On Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that with the help of President Trump, an agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Peace (Image via Shutterstock)
On Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that with the help of President Trump, an agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. The deal was finalized via a phone call between Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. In a joint statement by the United States, Israel and UAE posted by Trump on Twitter, it said that this was a “historic diplomatic breakthrough” and will “advance peace in the Middle East.” The statement said that in the coming weeks, Israeli and Emirati delegations will meet to sign bilateral agreements on security, tourism, direct flights, investment, telecommunications, technology, health care, reciprocal embassies, culture, energy and the environment.
Just a few hours after the agreement, Rabbi Tuly Josh Wander, a video reporter for Breaking Israel News, and Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, a feature article writer for Breaking Israel News, had a video conference analyzing the implications of the Abraham Accords.
Wander started off the discussion by noting that the agreement “caught everybody off guard.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu was in the middle of a meeting discussing corona with his cabinet,” Wander reported. “In the middle of a meeting, he walked out and said to everybody that they would understand why in a few minutes.”
True to his word, just a few minutes later, a three-way joint announcement was made. Wander noted that this was the first such peace agreement between Israel and an Arab neighbor since the 1994 agreement with Jordan.
“It’s huge,” Wander opined. “This agreement can open up future agreements with other Arab countries., which was actually mentioned.
Berkowitz framed the political development in Biblical terms as a meeting between Ishmael and Yaakov.
“The Bible is all about the coming together of brothers,” Berkowitz noted, citing the verse in Psalms.
How good and how pleasant it is that brothers dwell together. Psalms 133:1
“We are actually seeing here Ishmael and Yaakov, brothers, coming back together in the modern world,” Berkowitz explained. “We are seeing a fixing now of the rift that happened in the Bible.”
Rabbi Weisz noted that PM Netanyahu was already being criticized by the leaders of Judea and Samaria for the move which may endanger Jewish sovereignty in the regions.
“Nevertheless, as spiritual people, we have to first acknowledge that this is coming from God,” Rabbi Weisz noted. “We have to pray that Hashem (God, literally ‘the name’) dictates the way that this comes out…that this really does lead to security, that this is something that ultimately brings the Moshiach (Messiah) closer…We know that when the Moshiach comes there will finally be peace in Israel.”
Wander explained that the agreement included Israel not expressing sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as planned.
“We don’t know if this is a temporary or permanent decision,” Wander noted. “We do know that [Netanyahu] is being attacked by both the right and from the Arab side.”
The right-wing Israeli settlers, guided by Biblical statutes, believe that they cannot forfeit any land that God commanded the Jews to settle. Wander also explained that the Palestinian leadership perceived the agreement as a “slap in the face” from the Trump administration as well as from their Arab brethren in the UAE.
Berkowitz noted that earlier this year, the UAE permitted Jews to perform circumcisions.
“This is actually a Biblical commandment that unifies Isaac and Ishmael even to this day,” Berkowitz noted. “Allowing that helped unify the two countries leading up to this agreement.”
Berkowitz noted the Biblical verse describing the future role of Ishmael.
He shall be a wild ass of a man; His hand against everyone, And everyone’s hand against him; He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen.” Genesis 16:12
“The Arabs claim they offer us peace but they cannot offer what they don’t have,” Berkowitz said, paraphrasing Dr. Mordechai Kedar. “This is what Israel really can offer to the Arab world. The Arab world is at war among themselves. If we can reach out to them, make peace one nation at a time, we can bring peace to Ishmael. We can bless them with peace and then Arabs can have peace with each other.”
Rabbi Weisz noted that just as in the post-Exodus days of Joshua ben Nun, the Jews have a Biblical mandate to conquer the land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Berkowitz noted that King David purchased the Temple Mount but did not immediately begin building the Temple.
“The Temple was not built until Solomon because Solomon was peace,” Berkowitz said. “Israel has gone through its David warrior period. We’ve fought our wars. We’ve acquired the Temple Mount. If we want to move to the next stage of building the Temple it has to be a Solomon stage of peacemaking.”
A viewer commented, noting that according to prophecy, false peace precedes destruction. Rabbi Weisz applied that prophecy to the Oslo Accords signed in 1993.
Rabbi Weisz quoted Sharon Sanders from Christian Friends of Israel, who quoted Jeremiah.
They offer healing offhand For the wounds of My people, Saying, “All is well, all is well,” When nothing is well. Jeremiah 6:14
“Israel cannot allow a foreign nation to decide regarding the land,” Sanders wrote. Rabbi Weisz agreed, noting that despite his strong support and appreciation for President Trump, he would have felt more at ease had the announcement concerning Israel’s future come from Jerusalem rather than Washington.
“Jerusalem is the city of peace,” Rabbi Weisz noted. “This came the day after the announcement of Joe Biden’s running mate. It makes it appear that this had more to do with President Trump’s campaign issues.”
Wander noted that many from the Israeli left-wing made a similar claim that this was a political move by Netanyahu to distract attention from his legal woes.
Rabbi Weisz concluded the broadcast with the verses from Isaiah.
In the days to come, The Hebrew: הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; Arabic: جبل الزيتون, الطور‎, Jabal al-Zaytun, Al-Tur) is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The southern part of the Mount was the Silwan necropolis, attributed to the ancient Judean kingdom. The mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and holds approximately 150,000 graves, making it central in the tradition of Jewish cemeteries. Several key events in the life of Jesus, as related in the Gospels, took place on the Mount of Olives, and in the Acts of the Apostles it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Because of its association with both Jesus and Mary, the mount has been a site of Christian worship since ancient times and is today a major site of pilgrimage for Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants.
" class="glossaryLink">Mount of Hashem, To the House of the God of /ˈdʒeɪkəb/; Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Modern:
Ya‘aqōv (help·info), Tiberian: Yā‘āqōḇ), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. According to the Book of Genesis, Jacob was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom God made a covenant. He is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham, Sarah and Bethuel, the nephew of Ishmael, and the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah. " class="glossaryLink">Yaakov; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.” For instruction shall come forth from Hebrew: צִיּוֹן‎ Ṣîyōn, modern Tsiyyon; also transliterated Sion, Sayon, Syon, Tzion, Tsion) is a placename often used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the biblical Land of Israel as a whole. The word is first found in 2 Samuel 5:7 which dates from c. 630–540 BCE according to modern scholarship. It originally referred to a specific hill in Jerusalem (Mount Zion), located to the south of Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount). Mount Zion held a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was re-named the City of David; see Names of Jerusalem. That specific hill ("mount") is one of the many squat hills that form Jerusalem, which also includes Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount), the Mount of Olives, etc. Over many centuries, until as recently as the Ottoman era, the city walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt many times in new locations, so that the particular hill known as Mount Zion is no longer inside the city wall, but its location is now just outside the portion of the Old City wall forming the southern boundary of the Jewish Quarter of the current Old City. Most of the original City of David itself is thus also outside the current city wall.
" class="glossaryLink">Tzion, The word of Hashem from
" class="glossaryLink">Yerushalayim.Thus He will judge among the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples, And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up Sword against nation; They shall never again know war. Isaiah 2:2-4