 2026, the State Department found [10:43] that the PA PA, the Palestinian [10:46] Authority, still runs a, quote, system [10:49] of compensation in support of terrorism [10:52] through new mechanisms and under a [10:55] different name, close quote. [10:58] The European Commission acknowledged in [11:00] November 2025 [11:02] that the payments to terrorists had not [11:04] stopped. [11:06] According to journalist Bassam Tawil, [11:10] PA television itself has admitted that [11:12] the health system [11:14] is, quote, on the verge of collapse, [11:17] close quote. The money is being found [11:19] for terrorists regardless. [11:22] Schools and the rule of law tell the [11:25] same story. The organization IMPACT-se [11:28] found Palestinian textbooks to be [11:31] {quote} substantively unchanged. [11:34] {close quote} still promoting Jihad and [11:37] martyrdom and the glorification of [11:39] terrorism and rejecting peacemaking. [11:42] The monitoring group Lawyers for Justice [11:44] recorded 2019 violations by PA forces in [11:48] 2025 [11:50] including 26 cases of torture and [11:52] arbitrary arrest of journalists, [11:54] teachers, and activists. [11:57] And then there's the promise of a [11:58] Palestinian state with one weapon and [12:01] without militias. [12:03] Ahead of legislative elections set for [12:05] November 28th in the Palestinian [12:08] territories, Abbas is pursuing [12:11] reconciliation with Hamas and [12:13] Palestinian Islamic Jihad. [12:16] Both groups that openly reject those [12:18] terms. [12:20] Journalist Tawil argues that the [12:21] elections are mainly a gesture to [12:24] Western donors. [12:26] Governments now recognizing a [12:28] Palestinian state are relying on Abbas's [12:31] assurances. [12:33] The PA's record suggests that at the UN [12:35] the words change while the conduct stays [12:38] the same. [12:41] So, what does all of this mean for [12:42] Christians? Well, the Bible does not [12:45] leave Christians neutral about God's [12:47] people Israel. [12:49] Paul warns Gentile believers, [12:52] {quote} Do not be arrogant towards the [12:53] branches. It is not you who supports the [12:56] root, but the root that supports you. [13:00] And {quote} The gifts and the calling of [13:03] God are irrevocable. {close quote} [13:05] That's in Romans 11. [13:08] God's covenant with Israel will last as [13:10] long as the sun, moon, and stars, we [13:13] read in Jeremiah 31. [13:15] How we treat the Jewish people matters. [13:19] {quote} I will bless those who bless [13:21] you. {close quote} Genesis 12. [13:24] And Jesus rebuked those who could not [13:26] interpret the signs of the times in [13:28] Matthew 16. [13:30] Like the men of Issachar, the church [13:32] must have understanding of the times. [13:35] See 1 Chronicles 12:32. [13:40] So, when we look at the underside of [13:43] the tapestry, [13:45] we see the modern state of Israel that [13:46] was established in 1948. [13:49] It is a secular state whose citizens [13:52] include Jews and non-Jews. [13:55] And from a worldly perspective, the [13:57] history of the modern state of Israel is [14:00] messy and confusing. [14:03] But when we turn the tapestry over, when [14:05] we look at the upper side of the [14:07] tapestry, we see God's purposes with the [14:09] world through biblical, [14:12] that is, spiritual eyes. [14:15] We see Israel [14:16] that in the Bible refers to the [14:18] descendants of Jacob, who was renamed [14:21] Israel after wrestling with God, [14:24] as we read in Genesis 32:28. [14:28] Today, we normally call the descendants [14:30] of Jacob the Jewish people, the word Jew [14:33] deriving from Judah, one of Jacob's [14:35] sons. [14:36] The term used to refer to the two tribes [14:39] of Judah and Benjamin. [14:42] The Bible tells us that God is bringing [14:44] his people home as a sign and warning to [14:47] the nations. [14:48] And the point is that we should see [14:50] beyond the secular world, beyond the [14:54] modern state of Israel, to understand [14:56] the spiritual reality of God's eternal [15:00] dealings with his covenant people. [15:03] Our task is not to understand every [15:06] thread, [15:07] but to keep praying, to keep standing [15:10] with Israel, and to trust the weaver. [15:14] So, [15:16] here are some prayer points for this [15:18] week. [15:19] Let us pray for Israel and for her [15:22] leaders that in a week of tangled [15:25] threads they would look beyond the knots [15:27] of diplomacy, sanctions, and war to the [15:30] God who keeps covenant. [15:33] Pray that the Lord will lead his people [15:35] with wisdom as the October 27th election [15:38] in Israel nears. [15:41] Pray for the enemies of the Jewish [15:43] people from the halls of the UN to the [15:46] rulers in Tehran [15:48] that the dark threads they weave would [15:50] be turned by God's hand towards [15:52] repentance and peace. [15:55] Pray for Pray for the peace of Jerusalem [15:58] for Israelis and Palestinians alike and [16:01] for all who are weary of a pattern that [16:03] they cannot see. [16:06] And pray finally for the speedy coming [16:08] of the Messiah of Abraham, Isaac, and [16:10] Jacob when the weaver of the tapestry [16:13] will turn the tapestry over and every [16:16] thread will be shown to have had its [16:19] place. [16:21] And so we come to the end of this week's [16:23] weekly update. Wish you a blessed [16:27] uh weekend coming up shortly and look [16:30] forward to seeing you next week. God [16:32] bless.
