Facing large crowds of angry street protesters, including some chanting “Death to the Dictator” for a third day on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rohani issued a statement calling for a special court investigation into the shootdown by an IRGC air defense unit of a Ukrainian passenger aircraft that killed 176 people last week. This and similar statements by mid-level regime officials appeared to have little effect on the crowds who continued to take to the streets on Tuesday, nor did they appear to be deterred by reports that security forces were using live ammunition and tear gas on protesters in some cities.

In the latest bad news for the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel, a report was published Tuesday by IVC Research Center and law firm Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal showed that Israel’s hi-tech sector achieved 138 IPOs, mergers, private-equity buyouts and acquisitions worth $21.7 billion in 2019. “I am very optimistic with respect to the Israeli tech ecosystem in general – the world is moving constantly in a more technological way,” Adv. Mike Rimon, a partner at Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal, told The Jerusalem Post. “Because we have very strong fundamentals of a true technology hub, we will be more and more significant in the world scene.”

Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovote announced this week that they’ve developed a computer algorithm which can predict which women are at a high risk of gestational diabetes in the early stages of pregnancy. The early detection technique can be used to help women at risk avoid the disease using nutritional and lifestyle changes.

A series of airstrikes by unidentified aircraft have struck positions occupied by forces loyal to the Assad regime in areas near Al-Bukamal in the Deir Ezzor area of eastern Syria, leading to panic in the ranks of pro-regime militias and a state of maximum alert amongst the Iranian IRGC forces deployed in the area. The IRGC and its terror proxies have come under intensified air bombardments across the Syria/Iraq border region in recent days, resulting in heavy casualties and damage.

Many in the West have expressed great dismay at the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Such responses to the removal of perhaps the world’s leading terrorist seem to suggest that the democratic West has descended into decadence. If that is the case, it is worth examining the extent to which the liberal-left dominance of much of Western public discourse is undermining the stability of democracy itself.

Much of the reporting on the clashes between Iran and the US that began in late December 2019, that led to the strikes that killed the commander the Iran’s Quds force, Qasem Soleimani, and led to Iranian missile strikes on US bases in Iran, have focused on the Quds force and treated it as the dominant element of Iraq’s military forces and Iran’s asymmetric capabilities. The Quds force is only part of a much broader and steadily growing mix of Iranian asymmetric warfare capabilities. Its role must be kept in careful perspective in evaluating the threat of any major escalation in the tensions and the risk of a major war in the Gulf. (PDF)

As the ICEJ looks ahead to 2020, celebrates 40 years of comforting God’s people, and preparing the way for His work in the land of Israel, we set aside January as a month of prayer and fasting to seek God’s will in the coming year. We invite you to join us by determining set times to seek the Lord through prayer and fasting, to prepare the way for His work in your heart.