JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
US lawmakers want more funds to secure Jewish sites-Over 100 House members call for $50 million allocation, more than double the current level-By JTA April 4, 2017, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A bipartisan letter from House members is calling for increased funding for a program that funds security for Jewish sites.The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Dan Donovan, R-N.Y., and signed by 112 lawmakers, calls for more than doubling funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $50 million a year from $20 million.It cites intelligence assessments finding the threat of “homegrown violent extremists, who draw inspiration from ISIL or other Sunni extremist organizations,” as well as bomb threats and anti-Semitic acts committed against Jewish community centers, schools, museums and synagogues.A budget plan by President Donald Trump proposed rolling the funds for the program into broader federal emergency preparedness funds. The vast majority of funds have helped upgrade security at Jewish institutions.The Orthodox Union lauded the letter.“We commend the many legislators who are working to better protect our citizens and institutions, particularly as we witness this disturbing surge in attacks against our community,” OU President Mark Bane said in a Monday statement. “No one should have to fear for their safety when they go to school or attend religious services. The increased funding will help many more people feel secure as they go about their daily activities.”The OU also praised a similar letter circulated last month in the Senate.Nearly 150 JCCs and other Jewish institutions received bomb threats and three Jewish cemeteries were vandalized this year. Nearly two weeks ago, an Israeli-American teen was arrested on suspicion of calling in more than 100 bomb threats.Last month, Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Trump’s budget proposal.“At a time where perpetrators are terrorizing the Jewish community across the country, even here in New York, it makes no sense to slash FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. We should be putting more money in terrorism prevention for at-risk non-profits, not less,” Schumer, the Jewish minority leader of the Senate, said in a statement to JTA.
UK’s Labour suspends Livingstone for year over Hitler-Zionism comments-Former London mayor’s remarks ‘grossly detrimental,’ says disciplinary committee, while Jewish party activists slam decision as ‘betrayal‘-By Jenni Frazer and Sue Surkes April 4, 2017, 11:06 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON — The UK Labour Party on Tuesday suspended former London mayor and senior party official Ken Livingstone for one year for comments about Hitler supporting Zionism that a disciplinary committee found “grossly detrimental” to the party.Jewish groups, who had been calling for Livingston to be expelled, called the move “deeply disappointing” and said it would erode the fractured trust between the party and its Jewish members.“Given that Ken Livingstone has been found guilty, we are deeply disappointed at the decision not to expel him from the Labour Party. A temporary suspension is no more than a slap on the wrist,” the Jewish Leadership Council said in a statement.“Livingstone’s antagonistic attitude towards the Jewish community has been longstanding and has had a huge impact on Jewish people,” the group said. “This decision makes us question if the Labour Party wanted to repair its historic and long-standing relationship with the Jewish community.”Those sentiments were echoed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. “Relations between the Labour Party and the Jewish community have reached a new all-time low,” said President Jonathan Arkush.The Labour Party panel that decided Livingstone’s fate technically leveled him with a two-year suspension, one year of which has already been served, according to the Guardian.He was charged with “engaging in conduct that in the opinion of the National Executive Committee was prejudicial and/or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party.”A year ago, as the Labour Party was grappling with a series of gaffes deemed anti-Zionist and even anti-Semitic, veteran leftist Livingstone, a member of Labour’s National Executive, claimed that Adolf Hitler was initially a supporter of Zionism “before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews.”Livingstone also charged that for decades in the UK there had been a “well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticizes Israel policy as anti-Semitic.”Last week, he caused fresh uproar by claiming that German Zionists received assistance from the SS and were close collaborators of the Nazi regime.Livingstone’s case was heard by three members of an 11-member Constitutional Committee. Two lawyers, one retained by him and one by the Labour Party, cross-examined him and a number of witnesses: Jeremy Newmark, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, the only Jewish affiliate to the Labour Party, and five members of the activist group Jews for Justice for the Palestinians (JfJfP), described by Livingstone as “leading Jewish members of the Labour Party.”This was slammed by the mainstream Jewish community who have said that JfJfP is not representative of Anglo-Jewry. However, lawyer Michael Mansfield, representing Livingstone, tried to persuade the panel that the views of “Livingstone’s Jews”, who included a 93-year-old Berlin-born Holocaust survivor, Walter Wolfgang, were as equally representative of Jewish feelings as those of the Board of Deputies or the Jewish Labour Movement.Livingstone, who had expected to be expelled from the party and had planned to fight expulsion through a judicial review, seemed pleased with the verdict, calling it “pretty fair,” the Guardian newspaper reported.“Have I said anything that wasn’t true? All the Jewish activists who spoke on my behalf yesterday, all actually confirmed what I said was true.”While the suspension is seen as a blow to the man who been a member of Labour for half a century, the Jewish Labour Movement reacted to the verdict with dismay, saying it was “a betrayal of our Party’s values,” and allowed for “a revolving door for repeat offenders.”“It simply can’t be acceptable that there can be some kind of revolving door policy, that you can revise the history of the Holocaust, duck out of the party for a year — and then come back,” said Newmark, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement. He described the suspension as “a betrayal of our party’s values” and called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to make a hard and fast ruling of “zero tolerance” on anti-Semitism.Paul Charney, chairman of Britain’s Zionist Federation, said: “The fact that Ken Livingstone remains a suspended member of the Labour Party and was not expelled at today’s hearing serves only to drive a larger and more robust wedge between our Jewish community and the Labour Party. The comments made by Mr Livingstone regarding Hitler and Zionism bear no resemblance to the truth and are a disgrace to the values he and his party apparently hold.”Added Charney, “Where Labour had an opportunity to make clear that antisemitic slurs made by Livingstone have no place within our society, they instead showed that when it comes to Jews, liberal standards are readily set aside.”
Most Jewish British students experience anti-Semitism, study finds-Two-thirds of those attending universities say they have been targeted due to their religion; many worry about being attacked-By JTA April 4, 2017, 8:28 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Two-thirds of Jewish British university students believe they have been targeted due to their religion and more than a quarter worry about being the victim of an anti-Semitic attack, a new study found.Twenty-six percent of Jewish university students told a survey conducted by the National Union of Students that they were either “fairly worried” or “very worried” about suffering a physical attack, property damage, verbal abuse or theft because they are Jewish.The study results released Monday come as the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported at British educational institutions nearly doubled from last year, to 41 from 21, The Independent newspaper reported. It also comes as Jewish students continue to express concern about anti-Semitism within the National Union of Students, or NUS.Fewer than half, or 49%, of Jewish students who responded to the survey said they would feel comfortable attending NUS events, while two-thirds thought the union would not respond appropriately to allegations of anti-Semitism.Some 485 students responded to the survey carried out by an NUS research team in cooperation with the Union of Jewish Students between November and February.The survey also found that 45% of Jewish students said they did need feel comfortable voicing their opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also found anecdotal evidence of students feeling victimized by lecturers who made anti-Semitic remarks.Nearly two-thirds of Jewish students said they had encountered problems with classes and exams being scheduled on important Jewish holidays, and almost half reported difficulties accessing kosher food on their campuses.
MK knocks lack of civil marriage after Seychelles wedding-Zionist Union lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova gets hitched on Indian Ocean island, criticizes Rabbinate’s ‘monopoly on marriage’-By Times of Israel staff April 5, 2017, 3:20 am
Israeli lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova married her fiancé this week in the Seychelles, and took the opportunity to criticize the Chief Rabbinate’s “monopoly on marriage” in Israel.The Zionist Union member of Knesset, who has been an active proponent for civil marriage in Israel in parliament, said that the only one absent from their ceremony on the Indian Ocean island “was the Orthodox rabbinate, which has a monopoly on marriage in the State of Israel.”Israeli marriages are performed under laws inherited from Ottoman times. Citizens may only marry through their religious institutions: Jewish couples must marry through the Chief Rabbinate, and Christians, Druze and Muslims all marry through their own state-sanctioned and publicly funded religious systems.Among Jews, only Orthodox ceremonies are recognized. This also impacts interfaith and same-sex marriages. Those who wish to marry or divorce outside the faith are forced to travel overseas for a civil ceremony, with nearby Cyprus one of the most popular options.“We both felt that this entity has nothing to do with our Judaism, and we were not ready to be forced on the happiest day of our lives to play according to the rules of a game that is alien to us,” Svetlova wrote Monday on her Facebook page.A poll released last month showed that 72 percent of Jewish Israelis support civil marriage and 76% of Arab Israelis favor marriage freedom in Israel, where citizens cannot legally marry outside their faith.“No one has ownership of Judaism, and it is inconceivable that in a Jewish state one obsessive body will have an absolute monopoly on our lives!”She said she hopes Israeli couples would be able to marry however they like in the future, and wouldn’t be forced to wed outside the country if they chose to do so in a non-Orthodox fashion.“I will continue to work for this purpose at the Knesset, once I get back from my honeymoon,” she said.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
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)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
US military confirms N. Korea fired missile into Sea of Japan-Launch posed no threat to North America, Pacific command assures; Trump says US would rein in Pyongyang if China didn’t-By AFP April 5, 2017, 3:00 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The US military confirmed Tuesday that nuclear-armed North Korea had fired a ballistic missile, finding it posed no threat to North America and vowing to work closely with its regional allies.The move came after the reclusive state warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.Ahead of a key visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump had said the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.“US Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security,” the military command in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region said.“The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.”PACOM said it determined the launch of the KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile took place at 11:42 am (2142 GMT), landing in the Sea of Japan at 11:51 am, in line with findings by the South Korean defense ministry.Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
UN Security Council to meet urgently on Syria gas attack-Britain and France call for emergency session, hoping to push for those behind gas attack to be held accountable-By Carole LANDRY April 5, 2017, 12:58 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss a suspected chemical attack in Syria that has left dozens dead and fanned global outrage over the six-year war.Britain and France called for the urgent meeting following reports of the strike on a rebel-held town in northwestern Idlib province early Tuesday that they blamed on President Bashar Assad’s forces.US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who holds the council presidency this month, announced the meeting at 10 am (1400 GMT) Wednesday to discuss the “terrible chemical weapons attack in Syria.”The council will hear a briefing and “we are hoping to get as much information on the Syrian attack as we can,” Haley said.The attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 58 civilians and left dozens more suffering from respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.At least 11 children were among the dead, the Observatory said. An AFP correspondent in Khan Sheikhun saw many children on respirators as they were treated for breathing problems.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply disturbed” by the attack, his spokesman said, adding that the United Nations was “currently not in a position to independently verify these reports.”The Syrian army denied any involvement, while the army command blamed rebels.Britain and France said they hoped to press demands at the Security Council for those behind the use of toxic gas in the six-year war to be held accountable.Such attempts have been repeatedly blocked by Russia, Syria’s main ally and a veto-wielding council member.“This is clearly a war crime,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.“I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course.”In February, Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have imposed sanctions on Syrians accused of being behind chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.A UN-led investigation concluded in October that the Syrian air force had dropped chlorine barrel-bombs from helicopters on three opposition-held villages in 2014 and 2015.The council on Wednesday will hear from Virginia Gamba, the head of the investigative panel, and top UN disarmament official Kim Won-soo, on details of the attack, including whether deadly sarin gas was used.“The perpetrators must be held accountable. We need to address this issue at the Security Council, as soon as possible,” said French Deputy Ambassador Alexis Lamek.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the reports were “extremely alarming and disturbing” and noted that a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was gathering information to determine whether chemical weapons were in fact used.“Any use of chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to international peace and security and is a serious violation of international law,” he said.
US, Britain, France hold Assad regime responsible for Syria gas attack-Russia, Syrian army deny involvement; UN commission investigating incident in which at least 58 people died following alleged chemical airstrike-By Agencies and Times of Israel staff April 4, 2017, 7:28 pm
The White House on Tuesday confirmed a “reprehensible” and “intolerable” chemical attack had taken place in Syria and pinned the blame squarely on Bashar Assad’s regime.White House spokesman Sean Spicer said US President Donald Trump had been briefed extensively on the attack, and suggested it was in the “best interest” of the Syrians for Assad not to lead the country.“Today’s chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible,” Spicer said, saying the administration was “confident” in its assessment that Assad was to blame.British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the attack “bears all the hallmarks” of the Syrian government.Johnson said in a statement Tuesday that he was “horrified” at the reports of the attack and said Assad’s government has repeatedly used chemical weapons in the past.His comments followed reports from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which put the death toll from the attack at 58.Johnson said his government “will continue to lead international efforts to hold perpetrators to account.”French President Francois Hollande also blamed Syrian leader Assad for what he termed a “massacre.”“Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre,” Hollande said in a statement.“Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility,” Hollande added.Despite the accusations, the Syrian military vehemently denied it was behind the strike.“The army command categorically denies using any chemical or toxic substance in Khan Sheikhun today,” said a statement carried by the state news agency SANA.“It stresses that it has never used them, any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future,” it added.The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun left dozens struggling to breathe and displaying symptoms such as foaming at the mouth and vomiting and fainting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.A hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack was also bombarded, an AFP correspondent said.France called earlier Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack.United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura also called for the perpetrators to be held accountable for the “horrific” attack.De Mistura urged “clear identification of responsibilities and accountability.”Speaking on the eve of a conference on Syria’s future, he said “every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together — 70 countries tomorrow — there is someone, somehow, that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage.”But, he added, “we are not going to give up.”The UN’s Commission of Inquiry for Syria said that it had begun investigating the incident.“Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning. The commission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this attack including the alleged use of chemical weapons,” said a statement from the UN experts who are probing potential war crimes committed during Syria’s civil war.The condemnations followed those of others in the international community.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the chemical weapons attack was “inhuman” and could endanger peace talks based in the Kazakh capital.“President Erdogan said that this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable and warned it risked wasting all the efforts within the framework of the Astana process” to bring peace to Syria, presidential sources said.The sources did not indicate who was to blame for the attack, describing it as a “chemical weapons attack directed at civilians.”Turkey has been a major foe of the Assad regime in Syria throughout the Syrian civil war, repeatedly accusing Damascus of war crimes. Russia has helped Assad by providing military and diplomatic support, including air strikes and ground forces.But in the last months Ankara has deepened ties with Assad’s ally Russia, co-brokering a ceasefire that until now had drastically reduced the levels of violence.Russia’s military said its planes did not carry out any strikes near Khan Sheikhun.“Planes of the Russian air force have not carried out any strikes near Khan Sheikhun of Idlib province,” said a statement by the Russian defense ministry.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described the attack as “monstrous” and added: “I have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.”Ayrault said “chemical weapons” had been used in the attack and that it was “more proof of the savagery that the Syrian people have been subjected to for so many years.”
Israel’s loud talk after Syria gas attack unlikely to lead to action-With no interest in getting mired in civil war across the border, politicians high on outrage, but low on what to do about it-By Judah Ari Gross April 4, 2017, 11:53 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
From the left and the right, from the center and extremes, Israeli politicians clamored over one another to declare their disgust at the apparent chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria, on Tuesday. But amid a cacophony of calls for action, it’s not clear what, if anything, Israel can or will do to stop the atrocities next door.Soon after news of the attack reached Israel, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called for an emergency meeting of the security cabinet to “discuss all the options.” As of Tuesday night, that meeting had yet to be scheduled, his office said.At least 58 people were killed, including 11 children, in the Idlib gas attack, with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll closer to 100.The United States, United Kingdom and European Union all laid the blame for the attack at the door of Syrian President Bashar Assad.In Israel, the attack also spurred security officials into action.The security services prepared what’s known as a “situational assessment,” detailing what the defense agencies know about the attack and the potential risks to the Jewish state, officials said.According to Channel 10 news, part of that assessment is that Russia approved the alleged gas attack, believing it would “only” draw international condemnation, but no action.This was not the first reported use of chemical weapons this year. Despite Assad agreeing to give up his chemical weapons in 2013, his regime has been accused of carrying out at least eight gas attacks in the first quarter of 2017 alone.But most of the reported chemical attacks in Syria since 2013 were said to have been carried out with mustard or chlorine gas. Tuesday’s attack was reportedly conducted with sarin gas, an organophosphate, which interrupts the communication between nerves, preventing regular body functions like breathing.It has yet to be officially confirmed that sarin gas was used, but videos from Idlib hospitals showed victims with unresponsive, constricted pupils — a tell-tale sign of exposure to the nerve agent.Israeli politicians’ responses to the alleged chemical attack included including some calls on the country to do more about the suffering across the border, but they uniformly lack detailed proposals.And military intervention seems to be off the table.Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, head of the Institute for National Security Studies think-tank and former head of Military Intelligence, was one of the few people to urge direct action against Assad, calling the chemical attack a “crime against humanity.”Speaking to Army Radio, Yadlin encouraged Israel to destroy the planes used in Idlib “from afar,” in an apparent reference to a missile attack.“An action that weakens Assad is right morally and strategically,” he said.Yadlin later walked back on the call to bomb the planes, but said Israel could use military deterrence to ensure Syria doesn’t use them again to carry out chemical weapon attacks.Official policy maintains that Israel should stay out of Syria, unless a “red line” is crossed. That refers to: Israeli civilians being attacked; Israeli sovereignty being breached; or the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorist groups. Gas attacks on Syrian children, as horrible as they are, do not cross that line.Israel has every reason to avoid being dragged into the Syrian quicksand, not the least of which is that it would put the country at odds with Russia. Israel would also be inviting retaliatory strikes by Syria and/or its ally, the Iran-backed Hezbollah.Therefore, should Israel decide to take action in light of this latest apparent chemical attack, it will likely be in a behind-the-scenes or humanitarian way.Israel could try to be more vocal and exert more pressure on the US and Russia to remove Assad’s remaining chemical weapons stocks.The Jewish state has already provided medical care for more than 3,000 Syrians, it could expand those efforts as well and begin to take in refugees.But well over half a decade into a civil war that has torn Syria asunder as the international community has mostly watched from the sidelines, and with little appetite in Israel, the US or elsewhere for expanded military engagement, one would also be forgiven for thinking Jerusalem and the rest of the world might continue to do what they have done to Assad for the past six years: Nothing.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
US lawmakers want more funds to secure Jewish sites-Over 100 House members call for $50 million allocation, more than double the current level-By JTA April 4, 2017, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A bipartisan letter from House members is calling for increased funding for a program that funds security for Jewish sites.The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Dan Donovan, R-N.Y., and signed by 112 lawmakers, calls for more than doubling funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $50 million a year from $20 million.It cites intelligence assessments finding the threat of “homegrown violent extremists, who draw inspiration from ISIL or other Sunni extremist organizations,” as well as bomb threats and anti-Semitic acts committed against Jewish community centers, schools, museums and synagogues.A budget plan by President Donald Trump proposed rolling the funds for the program into broader federal emergency preparedness funds. The vast majority of funds have helped upgrade security at Jewish institutions.The Orthodox Union lauded the letter.“We commend the many legislators who are working to better protect our citizens and institutions, particularly as we witness this disturbing surge in attacks against our community,” OU President Mark Bane said in a Monday statement. “No one should have to fear for their safety when they go to school or attend religious services. The increased funding will help many more people feel secure as they go about their daily activities.”The OU also praised a similar letter circulated last month in the Senate.Nearly 150 JCCs and other Jewish institutions received bomb threats and three Jewish cemeteries were vandalized this year. Nearly two weeks ago, an Israeli-American teen was arrested on suspicion of calling in more than 100 bomb threats.Last month, Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Trump’s budget proposal.“At a time where perpetrators are terrorizing the Jewish community across the country, even here in New York, it makes no sense to slash FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. We should be putting more money in terrorism prevention for at-risk non-profits, not less,” Schumer, the Jewish minority leader of the Senate, said in a statement to JTA.
UK’s Labour suspends Livingstone for year over Hitler-Zionism comments-Former London mayor’s remarks ‘grossly detrimental,’ says disciplinary committee, while Jewish party activists slam decision as ‘betrayal‘-By Jenni Frazer and Sue Surkes April 4, 2017, 11:06 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON — The UK Labour Party on Tuesday suspended former London mayor and senior party official Ken Livingstone for one year for comments about Hitler supporting Zionism that a disciplinary committee found “grossly detrimental” to the party.Jewish groups, who had been calling for Livingston to be expelled, called the move “deeply disappointing” and said it would erode the fractured trust between the party and its Jewish members.“Given that Ken Livingstone has been found guilty, we are deeply disappointed at the decision not to expel him from the Labour Party. A temporary suspension is no more than a slap on the wrist,” the Jewish Leadership Council said in a statement.“Livingstone’s antagonistic attitude towards the Jewish community has been longstanding and has had a huge impact on Jewish people,” the group said. “This decision makes us question if the Labour Party wanted to repair its historic and long-standing relationship with the Jewish community.”Those sentiments were echoed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. “Relations between the Labour Party and the Jewish community have reached a new all-time low,” said President Jonathan Arkush.The Labour Party panel that decided Livingstone’s fate technically leveled him with a two-year suspension, one year of which has already been served, according to the Guardian.He was charged with “engaging in conduct that in the opinion of the National Executive Committee was prejudicial and/or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party.”A year ago, as the Labour Party was grappling with a series of gaffes deemed anti-Zionist and even anti-Semitic, veteran leftist Livingstone, a member of Labour’s National Executive, claimed that Adolf Hitler was initially a supporter of Zionism “before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews.”Livingstone also charged that for decades in the UK there had been a “well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticizes Israel policy as anti-Semitic.”Last week, he caused fresh uproar by claiming that German Zionists received assistance from the SS and were close collaborators of the Nazi regime.Livingstone’s case was heard by three members of an 11-member Constitutional Committee. Two lawyers, one retained by him and one by the Labour Party, cross-examined him and a number of witnesses: Jeremy Newmark, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, the only Jewish affiliate to the Labour Party, and five members of the activist group Jews for Justice for the Palestinians (JfJfP), described by Livingstone as “leading Jewish members of the Labour Party.”This was slammed by the mainstream Jewish community who have said that JfJfP is not representative of Anglo-Jewry. However, lawyer Michael Mansfield, representing Livingstone, tried to persuade the panel that the views of “Livingstone’s Jews”, who included a 93-year-old Berlin-born Holocaust survivor, Walter Wolfgang, were as equally representative of Jewish feelings as those of the Board of Deputies or the Jewish Labour Movement.Livingstone, who had expected to be expelled from the party and had planned to fight expulsion through a judicial review, seemed pleased with the verdict, calling it “pretty fair,” the Guardian newspaper reported.“Have I said anything that wasn’t true? All the Jewish activists who spoke on my behalf yesterday, all actually confirmed what I said was true.”While the suspension is seen as a blow to the man who been a member of Labour for half a century, the Jewish Labour Movement reacted to the verdict with dismay, saying it was “a betrayal of our Party’s values,” and allowed for “a revolving door for repeat offenders.”“It simply can’t be acceptable that there can be some kind of revolving door policy, that you can revise the history of the Holocaust, duck out of the party for a year — and then come back,” said Newmark, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement. He described the suspension as “a betrayal of our party’s values” and called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to make a hard and fast ruling of “zero tolerance” on anti-Semitism.Paul Charney, chairman of Britain’s Zionist Federation, said: “The fact that Ken Livingstone remains a suspended member of the Labour Party and was not expelled at today’s hearing serves only to drive a larger and more robust wedge between our Jewish community and the Labour Party. The comments made by Mr Livingstone regarding Hitler and Zionism bear no resemblance to the truth and are a disgrace to the values he and his party apparently hold.”Added Charney, “Where Labour had an opportunity to make clear that antisemitic slurs made by Livingstone have no place within our society, they instead showed that when it comes to Jews, liberal standards are readily set aside.”
Most Jewish British students experience anti-Semitism, study finds-Two-thirds of those attending universities say they have been targeted due to their religion; many worry about being attacked-By JTA April 4, 2017, 8:28 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Two-thirds of Jewish British university students believe they have been targeted due to their religion and more than a quarter worry about being the victim of an anti-Semitic attack, a new study found.Twenty-six percent of Jewish university students told a survey conducted by the National Union of Students that they were either “fairly worried” or “very worried” about suffering a physical attack, property damage, verbal abuse or theft because they are Jewish.The study results released Monday come as the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported at British educational institutions nearly doubled from last year, to 41 from 21, The Independent newspaper reported. It also comes as Jewish students continue to express concern about anti-Semitism within the National Union of Students, or NUS.Fewer than half, or 49%, of Jewish students who responded to the survey said they would feel comfortable attending NUS events, while two-thirds thought the union would not respond appropriately to allegations of anti-Semitism.Some 485 students responded to the survey carried out by an NUS research team in cooperation with the Union of Jewish Students between November and February.The survey also found that 45% of Jewish students said they did need feel comfortable voicing their opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also found anecdotal evidence of students feeling victimized by lecturers who made anti-Semitic remarks.Nearly two-thirds of Jewish students said they had encountered problems with classes and exams being scheduled on important Jewish holidays, and almost half reported difficulties accessing kosher food on their campuses.
MK knocks lack of civil marriage after Seychelles wedding-Zionist Union lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova gets hitched on Indian Ocean island, criticizes Rabbinate’s ‘monopoly on marriage’-By Times of Israel staff April 5, 2017, 3:20 am
Israeli lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova married her fiancé this week in the Seychelles, and took the opportunity to criticize the Chief Rabbinate’s “monopoly on marriage” in Israel.The Zionist Union member of Knesset, who has been an active proponent for civil marriage in Israel in parliament, said that the only one absent from their ceremony on the Indian Ocean island “was the Orthodox rabbinate, which has a monopoly on marriage in the State of Israel.”Israeli marriages are performed under laws inherited from Ottoman times. Citizens may only marry through their religious institutions: Jewish couples must marry through the Chief Rabbinate, and Christians, Druze and Muslims all marry through their own state-sanctioned and publicly funded religious systems.Among Jews, only Orthodox ceremonies are recognized. This also impacts interfaith and same-sex marriages. Those who wish to marry or divorce outside the faith are forced to travel overseas for a civil ceremony, with nearby Cyprus one of the most popular options.“We both felt that this entity has nothing to do with our Judaism, and we were not ready to be forced on the happiest day of our lives to play according to the rules of a game that is alien to us,” Svetlova wrote Monday on her Facebook page.A poll released last month showed that 72 percent of Jewish Israelis support civil marriage and 76% of Arab Israelis favor marriage freedom in Israel, where citizens cannot legally marry outside their faith.“No one has ownership of Judaism, and it is inconceivable that in a Jewish state one obsessive body will have an absolute monopoly on our lives!”She said she hopes Israeli couples would be able to marry however they like in the future, and wouldn’t be forced to wed outside the country if they chose to do so in a non-Orthodox fashion.“I will continue to work for this purpose at the Knesset, once I get back from my honeymoon,” she said.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
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)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
US military confirms N. Korea fired missile into Sea of Japan-Launch posed no threat to North America, Pacific command assures; Trump says US would rein in Pyongyang if China didn’t-By AFP April 5, 2017, 3:00 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The US military confirmed Tuesday that nuclear-armed North Korea had fired a ballistic missile, finding it posed no threat to North America and vowing to work closely with its regional allies.The move came after the reclusive state warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.Ahead of a key visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump had said the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.“US Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security,” the military command in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region said.“The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.”PACOM said it determined the launch of the KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile took place at 11:42 am (2142 GMT), landing in the Sea of Japan at 11:51 am, in line with findings by the South Korean defense ministry.Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
UN Security Council to meet urgently on Syria gas attack-Britain and France call for emergency session, hoping to push for those behind gas attack to be held accountable-By Carole LANDRY April 5, 2017, 12:58 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss a suspected chemical attack in Syria that has left dozens dead and fanned global outrage over the six-year war.Britain and France called for the urgent meeting following reports of the strike on a rebel-held town in northwestern Idlib province early Tuesday that they blamed on President Bashar Assad’s forces.US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who holds the council presidency this month, announced the meeting at 10 am (1400 GMT) Wednesday to discuss the “terrible chemical weapons attack in Syria.”The council will hear a briefing and “we are hoping to get as much information on the Syrian attack as we can,” Haley said.The attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 58 civilians and left dozens more suffering from respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.At least 11 children were among the dead, the Observatory said. An AFP correspondent in Khan Sheikhun saw many children on respirators as they were treated for breathing problems.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply disturbed” by the attack, his spokesman said, adding that the United Nations was “currently not in a position to independently verify these reports.”The Syrian army denied any involvement, while the army command blamed rebels.Britain and France said they hoped to press demands at the Security Council for those behind the use of toxic gas in the six-year war to be held accountable.Such attempts have been repeatedly blocked by Russia, Syria’s main ally and a veto-wielding council member.“This is clearly a war crime,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.“I call on the Security Council members who have previously used their vetoes to defend the indefensible to change their course.”In February, Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have imposed sanctions on Syrians accused of being behind chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.A UN-led investigation concluded in October that the Syrian air force had dropped chlorine barrel-bombs from helicopters on three opposition-held villages in 2014 and 2015.The council on Wednesday will hear from Virginia Gamba, the head of the investigative panel, and top UN disarmament official Kim Won-soo, on details of the attack, including whether deadly sarin gas was used.“The perpetrators must be held accountable. We need to address this issue at the Security Council, as soon as possible,” said French Deputy Ambassador Alexis Lamek.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the reports were “extremely alarming and disturbing” and noted that a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was gathering information to determine whether chemical weapons were in fact used.“Any use of chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to international peace and security and is a serious violation of international law,” he said.
US, Britain, France hold Assad regime responsible for Syria gas attack-Russia, Syrian army deny involvement; UN commission investigating incident in which at least 58 people died following alleged chemical airstrike-By Agencies and Times of Israel staff April 4, 2017, 7:28 pm
The White House on Tuesday confirmed a “reprehensible” and “intolerable” chemical attack had taken place in Syria and pinned the blame squarely on Bashar Assad’s regime.White House spokesman Sean Spicer said US President Donald Trump had been briefed extensively on the attack, and suggested it was in the “best interest” of the Syrians for Assad not to lead the country.“Today’s chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible,” Spicer said, saying the administration was “confident” in its assessment that Assad was to blame.British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the attack “bears all the hallmarks” of the Syrian government.Johnson said in a statement Tuesday that he was “horrified” at the reports of the attack and said Assad’s government has repeatedly used chemical weapons in the past.His comments followed reports from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which put the death toll from the attack at 58.Johnson said his government “will continue to lead international efforts to hold perpetrators to account.”French President Francois Hollande also blamed Syrian leader Assad for what he termed a “massacre.”“Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre,” Hollande said in a statement.“Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility,” Hollande added.Despite the accusations, the Syrian military vehemently denied it was behind the strike.“The army command categorically denies using any chemical or toxic substance in Khan Sheikhun today,” said a statement carried by the state news agency SANA.“It stresses that it has never used them, any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future,” it added.The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun left dozens struggling to breathe and displaying symptoms such as foaming at the mouth and vomiting and fainting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.A hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack was also bombarded, an AFP correspondent said.France called earlier Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack.United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura also called for the perpetrators to be held accountable for the “horrific” attack.De Mistura urged “clear identification of responsibilities and accountability.”Speaking on the eve of a conference on Syria’s future, he said “every time we have a moment in which the international community is capable of being together — 70 countries tomorrow — there is someone, somehow, that tries to undermine that feeling of hope by producing a feeling of horror and outrage.”But, he added, “we are not going to give up.”The UN’s Commission of Inquiry for Syria said that it had begun investigating the incident.“Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning. The commission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this attack including the alleged use of chemical weapons,” said a statement from the UN experts who are probing potential war crimes committed during Syria’s civil war.The condemnations followed those of others in the international community.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the chemical weapons attack was “inhuman” and could endanger peace talks based in the Kazakh capital.“President Erdogan said that this kind of inhuman attack was unacceptable and warned it risked wasting all the efforts within the framework of the Astana process” to bring peace to Syria, presidential sources said.The sources did not indicate who was to blame for the attack, describing it as a “chemical weapons attack directed at civilians.”Turkey has been a major foe of the Assad regime in Syria throughout the Syrian civil war, repeatedly accusing Damascus of war crimes. Russia has helped Assad by providing military and diplomatic support, including air strikes and ground forces.But in the last months Ankara has deepened ties with Assad’s ally Russia, co-brokering a ceasefire that until now had drastically reduced the levels of violence.Russia’s military said its planes did not carry out any strikes near Khan Sheikhun.“Planes of the Russian air force have not carried out any strikes near Khan Sheikhun of Idlib province,” said a statement by the Russian defense ministry.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described the attack as “monstrous” and added: “I have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.”Ayrault said “chemical weapons” had been used in the attack and that it was “more proof of the savagery that the Syrian people have been subjected to for so many years.”
Israel’s loud talk after Syria gas attack unlikely to lead to action-With no interest in getting mired in civil war across the border, politicians high on outrage, but low on what to do about it-By Judah Ari Gross April 4, 2017, 11:53 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
From the left and the right, from the center and extremes, Israeli politicians clamored over one another to declare their disgust at the apparent chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria, on Tuesday. But amid a cacophony of calls for action, it’s not clear what, if anything, Israel can or will do to stop the atrocities next door.Soon after news of the attack reached Israel, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called for an emergency meeting of the security cabinet to “discuss all the options.” As of Tuesday night, that meeting had yet to be scheduled, his office said.At least 58 people were killed, including 11 children, in the Idlib gas attack, with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll closer to 100.The United States, United Kingdom and European Union all laid the blame for the attack at the door of Syrian President Bashar Assad.In Israel, the attack also spurred security officials into action.The security services prepared what’s known as a “situational assessment,” detailing what the defense agencies know about the attack and the potential risks to the Jewish state, officials said.According to Channel 10 news, part of that assessment is that Russia approved the alleged gas attack, believing it would “only” draw international condemnation, but no action.This was not the first reported use of chemical weapons this year. Despite Assad agreeing to give up his chemical weapons in 2013, his regime has been accused of carrying out at least eight gas attacks in the first quarter of 2017 alone.But most of the reported chemical attacks in Syria since 2013 were said to have been carried out with mustard or chlorine gas. Tuesday’s attack was reportedly conducted with sarin gas, an organophosphate, which interrupts the communication between nerves, preventing regular body functions like breathing.It has yet to be officially confirmed that sarin gas was used, but videos from Idlib hospitals showed victims with unresponsive, constricted pupils — a tell-tale sign of exposure to the nerve agent.Israeli politicians’ responses to the alleged chemical attack included including some calls on the country to do more about the suffering across the border, but they uniformly lack detailed proposals.And military intervention seems to be off the table.Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, head of the Institute for National Security Studies think-tank and former head of Military Intelligence, was one of the few people to urge direct action against Assad, calling the chemical attack a “crime against humanity.”Speaking to Army Radio, Yadlin encouraged Israel to destroy the planes used in Idlib “from afar,” in an apparent reference to a missile attack.“An action that weakens Assad is right morally and strategically,” he said.Yadlin later walked back on the call to bomb the planes, but said Israel could use military deterrence to ensure Syria doesn’t use them again to carry out chemical weapon attacks.Official policy maintains that Israel should stay out of Syria, unless a “red line” is crossed. That refers to: Israeli civilians being attacked; Israeli sovereignty being breached; or the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorist groups. Gas attacks on Syrian children, as horrible as they are, do not cross that line.Israel has every reason to avoid being dragged into the Syrian quicksand, not the least of which is that it would put the country at odds with Russia. Israel would also be inviting retaliatory strikes by Syria and/or its ally, the Iran-backed Hezbollah.Therefore, should Israel decide to take action in light of this latest apparent chemical attack, it will likely be in a behind-the-scenes or humanitarian way.Israel could try to be more vocal and exert more pressure on the US and Russia to remove Assad’s remaining chemical weapons stocks.The Jewish state has already provided medical care for more than 3,000 Syrians, it could expand those efforts as well and begin to take in refugees.But well over half a decade into a civil war that has torn Syria asunder as the international community has mostly watched from the sidelines, and with little appetite in Israel, the US or elsewhere for expanded military engagement, one would also be forgiven for thinking Jerusalem and the rest of the world might continue to do what they have done to Assad for the past six years: Nothing.
