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)
JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY TO RULE AND REIGN FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER AND WE COME BACK WITH HIM ON WHITE HORSES.
ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
ZECHARIAH 14:4-QUAKE WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH AT THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.
4 And his (JESUS) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
REVELATION 11:13-14-MID TRIB QUAKE
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Trembling before God-Rabbi: Nepal quake a warning to Jews-Ultra-Orthodox leader tells devotees the disaster should inspire them to protest conversions of IDF soldiers to Judaism-By Judah Ari Gross May 3, 2015, 1:34 pm 20-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The chief of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious court, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, told followers that last week’s earthquake in Nepal, which killed more than 7,000 people, was meant as a lesson to the Jewish people.“The Holy One, blessed be He, sent us this warning from a distant country in order to remind us that such a punishment exists,” he explained in a class he taught last week, the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabat reported Thursday.The reason for that punishment? Improper conversions to Judaism, apparently.“We must protest day and night when myriads are converted in the army and out of the army by government-employed rabbis,” he told devotees.“By law they are completely gentile,” Sternbuch said. “And afterwards the daughters of Israel marry those gentiles, against the strict prohibition on forbidden relationships.”This is not the first time prominent rabbis have roped in natural disasters to promote their religious or political agendas. In 2012, Rabbi Noson Leiter called the superstorm Sandy that rocked New York “divine justice” for the city’s same-sex marriage legislation, alluding to lower Manhattan as one of the nation’s “centers of homosexuality.”And in 2005, the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a revered scholar of Jewish law and spiritual leader of the Shas party, blamed Hurricane Katrina on godlessness, saying, “There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn’t enough Torah study… Black people reside there [New Orleans].Blacks will study the Torah? [God said] let’s bring a tsunami and drown them.”
THE NEW PRINCESSES NAME IS CHARLOTTE-ELIZABETH-DIANA.WELL IN MY PREDICTION I SAID KATE-ELIZABETH. AT LEAST I GOT PART OF THE MIDDLE NAME RIGHT.
A life-saving Jewish connection, if new UK princess named Alice-Baby’s great-great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in Jerusalem, and was recognized as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for hiding Jewish family from the Nazis-By Times of Israel staff, JTA and AP May 3, 2015, 8:07 pm 2
Bookmakers Sunday touted Alice and Charlotte as the most likely names for Britain’s newborn princess, the second child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, who was born Saturday.
The name Alice has particular resonance for the Jewish people: The newborn’s great-great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in Jerusalem, and was recognized by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial as a “Righteous Among the Nations” and by the British government as a “Hero of the Holocaust.”During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Alice hid a Jewish woman and two of her children from the Nazis.In 1994, the newborn’s great-grandfather, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, visited Israel for a ceremony to mark his mother’s valor.Born in 1885 as Princess Alice of Battenberg and congenitally deaf, she spent much of her life in Greece after marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (he was simultaneously prince of two different European countries).Alice moved to London in 1967 to live in Buckingham Palace with her son and daughter-in-law, the present queen. After the princess died two years later, her body was interred in a crypt at Windsor Castle.But in 1988, she was transferred to a crypt at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives – honoring a wish she had expressed before her death.In October 1994, on a trip that marked the first time that a member of the British royal family had visited the State of Israel, Philip attended a ceremony honoring his mother at Yad Vashem.Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, met with members of the Cohen family whom his mother hid in her Athens palace for 13 months during the Nazi occupation of Greece.At the ceremony at Yad Vashem, he accepted the Righteous Among the Nations award that was bestowed posthumously upon his late mother.He also planted a maple tree in her memory along the Avenue of the Righteous Among Nations, which commemorates gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.“God brings everything we do to judgment,” the prince wrote in the visitors’ book at Yad Vashem.Prior to the ceremony, Philip visited the crypt in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives, where his mother’s coffin lies.In September of 1943, members of the Cohen family, from the Greek town of Trikala, appealed to Princess Alice for refuge. An acquaintance of theirs, she took them in and hid them until the Nazis withdrew in October 1944.The story was not known until the early 1990s, when Michel Cohen, 78, told officials at Yad Vashem of how he, his mother and sister were saved by the princess.The surviving members of the Cohen family flew to Israel from France to attend the ceremony in 1994.Philip, accompanied by his sister Princess Sophie, was met at Ben-Gurion Airport by the then-education minister Amnon Rubinstein. While the visit was considered a private one, Rubinstein said it reflected Israel’s changed status in light of the then ongoing peace process with the Palestinians. “It is another sign of the much warmer and better relationship between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Rubinstein said.The guessing game over the new princess’s name continued in high gear Sunday.When the baby’s older brother, Prince George, was born in 2013, the royal couple took two days to reveal his name, waiting until after Queen Elizabeth II had met her new great-grandson.Britain’s legal bookmakers have been busy taking in thousands of bets for the baby’s name. For weeks, they have been saying that Alice is the clear favorite. But in recent days Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, has become the front runner.Other top possibilities included Olivia, Victoria, Elizabeth, Alexandra and Diana, the name of William’s late mother.The newborn may herald a new generation in the monarchy, but it is customary for royals to look to their past for name ideas. The repetition of names in each generation is at least partly an effort to preserve the continuity of one of the world’s oldest institutions.A princess called Charlotte — a name that is French in origin — would be a nod to her grandfather, Prince Charles. In royal history, George IV named his only child Charlotte, but she died in childbirth at 21. George III’s wife was Queen Charlotte, who was born 1744.As for Alice, apart from being the name of Philip’s mother, Queen Victoria named her second daughter Princess Alice.Many think it is likely that William and Kate would use the name Diana — though probably as one of the baby’s middle names to avoid comparisons with her late grandmother. Like most royals, the baby’s brother, Prince George, has more than one middle name (George Alexander Louis), and the same treatment is expected for her.William and Kate introduced the baby princess Saturday evening to the world, just 12 hours after Kate checked into London’s St. Mary’s Hospital to give birth. The baby weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms).The couple issued a statement of thanks Sunday in response to the outpouring of goodwill and international interest in their baby.“The Duke and Duchess are hugely grateful for the messages of congratulations they have received from people all over the world,” their press office said in a statement. “It means a great deal to them that so many people have celebrated the arrival of their new daughter.”The princess is fourth in line to the British throne, after her grandfather Charles, her father William and her older brother George. She will be known formally as Her Royal Highness, Princess (name) of Cambridge.William’s father and stepmother, Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, went to Kensington Palace on Sunday to visit the baby for the first time, joining Kate’s parents Michael and Carole Middleton and her sister Pippa.Prince Harry, who is in Australia, said about his new niece: “She is absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to meet her.”The royal couple is expected to spend several days at their London home before traveling to their country home on the queen’s sprawling Sandringham estate, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London. The family is likely to stay out of the public eye in the coming days.The princess’s birth has mesmerized much of Britain, eclipsing the country’s hard-fought election campaign on the front pages of British newspapers. A number of London landmarks including Tower Bridge were lit in pink overnight to commemorate her birth.
Israel’s military edge at risk as Obama ‘scrambles’ to placate Arab fears on Iran deal-NY Times says US could sell F-35s to UAE three years after Israel gets them, may offer Gulf allies defense pacts, joint training, upgraded status-By Times of Israel staff May 2, 2015, 2:58 am
The Obama administration is said to be “scrambling” to find ways to reassure Arab allies that it is not abandoning them, despite the imminent nuclear deal with Iran. To that end, it is considering a range of options such as weapons sales that might reduce Israel’s hitherto sacrosanct military edge, The New York Times reported Friday, including selling the F-35 fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates.Among the options cited by the paper as being under consideration: A defense pact under which the US would commit “to the defense of Arab allies if they come under attack from outside forces”; joint training missions for American and Arab military forces; designating Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as “major non-NATO allies,” a step that would loosen restrictions on weapons sales and offer “a number of military advantages that are available only to NATO allies”; and approving the sale of its advanced F-35 stealth fighter to the UAE three years after it is delivered to Israel.The administration is hurriedly weighing such options ahead of a Camp David summit set for May 14 for President Barack Obama and Gulf allies, the New York Times said. Countries might reportedly “downgrade” their participation at the summit, intended for foreign ministers, if the president does not come up with a satisfactory offer.There was no immediate Israeli response to the report, which broke after the start of the Jewish sabbath.The Times quoted Defense Secretary Ashton Carter as having asked a group of Middle East experts two weeks ago for their “advice on how the administration could placate Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which fear the nuclear deal.” The secretary reportedly asked them, “How do you make clear to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) that America isn’t going to hand the house keys of the Persian Gulf over to Iran and then pivot to Asia?”Kenneth M. Pollack, an expert on Middle East political and military affairs at the Brookings Institution, told the paper: “The gulf states are very concerned about this nuclear deal with Iran… Some of them believe this is the start of an Obama administration bid to trade them away.”The report said that at a White House meeting on April 20, the UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan “pressed for a defense pact with the United States,” while Obama “sought support from the Emirates for the Iran nuclear deal,” which is supposed to be finalized by June 30.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly condemned the emerging deal as a historic mistake. Obama is reportedly refusing to meet with Netanyahu before the June 30 deadline.While a full-fledged security treaty with the Saudis and other Arab allies is deemed unlikely, in part because of the likely opposition from Congress and Israel, “the administration is discussing offering a looser, less-binding defense pact,” the Times report said. Under its possible terms, “American officials would put in writing, but not send to Congress, language agreeing to the defense of Arab allies if they come under attack from outside forces.”Alternatively, Obama could turn Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into “major non-NATO allies,” easing restrictions on weapons sales to them. Bahrain and Kuwait already enjoy this status.“Increased weapons sales could help, but there is a major roadblock: maintaining Israel’s military edge,” The Times noted. In order to ensure that Israel maintains its military advantage in the threatening Middle East, the United States “has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations,” noted The Times. One current example: The administration has barred Lockheed Martin from selling the F-35 fighter jet, which is “considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal of weapons,” in the Arab world.But “with the balance of power in the Middle East in flux, that could change,” according to defense analysts cited by the paper. “One possibility would be to wait three years after delivering the F-35 to Israel and then approve it for sale to the United Arab Emirates… which would give Israel a three-year head start.”Israel is set to start receiving the F-35s it has purchased as soon as next year. The Israeli Air Force regards the plane as critical to the country’s military advantage over its adversaries. Meanwhile, a senior Gulf official told Britain’s Guardian Friday that the GCC leaders, in their talks this month with Obama, are “not going to do a Netanyahu” by overtly opposing the Iran deal, since they regard it as a foregone conclusion. “We are not wasting time confronting that agreement. We don’t want to be seen as going against a close ally. It would be bad politics for us,” the official said. “Instead we are bracing ourselves for the post-agreement world.”What the Gulf states will seek from Obama, however, is “a concise and clear agreement on the containment of Iranian influence after the deal,” the Guardian report said. “This agreement would take the form of a memorandum of understanding, and would be accompanied by arms sales and support that would give forces in the Gulf a ‘qualitative advantage’ over Iran, a phrase echoing the guiding philosophy underpinning US military support for Israel.”GCC foreign ministers are to meet next week with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris to prepare for the summit, and the “containment plan” will be debated there, the Guardian report said.
IDF soldiers foil attempted West Bank stabbing-Two men pull knife on troops near Yakir settlement, forces overpower attackers, detain them-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff May 3, 2015, 10:13 pm
Two Palestinians attempted to stab IDF soldiers in the West Bank on Sunday night but were overpowered and detained for questioning.The military said in a statement that the two suspects approached an IDF force near the settlement of Yakir in the northern West Bank.One of the men pulled out a knife and the force “neutralized the assailant.” The other fled the scene but was later caught by IDF forces. Both men were then detained for questioning.There were no reports of injuries to the IDF force and it was not clear if either of the suspects were injured in the clash.The attack came the day after a 16-year-old Palestinian youth tried to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron.In that incident the assailant pulled out a knife and made for the soldier, a military policeman, before being overpowered and arrested. He was taken by security forces for questioning. There were no reported injuries in the incident. Last week, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli Border Police officer in Hebron, inflicting moderate injuries. The attacker, aged 20, was shot and wounded, and died of his injuries on the way to a hospital in Jerusalem. Police said the officer, 19, was stabbed multiple times in the head, neck and chest at an army checkpoint near Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. A second soldier shot the attacker.Palestinian media named the suspected attacker as Assad al-Salayma.That incident was the second of its kind in less than 24 hours. Overnight Friday-Saturday last week, Ali Mohammed Ali Said Abu Ghannam, a 16-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, allegedly attempted to stab a Israeli soldier.IDF soldiers shot and killed Abu Ghannam after the teenager attempted to stab a border police officer with a butcher’s knife at a checkpoint on the road between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, according to security officials.The shootings sparked violent but short-lived protests in the West Bank.
JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY TO RULE AND REIGN FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER AND WE COME BACK WITH HIM ON WHITE HORSES.
ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
ZECHARIAH 14:4-QUAKE WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH AT THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.
4 And his (JESUS) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
REVELATION 11:13-14-MID TRIB QUAKE
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Trembling before God-Rabbi: Nepal quake a warning to Jews-Ultra-Orthodox leader tells devotees the disaster should inspire them to protest conversions of IDF soldiers to Judaism-By Judah Ari Gross May 3, 2015, 1:34 pm 20-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The chief of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious court, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, told followers that last week’s earthquake in Nepal, which killed more than 7,000 people, was meant as a lesson to the Jewish people.“The Holy One, blessed be He, sent us this warning from a distant country in order to remind us that such a punishment exists,” he explained in a class he taught last week, the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabat reported Thursday.The reason for that punishment? Improper conversions to Judaism, apparently.“We must protest day and night when myriads are converted in the army and out of the army by government-employed rabbis,” he told devotees.“By law they are completely gentile,” Sternbuch said. “And afterwards the daughters of Israel marry those gentiles, against the strict prohibition on forbidden relationships.”This is not the first time prominent rabbis have roped in natural disasters to promote their religious or political agendas. In 2012, Rabbi Noson Leiter called the superstorm Sandy that rocked New York “divine justice” for the city’s same-sex marriage legislation, alluding to lower Manhattan as one of the nation’s “centers of homosexuality.”And in 2005, the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a revered scholar of Jewish law and spiritual leader of the Shas party, blamed Hurricane Katrina on godlessness, saying, “There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn’t enough Torah study… Black people reside there [New Orleans].Blacks will study the Torah? [God said] let’s bring a tsunami and drown them.”
THE NEW PRINCESSES NAME IS CHARLOTTE-ELIZABETH-DIANA.WELL IN MY PREDICTION I SAID KATE-ELIZABETH. AT LEAST I GOT PART OF THE MIDDLE NAME RIGHT.
A life-saving Jewish connection, if new UK princess named Alice-Baby’s great-great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in Jerusalem, and was recognized as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for hiding Jewish family from the Nazis-By Times of Israel staff, JTA and AP May 3, 2015, 8:07 pm 2
Bookmakers Sunday touted Alice and Charlotte as the most likely names for Britain’s newborn princess, the second child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, who was born Saturday.
The name Alice has particular resonance for the Jewish people: The newborn’s great-great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in Jerusalem, and was recognized by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial as a “Righteous Among the Nations” and by the British government as a “Hero of the Holocaust.”During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Alice hid a Jewish woman and two of her children from the Nazis.In 1994, the newborn’s great-grandfather, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, visited Israel for a ceremony to mark his mother’s valor.Born in 1885 as Princess Alice of Battenberg and congenitally deaf, she spent much of her life in Greece after marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (he was simultaneously prince of two different European countries).Alice moved to London in 1967 to live in Buckingham Palace with her son and daughter-in-law, the present queen. After the princess died two years later, her body was interred in a crypt at Windsor Castle.But in 1988, she was transferred to a crypt at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives – honoring a wish she had expressed before her death.In October 1994, on a trip that marked the first time that a member of the British royal family had visited the State of Israel, Philip attended a ceremony honoring his mother at Yad Vashem.Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, met with members of the Cohen family whom his mother hid in her Athens palace for 13 months during the Nazi occupation of Greece.At the ceremony at Yad Vashem, he accepted the Righteous Among the Nations award that was bestowed posthumously upon his late mother.He also planted a maple tree in her memory along the Avenue of the Righteous Among Nations, which commemorates gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.“God brings everything we do to judgment,” the prince wrote in the visitors’ book at Yad Vashem.Prior to the ceremony, Philip visited the crypt in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives, where his mother’s coffin lies.In September of 1943, members of the Cohen family, from the Greek town of Trikala, appealed to Princess Alice for refuge. An acquaintance of theirs, she took them in and hid them until the Nazis withdrew in October 1944.The story was not known until the early 1990s, when Michel Cohen, 78, told officials at Yad Vashem of how he, his mother and sister were saved by the princess.The surviving members of the Cohen family flew to Israel from France to attend the ceremony in 1994.Philip, accompanied by his sister Princess Sophie, was met at Ben-Gurion Airport by the then-education minister Amnon Rubinstein. While the visit was considered a private one, Rubinstein said it reflected Israel’s changed status in light of the then ongoing peace process with the Palestinians. “It is another sign of the much warmer and better relationship between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Rubinstein said.The guessing game over the new princess’s name continued in high gear Sunday.When the baby’s older brother, Prince George, was born in 2013, the royal couple took two days to reveal his name, waiting until after Queen Elizabeth II had met her new great-grandson.Britain’s legal bookmakers have been busy taking in thousands of bets for the baby’s name. For weeks, they have been saying that Alice is the clear favorite. But in recent days Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, has become the front runner.Other top possibilities included Olivia, Victoria, Elizabeth, Alexandra and Diana, the name of William’s late mother.The newborn may herald a new generation in the monarchy, but it is customary for royals to look to their past for name ideas. The repetition of names in each generation is at least partly an effort to preserve the continuity of one of the world’s oldest institutions.A princess called Charlotte — a name that is French in origin — would be a nod to her grandfather, Prince Charles. In royal history, George IV named his only child Charlotte, but she died in childbirth at 21. George III’s wife was Queen Charlotte, who was born 1744.As for Alice, apart from being the name of Philip’s mother, Queen Victoria named her second daughter Princess Alice.Many think it is likely that William and Kate would use the name Diana — though probably as one of the baby’s middle names to avoid comparisons with her late grandmother. Like most royals, the baby’s brother, Prince George, has more than one middle name (George Alexander Louis), and the same treatment is expected for her.William and Kate introduced the baby princess Saturday evening to the world, just 12 hours after Kate checked into London’s St. Mary’s Hospital to give birth. The baby weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms).The couple issued a statement of thanks Sunday in response to the outpouring of goodwill and international interest in their baby.“The Duke and Duchess are hugely grateful for the messages of congratulations they have received from people all over the world,” their press office said in a statement. “It means a great deal to them that so many people have celebrated the arrival of their new daughter.”The princess is fourth in line to the British throne, after her grandfather Charles, her father William and her older brother George. She will be known formally as Her Royal Highness, Princess (name) of Cambridge.William’s father and stepmother, Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, went to Kensington Palace on Sunday to visit the baby for the first time, joining Kate’s parents Michael and Carole Middleton and her sister Pippa.Prince Harry, who is in Australia, said about his new niece: “She is absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to meet her.”The royal couple is expected to spend several days at their London home before traveling to their country home on the queen’s sprawling Sandringham estate, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London. The family is likely to stay out of the public eye in the coming days.The princess’s birth has mesmerized much of Britain, eclipsing the country’s hard-fought election campaign on the front pages of British newspapers. A number of London landmarks including Tower Bridge were lit in pink overnight to commemorate her birth.
Israel’s military edge at risk as Obama ‘scrambles’ to placate Arab fears on Iran deal-NY Times says US could sell F-35s to UAE three years after Israel gets them, may offer Gulf allies defense pacts, joint training, upgraded status-By Times of Israel staff May 2, 2015, 2:58 am
The Obama administration is said to be “scrambling” to find ways to reassure Arab allies that it is not abandoning them, despite the imminent nuclear deal with Iran. To that end, it is considering a range of options such as weapons sales that might reduce Israel’s hitherto sacrosanct military edge, The New York Times reported Friday, including selling the F-35 fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates.Among the options cited by the paper as being under consideration: A defense pact under which the US would commit “to the defense of Arab allies if they come under attack from outside forces”; joint training missions for American and Arab military forces; designating Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as “major non-NATO allies,” a step that would loosen restrictions on weapons sales and offer “a number of military advantages that are available only to NATO allies”; and approving the sale of its advanced F-35 stealth fighter to the UAE three years after it is delivered to Israel.The administration is hurriedly weighing such options ahead of a Camp David summit set for May 14 for President Barack Obama and Gulf allies, the New York Times said. Countries might reportedly “downgrade” their participation at the summit, intended for foreign ministers, if the president does not come up with a satisfactory offer.There was no immediate Israeli response to the report, which broke after the start of the Jewish sabbath.The Times quoted Defense Secretary Ashton Carter as having asked a group of Middle East experts two weeks ago for their “advice on how the administration could placate Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which fear the nuclear deal.” The secretary reportedly asked them, “How do you make clear to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) that America isn’t going to hand the house keys of the Persian Gulf over to Iran and then pivot to Asia?”Kenneth M. Pollack, an expert on Middle East political and military affairs at the Brookings Institution, told the paper: “The gulf states are very concerned about this nuclear deal with Iran… Some of them believe this is the start of an Obama administration bid to trade them away.”The report said that at a White House meeting on April 20, the UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan “pressed for a defense pact with the United States,” while Obama “sought support from the Emirates for the Iran nuclear deal,” which is supposed to be finalized by June 30.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly condemned the emerging deal as a historic mistake. Obama is reportedly refusing to meet with Netanyahu before the June 30 deadline.While a full-fledged security treaty with the Saudis and other Arab allies is deemed unlikely, in part because of the likely opposition from Congress and Israel, “the administration is discussing offering a looser, less-binding defense pact,” the Times report said. Under its possible terms, “American officials would put in writing, but not send to Congress, language agreeing to the defense of Arab allies if they come under attack from outside forces.”Alternatively, Obama could turn Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into “major non-NATO allies,” easing restrictions on weapons sales to them. Bahrain and Kuwait already enjoy this status.“Increased weapons sales could help, but there is a major roadblock: maintaining Israel’s military edge,” The Times noted. In order to ensure that Israel maintains its military advantage in the threatening Middle East, the United States “has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations,” noted The Times. One current example: The administration has barred Lockheed Martin from selling the F-35 fighter jet, which is “considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal of weapons,” in the Arab world.But “with the balance of power in the Middle East in flux, that could change,” according to defense analysts cited by the paper. “One possibility would be to wait three years after delivering the F-35 to Israel and then approve it for sale to the United Arab Emirates… which would give Israel a three-year head start.”Israel is set to start receiving the F-35s it has purchased as soon as next year. The Israeli Air Force regards the plane as critical to the country’s military advantage over its adversaries. Meanwhile, a senior Gulf official told Britain’s Guardian Friday that the GCC leaders, in their talks this month with Obama, are “not going to do a Netanyahu” by overtly opposing the Iran deal, since they regard it as a foregone conclusion. “We are not wasting time confronting that agreement. We don’t want to be seen as going against a close ally. It would be bad politics for us,” the official said. “Instead we are bracing ourselves for the post-agreement world.”What the Gulf states will seek from Obama, however, is “a concise and clear agreement on the containment of Iranian influence after the deal,” the Guardian report said. “This agreement would take the form of a memorandum of understanding, and would be accompanied by arms sales and support that would give forces in the Gulf a ‘qualitative advantage’ over Iran, a phrase echoing the guiding philosophy underpinning US military support for Israel.”GCC foreign ministers are to meet next week with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris to prepare for the summit, and the “containment plan” will be debated there, the Guardian report said.
IDF soldiers foil attempted West Bank stabbing-Two men pull knife on troops near Yakir settlement, forces overpower attackers, detain them-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff May 3, 2015, 10:13 pm
Two Palestinians attempted to stab IDF soldiers in the West Bank on Sunday night but were overpowered and detained for questioning.The military said in a statement that the two suspects approached an IDF force near the settlement of Yakir in the northern West Bank.One of the men pulled out a knife and the force “neutralized the assailant.” The other fled the scene but was later caught by IDF forces. Both men were then detained for questioning.There were no reports of injuries to the IDF force and it was not clear if either of the suspects were injured in the clash.The attack came the day after a 16-year-old Palestinian youth tried to stab an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron.In that incident the assailant pulled out a knife and made for the soldier, a military policeman, before being overpowered and arrested. He was taken by security forces for questioning. There were no reported injuries in the incident. Last week, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli Border Police officer in Hebron, inflicting moderate injuries. The attacker, aged 20, was shot and wounded, and died of his injuries on the way to a hospital in Jerusalem. Police said the officer, 19, was stabbed multiple times in the head, neck and chest at an army checkpoint near Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. A second soldier shot the attacker.Palestinian media named the suspected attacker as Assad al-Salayma.That incident was the second of its kind in less than 24 hours. Overnight Friday-Saturday last week, Ali Mohammed Ali Said Abu Ghannam, a 16-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, allegedly attempted to stab a Israeli soldier.IDF soldiers shot and killed Abu Ghannam after the teenager attempted to stab a border police officer with a butcher’s knife at a checkpoint on the road between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, according to security officials.The shootings sparked violent but short-lived protests in the West Bank.
