Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

‘A week is a long time in politics,’ the saying goes. Within less than a week, two internal Federal Liberal Party (equivalent to the American Republican Party and the British Tories) meetings saw the toppling of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. On the same day, 24 August 2018, Australia received a brand-new PM: Scott John Morrison, known by the nickname ScoMo. Since 2010, there have been 6 prime ministers in 8 years. While the internal blood-letting of changing PM’s in the middle of a government term began with the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Malcolm Turnbull challenged Tony Abbott in September 2015 for the Liberal Party Leadership. Now, Malcolm Turnbull has been replaced by Mr. Morrison. Mr. Morrison did not directly challenge Turnbull nor demand a change of leadership. Indeed, he pledged his support to the Prime Minister.Once the second vote came about and Turnbull declined to run again, Morrison put up his hand, and prevailed. Photo courtesy of Creati...

Israel had several diplomatic ‘pluses’ during the spring of 2018: the move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, persuading America to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, and a successful initial military confrontation with Iran in Syria … and even more. To these, another plus was chalked up in June 2018: the first ever official visit of a British royal to Israel in 70 years. Prince William, known also as the Duke of Cambridge and second in line to the throne, made the historic visit. He met with the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He had a moving experience at the Yad va Shem holocaust memorial and pledged that his generation would not forget the holocaust. He had ‘sporty’ interaction in Tel Aviv. William also managed to pray at the Western Wall, though this may have been a ‘private visit.’ Time was made for him to visit Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. On a personal note, William was able t...

Introduction of Jeremiah It is one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament. Passionate, emotional, intense, and often uncomfortable, the Book of Jeremiah contains within its anointed words criticism and condemnation, yet promises of restoration and revival. It speaks of foreign conquest and occupation of Israel, yet Israel’s future never looked brighter. This is because of the promise of ‘new covenant’ with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Amazingly, despite the threat of conquest and deportation, a most remarkable divine promise is given: that as long as there are stars, sun, and moon in the sky, then Israel will always remain a people before God. Their miraculous preservation in the face of the twin-threats of assimilation and/or annihilation is unique, especially considering that larger nations and empires have come and gone. This caused American author Mark Twain to ask: ‘ All things are mortal but the Jew … what is the secret of his immortality?’ (essa...

Matthew 22:14 (KJV) For many are called, but few are chosen. Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV): Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you;I ordained you a prophet to the nations. It arrived in a gold-edged envelope. Carefully opening the flap so as not to damage this exquisite correspondence, out came an invitation: You are cordially invited to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen in Buckingham Palace at 11:00 AM, Wednesday 21 October …. No matter what was already scheduled for that day and week, you can be sure that the recipient of this invitation would ‘clear the decks’ to make sure they were available for their appointed time. Yet believers in Christ have received something much more prestigious and infinitely more valuable. It is referred to as ‘the call of God.’ It is a sobering and awesome responsibility and yet it is indisputably the highest of honours. Life is much more than about mere survival: what will I eat...

In Part 01 of our series about Jerusalem and Christians visits, we learned that the ‘river of pilgrimage’ has been flowing from the very beginning of the church age. Christians constitute the highest amount of sacred visitors to a holy city which is also sacred to Judaism and Islam, too. This growing phenomena in Christian visits is even more remarkable considering that neither Christ nor the apostles command it, and there is more of a spiritual, rather than geographic, emphasis in Christian worship. We also learned why Christians visit Jerusalem. They can be summarised in two key words: Devotion: From the very beginning, Christians have been motivated to visit Jerusalem so that they can ‘ walk where Jesus walked.’ Following in the footsteps of the Master is a strong sign of devotion. Education: Pious believers visit Jerusalem because they want to learn more about the Bible. Considering that Jerusalem is mentioned over 811 times in the KJV, it is indisputably the pr...