In some ways it feels like we are watching the first 45 minutes of an epic disaster movie.  Of course we all know about the war in Gaza.  Israel, a free and democratic country fighting a government controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas.  That in itself is bad enough.  But my friends, when you look at today’s events, and what tomorrow is on the Muslim calendar, it could get a lot worse.  It is not in my nature to be alarmist or sensationalist, but we also live in a time when all things need to be considered, no matter how frightening they may be.

Earlier today we get word that Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the spiritual leader of Iran made the following comments regarding Israel:  “As said by Imam Khomeini [the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran] Israel must be destroyed…However, until that time with the help of God for this cruel and murderous regime to be destroyed, strong confrontation with steadfast armed resistance is the only solution against this destructive regime.”  He also stated, regarding the United States: “The anti-American and anti-West view in Iran is a logical view based on experience and a righteous calculation.”

His sentiments are not news.  We know he feels this way, as do millions of his followers.  What is different is the timing, and hopefully not, but possibly another difference is the biggest news story of the day.

First the timing.  Tomorrow is “Quds Day”.  Quds, Arabic for Jerusalem, is a day created by Iran since its revolution in 1979, celebrated on the last day of Ramadan, as a day to express solidarity for the Palestinians against the State of Israel.  Comments made by any Muslim leader today are at least partially designed to motivate and instigate the people into not only protesting and demonstrating, but to do so as violently as possible.  There is no question that Khameini is looking to incite as much violence against Jews as possible,  not only in Israel, but throughout the world.

And then there is the biggest news story of today.  A plane taking off from Algeria has gone missing.  Yes, you  read correctly, gone missing.  Algeria, a North African Muslim nation that donated money made in the World Cup to Hamas and a people who make up the majority of France’s Muslim population committing brutal acts of anti-Semitism.  It is from that country that a plane has gone missing on the eve of Quds Day.  It’s an awful day in world history when one must say, let’s hope the plane only crashed.

It is possible that tomorrow comes and goes and is a repeat of many of the days of the past few weeks.  Awful, but not catastrophic.  But the days of underestimating the enemy’s brutality and capabilities are behind us now.  We no longer have that luxury.