Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is planning to travel to Europe next week in order to secure diplomatic support over the looming nuclear crisis with Iran. During his visit the upcoming international peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland will also be discussed. Olmert has just arrived back from a trip to Moscow, where he spoke with President Vladimir Putin regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Israeli Prime Minister said he was confident that Putin did not want Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, but Olmert was criticized for taking the trip so soon after the Russian leader met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad in Teheran. But instead of Ahmadinejad making the news regarding his desire to acquire nuclear weapons, it was Putin that made headlines, announcing that Russia is developing an entirely new type of nuclear weapon.

Quote: ""We will develop missile technology including completely new strategic (nuclear) complexes, completely new. Work is continuing and continuing successfully," Mr Putin said. He gave no details about the new nuclear weapon, but went on: "We have plans that are not only big, but grandiose, and they are fully realistic. Our armed forces will be more compact but more effective and better ensure Russia defence.” The broadcast included footage of Russia’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Topol-M, being test-fired from the Plesetsk space centre in northern Russia. State television claimed that it had hit a target thousands of miles away in the Pacific.

President Vladimir Putin promised former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Russia would never do anything to harm Israel. When he became Prime Minister following Sharon's lapse into a coma after the disengagement from Gaza, Olmert said he believed this promise also applied to him. But as we read in the Scriptures, I believe Israel may have greater cause to fear Russia than it does its Arab neighbours. For according to the Ezekiel's prophecy, Russia will become embroiled in a massive Arab invasion of Israel. Israeli television has noted the similarities of today's political alliances with those described in Ezekiel 38-39.

Quote: "US President George W. Bush said a nuclear Iran would mean World War III. Israeli newscasts featured Gog & Magog maps of the likely alignment of nations in that potential conflict. Channel 2 and Channel 10 TV showed the world map, sketching the basic alignment of the two opposing axes in a coming world war, in a manner evoking associations of the Gog and Magog prophecy for many viewers. The prophecy of Gog and Magog refers to a great world war centered on the Holy Land and Jerusalem and first appears in the book of Yechezkel (Ezekiel). On one side were Israel, the United States, Britain, France and Germany. On the other were Iran, Russia, China, Syria and North Korea.

And as wars and rumours of wars continue, Israel is seeking the diplomatic backing of Europe in its negotiations over the division of the land. French President Sarkozy has stated that he intends to tell Olmert that now is the time to make peace with the Palestinians. And no doubt he will hear a similar message from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 

Quote: "Israel wants to shore up support on Iran and peace efforts with the Palestinians in the two EU countries with permanent seats on the UN Security Council, which also have large Muslim and significant Jewish communities. "Israel views with great importance that key members of the European Union are committed to the international struggle against Iran's nuclear program," Olmert's spokesman Miri Eisin said. "We want their participation and backing in our talks with the Palestinians and the international peace meeting," she said.

Israel is no longer in a position where it can negotiate with the Palestinians alone. From the experience of my own country of Northern Ireland, it took the two largest and most extreme political parties to come to the negotiating table in order for a peace agreement to be signed. Neither Olmert nor Abbas are politically strong enough to bring about such an agreement. If there is to be peace in the Middle East, it will require the full backing of the international community and specifically Europe, which enjoys the trust of both the Israelis and Palestinians and is economically, politically and militarily involved in the region. As Javier Solana famously told Ariel Sharon, when it comes to making peace in the Middle East, Israel has to deal with the European Union whether it likes it or not.

Quote: "Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declined to meet with Solana, saying that because of an EU vote against Israel (regarding the peace wall) at the UN that Israel would not work with the EU, notwithstanding despite its prominence on the Quartet for Peace in the Middle East. Solana stunned the world, Israel included, by replying that like it or not, both he and the EU were there to stay on the Israeli-Palestinian decision making processes.

It is clear to see that any future Middle East peace agreement will require firm backing from the EU. Daniel's prophecy declares that the agreement will be strengthened by the Antichrist himself.

Daniel 9:27
And he (Antichrist) shall confirm (strengthen) the covenant with many for one week (seven years): and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Source China View, Times Online, Arutz 7, Jerusalem Post, Middle East Times, Greg Wolf