Middle East Peace: Man’s Plan vs God’s Plan

December 10, 2025

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Bill Koenig

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 12/10/25. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this special Wednesday edition of Stand In the Gap Today with so many different areas of global and domestic change that are underway, all of which warrant some comment, or at least some of it warrants comment, I have decided to return to the Middle East and consider the unfolding aspects of the Trump Gaza Peace Plan proposal. More in specific, but we’re going to take a broader view of this. I’m so glad to have back with me. Bill Koenig currently serving as White House correspondent president and founder of World Watch Daily, which you can find@watch.org. He is also author of the book, which we’ve talked about multiple times, and we’ll refer to again today in this program, Eye to Eye Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. Now, some weeks ago, bill and his wife Tanya, and my wife Ruth Ann and I were privileged to be in Israel for a common event, were leaders in Christian media from around the world gathered for input, for networking, and for, I’m going to say on the ground interaction with both what’s happening now in Israel and what’s happening frankly to Israel and discuss that in light of the role of Christians in these exciting days of unfolding biblical prophecy.

Now, from my perspective, the framework for the Gaza Peace Plan laid on top of the earlier Abrahamic accords are driving policy discussions and fundamental global changes in ways that sometimes we can see, sometimes we can’t. Some are good and others are not so good depending upon the lens through which one examines them. And that evaluation is going to be the focus of this program today. In my conversation with Bill Koenig, the title I’ve chosen to frame that conversation is this Middle East Peace Man’s Plan versus God’s Plan. And with that Bill, welcome to the program. Thank you so much. You’ve been very, very busy. You’re just concluding a prophecy conference, so thank you for making time to be with us today.

Bill Koenig:

Thank you, Sam. Always a privilege. Thank you,

Sam Rohrer:

Bill, with your longtime focus on the Middle East and your website, which you focus on issues related to that watch.org where you feature everything related to Israel, prophetic and geopolitical and all of that. Anyway, here’s my point. You followed for a long time, world leaders, primarily US presidents have chased, I’m going to say that word chased, what to this point has been an elusive human piece in the Middle East at the moment, though efforts made by Jared Kushner under the banner, and I’m saying this carefully under the banner of Donald Trump, Kushner’s done the work on it, they’ve taken two forms, Abrahamic Accords last term, and then the current 20 point Gaza peace plan. Here’s my first question to you. To this point, including the two Trump proposals, what has been the essence of these proposals and to this point, why have they all failed to deliver any lasting peace?

Bill Koenig:

Well, Sam, it’s a great question and it has multiple ways I could go with that. I think the number one, Kushner has really kind of been the person behind everything, even in the first, especially in the first term, when the peace to prosperity plan was delivered on January 28th, 2020. And then he was the person behind the Abraham Accords actively working on the Abraham Accords. And the idea is to bring an agreement when they say peace deals. Israel was never at war with Bahrain in the United Arab Emirates. Matter of fact, they had a lot of business with the Emirates and some of the Abraham Accord pitch that these are peace deals or not peace deals. They talk about normalization, that’s fine. But for the most part, and a lot of us had no idea that Kushner was so involved with Steve Whitkoff’s effort, number one, trying to release the hostages from Gaza and then to advise him all the way through this and then to kind of surface two weeks before the event in Scharmach Egypt Trump’s peace event.

And when you look at the Gaza plan, the purpose of the Gaza plan is to get to the Abraham Accords plan. And we did an open letter to the president in July saying, Abraham Accords is fine, president Trump, but you need to fully understand and acknowledge Israel’s sovereign right to Judea Samaria. And if don’t necessarily, I mean we want you to do that, but the main thing, if you continue to include the covenant land of Israel in the Abraham Accords negotiations, it’s going to fail. And we call for you to separate the two. So then we go back to the gossip plan, Sam, and what happens is number 17 is calling for a future Palestinian state. And then the other concern is when President Trump, I think it was September 21st or 22nd at the un, met with seven Arab leaders and his promise to get them to Egypt to get them to back his peace plan was he will not allow Israel to annex, annex Judea and Samaria, which he calls the West Bank now. So Sam, that probably is the greatest concern as he publicly, no leader has a right to tell Israel you can’t annex or you can’t extend sovereignty to your own land. And that’s probably the biggest concern we have right now. And then of course the partners that he has in this deal.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, and we’re going to talk further about both of those. And I responded on this program the same way you did there. I’m saying how in the world, well, alright, the world noted that too, but here come comments, we don’t get this done. We’ll go into the next segment with it. But when I look from a political perspective, because these frameworks, Gaza, Abraham, mcc, accord, they’re political arrangements, they’re deals, they’re politically generated. And from my sense, you can comment from my sense they’re linked, they build one upon the other as you just kind of indicated. And when I did an analysis of the common points between the Abraham Accord and the Gaza piece, there are two that comes up and I just want to mention them, get your thoughts on it. And that is this. In both of them, there’s an emphasis on the religious tenet of interfaith, cultural dialogue, tolerance and coexistence as pillars of regional peace. Those are the words that come out of it. It’s the alignment of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, which to me sounds like a one road religion and Islam, and that’s been going on. To me, that’s a problem. The second is the land and boundary restriction that you just talked about, where both of them forbid declaring sovereignty over judicious Mary, which you just mentioned, and Gaza, those are the two that are common to both. What are your thoughts about the significance of these things?

Bill Koenig:

Excellent points, Sam. Excellent point. And I think the first point, most people don’t realize,

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, and Bill, hold it, we’re out of time. Save that as a little bit of a teaser. Ladies and gentlemen. Bill’s going to answer that question, those two issues that I just mentioned. A matter of land Israel, you do not declare sovereignty over Gaza, any of that or the West Bank, Jude Samaria, and the furtherance of a united merged world. Religion doesn’t not just say that, but the major religions in other capacities, it is Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Alright, those are common to both. I’m going to come back, bill will answer that question about what he thinks about the significance of those things. And then we will walk into describing the difference between God’s framework for peace and the framework we’re talking about here today. Well, if you’re just joining us today, this is standing a gap today, my special guest, bill Koenig, white House correspondent, and he’s president and founder of World Watch daily watch.org, everything related to the Middle East, biblical prophecy, geopolitics on that part of the world.

You can find there at great site Bill, let me go back and just ask you to state what I cut you off. We ran out of time in the last segment. When we look at the gossip peace plan, the Abraham Accords, number one, is it legitimate to connect and view these things together? Number one. And then secondly, to comment on those two provisions that are common to both. One, the furtherance of this merger of world religions effectively Christianity, Islam and Judaism. And then the second one, a prohibition against Israel declaring sovereignty over the bank and over anything in gossip.

Bill Koenig:

That was a great point you made, Sam, because most people don’t understand the effort by the Arabs, especially the Emirates, United Arab Emirates and also Catholic church. Pope John Paul Benedict and Francis have all really pursued. They’ve been in mosque, they’ve kissed Imam’s hands, they’ve been in Syria, also Indonesia and also the Emirates. The Catholic church opened a church in July, 2015 in Abu Dhabi. One of the leaders, or one or multiple leaders, I’m not sure exact number, but of the government of United Arab Emirates came to acknowledge it. So now in Abu Dhabi you have a synagogue, you have a Catholic church, and of course the mosques. So the main push for the interfaith movement has been the Catholic church. They’ve pushed that hard. Also, world Council church has been behind that as well. They’re based in Geneva, Switzerland, and unfortunately pretty anti-Semitic. And the other concern too is the Abraham Accords.

Someone came up with the idea that the Abraham accords means the land for all descendants of Abraham. No, the land is in Genesis 1518 in thereabouts is land was given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. So that’s another part of the confusion, Sam is the Abraham Accords is specific. That land is specifically for the Jews, not for Hagar, Ishmael and their descendants. The other thing too is they always, the ultimate prize is a future Palestinian state and all of the thinking of all the leaders, of all the Arab leaders, even after the original Abraham Accord signing by Bahrain and Emirates and even Sudan that summer of 2020, this is the buzz. I mean they’re talking about Syria and the Abraham Accords. They’re hoping that Saudi Arabia will agree to, but Saudis are saying not until we get a Palestinian state. So we’re going to hear more and more of the Abraham Accord talk from Trump, from Witkoff, from Kushner moving into 2026. And that could create a lot of problems.

Sam Rohrer:

And that walks us perfectly into this next sector I would like to go, and that is God’s framework for peace versus, I’m just going to put this point because we’re talking about Abraham Accord and the Gaza plan, the prevailing thing, the Trump framework. But when I look at scripture bill, to me, there’s a principle that runs unchanging and true. Proverbs 14:12 says this, there is a way that seam right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death and other places. This truth has emphasized different ways. Isaiah 56: 8, 9, God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways, your ways sayeth the Lord. He on my ways are higher than yours and so forth. Jesus himself then comes and then says that there are two approaches in life. One is a narrow way that leads to life. Only a few find that way.

The vast majority are on the Broadway that leads to destruction, though they think they are in control. So it is to me, I think with government policy and people that are being described and even personal decisions that people make, unless we start and end with God’s ways, walking the fear of God and keep God’s commandments joy or peace, they’re not going to be found. That’s just a principle comment if you want, but then go walk into this. Can you lay out God’s framework? Let’s start from what God says is required for peace. All of these things we’re talking about past efforts, man’s efforts, but not with God. Lay out the standard. What does God’s framework, for instance, define? How does God define peace in the Middle East and what are the requirements required? Core pillars put it that way upon which God’s framework for peace must stand.

Bill Koenig:

Well, it’s interesting because the Bible is very specific about, as I mentioned, Genesis 1518, the land from the Euphrates river through about four or five Arab countries today, all the way to the great river in Egypt. That’s the original Abrahamic covenant land. And that’s what God intended for the Jewish descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to occupy this land. And that goes all the way back to the Balfour agreement in 1917 when the British controlled most of this land or a major portion of the land. And that led to the League of Nations led to an agreement and that Israel was going to have all of, pretty much most of the Abraham and Covenant land. But then Winston Churchill came in with the British mandate and gave a large part of the land to trans Jordan or today Jordan and then Israel through the wars.

Just to run through this pretty quick, Israel just wants to live in peace of security. And then we can go back to Genesis 12, three that it speaks of those that bless the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They will be blessed. And that means anybody, Muslims, Hindus, agnostics, anybody that blesses them will be blessed. But if you cross God and come against his people or attempt to destroy them or divide their properties, as Joel three, two speaks of, there will be a curse, there will be consequences. And unfortunately the whole peace process, meaning well by our American presidents for the most part was to bring peace to the Middle East. But we know lasting peace. Sam won’t come until our Messiah, Yeshua returns. But at the meantime, the enemies of the Jews and the Christians want to see the land of Israel divided. They want to see an Arab state in Judea and Samaria and also in Gaza. And their ultimate plan is to, when you hear from the river to the sea, that’s Israel’s, a lot of that’s Israel’s, that’s Judea and Samaria, that’s a calling for the Arabs to basically control all of the land of Israel today and wipe out the Jewish people, which we know biblically won’t happen.

Sam Rohrer:

Alright, so let me rephrase it again and come back. That’s excellent. So core pillars, and we’ll talk about it a little bit more in the next segment, but it governs the land. So God has said, here is land that I’m giving to you descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land which has boundaries and so forth. You’ve talked about it and we’re going to go talk further on. You have land and boundaries. You have the people, the Jewish people themselves, and you have the city of Jerusalem that God has established and said is his holy city. So when you think in pillars and blessing and cursing, blessing and cursing, would you say that that really is agreeing with and furthering God’s promises according to his covenant? And any type of cursing would be perhaps trying to harm or disturb or change any of God’s core promises. Is that another way to look at what we’re talking about?

Bill Koenig:

Absolutely. Totally. And when you think about all the Arab leaders that have come against the land, their untimely deaths are their very tragic deaths. Sadam, Hussein, Mummar, Kadafi, Haas, Assad, even King Hussein signed an agreement with Israel in 1995 and died of cancer. And then you look at the two leaders of Iran, the president, foreign minister last year that had fired a bunch of missiles at Israel and then they die shortly thereafter. And a helicopter crash on the way back from Azer Bajan. So everybody, Sam that’s attempted to divide or conquer or destroy the state of Israel, especially these Muslim leaders, they have died in tragic ways and untimely Anwar Sadat, right after he signed the Camp David Accord was assassinated. So the bottom line, this is a great example of the curse of a coming against God’s plan in the Bible for his people and for his covenant.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, bill, I’m not asking anybody, I’d like to get your thoughts on it. Those blessing and cursings agreeing with God in regard to his covenant promises, the land and the people in the city. And so as we’re just talking now, but there are Jews themselves who don’t even agree with God’s plan or Israel itself could make a deal with an Arab enemy that would be counter to what God said. Does that the blessing and cursing actually apply to Israel itself?

Bill Koenig:

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It’s a battle. I mean, Israel wants to be left to live peace and security and to be a constructive part of the international community. Unfortunately, Israel’s very secular or half the people are very secular. They don’t look at what the Bible says. They don’t acknowledge what the Bible says. Some were born there, some moved there. The religious Jews in Israel, 40, 50%. It depends on the polling and everything. You have the Orthodox Jews that follow the scriptures very closely and especially the ultra-Orthodox. They fully understand that the covenant land of Israel is theirs, no one else’s. So the battle with the Jewish, and especially in America, the American Jews very liberal. The reform and conservative part of Judaism totally favors Israel, giving up land for promises of peace and security, which also creates a situation for them to be more comfortable at home. Since seven October, life for American Jews, antisemitism has grown exponentially, not only the United States, but also in Europe.

Sam Rohrer:

So ladies and gentlemen think about that, okay, God’s principles and his commands apply to everybody, including his own people. And by the way, now think of this, the Jews themselves are in the land, right? Yet at this moment, yet in unbelief as Bill just talked about, God’s work is being done, he is working his plan out and it is to bring the Jews to him. And it is ultimately to bring all peoples of the world to him that there is only one Christ Jesus. Yeshua. We’ll come back. We’ll continue. Alright, bill, let’s move on to something else here. A couple of weeks ago, you and your wife Tanya, if somebody goes to your website now, they have been seeing for some time anyways, some in depth considerations about different things written by your wife and I’m sure with your input, but it’s on watch.org and I found them to be quite good.

A recent one examined a number of troubling, I’m going to put it that way, troubling components of what I am again calling the Kushner Trump, not the Trump Kushner, but the Kushner Trump Gaza 20 point peace proposal that centered around the heavy focus on Muslim nation involvement. Now you’ve mentioned that I’ve commented on this program as well because no matter how you look at it, I look at this arrangement and who is involved for security and providing money and all of that kind of thing for Gaza, it’s Arab Muslim nations. And I’m thinking, hmm, that’s interesting, but you did a further analysis on it. Can you walk through a little bit of what you considered and share some of the highlights of the concerns?

Bill Koenig:

Thanks for mentioning that Sam. Also, our weekly news report that goes out on Friday is available@williamkoenig.com, William K-O-E-N-I G.com. And a lot of Tanya’s very insightful commentary is there as the big concern. And when Tanya and I were talking about this is what’s going to happen in 2026, our big concern was the fact that two things, one, the UN was being marginalized, has been marginalized throughout this past year or two to not having significance when it came to telling Israel anything. It just was kind of in one era and out the other, the French and the British and the Saudis were trying to bring the UN back into a more significant role. Unfortunately, the Trump peace plan for Gaza, that was negotiated with seven Arab leaders at the UN in September 21st, 22nd. And that’s when Trump promised him no annexation of any property. He promised the Arabs, Israel will not annex any property.

He called it the West Bank. He used to call it Judea and Samaria at times. So the concern that we have here, number one is the UN through this new Gaza normalization plan is now part of the oversight. They are now in a significant role. Again, the other countries are Turkey and United Arab Emirates that have been funding the Muslim Brotherhood. The Qataris have had Al Jazeera, a propaganda arm of Hamas. They’ve been funding Hamas. Erdogan is not a friend of Israel. He is called on even the Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria to fight Israel to stand up against him, especially during the aftermath of the seven October conflict. So our concern, Sam, is the Turks and the Qataris are going to slow play this, will Hamas ever disarm. It’s just not practical. We’re hearing now they’re going to freeze their weapons. But the bottom line is the Trump administration is trying to get into phase two where almost I think the final hostage that has died is possibly going to be given back to Israel.

And then Trump administration is really aggressively trying to get into phase two, which is disarming of Hamas is offered 15,000 troops. Turkey wants to put troops in there. I mean this is, as you know Sam, this would be the worst for Israel to have their enemy with troops, with weapons inside a Gaza and then along with Qatar. So this is impractical. At the same time, the Arabs are very patient by nature. They’ll wake this out, they’ll wait Trump out. And it’s going to be a very interesting year because Trump’s got a lot riding on his plan being a success.

Sam Rohrer:

And as you’re saying, I mean anybody who’s been looking at this whole unfolding episode and all that in the Middle East can absolutely see or should see gigantic major trouble with that. Turkey has aligned with Hamas, they have been aligned with Hamas, Turkey has threatened Israel and said they have no right to exist. They are going to be a part of the peace effort. I mean built just for no other perspective that having the enemies, the avowed enemies of Israel, the avowed enemies of Israel on the ground only miles away from the border of Israel, to me is like what in the world is taking place? I mean, I look at that part of it and I say, there’s nothing about this that it all looks good to me. And then to say, Israel, you cannot have Gaza now makes it so that Israel can’t even, well, I mean this whole thing is going sideways very quickly.

Bill Koenig:

It is part of, it’s an arrogance thinking that Trump and Kushner and Witkoff have what it takes to corral the Arabs. And from the very beginning, right after he was elected in November of last year, Tony and I were writing, well, Steve Whitcoff, he’s a business guy. He had a $635,635 million hotel that was going broke in New York City and Qatar bought it. And in the first term it came out that Kushner’s family owned 6 6 6 fifth Avenue. It was going bankrupt and a real estate company called Brookfield did a 99 year lease paid up front. And we find out the major owner of Brookfield that bought Kushner’s building was a Qatari. So they’re compromised. And then President Trump gets a $400 million gift from Qatar, a jet that’s going to be a partial replacement for Air Force one until the new one is available. And Sam, when you look at that, and then to have Erdogan in the White House and Trump calling him as a great leader and love throughout the world to paraphrase, and then the times he’s been with the leaders of Qatar, talking about the Alani being a great leader, well-respected worldwide and a great friend of the United States.

And then you’ve got Ben Solomon that was in the White House the other day. They did a state dinner for him a couple Tuesdays ago, a state dinner talked and he committed to bringing trillions of dollars to the United States. So I mean you have Trump and then his May 13th to May 16 meeting that Tonya and I are writing about, he goes, and it gets a commitment of trillions of dollars of money from the Qatari, from the Saudis and from the Emirates to come to the United States and we’re both concerned, will this open the door even further to radical Islam in the United States because of this Trump relationship and pursuit of these countries And Tan I’ve been writing, they look at it as business deals. And Sam, they don’t even think for a second what the Bible speaks about this land.

Sam Rohrer:

And Bill, that’s an excellent point. I didn’t know what you were going to say to all of that, but yeah, I have observed all of that too. And see that presents a major, major problem for Israel because God is the protector of Israel and God says, you bless Israel, I’ll bless you, but these kind of efforts, I’m looking at them saying, wait a minute, these aren’t contributory to the safety and the furtherance of God’s plan for Israel and the Middle East, but rather to the contrary, I look at it and say, wow, we as a nation are sailing into the headwinds of God’s judgment.

Bill Koenig:

Totally true, totally true. The Trump people believe that they can produce a business environment in the Middle East and create so much opportunity. They’re sending our top AI companies, Nvidia and others, they had a big business event the day after the state dinner for Saudi US business investment opportunities. They just think they can just throw money at the Middle East, create new business opportunities and forget the covenants, forget the land. That’s not essential. Exactly. This is a collision course with the God of Israel over his covenant land, which would also endanger his people.

Sam Rohrer:

Boy, we don’t have much time left in this segment, bill, but that does take us to the whole aspect of your book, eye to Eye, where you’ve tracked very specific judgments by God that followed every incident where peace proposals by our presidents and others to divide the land or to do other things, have brought the judgment of God. Wherein in all of this that we’re talking is, I’m going to say the grace of God being challenged, put it that way.

Bill Koenig:

Here’s what happens, and I’ll kind of summarize it, Sam, what I document in eye to eye when there’s pressure by an American president on Israel to give up their land, there are enormous record setting catastrophes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornado outbreaks, nine 11, the land is a component there. But if American presidents with the business affairs and the political affairs of the state of Israel disruptive times happen. I documented when George W. Bush right after his two state plan, it was one week after another of disruptive times politically, personally, financially for our country. Same thing that’s happening with Trump right now. Political, personal and national disruptive periods. We’re going to see more of those

Sam Rohrer:

Ladies and gentlemen, what we’re talking about is current, it’s near and dear to the heart of God. It is what composes of pages of scripture and we see it here on the headline news, but nobody puts their finger fist in the face of God when you come back. We’re going to talk a little bit more now about what’s happening there in the Gaza plant. Well, as we go into our final segment here today, thanks for being with us. Special guest today is Bill Koenig, white House correspondent and Ben, I guess many, many times on this program. But our theme has been Middle East, peace Man’s Plan versus God’s Plan. And there’s a number of things about this as we’ve tried to walk through what is happening there in the Middle East and the peace plans and all. And we’ve had that discussion. So if you didn’t join it, weren’t able to at the beginning of the program, you can pick this up again on our website at Stand in the Gap radio.com or on our app.

And if you haven’t downloaded that, you really ought to, I encourage you to do so. It’s very easy. Just go into your store and just put in Stand In the Gap and then you can download and you have access to everything. You can communicate to us. You can find all of our TV programs, you can find the Daily Program, stand in the Gap today, the weekend programs, the minute programs, and so much more is available right there. And Bill, just because of the time, I’m going to go right back in to where we were so we can try to wrap this up because in the plan that we’re talking about, there was the Abraham MCC Accords and there’s this Gaza plan we’ve been discussing. There is a phase two of the Gaza plan, and Bibi Netanyahu has said that it will go into effect the end of the month.

But he says either Hamas will lay down all weapons or Israel will forcibly take it from them because they are a problem and they remain that way. And so here’s my question, what do you see as the largest drivers of the next action? I’m going to put that way in the Middle East. In other words, have we achieved peace in the Gaza or are we going to see that war again there? War with Iran who appears to have Refortified themself. What do you see as the next events laying out here? And then we’re going to go back to the Gaza plan.

Bill Koenig:

Wow, it’s going to get interesting. Sam, A couple things, one quick note. I just happened to read that Gaza’s expecting seven inches of rain in the next 36 hours, which will flood tunnels. And unfortunately a lot of people in Gaza are living in tents and that kind of amount of rain will be devastating to Gaza for them, but at the same time, maybe flood those tunnels that are still in existence. The other thing, Sam, is I’ve talked about this quite a bit, is Hamas laying down their weapons. I mean this has been the big dream all along that we get the hostages back living and dead and then we move to phase two. Well, we’re going to see what Qatar is going to do. They’re the back, they’re the big backers, they’re Trump’s friends. What are they going to do? How are they going to get Hamas to lay down their weapons?

We hear a freeze the weapons, but that means they still have the weapons. And so we’re going to watch the leadership of Qatar in Turkey very closely. And what they say, not only publicly we have access to what they’re saying behind the scenes. Are they serious about a demilitarization of Hamas? Well, Hamas isn’t excited about that. And then also President Trump is really forcing, maybe for the lack of a better word, Netanyahu, to go and meet with El Sisi of Egypt and try to mend their problems and help both nations economically. Well, Netanyahu hasn’t had a visit, hasn’t had a face-to-face visit since 2018 with El Sisi. That’s seven years. And they also have not talked at all on the phone during this process where Egypt was supposed to be so actively involved in trying to solve this Gaza war. And then President Trump is, what was the word they used?

Israeli press commanded or called for Netanyahu to come to Florida and meet with him. December 20 or summoned. Summoned was the word. That’s pretty strong. Summoned Netanyahu to come to Mar-a-Lago on December 29th to meet about the next phase. So I think that’s what we’ve talked about, Sam, the precariousness of the next phase and how this is going to play out. And that’s what’s going to be very, very interesting for the lack of a better word, of how this could play out. But Hamas, I mean what are they going to do with Hamas’ as weapons? Are they going to lay him down or maybe God through this rain is going to handle things differently.

Sam Rohrer:

That’s interesting. Okay, we don’t have much time left here, but this other question, just to follow up on that, by bringing Turkey UAE cutter and others and giving them presence, physical presence in the Gaza, which appears to be a part of this peace plan, surely it must give a greater threat to Israel than if those enemies did not have soldiers on the ground just a few miles away from Israeli border. What do you see as the next steps here?

Bill Koenig:

It’s interesting, Sam, because a couple of things. Number one, president Trump has called for Benjamin Netanyahu to be pardoned in his legal battles that he’s facing. He’s been very public about that and Netanyahu has been very appreciative. Number two, Bennett, a former prime minister of Israel’s calling on Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, but Netanyahu promising to finish his political career. Number three, Lapid, the opposition leader who was kind of a prime minister with Bennett last time is now fully backing the Trump Gaza plan. And there’s a pretty good chance. And the other problem number four is the fact that the Orthodox Jews are refusing to serve in the military. 85% of Israel says they must, but Netanyahu’s whole coalition is keeping the Orthodox Jews in there and supporting their non-military position. So from when I was there at the same time you were Sam, I was hearing that there because the possibility of an election in March or April or March going to be March or April, possibly May in Israel if the government collapses. So that’s the political challenges that the Israeli side’s going to fit face. And we’re also going to watch very closely the December 29 meeting between Netanyahu and Trump and Florida.

Sam Rohrer:

Alright, well there are a lot of things that continue to factor into this ever-changing plan in the Middle East, but ultimately Bill, the Lord is the one who’s directing and leading effort. We only have about a minute left. I’d like, if you don’t mind, if you just close this program in prayer, I think it would be appropriate. But any comments on that about the fact of how believers should watch what’s happening? Because ultimately at the end of the day, God’s not being surprised by anything, is he

Bill Koenig:

Not at all, Sam. Unfortunately, we are the part, the evangelical born again part of the church that studies the word from Genesis to Revelation that fully understands we’re living in a biblically and a prophetically significant time. So heavenly Father, I thank you for this opportunity to be with Sam and his audience again today. Lord, we are so blessed to have your word, the Bible to follow what is taking place in Israel, the Middle East today. None of this is a surprise. You’ve written about this. We’re living this moment, Jerusalem’s God time clocks the state of Israel’s, God’s time clock. And may we continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And Lord, may we pray for family, friends, and whoever you put in front of us, the opportunity to speak to them about the biblical significance of the days we live in and the fact that our Messiah, Yeshua will be returning one day to Jerusalem to begin his thousand year millennial reign. And I pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Sam Rohrer:

Amen. Amen. Bill Koenig, thank you so much for being with ladies and gentlemen again, his website, you can go watch.org, very simple watch.org. You will find very current articles all dealing with Israel, the Middle East. It’s really the best place that you can go watch.org. So Bill, thank you so much. God bless you and Tanya for all the work that you do. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being with us today. Always a blessing. It’s our honor to have you a part of the listening audience. I pray that even one thing today that was heard can be applied and you’ll apply it in your life and go forth and stand in the gap for truth.