Thursday, November 17, 2016

KAHLON TO BACK ENBATTLED OUTPOST BILL, STAVING OFF COALITION CRISIS.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

Kahlon to back embattled outpost bill, staving off coalition crisis-Finance minister and leader of 10-member Kulanu party agrees to support legislation saving Amona in preliminary reading, but not beyond-By Times of Israel staff November 16, 2016, 1:59 pm

Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon on Wednesday agreed to support the controversial bill that seeks to legalize West Bank outposts, giving it likely majority support in an initial reading in the Knesset.The bill will go up for a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday afternoon, earlier than expected, after the opposition cleared its bills off the docket to give the coalition less time to muster the votes it needed.Kahlon, who leads the 10 MK-strong Kulanu party, had said on Tuesday, “If it turns out that it will be damaging to the High Court we won’t support it. The law will never happen.”Kahlon met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday before announcing the about-face. But he still said he would not allow lawmakers to attack the High Court of Justice.“We will not support any attack on the Supreme Court at any stage of the legislation. As long as that is clear, the Kulanu faction will support it. We will support it today,” he said.The preliminary reading of the so-called Regulation Bill comes days after it won the backing of coalition ministers over Netanyahu’s opposition.The measure is being rushed through the Knesset in order to save the Amona outpost, which was built on private Palestinian land and faces a court-ordered demolition by December 25, but will also allow the state to retroactively recognize other unauthorized outposts.The measure, which has been introduced in at least two different versions, is opposed by other coalition parties as well as the attorney general, who said both an original bill and a softened version run contrary to international law and would be indefensible in court.But on Wednesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Jewish Home party, ordered all his party MKs to refrain from holding negotiations with members of other coalition parties, and demanded that all of them participate in the vote, expected later in the day.MK Shuli Moalem-Rafaeli (Jewish Home), who sponsored one iteration of the bill, even threatened to cause a coalition crisis, claiming that “the smell of elections is in the air.”Moalem-Rafaeli told Hebrew media that if the law does not pass, her party members would no longer view themselves as obligated to vote along with the coalition — a scenario that could bring down the government and spur new elections.“All coalition parties are committed to decisions made by the ministerial committee, and if some parties choose not to do so we will be freed of any other obligation to the coalition,” she told Walla News.Sources in the coalition said that it was “interesting that something that the prime minister couldn’t do in an entire year is suddenly being done successfully in three days,” referring to attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare the land around Amona as “absentee property” and replicate the outpost on a hilltop nearby.The High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a request by the government to postpone Amona’s demolition and evacuation.Netanyahu on Sunday voiced opposition to pushing the measure through before the High Court had its say. However, he stopped short of using his veto when it came for a vote before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also said Sunday he opposes the measure on the grounds that it will harm the rest of the settlement enterprise.The Amona outpost, founded in 1995 on a hill near Ramallah in the central West Bank, is home to about 40 families. It is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — built without permission but generally tolerated by the government — that dot the West Bank.A partial evacuation a decade ago sparked violent clashes between residents and security forces and it is feared a new evacuation could trigger another showdown.

As showdown brews, opposition to outpost bill appears to dissipate-Finance minister reportedly agrees to support bill to legalize unauthorized settlements on preliminary reading, after Jewish Home threatens coalition crisis-By Times of Israel staff November 16, 2016, 12:44 pm

The national-religious Jewish Home party said Wednesday that it would steamroll ahead with a controversial bill that seeks to legitimize illegal West Bank outposts, and not seek to forge a compromise with other lawmakers who have vociferously opposed the measure.The so-called Regulation Bill was scheduled to be brought before the Knesset for a preliminary reading on Wednesday afternoon, days after it won the backing of coalition ministers over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition.While the measure seemed headed for defeat, it appeared an 11th-hour compromise by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who had vowed to torpedo the bill, may have saved it, at least temporarily.Kahlon met with Netanyahu late Wednesday morning and apparently agreed to support the bill on preliminary reading while making no promises to vote for it when it came back to the Knesset for final approval.He later met with Jewish Home head Naftali Bennett, leading to reports he may have wavered on the compromise.The measure is being rushed through the Knesset in order to save the Amona outpost, which was built on private Palestinian land and faces a court-ordered demolition by December 25, but will also allow the state to retroactively recognize other unauthorized outposts.The measure, which has been introduced in at least two different versions, is opposed by other coalition parties as well as the attorney general, who said both an original bill and a softened version run contrary to international law and would be indefensible in court.But on Wednesday Bennett, who serves as education minister, ordered all his party MKs to refrain from holding negotiations with members of other coalition parties, and demanded that all of them participate in the vote, expected later in the day.MK Shuli Moalem-Rafaeli (Jewish Home), who sponsored one iteration of the bill, even threatened to cause a coalition crisis, claiming that “the smell of elections is in the air.”Moalem-Rafaeli told Hebrew media that if the law does not pass, her party members would no longer view themselves as obligated to vote along with the coalition — a scenario that could bring down the government and spur new elections.“All coalition parties are committed to decisions made by the ministerial committee, and if some parties choose not to do so we will be freed of any other obligation to the coalition,” she told Walla News.Sources in the coalition said that it was “interesting that something that the prime minister couldn’t do in an entire year is suddenly being done successfully in three days,” referring to attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare the land around Amona as “absentee property” and replicate the outpost on a hilltop nearby.The High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a request by the government to postpone Amona’s demolition and evacuation.On Tuesday, Kahlon said his Kulanu party would not back the legislation. “If it turns out that it will be damaging to the High Court we won’t support it. The law will never happen,” he said at a press conference in the southern city of Eilat.Netanyahu on Sunday voiced opposition to pushing the measure through before the High Court had its say. However, he stopped short of using his veto when it came for a vote before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also said Sunday he opposes the measure on the grounds that it will harm the rest of the settlement enterprise. However, he gave no indication he would vote against the bill.The Amona outpost, founded in 1995 on a hill near Ramallah in the central West Bank, is home to about 40 families. It is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — built without permission but generally tolerated by the government — that dot the West Bank.A partial evacuation a decade ago sparked violent clashes between residents and security forces and it is feared a new evacuation could trigger another showdown.

Initial dissent quelled, Amona bill clears first Knesset hurdle-Controversial legislation, deemed indefensible by attorney general, passes preliminary reading 58-50 after gaining full coalition support in last-minute deal-By Raoul Wootliff and Marissa Newman November 16, 2016, 3:09 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Amid a heated plenary session Wednesday afternoon, the Knesset passed a preliminary reading of a controversial bill legalizing West bank outposts, with the coalition mustering full support of all its parties thanks to a last-minute deal, despite initial opposition to the move.The so-called Regulation Bill, designed to avert to the court-ordered demolition of the West Bank outpost of Amona by December 25, passed by 58-50 days after it won the backing of coalition ministers, despite efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay the vote and repeated statements from Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit that the legislation runs contrary to international law and would be indefensible in the High Court of Justice.Minutes before the vote Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon agreed to support the bill after a meeting with Netanyahu. “We will not support any attack on the High Court at any stage of the legislation. As long as that is clear, the Kulanu faction will support it. We will support it today,” he said.While the ministers supported the proposal, they stopped short of making it an official government bill, with the Knesset voting on three separate private members bills proposed by several different MKs.In one vote, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, one of the bill’s staunchest backers, accidentally voted against, though the measure still sailed through.Before the vote MKs Yoav Kisch (Likud), Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Jewish Home) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) presented their arguments for the bills, with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked closing the defense with an attack on left-wing “hypocrisy.”From the opposition, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said that the bill constituted “theft in broad daylight.”“It takes private lands, entirely contravening international law,” he added.After the vote, Zionist Union’s Tzipi Livni slammed Kahlon’s statement, saying she had “never heard such a ridiculous excuse.”“This law already causes huge damage, not just to the High Court but also to the pillars of Israeli democracy,” she said. “It mocks the court’s ruling, the rule of law, the attorney general, international law and basic morals.”The legislation will now be sent to either the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee or the Constitution, Justice, and Law Committee to be revised ahead of its first reading. To become law, the proposals will need to pass three readings in the Knesset plenum. The process is expected to be expedited due to the looming evacuation order of the Amona outpost.The High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a request by the government to postpone Amona’s demolition and evacuation.Netanyahu on Sunday voiced opposition to pushing the measure through before the High Court had its say. However, he stopped short of using his veto when it came for a vote before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also said Sunday he opposes the measure on the grounds that it would harm the rest of the settlement enterprise. However, he and his party voted for the measure with the rest of the coalition.The Amona outpost, founded in 1995 on a hill near Ramallah in the central West Bank, is home to about 40 families. It is the largest of about 100 unauthorized outposts — built without permission but generally tolerated by the government — that dot the West Bank.A partial evacuation a decade ago sparked violent clashes between residents and security forces and it is feared a new evacuation could trigger another showdown.

Bystander killed, 3 police hurt in renewed Nablus clashes-Officials say gunmen took cover among IDF troops leaving West Bank town in overnight gunbattle-By Dov Lieber November 16, 2016, 1:06 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Clashes between Palestinian gunmen, who reportedly hid among IDF troops, and Palestinian Authority police broke out in the city of Nablus on Wednesday, leaving one woman dead and three policemen injured.The firefight reportedly erupted early Wednesday morning after gunmen opened fire on Palestinian security forces stationed in Nablus’s Old City, a densely populated warren of alleyways.The woman killed was identified as Hilda al-Asta, 39, a bystander caught in the crossfire.One of the policemen was gravely injured in the clashes, the official PA news outlet Wafa reported.The gunmen also reportedly opened fire on the Nablus governorate headquarters.The shooting was the second major assault on Nablus’s police forces in recent months, amid tensions between local gangs and the Palestinian Authority government.Officials said the gunmen used Israeli troops operating in the area as cover to carry out their attack.Nablus district Governor Akram Rajoub told Wafa that the gunmen began their attack “immediately after” Israeli security forces left the city. He added it wasn’t clear whose gunfire had led to the death of Asta.Adnan Damiri, the spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, told Ma’an the gunmen “took cover” among Israeli forces as they were leaving Nablus, and opened fire on the PA police.Speaking to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, Rajoub said the gunmen had “taken advantage” of IDF operations in the area. The identities of the gunmen were known to the Palestinian police, he added.“What occurred was something deliberately planned,” Rajoub said.The army did not respond to an immediate request for comment.The IDF did not report any arrests in Nablus overnight, but may have been operating in the area.The northern West Bank has seen a number of Palestinian police raids in recent months, amid a crackdown on illegal arms and factional infighting between rival groups.In August, two police officers and two gunmen were killed in clashes in the Nablus’s old city.The clashes in August were pinned on Ahmed Halawa, a senior member of the Fatah-linked al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. He was subsequently arrested and beaten to death by police forces while in custody.Halawa’s murder was highly publicized and brought out thousands of Nablus protesters who called for the resignation of Governor Rajoub, PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdalah and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.Halawa was the fifth Palestinian to die in the PA’s ongoing hunt for members of a criminal gang wanted by Ramallah authorities.On June 30, five Palestinians, including two PA security officers, were killed in separate shootings in the West Bank, while 16 people were injured.Under the 1993 Oslo accords with Israel, Palestinian police operate in most of the major Palestinian towns, including Nablus.AFP contributed to this report.

Damn the torpedoes-You won’t find reports about Netanyahu’s submarine scandal in Israel Hayom, but you will find Assange’s cat in Yedioth Ahronoth-By Ilan Ben Zion November 16, 2016, 3:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

What can be said about the illegal Amona outpost today that hasn’t been written about the past two days of it being the noise of the news? The government’s problem — that the court ordered it to be demolished — is still there, the proposed law to legislate the illegal settlement remains contentious, and there isn’t complete support in the cabinet to push the bill through.Whereas a day earlier the papers were chock-full of opinions and analyses and color pieces about the soon-to-be former illegal outpost, Wednesday’s papers lack the depth and insight on the issue, instead focusing on the insider baseball of coalition politics surrounding the bill.More interesting are the sideshow stories swirling around the Amona issue in the headlines of the Hebrew press on Wednesday.Not to diminish from the significance of the issues involved, but Haaretz‘s two top stories are both based on other news outlets’ reports. The paper plays up a Channel 10 report according to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer serves as the representative of the German company that’s trying to sell Israel military submarines, and which Netanyahu has been pushing for Israel to buy against the will of the IDF and former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon.The connection between attorney David Shimron, Netanyahu’s attorney, and the German submarine company “may shed light on the prime minister’s eagerness surrounding the German deal,” Yedioth Ahronoth says in its front page report.And which newspaper completely ignores this report of shady cronyism at the highest level of government? If you guessed Israel’s most-read, free daily newspaper Israel Hayom, you’d be right. The scurrilous rumor finds no mention in its pages.The other big story in Haaretz is based on a report from Ynet about Israel Police chief Roni Alsheich’s remark that anonymous testimony against police officers is as problematic as the sexual harassment the victims suffered. What either of those have to do with newly discovered sketches attributed to Vincent Van Gogh, the main image on Haaretz’s front page, or why that story deserves such significance, is unclear.After yet another Channel 2 news report with Netanyahu in the spotlight amid allegations of abuse of employees, Israel Hayom does what it does best — it puts the cart before the horse and runs a front page response story to the charges. The Prime Minister’s Office calls the channel’s reporting an “ongoing absurd method” whose sole aim is “to bash the prime minister.”At the same time the paper highlights the increasingly volatile labor crisis at the national airline, El Al, as flights to New York and London suffered massive delays. The cause? Pilots who are unsatisfied with their pay, which stands at around $25,000 a month, or roughly what the average Israeli makes in a year.But the most intriguing front page inclusion is saved for last: why does Yedioth Ahronoth have a picture of Julian Assange’s cat on the front page. I get it. The three things that drive most online content are cats, dogs and sex, but putting a necktie-wearing kitty holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on the front page of a newspaper seems a bit silly.The tabloids lend significance to the ultra-Orthodox parties scuttling a parliamentary vote on a bill seeking to ban loudspeakers on religious buildings, legislation deemed to specifically target mosques. The ultra-Orthodox party’s eleventh-hour move was ostensibly because the bill could also be applied against the siren sounded in many cities to mark the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath on Friday evening.Haaretz’s editorial addresses the bill’s content, noting that while Muslim and European countries have legislation restricting the volume of the muezzin’s call to prayer, there’s also “the aspiration of secular Jews and Arabs alike to reduce the control of religion in the public space, whether in the form of noise from houses of worship or imposition of religion on public institutions or the private space.”The paper’s bottom line is that limiting noise from houses of worships need not be a legislative circus: “We can reach understandings with the heads of Muslim communities and with the administrators of mosques, we can also propose technological solutions to replace the noisy call to prayer.”

MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM

EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17  And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
18  Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19  And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20  Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

Russia withdraws support from international court in Hague-Kremlin takes back signature on ICC founding statute, says body is ‘one-sided and inefficient’-By AFP November 16, 2016, 3:23 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

MOSCOW — Russia said Wednesday it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court, saying the tribunal has failed to live up to the hopes of the international community.Russia in 2000 signed the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes court, but never ratified the treaty.“The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it and did not become truly independent,” Russia’s foreign ministry said, describing its work as “one-sided and inefficient.”Moscow said it is unhappy with the ICC’s treatment of the case on Russia’s short war with neighboring Georgia in 2008, saying the court ignored aggression by Tbilisi against civilians in South Ossetia — a pro-Moscow separatist region of Georgia.“In these conditions one cannot speak of trust in the International Criminal Court,” the ministry said, adding that the decision to “not be a participant in the ICC statute” was taken by President Vladimir Putin and entails “withdrawing the signature from this document.”

Trump shmump, nuke deal not going anywhere, Iranian leaders declare-Supreme Leader Kahmenei says result of US vote makes no difference to his country; Rouhani warns against ‘playing with Iran’-By AP November 16, 2016, 3:23 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s two top leaders — its president and the country’s supreme leader — both sought Wednesday to calm concerns in Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in the wake of Donald Trump’s election for US president.President Hassan Rouhani said the country will remain committed and loyal to the deal, regardless of the outcome of the US election.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran was indifferent to the result of the US vote, insisting the Iranian nation was “not worried” about the future and was ready for any fallout from the US election.Trump’s much publicized criticism of the nuclear deal and his campaign vows to renegotiate the terms and increase enforcement of the deal that put off the threat of Tehran developing atomic weapons has sent jitters across Iran.“If a president is changed here and there, it has no impact on the will of Iran,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV from the city of Karaj, where he was visiting. “Based on the deal, we implement our commitment.”Without mentioning Trump by name, Rouhani said that “the world is not under the will of a single individual and party. The reality of the world will impose many things on extremists.”“Nobody should imagine it is possible to play with Iran,” he added.The deal, which went into effect in January, forced Iran to pull back from the brink of nuclear weapons capacity in exchange for an end to many of the US and European sanctions that crippled Iran’s economy.Iran has denied that the sanctions affected its economy in any way.It has been largely respected despite undiminished US-Iranian tensions throughout the Middle East, including their support for rival sides in Syria and Yemen’s civil wars.Trump’s exact plans on the nuclear deal are vague but any renegotiation would be difficult — Iran has no incentive to reopen talks over a deal it is satisfied with. And none of the other countries in the seven-nation accord has expressed interest in picking apart an understanding that took more than a decade of stop-and-go diplomacy and almost two full years of negotiations to complete.Iran’s supreme leader, who has final say on all state matters in Iran, said in remarks on state TV that Iran was indifferent to Trump’s election victory.“We neither mourn nor cheer because it makes no difference to us. We do not have any judgment on the election,” Khamenei said. “We are also not worried. And we are ready for any possible incident.”“The Unites States is the same country and over the past 37 years any of the US major parties that came to power brought us no good, while their evil was always directed toward the Iranian nation,” Khamenei added.Iran and the US have had no diplomatic relations since 1979, when militant students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, took 52 Americans hostage and held them for 444 days after Washington refused to hand over Iran’s toppled shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, for trial in Iran.

Turkey taps Erdogan confidant as envoy to Israel, amid thaw-Appointment of Kemal Okem comes a day after Israel names Eitan Na’eh as ambassador to Ankara, part of reconciliation deal-By Times of Israel staff and AFP November 16, 2016, 10:16 am

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday officially named Kemal Okem as the new ambassador to Israel, the state-run Anadolu Agency said, as the two nations edge closer to full reconciliation.The announcement came a day after Jerusalem named Eitan Na’eh as Israel’s new envoy to Turkey, the first since diplomatic relations were downgraded in 2011.Media reports had identified Okem, a foreign policy expert and close confidant of Erdogan, in October, but Ankara waited to make it official after Israel delayed appointing its ambassador, due to a reshuffle in the Foreign Ministry leadership.“We are appointing our Prime Minister’s [Binali Yildirim] foreign affairs adviser Mr. Kemal Okem as ambassador [to Israel],” Erdogan said before leaving on a trip to Pakistan.“I believe he started office [Tuesday],” he added.Contacted by AFP, an official for the Israeli embassy in Ankara said Na’eh has not yet started but he is expected to take up office soon once the approval process is finalised.Na’eh is the current deputy head of mission at the Israeli embassy in London.The naming of ambassadors is the final stage of an agreement signed in the summer to end the breakdown in relations sparked by the killing by Israeli forces of nine Turks and one Turkish-American in a melee aboard the Mavi Marmara ship in 2010, when Israeli commandos were met with violent resistance from a mob, some of whom were wielding knives and clubs.The ship was sailing toward Gaza to break an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Hamas-run territory, imposed to prevent Hamas importing weaponry, and was commandeered after it refused to turn back.Under the terms of the reconciliation agreement, Israel paid a “lump sum” of $20 million in compensation to the victims.Individual Israeli nationals, including army officers, also would not be held criminally or financially liable for the incident.The thaw paved the way for Israel and Turkey to ramp up cooperation on natural gas development in the Mediterranean.The two sides are holding talks for building an ambitious project for a pipeline to pump Israeli gas to Turkey and Europe.The state-run Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday that Israeli and Turkish energy officials held their first working meeting on the project last week.

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