Michael is the guardian angel of Israel/the Jewish People. Trump just declared no “Jerusalem, Israel” on US Passports, for American citizens born there. The G-d of Israel uses natural phenomena as his Rod of Judgment. This week’s Torah reading is Noah, the flood story.
Have you noticed this? I have, let’s explore each of these four statements…
1. Michael is the guardian angel of Israel/the Jewish People.
According to Jewish tradition, Michael acts as the advocate of Israel, and sometimes fights with the angels of other nations to protect the Jews, particularly with the angel Samael, Israel's accuser. Samael is the angel of death, and the title ‘The Satan’ is accorded to him. While ‘The Satan’ describes his function as an accuser, Samael is his proper name. Samael is the guardian angel of Esau and Edom. And, according to the medieval Rabbi, Don Isaac Abarbanel, by extension Rome, Christianity, and Western Civilization. While Samael tempts people to sin, Michael defends Israel's actions.
The rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash tell us about Michael’s role as defender. His activities can be seen with the biblical patriarchs. It was Michael who rescued Abraham from the furnace into which he had been thrown by Nimrod. It was Michael, the “one that had escaped” (Genesis 14:13), who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive, and who protected Sarah from being defiled by Abimelech. Later, he announced to Sarah, that she would bear a son Isaac, and he rescued Lot at the destruction of Sodom.
Michael later prevented Isaac from being sacrificed by his father, substituting a ram in his place, and saved Jacob, while yet in his mother's womb, from being killed by Samael, Esau’s angel. Michael prevented Laban from harming Jacob.
The midrash says that Michael defended Israel at the time of the Exodus, when The Satan (as an adversary) accused the Israelites of idolatry, pointing out to G-d, that there is no difference between them and the idol-worshiping Egyptians, about to be drowned in the Red Sea. Michael is also said to have destroyed the army of Sennacherib from Assyria.
Jewish tradition claims that Michael was first sent by G-d to bring Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, but that afterward, Michael worked to free the Jews from Babylonian captivity. According to the midrash, Michael saved Hananiah and his companions from the Fiery furnace. Michael was active in the time of Esther, “The more Haman accused Israel on earth, the more Michael defended Israel in heaven,” (Esther Rabbah 3:8). And, it was Michael, who reminded Ahasuerus, that Mordechai had saved him. Michael’s activities, have continued to be discussed throughout the medieval and modern periods, and in kabbalistic literature.
And, now a hurricane called Michael hit America. America, draw the proper conclusions. The Promised Land and especially Jerusalem, is exclusively for the Jewish People.
2. Trump just declared no ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on US Passports, for American citizens born there.
Despite the United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, and moving it’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, American citizens born in Jerusalem, are still unable to list ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on US passports.
In September, 55 House Republicans, sent a letter to President Trump, calling on him to order the State Department to list Israel on US passports, as the birth country, for American citizens born in Jerusalem. The letter stated,“Despite the progress in moving the embassy, the State Department has not yet fully implemented the administration’s policy of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital for purposes of registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem.”
In response, a State Department spokesperson explained, “The president has made clear that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem remain subject to final-status negotiations between the [Israelis and the Palestinians]. We have not changed our practice regarding place of birth on passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad at this time.”
Although Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he has the authority to not have ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ listed on US passports. According to constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro, in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, the Supreme Court ruled that only the president has the power to recognize foreign entities in accordance with the US Constitution’s Reception Clause. “Zivotofsky ruled in favor of the executive; he was not required to comply with the Federal law. Trump, like Obama, can decline to stamp ‘Israel’ on the passport of a citizen born in Jerusalem.”
John Sitilides, a Washington-based geopolitical strategist, proposed that Trump may be withholding putting ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on passports, due to his much-anticipated Mideast peace plan. “President Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but is now emphasizing his support for a two-state solution, and is withholding on the passport issue to maximize US leverage as his diplomatic negotiating team finalizes its proposals. He has publicly stated that Israel must be more flexible now that Jerusalem has been recognized.”
But, I already warned about that in a Dec. 2017 article, Palestinians, Beware Jewish Days of Rage, Hanukkah is Coming to Israel! reviewing Trump’s speech, in which he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Notice carefuly, Trump during his speech didn’t say ‘undivided capital.’ Trump continued, “We are not taking a position on...specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem...Those questions are up to the parties involved.” So let’s just be clear. This ‘recognition’ doesn’t preclude the re-division of Jerusalem into the capitals of Israel and a Palestinian state.
Trump also said, “Jerusalem is today, and must remain, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Hence, preserving the status quo of the Old City and Temple Mount. A status quo that denigrates Jewish Rights.
Then, during his recent UN press conference, Trump said, “Well I'd love to be able to make a deal with the Israelis and the Palestinians. You know, my whole life I was told that's the toughest deal...but we're going to take care of that too...I think we're going to make a deal...”
Trump continued, “...one of the reporters asked about the one state two state, and I said I think the two state will happen, I think it's way more difficult because it's a real estate deal, because you need meets and bounds and you need lots of carve outs and lots of everything...I said well, I think the two state will happen, I think we're going to go down the two state road...”
So it’s pretty clear to Trump, Jerusalem is still on the cutting board, not exclusively for Israeli hands.
3. The G-d of Israel uses natural phenomena as his Rod of Judgment.
I described this in my Aug. 2017 article, Hurricane Katrina, Harvey, and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. “In fact, the G-d of Israel has been doing this [‘natural’ disasters], since the beginning of the Peace Process. In March 1991, after the first Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush pushed Israel into attending the Madrid Peace Conference. Later that year, at the same time as the conference, Hurricane ‘Perfect Storm’ attacked the East Coast of the United States. Bush, staying at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine at the time, had to be evacuated. His house was damaged.”
In my September 2005 article, Israel to America, I Warned You... I wrote, “Well, it’s begun; less than a week after the Israeli army expelled thousands of Jews from their homes in Gaza and Northern Samaria, uprooting 25 communities, American troops were evacuating people from their homes in Louisiana and Mississippi. The greatest ‘natural’ disaster has happened in American history. The Hand of G-d is written all over this one.”
Many in Israel and America, Jews and non-Jews at the time, saw “G-d’s Hand” in the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
I explained why G-d did this, in my earlier June 2005 article, Israel, Tell America the cold, hard truth warning there, “America, your country is in danger. The G-d of Israel, who has brought His people (the Jews) home after 2,000 years, is watching your every move. Stop pushing Israel into suicidal concessions (giving away parts of its homeland to a non-existent group, the so-called Palestinians), before it’s too late, and your fate is sealed.”
As I said then, “The redemption of the Jewish People and their return to the Holy Land (Israel) is an unstoppable divine process...the ‘Palestinians’ won’t stop it, the Europeans won’t stop it, and America won’t stop it. If America continues to promote the ‘rights of the Palestinians’ (what the Bible calls ‘a non-people’ Deut. 32:21), know that you are going against the G-d of History and Jewish destiny, beware!”
I concluded in my Aug. 2017 article, Hurricane Katrina, Harvey, and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. “Just like when George Bush and Condi Rice worked to promote the expulsion of about 10,000 Gazan and Samarian Jews from their homes, destroying whole communities in the process, in 2005, to curry Arab favor (to gain support for America’s war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq); the Trump administration is continuing to work, to sacrifice Israel, on the Altar of ‘Middle East Peace,’ to gain support of a Sunni coalition of states against Shiite Iran.”
I concluded in my Aug. 2017 article, Hurricane Katrina, Harvey, and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. “Just like when George Bush and Condi Rice worked to promote the expulsion of about 10,000 Gazan and Samarian Jews from their homes, destroying whole communities in the process, in 2005, to curry Arab favor (to gain support for America’s war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq); the Trump administration is continuing to work, to sacrifice Israel, on the Altar of ‘Middle East Peace,’ to gain support of a Sunni coalition of states against Shiite Iran.”
I believe this plan continues, note what Trump said in his recent UN press conference:
“When we had – in Saudi Arabia, we had one of the great conferences in history...we had, I believe 58 Muslim countries – their leaders, the kings, the Emirs, the absolute leaders from every – there was nobody in second place, they were the leaders of the whole thing.”
"And unbeknownst to anybody else people would...come up to me and say, “sir, you can’t have peace in the Middle East without peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians...So I heard that from...the King of Saudi Arabia whose a great guy...I know where they’re coming from.”
He continued, “I must have had 12 leaders say it...I started to realize that peace between Israel and the Palestinians for the Middle East is a very important thing and we’re trying very hard to get it. I think probably two state[s] is more likely, but you know, if they do a single, if they do a double, I’m OK with it if they’re both happy. If they’re both happy, I’m OK with either. I think the two state is more likely...”
4. This week’s Torah reading is Noah, the flood story.
And all this, (the floods and damage from Hurricane Michael and Trump’s holding back full normalization of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in State Dept. policy) comes during the week of learning about Noah and the Flood in the weekly Torah reading.
Interestingly, the American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce, that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere is called NOAA (Noah) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – which had been reporting on the progress of Hurricane Michael.
Notice the parallel, NOAA/Noah, observing the flood brought on by G-d. The Torah describes the evil behavior of Noah’s generation, which is said to be according to tradition, stealing such small amounts that no one could be prosecuted, i.e. ongoing injustice.
And, in this generation, BDS, the UN, the ‘Palestinians,’ and yes, the Trump Peace Plan, are all unjust attempts to steal the Land of Israel and in particular Jerusalem, from the Jewish People.
But wait, America always helps Israel...
Since George H. W. Bush, American policy has been slowly moving to reverse the miraculous outcome of the 1967 Six-Day War. Potentially ripping away parts of the Land of Israel from the Jewish People, and dividing Jerusalem in half; Trump’s election has also led to the ripping in half of American society itself. Democrats and Republicans are guilty in both. Now another hurricane. It’s not surprising that the G-d of Israel is angry, and bringing warnings of disaster to America…
Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko
