Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made public statements on Sunday warning Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah not to test Israel’s ability to defeat them on the battlefield. “The only thing that the terrible (JCPOA) nuclear agreement gave is a strong and sweeping rapprochement with major Arab countries,” Netanyahu said during his speech to National Security College cadets visiting the Prime Minister’s Office. “Iran says simply: ‘We will destroy you and destroy you first by nuclear weapons…at the moment, the only army in the world to fight Iran – this is the Israeli army.”

The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered another defeat on Monday when President Reuven Rivlin was received as an honored guest by South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Presidential residence in Seoul. The meeting included the signing of memorandums of understanding to advance cooperation in the fields of energy and education, with plans to increase cooperation in many other areas.

Omri Casspi announced over the weekend that he will be returning home to Israel to play for Euroleague powerhouose Maccabi Tel Aviv after a ten year career in the NBA, including a championship season with the Golden State Warriors. The 31-year old Caspi reportedly signed a three-year $3.2 million contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv and will be given a management position with the team when he retires from playing.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday that an initial shipment components for a Russian-built S-400 air defense system have arrived at the Murted Air Base near the capital, Ankara. Washington has warned its long-time NATO ally that deploying the Russian-built system puts Turkey in jeopardy of violating the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, while also putting at risk Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program.

The Tourism Ministry released the results of its annual Inbound Tourism Survey on Sunday. The report said, among other things, that 93% of visitors to the Jewish State reported having a good to excellent” experience. The report also said that incoming tourists contributed NIS 21 billion to Israel’s economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs.

A two-state solution that would be predicated on Israel’s leaving the West Bank is a position endorsed by only a minority of Israelis under the current circumstances. As far as the Palestinian Authority’s official media and education system are concerned, Tel Aviv and Haifa, let alone Jerusalem, are every bit as “occupied” by the Jews as the most remote hilltop settlement in the West Bank.

The Gulf States, with the exception of Bahrain, have managed to avoid the scale of unrest that reached most of the region’s republics in the last decade. In fact, several Gulf monarchs consolidated their domestic, regional and international power even amid the upheaval. But the monarchies are confronting several challenges, among them the need to rewrite the social contracts between the rulers and the ruled.

The Feast of Tabernacles is always a wonderful foretaste of that future time when all peoples will come up to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot. It is a prophetic statement that our Lord is indeed coming soon. And it declares to Israel and the nations that a new day is dawning. The King is coming, and we are here to rejoice in His transforming power and soon arrival.