Welcome to Jerusalem Studio!
We have been discussing the situation of Middle East.
There's always something brewing there.
Today we will discuss Israel again and events around it.
Welcome, Pekka Sartola!
Let's begin with fresh news you received today.
A woman in Sudan was sentenced to death -
and was ordered to be whipped 100 times.
She was a Christian woman who had married a US citizen -
without knowing that she was a Muslim.
Her father had left the family when she was 6 years old.
According to Islamic law -
all the children of a Muslim father are Muslims.
Thus Sharia law found that she had committed adultery -
and betrayed Islam and was ordered to be whipped.
As she refused to convert back to Islam, -
she was sentenced to be hanged. She is 8 months pregnant.
A campaign is going on for this sentence to be reversed.
This must not be the only case.
How is it possible that a person -
who does not wish to convert back to Islam gets a death sentence -
and nobody talks about it?
What kind of ethical context do we have here?
The Western world is aiming at accepting Islam as an equal faith -
and seems to be forgetting that Islam has different perspectives -
which are also followed in Sudan in the frameworks of Sharia law.
We should be able to talk about this with their real names -
as they are really horrifying.
This is not the only case -
where a convert with Islamic background -
is sentenced to death. It happens in other countries too.
This should be discussed in media as it is part of Islam.
Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries.
When we look at the peace talks that have been going on for years -
then already their outset is difficult.
I have said repeatedly -
that without understanding the Islamic Muslim mentality -
it is quite impossible to understand the Middle East conflict.
Religion is the motivation there and the worst is -
that they believe they are justified in their actions.
They don't say much to explain their actions -
but they are completely convinced -
that they are following the teachings of Allah and Koran.
Regarding peace talks there has been a surprising change.
Suddenly we have a "marriage" of Fatah and Hamas on the agenda.
Do you believe it will come to life and what is on the background here?
It was surprising.
Their domestic war has been going on for 7 years -
and they have attempted to reconcile already 6 times, -
and always failed.
Both Fatah and Hamas have their supporters -
who refuse to give up their convictions.
The current situation seems to give some hope -
that the "marriage" might happen -
as Hamas has lost its main supporter in Muslim Brotherhood -
that has been declared illegal and a terrorist organization in Egypt.
Its leaders have been jailed again.
The situation was the same in 1950ies and 60ies.
Hamas has lost its most powerful backing in the neighborhood.
Egypt has also effectively closed Gaza's smuggling tunnels -
so with Abbas' consent Hamas went to Teheran -
to forge cooperation with Iran as they need support, -
money, weapons and training.
Western countries have condemned the reconciliation pact -
but EU has also expressed positive sentiments over it.
It is easier to toss the coin in this -
than to prophesy whether it will succeed or not.
The outward circumstances have pressured Hamas -
into a worse position than before -
but that's why they are ready for cooperation with Fatah.
When circumstances and pressure ease up -
wouldn't the conflict arise to the surface again?
They will never change.
Both Fatah and Hamas maintain their positions.
Both of their charters include the destruction of Israel -
and founding of the Palestinian State from Jordan till the Mediterranean.
Hamas pursues this radically with weapons.
PLO is using diplomacy to gain the acceptance of the West -
and thus put pressure on Israel -
to accept the founding of the Palestinian State.
Hamas has been defined a terrorist organization -
and nothing seems to indicate that its nature has changed.
Can Israel ever have a peace treaty -
or even trust such a party?
In my opinion they don't have any reason -
to sign an agreement even with PLO.
They have been forced into this position -
as Fatah and PLO try to approach this with diplomacy -
and get the Western backing to their pursuits.
But their basic goals have never changed.
Should the situation develop into new talks -
and the terrorist demeanor of Hamas gets pushed aside a bit, -
I am sure the West will rejoice over it -
and will forget their real goal.
They will want to give them their state even by force -
in order to get rid of the problem, -
which will continue to brew in the background.
What is motivating the EU and US to keep pushing the peace talks -
even though it seems we have a decent deadlock?
The issue is considerably wider.
The authority of the Bible and Christianity -
is under wide attack and this is part of it.
It seems that the goals of the anti-Bible forces -
are being accepted -
and they are considered more tolerable -
than the Biblical views from 2000 years ago.
It is part of a wider context -
where solutions are sought where they cannot be found.
Regarding the threats in Iran, North-Korea and Syria -
we have talks underway in Switzerland -
for Iran to eliminate its nuclear pursuits.
How is this developing -
and what kind of agreements could they possibly make?
I don't know if they will achieve anything new there, -
perhaps it is more about shaking hands and mutual acceptance.
US has taken quite a strong stance regarding Iran's nuclear readiness -
which seems to be continuing since the talks in November.
Iran does not allow inspectors -
into the Revolutionary Guard's nuclear plants, -
so the West cannot determine where things stand.
At the same time Iran is developing both short and long range missiles -
as well as intercontinental missiles with a range of 5000-10 000 km.
The latter can only be used for maintaining the nuclear threat -
as they transport nuclear warheads from one place to another.
Iran has declared that it is idotic of the West to think -
that Iran will discontinue developing missiles -
even while holding talks about their nuclear readiness.
Obama and his experts cannot not know -
what is really going on in Iran, -
but they have still decided to solve this by diplomacy.
Has this policy proven useful while they know it is impossible?
If they would read the recent history correctly -
they'd understand that this is not the way -
to achieve the goal of Iran giving up their nuclear pursuits.
That's why Obama has taken a stronger stance -
and promised to ask for Congress' aproval -
for a military attack, should it become necessary.
Iran was not mentioned by name -
but it was in the context of the talks.
Defence Secretary was in Israel and convinced them -
that US will never allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb.
Based on these two things we can conclude -
that US has had to decide -
that diplomacy will not bring the solution they hoped.
In the light of Iran's developing nuclear readiness, -
if Iran gets a nuclear bomb -
it will force the neighboring countries -
into a nuclear race. What are the possible developments?
This is a horrible scenario the West fears the most.
Saudi Arabia already took a step towards it -
by holding a military parade a few weeks ago -
where they presented Chinese missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.
They've had them already for 6 - 7 years.
They were demonstrating their answer to nuclear threat.
At the same time they announced that the more advanced versions -
of those Chinese missiles are already in warehouses.
A Pakistani military official -
in charge of the production of nuclear missiles -
present at the parade was a clear message to the West -
and to Iran that Saudis are ready to respond to the threat.
If Pakistan gives Saudis a dozen nuclear warheads, -
Saudi Arabia becomes a nuclear state.
Then Egypt, Jordan, Syria will follow suit.
Situation in Iraq sways, it is not clear who gets the power.
This will lead into an uncontrollable nuclear arms circle -
with a very undesirable result.
We have discussed the role of North Korea.
It seems to be Iraq's laboratory that bends some rules.
What's happening there?
I have been wondering for years -
why doesn't anyone talk about this role.
Hundreds of nuclear technicians have been working in Iran.
Should North Korea test a nuclear bomb, -
it will be Iran's bomb.
North Korea listens to nobody, -
they've been defined a villain who cares about nobody.
It creates pressure on US -
as North Korea has announced it could attack South Korea -
which enjoys the US support.
It doesn't look great in South East Asia right now.
How has Israel reacted?
Netanyahu visited Japan and discussed cyber defense.
What kind of agreements could they have made?
Netanyahu discussed in Japan about developing intelligence cooperation.
Japan has highly advanced technology in this field.
Israel also has top quality technology and satellite readiness.
US intelligence will most likely be involved -
as they have good cooperation with Japan in this area.
I think they would like to have an outpost in Japan -
in order to observe what could North Korea, -
China and Iran develop in the nuclear capability area.
They would possibly like to use drones -
in case anything needs to be destroyed.
That would be a high risk military operation -
as North Korea's reactions are quite erratic.
Israel wants to develop that cooperation quite far.
China is a major nation with ties to North Korea -
and a few other surrounding countries.
What is China's role in all this?
China uses its right of veto in the Security Council.
They also support Russia.
China is extemely dependent on Iran's oil -
and they want all the oil Iran can produce for them.
They have committed not to sell certain technology to Iran, -
but if they sell it to North Korea, which could be a possible scenario, -
North Korea has no commitments and could pass them on to Iran.
There is a unique triangle here and Israel must be watchful -
as the end result will most likely involve them.
What is the situation in Syria and with Hezbollah -
who are close to Israel's borders?
What is the situation between Assad and the opposition forces?
It seems that with Russia's support -
Assad's government manages to handle the rebels -
who are supported by the US and Saudi Arabia.
The rebels lost control of Aleppo which used to be their base.
Assad used illegal bombs there but nobody seemed to care -
as Obama does not react at all and he does not bother anyone.
The balance seems to be shifting -
as the rebels announced about intending to liberate Golan.
Israel has had to send reinforcments -
to Golan and its northern border.
They are prepared for such attempts.
What is the motivation behind the liberation of Golan?
According to the rebels Golan does not belong to Israel -
and it would be an important base for them -
as their next target would be Israel anyway.
Should they attempt to overtake Golan -
they would involve Israel in the anti-Syrian front, -
which would be some kind of a victory -
as the Islamic countries could join against Israel -
for interfering in Syria's internal affairs.
There are different scenarios for the current situation.
Obama made an encouraging statement to the rebels.
What does it mean other than words?
There's some intelligence cooperation going on -
and some military aid.
There's around 20 000 US soldiers in Jordan.
Some positions have been taken in Southern Syria.
US has tried not to interfere in the war -
but they are preparing for the scenario -
where Jordan would be threatened.
Rebels get their weapons also through Jordan.
We have heard in the news -
that Christians have been caught in the middle.
It is sad that Christians are caught in the middle, -
not only because of the war but because of being Christians.
Persecution is quite severe in Syria at the moment.
Some of them have even been crucified.
It happened just a little while ago.
There were signs saying: -
We asked them if they wanted to die like Jesus did.
And so they were crucified.
Wars usually have civilians caught in the middle.
In all these countries Christians are being persecuted.
It is extremely hard to be a Christian there.
It is. There's a list of 50 worst persecuting countries for Christians.
North Korea is the first on the list, -
the next 20 spots were taken by Islamic countries.
Claims about Islam's peaceful nature are not very justified.
Before our time is up today, you have a book here.
Tell us about it.
Myths and Facts is an English translation -
of my book "Miksi tästä ei puhuta?" (Why isn't this discussed?) -
that deals with Israel's juridical rights to exist.
It starts with the League of Nations, -
goes through all the documents that cover Israel -
and that were incorporated into the documentation of the UN.
UN adopted all LN's agreements -
and Jewish State's right to exist was indeniable, -
with borders that involve The West Bank, Eilat, Rafah, -
Haifa and up until Akko.
Now the nations want to divide all this area.
It belongs to Israel.
This book will be sent to every future EU Parliament member, -
around 800 books and a couple of dozens in Finnish.
This is a joint project of my team, Hannu Takkula and a few others.
It would have been too expensive for us alone to produce.
I am grateful to TV7 and a few other organizations -
that have invested in this major enterprise -
to spread the correct info to new EU Parliament members -
that will start making decisions also about Israel.
I have read the Finnish version -
and it contains the whole history until today, -
facts that have been misinterpreted -
or some that are even unknown.
That is the problem.
Hannu Takkula, who is a great friend of Israel and a sincere Christian, -
said that when discussing things with his colleagues in EU, -
they ask why does he defend Israel that has conquered Palestine -
which has existed 10 000 years.
They do not even know the recent history.
If that is the case in EU, -
it is no wonder that Israel sees EU as its worst enemy at the moment -
and not Palestinians with whom they have learned to live.
That kind of views emanating from the EU is unfortunate.
That's why I hope that all the MEPs will read this book.
It is a free gift to them and an answer to prayers.
I have followed what God has put in my heart.
Have Finnish parliament members read this book?
A few years ago dozens of copies were sent to them -
as well as to the President.
I am thinking about sending the Finnish version again -
to all the parliament members. Hopefully it will work.
The Bible talks a lot about truth.
When we don't have truth we will go astray.
Let's believe that this book -
will guide people in the right direction.
I hope so too. - Thank you for today, Pekka.
We will continue discussing the same topics in four weeks.
Thank you, dear viewers, -
for following the events of the Middle East with us -
and how God guides them.
Translation: Monika Jaaguri