Israeli Knesset Members Decry Verbal, Physical Attack on Participants at Isaiah 62 Prayer Event

The U.S. and Israel are both responding to dangerous new escalations from Iran, this week, in the form of a new ballistic missile and reports on the construction of a potentially bomb-proof underground nuclear facility. 

On Pentecost Sunday, hundreds gathered on Jerusalem's Southern Steps, just below the Temple Mount, to pray for Israel. It began a historic evangelistic effort to reach the world.

One week ago, the headlines in Israel forecast yet another existential threat to the coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After months of protests by the opposition parties to judicial reform, the debate over the 2023-24 budget presented the next possibility for the government to fall. Some members of the religious United Torah Judaism Party were unhappy with the allocation process and publicly declared their opposition to the two-year budget plan, which posed a major problem since the coalition could not survive without passing the budget. After a marathon debate that continued from Monday and Tuesday into Wednesday, however, the Knesset passed the second and third readings of the budget by a 64-55 margin, prompting praise from the prime minister and blistering criticism from the opposition.