Opinion: Israeli government has so far been dangerously indifferent to Chinese plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Syria over the next 30 years, effectively cementing their presence in the war-battered, neighboring state

Alex Fishman|Published:  04.30.19 , 01:24

When a senior Israeli security official was recently asked who will rehabilitate Syria, ravaged by a decade-long civil war, he replied without hesitation – the Chinese. This has been the prevailing assumption among the high-profile Israeli security experts over the past two years, and it’s no longer just an academic assessment.

This development requires the Israeli government to prepare for a new Middle East in which China plays a key role. Israel’s research and assessment institutes – both governmental and military – should have already made plans for what happens once China establishes its presence on Syrian territory. The Israeli government, however, seems to make decisions after the damage is already done.  

Back in 2015, Israel allowed a Chinese company to operate parts of the Haifa port for the next 25 years, with an option to extend it for another 25. The decision was made without fully understanding the implications of long-term Chinese involvement in a key strategic infrastructure. The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance were certain they were being sophisticated and everyone would get to enjoy the crumbs of Chinese trillions. But the crumbs come at a price when it comes to not only politics, but security as well.

The Americans claim the Chinese involvement in the Haifa port activities is a blow to US national security, and the day when Israel will have to decide between US and China is not far away. As a result, the government is now trying to hurriedly amend the arrangement with the Chinese in order to soften the blow as far as the White House is concerned.

The Chinese involvement in Syria could be much more dramatic and complicated. The rehabilitation of the war-battered country is a project that would cost trillions and would most likely take decades to complete. Since the start of the civil war in 2011, the Syrian economy had lost some $ 250 billion, half of the country’s inranstrucure was destroyed, six million Syrians fled the state, and an additional four million became refugees in their own homeland.  

Some estimate that restoring the country to its pre-2011 condition will take up to 30 years. The Russians don’t have the ability to invest in Syria beyond military infrastructure, while Iran (another ally of President Bashar Assad’s regime) needs to rehabilitate itself first following the reintroduction of US sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The Americans have no interest in investing there, the Europeans only seem to invest their optimistic rhetoric and not money, while the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia would never do anything that could potentially strengthen the Assad regime due to its close relationship with Tehran.  

This leaves the Chinese – who have both money and interest, as part of their $900 billion New Silk Route initiative – as the only ones capable to take on a project of this scale. The plan includes a construction of land and sea routes connecting China with Europe’s largest market, while simultaneously creating Chinese dominance of future global communications. China doesn’t differentiate between national security and economic initiatives. The New Silk Road is designed to ensure China’s global dominance vis-a-vis the US and Russia

Syria will never be able to pay back the Chinese government, therefore, it will be a repeat of the investment model Beijing officials have established in Africa. China is building infrastructure in many African countries and since they are unable to repay the mounting debts, the Chinese companies are taking over these countries’ natural resources and subjugating state policies to accommodate China’s interests.

China is now involved in the economies of more than 60 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Some of these countries have become completely enslaved by the Chinese interests. Once China has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Syria, the Russians will sit quietly in the port of Tartus – leased to them by Assad for the next 49 years – trying to protect their assets. The Iranians will also have to behave themselves.

Israel, meanwhile, will have to deal with the fact that our border with Syria will be under the Chinese jurisdiction. When will the Israeli government begin preparing for this inevitable scenario? Most likely the day after it happens.

By JNS December 10, 2018 , 11:28 am

Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Ezekiel 38:5 (The Israel Bible™)

Israel will prevent Iran from using cross-border tunnels from Lebanon as a “weapon of aggression” against it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday, two days after the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Northern Shield to expose and neutralize ‎terror tunnels dug by Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

The interview was held just hours after Netanyahu toured Israel’s northern border with reporters and diplomats. Excerpts were aired on Saturday.

Asked about Iran and the threat it posed together with Hezbollah, Netanyahu said: “They want not only to conquer all Muslims who don’t share their faith or subjugate and kill them, [but also] go against all the infidels. And guess who the great Satan is? The U.S. And who the small Satan is? Israel. We just happen to be closer.”

“We are just preventing them from taking over the Middle East, they are trying to mask their campaign to get nuclear weapons; that has to be stopped,” he said.

Netanyahu stressed that the cross-border tunnels that Israel has discovered, and is working to neutralize, dug from Lebanon into Israeli territory, underscore Iran’s efforts to target Israel before it acquires nuclear weapons.

“The second thing that they want to do is to use their proxies, principally Hezbollah, [as] the forward arm to attack Israel with the goal of destroying it,” Netanyahu continued. “As part of that, Hezbollah is building terror tunnels under Israeli territory; we have known that for several years, [and] a few days ago we tore the mask off, uncovered the first tunnel, and we are going to uncover the rest and deprive Iran of this weapon of aggression.”

“I hope countries will take the U.S.’s lead on this. It [the U.S.]  is bringing a resolution to the General Assembly … daring countries [to] stand up to the truth,” Netanyahu said.

The tunnels are reportedly designed to allow Hezbollah operatives to infiltrate Israel in the event of a war, thus overcoming the border barriers Israel has placed above ground. The military has not disclosed how ‎many tunnels snake ‎‎into Israeli territory from ‎Lebanon or how long the ‎‎operation is going to last. The Israeli operation has been limited to Israeli territory.

By Will Maule

January 15, 2018

Have you ever wondered if there is evidence of the divine within the biological makeup of our human form? If God really did create us, and if in Christ “all things hold together” as scripture attests, then wouldn’t it be possible for Him to could leave a mark in our very cells to show us He was behind the work of art we call life?

Well, that is exactly what evangelist Louie Giglio sought to explore in a timeless clip that recently resurfaced on Facebook. Giglio talks (video below) of meeting a molecular biologist following a preaching event in Texas. As the two got chatting, the man revealed something absolutely extraordinary to Giglio that links the human body to the glory of God in Christ.

“I said I’m on my way back home to Atlanta Georgia. Gonna be preaching the next two Sunday’s,” Giglio recalls telling the biologist. When Louie was asked what he was preaching on, he answered: “The series is on the glory of God and the human body. He says ‘that’s really amazing because I’m a molecular biologist at the University down the road.’”

After hearing a brief outline of his sermon, the biologist wanted to know what Louie was going to use as his grand finale to hammer home the point of God being glorified through our biological structures.

“He said ‘what’s your big left hook?’” explained Giglio.

Louie had nothing.

“He said ‘your left hook is laminin!’”

Giglio, completely baffled, had absolutely no idea what the scientist was talking about. What was “laminin”?

“He says ‘Louie, it’s a cell adhesion molecule; a protein molecule.’ ‘Louie, cells organize into certain molecular structures and that determines what protein they are. ‘”

What does all that mean?

“There are between 10 and 60,000 proteins in the human body,” Giglio explains.

“One of them is a cell adhesion molecule. It’s organized into this certain structure. That tells the cell what its job is in the body. He said ‘It’s like the steel they put in the concrete when they lay the foundations. It’s holding your membranes together. It’s the glue of the human body, Louie, it’s laminin. You’ve gotta tell them about laminin.’”

But it wasn’t enough just to talk about it.

“You’ve gotta see laminin!” the biologist urged.

Louie went home and googled what it looked like. This is what appeared on his computer screen:

Credit: Wikimedia

“Now, c’mon, that’s crazy!” Giglio said as the picture is revealed to the audience. “The stuff that holds our bodies together is in the perfect shape of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Everything holds together in Jesus Christ,” declares Giglio.

So, what exactly is laminin?

Well, according to GotQuestions.com, laminin is a protein that acts as “glue” in the human body:

“Laminin is the name used for a family of proteins that serve many useful functions in biology. The most important property of laminin’s is their ability to easily bind to each other and to other proteins. This makes laminin a critical means of holding tissues and organs together. It has been described as the protein equivalent of glue,” the website explains.

Despite the tremendously interesting points made by Giglio, others have sought to refute his claims and debunk the idea of laminin being shaped perfectly like a cross:

“From a practical standpoint, the shape of laminin is neither unique nor extraordinarily similar to a cross. When drawn as a two-dimensional diagram, with three short arms and one long, it certainly looks like a crucifix. However, in actual three-dimensional space, laminins are not clean, flat, t-shaped structures,” GotQuestions.com continues in their explainer article.

“They have also been described as looking like flowers, jacks, or pyramids. The t-shape itself is neither complex nor uncommon in nature. Beyond that, there are many simple shapes found in nature that could be correlated to other, non-Christian spiritual beliefs.

The author goes further, arguing that many other elements of our biology point toward a much darker spiritual meaning:

“Viewed from the top, the DNA helix looks similar to a yin yang symbol from Chinese philosophy. Other molecules in DNA are shaped like pentagrams, a common shape in Satanic art.”

Indeed, in response to the evangelical community’s excitement over the shape of laminin, others in the scientific field have been keen to point out some of the destructive elements of the protein itself. As Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz, M.D explains:

“Laminin is the predominant noncollagenous glycoprotein in the basement membrane beneath epithelial surfaces. Various laminin isoforms play an important role in physiologic and pathologic processes, including cancer progression and tumor cell dissemination. The interaction of cancer cells with laminin appears to be a key event in invasion and dissemination of tumor cells.”

So, what about the uncanny resemblance to the cross? Well, one commentator highlights that laminin can also look like this:

Dr. Georgia Purdom at creationist organization Answers In Genesis takes a different view. In an article entitled “Laminin and the Cross,” she attempts to explain some of the theological criticisms leveled at Giglio.

“The main problem with this type of argument is that it appears that something outside of Scripture (in this case, laminin) is vital to know the truthfulness of a biblical truth,” Purdom writes.

“Laminin is used to prove a biblical truth. However, we should never use our fallible, finite understanding of the world to judge the infallible Word of God. What we observe in the world can certainly be used to confirm God’s Word (and it does), but our finite observations are not in a position to evaluate the infinite things of God. Only if we start with the Bible as our ultimate standard can we have a worldview that is rational and makes sense of the evidence.”

Ah, there will always be skeptics; but it is pretty still fascinating – right?

“How can you know that God is going to hold you together and bring you through?” asks Giglio as he wraps up the captivating talk.

“You know because there is a cross standing over history,” he declares.

“It is the place where the star-breather became the sin-bearer. Where the universe-maker became mankind’s savior. God doesn’t always change the circumstances, but the cross is also proof that God always has a purpose in the circumstances, and that His purpose and his plan will prevail and will triumph in this world.”

Nov 17, 2017 @ 9:53 Gen. Gady Eisenkott, Hizballah, IDF, Iran, Israel, Prince Muhammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia

Two London publications on the same day, Thursday, Nov. 17, shed unusual light on the next chapter in Saud royal history, as well as on the hitherto semi-clandestine ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

The London Daily Mail, quoting “a source close to the Saudi royal family” reported that King Salman, 91, intends to give up the throne next week and name his son, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, 32 as his successor. The king will reportedly confine himself to ceremonial duties like “the queen of England,” retaining only the title of “Custodian of the Holy Shrines.”

Near two weeks ago, Prince Muhammad ordered 500 notables, including princes, former ministers and business leaders detained on charges of corruption. The British newspaper carried the first photos of the distinguished detainees sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the five-star Carlton Ritz Riyadh.
After he is crowned king, the prince will focus on Iran, according the Daily Mail. His plan is “to start the fire in Lebanon, in the hope of Israeli military backing.” He is convinced he has to hit Iran and Hizballah – contrary to the advice of the royal family – and will enlist the help of the Israeli military to crush Hizballah, for which he has promised Israel billions of dollars if they agree.”
The source stressed: MBS can’t confront Hizballah in Lebanon without Israel. The Daily Mail did not reveal how Israel sees this proposition – only that the prince has a Plan B:  to fight Hizballah in Syria. Neither did its source explain how this would come about amid a crumbling Syrian insurgency.
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources note that rumors of King Salman’s imminent abdication and handover to his son Muhammad have been around for some time and are credible, given the monarch’s failing health. Many of the hundreds of high-profile figures he placed under detention on Nov. 4 are opposed to his accession.

That the Crown Prince will focus on Iran is also credible – except that more than a year ago, he declared that Saudi Arabia was at war with the Islamic Republic in Yemen and it is not going very well. The Saudis and their allies, the UAE, are stuck in a standoff with the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels. Iran moreover threatens their ports and capital cities with missile strikes. However, when the Houthis fired a ballistic missile supplied by Iran at Riyadh international Airport on Nov. 4, Prince Muhammad called it an act of war.

He is turning to Israel and its armed forces, not just as the only reliable military and intelligence force capable of handling the opening shots of the war on Iran, but out of their shared perception of Iran as the biggest threat to the Middle East. He moreover no longer expects active and determined participation in fighting Iran from the US under President Donald Trump. On this last point, Saudi Arabia and Israel are divided.
In an interview with the London-based, Saudi-owned news site Elaph – his first with a Saudi publication – that was published on the same day as the Daily Mail story, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Gady Eisenkot laid out what he thinks are Iran’s ambitions in the Middle East: “The Iranian plan is to control the Middle East by means of two Shiite crescents. The first from Iran through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, and the second from Bahrain through to Yemen until the Red Sea,” he said, adding: “This is what must be prevented in the region.”

“With [US] President Donald Trump, there is an opportunity for a new international coalition in the region,” he said, citing the US, Arab nations including Saudi Arabia and Israel “for stopping the Iranian threat.” “We are ready to exchange experiences with moderate Arab countries and exchange intelligence to confront Iran,” he added. While the Israeli general stressed the importance of the Trump administration’s role in this effort, the Daily Mail’s Saudi source did not mention the United States at all.
So while the prince who may be crowned Saudi king next week and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agree that Iran is the biggest threat to the region and beyond, they are at odds on how to cut it down and who should lead the effort. Prince Muhammad’s thinking on this resembles the Israel’s approach to the Iranian threat five years ago, that if the IDF decided to go it alone, the Americans will jump in later. But today, Eisenkott reflected a different approach. He stressed in the interview that Israel “isn’t interested in a war now with the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hizballah, despite Iranian attempts to bring about an escalation.”

Riyadh may take this as Israel’s reply to prince Muhammad’s plan: Several billion dollars will not persuade Israel to send the IDF to fight a war except in its direct national interest, even though Israel and Saudi leaders and military chiefs are in complete accord on the Iranian peril.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported Monday morning that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday, in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

The meeting was intended to try and calm inflamed tensions in Jerusalem, following the temporary decision to stop all visits to the Temple Mount last week. That decision was made following the assassination attempt against Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick on Wednesday, who championed the struggle for Jewish prayer rights at the holiest site in Judaism.

According to the report, as cited by Channel 2‘s website, Netanyahu told Abdullah at the meeting that he is considering blocking Jews from entering the Temple Mount.

In addition, Netanyahu reportedly said that Israel will take “new steps” regarding the entry of visitors to the Temple Mount, but the newspaper did not say what they would be.

After the meeting, Abdullah reportedly spoke with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and filled him in on its results.

Abbas commended Netanyahu on Sunday after the Israeli leader called for calm in Jerusalem. “Today, a statement was issued by the government of Israel and the prime minister of Israel, according to which there is a need for calm, and we support calm,” said Abbas.

“In principle, we support calm,” he added. “We do not want to escalate the situation until it cannot be handled.” Just last month, Abbas called for terrorism on the Temple Mount, demanding Muslims block Jews by “all means necessary.”

Abbas’s bureau further called Netanyahu’s statement “a step in the right direction” and claimed that Netanyahu had recognized the Muslims’ “right to Al Aqsa.”