We come to the question “Israel Betrayed by U.S.?” The article’s title is in the form of a question because like so much treachery that has gone on within American presidential administrations’ dealings with Israel, Washington’s overall disregard for that nation well-being continues to be troubling.

The “transparency” presidential candidate Barack Obama and then President Obama promised was never forthcoming. Obama’s intended dealing with Israel for 8 years was wrapped in an impenetrable fog of political doublespeak throughout.

Mr. Obama began his administration almost from the very first day by treating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu like a White House exterminator–having him come in a door other than the front entrance reserved for dignitaries who are honored with official reception by the president.

The president, shortly after that first meeting with Netanyahu, abruptly left the prime minister and went to have a private dinner, presumably with his family. It was an undeniable snub.

If this was meant to be within keeping with his promise to have “the most transparent administration ever,” It was certainly transparent that Obama had an utter disregard for Mr. Netanyahu and for Israel, our number-one ally in the Middle East, if not our top ally in the entire world.

Subsequent snubs and disrespectful attempts to bully the Israeli leader and the Jewish state were too numerous to get into. Obama’s attempts to intervene within the sovereign affairs of Israel did not abate throughout his years as president. In fact, they increased dramatically as that administration moved forward.

With 9 months left in his presidency left, he doubled down on attempts to intervene into the sovereignty of the Jewish state.

In an audacious display of intrusion into the affairs of Israel’s dealings with its internal enemies–many of whom plot and carry out deadly attacks against Jewish citizens– Obama’s diplomatic enforcers were at work. Ordered to do so, America’s State Department minions joined with those determined to force Israel to bow to international demands in the matter of housing construction in volatile areas of contention at the time.

One news item reported at the time:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Diplomats say the U.S. will endorse a tough new tone with Israel in an upcoming international report. The report is to take the Jewish state to task over settlements, demolitions and property seizures on land the Palestinians claim for a future state…

The harsh language marks a subtle shift. Washington has traditionally tempered statements by the so-called “Quartet” of mediators with careful diplomatic language…(Source: Matthew Lee and Bradley Klapper, “US to Take Tougher Tone on Israeli Settlements in New Report,” Associated Press, 5/7/16).

Early on in the first Obama administration, the pressure to force Israel to give in to diplomatic pressures of land for peace became a driving force in U.S./Israeli relations. The effort ramped up from that time. It is as if Obama had an obsessive compulsion to impose his will before his time was ended in the White House.

My personal sense was at the time, and is now, that it was indeed the president’s compulsion that was in play. Because it is the nation Israel we are considering, however, there were then and now are far more powerful intrigues involved. Ephesians 6:12 is at the center of this last minute drive to make the rearrangements that Israel’s greatest hater wants accomplished, it seems to me.

But, my personal sense of prophetic importance of what all of this vitriol pointed toward Israel means is of little consequence. What matters is what the prophetic Word of God says about His chosen nation and its destiny, both near-term and in the ultimate sense.

In that regard, the things we are seeing –like the movement of the American Embassy to Jerusalem –like pressure ratcheting up to force a 2 state solution as part of making a peace covenant can be of profound significance. And in the world vs Israel struggle, we can find little reassurance that anything good can come forth.

America has entered a most dangerous time. Our nation is at risk, based upon the upside-down thinking that is increasingly observable within Washington, D.C.

President Trump, I feel, is a reprieve, but the future beyond the next 2 years indeed looms ominously.