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
Netanyahu to make unprecedented visits to 3 nations-Australia, Singapore and Kazakhstan first-time destinations for a sitting prime minister-By JTA October 31, 2016, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Benjamin Netanyahu will visit four countries in the coming months, including three that have never been visited by a sitting Israeli prime minister.Netanyahu announced Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting that he will travel to Australia, Singapore and Kazakhstan, as well as Azerbaijan, where he made a quick stop in 1997.In addition, Netanyahu said that President Reuven Rivlin will visit India in two weeks.Netanyahu also thanked the president of Tanzania for joining the call with Croatia for a secret ballot at the recent UNESCO vote by its cultural heritage committee that ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, preventing a consensus approval of the resolution.“This is an additional indication of the major change that is taking place in Israel’s global relations, in direct proportion to Israel’s strength,” Netanyahu said.
Dome of the Rock is mentioned in ancient text as 'the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis' -- literally 'The Holy Temple'-Centuries before trying to deny it, Muslims carved Jewish link to Jerusalem into mosque-Newly studied inscription from Mosque of Umar dated to 9th or 10th centuries highlights correlation between Dome of the Rock and biblical Jewish temples-By Ilan Ben Zion October 31, 2016, 9:50 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A recently studied inscription from a mosque near Hebron offers insight into how, until the mid-20th century, the Muslim world considered Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock to be the successor to two ancient Jewish shrines that formerly stood atop the Temple Mount.The previously overlooked dedicatory inscription from the Mosque of Umar in Nuba, a village nearly 26 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, mentions the village as an endowment for the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. But what’s striking is that the Dome of the Rock is referred to in the text as “the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis” — literally, “The Holy Temple” — a verbatim translation of the Hebrew term for the Jerusalem temple that early Muslims employed to refer to Jerusalem as a whole, and the gold-domed shrine in particular.Local tradition ascribed the construction of the mosque to Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, under whose rule Arab armies conquered Jerusalem and the rest of Byzantine Palestine in the mid-7th century. It was under his eventual successor Abd al-Malik, the fifth caliph, that the Dome of the Rock was completed in 691 CE.The limestone block into which the Kufic script was carved stands above the mosque’s mihrab, the niche pointing toward Mecca, and reads: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, this territory, Nuba, and all its boundaries and its entire area, is an endowment to the Rock of Bayt al-Maqdis and the al-Aqsa Mosque, as it was dedicated by the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab for the glory of Allah.”Two Muslim scholars who previously described the inscription ascribed it to the 7th century, the time of Umar. But Israeli researchers, who presented their findings during a conference on Jerusalem archaeology last week, dated it to the 9th or 10th centuries CE, based on the Arabic writing’s orthography and formulation comparable to dedicatory inscriptions from mosques in Ramle and Bani Naim.The Jerusalem archaeology conference coincided with a UNESCO resolution that ignored Jewish and Christian ties to the Temple Mount and referred to the controversial holy site solely by its Muslim names, “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and defined it only as “a Muslim holy site of worship.”The distinction between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in the text, authors Assaf Avraham and Peretz Reuven wrote, “together with the Hadith tradition and [Arabic] literature praising Jerusalem [from the 11th century], leads us to posit that the term Bayt al-Maqdis as it appears in the Nuba inscription… alludes directly to the Dome of the Rock.”Further, medieval Muslim traditions surrounding the Dome of the Rock cited by the authors “identified the mount again and again with David and Solomon’s temples” and “understood that the mount is the ancient temple rebuilt, the Quran is the true faith and the Muslims the true Children of Israel.”The 10th-century Muslim historian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi wrote in his description of Syria and Palestine that “in Jerusalem is the oratory of David and his gate; here are the wonders of Solomon and his cities,” and that the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque “were laid by David.”Likewise Nasir-i Khusraw, an 11th-century Persian travel writer, recorded in his description of the Haram that “Solomon — upon him be peace! — who, seeing that the rock was the Kiblah point, built a mosque round about the rock, whereby the rock stood in the midst of the mosque, which became the oratory of the people.”“Rites imitating activities performed in the Jewish temple were held in and around the Dome of the Rock in the Ummayad period,” Avraham and Reuven wrote. “Performers of those rituals purified themselves, changed clothes, burned incense, anointed the stone with oil, opened and closed drapes and lit oil lamps.”“In effect, the Muslims saw themselves as the ones continuing the biblical tradition of the temple,” Avraham explained; they considered themselves the “new Jews.”In that vein, the Muslims built the third temple in the 7th century in the form of the Dome of the Rock.For several centuries, until the fall of Jerusalem to crusading Christians in 1099, Muslims associated the Haram al-Sharif with the former temples, Andreas Kaplony wrote. After Jerusalem was conquered in 637, “their plan is to rebuild as a Muslim mosque the destroyed Temple,” he explained.“Muslim traditions identify the Haram again and again with the Temple of David and Solomon, from where the Ark of the Covenant and God’s Presence had been removed, where the Children of Israel killed John, the son of Zechariah (the biblical prophet Zechariah), and Nebuchadnezzar in revenge slaughtered them,” Kaplony wrote in a chapter of “Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade.”“With the sanctuary destroyed and transformed into the city’s garbage dumps by Helena, mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, when she built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but recognized and cleaned by Umar; and with the Furthest Mosque visited by Muhammad on his Night Journey. To cut a long story short, this is the Former Temple rebuilt, the Qur’an is the true Torah, and the Muslims are the true People of Israel,” he wrote.Despite the fact that Muslim texts and historians associated the Temple Mount with the two ancient Jewish temples that stood there, since the foundation of the State of Israel that narrative has been expunged from the Palestinian narrative.A guide to the Haram al-Sharif, the Arabic term for the Temple Mount, published by the Islamic Waqf in 1925 informed visitors that the fact that the Dome of the Rock was built atop the site of Solomon’s Temple was “beyond dispute.”Even as late as 1951, historian — and then-Palestinian mayor of East Jerusalem — Aref el-Aref’s history of the Dome of the Rock stated unequivocally that “the ruins of Solomon’s Temple are under al-Aqsa” and that Umar built a mosque atop the former building’s site. But by 1965, “A Brief Guide to the Dome of the Rock and Haram al-Sharif,” published by the Supreme Awqaf Council, completely avoided mentioning the ancient Jewish temples.Amid clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police on the Temple Mount last October, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said that there was never a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount, and that the site has been home to a mosque “since the creation of the world.”Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein told Channel 2 that the site, considered the third-holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews, was a mosque “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago” and has been “since the creation of the world.”“This is the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Adam, peace be upon him, or during his time, the angels built,” the mufti said.————————–Follow Ilan Ben Zion on Twitter and Facebook.
Iranian-Jewish MP: Tehran knows war with Israel would be ‘suicide’-Siamak Moreh Sedgh credits nuclear deal for increasingly ‘stable’ bilateral ‘relations,’ says leadership ‘healthy and wise enough’ to avoid conflict-By Times of Israel staff October 30, 2016, 10:28 am
Iran’s sole Jewish parliamentarian said the Islamic Republic is not seeking war with Israel and asserted that Tehran knows that launching an attack on the Jewish state would amount to “suicide.”“Iran does not want to start a war against Israel, because they know that everyone who starts a war in the Middle East is doing suicide,” Siamak Moreh Sedgh told Israel Radio in an English-language interview aired Sunday morning.Sedgh said he believed the Iranian leadership to be “healthy and wise enough to avoid a war with Israel.”“Relations between Iran and Israel [are] more stable than ever before since the signing of the nuclear agreement last year,” he said.“Two, three years ago I was suspicious about [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, I think he is crazy enough to start a war, but today, the condition of the world after the agreement is better, and the Middle East is more stable,” Sedgh said.He added that war was not “probable” at the moment.Last year, Iran and six world powers led by the US reached an agreement that promised economic sanctions relief to Tehran in return for it curtailing key activities in its controversial nuclear program.Israel has been a prominent opponent of the 2015 deal, which it argues entrenches the regime, provides sanctions relief that will enable Iran to fund terrorism, and paves Iran’s path to nuclear weapons.Netanyahu — a leading critic of the deal with Tehran– reportedly mulled a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.To this day, Netanyahu maintains that Israel will act alone if necessary to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons-Iran has insisted it is not interested in nuclear weapons, and the pact is being closely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA said Tehran has essentially kept to its commitments since the agreement was implemented in January.
In UK, Kerry says ’embarrassing’ US election has made job harder-Election rhetoric has at times stepped ‘out of any norm that I’ve known,’ says former presidential contender-By AFP November 1, 2016, 1:57 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON – US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he had found parts of this year’s race for the White House “downright embarrassing,” adding it had made his job more difficult.“I must tell you bluntly. This election has been difficult for our country’s perception abroad,” he told students at an event with London Mayor Sadiq Khan during a visit to Britain.“There are moments when it is downright embarrassing. There are times when it steps out of any norm that I’ve known — and I ran for president in 2004.“I could never imagine debates that were not focused on real issues, so it’s been a real change.The race for the White House has turned increasingly toxic, with Donald Trump fuelling wild conspiracy theories about vote “rigging” and Hillary Clinton warning that the provocative billionaire was straying into authoritarianism.Kerry said: “And the way it’s made it difficult for me is that, you know, when you sit down with some foreign minister in another country, or a prime minister of another country, and you say, ‘Hey, you know we really want you to move more authoritatively towards democracy,’ they look at you. They’re polite but you can see the question in their head and in their eyes and in their expression. It’s hard,” he added.Kerry was in London to accept an international diplomatic prize from the Chatham House think tank, which he was jointly awarded with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for their part in the Iranian nuclear deal.He also co-hosted a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Libya attended by the Libyan prime minister and representatives of France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Justice minister bids to reshape Supreme Court-With four of the court’s 15 positions set to open, Ayelet Shaked proposes to strengthen politicians’ role in appointing judges-By Times of Israel staff November 1, 2016, 12:58 am
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked will propose a new law that will change the way Supreme Court judges are chosen in a bid to influence the makeup of Israel’s top court, Hebrew language media reported Monday.With four positions soon to open up on the 15-member court as justices reach the mandatory retirement age of 70, Shaked, from the right wing Jewish Home party, sees an opportunity to change the direction of the court, which the right has long complained was too liberal in its rulings.The justice minister told the Haaretz daily that she believes the court has not achieved a proper balance of liberal and conservative justices. “Over the years the court has taken powers for itself that it should not have. The separation of powers has become blurred,” she said.Shaked’s proposal would see judges appointed with a regular majority of votes from the 9-person Judicial Selection Committee. Currently, seven votes are required, Channel 2 reported.The committee is made up of three Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Miriam Naor, two cabinet ministers, two MKs and two members of the Israel Bar Association.Critics of the current selection process have noted that the seven-vote requirement, passed in the Knesset in 2002, effectively gives the court’s own representatives on the body a veto on who joins it.Shaked, who chairs the committee, sees the new reform as an opportunity to circumvent the justices’ de facto veto over new appointees, with the political representatives and Bar Association members able to push through appointments even over the opposition of justices.Israel’s highest court has 15 members, though only some of the judges are assigned to each case. The chief justice is traditionally appointed automatically according to seniority.The court has frequently drawn the ire of right-wing and Orthodox politicians with its interventionist ethos pioneered by Aharon Barak, who served as chief justice between 1995 and 2006. In its second role as the High Court of Justice, the country’s highest court of equity to which almost anyone can appeal in real-time against the actions of any arm of the state, Israel’s top court has wielded powers considered by many scholars to be greater than in any other democracy.That power drives the contentious battle over its composition.Critics of the court argue that the present system for selecting justices results in a court comprised largely of like-minded figures who seek the appointment only of those who share their ideological agenda.The court’s defenders say its powers have developed to fill the void left by a Knesset that is famously unable to settle key questions of law and society, frequently shirking its responsibility to decide on issues of religious freedoms or to act to protect civil liberties or the rights of Palestinians. In Israel’s fractious society, maintaining a strong independent judiciary, they say, serves as a counterweight against the danger that a “tyranny of the majority” in Israel’s unicameral parliament might trample the rights of those who are not fully represented or sufficiently protected by the political system.Shaked’s bill is being jointly submitted with MK Robert Ilatov from Yisrael Beyteinu. According to Channel 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the move and does not object, though he has not personally expressed a view on the bill.
Trump warns of ‘constitutional crisis’ if Clinton elected-GOP candidate seeks to bolster his underdog bid for White House with focus on last week’s email inquiry announcement-By Jennie Matthew and Michael Mathes November 1, 2016, 1:43 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
KENT, Ohio (AFP) – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded fierce campaign trail attacks Monday, as the Republican underdog barnstormed Democratic territory in the race’s final week and warned of a “constitutional crisis” should his rival win the White House.Eight days from Election Day, the contumacious billionaire and the scandal-hit Democrat followed in the spirit of the bruising 2016 race by spending more time branding the other unfit to lead than they did highlighting their own strengths to voters.Trump, aiming to disprove polls that show him trailing nationally and in key swing states, campaigned in Michigan, where Clinton has led every poll since the race began, hoping to capitalize on the controversy over the FBI’s renewed focus on his rival’s emails.Allegations that Clinton put America at risk by using a private email server while secretary of state were thrust back into the spotlight Friday when FBI director James Comey said the bureau would study newly discovered messages that may be related to Clinton.The bombshell announcement could shift the momentum in a race where Clinton was increasingly seen as the prohibitive favorite.But a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly tracking poll released Monday showed virtually no change in standing following the revelations, with Clinton maintaining a six-point lead over Trump, 47 percent to 41%.Clinton, furious at Comey for making his announcement without providing evidence of wrongdoing just 11 days before a national election, addressed the issue head on in Kent, Ohio.“Now they apparently want to look at emails of one of my staffers. And by all means they should,” she told a rally in the crucial swing state.“And I am sure they will reach the same conclusion they did when they looked at my emails for the last year: there is no case here.”Trump countered that lingering suspicions against Clinton meant her election “would mire our government and our country in a constitutional crisis that we cannot afford.”He predicted that “we would have a criminal trial for a sitting president,” and chastised Clinton for seeking to blame others for the scandal that has persisted for 20 months.“She has brought all of this on herself,” he said.-‘Suppress the vote’-Trump campaigned Sunday in Democrat-leaning Colorado and New Mexico, and held a rally Tuesday in Wisconsin, where Clinton’s lead is 5.7 points, according to a RealClearPolitics poll aggregate.University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato said the FBI development has changed the race’s dynamics.“She would have been running a victory lap this week, running up the score,” he told AFP. “Instead she’s trying to hold on.”Nevertheless, Sabato distilled the Trump strategy to a simple truth: he needs to flip at least one Democratic-leaning state on November 8 in order to win.“He is going to have to turn a blue state or two in addition to winning the battlegrounds,” Sabato said. “He has to win almost everything. If he wins all the battlegrounds, he needs one more blue state.”Clinton, 69, hit the campaign trail hard Sunday in battleground Florida, where Trump has clawed back into a half-point lead, according to RealClearPolitics. A Florida victory would be a lifeline for Trump. Defeat there would almost certainly see him coming up short in the overall race.On Monday in Ohio, Clinton assailed him for using scare tactics to keep Democrats and left-leaning independents from trooping to the polls.“His whole strategy is to suppress the vote. Lots of noise, lots of distractions. Throwing stuff at me,” she told diners at Angie’s Soul Cafe in Cleveland, where she made an unannounced stop.Clinton meanwhile charged that Trump would be quick to consider using nuclear weapons, warning he would be a thin-skinned president who “loses his cool at the slightest provocation.”“So imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis.”-‘Serious mistake’-Clinton’s campaign was badly jolted when Comey announced that his agents are reviewing a newly discovered trove of emails, resurrecting an issue the candidate hoped was behind her.Her response has been to hit out at the move as “deeply troubling” and to rally supporters to get out and vote.President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, Eric Holder, issued a blistering opinion piece on Comey’s actions in Monday’s Washington Post.Comey “made a serious mistake,” Holder wrote.“It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and tradition. And it ran counter to guidance that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season.”According to US media, the probe was renewed after agents seized a laptop used by Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin and her now estranged husband Anthony Weiner.The disgraced former congressman, who resigned in 2011 after sending explicit online messages, is under investigation over allegations he sent sexual overtures to a 15-year-old girl.Clinton campaigned Monday for a third straight day without Abedin by her side.
Abbas-Dahlan rivalry is a Palestinian soap opera with immense implications-The PA president has been meeting with the leaders of Turkey, Qatar and Hamas — perhaps because his friends are abandoning him-By Avi Issacharoff October 30, 2016, 11:42 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
In a turn of events no one could have foreseen mere weeks ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — until recently the ally of Egypt and Saudi in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamist groups — met on Wednesday with Khaled Mashaal, outgoing head of Hamas’s politburo, and with Ismail Haniyeh, Mashaal’s successor. These meetings took place after Abbas met the previous week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani.Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim are considered strong patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood, the great rival of Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Abbas’s meetings with them, as well as his talks with Mashaal and Haniyeh, the two highest-ranking members of Hamas (the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian offshoot), may even lead to a historic reconciliation with Hamas, though that outcome is still a long way off. Whether such a reconciliation would be a good or a bad thing depends on whom you ask.So what — or, rather, who — has led Abbas straight into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood, and maybe even into those of Hamas, just days after a high-ranking Hamas official in Gaza called him a traitor? The answer is simple: Mohammad Dahlan. This former high-ranking Fatah official, who has been challenging Abbas for several years, succeeded this week in areas where even Hamas has failed. He managed to get Cairo on his side in the fight against Abbas and proved how weak and shaky Abbas’s status is in the Arab world.In addition, Dahlan organized a series of demonstrations in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority and Abbas — to which hundreds of Fatah activists showed up. So Abbas, who has taken some hard hits in recent weeks (including for attending the funeral of Shimon Peres, in case anyone forgot), caught on to the conspiracy being wrought against him in Cairo, Abu Dhabi (where Dahlan lives), and even Saudi Arabia (which recently cut back its aid to the PA). So Abbas decided to approach the patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood and perhaps bring about a reconciliation with Hamas — mainly with the leadership of the group’s political wing abroad.Why approach Hamas leaders in Qatar and not in Gaza? One reason is that the high-ranking members of Hamas in Gaza seem to be collaborating with Dahlan, of all people. This means that the conventional division into various camps (pragmatic Sunnis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Shiites, jihadist Sunnis) created in recent years is once again melting before our eyes. The new Middle East transformed long ago into a juicy and tragic political-diplomatic soap opera, and we cannot predict where the plot of its next episode is headed.The rivalry between Dahlan and Abbas surfaced in late 2010, when reports of dubious accuracy spread that Dahlan was preparing a putsch against the PA president. The reports, together with critical statements made by Dahlan against Abbas’s sons, led the PA president to make a rapid move that ended with Dahlan’s expulsion from the Palestinian territories in January 2011.Dahlan has been living in the United Arab Emirates since then and trying to set up bastions of support in the Palestinian territories, particularly among the inhabitants of the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. These attempts have been unsuccessful for years. But though people identified as Dahlan loyalists failed to gain status or support, they were still a chronic headache for Abbas and his security agencies. Abbas’s close associates claimed that Dahlan was running armed men in places such as Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem, and Balata, near Nablus, in an attempt to perpetrate terror attacks against Israel so as to damage relations between Ramallah and Jerusalem.But something changed over the past few months: a combination of Abbas’s diminishing status and, just as important, the mobilization of the Arab quartet — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan — in an effort to assist Dahlan. Cairo was instrumental in pressuring Abbas to reconcile with Dahlan and restore him to Fatah’s ranks. But Abbas and Fatah’s leadership insisted on not taking Dahlan back into the movement, agreeing only to “reconsider the return of his associates to Fatah.”This answer was not acceptable to Sissi, and neither was Abbas’s refusal to hold a summit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo. It was then that Egypt, without a word to the media, began to act against Abbas using classic Egyptian methods. In a move interpreted as an explicit challenge to Abbas, the Egyptians allowed Dahlan — or Abu Fadi, as he is also known — to hold a gathering of dozens of supporters in Cairo.Then they reached understandings with Hamas that Mohammad Dahlan’s wife, Jalila (Umm Fadi), would enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, after the PA stopped her from entering via the Erez crossing. Jalila has been working in the Gaza Strip for many years, mainly in various charitable endeavors, with the permission of Hamas (which uses her as a stick to poke at Abbas). Just this week, she held a mass wedding ceremony, fully funded by the UAE, for dozens of people who were wounded in the 2014 war in Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense. On top of all that, the Egyptians agreed to open the Rafah crossing for ten days every month, at least according to the latest update from Egypt. These incidents, of course, resulted in upgrading Dahlan’s standing in Gaza, where he is perceived as the desired candidate for the PA’s next president.But Gaza is not Dahlan’s last stop. Jihad Tamliya, one of his known supporters, held a conference entitled Unity Among Fatah Ranks last week in the Amari refugee camp in the heart of Ramallah. Approximately 200 Fatah members called there for the adoption of the reconciliation initiative by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — or, in other words, expressed their support for Dahlan and their opposition to Abbas.Tamliya has a history of conflict and friction with Abbas — or, more precisely, with Abbas’s son Tarek, who took over the management of Amari’s well-known soccer club in 2014. Tamliya defeated the younger Abbas in the elections for soccer club chairmanship that took place about a year later, and was appointed in his place. His close connections with Dahlan got him marked as an “enemy of the system.”And this is where Abbas’s error stands out in sharp relief. Instead of trying to bring his rivals close to him, to win back the members of Fatah who had grown close to Dahlan — most of whom are major activists in the refugee camps — he came out against them with all his might through his associates, causing even greater ferment against the PA in the refugee camps, the places with the highest explosive potential.The inhabitants of the Qalandiya, Askar and Jenin refugee camps have for decades seen themselves as a group that the PA has neglected and discriminated against. Dahlan, who realized the potential of these places right away, recruited supporters and agents there over the past five years, while Abbas continued using force against the activists.That is also what happened this week. Abbas, feeling that the whole world was against him, swiftly punished Tamliya by throwing him out of Fatah. This led to a demonstration against the PA by hundreds of Amari’s inhabitants. Palestinian police officers arrived at the demonstration and severe clashes broke out.“Young Palestinian men threw stones at the police officers as if they were Israeli troops,” one resident told this reporter. The commotion persisted, and news of the clashes spread like wildfire over social media networks, bringing hundreds of people into the alleyways of Balata and Jenin refugee camps to demonstrate against the PA. Live ammunition was used, and at least three people were wounded. The incidents subsided, but this is most likely not the last word in the battle between Dahlan and Abbas.-Just before the end-This series of events demonstrates even more powerfully that the West Bank has entered a kind of twilight zone, a dangerous and problematic interim stage, in which the status of the Palestinian Authority and its leader are weaker than they have ever been.On the one hand, government agencies are still operating and demonstrating their ability to govern. But on the other, Abbas is more weak and vulnerable than ever, and everybody is busy with the question of “the day after.” Many members of Fatah fear that the day is fast approaching when Fatah will split over the uncompromising battle between Dahlan and Abbas, and Hamas will become more powerful still.It should be emphasized that Dahlan is not the only one in Fatah to be marking out territory in anticipation of the fight over the succession.The highest levels of Fatah, as a whole, are busy with Fatah’s general assembly, which is set to take place in late November and can point the way to who Abbas’s successor might be. Fatah’s Central Council will be elected during the assembly — and according to Fatah’s bylaws, it is only from the Central Council that Abbas’s successor, Fatah’s next chairman, may be chosen. It is also likely that the assembly will elect Fatah’s deputy chairman, who could, in time, succeed to the chairmanship.Quite a few names have been mentioned time and again in the context of the deputy position: Marwan Barghouti, who is serving his sentence in an Israeli prison for five murder convictions; Saeb Erekat, who is also the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee; and Nasser al-Kidwa, nephew of Yasser Arafat, whose unique feature is that he has no powerful enemies in Fatah and is considered acceptable to everyone.There is one other big name — that of a man who has managed to strengthen his status in Fatah, mainly among the rank and file: our old acquaintance Jibril Rajoub. He was re-elected recently as chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, and has managed, through his work in athletics, to recruit quite a few young supporters. He has excellent connections among Palestinian security agencies, and almost all of the governors are his former soldiers.Another prominent fact about Rajoub is that he is considered Mohammed Dahlan’s main rival. The open hostility between them began in 2002, when Dahlan turned his back on Rajoub after the takeover of the Preventive Security Service headquarters in Beitunia and tried to incriminate him — falsely, it should be said — for the extradition to Israel of Hamas members who were in his custody.As we mentioned before, Palestinian politics is quite the soap opera.
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 to make unprecedented visits to 3 nations-Australia, Singapore and Kazakhstan first-time destinations for a sitting prime minister-By JTA October 31, 2016, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Benjamin Netanyahu will visit four countries in the coming months, including three that have never been visited by a sitting Israeli prime minister.Netanyahu announced Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting that he will travel to Australia, Singapore and Kazakhstan, as well as Azerbaijan, where he made a quick stop in 1997.In addition, Netanyahu said that President Reuven Rivlin will visit India in two weeks.Netanyahu also thanked the president of Tanzania for joining the call with Croatia for a secret ballot at the recent UNESCO vote by its cultural heritage committee that ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, preventing a consensus approval of the resolution.“This is an additional indication of the major change that is taking place in Israel’s global relations, in direct proportion to Israel’s strength,” Netanyahu said.
Dome of the Rock is mentioned in ancient text as 'the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis' -- literally 'The Holy Temple'-Centuries before trying to deny it, Muslims carved Jewish link to Jerusalem into mosque-Newly studied inscription from Mosque of Umar dated to 9th or 10th centuries highlights correlation between Dome of the Rock and biblical Jewish temples-By Ilan Ben Zion October 31, 2016, 9:50 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A recently studied inscription from a mosque near Hebron offers insight into how, until the mid-20th century, the Muslim world considered Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock to be the successor to two ancient Jewish shrines that formerly stood atop the Temple Mount.The previously overlooked dedicatory inscription from the Mosque of Umar in Nuba, a village nearly 26 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, mentions the village as an endowment for the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. But what’s striking is that the Dome of the Rock is referred to in the text as “the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis” — literally, “The Holy Temple” — a verbatim translation of the Hebrew term for the Jerusalem temple that early Muslims employed to refer to Jerusalem as a whole, and the gold-domed shrine in particular.Local tradition ascribed the construction of the mosque to Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, under whose rule Arab armies conquered Jerusalem and the rest of Byzantine Palestine in the mid-7th century. It was under his eventual successor Abd al-Malik, the fifth caliph, that the Dome of the Rock was completed in 691 CE.The limestone block into which the Kufic script was carved stands above the mosque’s mihrab, the niche pointing toward Mecca, and reads: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, this territory, Nuba, and all its boundaries and its entire area, is an endowment to the Rock of Bayt al-Maqdis and the al-Aqsa Mosque, as it was dedicated by the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab for the glory of Allah.”Two Muslim scholars who previously described the inscription ascribed it to the 7th century, the time of Umar. But Israeli researchers, who presented their findings during a conference on Jerusalem archaeology last week, dated it to the 9th or 10th centuries CE, based on the Arabic writing’s orthography and formulation comparable to dedicatory inscriptions from mosques in Ramle and Bani Naim.The Jerusalem archaeology conference coincided with a UNESCO resolution that ignored Jewish and Christian ties to the Temple Mount and referred to the controversial holy site solely by its Muslim names, “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif,” and defined it only as “a Muslim holy site of worship.”The distinction between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in the text, authors Assaf Avraham and Peretz Reuven wrote, “together with the Hadith tradition and [Arabic] literature praising Jerusalem [from the 11th century], leads us to posit that the term Bayt al-Maqdis as it appears in the Nuba inscription… alludes directly to the Dome of the Rock.”Further, medieval Muslim traditions surrounding the Dome of the Rock cited by the authors “identified the mount again and again with David and Solomon’s temples” and “understood that the mount is the ancient temple rebuilt, the Quran is the true faith and the Muslims the true Children of Israel.”The 10th-century Muslim historian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi wrote in his description of Syria and Palestine that “in Jerusalem is the oratory of David and his gate; here are the wonders of Solomon and his cities,” and that the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque “were laid by David.”Likewise Nasir-i Khusraw, an 11th-century Persian travel writer, recorded in his description of the Haram that “Solomon — upon him be peace! — who, seeing that the rock was the Kiblah point, built a mosque round about the rock, whereby the rock stood in the midst of the mosque, which became the oratory of the people.”“Rites imitating activities performed in the Jewish temple were held in and around the Dome of the Rock in the Ummayad period,” Avraham and Reuven wrote. “Performers of those rituals purified themselves, changed clothes, burned incense, anointed the stone with oil, opened and closed drapes and lit oil lamps.”“In effect, the Muslims saw themselves as the ones continuing the biblical tradition of the temple,” Avraham explained; they considered themselves the “new Jews.”In that vein, the Muslims built the third temple in the 7th century in the form of the Dome of the Rock.For several centuries, until the fall of Jerusalem to crusading Christians in 1099, Muslims associated the Haram al-Sharif with the former temples, Andreas Kaplony wrote. After Jerusalem was conquered in 637, “their plan is to rebuild as a Muslim mosque the destroyed Temple,” he explained.“Muslim traditions identify the Haram again and again with the Temple of David and Solomon, from where the Ark of the Covenant and God’s Presence had been removed, where the Children of Israel killed John, the son of Zechariah (the biblical prophet Zechariah), and Nebuchadnezzar in revenge slaughtered them,” Kaplony wrote in a chapter of “Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade.”“With the sanctuary destroyed and transformed into the city’s garbage dumps by Helena, mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, when she built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but recognized and cleaned by Umar; and with the Furthest Mosque visited by Muhammad on his Night Journey. To cut a long story short, this is the Former Temple rebuilt, the Qur’an is the true Torah, and the Muslims are the true People of Israel,” he wrote.Despite the fact that Muslim texts and historians associated the Temple Mount with the two ancient Jewish temples that stood there, since the foundation of the State of Israel that narrative has been expunged from the Palestinian narrative.A guide to the Haram al-Sharif, the Arabic term for the Temple Mount, published by the Islamic Waqf in 1925 informed visitors that the fact that the Dome of the Rock was built atop the site of Solomon’s Temple was “beyond dispute.”Even as late as 1951, historian — and then-Palestinian mayor of East Jerusalem — Aref el-Aref’s history of the Dome of the Rock stated unequivocally that “the ruins of Solomon’s Temple are under al-Aqsa” and that Umar built a mosque atop the former building’s site. But by 1965, “A Brief Guide to the Dome of the Rock and Haram al-Sharif,” published by the Supreme Awqaf Council, completely avoided mentioning the ancient Jewish temples.Amid clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police on the Temple Mount last October, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim cleric in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said that there was never a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount, and that the site has been home to a mosque “since the creation of the world.”Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein told Channel 2 that the site, considered the third-holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews, was a mosque “3,000 years ago, and 30,000 years ago” and has been “since the creation of the world.”“This is the Al-Aqsa Mosque that Adam, peace be upon him, or during his time, the angels built,” the mufti said.————————–Follow Ilan Ben Zion on Twitter and Facebook.
Iranian-Jewish MP: Tehran knows war with Israel would be ‘suicide’-Siamak Moreh Sedgh credits nuclear deal for increasingly ‘stable’ bilateral ‘relations,’ says leadership ‘healthy and wise enough’ to avoid conflict-By Times of Israel staff October 30, 2016, 10:28 am
Iran’s sole Jewish parliamentarian said the Islamic Republic is not seeking war with Israel and asserted that Tehran knows that launching an attack on the Jewish state would amount to “suicide.”“Iran does not want to start a war against Israel, because they know that everyone who starts a war in the Middle East is doing suicide,” Siamak Moreh Sedgh told Israel Radio in an English-language interview aired Sunday morning.Sedgh said he believed the Iranian leadership to be “healthy and wise enough to avoid a war with Israel.”“Relations between Iran and Israel [are] more stable than ever before since the signing of the nuclear agreement last year,” he said.“Two, three years ago I was suspicious about [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, I think he is crazy enough to start a war, but today, the condition of the world after the agreement is better, and the Middle East is more stable,” Sedgh said.He added that war was not “probable” at the moment.Last year, Iran and six world powers led by the US reached an agreement that promised economic sanctions relief to Tehran in return for it curtailing key activities in its controversial nuclear program.Israel has been a prominent opponent of the 2015 deal, which it argues entrenches the regime, provides sanctions relief that will enable Iran to fund terrorism, and paves Iran’s path to nuclear weapons.Netanyahu — a leading critic of the deal with Tehran– reportedly mulled a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.To this day, Netanyahu maintains that Israel will act alone if necessary to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons-Iran has insisted it is not interested in nuclear weapons, and the pact is being closely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA said Tehran has essentially kept to its commitments since the agreement was implemented in January.
In UK, Kerry says ’embarrassing’ US election has made job harder-Election rhetoric has at times stepped ‘out of any norm that I’ve known,’ says former presidential contender-By AFP November 1, 2016, 1:57 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON – US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he had found parts of this year’s race for the White House “downright embarrassing,” adding it had made his job more difficult.“I must tell you bluntly. This election has been difficult for our country’s perception abroad,” he told students at an event with London Mayor Sadiq Khan during a visit to Britain.“There are moments when it is downright embarrassing. There are times when it steps out of any norm that I’ve known — and I ran for president in 2004.“I could never imagine debates that were not focused on real issues, so it’s been a real change.The race for the White House has turned increasingly toxic, with Donald Trump fuelling wild conspiracy theories about vote “rigging” and Hillary Clinton warning that the provocative billionaire was straying into authoritarianism.Kerry said: “And the way it’s made it difficult for me is that, you know, when you sit down with some foreign minister in another country, or a prime minister of another country, and you say, ‘Hey, you know we really want you to move more authoritatively towards democracy,’ they look at you. They’re polite but you can see the question in their head and in their eyes and in their expression. It’s hard,” he added.Kerry was in London to accept an international diplomatic prize from the Chatham House think tank, which he was jointly awarded with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for their part in the Iranian nuclear deal.He also co-hosted a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Libya attended by the Libyan prime minister and representatives of France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Justice minister bids to reshape Supreme Court-With four of the court’s 15 positions set to open, Ayelet Shaked proposes to strengthen politicians’ role in appointing judges-By Times of Israel staff November 1, 2016, 12:58 am
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked will propose a new law that will change the way Supreme Court judges are chosen in a bid to influence the makeup of Israel’s top court, Hebrew language media reported Monday.With four positions soon to open up on the 15-member court as justices reach the mandatory retirement age of 70, Shaked, from the right wing Jewish Home party, sees an opportunity to change the direction of the court, which the right has long complained was too liberal in its rulings.The justice minister told the Haaretz daily that she believes the court has not achieved a proper balance of liberal and conservative justices. “Over the years the court has taken powers for itself that it should not have. The separation of powers has become blurred,” she said.Shaked’s proposal would see judges appointed with a regular majority of votes from the 9-person Judicial Selection Committee. Currently, seven votes are required, Channel 2 reported.The committee is made up of three Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Miriam Naor, two cabinet ministers, two MKs and two members of the Israel Bar Association.Critics of the current selection process have noted that the seven-vote requirement, passed in the Knesset in 2002, effectively gives the court’s own representatives on the body a veto on who joins it.Shaked, who chairs the committee, sees the new reform as an opportunity to circumvent the justices’ de facto veto over new appointees, with the political representatives and Bar Association members able to push through appointments even over the opposition of justices.Israel’s highest court has 15 members, though only some of the judges are assigned to each case. The chief justice is traditionally appointed automatically according to seniority.The court has frequently drawn the ire of right-wing and Orthodox politicians with its interventionist ethos pioneered by Aharon Barak, who served as chief justice between 1995 and 2006. In its second role as the High Court of Justice, the country’s highest court of equity to which almost anyone can appeal in real-time against the actions of any arm of the state, Israel’s top court has wielded powers considered by many scholars to be greater than in any other democracy.That power drives the contentious battle over its composition.Critics of the court argue that the present system for selecting justices results in a court comprised largely of like-minded figures who seek the appointment only of those who share their ideological agenda.The court’s defenders say its powers have developed to fill the void left by a Knesset that is famously unable to settle key questions of law and society, frequently shirking its responsibility to decide on issues of religious freedoms or to act to protect civil liberties or the rights of Palestinians. In Israel’s fractious society, maintaining a strong independent judiciary, they say, serves as a counterweight against the danger that a “tyranny of the majority” in Israel’s unicameral parliament might trample the rights of those who are not fully represented or sufficiently protected by the political system.Shaked’s bill is being jointly submitted with MK Robert Ilatov from Yisrael Beyteinu. According to Channel 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the move and does not object, though he has not personally expressed a view on the bill.
Trump warns of ‘constitutional crisis’ if Clinton elected-GOP candidate seeks to bolster his underdog bid for White House with focus on last week’s email inquiry announcement-By Jennie Matthew and Michael Mathes November 1, 2016, 1:43 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
KENT, Ohio (AFP) – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded fierce campaign trail attacks Monday, as the Republican underdog barnstormed Democratic territory in the race’s final week and warned of a “constitutional crisis” should his rival win the White House.Eight days from Election Day, the contumacious billionaire and the scandal-hit Democrat followed in the spirit of the bruising 2016 race by spending more time branding the other unfit to lead than they did highlighting their own strengths to voters.Trump, aiming to disprove polls that show him trailing nationally and in key swing states, campaigned in Michigan, where Clinton has led every poll since the race began, hoping to capitalize on the controversy over the FBI’s renewed focus on his rival’s emails.Allegations that Clinton put America at risk by using a private email server while secretary of state were thrust back into the spotlight Friday when FBI director James Comey said the bureau would study newly discovered messages that may be related to Clinton.The bombshell announcement could shift the momentum in a race where Clinton was increasingly seen as the prohibitive favorite.But a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly tracking poll released Monday showed virtually no change in standing following the revelations, with Clinton maintaining a six-point lead over Trump, 47 percent to 41%.Clinton, furious at Comey for making his announcement without providing evidence of wrongdoing just 11 days before a national election, addressed the issue head on in Kent, Ohio.“Now they apparently want to look at emails of one of my staffers. And by all means they should,” she told a rally in the crucial swing state.“And I am sure they will reach the same conclusion they did when they looked at my emails for the last year: there is no case here.”Trump countered that lingering suspicions against Clinton meant her election “would mire our government and our country in a constitutional crisis that we cannot afford.”He predicted that “we would have a criminal trial for a sitting president,” and chastised Clinton for seeking to blame others for the scandal that has persisted for 20 months.“She has brought all of this on herself,” he said.-‘Suppress the vote’-Trump campaigned Sunday in Democrat-leaning Colorado and New Mexico, and held a rally Tuesday in Wisconsin, where Clinton’s lead is 5.7 points, according to a RealClearPolitics poll aggregate.University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato said the FBI development has changed the race’s dynamics.“She would have been running a victory lap this week, running up the score,” he told AFP. “Instead she’s trying to hold on.”Nevertheless, Sabato distilled the Trump strategy to a simple truth: he needs to flip at least one Democratic-leaning state on November 8 in order to win.“He is going to have to turn a blue state or two in addition to winning the battlegrounds,” Sabato said. “He has to win almost everything. If he wins all the battlegrounds, he needs one more blue state.”Clinton, 69, hit the campaign trail hard Sunday in battleground Florida, where Trump has clawed back into a half-point lead, according to RealClearPolitics. A Florida victory would be a lifeline for Trump. Defeat there would almost certainly see him coming up short in the overall race.On Monday in Ohio, Clinton assailed him for using scare tactics to keep Democrats and left-leaning independents from trooping to the polls.“His whole strategy is to suppress the vote. Lots of noise, lots of distractions. Throwing stuff at me,” she told diners at Angie’s Soul Cafe in Cleveland, where she made an unannounced stop.Clinton meanwhile charged that Trump would be quick to consider using nuclear weapons, warning he would be a thin-skinned president who “loses his cool at the slightest provocation.”“So imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis.”-‘Serious mistake’-Clinton’s campaign was badly jolted when Comey announced that his agents are reviewing a newly discovered trove of emails, resurrecting an issue the candidate hoped was behind her.Her response has been to hit out at the move as “deeply troubling” and to rally supporters to get out and vote.President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, Eric Holder, issued a blistering opinion piece on Comey’s actions in Monday’s Washington Post.Comey “made a serious mistake,” Holder wrote.“It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and tradition. And it ran counter to guidance that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season.”According to US media, the probe was renewed after agents seized a laptop used by Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin and her now estranged husband Anthony Weiner.The disgraced former congressman, who resigned in 2011 after sending explicit online messages, is under investigation over allegations he sent sexual overtures to a 15-year-old girl.Clinton campaigned Monday for a third straight day without Abedin by her side.
Abbas-Dahlan rivalry is a Palestinian soap opera with immense implications-The PA president has been meeting with the leaders of Turkey, Qatar and Hamas — perhaps because his friends are abandoning him-By Avi Issacharoff October 30, 2016, 11:42 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
In a turn of events no one could have foreseen mere weeks ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — until recently the ally of Egypt and Saudi in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamist groups — met on Wednesday with Khaled Mashaal, outgoing head of Hamas’s politburo, and with Ismail Haniyeh, Mashaal’s successor. These meetings took place after Abbas met the previous week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani.Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim are considered strong patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood, the great rival of Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Abbas’s meetings with them, as well as his talks with Mashaal and Haniyeh, the two highest-ranking members of Hamas (the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian offshoot), may even lead to a historic reconciliation with Hamas, though that outcome is still a long way off. Whether such a reconciliation would be a good or a bad thing depends on whom you ask.So what — or, rather, who — has led Abbas straight into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood, and maybe even into those of Hamas, just days after a high-ranking Hamas official in Gaza called him a traitor? The answer is simple: Mohammad Dahlan. This former high-ranking Fatah official, who has been challenging Abbas for several years, succeeded this week in areas where even Hamas has failed. He managed to get Cairo on his side in the fight against Abbas and proved how weak and shaky Abbas’s status is in the Arab world.In addition, Dahlan organized a series of demonstrations in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority and Abbas — to which hundreds of Fatah activists showed up. So Abbas, who has taken some hard hits in recent weeks (including for attending the funeral of Shimon Peres, in case anyone forgot), caught on to the conspiracy being wrought against him in Cairo, Abu Dhabi (where Dahlan lives), and even Saudi Arabia (which recently cut back its aid to the PA). So Abbas decided to approach the patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood and perhaps bring about a reconciliation with Hamas — mainly with the leadership of the group’s political wing abroad.Why approach Hamas leaders in Qatar and not in Gaza? One reason is that the high-ranking members of Hamas in Gaza seem to be collaborating with Dahlan, of all people. This means that the conventional division into various camps (pragmatic Sunnis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Shiites, jihadist Sunnis) created in recent years is once again melting before our eyes. The new Middle East transformed long ago into a juicy and tragic political-diplomatic soap opera, and we cannot predict where the plot of its next episode is headed.The rivalry between Dahlan and Abbas surfaced in late 2010, when reports of dubious accuracy spread that Dahlan was preparing a putsch against the PA president. The reports, together with critical statements made by Dahlan against Abbas’s sons, led the PA president to make a rapid move that ended with Dahlan’s expulsion from the Palestinian territories in January 2011.Dahlan has been living in the United Arab Emirates since then and trying to set up bastions of support in the Palestinian territories, particularly among the inhabitants of the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. These attempts have been unsuccessful for years. But though people identified as Dahlan loyalists failed to gain status or support, they were still a chronic headache for Abbas and his security agencies. Abbas’s close associates claimed that Dahlan was running armed men in places such as Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem, and Balata, near Nablus, in an attempt to perpetrate terror attacks against Israel so as to damage relations between Ramallah and Jerusalem.But something changed over the past few months: a combination of Abbas’s diminishing status and, just as important, the mobilization of the Arab quartet — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan — in an effort to assist Dahlan. Cairo was instrumental in pressuring Abbas to reconcile with Dahlan and restore him to Fatah’s ranks. But Abbas and Fatah’s leadership insisted on not taking Dahlan back into the movement, agreeing only to “reconsider the return of his associates to Fatah.”This answer was not acceptable to Sissi, and neither was Abbas’s refusal to hold a summit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo. It was then that Egypt, without a word to the media, began to act against Abbas using classic Egyptian methods. In a move interpreted as an explicit challenge to Abbas, the Egyptians allowed Dahlan — or Abu Fadi, as he is also known — to hold a gathering of dozens of supporters in Cairo.Then they reached understandings with Hamas that Mohammad Dahlan’s wife, Jalila (Umm Fadi), would enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, after the PA stopped her from entering via the Erez crossing. Jalila has been working in the Gaza Strip for many years, mainly in various charitable endeavors, with the permission of Hamas (which uses her as a stick to poke at Abbas). Just this week, she held a mass wedding ceremony, fully funded by the UAE, for dozens of people who were wounded in the 2014 war in Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense. On top of all that, the Egyptians agreed to open the Rafah crossing for ten days every month, at least according to the latest update from Egypt. These incidents, of course, resulted in upgrading Dahlan’s standing in Gaza, where he is perceived as the desired candidate for the PA’s next president.But Gaza is not Dahlan’s last stop. Jihad Tamliya, one of his known supporters, held a conference entitled Unity Among Fatah Ranks last week in the Amari refugee camp in the heart of Ramallah. Approximately 200 Fatah members called there for the adoption of the reconciliation initiative by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — or, in other words, expressed their support for Dahlan and their opposition to Abbas.Tamliya has a history of conflict and friction with Abbas — or, more precisely, with Abbas’s son Tarek, who took over the management of Amari’s well-known soccer club in 2014. Tamliya defeated the younger Abbas in the elections for soccer club chairmanship that took place about a year later, and was appointed in his place. His close connections with Dahlan got him marked as an “enemy of the system.”And this is where Abbas’s error stands out in sharp relief. Instead of trying to bring his rivals close to him, to win back the members of Fatah who had grown close to Dahlan — most of whom are major activists in the refugee camps — he came out against them with all his might through his associates, causing even greater ferment against the PA in the refugee camps, the places with the highest explosive potential.The inhabitants of the Qalandiya, Askar and Jenin refugee camps have for decades seen themselves as a group that the PA has neglected and discriminated against. Dahlan, who realized the potential of these places right away, recruited supporters and agents there over the past five years, while Abbas continued using force against the activists.That is also what happened this week. Abbas, feeling that the whole world was against him, swiftly punished Tamliya by throwing him out of Fatah. This led to a demonstration against the PA by hundreds of Amari’s inhabitants. Palestinian police officers arrived at the demonstration and severe clashes broke out.“Young Palestinian men threw stones at the police officers as if they were Israeli troops,” one resident told this reporter. The commotion persisted, and news of the clashes spread like wildfire over social media networks, bringing hundreds of people into the alleyways of Balata and Jenin refugee camps to demonstrate against the PA. Live ammunition was used, and at least three people were wounded. The incidents subsided, but this is most likely not the last word in the battle between Dahlan and Abbas.-Just before the end-This series of events demonstrates even more powerfully that the West Bank has entered a kind of twilight zone, a dangerous and problematic interim stage, in which the status of the Palestinian Authority and its leader are weaker than they have ever been.On the one hand, government agencies are still operating and demonstrating their ability to govern. But on the other, Abbas is more weak and vulnerable than ever, and everybody is busy with the question of “the day after.” Many members of Fatah fear that the day is fast approaching when Fatah will split over the uncompromising battle between Dahlan and Abbas, and Hamas will become more powerful still.It should be emphasized that Dahlan is not the only one in Fatah to be marking out territory in anticipation of the fight over the succession.The highest levels of Fatah, as a whole, are busy with Fatah’s general assembly, which is set to take place in late November and can point the way to who Abbas’s successor might be. Fatah’s Central Council will be elected during the assembly — and according to Fatah’s bylaws, it is only from the Central Council that Abbas’s successor, Fatah’s next chairman, may be chosen. It is also likely that the assembly will elect Fatah’s deputy chairman, who could, in time, succeed to the chairmanship.Quite a few names have been mentioned time and again in the context of the deputy position: Marwan Barghouti, who is serving his sentence in an Israeli prison for five murder convictions; Saeb Erekat, who is also the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee; and Nasser al-Kidwa, nephew of Yasser Arafat, whose unique feature is that he has no powerful enemies in Fatah and is considered acceptable to everyone.There is one other big name — that of a man who has managed to strengthen his status in Fatah, mainly among the rank and file: our old acquaintance Jibril Rajoub. He was re-elected recently as chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, and has managed, through his work in athletics, to recruit quite a few young supporters. He has excellent connections among Palestinian security agencies, and almost all of the governors are his former soldiers.Another prominent fact about Rajoub is that he is considered Mohammed Dahlan’s main rival. The open hostility between them began in 2002, when Dahlan turned his back on Rajoub after the takeover of the Preventive Security Service headquarters in Beitunia and tried to incriminate him — falsely, it should be said — for the extradition to Israel of Hamas members who were in his custody.As we mentioned before, Palestinian politics is quite the soap opera.
