October 7 marks one year since Hamas terrorists swarmed into Israel in a well-planning attack, killing approximately 1,200 people and retreating with hundreds of hostages. At this hour, tens of thousands of other Israelis remain displaced from their homes in northern Israel because of Hezbollah rockets, and Israel Defense Forces are now engaged in a seven-front war against Iran and its terrorist proxies.
Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, says she is concerned things could get much worse: a Middle East war could break out, then expand into another world war.
“We are living in such perilous times,” she says. “I'm almost without words, I really am."
Markell says Israel is benefitting from its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to save the state of Israel from being exterminated.
“Of course, God won't let that happen,” she says, referring to biblical prophecy. "But it shows you that when you have a leader, and when you really practice and implement leadership, that it pays off.”
Going back to 2021, Netanyahu’s long political career seemed to be ending when opposition leaders took advantage of scandal allegations to form a coalition government that tossed out Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
By January 2022, the then-former prime minister and his attorneys were weighing a plea bargain on allegations of bribery and fraud to avoid prison but also give up his political career.
In the summer of 2023, three months before the Hamas attack, Netanyahu had returned as prime minister and was witnessing street protests over his plans to make sweeping changes to Israel’s judiciary system.
Asked about Israel’s prime minister and the October 7 anniversary, author-journalist Joel Rosenberg says Netanyahu’s “political fortunes” are now on the rise.
“His numbers are going up. His party's numbers are going up,” Rosenberg told American Family Radio. “He just picked up four seats from one of the opposition leaders, who used to be an ally of Netanyahu but then had to break with him several years ago.”
A former advisor to Netanyahu, Rosenberg says the prime minister deserves a lot of credit because he is leading Israel to victory against Jew-hating terrorists. He is also defying the Biden administration at the same time.
“And we need to keep praying for him and his people,” Rosenberg told AFR, “not out of partisanship, but out of our biblical mandate to stand with Israel and bless Israel in the name of Jesus."
