Halevy [former Israeli Mossad head Ephraim Halevy] said the US has concluded that it needs a "hands-on" approach in the Middle East to look out for its key regional interests, which he defined as ensuring an oil supply, fighting Islamic terror, and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

To defend these interests, he said, "the US will need other allies in the Middle East beyond Israel. We are not heavy enough for them to lean only on us." The other allies, he said, will ask for a price of which Israel may be required to pay "not all, but part of it."

He said that when the US decides that something in the region is in its interests, they say emphatically that "this is what you have to do." In these cases, he said, the US "dictates policy, without sentiments." He said this is what happened when the US decided after the second Gulf War that the road map was in its interest, and also what happened when for various reasons it determined that Israeli-Chinese arms deals were not.

Halevy said that the US does not "want to go it alone" in the Middle East, and that European involvement was important in this regard.

The European role needed to be strengthened here, said Halevy, who also has served as Israel's ambassador to the EU. "I'm not saying we have to agree to everything. But in certain cases we have to pay tribute to Europe." Halevy said that just before the US went to war in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called US President George W. Bush and said he was going to lose his majority in government if the President did not adopt the road map. "Forty-eight hours later Bush appeared in the White House and said he that he adopted the road map," Halevy said. "We shouldn't forget this."

Putting it all together

1. insure the protection of America's oil supply.
2. fight Islamic terror.
3. prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction from taking place.

Clearly, all of these things were and are of vital concern to the United States, correct? Of course! No one can blame the United States or President Bush for reaching these decisions as they are all legitimate national security issues. Where President Bush has gone wrong and is yet going wrong, however, is in the manner his administration is addressing these issues of concern.

As seen above in Halevy's remarks recorded in the Jerusalem Post article, the United States of America, under the leadership of President Bush, is no longer convinced it can rely on Israel alone as its ally in the Middle East. Thus, to get aid from other nations in the Middle East (all of which are enemies of Israel by the way), the United States is being asked by them to pay a price. The price? Israel making concessions to their long-standing demands, all of which threaten Israel's survival of course!

In response to receiving aid, the United States, selfishly thinking of what's best for itself, overlooking the Word of God, is passing along a good portion of the costs of its "help" received from Middle East allies other than Israel to the tiny Jewish nation of Israel to pay on its behalf. Halevy said the US is asking Israel to pay "not all, but part of" those costs, but I would beg to differ! Personally, I think Israel is being asked to pay the lion's share of it!

The United States, longtime supporter, ally, and defender of Israel, is more and more sounding like everyone else in the international community, by saying things like, "Israel must do this! Israel must do that! Israel must be patient! Israel must surrender land for peace! Blah! Blah! Blah!"

I find it far more than interesting that Halevy says the United States, whenever it determines what is in its own best interest, simply tells Israel, "This is what you have to do." With Israel having friends like that, who needs enemies, huh?

According to Halevy, right before the United States and Britain went to war with Iraq in Gulf War II, Tony Blair coerced President Bush into adopting the roadmap to peace we hear talked about so often in the news of our world today which threatens Israel's survival. We see what that big mistake on the part of President Bush has led to: The Gaza withdrawal, renewed terror attacks on the Jewish nation, and even more demands being made by Israel's enemies, all of which threaten to undo what God has done in bringing the children of Israel back into their own lands, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36:24:

For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

God's long-standing promise, as seen in Genesis 12:3, is He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. This the President of the United States of America would do well to remember, regardless of how doing so would be received by the international community!

The United States of America can not afford, in a dangerous world like the one we're presently living in, to dictate self-serving policies without sentiment to the nation of Israel, the only nation on earth God whose people He has called "my people Israel" as seen in the following examples of many times they are referred to as such:

1st Kings 8:16: Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

1st Chronicles 11:2: And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

Ezekiel 39:7: So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

Amos 7:15: And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

If the United States wants to remain a global power in the world we're living in, its future leadership, barring any unforeseen changes coming that would reverse its current leadership's mindset, is going to have to change the United States' foreign policy course before it collides head-on with Almighty God's wrath! If not, "policy, without sentiments" is going to come at quite a cost for "the land of the free and the home of the brave" - one so great the entire world's support of the United States will be of no benefit in paying!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

As I write this commentary, churches all over the world are participating in the 2nd annual “International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem,” as seen in a Jerusalem Newswire article which states, in part, the following:

According to the US-based leadership behind the second annual “International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem,” Bible believers in churches and meetings across the globe will be specially focusing their thoughts and prayers on the ancient metropolis whose name in Hebrew means “City of Peace.”

Contrary to what many may think, these prayers will not be for the success of the US-sponsored land-for-peace process – a process that has brought more conflict and death to the region, weakening Israel in the face of unrelenting efforts to destroy the Jewish state.

Rather, the prayers will be for God’s Messiah, the Prince of Peace, to come and set up His kingdom in the City of David, from where – according to the Bible – He will rule and reign over the nations of the world, finally bringing peace to mankind.

Please join me and thousands of other Christians in praying for the peace of Jerusalem immediately after reading this commentary. In doing so, those of us waiting patiently for the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be inviting God to send the Prince of Peace to rescue us from a world that has forgotten its God, as the Jerusalem Newswire article accurately indicates, as seen above.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!