WILL ISRAEL BECOME A "SUPER SPARTA" NATION?

As the war in Gaza drags on, Israel’s Prime Minister has stated that Israel may have to become a modern “Super Sparta” type of nation (first link). Sparta of course, was a fully martial ancient Greek city-state that was dedicated to military success and discipline. It was Sparta, under its King, Leonidas, who took 300 Spartan soldiers and held the pass at Thermopylae against a vast number of soldiers led by the Persian king. The Israelis have been fighting on many fronts since Hamas declared war on Israel via a raid on Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. That raid took many hostages, killed over 1,000 Israelis and many died under conditions of virtually unprintable torture.

Israel has defeated Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Assad Syrian government, backed by Iran, has fallen, and has been replaced by a new Syrian government which is exploring a security agreement of some kind with Israel. Iran has had its nuclear program and many other military sites destroyed in a joint American-Israeli air attack on Iran. The Houthis are still firing periodic missiles or armed drones at Israeli targets, and some of those projectiles have gotten through Israel’s air defenses. It continually puzzles me why Israel, the USA and the global shipping community haven’t eliminated the Houthis’ Iranian-supplied rockets by now. How hard can it be to implement a blockade which intercepts all Iranian missiles, rockets and drones being shipped to the Houthis to stop these attacks?

It is understandable that Israel may feel like it must become a kind of modern Sparta to defeat all the military threats against it. However, I think the war-weary Israeli population will soon demand an end to the wars and the return of all Israeli hostages. Israel has a major difference with ancient Sparta. Ancient Spartans were trained from childhood in military mindsets and how to lethally use ancient weaponry. Dying in battle was a glory to a Spartan soldier. The Israeli population is vastly different than ancient Sparta. Israelis would love to live in peace with all their neighbors and not have to fight any wars for a long time. Most soldiers fighting Israel’s current wars are reservists who have been called up to military service. Israel’s past wars generally lasted days, not years like the current war with Hamas. The stresses of a seemingly endless war are taking a toll on Israelis. The second link details the increased rate of suicides in Israel’s military services. If Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot find a way to end this war reasonably soon, I anticipate that his governing coalition will fall apart and new Israeli elections will occur. I won’t predict the outcome of such an election, but the Israeli people are weary of endless war and could very well choose a new Prime Minister with a mandate to end the Israeli-Hamas war.

There is a new development in Israel’s Iron Dome air defense shield that is very worthy of mention. The third link and fourth link report details about Israel’s latest layer to its air defense system. Israel is deploying a laser-beam component to its already sophisticated air defenses. It reportedly is effective vs. armed drones, mortar shells, aircraft and incoming rockets. If Israel does have fully-operational laser systems to use against conventional weaponry, it is a major and notable advance in military weaponry. I hope Israel is sharing the secrets of this new technology with the USA–its major arms supplier and protector.

Now for some bad news. For whatever reason, Israel’s government ordered an attack against a secret Hamas hiding place located in Qatar. I cannot fathom why anyone thought this was a good idea. Israel had consented to having the Egyptian and Qatari governments jointly try to develop peace proposals that would be acceptable to both Hamas and Israel so the war could end. It was beginning to look tantalizingly close to achieving fruit and there was even talk that the Abraham Accords, begun under President Trump in his first term, might be revived and that Saudi Arabia and Israel would normalize diplomatic relations. Israel killed any hope of this happening in the immediate future when it attacked a target on Qatar’s sovereign territory. I’m no international law specialist, but I would regard it as unthinkable to launch an air strike on the sovereign territory of a nation that is cooperating with you and trying to end a war. Qatari territory should have had some kind of diplomatic immunity from such a strike while it was working with Israel to try to find a peace treaty.

The reaction was swift among Arab nations. Egypt even referred to Israel as an “enemy” for the first time in decades (fifth link). Saudi Arabia did an about face and, instead of declaring new diplomatic relations with Israel, quickly announced a new strategic alliance with nuclear-armed Pakistan (sixth link). There is now talk of Saudi Arabia being placed under a nuclear shield guaranteed by Pakistan’s nuclear forces. The sorry fact is that Israel’s attack on Qatari soil caused Egypt and Saudi Arabia to quickly pivot away from Israel and toward Pakistan and other Arab nations. As an example of just how close an agreement to end the Gaza war was, the seventh link elaborated on a story that 5,000 new policemen were being trained by Egyptian forces to move into Gaza to ensure law and order as soon as the peace agreement was signed. A peace treaty was almost within grasp before Israel attacked that site inside Qatar. Now, who knows how long it will take to reach a peace agreement. I think US President Trump will have to “lean” on the Israelis to accept a peace agreement and end the suffering the war has caused.

I don’t understand why an agreement is so elusive in the Gaza conflict. Israel long ago won the war decisively. Why can’t they “declare victory” and implement a unilateral cease fire and call on Hamas to do the same thing. The hostages could all be released to Israeli care and rehabilitation and the Hamas leaders could be allowed to have diplomatic refuge in whatever Islamic nation will have them. Those Egyptian-trained policemen could then move into Gaza to ensure some stability until a functioning society can be rebuilt. I’m extremely concerned about the mental and physical health of any Israeli hostages still alive in Hamas captivity. For their sake, a ceasefire and a hostage release must come as soon as possible. Also, the longer this war continues, the more antisemitism rises around the world. This generates actions against Jews outside Israel and stopping such trends is another reason the Gaza War must end soon.

Whatever happens as this war (hopefully) draws to a close, the Bible’s prophecies about the Israelis/Jews in the latter days will still be fulfilled. I’ve mentioned them in previous posts. Israel will be largely successful in its wars (Genesis 49:8-9), and God will not forsake the Israelis/Jews even if all nations on earth do so (Zechariah 12:1-7). If anyone needs to see abundant hard evidence that we are living in the biblically-prophesied latter days (when the above-cited prophecies will be in effect), such evidence can be found in my article, Are We Living in the Biblical Latter Days? Let us be clear: not all nations have currently abandoned the Israelis/Jews. The USA still strongly supports the Israeli nation, and Japan and Germany recently announced they support Israel’s position that there be no Palestinian state formed after this war is over (eighth link and ninth link).

The Mideast remains in a state of instability and many risks. Followers of biblical prophecies need to monitor this region of the world closely for further developments.

WILL ISRAEL BECOME A “SUPER SPARTA” NATION?

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