Israel BUSTS Iran Assassination Squad; Russia SLAMS Israel over Ukraine Aid | Watchman Newscast

Today on the newscast, Israeli authorities break up an Iranian assassination squad, plus more diplomatic tensions between Israel and Russia. Could it lead to something even worse down the line? Get my take, next. Hey folks, Eric Stakopik here. Welcome to the Watchman newscast. The Iranian regime has a long track record of carrying out assassinations on foreign soil. I think of Europe during the 1980s and 90s, when the regime in Tehran targeted Iranian dissidents living there. And more recently, as we've reported here in the newscast, right here in the United States, the Iranian regime has plotted to assassinate former Trump administration officials, including the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, the former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and a former official on Iran affairs at the State Department named Brian Hook. So it should come as no surprise that today's breaking news here in the newscast involves the Iranian regime plotting to assassinate Israeli officials and political figures as well. We've got all the breaking details for you. We're going to break it down in a minute, plus more tension between Russia and Israel, a diplomatic collision course there that may have prophetic implications. Before we get into it, just a quick reminder to subscribe to the Watchman news channel right here on YouTube and click the notification bell. So you get alerts every time a new video is posted. Hey folks, we're about 3000 subscribers away from 700,000 overall. We're excited to reach that number because that means that the message is going far and wide throughout the world for such a time as this, a biblical message in these prophetic times in which we are living. So we would love if you could join us here as subscribers every day, Watchmen and Women on the Wall. It is absolutely free. So we'd love you to sign up and click that subscribe button. Okay, let's get into a lot of breaking news here to report. Number one, here's some background on this Iranian assassination squad that thankfully Israel's Shin Bet security service announced today they have broken up. Here are some of the particulars. The Iranian regime reached out through an intermediary in Jordan, reportedly, reached out to number one, three Palestinians living in the West Bank, which we know here in the newscast as Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland, and then two Israeli Arabs, Israeli citizens. So five in all comprise this cell. And apparently they had a handler in Jordan. And this was all engineered by the Iranian regime. This is how it works, folks. This is the regime in Tehran's MO we have seen it time and time again over the decades. And the plan was for this cell, terror cell, to do a few things. Number one, to torch cars and businesses to carry out seemingly large scale acts of arson. That's number one. And by the way, back in June, one of the cell members apparently did just that, torched a few cars in Northern Israel. That's number one. Number two, smuggle weapons into Israel, into the hands of Iran backed terror groups. That was the second objective of this terror cell. But number three, and perhaps most chilling, and this is in the title of today's newscast, this terror cell was doubling as an assassination squad. And they reportedly, according to Israeli authorities, wanted to target Itamar Ben-Gavir, who is Israel's national security minister and a former member of the Israeli Knesset named Yehuda Glick, who is also a rabbi. Rabbi Glick has been very involved on the Temple Mount issue. He wants the Temple Mount to be a place of prayer for everyone, not just Muslims, which is the so-called status quo right now. Ben-Gavir, obviously a controversial figure as well. The Israeli national security minister also very much in favor of prayer on the Temple Mount. He himself has ascended the Temple Mount a few times since he took office back in late December, 2022. So these two Israeli political figures, obviously with their connection to the Temple Mount in particular, have raised the ire of the Iranian regime and radical jihadist Iran's allies. So they were the targets reportedly in this assassination plot. Thankfully, again, it was broken up. But folks, something to think about here. And again, once again, great intel and police work by Israeli authorities, as always. But once again, something to think about as well. Suppose this plot, God forbid, had not been broken up, how would Israel have reacted if a leading Israeli political figure was assassinated in an Iranian plot? I mean, if you think things right now are tense, needless to say, between Israel and Iran, Israel would respond in a very forceful way to any kind of assassination engineered by Iran on Israeli soil. And of course, we've seen Iran in a fury after Israel has carried out operations on Iranian soil, including the Mossad, eliminating the godfather of Iran's nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, back in November 2020. Again, that was on Iranian soil. So those kind of acts surely increased tensions in a major way. And if Iran was successful in this plot, things would have got very nasty, to say the least. Number two, the other takeaway, I think, folks, from this plot is clearly the Iranian regime is growing bolder and bolder. Hey, this was a bold plot, no doubt. So the Iranian regime, as much as Israel has hit the regime and hit it hard and set Iran back its operations in Syria and elsewhere across the region, the Iranian regime keeps coming. They haven't gotten the memo that Israel has red lines, that it will not allow the mullahs in Tehran to cross. Israel still may respond in some manner, even though this plot was not successful. But in the meantime, as we close, I mentioned Russia, and we've been documenting here over the months, the increase in diplomatic tension between Israel and Russia, really since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. I believe this will all culminate eventually down the line in the war of Gog and Magog, where I believe Russia will lead a latter days. That's what the prophet Ezekiel calls it, a latter days confederation of nations, including Iran, against Israel, where they meet their demise on the mountains of Israel. But I'm getting ahead of myself. But in the meantime, we continue to have these diplomatic rows, so to speak, between Israel and Russia. Here's the latest. Israel apparently, or not apparently, an Israeli official announced this week that Israel is helping Ukraine to safeguard its nuclear facilities. Think of Chernobyl, obviously, in 1986, and the potential disaster there. As Russia and Ukraine, the fighting continues in that country. So Israel, a very, very kind of a low profile announcement said, look, we're going to give Ukraine some assistance in securing their nuclear facilities now, or nuclear plants. Now, Israel has been very careful about any type of aid that it gives Ukraine, obviously, because as we've documented here in the newscast, Israel is very wary of angering Russia. Russia, of course, is at Israel's doorstep in Syria, controls the airspace in that country, and Russia could make things difficult for Israel in Syria, as Israel carries out strikes there against Iran and its allies, which is an unacceptable situation for Israel to have the Iranian regime at its doorstep in Syria. All that to say, Israel has tread very carefully and tried to take a bit of a middle approach, I guess you would say, between Ukraine and Russia, and not play their hand too much. But Russia responded with great anger to this announcement of Israeli, I guess you would say, hardening of Ukraine's nuclear sites. I'm going to read it right from my phone here. Here is the response of a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, who is pretty notorious for some very nasty statements against Israel over the months that we've shared here with you on the newscast. But here is what she said, and I quote, if only the ancestors of Israel's current political elite knew that their direct descendants would sponsor a regime that glorified their executioners and Holocaust ideologists. And she has said it before, and other Russian officials, they've said that Israel is basically in league with neo-Nazis in Ukraine. How could Israel, the victims of the Nazis, the Jewish people, align themselves with Nazis in Ukraine? That's her charge. It's a pretty nasty one, obviously, and very personal for Israelis, but that's what she's saying. And again, this rhetoric has become pretty common among Russian spokespeople and officials towards Israel. A few months ago, we had the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, saying that Hitler was a Jew. So we've had a lot of comments like this from Russian elites. And again, this is going nowhere good, folks, because at the end of the day, we've got the prophetic implications, of course. Just read the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. I believe Russia is in that mix and leading that mix, really. But number two, at the end of the day, Russia is closely aligned in a close military partnership with the Iranian regime. There's no way around it. A nation that, or regime, I should say, not the Iranian people, the regime, which wishes to wipe Israel off the map. Russia is in league and aligned with that nation. So really, there's no long-term rosy future for Israel and Russia when you consider that fact. So keep it all in prayer and a quick programming note before we go. Tomorrow, Thursday, September 28th, we will have a live stream right here on the channel. We usually do the live streams on Wednesday. This week, we're going on Thursday because I've got a scheduling conflict, but all good. Tomorrow, full hour, between 4 and 5 p.m. Eastern time, right here on the channel. Join us, bring your questions for our Q&A session. It's going to be good. Until then, thanks so much for joining us here today on The Watchman Newscast. God bless you. And remember, never hold your peace. Hit the bell icon so you're notified every time a new video is posted. And don't forget to share your thoughts, insights, and comments below. Thanks for watching. We'll see you back here tomorrow.