Since the 6th of May this year, Israel has experienced the worst violence it has seen in years. It began between Palestinian protesters and Israeli settlers and police over a planned Israeli Supreme Court decision regarding what would have been forced evictions of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, East Jerusalem. The violence has coincided with the holidays of Laylat al-Qadr and Jerusalem Day, the former being an Islamic holy day and the latter being an Israeli holiday. Jerusalem Day is opposed by left-wing Israelis and Palestinians. It is marked by the ‘Dance of the Flags’ through the streets of Jerusalem to the Western Wall and has often provoked violent clashes. This year was exceptional in terms of the escalation of violence, escalating at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel currently faces an uncertain future, shown in its astrology and in the current events.
The current violence in Israel is taking place in the final ten days of Ramadan, considered the holiest days of the period. Ramadan this year runs from April 12th to May 12th. The violence began in Sheikh Jarrah on the evening of the 6th, aggravated by a group of Israeli settlers who had set up an awning across the street from Palestinians celebrating the nightly break of fasting. The Israeli settlers were joined at one point by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of a far-right Israeli party known for violence against Palestinians. There were no serious injuries then, but 7 people were arrested. Ben-Gvir instigated the violence:
Itamar Ben-Gvir…said that the houses belonged to Jews and told police to “open fire” on protesters. Agence France-Presse reported that Israeli settlers had been seen in Sheikh Jarrah openly carrying assault rifles and revolvers leading up to the clashes. Previous clashes had begun following the Israeli government’s closure of the Damascus Gate, a popular place for Muslims to gather during Ramadan, and when the Israeli government imposed a 10,000-person limit on people praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinian protesters were also frustrated with President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to postpone the 2021 Palestinian legislative election, believing he had done so to avoid political defeat for his party Fatah.
The settlers were there seeking to claim properties from Palestinian families who were set to be evicted by an Israeli Supreme Court decree on the 10th of May. The decision has since been pushed back until June 8th to allow a cooling of hostilities. The area of Sheikh Jarrah has been contested for centuries. Currently, since the 1967 war, the area under dispute has been given ownership to a right-wing settler group by Israeli courts, but the area has been a site for Palestinian refugees, who are seen as squatters by the settlers. The struggle there is seen as emblematic of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. The current violence needs to be seen in a wider context, though. There is a timeline of events in recent weeks that has a bearing on the bigger picture for Israel and the region. Then we will have a look at Israel’s astrology. The timeline of larger events runs thus:
- 2 Jan 2020: The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, with the resulting blow-back of all Western troops being slowly badgered out of and expelled from West Asia. The closure of American bases there will leave Israel exposed.
- Mid-March 2021: The Ukrainian military build-up on the line of demarcation of the Donbass
- 23 March: The 4th inconclusive Israeli election. Bibi Netanyahu faces possible jail time for fraud if he cannot keep his post as PM of Israel. Israeli government is unstable.
- 23 March: On the same day as the Israeli election, the Ever Given ran aground in the Suez.
- 27 March: The Iran-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed, which will further strengthen Iran. A similar partnership is soon to be signed between Iran and Russia.
- 6 April: The beginning of talks on reviving the JCPOA. Israel is opposed.
- 9 April: Iran and Saudi Arabia hold their first meeting to iron out their differences.
- 11 April: The Natanz sabotage incident
- April 21/22: The Dimona missile strike and the Tomer factory explosion
- May 9: Bibi had organized and mobilized the entire Israeli armed forces for Exercise “Chariots of Fire”, the largest such military exercise in the country’s history, simulating a month-long war with its arch-rivals. Hezbollah announced a general mobilization in kind and in response. “Chariots of Fire” was suspended on the 10th ‘for a day’ pending other situational imperatives.
There are a few things to consider regarding the above. Firstly, the Biden administration is turning its attention to great power competition and is shifting its focus away from the Middle East/West Asia, meaning Israel is not receiving the fawning support it did under Trump. The Ever Given incident has brought the world’s powers to focus on alternatives to the Suez Canal, the latter being one of the main reasons the Israeli state was created – as a Western base to protect the shipping interests through the canal. New transport routes would lessen the need for the Israeli outpost in the Eastern Mediterranean. Iran’s deterrence has reached the state where it no longer has any fears about striking back at Israel or any other nation in the Gulf region, and that includes any American military bases there. That deterrence is the primary reason why Gulf States are seeking rapprochement with Iran.
And in the current violence, the Palestinians in Gaza are also showing their capabilities at striking back – now with the onus of the entire ‘Axis of Resistance’ ready to jump in if the situation gets out of hand, or if Hamas were to request help. Thus far, Hamas is winning the narrative war against Israel, even though it has cost 48 civilian casualties in Gaza thus far, 14 children and 3 women among them. Five Israelis have lost their lives as well from Hamas’ rocket attacks. And as a demonstration of their veracity, Hamas had given the Israelis an ultimatum: For all Israeli security forces to be out of the Temple Mount and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem by 6 p.m. on the 10th, or else the so-called “joint operations room” would attack. And they did.
The actions of Hamas have caused enough concern among Israelis that Bibi has called off his war games. Hezbollah, for their part, saw those exercises as preparations for a full-scale attack on Lebanon, and not without reason. Bibi had vowed to rid Lebanon of Hezbollah’s missiles this year. That is looking less and less likely to happen. Israel is in a weakened condition now, as a result of all the above points.
But what would Ukraine have to do with Israel in its current condition, going back to the bullet points? There are two factors there. Firstly, a very significant portion of the Israeli population has emigrated from Russia. NATO and Ukrainian forces had to back down from their planned adventure in the Donbass. Russia also has troops in Syria as well as a naval base there and is making inroads elsewhere in the region. Its presence there has also strengthened Syria. Russia is also one of the signatories to the JCPOA.
The show of Russian strength at the Donbass has made sending ships into the eastern Mediterranean in support of Israel a questionable affair now. There is no news of any American ships being sent to the Mediterranean to ‘send a message’ to the resistance or as a show of support for Israel. In other words, Israel is on its own at the moment. And if Syria, as part of the Axis of Resistance, were to become involved in ongoing events in Israel, even in a very limited fashion, it would be enough to cause the Israeli military some serious headaches. The Golan Heights would then be at risk.
With all the preceding in mind, what does the Israeli chart show? The chart with transits and directions is below (bigger):
The immediate standout is the solar arc of Saturn to the Ascendant, using the 16:15 chart. This chart has proven itself time and again. That direction in turn is squared by transiting Pluto, giving us the combination, Pluto=Saturn/Ascendant: “Suffering through violent or brutal suppression. – Compulsory confinement or retention.” There is also a Saturn transit to the Pluto combination with the natal nodal axis, too: “A lack of adaptability, rebelliousness or truculence, revolt, the fighting against oppression. – A violent termination of relationships.” Both of these combinations are certainly in evidence this month. Israel has the natal combination, Node=Sat/Plu: “The misery of the masses, common suffering shared with many people together.” That is being activated now by a Saturn transit. There has been international condemnation for Israeli heavy-handedness in their handling of events, along with large protests against the Israelis in major cities across the world, with protesters standing in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The military exercises were indicated by a transit of Mars square the natal Neptune. Mars is still out-of-bounds, showing increased tensions and violent tendencies, as well as large military operations, like we saw concerning the Donbass. Mars was out-of-bounds then, too. The Mars/Neptune square is a ‘military/religious aspect’, seen where there is an ability or effort to move hearts and minds and to instil fervor in an otherwise complacent population or group. The Mars transit also shows the sharp increase in violence and the motivation of the Palestinians to stand against the odds.
Bibi is on the ropes. He needs some sort of victory to help his flagging polling. A decisive victory against Hezbollah would have done that, but Nasrallah was on to the game and Hezbollah is now in a state of readiness not seen since the 2006 war, which the Israelis lost. Nasrallah is adamant that the demise of Israel, meaning the Zionist regime, is immanent. Israel is following the same steps now that it took leading up to the 2006 war. Hezbollah is following suit. The rest of the resistance is also at the ready.
There is a general focus on the Israeli leadership now, with the directed Sun to the natal Moon, the latter ruling the 10th house and indicating the sitting government. In two years the directed Mars/Saturn (‘death’) axis will be conjunct the natal Moon, spelling more trouble for the government as well as the populace (the Moon being the general ruler of the public and women). The directed midpoint will display as weakness of will, lack of courage, and depression. Directed midpoints are shown in the center chart wheel in red boxes.
At the same time as the Mars/Saturn midpoint, the Saturn/Pluto midpoint will be conjunct the Ascendant, further amplifying the Saturn/Pluto/Ascendant combination mentioned previously. Then, to top that all off, there is the directed Uranus/Neptune axis to the MC in about a year, showing dissolution, a lack of stamina, mourning and unconsciousness. The latter would be read as a lack of leadership, or ‘the blind leading the blind’.
It is clear Israel wants to draw the US into a war with Iran, thinking somehow that would solve Israel’s problems. Instead, such a war would be devastating for Israel. The Biden administration says it wants to re-enter the JCPOA to protect Israel. That, too, is a fallacy, because the Iranians want no part of nuclear weapons. Instead, what Israel would like to see, in fact, would be the destruction of Iran’s missile capabilities. But the Israelis have bigger problems now within their own borders. Hamas has just upped the ante and its issuance of an ultimatum – the first ever – with follow-through, has changed the rules of engagement between the Palestinians and Israelis in favor of the Palestinians.
The follow-through by the al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) has left the Israeli leadership somewhat stunned. Their typical response in the past has been to double down in its attacks on Hamas. But it will not be so easy this time, and it has the possibility now to turn into a regional conflict. For that reason there is now a flurry of activity by Arab states and the UN to broker a ceasefire, calling on all sides to deescalate. The al-Qassam brigades have promised a long and bloody conflict if the Israelis do not soon accept a ceasefire. They are poised and ready for an Israeli invasion of Gaza. Al-Qassam says they have the firepower to back up their assertions.
Hamas was not crushed in 2014 by the Israeli invasion then, much as Benny Gantz at the time said the IDF had ‘taken Gaza back to the Stone Age. Hamas are still there fighting. Given Israel’s astrology, it is probably not to Israel’s advantage to test the al-Qassam assertions. The Palestinians know it is now or never, in terms of making a stand. The Israelis know it, too. This conflict is not going to fade quietly into the night. Hezbollah stood up to the Israeli Goliath in 2006 and won. But it is one thing to face an external enemy. It is quite another to face a determined foe within one’s borders, and in addition to have external forces at the ready to lend a hand to the resistance.
The Western media is spinning this story as if Israelis are defending themselves against unprovoked aggression by Palestinians and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The media language has to be called into question. What is happening in Israel today is not a ‘clash’. There is no equivalence in the violence between sides. But it is looking more ansd more like a war as violence escalates. The Palestinians are at a distinct disadvantage force-wise. It is at the stage now where it is an uprising against Israeli injustices and heavy-handedness.
The forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah and other Palestinian lands are not over ‘property disputes’. The housing in Sheikh Jarrah was given to the Palestinians by the Jordanian government and UNWRA. The expulsions are land grabs by Israeli settlers and can be seen as a form of ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods and districts. The uprising is not a ‘Muslim’ uprising. It is also enjoined by Christian and secular Palestinians. It is political, instead of religious-based. The Palestinians do not identify themselves as ‘Arabs’. They are Palestinian. The Palestinians have not provoked this latest round of violence. The violence was instigated by Israelis at Sheikh Jarrah and Al-Aqsa, and the Palestinians are now saying enough is enough and are making a stand.
Because of recent events, such as the Abraham Accords and the normalizations between some Arab states and Israel, the Palestinians are under no illusions that any Arab state would come to their rescue. None will be forthcoming. The Palestinians know they are on their own – except for the Axis of Resistance. All Palestinians are united now, and this should have the Israeli establishment very concerned. The powers-that-be in Israel would never admit it, but we see it in their actions. And the uprising now is centered on Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem, The Trump administration and Bibi could have done nothing better to unite Palestinians under common cause. Moving the Israeli capital to Jerusalem was the seed that has broken ground into the present violence.
The symbolism behind events can be a powerful motivator and often unrecognized subjective catalyst. Sheikh Jarrah is more than a neighbourhood north of Jerusalem. Sheikh Jarrah was also a personage, and his tomb is located in the vicinity of his namesake neighborhood. He was the personal physician of Saladin, the latter a Sunni Muslim Kurd and the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. Saladin was said to be the most famous Kurd of all time. It was Saladin who liberated the Levant and the city of Jerusalem from the Christian crusaders in the 12th century. Saladin’s victories marked a turning point in the battles for control of the Levant, eventually leaving the region totally in control of the predominantly Muslim population.
Since the creation of the current Israeli state, Zionist crusaders – Jewish, Christian and secular – have once again set their sights on Jerusalem. Who shall prevail? Only time will tell, but if I were to hazard a considered guess, I would say the Zionists are going to lose this struggle in time. It will take a few years yet, but reading between the lines, considering all the preceding points, this current flare-up and probable uprising will be the turning point, indeed shown by a present direction of Jupiter to Israel’s Ceres, that eventually sees Jerusalem free of the Zionist state. Would it mean the end of Israel? Who could say? But the Zionist regime is certainly increasingly on the ropes. For their part, the Palestinians need only to stand firm. Their day of victory is upon them.
Featured pic from Moon of Alabama
The featured pic is of the Dome of the Rock, made of remnants of ammunition and tear gas cannisters that had been fired at Palestinian protesters. At the top, in Arabic is written, “You will not pass.”