Is there a connection to France's Israel policy?
Although news of the devastation caused by flooding in France and Germany has rightly elicited both shock and sympathy, I couldn't help connecting it with the new 'peace' efforts Europe is trying to foist on Israel.1
And it now looks like President Obama will be supporting the French plan to impose Palestinian demands upon Israel.
As I've outlined in my book Peace in Jerusalem2 in a chapter headed 'God's political storms' – sparked off by controversy over the floods that beset Britain two years ago – natural disasters have accompanied virtually every attempt by the US Government to impose a 'two-state solution' on the Jewish state which would divide the land in direct contravention of God's word.
For God has made clear that he will judge those who scatter his people among the nations and divide up his land (Joel 3:2). And Psalm 83 paints an accurate picture of the policy and intentions of Israel's enemies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, who say, "Come, let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more" (Ps 83:4). And the same psalm calls on the God of Israel to pursue the plotters "with your tempest and terrify them with your storm" (Ps 83:15).
Psalm 83 in Action
George Bush Snr's 'land for peace' Oslo Accord of 31 October 1991 was followed the very next day by 'The Perfect Storm', as it was dubbed, which ended up demolishing his own home. A year later, on the very day he presided over further moves to push this agreement, Hurricane Andrew – the worst natural disaster ever to hit America at that time – destroyed over 180,000 homes in Florida, causing over $30 billion in damage.
There have been a string of similar such incidents including, perhaps most notably, the terrible floods that struck New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, just as Jews were being evicted from their homes in Gaza as part of a 'peace' plan Israel was pressured into accepting by America and the international community.3 But Gaza subsequently became the launch-pad for constant rocket fire aimed at the destruction of Israel, which is the ultimate aim of the Palestinian Authority and its allies.
The politicians may mock, but the Almighty is watching over his own special piece of property, and Western leaders are invoking disasters on their people, costing many lives and billions of dollars. Yet few apparently see the link with their foolish stubbornness in defying the God of Israel.
Call to Repentance
What is God saying in all this? We have various biblical parallels. When the Tower of Siloam fell (Luke 13:1-5), it was not a punishment for the 18 who died but a general warning sign and call to repentance to the nation and, in particular, its leaders. The prophet Amos (see Amos 4) interpreted signs in Israel, progressive in intensity and affecting both the natural world and the lives of the Israelites, as signs that God was sending as a call to repentance.
In a similar way, the signs today are a call to repentance. The painful experiences of floods, and whatever else may befall a nation at the hand of God, can be understood as both the anger and love of God, calling the nations to repent (in this case specifically concerning their treatment of Israel).
Oh that we too – and our leaders – would seek more than anything to obey the Lord of the universe!
References
1 Others have also made this connection, including the Jerusalem News Network and Breaking Israel News.
2 2013, available from www.olivepresspublisher.com.
3 Ibid.
