Everyone is on pins and needles as the Egypt-brokered cease fire approaches between Hamas and Israel. Only time will tell how long the cease-fire will hold. Part of the problem in this regard is that the Hamas alliance consists of so many crazy and rabid anti-Semitic factions, they can't restrain them all. Sometimes they even kill each other (we have reported on this in the past)! They are uncivilized and unpredictable. And that's precisely why we've been saying for years that the Palestinians are NOT ready for statehood. Giving the Palestinians their own autonomous state would be like turning an 8-year old loose on the highway behind the wheel of a big, tractor-trailer rig. It's not only dangerous for everyone in the neighborhood, but also for the Palestinians themselves. While we wait on the implementation of the negotiated cease-fire, here are some insightful words from our friend and colleague, Marvin Kramer. Marvin is an Israeli believer in Yeshua and received his law degree here in the USA. He lives in Haifa and has been doing much of our legal work in Israel for many years. Here's his latest report from earlier today:

Shalom all,

This was not one of Israel's better days.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, just addressed the nation and informed it that Israel agreed to a cease fire. In my opinion, this is sheer folly. If anyone should know well the mentality of those who seek our destruction, Israel should. But, instead of pursuing its original objectives, to insure that Hamas will not be able to continue to assault Israeli cities and local municipalities, we stopped short of accomplishing our original, stated goals. If history, and recent history in particular, has shown us anything, it is that every agreement that we entered into with the "Palestinians" has been violated by them.

Netanyahu was followed by Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who was followed by Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman. They spoke of the international legitimacy of "Operation Pillar of Cloud", as well as of the military accomplishments of the IDF. This is not the time to dissect all of what was said by the trio of politicians. The P.M. is well aware that public opinion is, on the whole, in favor of pursuing a military end, once and for all - or at least for an extended period - to the seemingly unending launching of projectiles into Israel and disruption of life in the south and now, in the heart of the country. This could have far-reaching consequences at the polls before too long. Just how long this latest cease fire will last is a matter of conjecture. It won't take long before we'll know.

It is clear that political considerations have come into play in agreeing to the cease fire. Tens of thousands of reservists were activated, at tremendous financial cost to the country, as well as to the private sector in terms of lost man hours of work and productivity. If the goal of activating them was to frighten the folks in Gaza, then we failed to achieve this goal as well. According to news reports and interviews with "Palestinians" in Gaza, they remain resolute and are fully supportive of Hamas, who is responsible for the indiscriminate rocket and missile assaults upon Israel. Hamas is not even mentioned in the cease-fire arrangement and, as a result, they are not bound by it. The authorities in Gaza executed six people who were suspected of cooperating with Israel and they had their bodies dragged through the streets. Can anyone seriously expect that they will honor another cease-fire agreement?

Hilary Clinton is once again in our neck of the woods. In a public statement that she made this evening, she expressed hope that the present cease fire will bring about a period of calm and enable both sides to work together and allow for pursuing of the "legitimate aspirations of the 'Palestinian' people and of Israelis." That's nice, political double-talk for pursuing a two-state solution to the conflict.

All of this has come in the backdrop of a bus bombing in Tel Aviv, which injured over 20 Israelis, some of them seriously. Our cities have been pelted with over a 1,000 rockets and missiles. There has been loss of life, including one Israeli soldier, and tremendous loss of property. People here don't want another cease fire. They want an end to the threats and attacks from Gaza. That, apparently, is being put on hold until another day.

In the meantime, our forces remain on standby. As soon as there is a violation of the present cease fire, they will be ready to act. But, they will need a "go ahead" order from the government. We can only wait and see what will happen.

With all of the politicking that went on during the last few days, we seem to have forgotten that the mentality of our enemies is this: If we didn't lose, then we won. If our enemy didn't win, then it lost.

More later.

A happy and healthy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this holiday.

Love and blessings,

Marvin