Israel exerts sovereign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded

In the midst of a high-profile visit by Vice President Joe Biden, Israel on Tuesday unveiled plans for new housing in disputed Jerusalem, a surprise step that embarrassed and angered the highest-ranking Obama administration official yet to visit the country.

Biden, who had come to promote new peace talks and to smooth the Obama administration's strained relations with a longtime ally, instead denounced Israel's plans to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem as a threat to the search for peace.

"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem," Biden said, calling it "precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now."

"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them," Biden said.

The sharp turn of events abruptly changed the tenor of the trip in its second day, coming just hours after the vice president proclaimed his love for Israel and declared enduring U.S. support. Biden's visit followed a year of tension brought on by Israel's defiance of the Obama administration's admonitions on precisely the same issue: housing settlements in disputed areas.

In Washington, the White House added its own criticism. But it was unclear how deeply the latest step by Israel would affect ties between the two countries, which have been strained by tensions over the Jewish state's hardline security measures.

Aides said Biden raised the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a dinner given in honor of the vice president's visit. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel that such development in Jerusalem would anger Palestinians and further threaten prospects for peace.

Biden is to deliver a major address on U.S.-Israeli relations on Thursday. He will also meet with Palestinian and Jordanian officials.

You were saying ...

Guess they don’t really need sanctions either, since God is on their side.

Well... here's what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob says about it... and what's going to happen. Sanctions or not -- it's not going to make any difference. It's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who is the One who decides how this turns out... :-)

This is the Gog/Magog War of Ezekiel 38/39, which consists of a Russian confederation of other Islamic nations, which go to attack and destroy Israel. Iran is one of those in that confederation.

Ezekiel Chapter 38

14 "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord
God: "On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know
it?

15 Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and
many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company
and a mighty army.

16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the
land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My
land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O
Gog, before their eyes."

17 Thus says the Lord God: "Are you he of whom I have spoken in former
days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in
those days that I would bring you against them?

18 "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against
the land of Israel," says the Lord God, "that My fury will show in My
face.

19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken:
'Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of
Israel,

20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of
the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who
are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains
shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall
fall to the ground.'

21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,"
says the Lord God. "Every man's sword will be against his brother.

22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I
will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are
with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known
in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord."
'

Ezekiel Chapter 39

1 "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the
Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and Tubal;

2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the
far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows
to fall out of your right hand.

4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops
and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of
every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord
God.

6 And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in
the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel,
and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations
shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done," says the Lord God. "This
is the day of which I have spoken.

9 "Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on
fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and
arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for
seven years.

10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the
forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will
plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,"
says the Lord God.

11 "It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial
place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea;
and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and
all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.

12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order
to cleanse the land.

13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will
gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified," says the Lord God.

14 They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a
search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining
on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they
will make a search.

15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a
man's bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have
buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.

16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse
the land." '

17 "And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, 'Speak to every
sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and
come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am
sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of
Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood.

18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the
princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of
them fatlings of Bashan.

19 You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are
drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you.

20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty
men And with all the men of war," says the Lord God.

21 "I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My
judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.

22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from
that day forward.

23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity
for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid
My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they
all fell by the sword.

24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions
I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them." '

25 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now I will bring back the
captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I
will be jealous for My holy name--

26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in
which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own
land and no one made them afraid.

27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out
of their enemies' lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many
nations,

28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them
into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their
land, and left none of them captive any longer.

29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have
poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord God."

This is what I just posted on another thread... :-)

I know that there are some who don't believe what God says, but I'll take God at his Word when He says ,,,

Jeremiah 31:36-37

36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the
seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all
the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.

This is what God says about Israel...

Ezekiel 37:21-28

21 Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the
children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and
will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of
Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer
be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.

23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with
their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I
will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have
sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will
be their God.

24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have
one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My
statutes, and do them.

25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My
servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they,
their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant
David shall be their prince forever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be
an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply
them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.

28 The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when
My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ‘ “

Jeremiah 31:31-37

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the
day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the
Lord.

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and
write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.

34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will
forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The
ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs
the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):

36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the
seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all
the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.

Zechariah 14:2-21

2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The
city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of
the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall
not be cut off from the city.

3 Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He
fights in the day of battle.

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which
faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in
two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the
mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain
valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the
earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the Lord my God
will come, And all the saints with You.*

6 It shall come to pass in that day That there will be no light; The
lights will diminish.

7 It shall be one day Which is known to the Lord— Neither day nor
night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light.

8 And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from
Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward
the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur.

9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall
be— “The Lord is one,”* And His name one.

10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south
of Jerusalem. Jerusalem* shall be raised up and inhabited in her place
from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner
Gate, and from the Tower of Hananeel to the king’s winepresses.

11 The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter
destruction, But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the
people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while
they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

13 It shall come to pass in that day That a great panic from the Lord
will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, And
raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;

14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the
surrounding nations Shall be gathered together: Gold, silver, and
apparel in great abundance.

15 Such also shall be the plague On the horse and the mule, On the
camel and the donkey, And on all the cattle that will be in those
camps. So shall this plague be.

16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the
nations which 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.

17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not
come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them
there will be no rain.

18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall
have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes
the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the
nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

20 In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of
the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before
the altar.

21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord
of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in
them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of
the Lord of hosts.*

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