Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanyahu underwent his first pre-indictment hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, with his lawyers confidently telling journalists covering the proceedings that they were “surprising” Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit and the prosecutors and that there was a good chance in the charges being dismissed. Meanwhile, Netanyahu met with Yisrael Beytanu leader Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday morning and emerged from the meeting to announce that he’d invited his long-time political frenemy to join his governing coalition in the 22nd Knesset.

The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel celebrated a rare success this week as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa Synod, representing approximately 4 million Anglicans in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Angola, voted to approve a resolution supporting BDS. “The current political nation-state of Israel and Israel in the Bible should not be confused with each other,” the resolution stated, adding that “many Christian pilgrimages to the current State of Israel often ignore the Christians living in Palestine.”

General Hossien Salami, chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) told a meeting of his senior commanders this week that he possesses “the capability to annihilate” Israel which he declared needed to be “wiped off the world” before concluding that this could and would soon happen. He added that Iran’s “Islamic revolution” would soon become a global phenomenon. At a separate meeting of IRGC officers this week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Teheran was moving forward with plans to further violate the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal in an effort to force the US to lift economic sanctions.

Leaders of Israel’s Arab communities issued a call on Thursday for a general strike to protest what they describe as neglect by the police and their own Knesset representatives of the recent surge in violent crime in Arab villages which has included 71 murders so far this year. “The situation in the Arab sector has become intolerable,” protest leader Majd al-Krum Mayor Salim Slaibi said this week. “We want the leaders of our community to take serious measures to stop the bloodshed. We can’t continue to live in fear.”

The Israel Cycling Academy team announced this week that it has signed an agreement with Katusha Management which will allow it to join the World Tour of professional cycling in 2020. The Israeli team will thus be participating in some of the most prestigious cycling races in the world, including the Tour de France. “I have stated for some time that ICA would be in the World Tour, sooner or later. I am excited that it is happening right away for next year’s season,” said Israeli Canadian philanthropist and ICA co-owner Sylvan Adams.

The Palestinian Authority’s current financial crisis is a direct result of its “pay-to-slay” policy. The PA squanders millions to pay monthly salaries to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners, as well as wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists. Israel this year began withholding 6% of the PA tax money it collects, an amount equal to that which the PA spends on rewarding terrorists.

After months of increasing tensions, the contest between Iran and the United States escalated dramatically with the spectacular air attack on Saudi oil installations. So far, the Trump administration has sent mixed signals about its response, with the president warning that America’s military was “locked and loaded” and then suggesting that energy independence means events in the Gulf no longer affect U.S. interests. While the ultimate decision has powerful implications for Gulf security, it will also reverberate everywhere that America and its allies face off against Iran and its local proxies, from Yemen to Iraq to Lebanon to Gaza. A panel of experts weighs in.

As Christians, we are called to be a prophetic community. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Mt. 6:10). We should pray to be a prophetic people with great faith, so we can give evidence of what God has declared and call into existence the promises of God even before they can be seen.