Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God
is for Israel, that they may be saved. Rom. 10:1
Breaking headlines direct from Israel
General Prayer Concerns
The following news items are posted here as considerations for prayer to help you as you pray for Israel.
IDF gearing up for 'Nakba Day' violence
IDF is concerned it will face repeat of 2011's Nakba Day protests when nearly 100 Syrians crossed into Israel at Golan border.
Full story [Jerusalem Post]
More than 60 nuclear experts at work building Iranian nuclear bomb
The names and addresses of 60 Iranian experts employed by 11 different Iranian agencies under the control of the Iranian Defense Ministry were revealed Saturday, May 12, by the main Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). This is the first time an extensive, highly secret, central organizational structure dedicated to building a nuclear weapon has been revealed in detail - specifically the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also runs the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Netanyahu: Unity government will restore stability
In joint press conference with Kadima's Mofaz, Netanyahu says broad gov't will focus on replacing Tal Law, changing government system and promoting peace
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Iran upgrades Palestinian Jihad Islami's Gaza arsenal with coastal missiles, improved Qassams
Iran is working at speed to give the Jihad Islami, its radical Palestinian arm in the Gaza Strip, a strong military edge over the ruling Hamas which it no longer trusts, debkafile’s exclusive military sources report. Tehran is motivated by two objectives:
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The video explains that the reason there is no successful peace process is because of decades of Palestinian and Arab recalcitrance and the main reason for the conflict is not Israel's presence in the West Bank, but successive Palestinian leaders resistance to Jewish sovereignty.
Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The video explains where the terms "West Bank", "occupied territories" and "67 Borders" originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.
US military drills Day One after strike on Iran, deploys F-22s to Gulf
US Navy, Air Force, ground, intelligence and special forces units based at home, in Europe and the Middle East, took part this week in a special exercise ordered by President Barack Obama to simulate reactions to a potential US-Israel strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, DEBKAfile's exclusive military and Washington sources report.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
'Hezbollah boosting drone unit'
Shiite terror group said to be bolstering UAV unit in order to attack Israel in case it strikes Iran
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Israeli Arab to form new pro-Israel party
Founder of party tentatively labeled Israeli-Arab Nationalist Party says other Arab parties serve only Palestinians.
Full story [Jerusalem Post]
Egypt terminates gas flow to Israel, stakeholder says
Steinitz, Mofaz say move endangers peace treaty, however, senior Egyptian military official is quoted as saying gas deal was not nullified, but rather halted because of a business dispute regarding transfer of payment.
Full story [Jerusalem Post]
Anti-terror bureau urges Israelis to leave Sinai
Severe travel warning updated in light of information indicating terrorists stepped up efforts to attack Israeli tourists
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
IDF boosts deployment on southern border
Intelligence indicating imminent terror threat prompts military to deploy advanced weapons system on Sinai border
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Defiant Syria is upgrading its military capabilities
Damascus recently declared number of new surface-to-air missile systems operational; IDF modifies way it flies in North.
Full story [Jerusalem Post]
Iran threatens N. Israel with bombardment from Lebanon
Tehran has begun capitalizing on its allies" two perceived victories: Bashar Assad's success in seizing Idlib from rebel hands and the Palestinian Jihad Islami's triumphal missile assault from Gaza.
The Iranians are now moving forward with plans to match the Palestinian assault on southern Israeli with an offensive on the north from Lebanon. This is reported by debkafile's exclusive sources in the wake of a visit paid by high-ranking Iranian and Hizballah officials Wednesday morning, March 14, to the Lebanese-Israeli border region opposite Metulah, Israel's northernmost town at the tip of the Galilee Panhandle.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
North Korea tested Iranian warhead or "dirty bomb" in 2010 for $55m
German and Japanese intelligence sources Monday, March 5, confirmed – and qualified - to debkafile reports in the German Der Spiegel and Welt am Sonntag that Western intelligence had known for 11 months that at least one of North Korea's covert nuclear tests in 2010 was carried out on an Iranian radioactive bomb or nuclear warhead.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Tehran steps into US-Israel Iran row with threat of pre-emptive strike
Deputy Chief of Iran's Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi issued a new threat Tuesday, Feb. 21: "Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran's national interests... we will act without waiting for their actions."
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Israel: Iran's nuclear arms program is complete, its missiles can reach US
Iran has completed the development of a nuclear weapon and awaits nothing more than a sign from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to start assembling its first nuclear bomb, said Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi on Thursday, February 2. Assembling a bomb would take up to a year, Kochavi estimated. With 100 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent grade and another 4 tons of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent already in stock, Iran would need another two years to make four nuclear bombs.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Russia boosts Iran's armory with mobile radar-jammers against planes or missiles
Moscow has sold Iran the highly-advanced Avtobaza truck-mounted systems which are capable of jamming aircraft radar and the electronic guidance instruments of attacking missiles. This deal, announced in Moscow Tuesday, Oct. 25, substantially boosts Russian military assistance to the Islamic Republic.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
PA rewriting Jewish history
Special: Palestinian archeological revisionism aims to nullify Jewish connection to land
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Abbas says no to Jewish state
Ahead of UN speech, Palestinian leader says he will not cave in to global pressure
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Opinion: Arab Spring myth exposed
Op-ed: West faces quickly radicalizing Mideast after foolishly lauding Arab uprisings
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Turkey to challenge Gaza blockade at ICJ
Crisis with Turkey: FM Ahmet Davutoglu says Ankara doesn't recognize Gaza blockade, prepares to take matter to International Court of Justice; dismisses Palmer Report conclusion that siege is legal. Meanwhile, Turkish paper reports Turkey planning to boost naval presence in Mediterranean Sea
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Israel, US worried over Syria's WMDs
Israel, US are closely monitoring Syria's suspected caches of chemical arms for fear that the weapons could fall into terror groups' hands as uprising against President Bashar Assad rages on, Wall Street Journal reports
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
U.S. Senator seeks to cut aid to elite IDF units operating in West Bank and Gaza
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Full story [HAARETZ.com]
Iranian Revolutionary Guards train new Hamas commando brigade in Gaza
A team of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers has just finished setting up Hamas' first commando unit especially trained to combat any Israel military force entering the Gaza Strip, debkafile's military sources report. The new "Al Qods Brigades" unit of 400 men is to be the first of three. A week ago, July 23, the first unit held a passing-out parade and leave-taking ceremony from its two Iranian instructors.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Syria steps up Hezbollah armament
Growing unrest in Syria seems to have no impact on Damascus' efforts to supply Shiite group with weapons. Recent deliveries said to include Scud D, M600 ballistic missiles which put Israel, Jordan, parts of Turkey in range
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
The churches against Israel
Christian blood libels revived, with Israel being painted as evil, having no right to exist
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells
Senior Libyan rebel "officers" sold Hizballah and Hamas thousands of chemical shells from the stocks of mustard and nerve gas that fell into rebel hands when they overran Muammar Qaddafi's military facilities in and around Benghazi, DEBKAfile's exclusive military and intelligence sources report.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
New Syrian, Hizballah's guided missiles defy Israel's aerial supremacy
Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin took his leave from the Israel cabinet Sunday, Nov. 21, with a stern warning: "Tel Aviv will be a front line in the next conflict," he said.
DEBKAfile's military sources report: Syria and Hizballah now possess thousands of surface missiles from Iran with enhanced ranges of up to 300 kilometers and they are being outfitted by Iranian engineers with guidance systems. The new guided Fateh-110, M-600 and Scud D missiles hardware can pinpoint any part of Israel within a 10-meter radius in defiance of Israel's aerial and anti-missile capabilities, say Israeli and Western missile experts. Hizballah and Syria have been furnished by Iran with the means for fighting a new, far more comprehensive war.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Syria has 1,000 ballistic missiles zeroed on Israeli targets
A colossal Iran-funded and directed armament program has enabled Syria to field 1,000 ballistic missiles and Hizballah 1,000 rockets - all pointed at specific Israeli military and civilian locations, including the densely populated conurbation around Tel Aviv, debkafile's military sources reveal. Syria has smuggled most of its stock of liquid-fuel powered ballistic missiles over to Hizballah in Lebanon, while its own production lines have been working day and night for five months to upgrade its stock solid fuel-propelled missiles, so improving their accuracy. North Korean military engineers and technicians are employed on those production lines.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
EXCLUSIVE: US intelligence finds 5,000 Hizballah trained to seize Galilee towns
Jones was not talking out of the top of his head, but on the strength of solid US intelligence gathered over months on detailed war plans Iran, Syria, Hizballah and Hamas have drawn up to send five Hizballah brigades sweeping across the border to seize five sectors of Galilee, while also organizing a massive Israeli-Arab uprising against the Jewish state.
Hamas would open a second front in the south and in the east. Syria is expected to step in at some stage.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Russia builds key naval HQ in Syria: Missile presence worries Israel
A high-ranking Russian navy source reported July 21 that the Soviet-era naval maintenance base near Tartus in Syria is to be expanded and modernized to become "fully operational." DEBKAfile's military sources report that Russian is building the facility up as its main sea base for operations in four seas: The Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The upgrade of Russian port facilities at Tartus, its only foothold in the Mediterranean, will automatically enhance Moscow's strategic interests in Syria and Bashar Assad's regime.
Full story [DEBKAfile]
Opinion: Dialogue to nowhere
Elyakim Haetzni's meeting with Arab students convinces him conflict can't be resolved
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Opinion: Wrong approach to peace
US, Israel ignore leading scholar's insights about Muslim attitude to peace deals
Full story [Ynetnews.com]
Pray
We do not know what God has in store for Israel in the short term. We can only pray that it will be for the eventual salvation of the Jewish people.
So continue to pray for Israel, for the Jewish people and for the peace of Jerusalem and may God bless you as you lift up His nation and people before Him.
Lift up the cause of the Messianic believers in Israel and pray that the Lord would grant them more freedom to express their faith in Messiah.
Would you like to be kept informed of the prayer needs of Israel, the Body of Messiah in Israel and the Jewish people? Then perhaps you would consider subscribing to the Intercessors prayer letter.