Hal Lindsey Report (09-16-11): Crisis in Cairo, Countdown to Chaos, Report Raises Tensions, Preparing for Conflict, the New Turkey, Grounds for War? and the Samson Option

This week on 'The Hal Lindsey Report'

Our attention is riveted on Israel this week. Seldom have we seen a nation face -- at one moment -- so many lethal threats to its very existence.

Last Friday, after being incited during a demonstration in Tahrir Square, thousands of angry Egyptians marched to the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Hundreds of them attacked the building, tore down the concrete walls, and breached the consulate. They looted files, trashed the offices, burned the Israeli flag, and came within moments of lynching the six Israeli security guards who remained behind after the entire diplomatic staff and their families were evacuated to Israel.

Only after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu telephoned President Obama and convinced him to intervene, did Egypt's ruling military junta send security forces to rescue the Israeli guards. Later, the police had to battle the rioters to break up the demonstration. Hundreds were injured and a few died.

I shudder to think what may have resulted if President Obama had not placed that phone call and the Israeli guards had opened fire on the protesters in self-defense. Need we a clearer indication that Egypt's military leaders will not have the will or courage to defy the Muslim Brotherhood and maintain the 1979 Camp David Accords with Israel?

That means that Israel will have something it's not had in more than 30 years: a powerful and hostile enemy on its southern border.

But that may be the least of Israel's worries.

As of now, the Palestinian Authority, egged on by the OIC, the Arab League, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and some members of the European Union (among many others) plans to formally ask the United Nations at the opening of its 66th session next week to recognize the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as the sovereign nation of Palestine -- based on the pre-1967 borders. It's a slam dunk in the General Assembly since Arab and Muslim nations and their sympathizers hold a voting majority, but a vote in the GA has no legal weight until ratified by the Security Council.

The Obama administration has indicated that it will veto the resolution -- though it uses veiled threats to withhold its veto to pressure Israel to do its bidding. But President Obama is hoping it won't reach that point. A US veto will put him in an awkward position since he has promised a state to the Palestinians and assured the Muslim world that if anyone could get it done, it would be him. They believed him and are now publicly and loudly using his own words against him.

But think for just a moment about the predicament that formal United Nations recognition of Palestine would create for Israel. For instance, those lines, which were the reality before the Six Day War of 1967, would mean that Israel would only be nine miles wide at one critical point. It would mean that from the hills of the West Bank (Palestine) the terrorists can physically see Tel Aviv. That would be child's play for the rockets and missiles of the terrorists or the national military of the new state.

Further, Israel would no longer have the recognized right to enter Judea or Samaria (the West Bank) or East Jerusalem to protect Jewish settlers, tourists, or any of the Jewish or Christian holy sites. They could no longer enter those areas or Gaza to destroy missile and rocket launch sites operated by the Palestinians. To do so would be seen as an invasion of sovereign territory and give cause to Palestine's "allies" to rush to its aid.

Revered Israeli statesman, Abba Eban, once referred to those indefensible borders as the "Auschwitz borders" because of the danger they posed to Israel.

And those are just two simple considerations. There are many more.

But that's not all.

Turkey, who was the second Muslim nation to recognize Israel in 1949 (Iran was the first) and was the only Muslim nation with a formal military alliance with Israel, has renounced that alliance, expelled Israel's ambassador, and recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv. Further, its prime minister, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, has threatened to send Turkish warships to challenge any Israeli naval presence outside Israel's own 12-mile territorial waters.

Ostensibly, this is because Turkey is furious with Israel for interdicting the "Freedom Flotilla" that it sent to bust the Egyptian-Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza in May of 2010. After the passengers of the Mavi Marmara attempted to lynch the Israeli boarding party, a battle ensued and nine Turkish nationals died.

Because the world generally recognized the maritime blockade of Gaza as legal by international standards, Israel has refused to apologize, pay compensation to the families, and dismantle its blockade of Hamas.

Further, at Turkey's insistence, the UN established a formal commission to investigate the incident. The report of that commission, though finished last February, has finally found its way into the press. Though the "Palmer Report" chastises Israel for exerting "excessive" force during the melee, it also affirms Israel's right to pursue the maritime blockade and condemns Turkey for instigating the incident. Of course, that has infuriated Turkey's leaders and they've announced that, for them, the UN report "does not exist."

But I believe that all of the bluster and posturing is simply that: bluster and posturing. Tayyip Erdogan's ulterior motive is to restore Turkey to its pre-World War I status as leader of the Islamic world and the dominant power in the Mediterranean and Middle East. He sees himself as the emerging regional strongman. That's why he's slowly dismantling Turkey's secular government and rebuilding Turkey as an Islamic state. He's touring the Arab and Muslim nations and loudly touting his record of challenging Israel and defying the West. He's aligning Turkey with Iran and Hamas and insinuating himself into the politics of other nations. Though Turkey is prominent member of NATO, which it joined when Russian Communism was the common enemy, Turkey is increasingly withdrawing from the West now that radical Islam is the common enemy.

As I often ask, does this sound familiar? The prophets Zechariah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah all prophesy that, in the last days, a reborn nation of Israel will find itself alone and friendless with its back to the sea, surrounded by enemies with no one and nowhere to turn.

Friends, those days are here.

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, Inspiration, CPM Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
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