Share Tweet By Billy Hallowell Editor
October 23, 2023
Rabbi Jason Sobel, a Messianic Jewish leader, is decrying the evils at the core of Hamas’ attack on Israel, expressing his belief that anti-Jewish hatred is spiritual in nature.
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In a recent interview with CBN Digital, Sobel, author of “Signs and Secrets of the Messiah: A Fresh Look at the Miracles of Jesus,” provided insight into the historical context of the conflict, the spiritual implications of these events, and some of the prophetic elements at play.
“The birth of Israel is a modern-day miracle and … some of how that miracle came about [is] against all odds,” he said. “God is a supernatural God, and in every generation there has risen up a Hitler or a Haman to destroy the Jewish people, yet God has preserved them because he’s the God of the miraculous.”
Sobel also pointed to prophecies in the Bible that seem to predict what we see unfolding today, including Iran’s anti-Jewish rhetoric and attempts to expel Israel from the face of the Earth.
While he said the current crisis isn’t necessary evidence we’ve reached the end, the events taking shape certainly seem noteworthy.
“Is this the end?” he said. “I’m not saying that, but what I’m saying: it is a sneak preview to the direction the world is heading.”
Watch Sobel explain:
The faith leader also discussed the overarching concern the Hamas attack has created among Jewish people experiencing the same fears and worries they once felt during the horrors of the Holocaust.
“As someone who’s lost most of his family in the Holocaust, the barbarity and the atrocities of what Hamas did echoes back to that and opens up that trauma and concern for many Israelis and Jews around the world,” Sobel said. “Especially when you hear calling for things like Global Days of Jihad and to attack Jews around the world.”
The faith leader said he believes hatred directed at the Jewish people has political elements, but that it’s predominately spiritual in nature.
“There is a political side to this,” he said. “The reality: the root of this is spiritual, and that’s what we need to understand first and foremost, because you can’t solve … a spiritual issue with political means.”
Sobel also said the word “hamas” is in the Bible a number of times, noting it first appears in Genesis 6:11.
“It says, ‘And in the days of Noah, God saw that the world was filled with violence.’ Hamas, the word for violence. … And God was grieved, and He ultimately brought the flood on the world because of hamas. And Jesus himself said [in Matthew 24], ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.’”
Sobel continued, “So, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that in the days of Noah there was ‘hamas’ violence in the Earth, and that level of hamas is literally being demonstrated today by the organization Hamas.”
The faith leader said his heart breaks for the innocent Palestinians caught up in this “terrible situation” and said people must truly ask themselves who is responsible something that requires a deep dive into the history of the matter.
Watch Sobel explain that history here.
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If the Toronto Blue Jays are going to bounce back, tonight’s the night.
After Toronto lost two at home to the Seattle Mariners, the American League Championship Series heads West for Game 3.
The first matchup at T-Mobile Park isn’t an elimination game, but the stakes couldn’t be much higher. It’s essentially a must-win for the top-seeded Blue Jays; only one team in MLB history has ever come back from trailing a postseason series 3-0. Meanwhile, for the Mariners, it’s a chance to get one victory away from the first World Series appearance in franchise history.
Stay here for our coverage — from the pregame lineups to the top moments during the game to our takeaways and analysis after the final pitch.
Britain’s hopes of becoming a critical minerals superpower have been dealt a severe blow after one of its leading companies abandoned its plans to build a rare earths refinery near Hull.
Pensana had pledged to build a £250m refinery on the banks of the Humber, to process rare earths that would have then been used to make magnets for electric cars and wind turbines.
The plant promised to create 126 jobs and was due to receive millions of pounds of government funding.
However, Sky News has learnt that Pensana has decided to scrap the Hull plant and will instead move its refining operations to the US.
Pensana’s chairman, Paul Atherley, said the company had taken the decision after the Trump administration committed to buying rare earths from an American mine, Mountain Pass, at a guaranteed price – something no government in Europe had done.
“That’s repriced the market – and Washington is looking to do more of these deals, moving at an absolute rate of knots,” he said.
“Europe and the UK have been talking about critical minerals for ages. But when the Americans do it, they go big and hard, and make it happen. We don’t; we mostly just talk about it.”
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11:18
Can Trump win the mineral war?
The decision comes at a crucial juncture in critical minerals and geopolitics. China produces roughly 90% of all finished rare earth metals – exotic elements essential for the manufacture of many technology, energy and military products.
Pensana had been seen as Britain’s answer to the periodic panics about the availability of rare earths. The site at Saltend Chemicals Park was chosen by the government to launch its critical minerals strategy in 2022.
Visiting for the official groundbreaking, the then business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “This incredible facility will be the only one of its kind in Europe and will help secure the resilience of Britain’s supplies into the future.”
He pledged a government grant to support the scheme. That grant was never received because Pensana never built its plant.
Image: Paul Atherley and Kwasi Kwarteng at a groundbreaking ceremony for the plant in July 2022. Pic: Pensana
Mr Atherley said he is optimistic about another project he’s involved with, to bring lithium refining to Teesside through another company, Tees Valley Lithium.
But, he said, rare earth processing is far more complex, energy-intensive and expensive, making it unviable in the UK, for the time being.
The decision is a further blow for Britain’s chemicals industry, which has faced a series of closures in recent months, including that of Vivergo, a biofuels refiner based in the same chemicals park where Pensana planned to locate its refinery.
Producers warn that Britain’s record energy costs – higher than most other leading economies – are stifling its economy and triggering an outflow of businesses.
Sir Keir Starmer remains under pressure over the collapse of a trial into alleged Chinese spies after witness statements revealed the government’s deputy national security adviser had warned of significant espionage in the UK.
Ex-parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, 30, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33, were charged last year with passing politically sensitive information to a Chinese agent between December 2021 and February 2023.
The PM has sought to blame the previous Tory government’s stance on China for the spying trial collapsing.
Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craigsaid Sir Keir “will hope he’s got off the hook” by publishing the statements, but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say “they beg more questions than they answer”.
So what do the witness statements say?
In the first, from December 2023, Mr Collins said “large scale espionage” was being carried out against Britain.
A second, from February 2025, said Chinese spying threatened the economy.
In the documents, it was also revealed information about internal Tory politics – when the party was in government – was being fed to a Chinese intelligence handler known as “Alex”, according to counterterrorism command SO15.
This includes Mr Cash working as a researcher and “contributing to policy advice being provided to Rishi Sunak”.
The evidence adds: “It is axiomatic that this is prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK for the Chinese state to have indirect access to one of the individuals providing policy advice to the now prime minister on China, with the potential to influence that advice.”
In the most recent third document from Mr Collins, dated 4 August, he said the Chinese intelligence services remain “highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK”.
But he also quotes the Labour manifesto from last year’s election, saying: “It is important for me to emphasise, however, that the UK government is committed to pursuing a positive relationship with China to strengthen understanding, cooperation and stability.
“The government’s position is that we will co-operate where we can; compete where we need to; and challenge where we must, including on issues of national security.”
Sir Keir had suggested the “substantive” evidence in the case was submitted under the Tories, while supplementary statements given also reflected the previous government’s position.
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3:07
What does China spy row involve?
Director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said the evidence required from the government in the alleged spying case related to whether China could be considered an “enemy” under the Official Secrets Act.
None of the statements use that word.
‘Completely devoid of context’
Mr Cash and Mr Berry were both charged under the secrets act.
In a statement after the government published the statements, Mr Cash reiterated he was “completely innocent” and attacked his “trial by media”.
The collapse of the trial, meaning he can’t prove his innocence, has put him in an “impossible position”, he said.
“At no point did I intentionally assist Chinese intelligence,” he added.
Mr Cash described the statements as “completely devoid of the context that would have been given at trial”.
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3:29
China spy case: ‘What is the point in having a lawyer as PM?’
‘Yet more unanswered questions’
Sir Keir had previously said the government would not publish the evidence as it would not have been allowed by the CPS – before the CPS then denied this was the case.
Stephen Parkinson, the head of the CPS, said in a statement the prosecution was dropped after attempts to get more evidence from the government “over many months” proved unfruitful.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a statutory inquiry, with the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson saying the published statements “raise yet more unanswered questions”.
Calum Miller MP said: “Did emphasising the government’s desire for a positive relationship with China effectively cause this trial to collapse? What evidence was the CPS requesting which the government failed to provide?
“And who was aware of these statements and the evidence being asked for both among ministers and in No 10?”
Sky’s Jon Craig said a number of Commons committees are likely to open their own inquiries into the case.