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
Report says Israel planned atomic detonation in Sinai if Six Day War went wrong-New York Times, quoting newly released interview, says the display of nuclear strength was a ‘doomsday’ scenario not needed after IDF victory-By Times of Israel staff June 3, 2017, 11:31 pm
One the eve of the Six Day War, with the country surrounded by enemies and unsure of its future, Israel developed a “doomsday” plan to detonate an atomic bomb in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as a warning to the Arabs, The New York Times reported Saturday.The report was based on an interview conducted by leading Israeli nuclear scholar Avner Cohen with retired IDF brigadier general Itzhak Yaakov, who reportedly oversaw the plan.“It’s the last secret of the 1967 war,” Cohen told the paper.The full interview is set to be published Monday, as the region marks the 50th anniversary of the war in which Israel defeated the combined Arab armies in just six days.According to Yaakov, who oversaw weapons development for the Israel military and gave details of the plan to Cohen in 1999 and 2000 interviews, Israel was deeply fearful ahead of the war.“Look, it was so natural,” Yaakov said, according to the Times, which quoted a transcription of a taped interview. “You’ve got an enemy, and he says he’s going to throw you to the sea. You believe him.”“How can you stop him?” Yaakov asked. “You scare him. If you’ve got something you can scare him with, you scare him.”Yaakov, who died in 2013 at age 87, detailed in the interview with Cohen how Israel developed a plan code-named “Shimshon,” or Samson, to have helicopters and commandos fly an atomic device to a mountain top site about 12 miles from an Egyptian military complex at Abu Ageila.“The plan, if activated by order of the prime minister and military chief of staff, was to send a small paratrooper force to divert the Egyptian Army in the desert area so that a team could lay preparations for the atomic blast,” the report said.“Two large helicopters were to land, deliver the nuclear device and then create a command post in a mountain creek or canyon. If the order came to detonate, the blinding flash and mushroom cloud would have been seen throughout the Sinai and Negev deserts, and perhaps as far away as Cairo.”Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, maintaining a policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity, neither publicly confirming nor denying the existence of an atomic arsenal. However, several top US officials have seemed to confirm it, most recently former secretary of state Colin Powell who wrote in a leaked private email that he believed Israel has some 200 nuclear weapons.The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the report or on Yaakov’s role, The New York Times said.If Israel had detonated a device, it would have been the first use of a nuclear weapon in a war situation since the US dropped the two bombs on Japan to end World War II.On Monday, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington — where Cohen is a fellow — is releasing on a special website a series of documents related to the Israeli atomic plan.In the transcripts, Yaakov describes a helicopter flight he made to the site with Israel Dostrovsky, the first director-general of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, that had to be aborted after the Egyptians scrambled fighter jets.“We got very close,” Yaakov reportedly said. “We saw the mountain, and we saw that there is a place to hide there, in some canyon.”As it turned out, Israel’s victory was swift and decisive and there was no need for any doomsday plan, but Yaakov still believed Israel should have gone ahead with it and openly declared its nuclear prowess.“I still think to this day that we should have done it,” he told Cohen, who is the author of “Israel and the Bomb” and “The Worst-Kept Secret.”In 2001, some 2 years after his conversations with Cohen, Yaakov was arrested in Israel and charged with passing secret information with intent to harm state security. The charges related to memoirs he wrote, the Haaretz daily reported in its obituary of Yaakov in 2013.Yaakov was acquitted of the main charge but found guilty of the unauthorized handing over of secret information, Haaretz said, noting that he received a two-year suspended sentence.The obituary hinted at the exploits in the Sinai Desert, saying that “Yaakov was one of Israel’s leading officers in the field of weapons development during the build-up to the Six Day War and afterwards. During the war he was appointed to command a complex and unprecedented operation in the Sinai Peninsula, where he was to command both IAF pilots and a special ops unit. The IDF’s rapid success in defeating the Egyptian army made the operation redundant and it was cancelled.”According to Cohen, he promised Yaakov he would find the right time to publish the information and now, on the 50th anniversary, he believed the time was ripe.
Israel extends expanded Gaza fishing zone for two more weeks-Naval blockade eased for Ramadan, fishermen allowed to travel up to 9 nautical miles off coastal territory-By Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 10:32 am
Israel on Monday extended for another two weeks the expanded Mediterranean fishing zone granted for Palestinian fisherman living in the Gaza Strip.Last month, Israel eased restrictions imposed by its naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled strip by allowing Palestinian fishermen to travel up to nine nautical miles off the coast, instead of the previous six.Fishing is the second biggest income-earner in the coastal territory, generating NIS 6 million ($1.7 million) each year, and the zone extension is expected to allow fisherman to bump that figure by an additional NIS 1 million ($280,000), the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli government agency that oversees Israel’s relations with the Palestinians, said in a statement.The fishing season reaches its height in May and June.The size of the fishing zone has varied over the years. It was set at 20 nautical miles by the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s before being reduced to six miles under the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took over the Strip in a violent coup against the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007.Israel last extended the fishing zone to nine miles for several months in 2016.Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions, but Israel says it is needed to keep Hamas, an Islamist terror group, from importing weapons or materials used to make them.
Jews responsible for all of world’s ills, says Al-Aqsa preacher-Sheikh Muhammad ‘Ayed warns United States that ‘caliphate’ will ‘chop off its feet and drive it out of our countries‘-By Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 12:47 pm
A Muslim cleric has told worshipers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque that Jews are responsible for all of the world’s ills and that Muslims will defeat the US.Jews are “the masters of the world and its corrupters… They are behind all the strife in the world… They cause all the killing, the slaughter, and the destruction everywhere,” he said in his address.Sheikh Muhammad ‘Ayed, also known as Abu Abdallah, read from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a forged text produced in Russia at the end of the 19th century, which purports to outline Jewish plans to take over the world. It has been used by anti-Semites throughout the 20th and 21st centuries as justification for their views.Sheikh Muhammad went on to say that the caliphate — a possible reference to the Islamic State group — would “clip America’s nails and then move on to chopping off its hands… and then we will chop off its feet and drive it out of our countries,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute’s TV monitoring project.“After it can no longer remain here, we will march upon it,” he added.The sheikh, who preaches at what is Islam’s third holiest shrine, regularly makes extremist remarks against Jews and the West.In September, he called on Muslim migrants to Europe to produce children in order to conquer the continent “in the name of the coming caliphate.”
IDF finds pistol, arrests eight in overnight West Bank raids-Army uncovers ammunition, sniper scope in village near Nablus; 8 detainees suspected of taking part in riots-By Judah Ari Gross June 5, 2017, 8:29 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israeli troops found a pistol, boxes of ammunition and sniper scopes in a house in a northern West Bank village early Monday morning, the army said.The soldiers arrested the two Palestinians who were in possession of the firearm in Asira ash-Shamaliya, outside of Nablus.In addition to the pistol, a 9mm Czech model known as a CZ 75, the army found bullets and ammunition magazines for assault rifles, as well as two sniper scopes, the army said.The weaponry was confiscated for further examination, the military said.For the past year and a half, the IDF has been cracking down on the black market for guns in the West Bank. The army has focused its attention on local weapons production, specifically the manufacturing of Carlo-style submachine guns, a jury-rigged gun cobbled together out of water pipes and parts from other guns.From January to May, the army seized approximately 150 firearms in the West Bank and raided 20 workshops where the military believes guns were being manufactured.According to a senior intelligence officer, this effort has quintupled the price of Carlo-style submachine guns in the West Bank from what it was in 2015 and raised the cost of conventional, factory-made weapons as well, though to a lesser extent.During the overnight raids between Sunday and Monday, six other Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank on suspicion that they threw rocks or took part in violent protests, according to the military.Two were arrested in the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah; one person was picked up in Kafr Aqab, north of Jerusalem; another two were arrested in the Bethlehem-area villages of al-Rashayida and Teqoa (the Palestinian village located next to the Israeli settlement of the same name); and one person was detained in the village of Dahariya, near Hebron.
Israel launches ‘Iron Dome of Truth’ website at Celebrate Israel Parade-4IL is a cyber second-strike campaign that empowers users to counteract disinformation and biased reporting being spread over social media-June 5, 2017, 12:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
While they’re launching rockets, we’re launching websites.Something special occurred at this year’s Celebrate Israel Parade and Festival in New York, more so than the typical showing of solidarity in the Jewish community.“Today we launch the Iron Dome of Truth!” proclaimed Gilad Erdan, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, as he spoke at Manhattan’s Terminal 5 after the parade finished its march up Fifth Avenue.Terminal 5, normally a concert venue, had been transformed into a miniature version of Jerusalem’s iconic Mahane Yehuda market, with vendors selling Israeli crafts and food, as well as a temporary summer camp, with children strewn about the three floors working on art projects. Families were giddily snapping photos on their mobile phones, which spoke directly to Erdan’s point.“Our cell phones are the number one weapon against us,” he said, driving home a worry many Jews understand well: the onslaught of lies, misinformation and biased reporting from the Middle East that gets shared over social media.With that (and with the aid of model Titi Aynaw, actress Ariel Mortman and a cute explanatory video that’s primed to go viral) commenced the launch of 4IL, a web campaign which includes act.il, a free app for iPhone and Android that offers simple tools to help push back against would-be demonizers of the Jewish state.The delegitmizers working in bad faith to bend truth and spread fear are likely no match for the minds and coders of the startup nation.The parade, hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY) began in 1965 and this year marked the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. The parade was led by Erdan and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and was attended by dignitaries including members of Knesset, the mayor of Jerusalem, senators and congressmen, alongside some 40,000 supporters of Israel who painted the avenue in blue and white.At a cocktail party atop the Dream Hotel later in the evening, parade-goers were welcomed to celebrate the new technological advance. Yaron Fishelson, head of Product and Community for act.il, explained to us how the app grew organically from work students were doing at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya during Operation Protective Edge. Moreover, he detailed how this little pocket-sized “e-Hasbara” doohickey will actually work.The online campaign, which is being launched simultaneously in the US and Israel and is coming soon in Europe as well as other countries, is aimed at creating an energized online community to combat the online lies, calls for boycotts and the delegitimization of the State of Israel.“It’s about balancing the narrative,” Fishelson explained, which means that users of the app will have tasks (or missions, if you will) delivered to them each day. With a push of a button you might be firing off an email petition. Or perhaps sharing a story about an Israeli innovation. (As we were checking the app, we were encouraged to tweet an article about a new development in hernia surgery.) Or it may be about offering a wider perspective on a controversial topic.And naturally, as with anything social on the web, there are tokens and badges and points one accrues for accomplishing more tasks. Why shouldn’t it also be a little bit fun? Even in beta testing there have been some successes. “Just this week, in fact,” Fishelson recalled how UNRWA had used an image of a Syrian girl surrounded by rubble and labeled it as a Gaza victim of Israeli action. “We had targeted ‘likes’ of a Facebook post, pointing out the inaccuracy. When you have more ‘likes’ it becomes the first comment seen under the image. This, we hope, led to UNRWA taking down the image.”This sort of measured, surgical social media strike is guaranteed to get results.Future tasks on the act.il app may come from user suggestions, but, “pictures of your grandmother having a good time in Eilat aren’t what we’re looking for,” Fishelson said.He does expect further developments in the social aspect, as well as localized events. In addition to Herzliya there are student councils in Boston and New Jersey, with a UK chapter hopefully opening soon.Since its establishment, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs has met dozens of public diplomacy organizations in Israel and around the world, which take an active part in civil pro-Israel activities. These organizations constitute a significant force in the pro-Israel network, and the aim of this campaign is to enhance their activities while providing Israel’s supporters in Israel and around the world with materials and methods for defending Israel online.Both Mayor Bill De Blasio (much taller in person than you realize) and Governor Andrew Cuomo walked up 5th Avenue earlier in the sunnier part of the day. (Alas, the skies did not heed Barbra Streisand’s requests, and during the final third it indeed rained on our parade.) But it felt good to end the festival with action in addition to just words. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got to share a few things on Facebook.
Arab states cut ties to Qatar as rift over media hack deepens-Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and UAE accuse Doha of meddling in internal affairs, supporting Iran-backed terror and destabilizing region-By Agencies and Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 6:31 am
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt all announced they were cutting ties to Qatar and booting the country from an Arab coalition fighting in Yemen early Monday, amid a deepening fissure between Gulf Arab nations.The dispute between Qatar and the Gulf’s Arab countries started over a purported hack of Qatar’s state-run news agency, running a false story quoting a top official touting relations with Israel and Iran. The crisis has spiraled since.Bahrain blamed Qatar’s “media incitement, its support for acts of terror and financing for armed groups associated with Iran to carry out subversive attacks and spread chaos” for its decision.Saudi Arabia followed with an announcement that it too was cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar and it had pulled all Qatari troops from the ongoing war in Yemen.Saudi news agency SPA said Riyadh cut diplomatic ties and closed borders with its neighbor to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.”Both the UAE and Egypt made announcements on their state-run news agencies within minutes of each other a short time later.The UAE accused Qatar of “destabilizing security of the region.”Egypt said Doha was supporting “terrorism.” The foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that its ports and airports were closed to Qatari vessels and planes.Qatar had no immediate comment.The announcements come a day after a report that the Palestinian Hamas terror group, partially funded by Iran, was being forced out of Qatar, with Doha citing “external pressures.”Hamas denied the report but said some officials were leaving the tiny, energy-rich Gulf nation anyway.Bahrain’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it would withdraw its diplomatic mission from the Qatari capital of Doha within 48 hours and that all Qatari diplomats should leave Bahrain within the same period.The ministry’s statement said Qatari citizens needed to leave Bahrain within two weeks and that air and sea traffic between the two countries would be halted. It wasn’t immediately clear how that would affect Qatar Airways, one of the region’s major long-haul carriers.Ties between Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council spiraled in late May. Qatar said hackers took control of the website of its state-run news agency to publish what it called fake comments from its ruling emir about Iran and Israel, roiling relations with its neighbors.Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera remains blocked in several countries over the row.The moves come weeks after US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, calling on Arab and Muslim leaders to isolate Iran and fight extremism.
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
Report says Israel planned atomic detonation in Sinai if Six Day War went wrong-New York Times, quoting newly released interview, says the display of nuclear strength was a ‘doomsday’ scenario not needed after IDF victory-By Times of Israel staff June 3, 2017, 11:31 pm
One the eve of the Six Day War, with the country surrounded by enemies and unsure of its future, Israel developed a “doomsday” plan to detonate an atomic bomb in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as a warning to the Arabs, The New York Times reported Saturday.The report was based on an interview conducted by leading Israeli nuclear scholar Avner Cohen with retired IDF brigadier general Itzhak Yaakov, who reportedly oversaw the plan.“It’s the last secret of the 1967 war,” Cohen told the paper.The full interview is set to be published Monday, as the region marks the 50th anniversary of the war in which Israel defeated the combined Arab armies in just six days.According to Yaakov, who oversaw weapons development for the Israel military and gave details of the plan to Cohen in 1999 and 2000 interviews, Israel was deeply fearful ahead of the war.“Look, it was so natural,” Yaakov said, according to the Times, which quoted a transcription of a taped interview. “You’ve got an enemy, and he says he’s going to throw you to the sea. You believe him.”“How can you stop him?” Yaakov asked. “You scare him. If you’ve got something you can scare him with, you scare him.”Yaakov, who died in 2013 at age 87, detailed in the interview with Cohen how Israel developed a plan code-named “Shimshon,” or Samson, to have helicopters and commandos fly an atomic device to a mountain top site about 12 miles from an Egyptian military complex at Abu Ageila.“The plan, if activated by order of the prime minister and military chief of staff, was to send a small paratrooper force to divert the Egyptian Army in the desert area so that a team could lay preparations for the atomic blast,” the report said.“Two large helicopters were to land, deliver the nuclear device and then create a command post in a mountain creek or canyon. If the order came to detonate, the blinding flash and mushroom cloud would have been seen throughout the Sinai and Negev deserts, and perhaps as far away as Cairo.”Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, maintaining a policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity, neither publicly confirming nor denying the existence of an atomic arsenal. However, several top US officials have seemed to confirm it, most recently former secretary of state Colin Powell who wrote in a leaked private email that he believed Israel has some 200 nuclear weapons.The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the report or on Yaakov’s role, The New York Times said.If Israel had detonated a device, it would have been the first use of a nuclear weapon in a war situation since the US dropped the two bombs on Japan to end World War II.On Monday, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington — where Cohen is a fellow — is releasing on a special website a series of documents related to the Israeli atomic plan.In the transcripts, Yaakov describes a helicopter flight he made to the site with Israel Dostrovsky, the first director-general of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, that had to be aborted after the Egyptians scrambled fighter jets.“We got very close,” Yaakov reportedly said. “We saw the mountain, and we saw that there is a place to hide there, in some canyon.”As it turned out, Israel’s victory was swift and decisive and there was no need for any doomsday plan, but Yaakov still believed Israel should have gone ahead with it and openly declared its nuclear prowess.“I still think to this day that we should have done it,” he told Cohen, who is the author of “Israel and the Bomb” and “The Worst-Kept Secret.”In 2001, some 2 years after his conversations with Cohen, Yaakov was arrested in Israel and charged with passing secret information with intent to harm state security. The charges related to memoirs he wrote, the Haaretz daily reported in its obituary of Yaakov in 2013.Yaakov was acquitted of the main charge but found guilty of the unauthorized handing over of secret information, Haaretz said, noting that he received a two-year suspended sentence.The obituary hinted at the exploits in the Sinai Desert, saying that “Yaakov was one of Israel’s leading officers in the field of weapons development during the build-up to the Six Day War and afterwards. During the war he was appointed to command a complex and unprecedented operation in the Sinai Peninsula, where he was to command both IAF pilots and a special ops unit. The IDF’s rapid success in defeating the Egyptian army made the operation redundant and it was cancelled.”According to Cohen, he promised Yaakov he would find the right time to publish the information and now, on the 50th anniversary, he believed the time was ripe.
Israel extends expanded Gaza fishing zone for two more weeks-Naval blockade eased for Ramadan, fishermen allowed to travel up to 9 nautical miles off coastal territory-By Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 10:32 am
Israel on Monday extended for another two weeks the expanded Mediterranean fishing zone granted for Palestinian fisherman living in the Gaza Strip.Last month, Israel eased restrictions imposed by its naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled strip by allowing Palestinian fishermen to travel up to nine nautical miles off the coast, instead of the previous six.Fishing is the second biggest income-earner in the coastal territory, generating NIS 6 million ($1.7 million) each year, and the zone extension is expected to allow fisherman to bump that figure by an additional NIS 1 million ($280,000), the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli government agency that oversees Israel’s relations with the Palestinians, said in a statement.The fishing season reaches its height in May and June.The size of the fishing zone has varied over the years. It was set at 20 nautical miles by the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s before being reduced to six miles under the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took over the Strip in a violent coup against the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007.Israel last extended the fishing zone to nine miles for several months in 2016.Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions, but Israel says it is needed to keep Hamas, an Islamist terror group, from importing weapons or materials used to make them.
Jews responsible for all of world’s ills, says Al-Aqsa preacher-Sheikh Muhammad ‘Ayed warns United States that ‘caliphate’ will ‘chop off its feet and drive it out of our countries‘-By Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 12:47 pm
A Muslim cleric has told worshipers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque that Jews are responsible for all of the world’s ills and that Muslims will defeat the US.Jews are “the masters of the world and its corrupters… They are behind all the strife in the world… They cause all the killing, the slaughter, and the destruction everywhere,” he said in his address.Sheikh Muhammad ‘Ayed, also known as Abu Abdallah, read from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a forged text produced in Russia at the end of the 19th century, which purports to outline Jewish plans to take over the world. It has been used by anti-Semites throughout the 20th and 21st centuries as justification for their views.Sheikh Muhammad went on to say that the caliphate — a possible reference to the Islamic State group — would “clip America’s nails and then move on to chopping off its hands… and then we will chop off its feet and drive it out of our countries,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute’s TV monitoring project.“After it can no longer remain here, we will march upon it,” he added.The sheikh, who preaches at what is Islam’s third holiest shrine, regularly makes extremist remarks against Jews and the West.In September, he called on Muslim migrants to Europe to produce children in order to conquer the continent “in the name of the coming caliphate.”
IDF finds pistol, arrests eight in overnight West Bank raids-Army uncovers ammunition, sniper scope in village near Nablus; 8 detainees suspected of taking part in riots-By Judah Ari Gross June 5, 2017, 8:29 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israeli troops found a pistol, boxes of ammunition and sniper scopes in a house in a northern West Bank village early Monday morning, the army said.The soldiers arrested the two Palestinians who were in possession of the firearm in Asira ash-Shamaliya, outside of Nablus.In addition to the pistol, a 9mm Czech model known as a CZ 75, the army found bullets and ammunition magazines for assault rifles, as well as two sniper scopes, the army said.The weaponry was confiscated for further examination, the military said.For the past year and a half, the IDF has been cracking down on the black market for guns in the West Bank. The army has focused its attention on local weapons production, specifically the manufacturing of Carlo-style submachine guns, a jury-rigged gun cobbled together out of water pipes and parts from other guns.From January to May, the army seized approximately 150 firearms in the West Bank and raided 20 workshops where the military believes guns were being manufactured.According to a senior intelligence officer, this effort has quintupled the price of Carlo-style submachine guns in the West Bank from what it was in 2015 and raised the cost of conventional, factory-made weapons as well, though to a lesser extent.During the overnight raids between Sunday and Monday, six other Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank on suspicion that they threw rocks or took part in violent protests, according to the military.Two were arrested in the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah; one person was picked up in Kafr Aqab, north of Jerusalem; another two were arrested in the Bethlehem-area villages of al-Rashayida and Teqoa (the Palestinian village located next to the Israeli settlement of the same name); and one person was detained in the village of Dahariya, near Hebron.
Israel launches ‘Iron Dome of Truth’ website at Celebrate Israel Parade-4IL is a cyber second-strike campaign that empowers users to counteract disinformation and biased reporting being spread over social media-June 5, 2017, 12:47 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
While they’re launching rockets, we’re launching websites.Something special occurred at this year’s Celebrate Israel Parade and Festival in New York, more so than the typical showing of solidarity in the Jewish community.“Today we launch the Iron Dome of Truth!” proclaimed Gilad Erdan, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, as he spoke at Manhattan’s Terminal 5 after the parade finished its march up Fifth Avenue.Terminal 5, normally a concert venue, had been transformed into a miniature version of Jerusalem’s iconic Mahane Yehuda market, with vendors selling Israeli crafts and food, as well as a temporary summer camp, with children strewn about the three floors working on art projects. Families were giddily snapping photos on their mobile phones, which spoke directly to Erdan’s point.“Our cell phones are the number one weapon against us,” he said, driving home a worry many Jews understand well: the onslaught of lies, misinformation and biased reporting from the Middle East that gets shared over social media.With that (and with the aid of model Titi Aynaw, actress Ariel Mortman and a cute explanatory video that’s primed to go viral) commenced the launch of 4IL, a web campaign which includes act.il, a free app for iPhone and Android that offers simple tools to help push back against would-be demonizers of the Jewish state.The delegitmizers working in bad faith to bend truth and spread fear are likely no match for the minds and coders of the startup nation.The parade, hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY) began in 1965 and this year marked the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. The parade was led by Erdan and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and was attended by dignitaries including members of Knesset, the mayor of Jerusalem, senators and congressmen, alongside some 40,000 supporters of Israel who painted the avenue in blue and white.At a cocktail party atop the Dream Hotel later in the evening, parade-goers were welcomed to celebrate the new technological advance. Yaron Fishelson, head of Product and Community for act.il, explained to us how the app grew organically from work students were doing at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya during Operation Protective Edge. Moreover, he detailed how this little pocket-sized “e-Hasbara” doohickey will actually work.The online campaign, which is being launched simultaneously in the US and Israel and is coming soon in Europe as well as other countries, is aimed at creating an energized online community to combat the online lies, calls for boycotts and the delegitimization of the State of Israel.“It’s about balancing the narrative,” Fishelson explained, which means that users of the app will have tasks (or missions, if you will) delivered to them each day. With a push of a button you might be firing off an email petition. Or perhaps sharing a story about an Israeli innovation. (As we were checking the app, we were encouraged to tweet an article about a new development in hernia surgery.) Or it may be about offering a wider perspective on a controversial topic.And naturally, as with anything social on the web, there are tokens and badges and points one accrues for accomplishing more tasks. Why shouldn’t it also be a little bit fun? Even in beta testing there have been some successes. “Just this week, in fact,” Fishelson recalled how UNRWA had used an image of a Syrian girl surrounded by rubble and labeled it as a Gaza victim of Israeli action. “We had targeted ‘likes’ of a Facebook post, pointing out the inaccuracy. When you have more ‘likes’ it becomes the first comment seen under the image. This, we hope, led to UNRWA taking down the image.”This sort of measured, surgical social media strike is guaranteed to get results.Future tasks on the act.il app may come from user suggestions, but, “pictures of your grandmother having a good time in Eilat aren’t what we’re looking for,” Fishelson said.He does expect further developments in the social aspect, as well as localized events. In addition to Herzliya there are student councils in Boston and New Jersey, with a UK chapter hopefully opening soon.Since its establishment, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs has met dozens of public diplomacy organizations in Israel and around the world, which take an active part in civil pro-Israel activities. These organizations constitute a significant force in the pro-Israel network, and the aim of this campaign is to enhance their activities while providing Israel’s supporters in Israel and around the world with materials and methods for defending Israel online.Both Mayor Bill De Blasio (much taller in person than you realize) and Governor Andrew Cuomo walked up 5th Avenue earlier in the sunnier part of the day. (Alas, the skies did not heed Barbra Streisand’s requests, and during the final third it indeed rained on our parade.) But it felt good to end the festival with action in addition to just words. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got to share a few things on Facebook.
Arab states cut ties to Qatar as rift over media hack deepens-Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and UAE accuse Doha of meddling in internal affairs, supporting Iran-backed terror and destabilizing region-By Agencies and Times of Israel staff June 5, 2017, 6:31 am
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt all announced they were cutting ties to Qatar and booting the country from an Arab coalition fighting in Yemen early Monday, amid a deepening fissure between Gulf Arab nations.The dispute between Qatar and the Gulf’s Arab countries started over a purported hack of Qatar’s state-run news agency, running a false story quoting a top official touting relations with Israel and Iran. The crisis has spiraled since.Bahrain blamed Qatar’s “media incitement, its support for acts of terror and financing for armed groups associated with Iran to carry out subversive attacks and spread chaos” for its decision.Saudi Arabia followed with an announcement that it too was cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar and it had pulled all Qatari troops from the ongoing war in Yemen.Saudi news agency SPA said Riyadh cut diplomatic ties and closed borders with its neighbor to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.”Both the UAE and Egypt made announcements on their state-run news agencies within minutes of each other a short time later.The UAE accused Qatar of “destabilizing security of the region.”Egypt said Doha was supporting “terrorism.” The foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that its ports and airports were closed to Qatari vessels and planes.Qatar had no immediate comment.The announcements come a day after a report that the Palestinian Hamas terror group, partially funded by Iran, was being forced out of Qatar, with Doha citing “external pressures.”Hamas denied the report but said some officials were leaving the tiny, energy-rich Gulf nation anyway.Bahrain’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it would withdraw its diplomatic mission from the Qatari capital of Doha within 48 hours and that all Qatari diplomats should leave Bahrain within the same period.The ministry’s statement said Qatari citizens needed to leave Bahrain within two weeks and that air and sea traffic between the two countries would be halted. It wasn’t immediately clear how that would affect Qatar Airways, one of the region’s major long-haul carriers.Ties between Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council spiraled in late May. Qatar said hackers took control of the website of its state-run news agency to publish what it called fake comments from its ruling emir about Iran and Israel, roiling relations with its neighbors.Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera remains blocked in several countries over the row.The moves come weeks after US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, calling on Arab and Muslim leaders to isolate Iran and fight extremism.
