Shocking news from Israel!

Yesterday, I saw 3 SHOCKING stories come from Israel. Are you ready for this?

WOW! 

I'm still in shock over the 4 that happened, and there might be 4 more peace deals between Israel and Arab nations on the way! Based on this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, I'm going to guess: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Mauritania. WOW! WOW! And I don't think these will be brokered by another nation, which is even more astounding! I am definitely going to stay tuned for this!

Here's the 2nd story that caught my attention. Because I LOVE archeology, I definitely dorked out over it:

In the "Cave of Horror" in the Judean Desert, which earned that name because the only way to enter is by repelling 80 meters down (263 feet!) from a cliff into it, they found 2000-year-old Biblical texts (the first since finding the Dead Sea Scrolls!), a basket dating back 10,000 years, coins also almost 2,000 years old, and the skeleton a child dating back 6,000 years. 

• Of the scroll fragments, the article states: "The scroll was written in Greek, but God’s name appears in paleo-Hebrew. It contains passages from the Minor Prophets, including Nahum." This is the first find since the Dead Sea Scrolls!
• Of the basket, it says, this is said to be "a 10,000-year-old exceptionally well-preserved basket which experts say might be the earliest item of this kind ever uncovered." I don't quite understand this, as the earth is only about 6,000 years old. But the dating of the coins and scroll fragments is unmistakeable.
• The coins date back to the Bar Kochba Revolt in 70 AD.
• Of the mummy, he or she was so well preserved because of the desert conditions but also by his or her wrapping and burial. To me, this is evidence of how loved he or she was. And while it is heartbreaking to read and imagine, that is comforting.

And for the 3rd story... this isn't so much shocking as good news, it looks like Israel might be the first nation to emerge into a post-Covid world. They are even talking of opening up tourism in April!

What do you think of these 3 amazing stories from Israel? Let me know in the comments below!

Historic Peace Treaty between Israel and Sudan

 Did you see this?

On October 24, the US, Israel, and Sudan announced a 3rd history peace treaty- agreement to normalization- between Israel and an Arab country. Since this is only the 5th ever, but the 3rd agreement reached in about 2 months' time, this is a BIG DEAL. '

And it's estimated that there are about 5 more countries in line for their own agreement. This likely will not happen until after the US election on November 3, as these deals were brokered by the US. However, of these 5 countries, we know that Oman is one, and 2 others are rumored to be: Saudi Arabia and Iraq! WOW!!! (Click on the links to see articles referencing this).

We are definitely living in historic times!

In other news, Israel just finished their 2nd major lockdown of 2020, which lasted a month this time and ended on Oct 18. Thankfully, their rate of COVID-19 has lowered significantly, and they are slowly starting to re-open. In fact, they will start human trials for a vaccine on Nov 1, and together in coordinated efforts with India, have created a rapid (and accurate) test for COVID-19 that hopefully will be ready soon. There are such high hopes for it that it is called "open skies", because, as the Israeli Ambassdor to India, Ron Malka, said: "[This vaccine] will be good news for the entire world. Until we manage to immunize the entire population, this joint operation, which we had named ‘open skies’, would literally open the skies in terms of international travel and other economic activities as this can be used at airports and other places by requiring a person just to blow into a tube and the result would be available in 30-40-50 seconds" (quote from this Behold Israel article).

Here's open borders everywhere will be able to safely open soon!