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)
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Minister: Abbas is worst inciter against Israel-Ofir Akunis says that not only does the PA president encourage terror attacks, he also funds families of terrorists-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 2:49 pm
Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis on Saturday accused Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of being the greatest inciter against Israel over the past six months of violence.“The [Palestinian] Authority has embarked on an extreme campaign of incitement against Israel in its education system and the Palestinian media,” Likud’s Akunis told a cultural event in Netanya.“According to the Palestinians, all Israelis are apes and pigs who defile the land,” Akunis said. “Not only does the Palestinian leader not condemn terror attacks, he encourages them and pays salaries to the families of the terrorists.”Abbas this week declined to condemn Tuesday’s attack in Jaffa, in which an American tourist was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist. He offered his condolences for Taylor Force’s murder after he was rebuked by a visiting US Vice President Joe Biden, who himself was in Jaffa at the time of the attack, but blamed Israeli occupation for the violence.The PA president in September accused Jews of “desecrating” the Temple Mount, a site in Jerusalem holy to both Jews and Muslims, which has been a long-standing flash point for outbreaks of Palestinian violence.“The Al-Aqsa Mosque is ours. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours as well. They have no right to desecrate the mosque with their dirty feet, we won’t allow them to do that,” said Abbas, in reference to the mosque that sits atop the Mount.Twenty nine Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in an ongoing wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks since October. An estimated 180 Palestinians have died in the same period, more than two thirds of them in the course of attacking Israelis, and the rest in clashes with Israeli troops, according to the IDF.
In destitute Gaza, Hamas rides world’s goodwill all the way to the bank-Terror group uses tax money, donations from well-meaning countries eager to ease hardship for Gazans, to fund its military build-up-By Avi Issacharoff March 12, 2016, 3:45 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
There’s been a lot of talk in the international media about the slow pace of rebuilding in the Gaza Strip, where some 100,000 people still don’t have housing following the summer 2014 war between the IDF and Hamas-led groups in Gaza.But what most people haven’t heard is that new homes are being built, slowly, for the 17,000 or so families whose houses were totally destroyed.Or at least that’s how it looks on paper.In actuality, the homes, donated by Qatar, are being practically given away to Hamas cronies while others have to pay off the terror group to put a roof over their heads — one of myriad ways Hamas is exploiting the humanitarian crisis in the Strip to pad its own coffers.Muhammad Al-Amadi, a Qatari envoy charged with overseeing the emirate’s funding of Gaza’s rebuilding, recently inaugurated a new neighborhood near Khan Younis in the southern Strip, completely paid for by his country. “Hamad City,” named in honor of the father of the current ruler of Qatar, who took the throne two years ago, constitutes some 1,040 new housing units for Gaza’s homeless.The Hamas government, the de facto rulers of Gaza, instituted a lottery in which those who had no home could register to win apartments for free.But that was not what was really going on.The winners discovered to their amazement that they were required to pay Hamas $40,000 for each apartment. One claim was that a significant sum was needed to connect the homes to infrastructure such as water and electricity. Others were told that they needed to make a donation for those who were still left homeless.The sum of $40,000 is cheap for a new apartment, but it’s still a princely sum in Gaza, where unemployment is rampant and the average person makes $174 a month, according to a 2014 UNRWA report. At the end of the day, Hamas will be $36 million richer on Qatar’s dime.Why not $41 million? According to Palestinian sources, some 150 of the lottery winners had the $40,000 fee waived because they are considered “close to Hamas.”The housing saga caused considerable anger against the group, but it’s not the only area in which Hamas is oppressing its own people and sparking animosity.While Gaza doesn’t have a lot of land for farming or natural resources, it does have ample access to the sea, and fishing has always been one of the Strip’s strongest industries.Yet fisherman have been hamstrung to some extent by Israeli restrictions on how far they can go out because of the concern over smuggling, among other reasons. This matter is an almost constant cause of complaint against Israel from the international community.Israeli security forces even seize the vessels of those fishermen who stray beyond the permitted fishing boundary. But once the boat is returned to the Strip after any suspicion is cleared, Hamas forces the owner to pay a tax to get it back.Residents are also made to pay a tax any time they need the help of a policeman.Despite the delays in paying the wages of Hamas government employees, the members of the military wing — some 40,000 in number, including police – continue to be paid, though the money comes from Iran and not from those fees.And the group doesn’t reach only into people’s wallets, but also into their medical charts. It’s no secret that in Gaza for a certain amount of money you can get a note from a senior doctor for urgent medical treatment in the West Bank or even in Israel. Hamas uses those who have these permits to transfer cash or messages to operatives in the West Bank.All the while, the international community focuses on economic hardship in the Strip caused by the Israeli and Egyptian blockade, while seemingly casting a blind eye on Hamas, which raises funds on the backs of the Strip’s residents and invests tens of millions of dollars each month on building up its fighting force, digging attack tunnels that may stretch into Israel and manufacturing rockets.According to Israeli estimates, each year, Hamas invests nearly NIS 100 million ($25 million) alone on smuggling materials for manufacturing weapons and setting up tunnels. The military wing takes care of buying the materials, sometimes from Israeli vendors who don’t realize where it is going.Gaza trader Usama Zuarub, for example, bought nearly $30 million of steel on behalf of Hamas. Just the communications equipment that Hamas buys each year comes to NIS 8-9 million.Most of those smuggled materials come into the Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, where Hamas takes advantage of trucks carrying what little is allowed into Gaza.According to recent statistics on the Israeli side, each day some 650-700 trucks go through the crossing, many of them carrying goods from around the world, shipped via Israeli or Egyptian ports.Israel inspects the goods before they go into Gaza, and hardly a week goes without the discovery of smuggled materials used either for digging tunnels or manufacturing rockets.The amount is huge: tons of steel wire, for example, that is used in tunnel construction, radio and communications equipment, steel, motors, fiberglass and more.Recently, Israeli authorities even discovered electrodes packed into butter shipped from a Ramallah factory.All that is aside from the military uses Hamas makes of construction material such as cement and wood that are brought into Gaza for the purpose of rehabilitating homes, the very homes that were destroyed in that last war.
Hamas hacks into Israeli TV and threatens: ‘Terror will never end’-Gaza’s Islamist rulers interrupt private satellite feed of Channel 2 ‘Big Brother’ to tell Israelis to ‘get out of our country’. Rockets fired soon after-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 11:37 am
Some satellite viewers of Israel’s Channel 2 reality show “Big Brother” found their broadcast interrupted on Friday night, to be replaced by a message of hatred from Palestinian terror group Hamas.The adventures of house-bound reality stars were suddenly interrupted, and TV screens filled instead with images and messages of incitement from Hamas, which warned of fresh terror attacks. Soon afterwards, a volley of rockets was launched at southern Israel from Hamas-ruled Gaza. Four rockets fell in open areas.Viewers were quick to bring attention to the interruption, which Channel 2 said only affected homes with private dishes, not those using Israel’s main satellite and cable companies. The disruption apparently lasted a little over three and a half minutes.“Learn from history,” said the Hamas message in Hebrew and Arabic. “Flee for your lives and get out of our country.”The text, which was displayed against a backdrop of images of past terror attacks and of security forces bringing down terrorists, continued: You murder women and schoolgirls in cold blood.”The hackers also aired images from funerals for soldiers and victims of terror attacks, with the message: “So wait for our pressure, the pressure will be fierce.”The video included footage from a January 1 attack in Tel Aviv, when an Arab Israeli killed three people in a shooting spree.“The year started in Tel Aviv,” said the accompanying message, “and we have already returned to Dizengoff,” a reference to the busy thoroughfare on which Nashat Milhem killed two people during the attack.“Stay in your homes, the story is not over,” the Hamas message continued. “The continuation will come.”Islamist terror group Hamas seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in 2007. It avowedly seeks the destruction of Israel. Israel and Egypt maintain a security blockade on Gaza in an effort to prevent Hamas, which has fought three recent wars against Israel, from importing weaponry.Israeli security forces on Thursday night seized the West Bank offices of a Palestinian TV and radio station linked to the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, on the grounds that it was broadcasting incitement. The crackdown came after a string of Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Petah Tikva on Tuesday, which killed an American tourist and wounded more than a dozen people.
France warns it could sanction Iran over missile tests-After Netanyahu asks powers to punish Tehran over ballistic missile drills, Paris says Europeans could take action; diplomats discuss French peace process proposal-By AFP March 13, 2016, 4:49 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Sunday warned Iran of possible European sanctions over its recent ballistic missile launches.“If necessary, sanctions will be taken,” Ayrault said after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and several European counterparts.At the meeting, diplomats also discussed the French initiative for a multilateral conference to restart the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, as well as Syrian peace negotiations.Kerry described the Iranian actions — which the US has asked to be discussed at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday — as a breach of UN resolutions.Pime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli diplomats to demand that world powers punish Iran for missile launches, his office said Saturday.Netanyahu “instructed the foreign ministry to contact the P5+1 countries and demand that immediate punitive measures be taken in the wake of Iran’s repeated and gross violations on the missiles issue,” it said in an English-language statement.An agreement between Iran and the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) lifts international sanctions in return for Tehran ensuring that its nuclear program remains purely for civilian use.Israel strongly opposed the July deal, with Netanyahu warning that it would not block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons.Iran says it fired two long-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday and similar tests were carried out on Tuesday, less than two months after the Iran nuclear deal was implemented.Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Friday that she had asked the Security Council to discuss the matter on Monday.The United States is “deeply concerned” about the missile tests “which are provocative and destabilizing,” she said in a statement.Under the deal with Iran that came into force on January 16, most sanctions resolutions against Tehran were annulled.But an arms embargo and restrictions on ballistic missile technology capable of carrying a nuclear warhead remain in place, under Resolution 2231.Iran has maintained that its missile program is not aimed at developing a nuclear capability.Diplomats also discussed France’s proposal to convene a peace conference to jumpstart the Israeli Palestinian peace process. Israel had previously opposed the move, after Ayrault’s predecessor said Paris would recognize Palestine if efforts failed, a threat Ayrault retracted last week.Israel and the US have not officially said if they support the peace confab proposal. Both countries have maintained the bilateral talks between Jerusalem and Ramallah are needed to reach an agreement.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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
Netanyahu: Hamas responsible for all Gaza rocket fire-As ruler of the Palestinian territory, PM says, terror group ‘must prevent’ such attacks; Israel to continue retaliatory strikes-By Tamar Pileggi March 13, 2016, 2:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday charged that as the ruler of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas terrorist organization was responsible for any rockets fired at Israel from inside the Palestinian territory.“Israel holds Hamas responsible for all firing carried out from the Gaza Strip toward Israel; Hamas must prevent such firing,” he said at the weekly cabinet meeting.On Friday evening, four rockets launched from within the Palestinian territory landed in an open field near the southern Israeli city of Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported. Hours later, Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.While Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Saturday that Hamas was not seeking to escalate hostilities and likely did not launch Friday’s rockets, Netanyahu made clear the IDF would continue to “respond to any such provocations.”“Our policy in regard to the Gaza Strip is clear: Israel will not tolerate any rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel,” the prime minister said Sunday.No organization has claimed responsibility for Friday’s rocket attack, which came at around the same time as a shooting attack in the West Bank that left two IDF soldiers lightly hurt.Hamas’s Health Ministry said 6-year-old Isaa Abu Khussa and her brother Yassin Sleiman, 10, were killed in the retaliatory Israeli strike. A Reuters report said the Gaza victims’ home was located near a Hamas training base that was targeted in the Israeli reprisal raids. It said the home was hit by debris from a missile explosion nearby. The IDF did not comment on the reports of the deaths, but said its airstrikes were directed at Hamas “terror infrastructure.”In his comments Sunday, Netanyahu also said that Israel continues to actively combat threat of “incitement to commit murder” in Palestinian media, and pointed to a Palestinian TV and radio station whose West Bank offices were shuttered by Israel early on Friday.In response, the Islamic Jihad terrorist group held a rally Friday afternoon in Gaza in a show of solidarity with the shuttered Palestine al-Yawm (Palestine Today), where the media outlet continues to broadcast from.Later on Friday night, Hamas hacked into the private satellite feed of Israel’s Channel 2 Friday night, interrupting broadcasts with a video promising its “terror will never end.”The rockets were fired into Israel shortly after.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Tel Aviv shooter planned to attack kindergartens, police reveal-On website dedicated to investigation into deadly January attack by Nashat Milhem, police admit need for better coordination, handling of tips during manhunt-By Judah Ari Gross March 13, 2016, 5:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The killer behind a New Year’s Day shooting attack in central Tel Aviv that left two people dead planned to carry out additional attacks against Israeli kindergartens in Tel Aviv, the Israel Police revealed on Sunday.In a rare move, the police created a website dedicated to the terror attack carried out by Nashat Milhem, discussing law enforcement’s successes and failures in the investigation that led to a shootout with the terrorist in his hometown of Wadi Ara a week after the attack.On the website, police chief Roni Alsheich credited his force and Shin Bet security service agents with preventing the additional attacks that Milhem had planned.Two days after the attack, police discovered that Milhem had prepared to “carry out an attack on Tel Aviv kindergartens.” But Milhem “felt he was being chased” and instead of carrying out further attacks, “focused on survival.”A main takeaway in the case, according to police, is a need for the force to better coordinate between different police districts, handle the massive number of tips being called in following an attack, and accept text messages, instead of only phone calls.On January 1, Milhem opened fire at the Simta bar in central Tel Aviv, killing Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi. A few minutes later, he killed Amin Shaaban, an Arab Israeli cab driver, outside a Tel Aviv hotel.“This was an abnormal incident, in which an Israeli citizen carried out an attack in a residential area that he knew well from his work there,” Alsheich said in a statement on the website.The attack occurred “in a short amount of time, [then] he changed clothes and acted like an innocent civilian, which allowed him to disconnect from the event, without the need for helpers,” he added.As the attack happened in the heart of Tel Aviv, the police and Shin Bet security service investigation came under fierce public criticism in its first few days for failing to locate the terrorist responsible.Following the January 8 shootout with Milhem, more seemingly damning information came out about the case, including the failure of the police to respond to a call hours after the attack about a blood-covered man on a bus heading toward Wadi Ara and law enforcement’s delay in investigating a watch with a GPS tracker that Milhem stole, which would have led police directly to him.This new website appears to be a direct response to some of those criticisms. However, police did not discuss the “smartwatch,” which if discovered earlier, may have led to Milhem’s capture.On their website, police said they had received the initial call about Milhem traveling toward Wadi Ara after they’d already begun searching the area, making the call inconsequential to the investigation.A police intelligence officer also tried to make contact with the three Israelis who called in the tip, but they didn’t pick up their phone, according to law enforcement.“[This] created a feeling for the tipsters that the information they had given was ignored and did not reach its destination,” the website said.The police also defended the delay in releasing a photograph and name of Milhem, saying they had not initially been sure if Nashat Milhem or his brother was the person responsible for the attack.One of the main areas the police said needed to be improved was communication with the public. During the investigation, police made only vague statements about its progress, which did little to assuage the concerns of Tel Avivians.For instance, Alsheich told reporters a few days after the attack that it was possible to “dramatically reduce the tension in the Tel Aviv area,” but said he could not elaborate “in order to not cause harm” to the ongoing investigation.“In every situational assessment meeting (including those in the field), it is necessary to discuss ‘orders for the public,’ and those should be made accessible to the public (through the police’s Facebook, a message to the media, a prepared response statement on the 110 hotline, etc.),” the police said (emphasis theirs).
IDF strikes Gaza after rocket fire; 10-year-old said killed-Warplanes retaliate after projectiles hit southern Israel; Hamas Health Ministry says two other children also hurt-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 3:08 am
Israeli jets struck the northern Gaza Strip early Saturday morning in response to rocket fire at the southern city of Sderot hours earlier. Officials in the Hamas-run enclave said a 10-year-old boy was killed.The IDF confirmed that it struck four Hamas targets in northern Gaza, with Palestinian sources saying the bombings occurred near the town of Beit Lahiya.“In response to the aggression, the Israel Air Force targeted four Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip,” a military statement said.“There have been seven rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year.”Hamas’s Health Ministry said 10-year-old Yassin Sleiman Abu Khusa was killed and his 6-year-old sister Yasmin and 13-year-old brother were injured in the airstrikes.The IDF had no immediate comment about the reports of Palestinian casualties in the strikes.At least four rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in an open field near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Friday night.No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. All four rockets fell in open areas.Rocket sirens sounded in the Sha’ar Hanegev area and in Sderot ahead of the projectiles’ fall.No organization claimed responsibility for the launch, which came at around the same time as a shooting attack in the West Bank that left two IDF soldiers lightly hurt.Israel has said in the past that it holds the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group, which rules the Strip, as responsible for any attacks initiated from within the Palestinian coastal enclave.The strikes came hours after Islamic Jihad held a rally in Gaza, in a show of solidarity with a Palestinian TV and radio station whose West Bank offices were shuttered by Israel early Friday, but which continued to broadcast from the Strip.
Second body found after Gaza tunnel collapse-Hamas ministry says the body of Mohammed Abbas of Rafah was recovered from passage under border with Egypt-By AFP March 13, 2016, 4:27 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
GAZA CITY — A second Gazan was found dead Sunday after the collapse of a tunnel on the Egypt border, the interior ministry in the Islamist Hamas-run enclave said.On Thursday, rescue services said seven men had been trapped in the collapse.Five were rescued, but on Sunday the ministry said they had retrieved the body of Mohammed Abbas of Rafah, after announcing the death of a man named as Fadi Abu Dan.A local civil defense official described the underground passage from the southern Gaza town of Rafah into neighboring Egypt as a “trade tunnel.”The cave-in was caused by Egyptian flooding of the border zone in its campaign to stop smuggling, the official told AFP.Since January 26, at least 12 Gazans have been killed in five separate tunnel collapses with both Israel and Egypt operating against the diggers.An Israeli naval blockade severely restricts the movement into and out of the territory of people and any materials which Israel fears could be used for weapons production or tunnel digging. Egypt’s sole border crossing with Gaza has also remained largely closed since 2013.The tunnels into Egypt are used for transit of commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.Hamas is also actively digging tunnels under the border with Israel, which have been used in the past to launch attacks inside Israeli territory.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Festival apologizes over Muslim woman who was asked to remove hijab-South by Southwest says requesting a US Olympic fencer to take off headscarf in order to get ID was ‘insensitive’-By AP March 13, 2016, 4:00 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AUSTIN, Texas — A South by Southwest volunteer has been dismissed and festival organizers apologized after an US Olympic fencer who is Muslim was asked to remove her headscarf in order to get a credential.South by Southwest registration official Amin Simms said in an emailed statement that it was “an insensitive request” and against the festival’s policy to ask Ibtihaj Muhammad to remove her hijab Saturday at the Austin festival. Muhammad couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.Simms wrote that festival organizers apologized to Muhammad and that they were embarrassed by the situation.Muhammad is set to compete for the US at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this summer.South by Southwest is a major festival of film, interactive media, and music.
Israel said to block Indonesian foreign minister from Ramallah-Retno Marsudi had planned to meet with PA President Abbas in Ramallah to discuss new West Bank consulate-By Times of Israel staff March 13, 2016, 4:15 pm
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of preventing the Indonesian foreign minister from entering Ramallah because she did not plan to also visit Jerusalem Sunday.Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi was slated to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.But in a statement, the ministry said Israel blocked Marsudi because she would not extend her trip and meet with Israeli officials, according to Arab media accounts.Instead Maliki traveled to Jordan to meet with Marsudi, the ministry said, according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.“In recognition of the historical and unique ties between Palestine and Indonesia and this country’s supportive stance with the Palestinian people, al-Malki traveled to Amman to meet with his Indonesian counterpart,” the statement read.Israel’s Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on the allegation.The main purpose of Marsudi’s visit was to inaugurate an honorary consulate and its consul, who has been appointed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the Indonesian Jakarta Post reported.On Friday, Marsudi announced her intention to visit Ramallah, following a working trip to Jordan.In the past Israel has allowed foreign diplomats to visit Palestinian officials without also meeting with Israelis, which makes this case, if true, a change in the established protocol.The decision to block Marsudi’s entrance to Ramallah comes less than a week after Indonesia held the 5th Extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, which discussed the possibility of boycotting Israeli products made in the West Bank.“Technically, the mandatory declaration of the country of origin in every imported goods document has made it is possible for Indonesia to ban Israeli products,” said Benny Soetrisno, deputy chairman for trade of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.“However, it is also possible for Israel to do the same thing to Indonesian products,” he said.Indonesia exported over $100 million (NIS 387 million) worth of goods to Israel in 2015 and imported nearly $80 million (NIS 310 million)in goods from Israel, according to the Jakarta Post.Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, with a population of over 250 million people.Approximately 75 percent of Indonesians hold a negative view of Israel, according to a 2014 BBC poll. And Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel, though the two do have trade agreements.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Dead Palestinian terrorist honored at Amsterdam university cafe-Organizers say Omar Nayef Zayed was killed by the Mossad outside Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria this month-By JTA March 12, 2016, 6:03 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Amid protest from a Jewish group, pro-Palestinian activists commemorated at the University of Amsterdam a terrorist who died on the run from Israeli authorities after he murdered an Israeli in Jerusalem.The event honoring Omar Nayef Zayed, who in 1990 escaped to Bulgaria from an Israeli prison, was held Thursday at CREA café, a for-profit event venue owned by the university and on the campus of the University of Amsterdam. Several dozen people arrived at the event, organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine group as part of their Israel Apartheid Week activities.“The evening will begin with the commemoration of victims of Israeli occupation,” the organizers wrote, “such as Omar Nayef Zayed who was recently murdered by the Israeli Mossad while seeking asylum in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.”Zayed, 52, was found dead in a yard of the embassy on March 4, with severe contusions to his body. Bulgarian authorities said he was not shot, raising the hypothesis he fell from the building of the Palestinian mission in the Bulgarian capital, where he was holed up since Israel put out a request for his extradition. Israeli officials declined to comment on his death, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation.Herman Loonstein of the Federative Jewish Netherlands organization, a local advocacy group, said the event “risks encouraging anti-Semitism by celebrating the murder of a Jew,” adding: “As the University of Amsterdam is hosting this event, they are complicit.” He demanded the University of Amsterdam apologize and distance itself from the messages heard at the meeting Thursday.Reached by telephone and email, the university declined to react to the allegations.Zayed, who was born in the West Bank city of Jenin, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986 for the murder of a Jewish yeshiva student in the Old City of Jerusalem. He escaped prison while undergoing medical treatment.
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Minister: Abbas is worst inciter against Israel-Ofir Akunis says that not only does the PA president encourage terror attacks, he also funds families of terrorists-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 2:49 pm
Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis on Saturday accused Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of being the greatest inciter against Israel over the past six months of violence.“The [Palestinian] Authority has embarked on an extreme campaign of incitement against Israel in its education system and the Palestinian media,” Likud’s Akunis told a cultural event in Netanya.“According to the Palestinians, all Israelis are apes and pigs who defile the land,” Akunis said. “Not only does the Palestinian leader not condemn terror attacks, he encourages them and pays salaries to the families of the terrorists.”Abbas this week declined to condemn Tuesday’s attack in Jaffa, in which an American tourist was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist. He offered his condolences for Taylor Force’s murder after he was rebuked by a visiting US Vice President Joe Biden, who himself was in Jaffa at the time of the attack, but blamed Israeli occupation for the violence.The PA president in September accused Jews of “desecrating” the Temple Mount, a site in Jerusalem holy to both Jews and Muslims, which has been a long-standing flash point for outbreaks of Palestinian violence.“The Al-Aqsa Mosque is ours. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours as well. They have no right to desecrate the mosque with their dirty feet, we won’t allow them to do that,” said Abbas, in reference to the mosque that sits atop the Mount.Twenty nine Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in an ongoing wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks since October. An estimated 180 Palestinians have died in the same period, more than two thirds of them in the course of attacking Israelis, and the rest in clashes with Israeli troops, according to the IDF.
In destitute Gaza, Hamas rides world’s goodwill all the way to the bank-Terror group uses tax money, donations from well-meaning countries eager to ease hardship for Gazans, to fund its military build-up-By Avi Issacharoff March 12, 2016, 3:45 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
There’s been a lot of talk in the international media about the slow pace of rebuilding in the Gaza Strip, where some 100,000 people still don’t have housing following the summer 2014 war between the IDF and Hamas-led groups in Gaza.But what most people haven’t heard is that new homes are being built, slowly, for the 17,000 or so families whose houses were totally destroyed.Or at least that’s how it looks on paper.In actuality, the homes, donated by Qatar, are being practically given away to Hamas cronies while others have to pay off the terror group to put a roof over their heads — one of myriad ways Hamas is exploiting the humanitarian crisis in the Strip to pad its own coffers.Muhammad Al-Amadi, a Qatari envoy charged with overseeing the emirate’s funding of Gaza’s rebuilding, recently inaugurated a new neighborhood near Khan Younis in the southern Strip, completely paid for by his country. “Hamad City,” named in honor of the father of the current ruler of Qatar, who took the throne two years ago, constitutes some 1,040 new housing units for Gaza’s homeless.The Hamas government, the de facto rulers of Gaza, instituted a lottery in which those who had no home could register to win apartments for free.But that was not what was really going on.The winners discovered to their amazement that they were required to pay Hamas $40,000 for each apartment. One claim was that a significant sum was needed to connect the homes to infrastructure such as water and electricity. Others were told that they needed to make a donation for those who were still left homeless.The sum of $40,000 is cheap for a new apartment, but it’s still a princely sum in Gaza, where unemployment is rampant and the average person makes $174 a month, according to a 2014 UNRWA report. At the end of the day, Hamas will be $36 million richer on Qatar’s dime.Why not $41 million? According to Palestinian sources, some 150 of the lottery winners had the $40,000 fee waived because they are considered “close to Hamas.”The housing saga caused considerable anger against the group, but it’s not the only area in which Hamas is oppressing its own people and sparking animosity.While Gaza doesn’t have a lot of land for farming or natural resources, it does have ample access to the sea, and fishing has always been one of the Strip’s strongest industries.Yet fisherman have been hamstrung to some extent by Israeli restrictions on how far they can go out because of the concern over smuggling, among other reasons. This matter is an almost constant cause of complaint against Israel from the international community.Israeli security forces even seize the vessels of those fishermen who stray beyond the permitted fishing boundary. But once the boat is returned to the Strip after any suspicion is cleared, Hamas forces the owner to pay a tax to get it back.Residents are also made to pay a tax any time they need the help of a policeman.Despite the delays in paying the wages of Hamas government employees, the members of the military wing — some 40,000 in number, including police – continue to be paid, though the money comes from Iran and not from those fees.And the group doesn’t reach only into people’s wallets, but also into their medical charts. It’s no secret that in Gaza for a certain amount of money you can get a note from a senior doctor for urgent medical treatment in the West Bank or even in Israel. Hamas uses those who have these permits to transfer cash or messages to operatives in the West Bank.All the while, the international community focuses on economic hardship in the Strip caused by the Israeli and Egyptian blockade, while seemingly casting a blind eye on Hamas, which raises funds on the backs of the Strip’s residents and invests tens of millions of dollars each month on building up its fighting force, digging attack tunnels that may stretch into Israel and manufacturing rockets.According to Israeli estimates, each year, Hamas invests nearly NIS 100 million ($25 million) alone on smuggling materials for manufacturing weapons and setting up tunnels. The military wing takes care of buying the materials, sometimes from Israeli vendors who don’t realize where it is going.Gaza trader Usama Zuarub, for example, bought nearly $30 million of steel on behalf of Hamas. Just the communications equipment that Hamas buys each year comes to NIS 8-9 million.Most of those smuggled materials come into the Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, where Hamas takes advantage of trucks carrying what little is allowed into Gaza.According to recent statistics on the Israeli side, each day some 650-700 trucks go through the crossing, many of them carrying goods from around the world, shipped via Israeli or Egyptian ports.Israel inspects the goods before they go into Gaza, and hardly a week goes without the discovery of smuggled materials used either for digging tunnels or manufacturing rockets.The amount is huge: tons of steel wire, for example, that is used in tunnel construction, radio and communications equipment, steel, motors, fiberglass and more.Recently, Israeli authorities even discovered electrodes packed into butter shipped from a Ramallah factory.All that is aside from the military uses Hamas makes of construction material such as cement and wood that are brought into Gaza for the purpose of rehabilitating homes, the very homes that were destroyed in that last war.
Hamas hacks into Israeli TV and threatens: ‘Terror will never end’-Gaza’s Islamist rulers interrupt private satellite feed of Channel 2 ‘Big Brother’ to tell Israelis to ‘get out of our country’. Rockets fired soon after-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 11:37 am
Some satellite viewers of Israel’s Channel 2 reality show “Big Brother” found their broadcast interrupted on Friday night, to be replaced by a message of hatred from Palestinian terror group Hamas.The adventures of house-bound reality stars were suddenly interrupted, and TV screens filled instead with images and messages of incitement from Hamas, which warned of fresh terror attacks. Soon afterwards, a volley of rockets was launched at southern Israel from Hamas-ruled Gaza. Four rockets fell in open areas.Viewers were quick to bring attention to the interruption, which Channel 2 said only affected homes with private dishes, not those using Israel’s main satellite and cable companies. The disruption apparently lasted a little over three and a half minutes.“Learn from history,” said the Hamas message in Hebrew and Arabic. “Flee for your lives and get out of our country.”The text, which was displayed against a backdrop of images of past terror attacks and of security forces bringing down terrorists, continued: You murder women and schoolgirls in cold blood.”The hackers also aired images from funerals for soldiers and victims of terror attacks, with the message: “So wait for our pressure, the pressure will be fierce.”The video included footage from a January 1 attack in Tel Aviv, when an Arab Israeli killed three people in a shooting spree.“The year started in Tel Aviv,” said the accompanying message, “and we have already returned to Dizengoff,” a reference to the busy thoroughfare on which Nashat Milhem killed two people during the attack.“Stay in your homes, the story is not over,” the Hamas message continued. “The continuation will come.”Islamist terror group Hamas seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in 2007. It avowedly seeks the destruction of Israel. Israel and Egypt maintain a security blockade on Gaza in an effort to prevent Hamas, which has fought three recent wars against Israel, from importing weaponry.Israeli security forces on Thursday night seized the West Bank offices of a Palestinian TV and radio station linked to the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, on the grounds that it was broadcasting incitement. The crackdown came after a string of Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Petah Tikva on Tuesday, which killed an American tourist and wounded more than a dozen people.
France warns it could sanction Iran over missile tests-After Netanyahu asks powers to punish Tehran over ballistic missile drills, Paris says Europeans could take action; diplomats discuss French peace process proposal-By AFP March 13, 2016, 4:49 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Sunday warned Iran of possible European sanctions over its recent ballistic missile launches.“If necessary, sanctions will be taken,” Ayrault said after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and several European counterparts.At the meeting, diplomats also discussed the French initiative for a multilateral conference to restart the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, as well as Syrian peace negotiations.Kerry described the Iranian actions — which the US has asked to be discussed at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday — as a breach of UN resolutions.Pime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli diplomats to demand that world powers punish Iran for missile launches, his office said Saturday.Netanyahu “instructed the foreign ministry to contact the P5+1 countries and demand that immediate punitive measures be taken in the wake of Iran’s repeated and gross violations on the missiles issue,” it said in an English-language statement.An agreement between Iran and the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) lifts international sanctions in return for Tehran ensuring that its nuclear program remains purely for civilian use.Israel strongly opposed the July deal, with Netanyahu warning that it would not block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons.Iran says it fired two long-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday and similar tests were carried out on Tuesday, less than two months after the Iran nuclear deal was implemented.Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Friday that she had asked the Security Council to discuss the matter on Monday.The United States is “deeply concerned” about the missile tests “which are provocative and destabilizing,” she said in a statement.Under the deal with Iran that came into force on January 16, most sanctions resolutions against Tehran were annulled.But an arms embargo and restrictions on ballistic missile technology capable of carrying a nuclear warhead remain in place, under Resolution 2231.Iran has maintained that its missile program is not aimed at developing a nuclear capability.Diplomats also discussed France’s proposal to convene a peace conference to jumpstart the Israeli Palestinian peace process. Israel had previously opposed the move, after Ayrault’s predecessor said Paris would recognize Palestine if efforts failed, a threat Ayrault retracted last week.Israel and the US have not officially said if they support the peace confab proposal. Both countries have maintained the bilateral talks between Jerusalem and Ramallah are needed to reach an agreement.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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
Netanyahu: Hamas responsible for all Gaza rocket fire-As ruler of the Palestinian territory, PM says, terror group ‘must prevent’ such attacks; Israel to continue retaliatory strikes-By Tamar Pileggi March 13, 2016, 2:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday charged that as the ruler of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas terrorist organization was responsible for any rockets fired at Israel from inside the Palestinian territory.“Israel holds Hamas responsible for all firing carried out from the Gaza Strip toward Israel; Hamas must prevent such firing,” he said at the weekly cabinet meeting.On Friday evening, four rockets launched from within the Palestinian territory landed in an open field near the southern Israeli city of Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported. Hours later, Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.While Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Saturday that Hamas was not seeking to escalate hostilities and likely did not launch Friday’s rockets, Netanyahu made clear the IDF would continue to “respond to any such provocations.”“Our policy in regard to the Gaza Strip is clear: Israel will not tolerate any rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel,” the prime minister said Sunday.No organization has claimed responsibility for Friday’s rocket attack, which came at around the same time as a shooting attack in the West Bank that left two IDF soldiers lightly hurt.Hamas’s Health Ministry said 6-year-old Isaa Abu Khussa and her brother Yassin Sleiman, 10, were killed in the retaliatory Israeli strike. A Reuters report said the Gaza victims’ home was located near a Hamas training base that was targeted in the Israeli reprisal raids. It said the home was hit by debris from a missile explosion nearby. The IDF did not comment on the reports of the deaths, but said its airstrikes were directed at Hamas “terror infrastructure.”In his comments Sunday, Netanyahu also said that Israel continues to actively combat threat of “incitement to commit murder” in Palestinian media, and pointed to a Palestinian TV and radio station whose West Bank offices were shuttered by Israel early on Friday.In response, the Islamic Jihad terrorist group held a rally Friday afternoon in Gaza in a show of solidarity with the shuttered Palestine al-Yawm (Palestine Today), where the media outlet continues to broadcast from.Later on Friday night, Hamas hacked into the private satellite feed of Israel’s Channel 2 Friday night, interrupting broadcasts with a video promising its “terror will never end.”The rockets were fired into Israel shortly after.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Tel Aviv shooter planned to attack kindergartens, police reveal-On website dedicated to investigation into deadly January attack by Nashat Milhem, police admit need for better coordination, handling of tips during manhunt-By Judah Ari Gross March 13, 2016, 5:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The killer behind a New Year’s Day shooting attack in central Tel Aviv that left two people dead planned to carry out additional attacks against Israeli kindergartens in Tel Aviv, the Israel Police revealed on Sunday.In a rare move, the police created a website dedicated to the terror attack carried out by Nashat Milhem, discussing law enforcement’s successes and failures in the investigation that led to a shootout with the terrorist in his hometown of Wadi Ara a week after the attack.On the website, police chief Roni Alsheich credited his force and Shin Bet security service agents with preventing the additional attacks that Milhem had planned.Two days after the attack, police discovered that Milhem had prepared to “carry out an attack on Tel Aviv kindergartens.” But Milhem “felt he was being chased” and instead of carrying out further attacks, “focused on survival.”A main takeaway in the case, according to police, is a need for the force to better coordinate between different police districts, handle the massive number of tips being called in following an attack, and accept text messages, instead of only phone calls.On January 1, Milhem opened fire at the Simta bar in central Tel Aviv, killing Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi. A few minutes later, he killed Amin Shaaban, an Arab Israeli cab driver, outside a Tel Aviv hotel.“This was an abnormal incident, in which an Israeli citizen carried out an attack in a residential area that he knew well from his work there,” Alsheich said in a statement on the website.The attack occurred “in a short amount of time, [then] he changed clothes and acted like an innocent civilian, which allowed him to disconnect from the event, without the need for helpers,” he added.As the attack happened in the heart of Tel Aviv, the police and Shin Bet security service investigation came under fierce public criticism in its first few days for failing to locate the terrorist responsible.Following the January 8 shootout with Milhem, more seemingly damning information came out about the case, including the failure of the police to respond to a call hours after the attack about a blood-covered man on a bus heading toward Wadi Ara and law enforcement’s delay in investigating a watch with a GPS tracker that Milhem stole, which would have led police directly to him.This new website appears to be a direct response to some of those criticisms. However, police did not discuss the “smartwatch,” which if discovered earlier, may have led to Milhem’s capture.On their website, police said they had received the initial call about Milhem traveling toward Wadi Ara after they’d already begun searching the area, making the call inconsequential to the investigation.A police intelligence officer also tried to make contact with the three Israelis who called in the tip, but they didn’t pick up their phone, according to law enforcement.“[This] created a feeling for the tipsters that the information they had given was ignored and did not reach its destination,” the website said.The police also defended the delay in releasing a photograph and name of Milhem, saying they had not initially been sure if Nashat Milhem or his brother was the person responsible for the attack.One of the main areas the police said needed to be improved was communication with the public. During the investigation, police made only vague statements about its progress, which did little to assuage the concerns of Tel Avivians.For instance, Alsheich told reporters a few days after the attack that it was possible to “dramatically reduce the tension in the Tel Aviv area,” but said he could not elaborate “in order to not cause harm” to the ongoing investigation.“In every situational assessment meeting (including those in the field), it is necessary to discuss ‘orders for the public,’ and those should be made accessible to the public (through the police’s Facebook, a message to the media, a prepared response statement on the 110 hotline, etc.),” the police said (emphasis theirs).
IDF strikes Gaza after rocket fire; 10-year-old said killed-Warplanes retaliate after projectiles hit southern Israel; Hamas Health Ministry says two other children also hurt-By Times of Israel staff March 12, 2016, 3:08 am
Israeli jets struck the northern Gaza Strip early Saturday morning in response to rocket fire at the southern city of Sderot hours earlier. Officials in the Hamas-run enclave said a 10-year-old boy was killed.The IDF confirmed that it struck four Hamas targets in northern Gaza, with Palestinian sources saying the bombings occurred near the town of Beit Lahiya.“In response to the aggression, the Israel Air Force targeted four Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip,” a military statement said.“There have been seven rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year.”Hamas’s Health Ministry said 10-year-old Yassin Sleiman Abu Khusa was killed and his 6-year-old sister Yasmin and 13-year-old brother were injured in the airstrikes.The IDF had no immediate comment about the reports of Palestinian casualties in the strikes.At least four rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in an open field near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Friday night.No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. All four rockets fell in open areas.Rocket sirens sounded in the Sha’ar Hanegev area and in Sderot ahead of the projectiles’ fall.No organization claimed responsibility for the launch, which came at around the same time as a shooting attack in the West Bank that left two IDF soldiers lightly hurt.Israel has said in the past that it holds the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group, which rules the Strip, as responsible for any attacks initiated from within the Palestinian coastal enclave.The strikes came hours after Islamic Jihad held a rally in Gaza, in a show of solidarity with a Palestinian TV and radio station whose West Bank offices were shuttered by Israel early Friday, but which continued to broadcast from the Strip.
Second body found after Gaza tunnel collapse-Hamas ministry says the body of Mohammed Abbas of Rafah was recovered from passage under border with Egypt-By AFP March 13, 2016, 4:27 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
GAZA CITY — A second Gazan was found dead Sunday after the collapse of a tunnel on the Egypt border, the interior ministry in the Islamist Hamas-run enclave said.On Thursday, rescue services said seven men had been trapped in the collapse.Five were rescued, but on Sunday the ministry said they had retrieved the body of Mohammed Abbas of Rafah, after announcing the death of a man named as Fadi Abu Dan.A local civil defense official described the underground passage from the southern Gaza town of Rafah into neighboring Egypt as a “trade tunnel.”The cave-in was caused by Egyptian flooding of the border zone in its campaign to stop smuggling, the official told AFP.Since January 26, at least 12 Gazans have been killed in five separate tunnel collapses with both Israel and Egypt operating against the diggers.An Israeli naval blockade severely restricts the movement into and out of the territory of people and any materials which Israel fears could be used for weapons production or tunnel digging. Egypt’s sole border crossing with Gaza has also remained largely closed since 2013.The tunnels into Egypt are used for transit of commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.Hamas is also actively digging tunnels under the border with Israel, which have been used in the past to launch attacks inside Israeli territory.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Festival apologizes over Muslim woman who was asked to remove hijab-South by Southwest says requesting a US Olympic fencer to take off headscarf in order to get ID was ‘insensitive’-By AP March 13, 2016, 4:00 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AUSTIN, Texas — A South by Southwest volunteer has been dismissed and festival organizers apologized after an US Olympic fencer who is Muslim was asked to remove her headscarf in order to get a credential.South by Southwest registration official Amin Simms said in an emailed statement that it was “an insensitive request” and against the festival’s policy to ask Ibtihaj Muhammad to remove her hijab Saturday at the Austin festival. Muhammad couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.Simms wrote that festival organizers apologized to Muhammad and that they were embarrassed by the situation.Muhammad is set to compete for the US at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this summer.South by Southwest is a major festival of film, interactive media, and music.
Israel said to block Indonesian foreign minister from Ramallah-Retno Marsudi had planned to meet with PA President Abbas in Ramallah to discuss new West Bank consulate-By Times of Israel staff March 13, 2016, 4:15 pm
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of preventing the Indonesian foreign minister from entering Ramallah because she did not plan to also visit Jerusalem Sunday.Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi was slated to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.But in a statement, the ministry said Israel blocked Marsudi because she would not extend her trip and meet with Israeli officials, according to Arab media accounts.Instead Maliki traveled to Jordan to meet with Marsudi, the ministry said, according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.“In recognition of the historical and unique ties between Palestine and Indonesia and this country’s supportive stance with the Palestinian people, al-Malki traveled to Amman to meet with his Indonesian counterpart,” the statement read.Israel’s Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on the allegation.The main purpose of Marsudi’s visit was to inaugurate an honorary consulate and its consul, who has been appointed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the Indonesian Jakarta Post reported.On Friday, Marsudi announced her intention to visit Ramallah, following a working trip to Jordan.In the past Israel has allowed foreign diplomats to visit Palestinian officials without also meeting with Israelis, which makes this case, if true, a change in the established protocol.The decision to block Marsudi’s entrance to Ramallah comes less than a week after Indonesia held the 5th Extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, which discussed the possibility of boycotting Israeli products made in the West Bank.“Technically, the mandatory declaration of the country of origin in every imported goods document has made it is possible for Indonesia to ban Israeli products,” said Benny Soetrisno, deputy chairman for trade of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.“However, it is also possible for Israel to do the same thing to Indonesian products,” he said.Indonesia exported over $100 million (NIS 387 million) worth of goods to Israel in 2015 and imported nearly $80 million (NIS 310 million)in goods from Israel, according to the Jakarta Post.Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, with a population of over 250 million people.Approximately 75 percent of Indonesians hold a negative view of Israel, according to a 2014 BBC poll. And Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel, though the two do have trade agreements.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Dead Palestinian terrorist honored at Amsterdam university cafe-Organizers say Omar Nayef Zayed was killed by the Mossad outside Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria this month-By JTA March 12, 2016, 6:03 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Amid protest from a Jewish group, pro-Palestinian activists commemorated at the University of Amsterdam a terrorist who died on the run from Israeli authorities after he murdered an Israeli in Jerusalem.The event honoring Omar Nayef Zayed, who in 1990 escaped to Bulgaria from an Israeli prison, was held Thursday at CREA café, a for-profit event venue owned by the university and on the campus of the University of Amsterdam. Several dozen people arrived at the event, organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine group as part of their Israel Apartheid Week activities.“The evening will begin with the commemoration of victims of Israeli occupation,” the organizers wrote, “such as Omar Nayef Zayed who was recently murdered by the Israeli Mossad while seeking asylum in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.”Zayed, 52, was found dead in a yard of the embassy on March 4, with severe contusions to his body. Bulgarian authorities said he was not shot, raising the hypothesis he fell from the building of the Palestinian mission in the Bulgarian capital, where he was holed up since Israel put out a request for his extradition. Israeli officials declined to comment on his death, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation.Herman Loonstein of the Federative Jewish Netherlands organization, a local advocacy group, said the event “risks encouraging anti-Semitism by celebrating the murder of a Jew,” adding: “As the University of Amsterdam is hosting this event, they are complicit.” He demanded the University of Amsterdam apologize and distance itself from the messages heard at the meeting Thursday.Reached by telephone and email, the university declined to react to the allegations.Zayed, who was born in the West Bank city of Jenin, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986 for the murder of a Jewish yeshiva student in the Old City of Jerusalem. He escaped prison while undergoing medical treatment.
