PA President Smells Weakness…But Where?

The Late Abba Eban, Photo by Dan Porges

Because it is apropos I am again quoting the famous Jewish historian, Abba Eban with the same quote. He famously said, concerning the incredible tendency of our Arab cousins to consistently do the wrong thing at the wrong time in their struggle with modern Israel,“they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.

Sending a Signal

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided that now is the time to get tough with Israel and perhaps try to influence/test the new US President for the Palestinian agenda. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas throws down the political gauntlet by asserting the following peace process deal killers:

• He rejects any call to recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state.
• He insists that Israel must be defined by the original boundaries established by the UN in 1948.
• He also asserts that there must be a complete freeze on all settlement building and expansion in Judea and Samaria (what the Arabs call the West Bank) before he will even consider beginning any peace talks.

Of course this drew an angry response from Israel. Likud MK Ofer Akunis was quick to express the Israel’s frustration by saying, “This is more evidence that the Palestinians are not interested in true peace with Israel.” Who can blame Israel for feeling this way?

Interestingly, Abbas goes on to urge the US and its new President Barack Obama to push Prime Minister Netanyahu and his new government to accelerate the peace process.

Talk about Chutzpah!

Abbas just finished laying down at least two, maybe three demands that are absolute peace process deal killers as far as Israel is concerned and then he calls on the US to accelerate the peace process?

Why is PA President Abbas doing this now?

President Obama

In my opinion it very well could be that he senses that President Obama is either weak, inexperienced, sympathetic to their cause or all three. While he could be wrongly reading Obama, he obviously believes that if he takes a hard line concerning even starting peace process, that he can extract more concessions from Israel.

What makes Abbas feel he can influence/manipulate Obama?

Abbas, I believe, has drawn an accurate conclusion that President Obama is a very ambitious man. He believes that Obama is anxious to make his mark on the world by accomplishing great things on a global scale.

Middle East Peace – the Biggest Trophy of All

Obama sees a comprehensive Middle East peace a great way to do something no other President or world leader has been able to accomplish up to now. Consequently, Abbas may feel that if he makes enough negative noise that Obama will pressure Israel that much more to make concessions in order to get the peace process started.

The stakes are high for Obama.

If  President Obama cannot succeed in getting the peace process started then he risks looking increasingly weak and impotent on the world stage and that just will not do for this President.

I believe that PA President Abbas senses this and is playing the Middle East card game with this supposition in mind.

Of course Abbas may be wrong and so could I…but this prophetic scenario I guarantee you.. is going to get very interesting!

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~

Has God Hardened the Hearts of Modern Arab Pharoah’s?

One of the curious and interesting facts about the Exodus account of Israel’s supernatural deliverance from Egyptian oppression is that God says to Moses (Exodus 7:2-4),

“You shall speak all that I command, you and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of this land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,  Pharaoh will not listen to you.” 

The question I ask myself is why would God find it necessary to harden Pharaoh’s heart? Is that really fair to Pharaoh? He could have accomplished the exodus of Israel from Egypt in perhaps one or two plagues…maybe three. I (as Pharaoh) may have been able to “tough it out” through the first two, water to blood and maybe frogs…but the third plague—-gnats-— would have sent me “over the edge” for sure.

The answers are more complex. 

• In previous blogs I outlined how Israel’s deliverance was prophesied to Abraham over 400 years in advance. So the time for mercy was now passed and God’s wrath and judgment on Israel’s oppressor, Egypt, had arrived. Part of that judgment was that God would amplify the pride already resident in Egypt’s king/Pharaoh and turn it against him in judgment.
• He was also judging the Egyptian people and indeed the entire country suffered greatly through each and every plague.
• God is also jealous for His own name. The Egyptians worshiped a pantheon of gods. Every plague targeted one of their gods. In Ex. 7:5 God says… “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” Hardening Pharaoh’s heart had the effect of stiffening Pharaoh’s resistance against letting the Israelites go. He wanted everyone in Egypt to know that the God of Israel alone was God. All others were imposters.

Today I see a similar phenomena happening.

Arab leaders seem to act stubbornly and at times irrationally. They resist any notion of coming to a peace with Israel even if there is great benefit for their nation and even themselves. Abba Eban, a recently deceased and great Jewish historian, once put it this way…

“the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”

Yasir Arafat was a great example.

President Clinton had negotiated a seeming winning formula for peace, although at great price to Israel. He had convinced Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to return well over 90% of the Judea and Samaria to Arafat and the PLO. Incredibly, Arafat turned it down much to the shock of both Barak and Clinton. This despite the fact that had he made the deal he was essentially being granted his own kingdom with him at the head. In addition it would have significantly weakened Israel’s security had there been a convenient “falling out” at some later date. For many reasons he just couldn’t make the deal.

An amazing opportunity missed…thank God!

There are many strategies our Arab brothers could pursue if they wanted to successfully wrest control of Israel from our people but somehow they seem to always do the thing that makes success impossible.

It seems that each and every Arab leader is suffering from a severe case of God inspired “hardness of heart”. I for one am very thankful for this condition.

One word of caution to Arab leaders around the Middle East…

Hardness of heart is a sure sign that God is preparing to pour out his judgment on Israel’s oppressors or enemies. Beware–God is jealous for His name. The God of Israel and the God of Islam cannot both be God and all agree that there is only one God.

Joel Chernoff

~The views contained in The Joel Chernoff Report are not necessarily views held by the MJAA~