Author: David Mark

David Mark is the founder and editor of Israel Rising. Besides Israel Rising, he heads up outreach for Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City and acts as the Managing Director for Pulse of Israel. On the side he teaches classes that blend minimalism, mindfulness, and ecology with the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
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Are We Ready To Climb Jacob’s Ladder?

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The world is changing fast. The darkness and depths of emptiness have penetrated our minds and yet we yearn for truth and light. Our story is Jacob’s story; on the run from the evil and in search of his destined other.

His dream is our dream. We climb and we fall – climb and fall. That is this world and that is the secret of the path out from exile. We must be prepared to fall before we can climb out. We must know that the darkness will grow before the end.

Rebbe Nachman teaches there will be a “flood of disbelief” in the Creator’s providence before the Messiah arrives. That is our time. We seek truth and we cannot find it. And yet if we accept that we must descend down the ladder before we can climb our way to freedom would become clear.

Jacob found his soulmate in the place of lies. He descended to pull her out and became trapped in the world of darkness and yet he eventually pulled more than Rachel out – he rescued her sister and their handmaidens as well.

The angels move up and down the ladder in Jacob’s dream for a reason – descending in order to rise. Within the darkness and confusion we now find the world in we still have work to do down here before the final light is revealed.

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In Order To Stop China, Trump Must Go Through Iran

President Trump has largely used his four years as president to refrain from foreign interference and regime change that had marked both President Bush’s and Obama’s foreign policies.

However, there are two areas where Trump has successfully held the line and utilized a strong approach in order to wield results.

Over the last four years we have seen the President use the might of the USA and proper diplomacy to push back on both Iran and China.

He has been emphatic on holding Iran accountable for its drive towards nuclear weapons and its strategic regional destabilization activities, namely in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

On China, he pushed back using tariffs and held strong during trade negotiations. Furthermore, he strengthened America’s relationship with India, Japan, and others directly surrounding China.

With all of this in mind, it is important to understand the relationship these two American adversaries have. By doing so, one can understand why the potential for an attack on Iran before Biden takes over has merit.

The Growing Iran-China Partnership

What was once only a geopolitical convenience, both countries have now seen the necessity behind their growing alliance.

So why do these two countries form such a symbiotic relationship?

Firstly, China’s energy needs are one of the largest in the world. The challenge for China is that its domestic source of oil or gas no longer covers its needs. It relies heavily energy imports.

So where does it import oil and gas from?

Source: The Observatory of Economic Complexity

On the face of it, China’s energy imports are pretty varied. However, there is another component, which makes Iran a key part to China’s equation. This is the Belt and Road initiative. China sees Iran as a key component in its ability to influence the Middle East. After all, while China may get energy from Iraq, Oman, and Kuwait, these countries are heavily influenced by policy decisions on Iran.

As an example, Oman has yet to join the Abraham Accords, because it fears retribution from Iran. Kuwait is heavily Shiite and although dislikes Iran, it is equally threatened by them. The same goes for Shiite controlled Iraq as well as part of the Kurdish North.

The latest cooperation agreement signed between Iran and China in June illustrates this. The cooperation agreement was further cemented this past October with a visit by Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif.

While the agreement focuses on economic and cultural ties, the use “terrorism” as a reason to partner together for security reasons or join support in international bodies should be understood as far more than just passive cooperation. Furthermore, the agreement stipulates China’s resolve to back the JCPOA nuclear deal and also help Iran with energy development, including nuclear.

While China has followed a policy of non-intervention in the Middle East, its growing alliance with Iran allows it to partner with someone who for its own reasons will be able to enforce Chinese hegemony in the Persian Gulf and over the rest of the region, thus ensuring a steady source of energy for years to come for Beijing.

In turn, Iran can rely on Chinese backing, both militarily and diplomatically for its drive to conquer Israel and the Sunni world.

Biden Will Strengthen The Chinese-Iranian Axis

If Joe Biden hold off President Trump’s legal challenges he will essentially be a compliant partner in allowing the China-Iran Axis to hold sway over the Middle East. It cannot be overstated how much Biden and his team are influenced by the CCP controlled China.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s potential National Security Advisor was noted as saying that China’s rise is a foreign policy success.

He said the following in full remarks: “We helped create the conditions of stability and security in East Asia that allowed China to have this remarkable economic rise. So that it’s rising, in a way, is not the failure of American foreign policy; it’s the success of creating those stable conditions.”

Biden has issued positive statements as well about China’s rise.

Iran’s ability to act as China’s forward base and arm in the Middle East is perhaps Trump’s actual reason for considering a limited but serious strike on the Islamic Republic. Any action President Trump carries out or allows the new Israel-Sunni Alliance to carry out before he potentially leaves in January should be seen through a prism that takes China into it as well.

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PREPARING FOR BIDEN: Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Meet To Plan Next Moves

The news is awash with rumors of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s face to face meeting with Muhamed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, also known as MBS. Now confirmed, the meeting took place on Sunday in the desert city of Neom.

Under construction as a $500 billion showcase of technological innovation, the Israeli leader spent nearly five hours with MBS, Saudi Arabia’s heir to the throne. The Prime Minister was joined by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mossad Director Yossi Cohen.

While the setting of Neom was a fitting place for this groundbreaking meeting, it was not the technology or environmental aspects of Neom the two leaders were discussing. More than likely, they were discussing the incoming Biden administration and the dangers it brings to the region.

It is also true that with less than two months left to President Trump’s term full normalization may be on the table. Such a move is necessary in order to block the potential return of the JCPOA (Iranian nuclear deal), which threatens the safety of both the Sunni Arab Gulf States and Israel.

However, the JCPOA is only one worry. The immediate change in status for Iran in dealing with the White House is what scares Israel and its new Arab allies. Iran, backed by China and a compliant America will be able to demonize the Persian Gulf and beyond.

Biden’s incoming administration is more like a third term for Obama and it is this third term, which seeks to truly transform the world. From faux climate change to reengaging China and Iran, the Deep State and globalists who now find themselves moments away from active control of the USA are salivating for the opportunity to push back on Israel and the Saudi-UAE-Bahrain alliance.

Remember, it was the Obama administration who enabled ISIS and thus created a vacuum of power in Iraq that allowed Iran to march into.

Antony Blinken is Only Tip Of The Iceberg

Antony Blinken the incoming Secretary of State was one of the backers and architects of the JCPOA. He will have full control of America’s foreign policy and appears ready to reengage with Iran. With Biden, largely expected to take a back seat to decision making, Blinken’s role will be magnified.

Another Obama-Clinton retread is Jack Sullivan, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Biden has appointed him as incoming Director of the National Security Advisor (NSA).

Finally (at least for now), Avril Haines who worked at the White House starting in 2010 as a national security lawyer and then in 2013, then CIA Director John Brennan appointed her deputy director for the CIA. Brennan was the one who brought us drone assassinations, an expanded Iran, and a decimated Libya among other things.

The above appointments and more show which direction the Biden team plans on heading on Jan. 20th.

Bibi and MBS Building An Alliance

The 1 hour trip to Neom was in essence a path forward for both Israel and Saudi Arabia. The ascendancy of Biden to President means a possible reversal of the gains the Trump Administration accomplished. This is why Israel and Saudi Arabia may have no choice but to forge a path together and build a new Middle East with or without America. By doing so, they will have the ability to hold back the Mullahs and in many ways the coming Biden Administration.

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Why Is Israel’s Deep State So Scared About Jonathan Pollard Moving To Israel?

Former PM Ehud Olmert attacked the US government’s decision to nullify Jonathan Pollard’s parole restrictions.

“We don’t owe him anything,” said Olmert. “His coming to Israel will only increase the fallout from his case.”

Nothing seems stranger than the above statement by former PM Ehud Olmert. There is one thing from refraining to comment on the Pollard case while he was in jail. While not commendable, at least such a move would be understandable, but to attack the US for following their own laws because by letting Pollard it will only further “embarrass” Israel is not only circular logic, but totally preposterous.

So, what is really going on here?

To understand why Olmert, whom most Israelis consider to be the worst Prime Minister the country has ever had, has come out strongly against Pollard being set free from his parole and most likely moving to Israel, it is imperative to understand what the Pollard case is really about.

Arrested for spying on the US in 1985, Jonathan Pollard was in a sense a romantic Zionist – in love with what he believed the State of Israel to represent. His arrest came after a series of meetings with LAKAM agents, which was a clandestine section of the Mossad. Both Pollard and his wife were drawn into the LAKAM circle through high value gifts and trips.

Eventually, LAKAM decided to. activate Pollard, who was responsible for bringing the group high value information, the US was holding back from Israel – essentially in opposition to agreements the two countries had signed.

While Pollard sought help and refuge at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. when he and his wife found out they were to be arrested, the embassy under direction from Israel refused and threw him out. Moments later the FBI arrested him.

Everyone now agrees, Pollard’s sentencing was extreme. While most people who spy for friendly countries get a maximum of 10 years, Pollard’s sentence was for life, which translated into 30 years and then five years of a heavy restrictive parole.

While it is understandable for Americans to have a negative viewpoint of Jonathan Pollard, what is not understandable is the level of negativity espoused by Israelis like Olmert. The intelligence Pollard handed off to the LAKAM agents saved lives, and yet the elite in Israel are scared about his return.

In many ways Pollard is analogous to each of us. We all want to do good. We make decisions based upon noble intentions and then just like that – it all falls apart.

These decisions can cost us; especially when we are abandoned by the very thing that we believed could do no wrong.

This was Pollard and this is why the Deep State in Israel is nervous. At least this is the most probable reason.

Ultimately though, it is more or less the same attitude that caused Israel to flinch in the first place, which resulted in abandoning Jonathan Pollard for so many years, that Olmert is working from. It is this spineless, subservient attitude that has caused us never to accept collective responsibility as anation for what Jonathan Pollard went through. After all, he did it for all of us and it was for us that he needlessly spent so many years in jail.

The Deep State in Israel is nervous about Pollard’s potential move to the Holy Land, not because of any piece of information he may have. No, those people have already left this earth. The Deep State is nervous, because in prison Jonathan Pollard appears to have transformed into a wall of faith by humbly and accepting his lot. He has become a source of unity within the Jewish people. This unity and transcendence is what the elite and Deep State truly fear. His move to Israel would in many ways shift the focus away from faux Israeli “heroes” to a man who may have erred, but did so because of his love of Israel and paid the price for it year after year, while those who abandoned him moved up the political ladder.

The elite and Deep State in Israel don’t want an actual hero to show up here. That in of itself would expose their petty tirades and squabbles that have in the past led the third Jewish commonwealth to near disaster.

Pollard is far more about us than it really is about the man. It is how we as a collective accept national responsibility and come to terms with it when we don’t. The world is going through an uncertain time right now and yet, Israel appears poised to move forward into the future with a tremendous amount of positive energy. However, it suffers from disunity and a lack of meaningful leadership.

Could a man, who suffered behind bars due to the weakness of the government he believed he was helping be the leader we need after all?

We’ll soon find out.

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[VIDEO] Ep. 2 We Live In An Upside Down World

I am joined by Dovid Fuchs, entrepreneur and political analyst to discuss the backwards, upside down nature of the world we are living in. After all, Americans voted for a senile political hack that has spent 47 years in Washington doing just about nothing over President Trump who built one of the greatest national economies of all time and made peace possible in the Middle East.

We must accept that the center of power is shifting. It may be scary, but perhaps it is better to just laugh, because at the end it all works out.

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Thanks To Trump The Real Great Reset Is Already Here

Regardless of one’s personal views of President Trump, it is undeniable that his push towards a serious Middle East realignment is not only bearing fruit, but is in a sense recalibrating most of the world’s relationship to the region.

True, many others have tried, but it is the Trump administration which seized on the changing currents in the region. Ironically, it was the Obama administration’s cozying up to Iran, which essentially pushed the Sunni Gulf States to move into an open alliance with Israel. This alliance, now dubbed the Abraham Accords, has been the single most revolutionary geopolitical change in the world since the end of the Cold War.

Why? Isn’t this just another Arab-Israeli peace treaty like Jordan or Egypt?

No. It is far more transformative.

The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan were just that peace treaties. They ended the state of war between them and Israel. This is similar to the recent peace treaty with Sudan. While all these are important, it is not as seismic as the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain, which were never at war with Israel. The Abraham Accords is about normalization and cooperation – meaning real peace.

Already Israeli produce and products can be seen in the markets of these once unlikely allies and a stream of government officials from the UAE and Bahrain have visited Israel signing cooperative agreements.

The move to normalization and cooperation is the beginning of handing the region back to its indigenous populaces and ends decades of overt US interference. We see this in the direct actions the Trump administration is now taking to pull out US troops from Afganistan, Iraq, and Syria.

While there are skeptics, it has become apparent that the Abraham Accords furthered the dream of a “New Middle East” faster than haggling over the veracity of the “Palestinian” narrative. The Trump’s viewpoint is essentially to ignore obstinate actors and bring those to the table that are willing to work together to form a real alliance that can stand up against Iran and Turkey.

Peace is about power. For decades the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), Neocons, and the Deep State have used and instigated unending conflict in the Middle East to insert itself and insitute control that benefitted the elites in charge. President Trump has now ended that.

Without unending conflict and even presence, all the MIC can do is sell weapons to the sides, but when Israel can make an arsenal that is just as good as the USA, there is not much money to be made.

In one fell swoop, Trump’s Abraham Accords has left the never solved Israel-Palestinian conflict behind, solidified the anti-Iran alliance, checked Turkey, and created the atmosphere that has allowed Trump to end direct US occupation of Eastern Syria, Iraq, and Afganistan.

This is the real great reset and no, the elites and Deep State don’t like it one bit.

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At The End The Empire Will Fall

In the above class, I touch upon current events and this week’s parsha – Toldot.

All of us sense the world is in chaos. This chaos is the stage before the fall of the evil empire. This is the empire which is both global and internal. It is the empire of emptiness, which fills no particular political entity yet infects all. It is about detachment from the G-Dly root within and distracting humanity from the purpose of its existence.

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Many of us are fearful of what lies ahead, but we are assured the empire will fall at the end and a new world will be born. The key is not to lose hope and understand that the best way to handle the empire as it falls apart is to disconnect from its allure, from the tentacles of unfullfilled wants.

This week’s parsha is about two kingdoms born as twins. They are more than political entities, but rather two approaches, two outlooks on the world. One is about disconnection and superficiality. This is Edom. The second is Yaakov, who stands for holiness and G-Dly influence.

The question is who will win?

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[VIDEO] Ep. 1 It Begins With Jerusalem and Ends With Jerusalem

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The following interview is our relaunch and debut show from Jerusalem. My conversation with Daniel Hood touches on a wide range of issues that are all tied into the civilizational decline of the West and return of Jerusalem as the fulcrum of the coming civilizational struggles and competition.

Daniel and I touch on the dismemberment of the America as we know it and the need for Israel to step up and return to its Biblical Roots. Everything we see now is an outgrowth of the coming vaccuum in Western Culture and why no matter who wins this election, America will never be the same. Given this Israel will need to recalibrate itself.

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Why Do These US Elections Matter To Israel?

The world watches and waits to see if President Trump can somehow poke a hole in the the narrative of the corporatist-globalist media by winning the election. Trump’s victory is important, because Trump and the MAGA movement are the last bulwark against the forces of tyranny and elitist power.

Think what you will of President Trump; his unwillingness to concede to what many believe is an election filled with improprieties is preventing the same sort of shenanegans from taking place around the world – especially here in Israel.

Since the corporatist MSM declared Biden the “president-elect” the leftist media in Israel has been salivating on the possibility that their time is not yet done as well.

Think about it, if the Dems can use computer software and state appointees to move the necessary votes around, well the left can do the same here. But the outcome of the US elections has implications that are far more serious than just rigged elections.

Never before has a a potential president aspired to truly change the Constitution and in doing so change the republic once in. To be honest, it is not Biden who is behind any of this, he is merely a cover. His team however, is made up of Organizaing For America (OFA) members and they are making the decisions for him.

So what is the hard left planning on going after first, if Biden pulls out the Electoral College win on Dec. 14th?

It looks like he and his backers are attempting to silence any sort of dissidence once so ever.

Richard Stengel, according to the New York Post, “is the Biden transition ‘Team Lead’ for the US Agency for Global Media, the U.S. government media empire that includes Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.”

More importantly Stengel wants to end the Freedom of Speech enshrined in the First Amendment. In an op-ed he wrote last year he says the following:

“All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails. I’m all for protecting “thought that we hate,” but not speech that incites hate. It undermines the very values of a fair marketplace of ideas that the First Amendment is designed to protect.”

But Stengel seems to say that hate speech is determined to be speech that offends the other side.

He continues:

“But as a government official traveling around the world championing the virtues of free speech, I came to see how our First Amendment standard is an outlier. Even the most sophisticated Arab diplomats that I dealt with did not understand why the First Amendment allows someone to burn a Koran. Why, they asked me, would you ever want to protect that?”

“It’s a fair question. Yes, the First Amendment protects the “thought that we hate,” but it should not protect hateful speech that can cause violence by one group against another. In an age when everyone has a megaphone, that seems like a design flaw.”

So according to Stengel, it is the offended party who determines whether one’s speech his deemed hatful and not protected under the First Amendment.

With social media platforms like Twitter openly censoring conserative voices and Youtube using algorythms to essentially do the same, the possible Biden Administration is bent on silencing all dissent by selctively declaring opponents i violation of hate speech.

The Israeli Left and their guardians in the courts here are reinvigorated by this sort of evil. It is the socialist/globalist left in Israel that are salivating at the chance of demonizing and shutting down the right. Unfortunately it is the right who lacks the understanding and the backbone to hold stong and push back.

With America desending into authoritarian practices, the Israeli Deep State will no doubt attempt to push the country in the same direction. For them all speech is hate speach unless deemed other wise.

We have seen this before in Israel. During the protests against the uprooting of Gush Katif 15 years ago, the media then solely controlled by the far left labeled us as fascists. They denied our rights to speak to the people of Israel and believed that it was our intention to start a civil war.

Now 15 yars later, the left in Israel will try to use everexpanding anti-incitement laws to clamp down on the common Israeli. Just think religious practices can be deemed hateful, if there is an offending party.

So, why does this election matter, because if Trump truly goes down, freedom across the world will be on retreat.

Think about it. Israelis by definition are group thinkers and followers. But who will defend the dissenting opinions right to make itself known? And who deems speach “hateful?”

People around the world look up to America’s freedom of speech. By destroying it, countries around the world will feel freer to stomp on their citizens with no fear of reprisal.

The world is at an inflection point. Are we willing to stand up and say – Enough! Or are we already preparing to be silenced.

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Will Israel Bomb Iran Before Trump Leaves Office?

I am writing this post with the assumption that the MSM projection that Biden won the election carries weight. I will tackle the widespread voter fraud issues and the likelihood of Trump staying President in another article soon.

The alliance that Trump pushed forward between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain as well as other Sunni Arab states was not done only for altruistic reasons and yearnings for a utopian world, but rather to offset Iranian expansionism through containment. Trump has employed the same strategy with China.

Given the fact that a Biden presidency most certainly means a return to the Obama era when it comes to Iran, the Gulf States and Israel are understandably worried.

With just over two months to go until Biden would theoretically take over as President, what can be done?

Well, alot.

Since Prime Minister Netanyahu knows full well that any window of opportunity to knock out Iran’s nuclear installations is closing fast, his need for a real decision on this matter must happen now.

President Trump and his team also understand this. While Trump may likely win given the extensive voter fraud cases now coming to light, there is a chance he might not and so he is very clearly planning on undertaking serious actions that will lock the potential Biden administration in place going forward.

Axios reported that the Trump administration is planning a flood of sanctions against Iran by Jan. 20th. Elliot Abrams, the Trump administration’s “envoy on Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the sanctions plan.”

After Abrams’ visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due in Israel and the wider region next week. The news infers that this is connected to the sanctions. While this may very well be the case, it seems unlikely.

It is not yet clear if Trump can outmaneuver the corporatist media in the USA and so the regional backup plan is clearly being put into place now just in case he doesn’t. This is why Pompeo is on route.

Israel’s military alliance with the UAE means it can now deploy a strike team and launch an air assault on Iran’s nuclear program that can set it back enough years that any Biden rapproachment towards the Ayatollah’s will not affect the Gulf State or Israel over the next few years.

So expect some big moves if Trump comes up short on December 13th. In fact the assumption should be that if Biden is truly certified the winner on that date then war with Iran may be the likely scenario.