T. Belman. Better that Iran not there at all. Even if Iran doesn’t attack directly, it can bring in whatever it wants and give it to proxies who wouyold intern use it against Israel
“If Iran attacks Israel, Russia will stand alongside the US to defend Israel,” said Russian ambassador to Israel Alexander Shein at the Munich security conference last week – in a mixed message from Moscow. This assurance is part of the effort Moscow has been making for some time to allay Israel’s concerns and stop the Netanyahu government from agitating against the peril posed by an Iranian military presence in Syria. The Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu carried this message when he paid an unprecedented visit to Jerusalem last October.
DEBKAfile’s sources note, however, that since the Kremlin is broadcasting contradictory messages, Israel’s concerns are far from being allayed. One the one hand, the Russians, knowing they can’t alter Tehran’s implacable aspiration to “wipe Israel off the map,” are promising to defend the Jewish State and even line up with the United States for this purpose. But on the other, Russian police-makers seem to believe that Israel ought to be satisfied with their guarantee of safety and understand that it has nothing to fear from the Iranian military sitting permanently in its Syrian back yard. That being so, Israel has no reasonable cause to attack Iranian targets in Syria. Therefore, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps may continue to establish bases under their command in Syria.
Moscow’s affirmation of the Iranian presence in Syria as a fact of life is also intended to reach Washington. If Iranian military bases in Syria are no threat to Israel, because of Moscow’s guarantee, neither should it concern the United States.
Our sources report that Moscow like Tehran are gravely concerned by the Trump administration’s deployment of more than 2,500 Marines to maintain US control of a defense line on the 1,320 km long Syrian borders with Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. The line stretches north from the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border intersection along the Iraqi border in the east (1,000km) and turns round at Hasakah and Manbij to run parallel to northern Syria’s border with Turkey (320km). This American line blocks the passage for pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiite forces to be moved into Syria. It also severs the land corridor coveted by Iran for linking Tehran via Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.
The Russians and Iranians are determined not to let the US get away with its plans to maintain control of eastern Syria while sitting on the Iraqi border to disrupt Iranian influence in Baghdad, ahead of Iraq’s coming elections. Ali Velayati, senor strategic adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bluntly: “The Islamic resistance must prevent the deployment of US forces east of the Euphrates into Iraq.”
Iran and its Russian and Syrian allies tried to break through the American line on Feb 7, and were repelled. Certain that this attempt will be repeated, Moscow last week deployed a strong deterrent: four elite Russian Su-57 stealth fighters are now in place at the Khmeimim air base in Latakia. A Russian aerial shield is therefore ready to defend Iranian operations in Syria, capable of taking on the stealth aircraft wielded by the US – the F-22 Raptors and the Israeli Air Force’s F-35. Iran can continue to expand its military presence into Syria under Russian protection..
@ Edgar G.:
They already did that. Publicly.
Repeatedly.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/General-Netanyahu-to-warn-Putin-of-consequences-of-crossing-red-lines-503089
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/29/netanyahu-warns-russia-that-israel-will-not-accept-growing-iran-military-presence.html
http://jewtube.tv/israel-conflict/israel-has-warned-russia-that-it-will-go-to-war-if-the-s-300-is-given-to-its-enemies/
@ Sebastien Zorn:
As I pointed out earlier I think on this subject, maybe on this page, I believe that Israel will warn Russia by saying that they don’t want to hurt or damage anything specifically Russian because they are on fine, friendly terms, but Iran is a deadly danger to Israel, and siting emplacements well within the Defence Sphere of Israel. And if they don’t cease, and also remove what’s there. Israel will be forced against it’s will to destroy it.
Something like that. Friendly, reluctant, but FIRM. At least that’s what I’d do. And I believe tht the reason Israel is PUBLICLY preparing for a war on it’s northern borders is an indication of their reluctant resolution.
How Israel intends to defeat Iran in Syria
“In the next several months, Israel is likely to aggressively strike Syrian regime headquarters in Damascus.
As we saw in last weekend’s Israeli Defense Force strikes in southern Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is determined to defeat Iran’s emerging power projection stronghold in Syria. They are right to do so…”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-israel-intends-to-defeat-iran-in-syria/article/2649315
Israel is not relying on anyone or getting out of anyone’s way.
bones327 Said:
“The Energy Ministry forecast Tuesday that within 12 years Israel would be fully reliant on natural gas and alternative fuels for the production of electricity and for transportation…“From 2030 onwards, the State of Israel will create alternatives and will no longer allow the import of cars that run on gasoline and diesel fuel.”…In 2014, electricity was produced through a fifty-fifty split between coal and natural gas. The aim for 2030 is to alter that to 83% natural gas and 17% renewable energy, with “zero pollutants,” Steinitz said.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-aims-to-eliminate-use-of-coal-gasoline-and-diesel-by-2030/
@ yamit82:
From what had happened in earlier times and the prophecies of earlier seers, it is not difficult to assume that what Ezekiel prophesied had or might or would happen sometime or other in the near future. Although he says that G-D will rule over the whole world…(which I believe just a submissive saying that all gods receive) the actual areas that he mentions are only local, and in Israel and the near surrounds, where he might have had personal knowledge, or heard from elders or others.
I don’t see the contents as modern concepts; I see them as timeless expressions, and the kind which can be found said by almost every servant of every king or early emperor in ancient history. Some, assuredly might use the flowery and free flowing word of the Torah to suit their situations, but others, earlier in history, would have been similar long before the Torah came into being.
I see nothing especially modern about them, and although seemingly specific, they seem (to me) mostly ambiguous and except for a few events likely already past or in process, wrapped in generalities….sorry. Perhaps I’m not understanding the direction of your meaning.
@ Edgar G.:
There were no Hebrew words for many modern concepts like :———
Zachariah 13-14
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say: ‘It is My people’, and they shall say: ‘The LORD is my God.’
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one. All the land shall be turned as the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king’s winepresses. And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more extermination; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight against Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso of the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. ………
Michael Savage Reading Bible Verses – Israel vs. Iran
@ Edgar G.:
“Symbols” are generally what the mind wants them to be….. the same symbol can mean 1000 different things to 1000 people none of them correct, but it makes them happy and satisfied, depending on the extent of credulity; perhaps causing them to embark in a different direction..good or bad….????
@ <a href="#comment-63356000195183" title="Go to comment of this autho
I read this with a deep feeling. like reading an esoteric, specialised writing meant for only very few..
But all this departed when I saw the word Kaballah, I have a very old book written by Christian D. Ginsberg a Meshumad at 15, but a Torah and Kaballah expert. To be both a Kaballah expert and a meshummad seems to me to be just right for unbalanced minds..
I have read several books on the subject and to me they are just the products of minds that are a bit off level. Making up crossword puzzles should be just as satisfying…or mathematical conundrums. Just my personal opinion.
@ yamit82:
In short, Gog is just a name in the Torah whose identity had been already lost even in antiquity and gives liberty to many great past minds to waste their time in speculating all to no purpose. Many Torah words, comments and meanings have been lost to us for ever. It’s only reasonable with such ancient writings about a historical period almost lost in time, except for occasional antiquarian artifacts which, discovered, show us that that period actually existed as well as those mentioned as peopling it. But for their motives, and the meanings of certain words and names, we are only guessing….until we find a proof dug up somewhere.
This is most often when a prophet mouths mystic unearthly visions, which allow a thousand interpretations over the succeeding centuries….like Daniel, for instance. Maybe he was smoking a concoction of Amanita Muscaria mushroom, the little item which brought John Allegro into ridicule and total loss of prestige.
In short, I believe that prophecies, if we could have been there at the time, would have shown that the event was either imminent, or had already happened, and the “prophet” was doing a little “retro-activity” for future generations. After all he was writing it.
I recall as a child during the WAR the story was that Hitler had pointed ears like Hamentaschen and was the re-incarnation of that ugly figure. Great imagery but with no foundation in fact. Folk-story invented anonymously on the spot.
Edgar G. Said:
Judah Halevy says “there are no two philosophers who reached the same conclusions, and this shows the mind cannot be relied upon”. It is the mind’s fault that the Jew has ceased to see borders, while the giving of the Torah was set-off, bounded, by the three days of separation. The concept of God is limited: He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – that is the limit. More than that is metaphysics, philosophy. Our nation has a God who is limited, racially and historically. This anti-metaphysical base is central to Judaism.
Limits are a basic concept in a Hebrew thought. In Hebrew, the word for “limit” is gvul, from the root gavel, meaning to give a set form to dough. Man is lost in infinite time and space. What can he grasp? But Judaism gave the world Bereshit, Genesis, the “beginning,” with which the Torah opens. This is the first concept of limits in space and time. Thought is by nature circular, without beginning. The Torah opens with the letter bet, not with a definition of God. We know God only from His creation. The land was chaos, and God set limits: oceans, order, instead of infinity. There is an order and an intention in history. If the world had been created by accident, it would have no meaning. But if it has a beginning, a creation, it is no accident, rather an intention, with purpose. This direction is another basic concept, in addition to limits. No history of any other nation is as clear and defined as ours. Everything that happens to us already appears in regard to our three Patriarchs. Abraham stands under the banner: Lech lecha, “Get thee from thy country…” and under the banner of chesed, charity. Isaac is the passive, tragic image among our Fathers. The Bible refers to the Pachad Itzhak, the “fear of Isaac.” That is also part of our history. Again and again we are bound, and again and again saved.
The Kabbala says of Jacob that he is Tifereth, glory, a compromise between or mixture of the chesed of Abraham and the din of Isaac. He is known by his name Israel, one who struggled with God; and also famous for his ladder. No other symbol so expresses the principles of the outlook of Israel. Plato divided the world into the world of ideas and the world of being. There is no connection between the world of metaphysics and the world of physics. Jesus divided the authority of Caesar from the authority of God. Judaism stands under the banner of unity, of the One, and the ladder symbolizes this. Non-Jewish philosophy is metaphysics. It begins by defining the concept God. Jacob’s ladder is planted firmly in the ground, with angels ascending and descending on it; first, they ascend. Tradition tells us that the entire land of Israel was enfolded under Jacob when he slept and dreamed, and the stones he set under him became one as well. This is the third basic concept. It is a symbol that more than symbolizes, it legislates, orders, commands. The Hebrew word for “ladder” is sulam. In Hebrew, sulam is an anagram of semel, the word for symbol; and it has the same numerical value as Sinai.
@ bones327:
Oy Veh!!! Another prophet of doom and gloom…..Nobody has ever understood those prophecies and it’s only fools who declare they know and understand them.
Rambam (Maimonides), the great Jewish Sage, in Hilchos Melachim [Laws of the Kings of Israel and their Wars] 12:2 advises us not to go into deep detailed study on the subject of the Wars of Gog, the coming of the Messiah and other sequences of future eschatological events. The ‘knowledge of these matters leads neither to fear not to love of God.’ People can not understand the exact meaning of the many obscure passages of the Scripture until the time of their occurrence. It is enough to know future events in accordance with what Prophecy revealed in general, without going beyond the plain meaning of the verses. ‘The detailed studies of these matters are in no way Principles of Faith,’ concluded Rambam. Well, despite this, we will try to go into some deep detailed study of Ezekiel 38 and 39 to satisfy our curiosity and in order to counter the arguments of other theories.
GOG.
Who is this mysterious Gog, ruler from the land of Magog and the prince of Rosh, (or just chief prince) of Meshech and Tubal, around whom so many tragic events will culminate in the End Times? Gog is a personality, a future demonic king, a despot and a tyrant. Many Bible expositors think that King Gyges (716-678 or 687-652 BCE) of Lydia, in western Anatolia (the modern Republic of Turkey) was the legendary Gog of the Bible. The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428-347 BCE) related a myth about Gog, who was a shepherd for the Lydian King Candaules (735-718 BCE). While in the field, Gog found in the cave a golden ring which could make him invisible any time he put it on his finger. So, the legend goes, Gog went to the palace, became invisible, seduced the queen, killed the king and made himself the ruler of Lydia. His country was called Gygea or Land of Gog.
Some scholars believe that Cambyses (530-523 BCE), king of Persia, or Antiochus Epiphanes (175-163 BCE), king of Syria, representied Gog from the land of Magog.
Others speculate that the Septuagint translation of Amos 7:1 with a connection to Proverbs 30:27 pictured Gog as a ‘King of Locusts,’ leading his hordes in attack on Israel in the latter years.
‘Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a swarm of locusts were coming, and behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog, the King’ (Amos 7:1).
There are those who prefer the Russian theory that Gog will lead the former Soviet Union forces allied with China and Iran, together with another group of nations, put forward the candidature of Vladimir Putin as a future pretender for the personification of Gog.
There are adherents of the Common Market of Europe theory, saying that Gog will come from a newly resurrected Holy Roman Empire who will ally with other enemy nations in wars against Israel. The role of Gog role is given to a future leader of Germany, ‘a little horn’, who will become the main force behind the European Union.
This ‘king of fierce countenance’, described by Prophet Daniel, is an extremely crafty, cunning, deceitful -and bloody- individual, who will preach peace but practice war (Daniel 8:23-25).
Gog is also the attributed name of an Angelic being, a Principality, given charge over the land of Turkey, in a similar way to the ‘Prince of Persia’, ‘Prince of Greece’, or ‘Michael, one of the chief Princes, given charge over Israel’ (Daniel 10:12-21).
There is also an opinion that Gog and Magog are the Ten Tribes of Israel trapped behind the legendary Gates-barrier of Alexander the Great in the Caucasus Mountains to prevent them from invading the nations of the south.
The Khazars who lived between the Caspian and Black Seas were also associated with Gog and Magog by Christian and Muslim writers. Ahmad ibn Fadlan, the Arab traveler, noted in his writings that Gog and Magog were ancestors of the Khazars.
A Georgian chronicle too identifies the Khazars with Gog and Magog, describing them as ‘wild men with hideous faces and the manners of wild beasts, eaters of blood.’
Another opinion says that the place of Gog may possibly be in Georgia of the former USSR whose capital is Tbilisi (indicating a connection with Tubal, son of Japheth). There was a Gogarene province in Iberia (Georgia) in the Caucasian Mountains.
Some Muslim scholars believed that Gog and Magog are the Mongols who in the past caused a lot of damage to Muslim Civilization in Central Asia. The Great Wall of China in the Arabic language is called ‘the Wall of Al Magog.’
In Midrashic Literature Gog is identified with Romulus, a legendary founder of ancient Rome.
In Midrash Bereishis Rabban 76:5 Gog is ‘the 11th king of the 4th beast with the 10 horns’ of Daniel chapter 7.
The Hebrew Bible (1-Chronicles 5:4) mentions the name Gog as that of an ancestral figure from the Tribe of Reuben, first born son of Israel.
There is also a Talmudic tradition that Gog will be a descendant of Esau (Edom) the archenemy of Israel, and his fighting forces will consist mainly of Japhethic nations in alliance with Hamitic countries.
Malbim, (1809-1879 CE), Rabbi Meir Leibush, a preacher and Bible commentator, said that the identity of Gog will remain shrouded in mystery until the time he actually arrives.
Please do not be fools. Israel cannot trust the Russians, Putin is Gog. The Ezekiel 38/39 war is coming and only HaShem can & will protect Israel.
Even the US and her allies will not help (the young lions of Tarshish); Saudi (Sheba & Dedan) will stand on the side lines and ask if the onslaught of Russian(Magog) /Iranian (Persia) /Turkish (House of Togarmah) is coming to take plunder from Israel.
But ADONAY will destroy their armies and you, Israel will use their weapons systems as fuel for 7 years.
Read the prophecy – it is coming.
Will the first step be the destruction go Damascus (Isaiah 17:1)? I cannot be sure, but it looks like it may well be the next shoe to drop.
Please get your hearts right with HaShem! The time of Isaiah 26:19-21 is upon us!
@ Russell:
I’ve read several times, over the past many years, comments by top philosophers , historians, and even a couple of the more more free-thinking religious figures, that there is absolutely not a scrap of identifiable proof that prayers had ever been answered, beyond the margin of chance. So, whilst I do pray, I also don’t expect too much from it.
@ Russell:
I feel that if Israel was in need either against Iran or Russia, the US would involve itself. If Israel were to lose it’s perceived hegemony over the area, and it’s reputation as the most powerful State in the region, this would impact very negatively on the US , particularly it’s influence in the Middle East as it is universally known that the US and Israel have alliances of mutual defence. Also the US has gone extremely far in statements, both in the past and especially by the present US Administration, saying, more or less,that “messing with Israel, is messing with us”…
So obviously, the US could NOT afford, for many reasons, to allow Israel to lose it’s superiority over all surrounding states and regional enemies. Just my spontaneous opinion, thinking about it…
Israel neither needs Russia nor anyone else to protect it nor should Israel be foolish enough to trust Russia (or anyone else) to protect them. Russia does what is best for Russia as he USA now does what is best for USA first and then its allies, in that order of priority. Israel must be ready to defend itself and trust only in G-d. He can be trusted and has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
While I agree that Russia will not fight the US on anyone’s behalf, it would be naive to expect the US to fight Russia or anyone else on Israel’s behalf.
Israel is not really convinced that anyone would fight on their behalf.
Im ain ani li, mi li?
It’s possible that Iran is on a self-destructive course. Other reports state that Iran is facing drought and a host of other problems. They possibly should be spending their money at home trying to prevent the country from potential starvation of its people, instead of messing in Syria’s never-ending quagmire of a war. . It wouldn’t be the first time greed for power killed a nation.
@ Edgar G.:
Naturally I’m just guessing or attempting to prognosticate.
It’s like bluff and double bluff. Russia will not dare go against the US in a military conflict of any larger kind. They will not sacrifice themselves for Iran. And if they think that their assurance to Israel to protect them against Iran makes Israel (nor America) satisfied they are mistaken.
Israel will reply that they don’t want to have a confrontation with Russia as they are on friendly terms, but will NOT allow Iran to settle in Syria. They will re-iterate that this is within Israel’s sphere of defenceive space. So what Israel will do is either warn iran to move out of a spot it is establishing, or just go ahead and destroy it. If Russia shoots down an Israeli plane then all bets are off. It will lead to a genuine brandishing of swords- perhaps to the level of drawing them..