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)
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
France confirms Paris peace summit delayed until January-French envoy to UN says ‘conditions not in place today to restart negotiations’ between Israel, Palestinians-By Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 5:30 pm
France confirmed Saturday it is postponing an international peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was set to take place in Paris later this month, citing a lack of suitable diplomatic conditions.“After nearly a year of efforts, France will hold during January an international conference bringing together all the states attached to [seeking] peace,” French ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre said, according to Reuters.“Everyone knows that only the Israelis and Palestinians will be able to conclude a peace directly, but we have to recognize today that the conditions are not in place today to restart the negotiations,” he said in a statement released by the foreign ministry in Paris.The summit will now take place in January 2017, Delattre said.Israel has said it will not attend the summit, preferring direct talks instead, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going so far last week as to offer to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for negotiations in Paris if French President Francois Hollande cancels the confab.The French confirmation came following multiple reports that the conference would be delayed until the new year. Channel 10 reported earlier this week that the Palestinian envoy to France has already informed his superiors of the delay, saying French officials needed more time to prepare. The Palestinian official insisted Israel’s refusal to participate had nothing to do with the decision, according to the report.The French have been pushing an initiative aimed at revitalizing the moribund peace process between Palestinians and Israelis. While the Palestinians have welcomed the initiative, Israel has remained critical of the plan, arguing that only bilateral negotiations can prove successful.Since a peace summit in June in Paris officially kicked off the French initiative, three groups have been tasked with examining avenues to propel the peace process forward, according to a report in French newspaper Le Monde last week.One group has looked at building the institutions needed for the establishment of a Palestinian state; another has studied the economic incentives peace would bring for those involved, in particular for the European Union; while a third group worked on enhancing the participation of civil society in the process.The proposals of the three groups will be examined during the summit, the report said. Paris is also reportedly examining different avenues for conveying the findings to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, either on the sidelines of the summit or by sending representatives to Ramallah and Jerusalem.France’s new envoy to Israel said Monday that the conference would not contain any novel ideas on how to solve the Middle East conflict, but is mainly intended to prevent the issue from disappearing amid other global crises.“What we propose is nothing new but [we are] trying to keep the subject on the agenda and not letting it down because there are other crises in the world,” Ambassador Hélène Le Gal said. “We continue to propose things and it’s always in a very good spirit toward Israel.”As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France is “always keen to propose” solutions to various conflicts across the globe, Le Gal told President Reuven Rivlin after she handed him her letter of credence, officially taking up her post.Rivlin welcomed the new ambassador and hailed the country’s longstanding support for Israel, but at the same time made plain Jerusalem’s misgivings about the Paris summit.Rivlin said there was little danger of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict falling off the world’s agenda, though he admitted it was important to keep some issues front and center.“Unfortunately everyone knows that in the Middle East there are no shortcuts. You have to build confidence,” Rivlin said. “The only way to get to an understanding with our cousins, with our neighbors, with our partners — the Palestinians — for being here in this very tiny piece of earth we are sitting on, is only by direct negotiations and the understanding that we have to accept them and they have to accept us.”He added: “There is no other way but to live together and try to reach for a better future that will bring prosperity to everyone.”Raphael Ahren and Dov Lieber contributed to this report.
Friedman believes settlements not an obstacle to peace, and two-state solution 'not a priority' for Trump-Trump taps adviser Friedman as ambassador to Israel; he expects to work from Jerusalem-In sign of president-elect’s resolve to move embassy to holy city, intended envoy predicts he’ll be based in ‘Israel’s eternal capital’-By Eric Cortellessa December 16, 2016, 2:25 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump will nominate his adviser and long-time friend David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel, his transition team announced Thursday, in a statement that quoted Friedman predicting he would work from “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”The 57-year-old bankruptcy attorney, a Hebrew-speaker, served along with Jason Dov Greenblatt on Trump’s Israel advisory committee during the campaign, becoming one of his main representatives to the Jewish community and Jewish media.“The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when I’m president,” Trump said in a statement. “As the United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman will maintain the special relationship between our two countries.”In the statement, Freidman said he was “deeply honored and humbled” that Trump selected him to represent the US in Israel, and that he aimed to “strengthen the bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region, and look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”It was a further indication of the incoming president’s apparent resolve to follow through on his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Earlier this week it was reported that the Trump team was already planning the move, including undertaking advance work on the project, after his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said it was “a very big priority for him.”If confirmed, Friedman will replace Dan Shapiro, who, before taking the ambassador’s post was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the US National Security Council.Over the course of the campaign, Friedman was outspoken on his belief that West Bank settlement activity is not an obstacle to peace and that Israel does not face a “demographic threat” to its Jewish character if it fails to separate from the Palestinians.A week before the election, Friedman released a 16-point position paper with Greenblatt, the other member of Trump’s Israel advisory committee, that pledged to strengthen US assistance and detailed a number of promises that US presidential candidates typically make, such as vowing to reject measures critical of Israel at the United Nations.In an interview with The Times of Israel in November, Friedman spoke in depth about Trump’s plans for managing the US-Israel relationship and conducting foreign policy in the region. “One significant part of a Trump policy would be no daylight between Israel and America,” he said, foreshadowing the language of Thursday’s announcement.The Long Island native indicated that Trump would seek to forge a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, but was open to alternatives outside the two-state framework embraced by official US policy for decades.Friedman stated that, based on his discussions with Trump, “a two-state solution is not a priority” for the president-elect. “I don’t think he is wed to any particularly outcome. A two-state solution is a way, but it’s not the only way.”He also suggested that Trump would not apply pressure to Israel over approving settlement construction projects in the West Bank, saying he would not “dictate to Israel where it can and cannot build.”The pledge by Trump in Thursday’s statement to “ensure there is no daylight” between the US and Israel under his presidency appeared to represent a dig at the outgoing Obama administration. President Barack Obama increased US-Israel defense and intelligence sharing, but challenged the practice of his two immediate predecessors – Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – of keeping diplomatic disagreements behind closed doors. Early in his administration, Obama told Jewish leaders the policy of “no daylight” had not advanced peace in the region.Within an hour of Trump making the announcement, liberal Jewish groups such as J Street, the National Jewish Democratic Council and Americans for Peace Now strongly denounced the nomination in no uncertain terms.“J Street is vehemently opposed to the nomination of David Friedman to be Ambassador to Israel,” the organization’s president Jeremy Ben Ami said in a statement. “This nomination is reckless, putting America’s reputation in the region and credibility around the world at risk.In a June column for the far-right Israel National News website , Friedman accused the dovish group’s supporters of being “far worse than kapos,” referring to Jews who aided Nazis during the Holocaust.“The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one?” he asked. “But J Street? They are just smug advocates of Israel’s destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas – it’s hard to imagine anyone worse.”Other left-wing Jewish groups and representatives expressed similar indignation with Trump’s selection of Friedman.The National Jewish Democratic Council tweeted that there “hasn’t ever been a less experienced pick for US [ambassador] to Israel,” while Lara Friedman, the director of policy and government relations for Americans for Peace Now, said, “I don’t know about the Palestinians, but I know Jews who truly care about Israel’s security, democracy & place in the world are outraged.”Meanwhile, there were also Republican Jewish leaders who responded with exuberant approval.“Great choice!!” executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition Matt Brooks tweeted. “David is someone who understands the President’s vision and will strengthen the US-Israel relationship.”Times of Israel staff and JTA contributed to this piece.
Herzog to Amona residents: Zionism is not a land grab-Opposition leader joins calls for outpost inhabitants to refrain from attacking security forces during evacuation-By Tamar Pileggi December 17, 2016, 6:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Opposition leader Issac Herzog over the weekend joined the chorus of lawmakers urging the residents of Amona to refrain from violence against security forces during the upcoming evacuation of their illegal West Bank outpost. The head of the center-left party also said the land on which the settlers live had been subject to a “land grab.”Speaking at a cultural event in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Herzog addressed the 40 or so families living in Amona, who recently rejected a compromise deal with the government and vow to resist the court-ordered eviction of the community.“Do not raise your hand against soldiers or police,” he said. “Though it is indeed painful for a person to leave their home, this is an issue of theft,” he said.“Zionism was not built on the redemption of the land, and not a land grab,” Herzog said.“Don’t forget about tomorrow,” he added. “Experience tells us that even when settlers who have been evacuated from their homes, they’ve been able to establish stronger and better communities elsewhere.”The opposition leader’s comments came days after the residents of Amona overwhelmingly rejected the state plan to relocate them to nearby plots.Israeli security forces are expected to begin evacuating the illegal West Bank outpost in the coming days ahead of the December 25 evacuation date, and Amona residents have said they will resist.On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called on Amona residents to leave their homes peacefully and “not to harm IDF soldiers and security forces under any circumstances.”Calling his cabinet “more committed than any other” to Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise in a video posted to his Facebook page Friday, Netanyahu said his government had made “every effort” to find a solution that would allow the settlers to remain in their current homes.He also vowed to crack down on all illegal construction in Israel, not just West Bank settlements, intimating his government will crack down on illegal housing in Arab communities.A day earlier, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned there would be “no acceptance or tolerance of violence against IDF soldiers and members of the security forces.”“I see organization [for violence] and I see several well-known faces there. I hear voices speaking about violent opposition,” Liberman said, a day after dozens of protesters began to flock to the site. “I call to all the residents of Amona and to all the guests who came in solidarity — simply take [violence] off the agenda.”Comprised of a few dozen caravans near the settlement of Ofra, Amona is among about 100 outposts built in the West Bank without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government.That indulgence ended when Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on land illegally appropriated from its Palestinian owners and had to be evacuated within two years, by Dec. 25 of this year.Though the evacuation of Amona would hardly alter the reality of Israeli settlement throughout the West Bank, it has become a major flash point on the political right and the left.Attempts to remove some buildings in the illegal West Bank outpost in 2006 resulted in violent clashes between protesters and security forces.While stopping short of calling for violent resistance to the evacuation, Amona residents have not ruled it out.Last week, residents called for help from other Israelis to protect their homes.“We call for all the nation Israel to come to Amona and protest the wrongdoing of a Jewish settlement’s destruction,” one widely-circulated text message said.Over the last several weeks, hundreds of young Israelis have gone to Amona to protest the evacuation. Many go for daylong visits, while others camp out in greenhouses and shacks that residents have erected, braving frigid nights and rain. Since the storms started deluging Israel last week, some Amona residents have let visitors sleep in their homes.JTA contributed to this report.
Erekat: Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem will ‘destroy peace process’-After president-elect chooses Israel envoy, Palestinian negotiator says he can appoint whoever he wants, but a changed US stance on the holy city could ‘send region to chaos’-By Times of Israel staff December 16, 2016, 9:43 pm
Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat warned on Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem could “destroy the peace process” and send the region to a “path of chaos, lawlessness and extremism.”Speaking at a press conference in Bethlehem, Erekat responded to the Trump team’s announcement that the president-elect has decided to appoint David Friedman, a hawkish American Jew, to the position of ambassador to Israel.“Donald Trump’s announcement of his cabinet… is his business,” Erekat said, but then added: “What is not Donald Trump’s business is to determine the capitals of other nations, especially when it comes to occupied East Jerusalem.”Friedman, 57, an Orthodox Jew and a Hebrew speaker, has been an outspoken and active supporter of the settlement movement, and has argued that Israel doesn’t face a “demographic threat” to its Jewish character if it fails to separate from the Palestinians. In addition to being a bankruptcy lawyer in New York, Friedman serves as president of American Friends of Bet El Institutions, an organization that supports a large West Bank settlement just outside Ramallah.Erekat said that “no one on Earth is mandated to preempt or prejudge the issue that is there for permanent status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. These are issues that were agreed by an American sponsor, an international sponsor.”“[In] the peace process, the issues for negotiations [are]: Jerusalem, borders, settlements, the regime, security… and no one should preempt or prejudge, because this will be a destruction of the peace process as a whole.”Since 1967, official US policy — during both Republican and Democratic administrations — has opposed Israeli construction in areas that the Palestinians claim for their future state. The US and the international community consider West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem over the Green Line illegal.Erekat noted that “what we care about” is that US policy “continues to consider the annexation of West Bank as illegal and settlement activity as illegal.” He said there was a difference between “the interest of this person or that person” and “the long-standing position that the United States took since 1967, considering the annexation of East Jerusalem as illegal” and its control of the West Bank as illegal.Trump has “a right to appoint anyone, but he has no right to make decisions on my future,” Erekat said.Asked by one journalist what the Palestinians can do now that the US “no longer believes” those core tenets, Erekat said “We will see, will he do it? I don’t think they will do it.”He then sounded a threat regarding the possible ramifications of moving the embassy: “If you were to take these steps, of moving the embassy, annexing settlements in the West Bank – you are sending this region down the path of something that I call chaos, lawlessness, and extremism.“I think the United States, at the end of the day, is a country of institutions and they’re guided by their veteran interests, and not the interests, I believe, of this person or that person,” Erekat said.
Sweden ‘to seek anti-settlement resolution’ during Security Council presidency in January-Controversial FM Margot Wallstrom, visiting Ramallah, says her boycott by Jerusalem is unfortunate: ‘It’s important to have dialogue’-By Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 2:27 pm
Sweden will seek to advance a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements when it assumes the council presidency in January, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told Palestinian officials during a visit to the West Bank Friday.“We discussed our (upcoming) presidency,” Wallstrom said after meetings in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, according to the Swedish Expressen newspaper. “We hope that it will be possible for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the settlements.”The Security Council presidency rotates between member states on a monthly basis. Even if it gathers enough votes, a resolution against Israel is likely to be shot down by Washington, which holds veto power at the council, though Israel’s leaders have said they have some concern that the outgoing Obama administration might be less inclined to use its veto on a milder anti-Israel resolution in its final days in office.“Sweden’s policy aims to create a future in which Israel and Palestine can live side by side,” Wallstrom said. “It is deeply worrying that young Palestinians are beginning to lose hope for the future after 50 years of occupation.”Wallstrom toured Ramallah and Bethlehem during her stay on Friday.Though she requested meetings with Israeli officials as well, her efforts were rejected — ostensibly due to schedule conflicts, though Israeli officials have unofficially said the Swedish diplomat is unwelcome due to her controversial statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“I asked to visit Israel. It is important to also have dialogue with those who do not share the same opinion,” Wallstrom said. “Unfortunately it was not possible.”Expressen noted that critics of Wallstrom in Sweden have said her government demands too little of the Palestinians, providing generous aid while ignoring human rights abuses and systemic corruption.Wallstrom said she had brought the matter up with her hosts, stressing that the Palestinians must “pull themselves together.”“We have discussed this in all the meetings,” she said. “We come as friends, but real friends can be critical. Especially if they offer assistance and help.”The 61-year-old Social Democrat has repeatedly enraged Israel, starting with Sweden’s recognition of a Palestinian state shortly after she became foreign minister in October 2014.In the wake of last November’s terror attacks in Paris, she identified the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one of the factors explaining why “there are so many people who have become radicalized” — comments Israel called “appallingly impudent.”And in December of last year she called on Israel to halt what she called “extrajudicial executions” in response to attacks by knife-wielding Palestinians, following up with a demand for “thorough” investigations into the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli army.Israel has made clear in the past that she would not be a welcome visitor in the country, and in January Netanyahu called her critiques outrageous, immoral, wrong and stupid.“People are defending themselves against assailants, wielding knives, who are about to stab them to death. And they shoot the people. And that’s extrajudicial killings? So why is San Bernardino not extrajudicial killings? And the other day in Paris — a knife-wielding terrorist was shot to death. Is that extrajudicial killing? Does the Swedish foreign minister suggest that there be examinations of what happened there, in Paris. Or in the United States? This is definitely wrong. And it singles out Israel in an absurd way… I don’t want to call it by other names. I’ll just say this is an absurdity, and it’s outrageous,” Netanyahu said.Israel’s deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely blasted her comments as “a mix of blindness and political stupidity.”In January 2015 Wallstrom cancelled a planned visit to the region after Israel made it clear she was not welcome. Sweden’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine in October 2014 infuriated Israel and prompted it to recall its ambassador to Stockholm. He returned a month later.AFP contributed to this report.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Iran seeks meeting of nuclear deal powers to protest US sanctions-Tehran argues the Iran Sanctions Act, symbolically renewed this week, is a breach of the accord reached in 2015-By AFP December 17, 2016, 2:57 pm
TEHRAN — Iran has formally requested a meeting of the commission that oversees its nuclear deal with world powers to complain about the renewing of sanctions by the United States, state television reported Saturday.The request was made in a letter by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, calling for “a meeting of the joint commission outlined in the nuclear deal… regarding the recent actions of the United States.”On Thursday, Washington extended the Iran Sanctions Act — which mostly seeks to limit Iran’s oil and gas trade — for another decade.Although it received overwhelming support from the US Congress, the act will have no effect since its measures are suspended as long as the nuclear deal remains in place.President Barack Obama has said that renewing the act was pointless, and symbolically allowed it to become law without signing it, although he denied it was a breach of the nuclear deal which came into effect last January.Iranian leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, disagree, calling it a “clear violation.”The nuclear deal allows for the signatories — Iran, the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — to hold a “joint commission” to discuss claims of a violation.Iran has been frustrated by the limited economic benefits of the accord, which removed many international sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program.Although it has managed to significantly ramp up its oil exports, Tehran has struggled to rejoin the international financial system because Washington has maintained a raft of other sanctions related to non-nuclear issues that have helped deter major Western banks from returning to Iran.
Khamenei slams UK for describing Iran as regional threat-Theresa May told Gulf leaders they must all ‘work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions’-By AP and Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 3:31 pm
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has harshly criticized UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s recent comments about Iran posing a threat to the regionIn remarks published on his website Saturday, Khamenei called the UK “a source of evil and misery for the peoples of the region” for the past two centuries.Earlier this month, May told a summit of Gulf leaders that their countries must all, “work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.”May told the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain that Britain will help Gulf states “push back” against aggressive regional actions by Iran, in a televised address.May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region, while also seeking to strengthen post-Brexit trade.“I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and to the wider Middle East,” she said.However, she also said that the nuclear deal signed last year between world powers and Iran is “vitally important for regional security.”The agreement, signed in Vienna in July 2015 and in force since January 2016, was the signature diplomatic breakthrough of President Barack Obama’s second term. It calls on Tehran to curb its nuclear program, including its ability to enrich uranium, in exchange for sanctions relief from the US and other nations. Britain was a party to the agreement.“We secured a deal which has neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade,” she said. “It has already seen Iran remove 13,000 centrifuges together with associated infrastructure and eliminate its stock of 20 per cent enriched uranium.”The mainly Sunni Arab Gulf monarchies and Shiite Iran are bitter regional rivals, at odds over a range of issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen.Iran’s alleged “interference” in the region is a central preoccupation of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council whose most powerful member is Saudi Arabia.GCC countries are concerned about Iran’s growing influence in the region, especially after last year’s nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers took a step towards ending its international isolation.Britain and Iran have reopened their embassies in each other’s countries and exchanged ambassadors. Direct British Airways flights between London and Tehran also have resumed after the nuclear accord.
PA claims it got no US aid in 2016. In fact, State Dept. gave Palestinians $357 million. And that’s not all-Palestinian PM last week accused the US of failing to come through with a single dollar of a promised $263 million. The American government actually gives more aid than any other country-By Dov Lieber December 16, 2016, 6:32 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah claimed last week that his government has received no aid from Washington in 2016, accusing the US of imposing a “financial siege” on the Palestinians. But the State Department has in fact provided Ramallah with over $357 million in financial assistance in the past year, according to information given to The Times of Israel by a US State Department official on Thursday.Additionally, in 2016 alone, the US contributed $355,177,827 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), of which $95 million was earmarked for the West Bank and Gaza. UNWRA also operates Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.In total, therefore, the US gave around $712 million in aid to Palestinians in 2016, and is the world’s largest supplier of such aid.Hamdallah told the official PA radio station the Voice of Palestine on December 8 that his government has not seen any of the aid money approved by the US in 2016. He described this as part of a “financial siege” on the Palestinian government. That allegation against the US of failure to pay, according to figures and explanations received by The Times of Israel, is a cynically skewed misrepresentation of the reality.“Since last year, there is a financial siege on the Palestinian government… For example, let’s speak frankly, the US approved $263 million in 2016 as aid to the government. Look, 2016 is about to end, no shekel or agora, or dinar or dollar has been paid, if we speak frankly. We hope that this aid money will be paid,” he said, according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch.Hamdallah then listed and praised countries that he said have given aid to the PA in 2016, and excluded the US.“The countries that have given their aid, and we always thank them, are the European Union, which always [gives] consistently and according to what is expected. When we plan the budget we know that the EU will pay. We thank Saudi Arabia, as President [Abbas] said at the Seventh Fatah Conference, and we thank Algeria. These are the countries that actually support our budget,” Hamdallah said.The largest amount of money given to the PA annually from Washington is channeled through the USAID program.In 2015, the State Department allotted $290 million to the Palestinians through USAID. This money formed the major part of the overall total of $357 million given to the Palestinians in 2016, and was dispensed after congressional approval. That one year delay between the allotment of aid from the USAID program and the actual transfer of the money to the Palestinians has been in place for over a decade.The sum of $263 million which Hamdallah said the US approved in 2016 but claimed it has not given, therefore, was presumably a reference to the sum allotted by the State Department for payment in 2017, pending congressional approval. In fact, the actual sum Congress is being asked to approve for dispensation in 2017 is $261 million.Hamdallah’s office wasn’t available for comment on the discrepancy between his allegation and the reality of US aid.The US does not deliver aid money directly into the PA’s coffers. Instead, to avoid possible misuse of funds, particularly to pay the salaries of convicted terrorists, the US channels aid into specific projects.For example, the US can directly pay PA contractors who work on water or electricity infrastructure, and pay bills for schools and hospitals.The $290 million dispensed to the PA via the USAID program in 2016 was spent as follows: $71 million for Gaza humanitarian assistance and water, $41 million for water supply and sanitation, $31 million for economic growth, energy, and private sector development, $31 million for infrastructure, roads and community Infrastructure, $25 million for education and youth and $12 million for democracy and governance. Another $75 million was given for indirect support for debt relief.In addition to the USAID money, Washington gave the PA $54,824,000 for security and justice assistance. Such funds can cover training and supplies for the Palestinian security forces, as well as training for lawyers and judges. Further funding included $8.7 million under the Middle East Partnership Initiative for West Bank- and Gaza-specific programming; $2.1 million for public diplomacy to support education, civil society and women’s empowerment; and $2.2 million for the English Access Microscholarship Program.The Palestinian Authority’s leaders are open about their policy of providing salaries and other benefits to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including those convicted by Israeli civil courts of murder and terrorism, as well as to their families if they are killed while carrying out their attacks.But the PA argues that since 2014, these funds have been paid through the Palestine Liberation Organization, not the PA’s own budget, and so are not drawn from foreign donor governments’ development grants. Critics note that the heads of the PA and PLO are the same individuals, and say the PLO uses PA funds for the payments.US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson told a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress in April, “None of our money goes to this [salaries to prisoners]. It’s not fungible in that respect. Our money goes essentially to pay PA debts to Israel and to other creditors.”-PA under ‘financial siege’-In his December 8 interview, Hamdallah said total aid to the PA has decreased by 62% when compared to 2011.He said that besides the US, “there are also many [other] countries that have not supplied their aid,” but did not specify which.The British government’s Department for International Development in October froze part of its aid to the PA over concerns it was being used to fund salaries for convicted Palestinian terrorists.In September, the German government for the first time admitted that the Palestinian Authority likely grants financial support to terrorists and their families, and vowed to further investigate the matter. It is not clear if Germany has since cut back on funding.In October, The Times of Israel reported that the Saudis had frozen their $20 million monthly aid package to the PA for six months. It is not clear whether Hamdallah’s praise for Riyadh in his interview means the Saudis have renewed their funding.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Tsunami alert after 7.9-magnitude Papua New Guinea quake-Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says hazardous waves could hit country, as well as Indonesia, Nauru, Solomon Islands-By AFP December 17, 2016, 3:46 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
SYDNEY, Australia — Tsunami warnings were issued for several nations Saturday after a major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the US Geological Survey said.The PTWC said hazardous tsunami waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and others.The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (1051 GMT) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.The quake was originally recorded at 8.0 before being revised down to 7.9.“Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking…some casualties and damage are possible,” the USGS said on its website as it issued a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and losses.But Geoscience Australia seismologist Dan Jaksa downplayed the severity of the quake, noting its depth made the likelihood of a tsunami “low.”“This region of PNG is also pretty remote and very, very sparsely populated,” he added.“There would definitely have been shaking, in fact we logged it as shaking felt as much as 3,400 kilometers away, which would include population centers like Rabaul (on Papua New Guinea’s New Britain island).“But it was far enough away for the shaking to not be strong.”New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence briefly issued a tsunami warning for all of the country’s coast but cancelled the alert after analyzing additional data.A moderate and strong aftershock struck the area of the original quake within the space of an hour, with the USGS reporting 5.5- and 6.3- magnitude quakes at 9.22 pm and 9.27 pm (1122 and 1127 GMT) respectively.Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms part of the “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.In 2013 the neighboring Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
France confirms Paris peace summit delayed until January-French envoy to UN says ‘conditions not in place today to restart negotiations’ between Israel, Palestinians-By Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 5:30 pm
France confirmed Saturday it is postponing an international peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was set to take place in Paris later this month, citing a lack of suitable diplomatic conditions.“After nearly a year of efforts, France will hold during January an international conference bringing together all the states attached to [seeking] peace,” French ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre said, according to Reuters.“Everyone knows that only the Israelis and Palestinians will be able to conclude a peace directly, but we have to recognize today that the conditions are not in place today to restart the negotiations,” he said in a statement released by the foreign ministry in Paris.The summit will now take place in January 2017, Delattre said.Israel has said it will not attend the summit, preferring direct talks instead, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going so far last week as to offer to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for negotiations in Paris if French President Francois Hollande cancels the confab.The French confirmation came following multiple reports that the conference would be delayed until the new year. Channel 10 reported earlier this week that the Palestinian envoy to France has already informed his superiors of the delay, saying French officials needed more time to prepare. The Palestinian official insisted Israel’s refusal to participate had nothing to do with the decision, according to the report.The French have been pushing an initiative aimed at revitalizing the moribund peace process between Palestinians and Israelis. While the Palestinians have welcomed the initiative, Israel has remained critical of the plan, arguing that only bilateral negotiations can prove successful.Since a peace summit in June in Paris officially kicked off the French initiative, three groups have been tasked with examining avenues to propel the peace process forward, according to a report in French newspaper Le Monde last week.One group has looked at building the institutions needed for the establishment of a Palestinian state; another has studied the economic incentives peace would bring for those involved, in particular for the European Union; while a third group worked on enhancing the participation of civil society in the process.The proposals of the three groups will be examined during the summit, the report said. Paris is also reportedly examining different avenues for conveying the findings to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, either on the sidelines of the summit or by sending representatives to Ramallah and Jerusalem.France’s new envoy to Israel said Monday that the conference would not contain any novel ideas on how to solve the Middle East conflict, but is mainly intended to prevent the issue from disappearing amid other global crises.“What we propose is nothing new but [we are] trying to keep the subject on the agenda and not letting it down because there are other crises in the world,” Ambassador Hélène Le Gal said. “We continue to propose things and it’s always in a very good spirit toward Israel.”As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France is “always keen to propose” solutions to various conflicts across the globe, Le Gal told President Reuven Rivlin after she handed him her letter of credence, officially taking up her post.Rivlin welcomed the new ambassador and hailed the country’s longstanding support for Israel, but at the same time made plain Jerusalem’s misgivings about the Paris summit.Rivlin said there was little danger of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict falling off the world’s agenda, though he admitted it was important to keep some issues front and center.“Unfortunately everyone knows that in the Middle East there are no shortcuts. You have to build confidence,” Rivlin said. “The only way to get to an understanding with our cousins, with our neighbors, with our partners — the Palestinians — for being here in this very tiny piece of earth we are sitting on, is only by direct negotiations and the understanding that we have to accept them and they have to accept us.”He added: “There is no other way but to live together and try to reach for a better future that will bring prosperity to everyone.”Raphael Ahren and Dov Lieber contributed to this report.
Friedman believes settlements not an obstacle to peace, and two-state solution 'not a priority' for Trump-Trump taps adviser Friedman as ambassador to Israel; he expects to work from Jerusalem-In sign of president-elect’s resolve to move embassy to holy city, intended envoy predicts he’ll be based in ‘Israel’s eternal capital’-By Eric Cortellessa December 16, 2016, 2:25 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump will nominate his adviser and long-time friend David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel, his transition team announced Thursday, in a statement that quoted Friedman predicting he would work from “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”The 57-year-old bankruptcy attorney, a Hebrew-speaker, served along with Jason Dov Greenblatt on Trump’s Israel advisory committee during the campaign, becoming one of his main representatives to the Jewish community and Jewish media.“The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when I’m president,” Trump said in a statement. “As the United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman will maintain the special relationship between our two countries.”In the statement, Freidman said he was “deeply honored and humbled” that Trump selected him to represent the US in Israel, and that he aimed to “strengthen the bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region, and look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”It was a further indication of the incoming president’s apparent resolve to follow through on his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Earlier this week it was reported that the Trump team was already planning the move, including undertaking advance work on the project, after his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said it was “a very big priority for him.”If confirmed, Friedman will replace Dan Shapiro, who, before taking the ambassador’s post was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the US National Security Council.Over the course of the campaign, Friedman was outspoken on his belief that West Bank settlement activity is not an obstacle to peace and that Israel does not face a “demographic threat” to its Jewish character if it fails to separate from the Palestinians.A week before the election, Friedman released a 16-point position paper with Greenblatt, the other member of Trump’s Israel advisory committee, that pledged to strengthen US assistance and detailed a number of promises that US presidential candidates typically make, such as vowing to reject measures critical of Israel at the United Nations.In an interview with The Times of Israel in November, Friedman spoke in depth about Trump’s plans for managing the US-Israel relationship and conducting foreign policy in the region. “One significant part of a Trump policy would be no daylight between Israel and America,” he said, foreshadowing the language of Thursday’s announcement.The Long Island native indicated that Trump would seek to forge a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, but was open to alternatives outside the two-state framework embraced by official US policy for decades.Friedman stated that, based on his discussions with Trump, “a two-state solution is not a priority” for the president-elect. “I don’t think he is wed to any particularly outcome. A two-state solution is a way, but it’s not the only way.”He also suggested that Trump would not apply pressure to Israel over approving settlement construction projects in the West Bank, saying he would not “dictate to Israel where it can and cannot build.”The pledge by Trump in Thursday’s statement to “ensure there is no daylight” between the US and Israel under his presidency appeared to represent a dig at the outgoing Obama administration. President Barack Obama increased US-Israel defense and intelligence sharing, but challenged the practice of his two immediate predecessors – Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – of keeping diplomatic disagreements behind closed doors. Early in his administration, Obama told Jewish leaders the policy of “no daylight” had not advanced peace in the region.Within an hour of Trump making the announcement, liberal Jewish groups such as J Street, the National Jewish Democratic Council and Americans for Peace Now strongly denounced the nomination in no uncertain terms.“J Street is vehemently opposed to the nomination of David Friedman to be Ambassador to Israel,” the organization’s president Jeremy Ben Ami said in a statement. “This nomination is reckless, putting America’s reputation in the region and credibility around the world at risk.In a June column for the far-right Israel National News website , Friedman accused the dovish group’s supporters of being “far worse than kapos,” referring to Jews who aided Nazis during the Holocaust.“The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one?” he asked. “But J Street? They are just smug advocates of Israel’s destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas – it’s hard to imagine anyone worse.”Other left-wing Jewish groups and representatives expressed similar indignation with Trump’s selection of Friedman.The National Jewish Democratic Council tweeted that there “hasn’t ever been a less experienced pick for US [ambassador] to Israel,” while Lara Friedman, the director of policy and government relations for Americans for Peace Now, said, “I don’t know about the Palestinians, but I know Jews who truly care about Israel’s security, democracy & place in the world are outraged.”Meanwhile, there were also Republican Jewish leaders who responded with exuberant approval.“Great choice!!” executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition Matt Brooks tweeted. “David is someone who understands the President’s vision and will strengthen the US-Israel relationship.”Times of Israel staff and JTA contributed to this piece.
Herzog to Amona residents: Zionism is not a land grab-Opposition leader joins calls for outpost inhabitants to refrain from attacking security forces during evacuation-By Tamar Pileggi December 17, 2016, 6:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Opposition leader Issac Herzog over the weekend joined the chorus of lawmakers urging the residents of Amona to refrain from violence against security forces during the upcoming evacuation of their illegal West Bank outpost. The head of the center-left party also said the land on which the settlers live had been subject to a “land grab.”Speaking at a cultural event in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Herzog addressed the 40 or so families living in Amona, who recently rejected a compromise deal with the government and vow to resist the court-ordered eviction of the community.“Do not raise your hand against soldiers or police,” he said. “Though it is indeed painful for a person to leave their home, this is an issue of theft,” he said.“Zionism was not built on the redemption of the land, and not a land grab,” Herzog said.“Don’t forget about tomorrow,” he added. “Experience tells us that even when settlers who have been evacuated from their homes, they’ve been able to establish stronger and better communities elsewhere.”The opposition leader’s comments came days after the residents of Amona overwhelmingly rejected the state plan to relocate them to nearby plots.Israeli security forces are expected to begin evacuating the illegal West Bank outpost in the coming days ahead of the December 25 evacuation date, and Amona residents have said they will resist.On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called on Amona residents to leave their homes peacefully and “not to harm IDF soldiers and security forces under any circumstances.”Calling his cabinet “more committed than any other” to Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise in a video posted to his Facebook page Friday, Netanyahu said his government had made “every effort” to find a solution that would allow the settlers to remain in their current homes.He also vowed to crack down on all illegal construction in Israel, not just West Bank settlements, intimating his government will crack down on illegal housing in Arab communities.A day earlier, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned there would be “no acceptance or tolerance of violence against IDF soldiers and members of the security forces.”“I see organization [for violence] and I see several well-known faces there. I hear voices speaking about violent opposition,” Liberman said, a day after dozens of protesters began to flock to the site. “I call to all the residents of Amona and to all the guests who came in solidarity — simply take [violence] off the agenda.”Comprised of a few dozen caravans near the settlement of Ofra, Amona is among about 100 outposts built in the West Bank without permission but generally tolerated by the Israeli government.That indulgence ended when Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Amona was built on land illegally appropriated from its Palestinian owners and had to be evacuated within two years, by Dec. 25 of this year.Though the evacuation of Amona would hardly alter the reality of Israeli settlement throughout the West Bank, it has become a major flash point on the political right and the left.Attempts to remove some buildings in the illegal West Bank outpost in 2006 resulted in violent clashes between protesters and security forces.While stopping short of calling for violent resistance to the evacuation, Amona residents have not ruled it out.Last week, residents called for help from other Israelis to protect their homes.“We call for all the nation Israel to come to Amona and protest the wrongdoing of a Jewish settlement’s destruction,” one widely-circulated text message said.Over the last several weeks, hundreds of young Israelis have gone to Amona to protest the evacuation. Many go for daylong visits, while others camp out in greenhouses and shacks that residents have erected, braving frigid nights and rain. Since the storms started deluging Israel last week, some Amona residents have let visitors sleep in their homes.JTA contributed to this report.
Erekat: Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem will ‘destroy peace process’-After president-elect chooses Israel envoy, Palestinian negotiator says he can appoint whoever he wants, but a changed US stance on the holy city could ‘send region to chaos’-By Times of Israel staff December 16, 2016, 9:43 pm
Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat warned on Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem could “destroy the peace process” and send the region to a “path of chaos, lawlessness and extremism.”Speaking at a press conference in Bethlehem, Erekat responded to the Trump team’s announcement that the president-elect has decided to appoint David Friedman, a hawkish American Jew, to the position of ambassador to Israel.“Donald Trump’s announcement of his cabinet… is his business,” Erekat said, but then added: “What is not Donald Trump’s business is to determine the capitals of other nations, especially when it comes to occupied East Jerusalem.”Friedman, 57, an Orthodox Jew and a Hebrew speaker, has been an outspoken and active supporter of the settlement movement, and has argued that Israel doesn’t face a “demographic threat” to its Jewish character if it fails to separate from the Palestinians. In addition to being a bankruptcy lawyer in New York, Friedman serves as president of American Friends of Bet El Institutions, an organization that supports a large West Bank settlement just outside Ramallah.Erekat said that “no one on Earth is mandated to preempt or prejudge the issue that is there for permanent status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. These are issues that were agreed by an American sponsor, an international sponsor.”“[In] the peace process, the issues for negotiations [are]: Jerusalem, borders, settlements, the regime, security… and no one should preempt or prejudge, because this will be a destruction of the peace process as a whole.”Since 1967, official US policy — during both Republican and Democratic administrations — has opposed Israeli construction in areas that the Palestinians claim for their future state. The US and the international community consider West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem over the Green Line illegal.Erekat noted that “what we care about” is that US policy “continues to consider the annexation of West Bank as illegal and settlement activity as illegal.” He said there was a difference between “the interest of this person or that person” and “the long-standing position that the United States took since 1967, considering the annexation of East Jerusalem as illegal” and its control of the West Bank as illegal.Trump has “a right to appoint anyone, but he has no right to make decisions on my future,” Erekat said.Asked by one journalist what the Palestinians can do now that the US “no longer believes” those core tenets, Erekat said “We will see, will he do it? I don’t think they will do it.”He then sounded a threat regarding the possible ramifications of moving the embassy: “If you were to take these steps, of moving the embassy, annexing settlements in the West Bank – you are sending this region down the path of something that I call chaos, lawlessness, and extremism.“I think the United States, at the end of the day, is a country of institutions and they’re guided by their veteran interests, and not the interests, I believe, of this person or that person,” Erekat said.
Sweden ‘to seek anti-settlement resolution’ during Security Council presidency in January-Controversial FM Margot Wallstrom, visiting Ramallah, says her boycott by Jerusalem is unfortunate: ‘It’s important to have dialogue’-By Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 2:27 pm
Sweden will seek to advance a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements when it assumes the council presidency in January, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told Palestinian officials during a visit to the West Bank Friday.“We discussed our (upcoming) presidency,” Wallstrom said after meetings in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, according to the Swedish Expressen newspaper. “We hope that it will be possible for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the settlements.”The Security Council presidency rotates between member states on a monthly basis. Even if it gathers enough votes, a resolution against Israel is likely to be shot down by Washington, which holds veto power at the council, though Israel’s leaders have said they have some concern that the outgoing Obama administration might be less inclined to use its veto on a milder anti-Israel resolution in its final days in office.“Sweden’s policy aims to create a future in which Israel and Palestine can live side by side,” Wallstrom said. “It is deeply worrying that young Palestinians are beginning to lose hope for the future after 50 years of occupation.”Wallstrom toured Ramallah and Bethlehem during her stay on Friday.Though she requested meetings with Israeli officials as well, her efforts were rejected — ostensibly due to schedule conflicts, though Israeli officials have unofficially said the Swedish diplomat is unwelcome due to her controversial statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“I asked to visit Israel. It is important to also have dialogue with those who do not share the same opinion,” Wallstrom said. “Unfortunately it was not possible.”Expressen noted that critics of Wallstrom in Sweden have said her government demands too little of the Palestinians, providing generous aid while ignoring human rights abuses and systemic corruption.Wallstrom said she had brought the matter up with her hosts, stressing that the Palestinians must “pull themselves together.”“We have discussed this in all the meetings,” she said. “We come as friends, but real friends can be critical. Especially if they offer assistance and help.”The 61-year-old Social Democrat has repeatedly enraged Israel, starting with Sweden’s recognition of a Palestinian state shortly after she became foreign minister in October 2014.In the wake of last November’s terror attacks in Paris, she identified the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one of the factors explaining why “there are so many people who have become radicalized” — comments Israel called “appallingly impudent.”And in December of last year she called on Israel to halt what she called “extrajudicial executions” in response to attacks by knife-wielding Palestinians, following up with a demand for “thorough” investigations into the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli army.Israel has made clear in the past that she would not be a welcome visitor in the country, and in January Netanyahu called her critiques outrageous, immoral, wrong and stupid.“People are defending themselves against assailants, wielding knives, who are about to stab them to death. And they shoot the people. And that’s extrajudicial killings? So why is San Bernardino not extrajudicial killings? And the other day in Paris — a knife-wielding terrorist was shot to death. Is that extrajudicial killing? Does the Swedish foreign minister suggest that there be examinations of what happened there, in Paris. Or in the United States? This is definitely wrong. And it singles out Israel in an absurd way… I don’t want to call it by other names. I’ll just say this is an absurdity, and it’s outrageous,” Netanyahu said.Israel’s deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely blasted her comments as “a mix of blindness and political stupidity.”In January 2015 Wallstrom cancelled a planned visit to the region after Israel made it clear she was not welcome. Sweden’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine in October 2014 infuriated Israel and prompted it to recall its ambassador to Stockholm. He returned a month later.AFP contributed to this report.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Iran seeks meeting of nuclear deal powers to protest US sanctions-Tehran argues the Iran Sanctions Act, symbolically renewed this week, is a breach of the accord reached in 2015-By AFP December 17, 2016, 2:57 pm
TEHRAN — Iran has formally requested a meeting of the commission that oversees its nuclear deal with world powers to complain about the renewing of sanctions by the United States, state television reported Saturday.The request was made in a letter by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, calling for “a meeting of the joint commission outlined in the nuclear deal… regarding the recent actions of the United States.”On Thursday, Washington extended the Iran Sanctions Act — which mostly seeks to limit Iran’s oil and gas trade — for another decade.Although it received overwhelming support from the US Congress, the act will have no effect since its measures are suspended as long as the nuclear deal remains in place.President Barack Obama has said that renewing the act was pointless, and symbolically allowed it to become law without signing it, although he denied it was a breach of the nuclear deal which came into effect last January.Iranian leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, disagree, calling it a “clear violation.”The nuclear deal allows for the signatories — Iran, the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — to hold a “joint commission” to discuss claims of a violation.Iran has been frustrated by the limited economic benefits of the accord, which removed many international sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program.Although it has managed to significantly ramp up its oil exports, Tehran has struggled to rejoin the international financial system because Washington has maintained a raft of other sanctions related to non-nuclear issues that have helped deter major Western banks from returning to Iran.
Khamenei slams UK for describing Iran as regional threat-Theresa May told Gulf leaders they must all ‘work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions’-By AP and Times of Israel staff December 17, 2016, 3:31 pm
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has harshly criticized UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s recent comments about Iran posing a threat to the regionIn remarks published on his website Saturday, Khamenei called the UK “a source of evil and misery for the peoples of the region” for the past two centuries.Earlier this month, May told a summit of Gulf leaders that their countries must all, “work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.”May told the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain that Britain will help Gulf states “push back” against aggressive regional actions by Iran, in a televised address.May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region, while also seeking to strengthen post-Brexit trade.“I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and to the wider Middle East,” she said.However, she also said that the nuclear deal signed last year between world powers and Iran is “vitally important for regional security.”The agreement, signed in Vienna in July 2015 and in force since January 2016, was the signature diplomatic breakthrough of President Barack Obama’s second term. It calls on Tehran to curb its nuclear program, including its ability to enrich uranium, in exchange for sanctions relief from the US and other nations. Britain was a party to the agreement.“We secured a deal which has neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade,” she said. “It has already seen Iran remove 13,000 centrifuges together with associated infrastructure and eliminate its stock of 20 per cent enriched uranium.”The mainly Sunni Arab Gulf monarchies and Shiite Iran are bitter regional rivals, at odds over a range of issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen.Iran’s alleged “interference” in the region is a central preoccupation of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council whose most powerful member is Saudi Arabia.GCC countries are concerned about Iran’s growing influence in the region, especially after last year’s nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers took a step towards ending its international isolation.Britain and Iran have reopened their embassies in each other’s countries and exchanged ambassadors. Direct British Airways flights between London and Tehran also have resumed after the nuclear accord.
PA claims it got no US aid in 2016. In fact, State Dept. gave Palestinians $357 million. And that’s not all-Palestinian PM last week accused the US of failing to come through with a single dollar of a promised $263 million. The American government actually gives more aid than any other country-By Dov Lieber December 16, 2016, 6:32 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah claimed last week that his government has received no aid from Washington in 2016, accusing the US of imposing a “financial siege” on the Palestinians. But the State Department has in fact provided Ramallah with over $357 million in financial assistance in the past year, according to information given to The Times of Israel by a US State Department official on Thursday.Additionally, in 2016 alone, the US contributed $355,177,827 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), of which $95 million was earmarked for the West Bank and Gaza. UNWRA also operates Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.In total, therefore, the US gave around $712 million in aid to Palestinians in 2016, and is the world’s largest supplier of such aid.Hamdallah told the official PA radio station the Voice of Palestine on December 8 that his government has not seen any of the aid money approved by the US in 2016. He described this as part of a “financial siege” on the Palestinian government. That allegation against the US of failure to pay, according to figures and explanations received by The Times of Israel, is a cynically skewed misrepresentation of the reality.“Since last year, there is a financial siege on the Palestinian government… For example, let’s speak frankly, the US approved $263 million in 2016 as aid to the government. Look, 2016 is about to end, no shekel or agora, or dinar or dollar has been paid, if we speak frankly. We hope that this aid money will be paid,” he said, according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch.Hamdallah then listed and praised countries that he said have given aid to the PA in 2016, and excluded the US.“The countries that have given their aid, and we always thank them, are the European Union, which always [gives] consistently and according to what is expected. When we plan the budget we know that the EU will pay. We thank Saudi Arabia, as President [Abbas] said at the Seventh Fatah Conference, and we thank Algeria. These are the countries that actually support our budget,” Hamdallah said.The largest amount of money given to the PA annually from Washington is channeled through the USAID program.In 2015, the State Department allotted $290 million to the Palestinians through USAID. This money formed the major part of the overall total of $357 million given to the Palestinians in 2016, and was dispensed after congressional approval. That one year delay between the allotment of aid from the USAID program and the actual transfer of the money to the Palestinians has been in place for over a decade.The sum of $263 million which Hamdallah said the US approved in 2016 but claimed it has not given, therefore, was presumably a reference to the sum allotted by the State Department for payment in 2017, pending congressional approval. In fact, the actual sum Congress is being asked to approve for dispensation in 2017 is $261 million.Hamdallah’s office wasn’t available for comment on the discrepancy between his allegation and the reality of US aid.The US does not deliver aid money directly into the PA’s coffers. Instead, to avoid possible misuse of funds, particularly to pay the salaries of convicted terrorists, the US channels aid into specific projects.For example, the US can directly pay PA contractors who work on water or electricity infrastructure, and pay bills for schools and hospitals.The $290 million dispensed to the PA via the USAID program in 2016 was spent as follows: $71 million for Gaza humanitarian assistance and water, $41 million for water supply and sanitation, $31 million for economic growth, energy, and private sector development, $31 million for infrastructure, roads and community Infrastructure, $25 million for education and youth and $12 million for democracy and governance. Another $75 million was given for indirect support for debt relief.In addition to the USAID money, Washington gave the PA $54,824,000 for security and justice assistance. Such funds can cover training and supplies for the Palestinian security forces, as well as training for lawyers and judges. Further funding included $8.7 million under the Middle East Partnership Initiative for West Bank- and Gaza-specific programming; $2.1 million for public diplomacy to support education, civil society and women’s empowerment; and $2.2 million for the English Access Microscholarship Program.The Palestinian Authority’s leaders are open about their policy of providing salaries and other benefits to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including those convicted by Israeli civil courts of murder and terrorism, as well as to their families if they are killed while carrying out their attacks.But the PA argues that since 2014, these funds have been paid through the Palestine Liberation Organization, not the PA’s own budget, and so are not drawn from foreign donor governments’ development grants. Critics note that the heads of the PA and PLO are the same individuals, and say the PLO uses PA funds for the payments.US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson told a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress in April, “None of our money goes to this [salaries to prisoners]. It’s not fungible in that respect. Our money goes essentially to pay PA debts to Israel and to other creditors.”-PA under ‘financial siege’-In his December 8 interview, Hamdallah said total aid to the PA has decreased by 62% when compared to 2011.He said that besides the US, “there are also many [other] countries that have not supplied their aid,” but did not specify which.The British government’s Department for International Development in October froze part of its aid to the PA over concerns it was being used to fund salaries for convicted Palestinian terrorists.In September, the German government for the first time admitted that the Palestinian Authority likely grants financial support to terrorists and their families, and vowed to further investigate the matter. It is not clear if Germany has since cut back on funding.In October, The Times of Israel reported that the Saudis had frozen their $20 million monthly aid package to the PA for six months. It is not clear whether Hamdallah’s praise for Riyadh in his interview means the Saudis have renewed their funding.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Tsunami alert after 7.9-magnitude Papua New Guinea quake-Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says hazardous waves could hit country, as well as Indonesia, Nauru, Solomon Islands-By AFP December 17, 2016, 3:46 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
SYDNEY, Australia — Tsunami warnings were issued for several nations Saturday after a major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the US Geological Survey said.The PTWC said hazardous tsunami waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and others.The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (1051 GMT) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.The quake was originally recorded at 8.0 before being revised down to 7.9.“Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking…some casualties and damage are possible,” the USGS said on its website as it issued a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and losses.But Geoscience Australia seismologist Dan Jaksa downplayed the severity of the quake, noting its depth made the likelihood of a tsunami “low.”“This region of PNG is also pretty remote and very, very sparsely populated,” he added.“There would definitely have been shaking, in fact we logged it as shaking felt as much as 3,400 kilometers away, which would include population centers like Rabaul (on Papua New Guinea’s New Britain island).“But it was far enough away for the shaking to not be strong.”New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence briefly issued a tsunami warning for all of the country’s coast but cancelled the alert after analyzing additional data.A moderate and strong aftershock struck the area of the original quake within the space of an hour, with the USGS reporting 5.5- and 6.3- magnitude quakes at 9.22 pm and 9.27 pm (1122 and 1127 GMT) respectively.Earthquakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms part of the “Ring of Fire,” a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.In 2013 the neighboring Solomon Islands were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rattled the region. That tsunami left at least 10 people dead, destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people homeless.
