yeah, those threads are a good starting point. however, with regard to the following question:
I assume that the establishment of an independent state of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple may be some of the prophecies, but are there others?
the establishment of an independent state of israel is actually considered by some to be rather controversial. basically, it is an argument between those who say that the ingathering should be initiated only by the Moshiach and those who say that the Moshiach won't show up until we have had the ingathering. add to that the fact that the vast majority of people who established the state of israel were not religious and saw it more in terms of the self-determination of the nation-state and as a protective haven from the hatred of the world. many of the most religious were the most opposed to a jewish state that was not going to be based upon jewish law - these still range from the slightly unhappy to the rabidly fanatic, who are the jews you see at conferences in tehran and (until recently) cultivating arafat and col qaddafi (frankly, however, this fanatic group, called "neturei karta" are an insignificant fringe group who are regarded by the rest of the jewish world as somewhere between cranks and traitors, seeing as they essentially provide anti-zionist propaganda to some of the biggest enemies of israel).
the first chief rabbi of israel, rav kook, was a poet and mystic with an astoundingly inclusivist vision, seeing the establishment of a secular state as being the ugly duckling into which the swan of a Torah state would eventually grow. i believe it was him that first came up with the idea that the state was "reishit smihat geulateinu" - the beginning of the joy of our redemption.
unfortunately, it was a bowdlerised and narrowed version of this vision, propagated by his far less talented son, that provided the foundation for the extreme religious nationalism associated with the fanatics amongst the west bank and gaza strip settlers. basically, these guys see it as their job to turn israel into something not a million miles away from the sort of state the taleban or hizbollah would set up if they could - in contrast to the non-zionist religious parties, who would prefer something a bit more like iran or saudi arabia. this issue also affects the question of the third Temple - like the state, some feel the Moshiach will build it, some feel that the Moshiach won't come till it's built. the most extreme, like the so-called "temple mount faithful", would, i believe, quite happily demolish the dome of the rock and the al-aqsa mosque if they thought they could get away with it, which would of course be catastrophic.
personally, i find it hard to believe the Moshiach is going to show up unless the state of the jews behaves in a correct, fair and equitable manner, which means that they can't be lording it over the palestinians and treating them like crap. i also find it hard to believe that a lack of respect for their quality of life and human dignity is what was meant in the israeli declaration of independence when they swore to be "a light unto the nations". likewise, a corrupt political class and a venal and selfish religious establishment are not the sort of things that are going to impress the Moshiach when he does turn up. obviously they are surrounded by enemies and cannot even get on a bus or go for a coffee without risking their lives, but that's not an indefinite excuse for jews not behaving as jews should do and not living up to our responsibilities. on the whole the messianic movement has done the israeli state and the jewish people very few favours - but they have got one thing right: namely, that jews should be able to live unmolested where they want, even hebron or shechem (nablus). what they have not begun to appreciate (and neither have the arab world) is that the flip side of that is that eventually, arabs and muslims should be able to live in tel aviv and west jerusalem just as unmolested. and it is hard to see how this necessitates a two-state solution. ironically, col. qaddafi's speech about one nation of "israstine" might actually be the only thing that enables jews to live in biblical "eretz yisrael" and palestinians to live as citizens of their own state with full rights and participation.
sorry if this got a bit political - but you did ask about the political realities. the idea that *these* are the "end times" is responsible for much death, no peace and no compromise. this must change.
b'shalom
bananabrain
