How bad has the relationship between America and Israel gotten? Last month, Benjamin Netanyahu visited President Obama. He’s the highest-ranking official in the government of the only functional democracy in the Middle East. The prime minister of America’s only truly reliable ally in the most volatile region in the world. But Netanyahu was hardly extended the usual courtesies of a foreign dignitary or even a normal law-abiding citizen.

Instead, Caroline Glick reported, the prime minister was “brought into the White House in an unmarked van in the middle of the night rather than greeted like a friend at the front door”; he was “forbidden to have his picture taken with the president”; he was “forced to leave the White House alone, through a side exit”; and he was “ordered to keep the contents of his meeting with the president secret” (November 13).

Why treat a strategic ally with such indignity? It certainly aligns with this administration’s other efforts to improve relations with Muslim states and the rest of the world by trying to avoid creating offense. But it is shameful, crude and clumsy. Even worse, while poisoning an important friendship with bitterness, it won’t gain America one millimeter of benefit among its enemies.

This disgraceful episode poignantly fulfilled a biblical prophecy the Trumpet began highlighting over 5½ years ago. “For many Arabs, the number-one reason to hate America is its support for Israel. As the U.S. war against terrorism continues to yield high bills, a steady body count and a booming crop of anti-Americanism worldwide, is it possible that Americans will begin to think, Why are we making ourselves such a target over that little country?” we wrote in our March-April 2004 issue. “Prophecy suggests such an eventuality.

“In Zechariah 11:14 is a prophecy that God would ‘break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.’ This may well refer to a future rift between America (biblical Israel) and the Jewish state (Judah). If America turned its back on the Jews, it would leave little Israel isolated and vulnerable.”

As that Trumpet predicted, the White House has taken to offending allies in hopes of currying favor with, in particular, Muslim states. But it is gaining no such advantage, even as it sacrifices hard-won, longstanding alliances.

That scripture in Zechariah is one in a remarkable set of prophecies the Trumpet has highlighted over its 20-year history that are proving especially relevant today: those centering on America’s alliances.

The Bible is clear that the modern nations of Israel—the U.S. and Britain primarily—will turn against each other and against the Jewish state called Israel in favor of sham alliances with other foreign states, particularly Germany. It also speaks of their isolation and abandonment by those nations—and ultimate betrayal at their hands.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry discussed this in one of the Trumpet’s earliest editions. “God says the nation[s] of Israel [are] going to be attacked by their ‘lovers’—unless they repent (Ezekiel 23:9, 22),” the June 1990 issue said. “Their ‘loving’ relationship with Germany is a snare.”

Consider those words in light of America’s ambassador to Germany recently labeling Berlin “Washington’s most important ally.” December 1, Ambassador Philip Murphy called the U.S.-German relationship the most important of the past 60 years, saying, “We need strong partners—and nowhere are there better or more committed partners than in Europe. And Germany is the centerpiece of the European Union.” He certainly has that last part right.

But what a snub against Washington’s actual most important ally, Britain! That relationship, like the one with Israel, has turned extremely chilly during the Obama presidency, as we have documented in recent months.

The net result is just as the Trumpet prophesied in our September/October 1992 issue, after a major United Nations conference. We wrote that the U.S. “has taken another giant step toward complete and total isolation from the countries which it has helped and befriended. The entire 23rd chapter of Ezekiel speaks of how biblical Israel and those who associate with her in this end time will be completely alienated from the rest of the world.” The article then quoted Jeremiah 30:12-14 and concluded, “This is what the United States is setting itself up for: abandonment by its political and financial lovers!”

While this prophecy hasn’t played out to nearly the degree that it will in the time just ahead, it is certainly unfolding on schedule.

It was these same biblical prophecies that informed Herbert Armstrong’s forecast, as early as 1945 and continuing until his death in 1986, that when the nations of Europe would unify as the Bible prophesies they will, Britain ultimately would find itself outside this continental alliance. In 1956, for example, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “The Germans are coming back from the destruction of World War ii in breathtaking manner. Germany is the economic and military heart of Europe. Probably Germany will lead and dominate the coming United States of Europe. But Britain will be no part of it!”

Even in recent years as Britain appeared fundamental to the nucleus of the European Union, the Trumpet has followed this forecast, repeatedly prophesying of Britain’s inevitable exclusion from the German-led Continent. “The financial capital of Europe is rapidly shifting from London to Frankfurt,” we wrote in August 1999—anticipating the transformational changes occurring today. “Bible prophecy indicates that Britain will ultimately not be a part of the European Union. The British public reject the switch from pounds to euros,” a symbolic move that presaged Britain’s political separation. “Soon Britain will not be able to continue sitting on the fence, hiding behind its coveted euro opt-out clauses and veto powers,” the August 2000 issue said. “Britain will have to decide whether to be in or out.”

Informed by these prophecies, in the July 2000 issue the Trumpet began bringing to light a trend destined to balloon into a crisis: the encroachment of EU law on British sovereignty. “There is reason for concern. Already in several instances British law has been superseded by the rule of the European ‘big brother,’” we wrote. “Britons are slowly starting to wake up to the fact that becoming a signatory to the next EU treaty would not only erode their power to regulate their national economy, it would restrict the use of their military forces, impose Roman law over the top of British common law, and draw them into a European super-police-state,” the November 2000 issue stated. As this prophetic analysis projected, this question has become a bitter pill to the British electorate, and will likely contribute significantly to their returning a Conservative government to power in their national election this year. That in turn will likely accelerate Britain’s alienation from Europe—and hasten the treachery it is prophesied to be victimized by.

The Bible’s prophecies—and the Trumpet’s proclamation of them—were given by God in advance to facilitate the repentance of our peoples. America, Britain and Israel have passed the point of being able to repent nationally—but God still seeks individual repentance. Heed the warning today, turn to the God who issued those prophecies, before they are fulfilled—and that same Almighty God will fulfill His promises to protect you from the trials to come.