Is anti-Semitism a sign that Jesus is returning? Some believe we are closer than ever before as the uptick in violence across the world against Jews hits an alarming rate.

It could be a sign that it is time the Jewish people return to Israel. In Isaiah 11 God will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel and “He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” 

Is this the beginning of redemption?

The Knesset in Israel hosted experts from around the world to discuss the issue and the delegitimizing Israel. Kuwait Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and United Arab Emirates all believe Israel does have the right to exist and defend itself.

Former justice minister for Canada Irwin Cotler addressed the Knesset said there is an increase in hate towards Israel and its right to exist and “denial of, assault upon the right of Israel and the Jewish people to live as an equal member of the family of nations, in fact the right even to live, with Israel emerging as the collective Jew among the nations – the targeted collective Jew among the nations,” Haaretz reported. “So I think when we talk about delegitimization, it’s not just a threat to Israel and Jews,” Cotter said in a Jerusalem Post interview. “It’s a very threat to the universal values which underpin the whole struggle for democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law. And so that’s how we have to address it.”

We can see this in 2015 there has been a significant rise in violence in Europe, particularly in France last year.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is a Jewish organization that confronts hate, anti-Semitism, and educates people on the history of the Holocaust. They released a reported that 2015 was the year of “raging anti-Semitism and extreme anti-Israelism,” and listed them in a top a 10 list.

On the list was the San Bernardino, California terror attacks, Paris attack, and the P5+1 Nuclear Deal with Iran, and the Boycott Divestment Sanctions.

Recently, ISIS’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi threatened Israel stating in a taped message to his fighters that “The Jews thought we forgotten had forgotten Palestine.

“God willing you will not be forgotten and very soon you will hear the footsteps of Mujahadeen.”

Sometimes it is hard to find hope is such adversity and hatred, but we know that there is a bigger plan and restoration that awaits.

“As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors (Jeremiah 16:14-15).”