Violence Surges in Israel

The West Bank is seething. What are the prophecy implications?

First, I know some of you are interested in my take on what has been happening in Russia since Friday. An apparent uprising by the Wagner mercenary group against Putin’s government—which was followed yesterday by a deal to end the insurrection—has spiraled Russia into a lot of uncertainty. I’m not sure the threat of civil war in Russia is completely off the table. Putin has been made to look very weak. At this point, I think it’s important to wait to see what happens next. It might be over for now, but the situation could still change rapidly. The West is still paying close attention and so am I.

I do know this: Putin is a bad guy and so is Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group. Had his insurrection been successful, he wouldn’t have been any sort of improvement on Putin. The only thing this uprising may change on the national stage is that it created 48 hours of chaos inside Russia—and that may end up being positive for Ukraine.

For today, however, I’m going to explore the impact of several days of chaos in another place with significant prophetic implications: Israel.

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The past week has been a dramatic and contentious one in Israel, especially in the disputed West Bank territory.

One of the most tense communities in the already tense West Bank erupted into a huge firefight on Monday. Israeli troops faced heavy fire and at least five Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. Another 91 were wounded in the violence, including eight Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military launched the incursion—its largest in several years—against a refugee camp in Jenin that has become critical to Palestinian terrorist activity. Palestinians are increasingly becoming armed in Jenin and the camp is home to multiple militant groups and factions of armed fighters.

The latest raid lasted for hours. Israeli forces attempted to arrest two suspects, including a former Palestinian prisoner and an imprisoned Hamas leader. But shortly after the raid began, an Israeli military truck was hit with an explosive device. Israeli helicopters responded to the blast with rockets. Several Israeli military vehicles were damaged during the raid, and videos appeared to show residents of Jenin parading pieces of these destroyed vehicles.