Meanwhile, after Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made comments suggesting EU circles were hoping Boris would use his new large majority to push through a soft, Brexit in name only, future relationship agreement, and also extend negotiations into 2021, text was added to the Brexit Bill to legally rule out extending this period. Boris Johnson also reaffirmed his commitment that there would be “no alignment” between UK and EU standards and regulations, something the EU has insisted is “a must” for any type of future relationship. With a deadline of July next year for the UK to request an extension to the transition period, something that is now not legally possible without a change in law, and only until December 31^st next year till the currently unagreed future relationship is to be enacted, a new ‘cliff edge’, WTO semi-no deal exit is again possible. The greater the divergence from Europe the more the UK will need to trade with its “young lion” commonwealth.

And the importance of these things in relation to Bible prophecy has been considered numerous times here on Bible in the News including last week. Eze 38 shows that Britain/Tarshish is to stand aside when many counties in the world, including the EU invade Israel. The direction of the EU, especially its desire to form an EU army, will soon make it impossible for a EU member to have a policy so different from all the other members.

But not only must the UK have the ability to have a different policy, being able to stand aside from those nations that invade Israel, they must also have the will to do so. It could otherwise be possible for Britain to leave the EU and then support the action that they take, but we know that this will not be the case.

¹³ Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

So not only must Britain be separate from the EU, they must also be in a position where they choose to step aside from the action that these nations take.

With Boris Johnson now a Prime Minister with a large majority, nobody now doubts whether Brexit will happen, but the question that remains for a bible-believer is, how will this effect UK-Israeli relations? Although in Eze 38 we don’t see Britain actively defending Israel we see Britain choosing not to involve itself in attacks on Israel.

We have seen in recent years the EU take steps to make it easier for those who wish to boycott Israel. Only last month the top EU court ruled that EU countries must label products made in Israeli settlements, so consumers could make “informed choices” when shopping.

Of course Brexit will give Britain the opportunity to remove regulations such as this, but will Britain choose to do this? Well in the Queen’s speech earlier this week, alongside all the bills relating to Britain’s exit from the EU, was a bill to prevent public bodies from boycotting Israel in any way.

"We're going to ensure that the pubic sector, places like councils and health authorities, can't work against or can't prejudice Israel. If we're being really honest, BDS is just a thin disguise for antisemitism.”

"We as Conservatives should always tackle racial discrimination, and BDS is one of the worst wink wink, nod nod pieces of racialism that we know."

And although this may not seem a game changer, it perhaps shows the beginning of a Brexit Britain which refuses to be involved with attacks against Israel.

And this should come as no surprise to those who know Boris Johnson’s historical views on Israel.

In 1984 Boris Johnson along with his sister Rachel volunteered on Kibbutz Kfar HaNassi, which appropriately enough means “The Presidents Village”, a fact I doubt would have been missed by the young and ambitus Boris Johnson! Arriving mid-summer, he was said to have performed poorly in the sun and ended up working in the Kibbutz kitchen. Since this time he has described himself as a “passionate Zionist” and a lover of Israel.

In 2015 when still Mayor of London he travelled to Israel with the intention to visit both Israel and also the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

However, the trip was considered by the media as diplomatic disaster as the Palestinian leadership refused to meet him after he made comments considered too pro-Israel, including describing those who supported BDS as a “bunch of lefty academics”.

After the incident he continued to defend his position.

So with what seems to be a pro-Israel leader in the UK for likely the first four of the post-Brexit years, it will be interesting to see how the UK-Israeli relationship develops after January 31^st next year.

This has been Paul Barnes with you for this week’s Bible in the News.

Join us again next week.