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Largest Ever, Upcoming U.S.-Israel Joint Drill Sending Message to …

www.theblaze.com1/8/12

Arrow 3 Defense Missile Launch Test (Photo credit: Israeli Defense Ministry via Israel Hayom). A planned American-Israeli missile defense exercise is receiving special attention on the heels of a 10-day Iranian naval exercise …

Israel and US to hold joint missile drill | Aerospace & Defence News

aerospace.firetrench.com1/9/12

Israel and the United States are to hold a joint missile defence exercise, the Israeli military said late on Thursday. ASDNews … Last week it test-fired three missiles during war games east of the strait at the entrance to the Gulf. …

An upcoming American-Israeli missile defense exercise is receiving special media attention because it comes on the heels of a ten-day Iranian naval exercise, plus Iranian threats of closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli Defense Forces played down the timing of the announcement, calling such periodic exercises “routine:”

“These exercises, which are part of a long-standing strategic partnership, are planned in advance and part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of our defense systems. Like other bi-lateral exercises, Austere Challenge 12 represents another milestone in the strategic relationship between the US and Israel, as well as a step forward in promoting regional stability".

“The exercise scenario involves notional, simulated events as well as some field training, and is not in response to any real-world event".

“The exercise has been planned for at least two years and therefore has no relevance to any world events".

The AP quoted a senior military official who said on condition of anonymity:

"Thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units will take part, and the drill will test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets".

In a speech last month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta previewed the exercise, citing it as an example of what he called,

"The administration’s unprecedented levels of defense cooperation with Israel to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security".

And on Sunday’s Face the Nation, Panetta stated two red lines for the U.S.:

"Our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us. I think they need to know that, that if they take that step, that they’re going to get stopped. We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz. That’s another red line for us and that we will respond to them.".

See also, What Would Trigger A US Strike On Iran’s Nuclear Facilities?

And Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey on the same show said he believes,

" Iran has the capability, for a period of time to block the Strait of Hormuz, but we would take action and reopen the Straits".

Efraim Inbar, who is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, says that even if it’s not intended as a response to Iranian moves:

“Any military exercise has political implications. The military organ is always connected to political even if that’s not the intention on the part of the Americans or Israelis. It’s a clear political signal to the bad guys. After we saw the military exercise by the Iranians last week, everybody with political sensitivity tends to believe this is a counter-flexing of muscle".

Inbar also addressed expressions of isolationism in the U.S., something which has been gaining more media attention due to the presidential campaign of GOP candidate Ron Paul:

“This type of exercise expresses the importance of Israel to the U.S. particularly when the U.S. is seen as being weak in the region. It is leaving Iraq, it is on its way out of Afghanistan. Israel is probably the only place a U.S. military airplane will eventually be able to land in the Middle East".

“U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation is beneficial to both sides. The U.S. is a super power and we are a small state but in our area contrary to what isolationists say in the U.S., we all still need allies, or what used to be called ‘calling stations’. Israeli ports are open to the U.S. In fact, the only port where the U.S. can probably bring ships safely in the Eastern Mediterranean is to Israel. Looking at the other countries: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, the Mediterranean is becoming an Islamist lake".

And an Israeli Air Force officer emphasized that not only Israel gains from the relationship:

“The Americans are eager to conduct this exercise, we are their laboratory in the field of missile defense. A laboratory because Israel has extensive firsthand experience of absorbing incoming rockets and missiles from Hamas and Hezbollah and regularly activates its Iron Dome system to combat the threat".

The Telegraph reported from London that the UK will deploy its largest warship, the HMS Daring, to the Persian Gulf to,

“send a significant message to the Iranians”.

The UK destroyer is due to arrive in late January.

And Oil Supplies?

Western powers have agreed a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles which could replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz.

Counterpoint: Christian Zionists Are a Threat | JewishPress

www.jewishpress.com12/27/11

It is both naïve and misleading to deny the serious costs involved in Israel's unregulated relationship with impassioned evangelical Christians. … David Ha'ivri's appearance two weeks ago with Tommy Waller on the missionary God's Learning Channel (GLC) TV network, which strives to “help you see Yeshua (Jesus) in the Torah”, pushed the envelope into forbidden territory. Mr. Ha'ivri is a committed Jew and Zionist who works tirelessly for his land and people. …

MidEastTruth :: View topic – UK Churches are Anti-Israel

mideasttruth.com11/24/11

A survey of several major churches in the UK reveals that Christian Aid, an aid organization of the World Council of Churches (WCC) that propagates far-left anti-Israel views and supports groups that promote the boycott, …

Should Israel Accept Or Refuse Christian Aid?

This is a very serious and complicated dilemma because:

Devout Protestants were advocating the restoration of a Jewish State with Jerusalem as its capital long before Theodor Herzl.

And Anglicans of the 19th Century played a central role in the process that led to the State of Israel’s establishment.

So How Should Israel Respond To Christian Support?

The question about pro-Israel Christian activism cyclically surfaces in Israel and in the US public debate.

And right now the focus is on;

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney because:

His Mormon Church is charged with baptizing dead Jews, a rite that has been a Mormon practice for more than a century.

And the latest Simon Wiesenthal Center’s top 10 anti-Semitic slurs list features two Christian priests from Syria and the US.

How Do Different Christian Groups View Israel?

The Negative Ones

The United Church of Christ attended by US President Obama which is prominently anti-Israel.

The Vatican, which recently embraced a new aggressiveness towards Israel.

The Pro-Israel Ones

The US Evangelicals, which are the most pro-Israel, and some independent Protestant groups, like the Christians for Israel.

How Much Money Do Evangelicals And Others Donate To Israel?

In the last decade, US Christians donated tens and most likely hundreds of millions of dollars for school equipment, playgrounds, medical supplies and bulletproof buses to protect the Jews in Judea and Samaria, while other groups, such as Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, raised money to protect Sderot’s residents from Hamas’ rockets.

So What’s The Problem With Evangelical Support?

Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman, is openly contemptuous of Evangelical support, stating that it’s members are motivated by the doctrine that sees Israel as having a special role in the final earthly battle in the "End of Days" during which most Jews are wiped out and the rest embrace Jesus.

It needs to be said however that most Evangelical leaders reject this theology, and a good many Evangelicals have curtailed their missionary activities among Israeli Jews, and the vast majority simply wants to bless Israel because that is what they believe they are called upon to do.

* The origins of Christian support can be traced back to the Gutenberg press (1456), which popularized ideas of "The Promised Land” and "The Chosen People".

Which Christians Are Most Dangerous To Israel?

The hostility toward Israel is actively encouraged by liberal Christians, such as the World Council of Churches and the Vatican, and they pose a much greater near-term threat to Jews than anything the evangelicals might believe or espouse.

Just last week, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales offered the Palestinians a powerful tool of propaganda.

"The comparison with Jesus’ passion!"

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said during his Christmas Mass sermon at Westminster Cathedral.

"We are to be freshly attentive to the needs of those who, like Jesus himself, are displaced and in discomfort, a shadow falls particularly heavily on the town of Bethlehem tonight".

What Should Israel’s Leaders Do?

Many Jews believe that Israel’s leaders need to counter the "Judeo-Christian” blend, which theologically fuses Jews and Christians together without protecting the Jewish faith and maintaining Israel as an independent single-faith Jewish community.

But the Bible teaches quite clearly that,

"If there is the "gentile” who is jealous and aggressive (Amalek), there is also a "Righteous gentile” who is admiring and willing to help (Jethro.)