By Jan Willem van der Hoeven
The Likud primary elections yesterday resulted in a clear win for Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, who received 44% of the votes in his contest against three other candidates for the leadership of what recently was the largest party and the governing one.
With this win, Mr. Netanyahu now finds himself in a position to challenge the leaders of the other two parties, Mr. Sharon of Kadima and Mr. Peretz of Labor, for the leadership of the nation. The general elections will be held on March 28, 2006, when the president will ask the leader of the party that receives the greatest number of votes to form the new government. That leader will become the prime minister.
Many, many prayers have gone up for Benjamin Netanyahu over the years, and especially during these past weeks as he campaigned to become the new party leader after Mr. Sharon, the present prime minister, left the Likud to form a new ? more left-wing ? party: Kadima.
This means that the Likud, under the just-elected Mr. Netanyahu, and together with some of the other smaller parties to the right, will be the only party that may put the brakes on the evil plan of the nations to divide the Land into two separate states. This plan is entirely against God?s will and purpose for His people to whom He promised this, ?His land,? as an everlasting possession. It was thus never God?s intention to give it to two peoples, as today the Israeli leadership and people are being pressured to do by the US and the nations of the world!
With the growing anti-Semitism around the world, and being whipped up especially in Europe by many fanaticized Muslims, it would be a grave injustice to the millions of Jews who have as yet not immigrated to Israel to reduce the country by dividing its already tiny land mass between two peoples. Where will the approximately nine million Jews have to go and settle when many find themselves pressured to emigrate to Israel if, in the interim, through lack of vision and courage, Israel?s leaders have divided this their land to the detriment of them all?
May God, therefore, strengthen the forces now in position to stem this surrender to the wish and dictate of the nations, and may He prevent the division of His Land. And may we intensify our prayers for God?s will to be done with the coming general elections, also for the benefit of the nations! For Joel 3:2 states that God bring His judgment upon the nations because they divided up His land.
Events surrounding the sudden ? albeit light ? stroke suffered by Israel?s present Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, which shook the nation, demonstrated just how fragile the political situation in Israel is today. Added to the fact that Mr. Sharon is nearly 78 years of age, the incident has caused many to realize that his just-formed party, which is mainly built around his own popularity, may after all go the way Israel?s other centrist parties have gone, dwindling soon to insignificant numbers, possibly leaving the Likud and Labor as the two main parties to spar for political leadership in the not-too-distant future.
When I celebrated my 65th birthday last April, our two honored guests were Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu , former prime minister, and Dr. Uzi Landau, former minister, while the internationally renowned former refusenik Mr. Natan Sharansky ? also previously a cabinet minister ? sent a warm and appreciative message even though he was unable to come.
Now these three men have joined together in what we very much hope will be a strong and courageous team for a future government in Israel. May we therefore all travail in prayer for God to raise up such a new and strong government in the general elections on March 28.
May God bless you in this battle!
© Israel My Beloved
