JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Snowden: Privacy Shield won't stop US mass surveillance
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/09/snowden-privacy-shield-wont-stop-us.html
Netanyahu thanks Christian Zionists in Netherlands for support-‘We know we have no better friends on earth than you,’ PM tells director of Christians for Israel organization-By JTA and Times of Israel staff September 8, 2016, 7:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Benjamin Netanyahu cleared 20 minutes from the schedule of his visit to the Netherlands to thank the country’s leading Christian Zionist activist and chief rabbi for their support for the Jewish state and its people.The Israeli prime minister on Wednesday called Roger van Oordt, director of the Christians for Israel organization. He also telephoned Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, the offices of both men said in statements to the media.“This was a good visit, but it was too short, and I didn’t get to see our best friends in the world,” Netanyahu told a beaming van Oordt, in explaining why they were speaking over the phone rather than in person.“I wanted to call and show my deep appreciation, and we know we have no better friends on earth than you,” Netanyahu said on speakerphone to the board of Christians for Israel – an international pro-Israel advocacy and charity organization based near Amsterdam whose 30 affiliates worldwide have hundreds of thousands of members.Van Oordt said his group was privileged to be phoned by Netanyahu, who said: “I should say I’m the privileged one. We, the people of Israel are the privileged ones in this partnership, this alliance, which is growing strong and based on the deepest values and the deepest, most rich history of culture and faith.”Earlier this year, Christians for Israel’s Dutch affiliate urged its thousands of supporters to buy West Bank settlement goods to counterbalance a government-backed plan to issue special labels for products made by Jewish settlers in that area, which are widely perceived as aimed at generating pressure on Israel to resolve the Palestinian conflict.Also last year, Christians for Israel opened an affiliate in Ukraine, where the group for years has been engaged in efforts to help Jews immigrate to Israel and strengthen their Jewish identities in existing communities. Also involved in this effort is Jacobs, who is a personal friend of van Oordt.Netanyahu thanked Jacobs, a Chabad rabbi who is outspoken in media in his support for Israel and defense of its actions as designed to fight terrorism, for his efforts and for his cooperation with Christians for Israel, which is unusual in its scope for a haredi rabbi of his position.Netanyahu’s two-day visit to the Netherlands, which ended Wednesday, featured some unpleasant incidents from the prime minister’s point of view.Hours before Netanyahu’s arrival, a former Dutch prime minister, Dries van Agt, told a public broadcaster that Netanyahu was a war criminal who should be tried in The Hague, rather than visit it as a head of state.And on Wednesday, a Dutch lawmaker with many Muslim supporters demonstratively refused to shake Netanyahu’s hand.Later in the day Netanyahu released a video from his plane in which he seemed to respond to the snub.“Those who wrinkle their noses, let their noses stay wrinkled,” he said in a video posted to Twitter, quoting former prime minister Menachem Begin. PM Netanyahu: Today, we saw another clear example – of those who want peace and those who don’t. pic.twitter.com/E6FClNdF7E— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 7, 2016.
Atlas labeling Jerusalem as Israeli capital won’t be pulled from Czech schools-Czech education minister overturns decision to remove book following Palestinian complaint-By JTA September 8, 2016, 12:47 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A school atlas that labels Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will not be removed from Czech schools, as originally announced.The Czech Education Ministry said last week that the atlas would be removed following a complaint by the Palestinian ambassador in Prague to the ministry. But on Tuesday night, Education Minister Katerina Valachova told Czech Radio that Jerusalem would not be removed from the textbooks after all.“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital from the viewpoint of the declaration of the country to which this relates, which means Israel,” Valachova said in the radio interview, according to The Jerusalem Post. “If there is a sentence relating to all of the international steps, I believe that this fact will not offend either side.”The Czech Republic does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital pending a comprehensive peace agreement and maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Sunday wrote a letter to Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka calling on him to revoke the decision.“Jerusalem is on the map!” Barkat said in a statement Wednesday, adding, “Truth has indeed overcome lies.”He also said: “I’m thankful to the Czech government for making the right choice and for refusing to surrender to Palestinian incitement and lies.”Barkat said the friendship between the Czech and Jewish peoples has deep and historical roots.“Future generations of Czech students will continue to learn the truth: Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and the heart and soul of the Jewish people,” he wrote.The atlas, first published by the Czech firm Shocart in 2004, was approved by the ministry for use in Czech elementary and secondary schools in 2011. However, after the envoy’s complaint, the ministry said it would demand the publisher alter the labeling to show Tel Aviv as the capital, according to a report last week by the Czech newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes.Czech Jews had organized a protest for Wednesday in Prague.
Hezbollah to move into south Syria, just across Israel border-IDF says it’s watching and ‘prepared for any scenario’ as the Shiite terror group sets up shop next door-By Judah Ari Gross September 8, 2016, 6:45 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hezbollah fighters are preparing to move into southern Syria, a stone’s throw from the border with Israel’s Golan Heights, Iranian state media reported Monday.“Hezbollah has deployed a large number of its forces at Quneitra passage which has connected the Syrian territories to the occupied Golan,” unnamed sources told the semi-official Fars news agency.According to the sources, the Hezbollah fighters will be taking part in an “anti-terrorism” operation with Syrian ruler Bashar Assad’s army to fight the various militant groups located in the Syrian Golan Heights.The IDF would not comment specifically on the reports that Hezbollah would be taking positions close to the Israeli border, but said it “closely monitors all of Israel’s borders, including in the north, and remains prepared for any scenario.”The Syrian Army, the Fateh al-Sham Front and the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army have been waging a bloody war in southern Syria, which occasionally spills over into Israeli territory.The salafist Fateh al-Sham Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, is the new name for the group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.The group changed its name on July 28, the same day it was recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States and Iran. The next day Russia joined them in declared it terrorist and the day after that, the United Nations followed suit.Similarly, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army is another successor to a terrorist organization that had been operating out of the Syrian Golan Heights in recent months: the Yarmouk Martyr’s Brigade.In May, the Islamic State-affiliated Yarmouk Martyr’s Brigade merged with two smaller IS groups in the area, the Islamic Muthanna Movement and the Army of Jihad, to form the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.“The Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters have been working on a joint plan to end militancy in Southern Syria, particularly near the Golan Heights,” the sources told Fars.An attempt by the United States and Russia to broker a partial peace deal in Syria fell through this week, though both sides said they were committed to continuing the effort.Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the five-year conflict, which has killed upwards of 300,000 people and forced millions to flee.AFP contributed to this report.
Soviet documents ‘show Abbas was KGB agent’; Fatah decries ‘smear campaign’-Israeli researchers: Notes from USSR archivist who defected indicate PA president was working for Soviets in Damascus in 1980s while Putin’s current Mideast envoy was stationed there-By Tamar Pileggi September 7, 2016, 10:43 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet spy in Damascus in the 1980s, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Wednesday, citing information it said was included in an archive smuggled out of the USSR.According to Channel 1’s foreign news editor Oren Nahari, the famed Mitrokhin archive, kept by KGB defector Vasily Mitrokhin, revealed that Abbas was a Soviet mole in Damascus in 1983.The documents — obtained by Israeli researchers Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez — purportedly show that Abbas, code-named Krotov (mole), was involved with the Soviets while Mikhail Bogdanov, today Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Middle East. was stationed in Damascus.Bogdanov was caught in a diplomatic tussle earlier this week after trying to broker a summit between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, who both claimed a willingness to meet while decrying the other for allegedly refusing.Mitrokhin was a senior KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992, and his edited notes on various KGB operations were released in 2014. His handwritten notes remain classified by MI5.The archivist’s notes on the KGB are considered among the most complete information available on Soviet intelligence operations. He claimed that the KGB recruited the then head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Wadi Haddad, as an agent in the 1970s.His writings also revealed that Haddad, operating under the code name NATSIONALIST, was given Soviet assistance in funding and arming the PFLP.According to an Eastern Soviet bloc intelligence agent who defected to the US in the 1970s, the PLO, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the PFLP all received help from the KGB.Romanian Lt. General Pacepa told US officials that in 1972 that then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat closely collaborated with the KGB and the Romanian Securitate service, and PLO guerrilla fighters were secretly trained by Soviet intelligence agents.In response to the Channel 1 report, Fatah official Nabil Shaath denied that Abbas was ever a KGB operative, calling the claim a “smear campaign” that attempted to distract from potentially Russian-led peace talks in Moscow.Throughout his early life, Abbas developed a network of Palestinian political activists from across the Arab world that would eventually become Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Abbas studied at the People’s Friendship University of Russia, where he wrote his doctoral thesis, “The Secret Relationship between German Nazis and Zionists,” which has been accused of denying the scope of the Holocaust.After earning his doctorate, Abbas moved to Tunisia where he took a more active role in PLO leadership, and worked his way up to chairman of the organization. He became PA president following Arafat’s death in 2004.
Israel begins work on NIS 2 billion underground Gaza barrier-IDF’s ‘largest-ever project’ ever will see construction of concrete wall above and below ground, in bid to thwart Hamas attack tunnels-By Times of Israel staff September 7, 2016, 8:19 pm
Israel recently broke ground on a new subterranean barrier along the length of its border with the Gaza Strip, aimed at stopping Palestinian terror groups from tunneling into the country and carrying out attacks.The Defense Ministry in July approved the NIS 2 billion ($530 million) project that would see a concrete wall — both below and above ground — built along the entire the 60 kilometer (about 37 miles) border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.Construction on the barrier wall began at the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, to protect a cluster Israeli towns bordering the northern Gaza Strip from cross-border attacks, the Ynet news website reported.According to Ynet, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot called the border wall “the largest project” ever carried out in Israel’s military history. The website added, however, that the project is at risk of being defunded due to a lack of clarification from the government about how the barrier will be financed.That wall, which was first proposed by the IDF in the wake of the 2014 conflict with Hamas in Gaza, is set to include both physical barriers and technological detection systems to better protect against infiltration from the coastal enclave.The army proposed the construction of the fence to protect the areas surrounding the coastal enclave in the immediate aftermath of the 50-day war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, used the cross-border tunnels to launch a number of attacks against Israel during the conflict.Earlier this year, the IDF uncovered two tunnels that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, the first such discoveries since the end of the 2014 conflict.A tunnel discovered in April ran at a depth of approximately 30-40 meters (100 feet) below ground, extending dozens of meters inside Israel from the Gaza Strip.In response to reports of the expansive border wall, a senior Hamas official and several other leaders of other Palestinian terror groups in Gaza, vowed to strike Israel should an underground barrier be built along the border.Ismail Radwan in June told a Hamas-affiliated news site in June the project indicated Israel’s “failure to face the tunnels.” He stressed that the wall would “not limit the resistance’s ability to defend our people.”Israel has sought to find a technological or physical answer to the cross-border tunnels for over a decade.
German Jews seek explanations for Iranian minister’s reported visit-Leadership queries government over media claims that intel chief, who ‘supports terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,’ was invited to Berlin-By JTA September 8, 2016, 7:02 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An alleged visit to Berlin by Iran’s intelligence minister has raised the eyebrows and ire of Jewish leaders in Germany.Citing Iranian media reports, the American Jewish Committee in Berlin has asked for an official explanation from the German government as to why the minister, Mahmoud Alavi, would have been officially invited to Berlin.“Iran’s secret service supports terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, which destabilize the entire Middle East,” Deidre Berger, head of the AJC Berlin office, said in a statement Wednesday, requesting information about the purpose of the meeting and the content of the discussions.“In Germany, it was the Iranian secret service that took part in illegal efforts to gain nuclear technology and that has been proven to have played a role in the death of Iranian exiled politicians in Berlin.”There have been suggestions that a visit by Alawi might be a prelude to an official state visit by the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, whose official visit to Austria was canceled in March following protests over his country’s human rights record.In response to an official query from Green Party parliamentarian Volker Beck in July, the German government said there can be no normalization of relations between Germany and Iran “as long as Iran does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
5 Israeli Arabs sent to prison for joining Islamic State-Defendants given sentences of 2-6 years after confessing swearing allegiance to group and planning attacks on Israelis-By Times of Israel staff September 8, 2016, 7:10 pm
Five Arabs from northern Israel were sentenced to multiple-year jail terms on Thursday for joining the Islamic State and planning to carry out attacks in Israel in the terror group’s name.Karim abu Salah, 22, was sentenced to six years; his brother Sharif, 30, to three; Husam Marisat, 31, to four and a half; Fadi Bashir, 30, to three; and Muhammad abu Salah, 29 to two and a half.The men had all confessed under a plea bargain arrangement, according to court documents.The five were part of a seven-man group arrested in late 2014 for swearing allegiance to the jihadist organization and plotting to carry out attacks in Israel, including against the Arab Druze minority, according to the Shin Bet security service at the time.The central member of the Galilee cell was identified as Adnan Ala a-Din, a 40-year-old lawyer from Nazareth, who, the Shin Bet charged, presented himself to the other members of the group as a “senior and official IS officer in Palestine.”A-Din, who has yet to be sentenced, allegedly preached the gospel of Islamist ideology to the other members of the group, advocated strongly in favor of terror attacks against Israeli civilians, and had the members slaughter sheep in order to steel themselves and “prepare their souls” for the rigors of jihad.Another alleged central figure was Karim Abu Salah of Sakhnin, who was arrested in July 2014 at Ben Gurion International Airport on his way to Syria. From prison, the Shin Bet alleged, Abu Salah sought to organize strikes against Israeli military targets and against Druze citizens of Israel.The group would convene regularly for religious lessons, studying under an unnamed religious leader in the north of Israel, and maintaining contacts with Islamic State fighters in Syria, including several Arab citizens of Israel.Over the past several years, the number of Palestinian and Israeli Arab volunteer recruits has increased among Syrian rebel groups. The Shin Bet believes that more than 40 Israeli Arabs have joined the Islamic State in the last two years.Israeli authorities have made several arrests of such recruits.In July two Arab men from northern Israel were charged with supporting the Islamic State, with each of them separately making plans to join the jihadist group in Syria. In that same month an Israeli-Arab mother of five was sentenced to 22 months in prison for trying to join the group in order to teach jihadist ideology.In May, Hamis Salameh, 21, from Ramle, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to join the Islamic State in Syria.In April, Amin Snobar, 24, from Kafr Yasif in the Upper Galilee, was sentenced to five years in prison after he traveled to Syria to join the al-Nusra Front and fight against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
IMF: Conflict, infighting, blockade hurting Palestinian economy-International Monetary Fund says Palestinians’ GDP would be 37-130% higher if not for political issues-By AFP and Times of Israel staff September 7, 2016, 10:40 pm
The conflict with Israel, the blockade on Gaza and internal political infighting have severely constrained the Palestinian economy, according to an International Monetary Fund report released Wednesday.Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would be between 37% and 130% higher were it not for political issues, the IMF said, using three different economic models to assess the impact.“Absent the political uncertainty and restrictions of the past 20 years, real GDP per capita would have been significantly higher in the West Bank and Gaza,” the report, dated August 26, said.It predicted the Palestinian economy would grow by 3.3% in 2016, compared with 3.5% last year.The findings echo a Tuesday report from the United Nations, which found the Palestinian economy could double were it not for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and blockade on Gaza.Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War. It pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but since then has fought three wars against Hamas, the terror group which rules the Strip, and maintains a blockade on the enclave to prevent Hamas from importing weaponry.The IMF report painted a gloomy picture of growth prospects, saying unemployment reached 26.9% across the Palestinian territories by the end of June, up 2 percentage points on the previous year.In Gaza, the unemployment rate is over 40%, with close to two-thirds of young people without jobs.“Political and security uncertainties weigh heavily on the prospects for growth,” it said.“Israeli restrictions and continued [Israeli] settlement expansion impede economic activity and exacerbate social hardships,” it said, adding that Hamas’s control of Gaza and divisions between Palestinian factions were also hindering reconstruction.The Palestinian economy is heavily dependent on international aid, though funding has been declining and could fall by 25% this year, the report said. Further cuts could lead to a “vicious cycle of political and fiscal risks.”Only a “political breakthrough” could lead to “fundamental improvement in the outlook,” it added, though it called such an occurrence “unlikely.”The report said the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, should focus on developing a longer-term fiscal plan for the economy.
Israelis have nothing to fear from IS but fear itself-Beset by military defeats and a host of other headaches, Islamic State is relying on suicide attacks and nasty videos to keep its credibility intact. Let’s not help them-By Avi Issacharoff September 8, 2016, 6:52 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A video released on Saturday by an organization called the “Khalid ibn al-Walid Army,” which is identified as a new branch of the Islamic State on the Syrian Golan Heights, has become a hit in the Hebrew media, widely and prominently reported.There is little surprising in the video, which features the scenes Westerners have come to associate with the jihadist group: flogging, death sentences, amputations, and so on. The Khalid ibn al-Walid Army has failed recently to conquer any new territory on the Syrian Golan, and despite its threatening rhetoric, the militia is not a new or unusual threat to Israel. It is just another armed group operating in the Syrian Golan Heights, without any particularly impressive military ability.The organization, presented in the video as carrying out tank and artillery battles against an unspecified enemy, is far from a threat to the IDF. It is not even a threat to the moderate Syrian opposition organizations or the fighters of the-Nusra Front, which it sees as its main enemy within the framework of the raging battle for primacy among the ultra-extreme groups in Syria.In other words, Israelis don’t have anything to fear in that direction.IS, or the groups like the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army that purport to represent it on the Syrian side of the border, are not going to conquer the Israeli Golan Heights anytime soon.Quite the opposite. IS, which announced the establishment of its worldwide caliphate in June 2014, enjoyed a few months of ecstasy that included victories and tremendous territorial conquests. But for more than a year now, IS has been busy in unsuccessful attempts to stop the advance of enemy forces which are piece by piece reconquering territory.On the Golan Heights, the IS situation is not great, to put it mildly. Its predecessor, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, fell to pieces after its commander Muhammad “Abu Ali” al-Baridi and some of his senior colleagues were killed in a suicide bomb attack by the Nusra Front. The remnants united with two other jihadist groups and from that was born the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.But the Golan Heights is the smallest of the headaches that IS is dealing with at the moment. Three weeks ago, the Kurds conquered from IS the town of Manbij; Fallujah, held by IS since the beginning of 2014, was taken in June by the Iraqi army; and in recent days the Turkish army managed to conquer from IS some villages on the Syrian border. On top of all of that are the targeted killings of senior IS figures in airstrikes, such as that of IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani last month, along with a reduction in financial income, a drop in volunteers lining up to fight, and various other problems.The Islamic State group has responded to all of these setbacks in two of the ways in which it still excels: firstly, by suicide attacks like those carried out Monday in areas across Syria, including Hasakah City, Homs, Tartus, and Damascus, in which more than 40 people were killed. And secondly, via videos on the internet.Both of these methods help maintain its image as “victorious” despite the military defeats. They enable the jihadist group to present apparent “achievements” on social media with sufficient effect as to prevent its stream of volunteers from drying up completely. They keep alive the idea of an Islamic State, despite the reality of defeats on the battlefield. And that, in essence, is the biggest danger IS poses for the Western world – not the threats of another jihadist faction on the Golan Heights, but the ideas disseminated by such factions, permeating the minds of young Muslims across the world, not just in the Middle East.-Europe is getting ready-IS military defeats in the Middle East bring with them familiar troubles for Europe and elsewhere. The Independent reported Tuesday morning that European countries are preparing for the possibility that thousands of jihadists — who in recent years traveled from Europe to Syria and Iraq, where they fought for IS — will try now to return to their countries of origin in light of the territorial and financial setbacks.The British paper estimated that 5,000-7,000 Europeans joined Islamic terror groups during the five-year-old, ongoing Syrian civil war. Just from Britain, there were around 800 volunteers. To date, most of them have remained in areas still under IS control or elsewhere in the Middle East. and only a few have returned to their countries of origin. One of the reasons for this is that IS does everything it can to prevent volunteers from leaving, including executing deserters. Nonetheless, it can be expected that the ability of IS to prevent its members from leaving Syria and Iraq will decline as its military capability weakens.As for the Hebrew media, why is it so interested in the monster called the Islamic State? Is it our Jewish trend for panic, as expressed in the old adage “in every generation they rise up to destroy us?” Or perhaps the excessive fondness of journalists for drama? The answer is likely affirmative to both, but another factor needs to be taken into consideration: ratings. IS, the conqueror, destroyer, executor, brings ratings. Readers, viewers, listeners all want to know about this cruel organization, real life perpetrator of ongoing horror movies.The true picture of IS facing defeats, retreating from the battlefield, is much less captivating than all those clips of Arab Muslim extremists cutting off people’s heads on the other side of the border and very soon (but not really) conquering Israel and executing all of us.
'Wherever there is a breakdown, Jews experience it more intensely because that is the fate of Jews'-‘No future for Jews in Western Europe,’ says French prosecutor-In a legal war on bigotry, Charles Baccouche, 70, fights anti-Semitism the only way he knows how — in the courtroom-By Lisa Klug September 8, 2016, 7:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
PARIS — In the land known for “Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité,” (“liberty, equality, and brotherhood”) the headquarters of French Jewry, known as the Consistoire, remain under constant armed guard.The heavily secured entrance of a beautiful 19th century exterior is surrounded by metal barriers, reminiscent of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport in the early 1980s. Like something out of a period piece on the silver screen, this feature unfolds in grayscale.Visitors approaching a plain concrete section of the building must first pass the sentry, who bears an automatic weapon inside a bulletproof booth, where he questions “who goes there.” After clearing that first hurdle, guests approach heavy metal doors observed via security camera. They ring a bell and state their business, and an audible click allows guests to push the heavy doors open and enter a dimly lit foyer.One at a time, each one approaches a small speaker, announces themselves, and if approved to proceed further, is admitted beyond another heavy door. Standing sequestered between two sets of locked doors, a visitor must again explain the nature of the visit. And now the security gets even tighter.The male voice of an unseen guard behind a darkened reception window with a small clear spot questions guests and requests government-issued identification. A small metal receptacle near the floor swings open to transfer visitors’ belongings, which the guard examines beyond the darkness, behind which he remains invisible. Once the bag clears the search, the receptacle swings open, returning the effects to their owner. Another click is heard and visitors are allowed to proceed inside.Whether guests have a scheduled meeting or are seeking a place for afternoon prayers, they undergo the same screening.Given the tenor of France today, the precautions are understandable.In contrast to the spectacular architecture and elaborate interior of the adjacent La Victoire synagogue, this brain center of French Jewry is noticeably sparse. Plain walls embrace standard issue metal desks and office chairs. Israeli posters, Consistoire publications and kosher snacks dot a plain waiting room. A small but charming vintage elevator surrounded by a circular staircase is one of the few design elements that hint at French Jewry’s finer days.The Consistoire’s focus is clearly not on appearances but content. And on this visit, the subject is truly menacing: violence and hate speech against Jews. This is the charge of Charles Baccouche, the second in command of the Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l’Antisemitisme, or, the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.Founded by retired Paris-area police commissioner Sammy Ghozlan, the BNVCA has worked for more than 15 years to combat French anti-Semitism and boycotts against Israel. These include the physical acts of aggression against rabbis, children, synagogues and Jewish schools which began escalating in 2000.In 2014, for instance, the Jewish community reported 851 anti-Semitic incidents, of which 241 were violent attacks, up from 423 and 105, respectively. Although Ghozlan has retired to Netanya, he frequently returns and is in constant touch with his team, including his right hand man, Baccouche.-‘The most important thing is to submit complaints to the French government’-It is Baccouche who represents the BNVCA on behalf of French Jewry in legal proceedings. His adversaries are not only the terrorists set on taking Jewish lives but also France’s most notorious and most vocal anti-Semites. These include Dieudonne, Alain Soral, Jean Marie Le Pen and Zeon aka Fernandez, whom he pursues in court four or five times a year.“Court is very slow and they delay it repeatedly,” he says. “The most important thing is to submit complaints to the French government.”Over the past three years, in fact, he has submitted an estimated 400 complaints about anti-Semitic acts, a process he has continued since 2009 — “each time there is an anti-Semitic act,” says Baccouche, who resides near the Eiffel Tower.Although he is well known in France for his legal efforts, published work and public addresses, Baccouche is virtually unknown elsewhere. At a meeting in the Consistoire, he discussed his concerns in an exclusive interview with The Times of Israel.The building’s dim atmosphere hints at the questionable future of French Jewry. The city’s Judaic populace is “afraid since the attack on Hyper Cacher,” he says, referring to the high end kosher market where four men were killed in a massacre in 2015.The market, which continues to operate, remains under armed guard.“Even with our security forces, there are attacks,” Baccouche says. “In short, they don’t feel good in France now.”The attack at the Bataclan night club is another horrific example of the violence the community has suffered.‘The managers were Jewish and the terrorists knew that’-“The managers were Jewish and the terrorists knew that and sold that,” Baccouche says.In his 70s, Baccouche, who has Israeli citizenship, has no imminent plans to retire, although his intent is to make aliyah.“One day I will return home,” he says. “I am Jewish but I am in the middle of the war because I go to trial from time to time. So I am in the struggle.”He says the French establishment maintains that things aren’t all that bad, but Baccouche argues that this is just a way to “mask reality. It is a sheker pumbi — a public falsehood — all is well,” he says, peppering his French with select Hebrew phrases. “But nothing is going well,” he says. “There is a French breakdown in general.”The overall experience of the French public, which has experienced a number of indiscriminate terror attacks this summer — at the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, and at a cathedral in the North — has driven the fear home for Jews, as well, Baccouche says.“In every place, wherever there is a breakdown, Jews experience it more intensely because that is the fate of Jews,” he says.And even though there is no suggestion the violence will end, it is no less shocking to Jews who previously enjoyed great safety in France.‘It’s like there is no salt in the soup. The Jews are the soup’-“It’s like there is no salt in the soup,” Baccouche says. “In this example, the Jews are the soup. It’s much worse. They exact blows. They kill us. This is the first time since World War II that they attack and murder Jews.”Baccouche points to a phrase established by the city’s many Polish refugees, “Happy as a Jew in France,” after World War II as an indicator of just how good conditions once were.“France was the country of freedom and human rights,” he says. “From [chief of state of Vichy France Philippe] Petain, it began to fall apart. [Former president of France Charles] de Gaulle was the one who caused harm to the Jews because he described them as a strong, dominating and confident people. And the environment degraded and became more severe.”As a means to counter the violence, Baccouche pursues legal action against violent acts as well as expressions of anti-Semitism, which are also outlawed in France.“We always win because I am not alone here,” he says. “I am the state prosecutor. And this is criminal.”Baccouche considers himself “responsible toward the Jewish people in my way. We each have a portion in Eretz Yisrael and in the fate of the Jewish people, whether we want it or not,” he says. “I’m near pension age, 70, but I don’t take my pension so I can continue this struggle. I could have taken retirement for a while, but I decided to work with Sammy and these good people.”As he speaks, he waves his arm toward the young woman who serves as a part-time administrative aide to the BNCVA. Elisheva Cohen, a married 22-year-old, prefers to use an alias for fear of her own safety. When she must go to French bureaucratic offices, she prefers to wear a wig instead of her head covering that suggests she is a religious Jew. Like Baccouche, she sees aliyah in her future.“The danger is there if I am Orthodox or not because even the secular wear a Magen David,” she says, referring to the Star of David necklaces favored by many French Jews. “It’s a danger for everyone… I don’t feel the danger but I put a wig when I go to French offices because I feel a difference when I am with a head covering or a wig. Even the ‘true’ French look at me as a Jew.”‘The danger is there if I am Orthodox or not because even the secular wear a Magen David’-As for Baccouche, the BNVCA’s volunteer lieutenant president, he doesn’t wear a yarmulka or a Magen David necklace.“I put tefillin (phylacteries) on and go to synagogue since I was young,” he says, matter of factly.When asked why, his simple answer is “Because. It has no connection to anti-Semitism,” he says. “I feel myself as a Jew from North Africa but I decline to say what country I’m from. For me, it’s not important.“I’m not a prophet or a prince but there is no future for Jews in all of Western Europe. Not only because of the war in the Mediterranean basin but because anti-Semitism is part of the Koran. I don’t think there is a future for Jews in France. There will be a day when all of Israel will be gathered back in our country,” Baccouche says.Despite his negative predictions of Europe, Bacchouche says, “We are not going to our deaths. We live. Jews are more and more living amongst ourselves. There are always interactions with non-Jews but all our social interactions are with Jews, more and more. For example, ‘Elisheva’ has to remove her Jewish symbols but it’s a shame. She doesn’t bother anyone.”
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
Snowden: Privacy Shield won't stop US mass surveillance
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/09/snowden-privacy-shield-wont-stop-us.html
Netanyahu thanks Christian Zionists in Netherlands for support-‘We know we have no better friends on earth than you,’ PM tells director of Christians for Israel organization-By JTA and Times of Israel staff September 8, 2016, 7:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Benjamin Netanyahu cleared 20 minutes from the schedule of his visit to the Netherlands to thank the country’s leading Christian Zionist activist and chief rabbi for their support for the Jewish state and its people.The Israeli prime minister on Wednesday called Roger van Oordt, director of the Christians for Israel organization. He also telephoned Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, the offices of both men said in statements to the media.“This was a good visit, but it was too short, and I didn’t get to see our best friends in the world,” Netanyahu told a beaming van Oordt, in explaining why they were speaking over the phone rather than in person.“I wanted to call and show my deep appreciation, and we know we have no better friends on earth than you,” Netanyahu said on speakerphone to the board of Christians for Israel – an international pro-Israel advocacy and charity organization based near Amsterdam whose 30 affiliates worldwide have hundreds of thousands of members.Van Oordt said his group was privileged to be phoned by Netanyahu, who said: “I should say I’m the privileged one. We, the people of Israel are the privileged ones in this partnership, this alliance, which is growing strong and based on the deepest values and the deepest, most rich history of culture and faith.”Earlier this year, Christians for Israel’s Dutch affiliate urged its thousands of supporters to buy West Bank settlement goods to counterbalance a government-backed plan to issue special labels for products made by Jewish settlers in that area, which are widely perceived as aimed at generating pressure on Israel to resolve the Palestinian conflict.Also last year, Christians for Israel opened an affiliate in Ukraine, where the group for years has been engaged in efforts to help Jews immigrate to Israel and strengthen their Jewish identities in existing communities. Also involved in this effort is Jacobs, who is a personal friend of van Oordt.Netanyahu thanked Jacobs, a Chabad rabbi who is outspoken in media in his support for Israel and defense of its actions as designed to fight terrorism, for his efforts and for his cooperation with Christians for Israel, which is unusual in its scope for a haredi rabbi of his position.Netanyahu’s two-day visit to the Netherlands, which ended Wednesday, featured some unpleasant incidents from the prime minister’s point of view.Hours before Netanyahu’s arrival, a former Dutch prime minister, Dries van Agt, told a public broadcaster that Netanyahu was a war criminal who should be tried in The Hague, rather than visit it as a head of state.And on Wednesday, a Dutch lawmaker with many Muslim supporters demonstratively refused to shake Netanyahu’s hand.Later in the day Netanyahu released a video from his plane in which he seemed to respond to the snub.“Those who wrinkle their noses, let their noses stay wrinkled,” he said in a video posted to Twitter, quoting former prime minister Menachem Begin. PM Netanyahu: Today, we saw another clear example – of those who want peace and those who don’t. pic.twitter.com/E6FClNdF7E— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 7, 2016.
Atlas labeling Jerusalem as Israeli capital won’t be pulled from Czech schools-Czech education minister overturns decision to remove book following Palestinian complaint-By JTA September 8, 2016, 12:47 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A school atlas that labels Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will not be removed from Czech schools, as originally announced.The Czech Education Ministry said last week that the atlas would be removed following a complaint by the Palestinian ambassador in Prague to the ministry. But on Tuesday night, Education Minister Katerina Valachova told Czech Radio that Jerusalem would not be removed from the textbooks after all.“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital from the viewpoint of the declaration of the country to which this relates, which means Israel,” Valachova said in the radio interview, according to The Jerusalem Post. “If there is a sentence relating to all of the international steps, I believe that this fact will not offend either side.”The Czech Republic does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital pending a comprehensive peace agreement and maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Sunday wrote a letter to Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka calling on him to revoke the decision.“Jerusalem is on the map!” Barkat said in a statement Wednesday, adding, “Truth has indeed overcome lies.”He also said: “I’m thankful to the Czech government for making the right choice and for refusing to surrender to Palestinian incitement and lies.”Barkat said the friendship between the Czech and Jewish peoples has deep and historical roots.“Future generations of Czech students will continue to learn the truth: Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and the heart and soul of the Jewish people,” he wrote.The atlas, first published by the Czech firm Shocart in 2004, was approved by the ministry for use in Czech elementary and secondary schools in 2011. However, after the envoy’s complaint, the ministry said it would demand the publisher alter the labeling to show Tel Aviv as the capital, according to a report last week by the Czech newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes.Czech Jews had organized a protest for Wednesday in Prague.
Hezbollah to move into south Syria, just across Israel border-IDF says it’s watching and ‘prepared for any scenario’ as the Shiite terror group sets up shop next door-By Judah Ari Gross September 8, 2016, 6:45 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hezbollah fighters are preparing to move into southern Syria, a stone’s throw from the border with Israel’s Golan Heights, Iranian state media reported Monday.“Hezbollah has deployed a large number of its forces at Quneitra passage which has connected the Syrian territories to the occupied Golan,” unnamed sources told the semi-official Fars news agency.According to the sources, the Hezbollah fighters will be taking part in an “anti-terrorism” operation with Syrian ruler Bashar Assad’s army to fight the various militant groups located in the Syrian Golan Heights.The IDF would not comment specifically on the reports that Hezbollah would be taking positions close to the Israeli border, but said it “closely monitors all of Israel’s borders, including in the north, and remains prepared for any scenario.”The Syrian Army, the Fateh al-Sham Front and the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army have been waging a bloody war in southern Syria, which occasionally spills over into Israeli territory.The salafist Fateh al-Sham Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, is the new name for the group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.The group changed its name on July 28, the same day it was recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States and Iran. The next day Russia joined them in declared it terrorist and the day after that, the United Nations followed suit.Similarly, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army is another successor to a terrorist organization that had been operating out of the Syrian Golan Heights in recent months: the Yarmouk Martyr’s Brigade.In May, the Islamic State-affiliated Yarmouk Martyr’s Brigade merged with two smaller IS groups in the area, the Islamic Muthanna Movement and the Army of Jihad, to form the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.“The Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters have been working on a joint plan to end militancy in Southern Syria, particularly near the Golan Heights,” the sources told Fars.An attempt by the United States and Russia to broker a partial peace deal in Syria fell through this week, though both sides said they were committed to continuing the effort.Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the five-year conflict, which has killed upwards of 300,000 people and forced millions to flee.AFP contributed to this report.
Soviet documents ‘show Abbas was KGB agent’; Fatah decries ‘smear campaign’-Israeli researchers: Notes from USSR archivist who defected indicate PA president was working for Soviets in Damascus in 1980s while Putin’s current Mideast envoy was stationed there-By Tamar Pileggi September 7, 2016, 10:43 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet spy in Damascus in the 1980s, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Wednesday, citing information it said was included in an archive smuggled out of the USSR.According to Channel 1’s foreign news editor Oren Nahari, the famed Mitrokhin archive, kept by KGB defector Vasily Mitrokhin, revealed that Abbas was a Soviet mole in Damascus in 1983.The documents — obtained by Israeli researchers Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez — purportedly show that Abbas, code-named Krotov (mole), was involved with the Soviets while Mikhail Bogdanov, today Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Middle East. was stationed in Damascus.Bogdanov was caught in a diplomatic tussle earlier this week after trying to broker a summit between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, who both claimed a willingness to meet while decrying the other for allegedly refusing.Mitrokhin was a senior KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992, and his edited notes on various KGB operations were released in 2014. His handwritten notes remain classified by MI5.The archivist’s notes on the KGB are considered among the most complete information available on Soviet intelligence operations. He claimed that the KGB recruited the then head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Wadi Haddad, as an agent in the 1970s.His writings also revealed that Haddad, operating under the code name NATSIONALIST, was given Soviet assistance in funding and arming the PFLP.According to an Eastern Soviet bloc intelligence agent who defected to the US in the 1970s, the PLO, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the PFLP all received help from the KGB.Romanian Lt. General Pacepa told US officials that in 1972 that then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat closely collaborated with the KGB and the Romanian Securitate service, and PLO guerrilla fighters were secretly trained by Soviet intelligence agents.In response to the Channel 1 report, Fatah official Nabil Shaath denied that Abbas was ever a KGB operative, calling the claim a “smear campaign” that attempted to distract from potentially Russian-led peace talks in Moscow.Throughout his early life, Abbas developed a network of Palestinian political activists from across the Arab world that would eventually become Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Abbas studied at the People’s Friendship University of Russia, where he wrote his doctoral thesis, “The Secret Relationship between German Nazis and Zionists,” which has been accused of denying the scope of the Holocaust.After earning his doctorate, Abbas moved to Tunisia where he took a more active role in PLO leadership, and worked his way up to chairman of the organization. He became PA president following Arafat’s death in 2004.
Israel begins work on NIS 2 billion underground Gaza barrier-IDF’s ‘largest-ever project’ ever will see construction of concrete wall above and below ground, in bid to thwart Hamas attack tunnels-By Times of Israel staff September 7, 2016, 8:19 pm
Israel recently broke ground on a new subterranean barrier along the length of its border with the Gaza Strip, aimed at stopping Palestinian terror groups from tunneling into the country and carrying out attacks.The Defense Ministry in July approved the NIS 2 billion ($530 million) project that would see a concrete wall — both below and above ground — built along the entire the 60 kilometer (about 37 miles) border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.Construction on the barrier wall began at the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, to protect a cluster Israeli towns bordering the northern Gaza Strip from cross-border attacks, the Ynet news website reported.According to Ynet, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot called the border wall “the largest project” ever carried out in Israel’s military history. The website added, however, that the project is at risk of being defunded due to a lack of clarification from the government about how the barrier will be financed.That wall, which was first proposed by the IDF in the wake of the 2014 conflict with Hamas in Gaza, is set to include both physical barriers and technological detection systems to better protect against infiltration from the coastal enclave.The army proposed the construction of the fence to protect the areas surrounding the coastal enclave in the immediate aftermath of the 50-day war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, used the cross-border tunnels to launch a number of attacks against Israel during the conflict.Earlier this year, the IDF uncovered two tunnels that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, the first such discoveries since the end of the 2014 conflict.A tunnel discovered in April ran at a depth of approximately 30-40 meters (100 feet) below ground, extending dozens of meters inside Israel from the Gaza Strip.In response to reports of the expansive border wall, a senior Hamas official and several other leaders of other Palestinian terror groups in Gaza, vowed to strike Israel should an underground barrier be built along the border.Ismail Radwan in June told a Hamas-affiliated news site in June the project indicated Israel’s “failure to face the tunnels.” He stressed that the wall would “not limit the resistance’s ability to defend our people.”Israel has sought to find a technological or physical answer to the cross-border tunnels for over a decade.
German Jews seek explanations for Iranian minister’s reported visit-Leadership queries government over media claims that intel chief, who ‘supports terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,’ was invited to Berlin-By JTA September 8, 2016, 7:02 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An alleged visit to Berlin by Iran’s intelligence minister has raised the eyebrows and ire of Jewish leaders in Germany.Citing Iranian media reports, the American Jewish Committee in Berlin has asked for an official explanation from the German government as to why the minister, Mahmoud Alavi, would have been officially invited to Berlin.“Iran’s secret service supports terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, which destabilize the entire Middle East,” Deidre Berger, head of the AJC Berlin office, said in a statement Wednesday, requesting information about the purpose of the meeting and the content of the discussions.“In Germany, it was the Iranian secret service that took part in illegal efforts to gain nuclear technology and that has been proven to have played a role in the death of Iranian exiled politicians in Berlin.”There have been suggestions that a visit by Alawi might be a prelude to an official state visit by the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, whose official visit to Austria was canceled in March following protests over his country’s human rights record.In response to an official query from Green Party parliamentarian Volker Beck in July, the German government said there can be no normalization of relations between Germany and Iran “as long as Iran does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
5 Israeli Arabs sent to prison for joining Islamic State-Defendants given sentences of 2-6 years after confessing swearing allegiance to group and planning attacks on Israelis-By Times of Israel staff September 8, 2016, 7:10 pm
Five Arabs from northern Israel were sentenced to multiple-year jail terms on Thursday for joining the Islamic State and planning to carry out attacks in Israel in the terror group’s name.Karim abu Salah, 22, was sentenced to six years; his brother Sharif, 30, to three; Husam Marisat, 31, to four and a half; Fadi Bashir, 30, to three; and Muhammad abu Salah, 29 to two and a half.The men had all confessed under a plea bargain arrangement, according to court documents.The five were part of a seven-man group arrested in late 2014 for swearing allegiance to the jihadist organization and plotting to carry out attacks in Israel, including against the Arab Druze minority, according to the Shin Bet security service at the time.The central member of the Galilee cell was identified as Adnan Ala a-Din, a 40-year-old lawyer from Nazareth, who, the Shin Bet charged, presented himself to the other members of the group as a “senior and official IS officer in Palestine.”A-Din, who has yet to be sentenced, allegedly preached the gospel of Islamist ideology to the other members of the group, advocated strongly in favor of terror attacks against Israeli civilians, and had the members slaughter sheep in order to steel themselves and “prepare their souls” for the rigors of jihad.Another alleged central figure was Karim Abu Salah of Sakhnin, who was arrested in July 2014 at Ben Gurion International Airport on his way to Syria. From prison, the Shin Bet alleged, Abu Salah sought to organize strikes against Israeli military targets and against Druze citizens of Israel.The group would convene regularly for religious lessons, studying under an unnamed religious leader in the north of Israel, and maintaining contacts with Islamic State fighters in Syria, including several Arab citizens of Israel.Over the past several years, the number of Palestinian and Israeli Arab volunteer recruits has increased among Syrian rebel groups. The Shin Bet believes that more than 40 Israeli Arabs have joined the Islamic State in the last two years.Israeli authorities have made several arrests of such recruits.In July two Arab men from northern Israel were charged with supporting the Islamic State, with each of them separately making plans to join the jihadist group in Syria. In that same month an Israeli-Arab mother of five was sentenced to 22 months in prison for trying to join the group in order to teach jihadist ideology.In May, Hamis Salameh, 21, from Ramle, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to join the Islamic State in Syria.In April, Amin Snobar, 24, from Kafr Yasif in the Upper Galilee, was sentenced to five years in prison after he traveled to Syria to join the al-Nusra Front and fight against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
IMF: Conflict, infighting, blockade hurting Palestinian economy-International Monetary Fund says Palestinians’ GDP would be 37-130% higher if not for political issues-By AFP and Times of Israel staff September 7, 2016, 10:40 pm
The conflict with Israel, the blockade on Gaza and internal political infighting have severely constrained the Palestinian economy, according to an International Monetary Fund report released Wednesday.Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would be between 37% and 130% higher were it not for political issues, the IMF said, using three different economic models to assess the impact.“Absent the political uncertainty and restrictions of the past 20 years, real GDP per capita would have been significantly higher in the West Bank and Gaza,” the report, dated August 26, said.It predicted the Palestinian economy would grow by 3.3% in 2016, compared with 3.5% last year.The findings echo a Tuesday report from the United Nations, which found the Palestinian economy could double were it not for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and blockade on Gaza.Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War. It pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but since then has fought three wars against Hamas, the terror group which rules the Strip, and maintains a blockade on the enclave to prevent Hamas from importing weaponry.The IMF report painted a gloomy picture of growth prospects, saying unemployment reached 26.9% across the Palestinian territories by the end of June, up 2 percentage points on the previous year.In Gaza, the unemployment rate is over 40%, with close to two-thirds of young people without jobs.“Political and security uncertainties weigh heavily on the prospects for growth,” it said.“Israeli restrictions and continued [Israeli] settlement expansion impede economic activity and exacerbate social hardships,” it said, adding that Hamas’s control of Gaza and divisions between Palestinian factions were also hindering reconstruction.The Palestinian economy is heavily dependent on international aid, though funding has been declining and could fall by 25% this year, the report said. Further cuts could lead to a “vicious cycle of political and fiscal risks.”Only a “political breakthrough” could lead to “fundamental improvement in the outlook,” it added, though it called such an occurrence “unlikely.”The report said the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, should focus on developing a longer-term fiscal plan for the economy.
Israelis have nothing to fear from IS but fear itself-Beset by military defeats and a host of other headaches, Islamic State is relying on suicide attacks and nasty videos to keep its credibility intact. Let’s not help them-By Avi Issacharoff September 8, 2016, 6:52 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A video released on Saturday by an organization called the “Khalid ibn al-Walid Army,” which is identified as a new branch of the Islamic State on the Syrian Golan Heights, has become a hit in the Hebrew media, widely and prominently reported.There is little surprising in the video, which features the scenes Westerners have come to associate with the jihadist group: flogging, death sentences, amputations, and so on. The Khalid ibn al-Walid Army has failed recently to conquer any new territory on the Syrian Golan, and despite its threatening rhetoric, the militia is not a new or unusual threat to Israel. It is just another armed group operating in the Syrian Golan Heights, without any particularly impressive military ability.The organization, presented in the video as carrying out tank and artillery battles against an unspecified enemy, is far from a threat to the IDF. It is not even a threat to the moderate Syrian opposition organizations or the fighters of the-Nusra Front, which it sees as its main enemy within the framework of the raging battle for primacy among the ultra-extreme groups in Syria.In other words, Israelis don’t have anything to fear in that direction.IS, or the groups like the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army that purport to represent it on the Syrian side of the border, are not going to conquer the Israeli Golan Heights anytime soon.Quite the opposite. IS, which announced the establishment of its worldwide caliphate in June 2014, enjoyed a few months of ecstasy that included victories and tremendous territorial conquests. But for more than a year now, IS has been busy in unsuccessful attempts to stop the advance of enemy forces which are piece by piece reconquering territory.On the Golan Heights, the IS situation is not great, to put it mildly. Its predecessor, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, fell to pieces after its commander Muhammad “Abu Ali” al-Baridi and some of his senior colleagues were killed in a suicide bomb attack by the Nusra Front. The remnants united with two other jihadist groups and from that was born the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.But the Golan Heights is the smallest of the headaches that IS is dealing with at the moment. Three weeks ago, the Kurds conquered from IS the town of Manbij; Fallujah, held by IS since the beginning of 2014, was taken in June by the Iraqi army; and in recent days the Turkish army managed to conquer from IS some villages on the Syrian border. On top of all of that are the targeted killings of senior IS figures in airstrikes, such as that of IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani last month, along with a reduction in financial income, a drop in volunteers lining up to fight, and various other problems.The Islamic State group has responded to all of these setbacks in two of the ways in which it still excels: firstly, by suicide attacks like those carried out Monday in areas across Syria, including Hasakah City, Homs, Tartus, and Damascus, in which more than 40 people were killed. And secondly, via videos on the internet.Both of these methods help maintain its image as “victorious” despite the military defeats. They enable the jihadist group to present apparent “achievements” on social media with sufficient effect as to prevent its stream of volunteers from drying up completely. They keep alive the idea of an Islamic State, despite the reality of defeats on the battlefield. And that, in essence, is the biggest danger IS poses for the Western world – not the threats of another jihadist faction on the Golan Heights, but the ideas disseminated by such factions, permeating the minds of young Muslims across the world, not just in the Middle East.-Europe is getting ready-IS military defeats in the Middle East bring with them familiar troubles for Europe and elsewhere. The Independent reported Tuesday morning that European countries are preparing for the possibility that thousands of jihadists — who in recent years traveled from Europe to Syria and Iraq, where they fought for IS — will try now to return to their countries of origin in light of the territorial and financial setbacks.The British paper estimated that 5,000-7,000 Europeans joined Islamic terror groups during the five-year-old, ongoing Syrian civil war. Just from Britain, there were around 800 volunteers. To date, most of them have remained in areas still under IS control or elsewhere in the Middle East. and only a few have returned to their countries of origin. One of the reasons for this is that IS does everything it can to prevent volunteers from leaving, including executing deserters. Nonetheless, it can be expected that the ability of IS to prevent its members from leaving Syria and Iraq will decline as its military capability weakens.As for the Hebrew media, why is it so interested in the monster called the Islamic State? Is it our Jewish trend for panic, as expressed in the old adage “in every generation they rise up to destroy us?” Or perhaps the excessive fondness of journalists for drama? The answer is likely affirmative to both, but another factor needs to be taken into consideration: ratings. IS, the conqueror, destroyer, executor, brings ratings. Readers, viewers, listeners all want to know about this cruel organization, real life perpetrator of ongoing horror movies.The true picture of IS facing defeats, retreating from the battlefield, is much less captivating than all those clips of Arab Muslim extremists cutting off people’s heads on the other side of the border and very soon (but not really) conquering Israel and executing all of us.
'Wherever there is a breakdown, Jews experience it more intensely because that is the fate of Jews'-‘No future for Jews in Western Europe,’ says French prosecutor-In a legal war on bigotry, Charles Baccouche, 70, fights anti-Semitism the only way he knows how — in the courtroom-By Lisa Klug September 8, 2016, 7:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
PARIS — In the land known for “Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité,” (“liberty, equality, and brotherhood”) the headquarters of French Jewry, known as the Consistoire, remain under constant armed guard.The heavily secured entrance of a beautiful 19th century exterior is surrounded by metal barriers, reminiscent of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport in the early 1980s. Like something out of a period piece on the silver screen, this feature unfolds in grayscale.Visitors approaching a plain concrete section of the building must first pass the sentry, who bears an automatic weapon inside a bulletproof booth, where he questions “who goes there.” After clearing that first hurdle, guests approach heavy metal doors observed via security camera. They ring a bell and state their business, and an audible click allows guests to push the heavy doors open and enter a dimly lit foyer.One at a time, each one approaches a small speaker, announces themselves, and if approved to proceed further, is admitted beyond another heavy door. Standing sequestered between two sets of locked doors, a visitor must again explain the nature of the visit. And now the security gets even tighter.The male voice of an unseen guard behind a darkened reception window with a small clear spot questions guests and requests government-issued identification. A small metal receptacle near the floor swings open to transfer visitors’ belongings, which the guard examines beyond the darkness, behind which he remains invisible. Once the bag clears the search, the receptacle swings open, returning the effects to their owner. Another click is heard and visitors are allowed to proceed inside.Whether guests have a scheduled meeting or are seeking a place for afternoon prayers, they undergo the same screening.Given the tenor of France today, the precautions are understandable.In contrast to the spectacular architecture and elaborate interior of the adjacent La Victoire synagogue, this brain center of French Jewry is noticeably sparse. Plain walls embrace standard issue metal desks and office chairs. Israeli posters, Consistoire publications and kosher snacks dot a plain waiting room. A small but charming vintage elevator surrounded by a circular staircase is one of the few design elements that hint at French Jewry’s finer days.The Consistoire’s focus is clearly not on appearances but content. And on this visit, the subject is truly menacing: violence and hate speech against Jews. This is the charge of Charles Baccouche, the second in command of the Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l’Antisemitisme, or, the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.Founded by retired Paris-area police commissioner Sammy Ghozlan, the BNVCA has worked for more than 15 years to combat French anti-Semitism and boycotts against Israel. These include the physical acts of aggression against rabbis, children, synagogues and Jewish schools which began escalating in 2000.In 2014, for instance, the Jewish community reported 851 anti-Semitic incidents, of which 241 were violent attacks, up from 423 and 105, respectively. Although Ghozlan has retired to Netanya, he frequently returns and is in constant touch with his team, including his right hand man, Baccouche.-‘The most important thing is to submit complaints to the French government’-It is Baccouche who represents the BNVCA on behalf of French Jewry in legal proceedings. His adversaries are not only the terrorists set on taking Jewish lives but also France’s most notorious and most vocal anti-Semites. These include Dieudonne, Alain Soral, Jean Marie Le Pen and Zeon aka Fernandez, whom he pursues in court four or five times a year.“Court is very slow and they delay it repeatedly,” he says. “The most important thing is to submit complaints to the French government.”Over the past three years, in fact, he has submitted an estimated 400 complaints about anti-Semitic acts, a process he has continued since 2009 — “each time there is an anti-Semitic act,” says Baccouche, who resides near the Eiffel Tower.Although he is well known in France for his legal efforts, published work and public addresses, Baccouche is virtually unknown elsewhere. At a meeting in the Consistoire, he discussed his concerns in an exclusive interview with The Times of Israel.The building’s dim atmosphere hints at the questionable future of French Jewry. The city’s Judaic populace is “afraid since the attack on Hyper Cacher,” he says, referring to the high end kosher market where four men were killed in a massacre in 2015.The market, which continues to operate, remains under armed guard.“Even with our security forces, there are attacks,” Baccouche says. “In short, they don’t feel good in France now.”The attack at the Bataclan night club is another horrific example of the violence the community has suffered.‘The managers were Jewish and the terrorists knew that’-“The managers were Jewish and the terrorists knew that and sold that,” Baccouche says.In his 70s, Baccouche, who has Israeli citizenship, has no imminent plans to retire, although his intent is to make aliyah.“One day I will return home,” he says. “I am Jewish but I am in the middle of the war because I go to trial from time to time. So I am in the struggle.”He says the French establishment maintains that things aren’t all that bad, but Baccouche argues that this is just a way to “mask reality. It is a sheker pumbi — a public falsehood — all is well,” he says, peppering his French with select Hebrew phrases. “But nothing is going well,” he says. “There is a French breakdown in general.”The overall experience of the French public, which has experienced a number of indiscriminate terror attacks this summer — at the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, and at a cathedral in the North — has driven the fear home for Jews, as well, Baccouche says.“In every place, wherever there is a breakdown, Jews experience it more intensely because that is the fate of Jews,” he says.And even though there is no suggestion the violence will end, it is no less shocking to Jews who previously enjoyed great safety in France.‘It’s like there is no salt in the soup. The Jews are the soup’-“It’s like there is no salt in the soup,” Baccouche says. “In this example, the Jews are the soup. It’s much worse. They exact blows. They kill us. This is the first time since World War II that they attack and murder Jews.”Baccouche points to a phrase established by the city’s many Polish refugees, “Happy as a Jew in France,” after World War II as an indicator of just how good conditions once were.“France was the country of freedom and human rights,” he says. “From [chief of state of Vichy France Philippe] Petain, it began to fall apart. [Former president of France Charles] de Gaulle was the one who caused harm to the Jews because he described them as a strong, dominating and confident people. And the environment degraded and became more severe.”As a means to counter the violence, Baccouche pursues legal action against violent acts as well as expressions of anti-Semitism, which are also outlawed in France.“We always win because I am not alone here,” he says. “I am the state prosecutor. And this is criminal.”Baccouche considers himself “responsible toward the Jewish people in my way. We each have a portion in Eretz Yisrael and in the fate of the Jewish people, whether we want it or not,” he says. “I’m near pension age, 70, but I don’t take my pension so I can continue this struggle. I could have taken retirement for a while, but I decided to work with Sammy and these good people.”As he speaks, he waves his arm toward the young woman who serves as a part-time administrative aide to the BNCVA. Elisheva Cohen, a married 22-year-old, prefers to use an alias for fear of her own safety. When she must go to French bureaucratic offices, she prefers to wear a wig instead of her head covering that suggests she is a religious Jew. Like Baccouche, she sees aliyah in her future.“The danger is there if I am Orthodox or not because even the secular wear a Magen David,” she says, referring to the Star of David necklaces favored by many French Jews. “It’s a danger for everyone… I don’t feel the danger but I put a wig when I go to French offices because I feel a difference when I am with a head covering or a wig. Even the ‘true’ French look at me as a Jew.”‘The danger is there if I am Orthodox or not because even the secular wear a Magen David’-As for Baccouche, the BNVCA’s volunteer lieutenant president, he doesn’t wear a yarmulka or a Magen David necklace.“I put tefillin (phylacteries) on and go to synagogue since I was young,” he says, matter of factly.When asked why, his simple answer is “Because. It has no connection to anti-Semitism,” he says. “I feel myself as a Jew from North Africa but I decline to say what country I’m from. For me, it’s not important.“I’m not a prophet or a prince but there is no future for Jews in all of Western Europe. Not only because of the war in the Mediterranean basin but because anti-Semitism is part of the Koran. I don’t think there is a future for Jews in France. There will be a day when all of Israel will be gathered back in our country,” Baccouche says.Despite his negative predictions of Europe, Bacchouche says, “We are not going to our deaths. We live. Jews are more and more living amongst ourselves. There are always interactions with non-Jews but all our social interactions are with Jews, more and more. For example, ‘Elisheva’ has to remove her Jewish symbols but it’s a shame. She doesn’t bother anyone.”
