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
Chief rabbi dismisses split with US Jews over Western Wall deal as ‘fake news’-David Lau says 85% of American Jews never visit Israel, but the Jewish state must do more to provide education and fight assimilation in Diaspora-By Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 7:01 pm
The Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel on Sunday dismissed reports of a schism between Israel and US Jews over the Western Wall deal as “fake news,” claiming that the vast majority of American Jews never set foot in Israel anyway.He also issued a letter saying he was furious at the publication of a list of rabbis whom the Chief Rabbinate does not trust to confirm the Jewish identities of immigrants.Speaking at a conference organized by the ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper Hamodia, Rabbi David Lau said that the biggest issue facing US Jews was not the Western Wall or the conversion bill, but intermarriage and apathy about the Jewish state.“In the past two weeks we have been exposed to lies, that American Jews are tearing themselves away from Israel,” said Lau. “85 percent of American Jews have never stepped foot in Israel.”At the end of June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government backtracked on a January 2016 plan to officially recognize a separate, permanent, pluralistic prayer area at Robinson’s Arch, adjacent to the main Western Wall prayer area, in a compromise reached after years of negotiations between liberal Israeli and American Jewish groups and the Israeli authorities. The frozen deal would have given non-Orthodox Jewish leaders a joint role in the oversight of the pluralistic site. Currently, a temporary prayer facility exists there.Under ultra-Orthodox management, the main Western Wall area is separated between men’s and women’s prayer sections.Lau rejected claims that the Western Wall was only for ultra-Orthodox Jews.“I was in the US a few months ago,” he said. “I was asked: Why do you not let people of other faiths come to pray at the Western Wall? I told them that is also false. I was at the Western Wall. Next to me was a man from Nigeria. I don’t know how he prayed, who he prayed to. But he stood there. Did I bother him? Did he bother me?”Lau quoted the verse that “My house is a place of prayer for all the nations,” saying that all were welcome to come and pray. He did not explain how those who want pluralistic prayer could do so, but he said those making a fuss about the mixed gender plaza weren’t interested in coming to Jerusalem to pray.Of the 15% of US Jews who have visited Israel, Lau said, many of them are Orthodox, or wanted only separate prayer at the Western Wall. He implied that the actual number who cared about a mixed plaza was insignificant.In the same meeting at the end of June, the cabinet also advanced a bill that would have granted the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, an ultra-Orthodox-dominated body, sole authority over recognized Jewish conversions within Israel. The conversion bill, however, was shelved on Friday for six months.Lau said this was also fake news and denied that the judges on the rabbinate conversion courts were out of touch with reality.“You should know that most of the judges in rabbinic courts were officers in the IDF,” he said. “They are connected to the Jewish experience as much as everyone else.”But he said that Israel cannot allow a situation where any three Jews can convene to form a conversion court, and award certificates of conversion. “They give a certificate,” he said, “but what about Judaism.”He stressed that Israel bears a responsibility to care for US and Diaspora Jews, who are “our brothers.” But the way to do that was not through the Western Wall or conversion, but through education and strengthening their Jewish commitment.Lau, along with Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, were instrumental in pushing ministers to force the government to backtrack on the Western Wall deal. Just a week before the cabinet decision the rabbinate released a letter that condemned the plans to improve the mixed-gender prayer at the Wall.“The position of the Chief Rabbinate is that the government decision on dividing the Western Wall is invalid and cannot stand,” the letter said, according to a copy obtained by the Israel Hayom daily. “The Chief Rabbinate is the highest halachic [Jewish legal] authority in the state, and therefore it is entirely forbidden to hold mixed prayer, men and women together, at any site of the Western Wall.”The government’s reneging on the two decisions about the Western Wall and conversions were met with fierce opposition from American-Jewish groups, philanthropists, businessmen and various figures active in the Jewish world, as well as Israeli politicians, who expressed their dismay and disappointment. Some have intimated the decisions might impact financial contributions to Israel and warned of eroding support for the Jewish state.Also on Sunday, the Chief Rabbinate issued a list of some 160 rabbis from 24 countries who are not trusted to vouch for a person’s Jewish identity. Lau’s office published a letter saying that the list was not authorized by the Rabbinate, was made without consultation with the chief rabbi, and that he opposes both the list and its publication.The bureaucratic structure of the Rabbinate means that the chief rabbis are not involved in the decisions of Jewish identity for potential immigrants. One mid-level official, Rabbi Itamar Tubul, handles every claim. In December the chief rabbis set up a controversial committee to vet conversions, but it is not clear whether the committee approved the published list.
Trump’s peace envoy Greenblatt heading back to Israel-Mediator set to meet US ambassador, as well as Netanyahu and Israeli and Palestinian officials-By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 7:25 pm
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Jason Greenblatt, was due in Israel on Sunday night to advance the administration’s goal to restart negotiations.Greenblatt was set to meet with US Ambassador David Friedman after he arrives and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.“While the primary purpose of his trip is to meet with the ambassador now that the ambassador is on the ground and fully installed in his position, Greenblatt will also likely be taking meetings relevant to both the Israelis and the Palestinians,” a senior White House official told The Times of Israel.“This trip is an interim visit as talks continue about potential next steps. [US] President Trump has made it clear that working toward achieving a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians is a top priority for him.”During his last visit to Israel at the end of June, Greenblatt accompanied Trump’s son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner to a meeting with Netanyahu and another with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who the two US officials met in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.Palestinian sources told Hebrew and Arabic media later that the meeting had not gone well and that the Palestinian leader had accused the US of taking Israel’s side while refusing US demands that Ramallah cut off payments for some convicted terrorists and their families.Kushner reportedly began his meeting with Abbas by stating all the Israeli concerns, including stopping the payments, according to Hebrew media reports, angering Abbas.A senior Palestinian official said at the time that a preparatory meeting with Greenblatt a day before the meeting with Kushner had also not gone well and became tense over the payments to prisoners that Greenblatt had insisted come to an end.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a closed diplomatic meeting, said the Palestinians had rebuffed Greenblatt’s pressure and demanded an Israeli settlement freeze.According to reports in Arabic media, the Americans watered down their demand about payments to prisoners. Originally, the US wanted all payments halted, but now they only want the Palestinians to stop paying salaries to some 600 prisoners who are serving life sentences and are responsible for the deaths of Israelis.Abbas has defended payments to Palestinian prisoners, including convicted terrorists, as a “social responsibility,” and said Israel was using the issue as a pretext to avoid peace talks.Abbas refused to end the payments to prisoners, instead insisting on restarting the trilateral committee on incitement. The committee includes Israeli, Palestinian and American officials and was formed as part of the Wye River Memorandum in 1998. The committee met every two months until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000.
Israeli soldiers arrest 2 Palestinians crossing from Gaza into Israel-Unarmed suspects transfered to security authorities for questioning, IDF says-By Times of Israel staff July 10, 2017, 1:45 am
Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians who crossed the border fence from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israeli military said on Sunday.The two were apprehended immediately after entering Israeli territory from southern Gaza, and were transfered to security authorities for questioning.The men were unarmed, the IDF said.The border fence contains a bevy of sensors and cameras to support the large number of soldiers who regularly patrol the area. Infiltrators are typically caught within moments.
Israel pans both Hungarian anti-Semitism and its target, George Soros-Foreign Ministry issues clarification after ambassador condemns billboard campaign against Jewish billionaire, saying Israel doesn’t like him either-By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 10:50 pm
The Foreign Ministry on Sunday clarified that its call for the Hungarian government to end a billboard campaign against Jewish billionaire and philanthropist George Soros was due to the perceived anti-Semitism and not because of criticism of the man himself.Billboards posted nationwide in Hungary show a grinning Soros, who was born in the country, and the words “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh,” which Jewish leaders have said is provoking anti-Semitism.The Budapest government objects to Soros’ call for Hungary to allow migrants to enter the country. Many of the billboards have been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.Israel’s ambassador to Hungary had called on Saturday for a halt to the government campaign against the Jewish-American billionaire.But the Foreign Ministry issued a clarification Sunday, saying that Israel also objects to Soros’ activities.“Israel deplores any expression of anti-Semitism in any country and stands with Jewish communities everywhere in confronting this hatred,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon in a statement. “This was the sole purpose of the statement issued by Israel’s ambassador to Hungary.“In no way was the statement meant to de-legitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself,” Nahshon added.In his Saturday statement, Yossi Amrani, Israel’s ambassador to Budapest, had said, “I call on those involved in the current billboard campaign and those responsible for it to reconsider the consequences. At the moment, beyond political criticism of a certain person, the campaign not only evokes sad memories, but also sows hatred and fear.”“It’s our moral responsibility to raise a voice and call on the relevant authorities to exert their power and put an end to this cycle,” Amrani added.Hungary’s foreign ministry responded at the time, saying, “Just like Israel, Hungary too takes steps against anyone who represents a risk to the national security of the country and its citizens.”Hungarian Jews have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel an official visit to Hungary scheduled for July 18, to protest remarks by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in praise of Hungary’s anti-Semitic leader during World War II, Miklós Horth, as well as over the campaign against Soros.Late last month, Orban included Horthy, a Hitler ally, among those he called “exceptional statesmen” in Hungary for leading the country, following the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. Horthy signed anti-Jewish laws in 1938 and 1939, as well as in 1920.Orban’s chief of staff, János Lazar, told journalists on Thursday, after Jewish leaders called for a halt to the billboard campaign: “The Hungarian government’s goal is to stop Soros’ migrant campaign, which is supporting the migration of illegal migrants into our country. The government is not criticizing George Soros for his Jewish origin, but for his support of the growing number of migrants entering in uncontrolled crowds into Europe.”Lazar added that Hungarian Jews “should not be afraid because they can count on the Hungarian government, which always will defend them.”Soros, who survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and went on to become a self-made billionaire while living in the US, established the Open Society Foundations in 1979. According to its website, its mission is “to strengthen the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check.”In 2016, hacked emails showed that the Open Society Foundations had as an objective “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” in international forums, in part by questioning Israel’s reputation as a democracy.JTA contributed to this report.
London police investigate man who charged ‘Zionists’ behind Grenfell Tower tragedy-Nazim Ali allegedly said, ‘In Grenfell, many innocents were murdered by Theresa May’s cronies, supporters of Zionist ideology’-By Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 11:42 pm
London police are investigating a man who allegedly claimed that the dozens of people killed in the fire that destroyed the Grenfell Tower were “killed by Zionists,” it was reported on Sunday.“We received an allegation of anti-Semitic comments and it is being investigated by detectives from Westminster CID. The inquiry continues,” a spokesperson for London Metropolitan Police told the Telegraph newspaper.The man, named in media outlets as Nazim Ali, a senior figure in Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), is accused of giving a speech on June 18 during London’s Al-Qud’s Day, in which he blamed the Grenfell Tower fire on shady deals between the government and Zionists.“As we know in Grenfell, many innocents were murdered by Theresa May’s cronies, many of which are supporters of Zionist ideology,” he was heard saying on video.“Let us not forget that some of the biggest corporations who were supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell, the Zionist supporters of the Tory Party.”Al Quds Day: "Zionist" corporations were responsible for #Grenfell pic.twitter.com/9ZuqZ8YnDb— Zionist Federation (@ZionistFed) June 18, 2017-Later, he shouted, “It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory party, to kill people in high rise blocks…. Careful, careful, careful of those rabbis who belong to the Board of Deputies, who have got blood on their hands,” the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.Ali responded to the allegations, telling the Telegraph that, “You have not presented what I said accurately in the wider context of what was said in the prelude to the minute’s silence for Grenfell. As presented it sounds somewhat inelegant… To say that some of Theresa May or the Tory party’s supporters are Zionists is hardly controversial.”A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust described Ali’s hate speech as “grotesque.”“In any circumstance, these comments would have been utterly hateful, but to hang them on what happened at Grenfell Tower beggared belief,”he said. “It was, of course, a pro-Hezbollah demonstration, but such hatred would have been staggering even in Beirut or Tehran, never mind the streets of London.”Hundreds marched at the rally through the center of London behind the Palestinian flag and behind a flag of Hezbollah, which has been named in Britain as an illegal terror organization. Many marchers also carried paper versions of the Hezbollah flag. No effort was made by London police to stop them.Other chants included: “Zionists/ISIS [Islamic State group] are the same. Only difference is the name.”Al-Quds is the Muslim name for Jerusalem. The annual march is a call for the destruction of Israel.JTA contributed to this report.
Israel rounds up traffic-stopping stray camels-30 animals, which had been left to roam near roads, were treated by a vet, vaccinated, and returned to their owners, with a fine-By Times of Israel staff July 10, 2017, 12:09 amGovernment agencies on Sunday rounded up some 30 stray camels that were roaming near the road and posed a danger to drivers.
The Agriculture Ministry along with the Environmental Protection Ministry’s Green Police found the beasts in the south of the country, according to a statement from the ministry.The animals were taken to a facility belonging to the Agriculture Ministry, checked by a vet and vaccinated. Their owners were located and summoned for questioning.The animals were then returned to them, on condition that they not leave them untended near the road.Since the beginning of 2017, Agriculture Ministry inspectors in the south have taken over 200 camels found without grazing permits. The total fines given came to more than NIS 110,000 ($31,000). Some camels were found in IDF firing zones.Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) said that, “roaming camels are a real danger to drivers on the road, and they are the sole responsibility of their owners. Therefore, in the past year, we have increased our inspections of the roads in the south. We will use every effort to punish those who break the law and we will not allow lives to be put in danger.”A year ago, a woman was killed after her car hit three stray camels that had wandered onto a Negev highway.Stray camels wandering Negev roads are responsible for dozens of car accidents each year.
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
Chief rabbi dismisses split with US Jews over Western Wall deal as ‘fake news’-David Lau says 85% of American Jews never visit Israel, but the Jewish state must do more to provide education and fight assimilation in Diaspora-By Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 7:01 pm
The Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel on Sunday dismissed reports of a schism between Israel and US Jews over the Western Wall deal as “fake news,” claiming that the vast majority of American Jews never set foot in Israel anyway.He also issued a letter saying he was furious at the publication of a list of rabbis whom the Chief Rabbinate does not trust to confirm the Jewish identities of immigrants.Speaking at a conference organized by the ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper Hamodia, Rabbi David Lau said that the biggest issue facing US Jews was not the Western Wall or the conversion bill, but intermarriage and apathy about the Jewish state.“In the past two weeks we have been exposed to lies, that American Jews are tearing themselves away from Israel,” said Lau. “85 percent of American Jews have never stepped foot in Israel.”At the end of June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government backtracked on a January 2016 plan to officially recognize a separate, permanent, pluralistic prayer area at Robinson’s Arch, adjacent to the main Western Wall prayer area, in a compromise reached after years of negotiations between liberal Israeli and American Jewish groups and the Israeli authorities. The frozen deal would have given non-Orthodox Jewish leaders a joint role in the oversight of the pluralistic site. Currently, a temporary prayer facility exists there.Under ultra-Orthodox management, the main Western Wall area is separated between men’s and women’s prayer sections.Lau rejected claims that the Western Wall was only for ultra-Orthodox Jews.“I was in the US a few months ago,” he said. “I was asked: Why do you not let people of other faiths come to pray at the Western Wall? I told them that is also false. I was at the Western Wall. Next to me was a man from Nigeria. I don’t know how he prayed, who he prayed to. But he stood there. Did I bother him? Did he bother me?”Lau quoted the verse that “My house is a place of prayer for all the nations,” saying that all were welcome to come and pray. He did not explain how those who want pluralistic prayer could do so, but he said those making a fuss about the mixed gender plaza weren’t interested in coming to Jerusalem to pray.Of the 15% of US Jews who have visited Israel, Lau said, many of them are Orthodox, or wanted only separate prayer at the Western Wall. He implied that the actual number who cared about a mixed plaza was insignificant.In the same meeting at the end of June, the cabinet also advanced a bill that would have granted the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, an ultra-Orthodox-dominated body, sole authority over recognized Jewish conversions within Israel. The conversion bill, however, was shelved on Friday for six months.Lau said this was also fake news and denied that the judges on the rabbinate conversion courts were out of touch with reality.“You should know that most of the judges in rabbinic courts were officers in the IDF,” he said. “They are connected to the Jewish experience as much as everyone else.”But he said that Israel cannot allow a situation where any three Jews can convene to form a conversion court, and award certificates of conversion. “They give a certificate,” he said, “but what about Judaism.”He stressed that Israel bears a responsibility to care for US and Diaspora Jews, who are “our brothers.” But the way to do that was not through the Western Wall or conversion, but through education and strengthening their Jewish commitment.Lau, along with Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, were instrumental in pushing ministers to force the government to backtrack on the Western Wall deal. Just a week before the cabinet decision the rabbinate released a letter that condemned the plans to improve the mixed-gender prayer at the Wall.“The position of the Chief Rabbinate is that the government decision on dividing the Western Wall is invalid and cannot stand,” the letter said, according to a copy obtained by the Israel Hayom daily. “The Chief Rabbinate is the highest halachic [Jewish legal] authority in the state, and therefore it is entirely forbidden to hold mixed prayer, men and women together, at any site of the Western Wall.”The government’s reneging on the two decisions about the Western Wall and conversions were met with fierce opposition from American-Jewish groups, philanthropists, businessmen and various figures active in the Jewish world, as well as Israeli politicians, who expressed their dismay and disappointment. Some have intimated the decisions might impact financial contributions to Israel and warned of eroding support for the Jewish state.Also on Sunday, the Chief Rabbinate issued a list of some 160 rabbis from 24 countries who are not trusted to vouch for a person’s Jewish identity. Lau’s office published a letter saying that the list was not authorized by the Rabbinate, was made without consultation with the chief rabbi, and that he opposes both the list and its publication.The bureaucratic structure of the Rabbinate means that the chief rabbis are not involved in the decisions of Jewish identity for potential immigrants. One mid-level official, Rabbi Itamar Tubul, handles every claim. In December the chief rabbis set up a controversial committee to vet conversions, but it is not clear whether the committee approved the published list.
Trump’s peace envoy Greenblatt heading back to Israel-Mediator set to meet US ambassador, as well as Netanyahu and Israeli and Palestinian officials-By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 7:25 pm
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Jason Greenblatt, was due in Israel on Sunday night to advance the administration’s goal to restart negotiations.Greenblatt was set to meet with US Ambassador David Friedman after he arrives and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.“While the primary purpose of his trip is to meet with the ambassador now that the ambassador is on the ground and fully installed in his position, Greenblatt will also likely be taking meetings relevant to both the Israelis and the Palestinians,” a senior White House official told The Times of Israel.“This trip is an interim visit as talks continue about potential next steps. [US] President Trump has made it clear that working toward achieving a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians is a top priority for him.”During his last visit to Israel at the end of June, Greenblatt accompanied Trump’s son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner to a meeting with Netanyahu and another with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who the two US officials met in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.Palestinian sources told Hebrew and Arabic media later that the meeting had not gone well and that the Palestinian leader had accused the US of taking Israel’s side while refusing US demands that Ramallah cut off payments for some convicted terrorists and their families.Kushner reportedly began his meeting with Abbas by stating all the Israeli concerns, including stopping the payments, according to Hebrew media reports, angering Abbas.A senior Palestinian official said at the time that a preparatory meeting with Greenblatt a day before the meeting with Kushner had also not gone well and became tense over the payments to prisoners that Greenblatt had insisted come to an end.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a closed diplomatic meeting, said the Palestinians had rebuffed Greenblatt’s pressure and demanded an Israeli settlement freeze.According to reports in Arabic media, the Americans watered down their demand about payments to prisoners. Originally, the US wanted all payments halted, but now they only want the Palestinians to stop paying salaries to some 600 prisoners who are serving life sentences and are responsible for the deaths of Israelis.Abbas has defended payments to Palestinian prisoners, including convicted terrorists, as a “social responsibility,” and said Israel was using the issue as a pretext to avoid peace talks.Abbas refused to end the payments to prisoners, instead insisting on restarting the trilateral committee on incitement. The committee includes Israeli, Palestinian and American officials and was formed as part of the Wye River Memorandum in 1998. The committee met every two months until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000.
Israeli soldiers arrest 2 Palestinians crossing from Gaza into Israel-Unarmed suspects transfered to security authorities for questioning, IDF says-By Times of Israel staff July 10, 2017, 1:45 am
Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians who crossed the border fence from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israeli military said on Sunday.The two were apprehended immediately after entering Israeli territory from southern Gaza, and were transfered to security authorities for questioning.The men were unarmed, the IDF said.The border fence contains a bevy of sensors and cameras to support the large number of soldiers who regularly patrol the area. Infiltrators are typically caught within moments.
Israel pans both Hungarian anti-Semitism and its target, George Soros-Foreign Ministry issues clarification after ambassador condemns billboard campaign against Jewish billionaire, saying Israel doesn’t like him either-By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 10:50 pm
The Foreign Ministry on Sunday clarified that its call for the Hungarian government to end a billboard campaign against Jewish billionaire and philanthropist George Soros was due to the perceived anti-Semitism and not because of criticism of the man himself.Billboards posted nationwide in Hungary show a grinning Soros, who was born in the country, and the words “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh,” which Jewish leaders have said is provoking anti-Semitism.The Budapest government objects to Soros’ call for Hungary to allow migrants to enter the country. Many of the billboards have been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.Israel’s ambassador to Hungary had called on Saturday for a halt to the government campaign against the Jewish-American billionaire.But the Foreign Ministry issued a clarification Sunday, saying that Israel also objects to Soros’ activities.“Israel deplores any expression of anti-Semitism in any country and stands with Jewish communities everywhere in confronting this hatred,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon in a statement. “This was the sole purpose of the statement issued by Israel’s ambassador to Hungary.“In no way was the statement meant to de-legitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself,” Nahshon added.In his Saturday statement, Yossi Amrani, Israel’s ambassador to Budapest, had said, “I call on those involved in the current billboard campaign and those responsible for it to reconsider the consequences. At the moment, beyond political criticism of a certain person, the campaign not only evokes sad memories, but also sows hatred and fear.”“It’s our moral responsibility to raise a voice and call on the relevant authorities to exert their power and put an end to this cycle,” Amrani added.Hungary’s foreign ministry responded at the time, saying, “Just like Israel, Hungary too takes steps against anyone who represents a risk to the national security of the country and its citizens.”Hungarian Jews have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel an official visit to Hungary scheduled for July 18, to protest remarks by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in praise of Hungary’s anti-Semitic leader during World War II, Miklós Horth, as well as over the campaign against Soros.Late last month, Orban included Horthy, a Hitler ally, among those he called “exceptional statesmen” in Hungary for leading the country, following the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. Horthy signed anti-Jewish laws in 1938 and 1939, as well as in 1920.Orban’s chief of staff, János Lazar, told journalists on Thursday, after Jewish leaders called for a halt to the billboard campaign: “The Hungarian government’s goal is to stop Soros’ migrant campaign, which is supporting the migration of illegal migrants into our country. The government is not criticizing George Soros for his Jewish origin, but for his support of the growing number of migrants entering in uncontrolled crowds into Europe.”Lazar added that Hungarian Jews “should not be afraid because they can count on the Hungarian government, which always will defend them.”Soros, who survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and went on to become a self-made billionaire while living in the US, established the Open Society Foundations in 1979. According to its website, its mission is “to strengthen the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check.”In 2016, hacked emails showed that the Open Society Foundations had as an objective “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” in international forums, in part by questioning Israel’s reputation as a democracy.JTA contributed to this report.
London police investigate man who charged ‘Zionists’ behind Grenfell Tower tragedy-Nazim Ali allegedly said, ‘In Grenfell, many innocents were murdered by Theresa May’s cronies, supporters of Zionist ideology’-By Times of Israel staff July 9, 2017, 11:42 pm
London police are investigating a man who allegedly claimed that the dozens of people killed in the fire that destroyed the Grenfell Tower were “killed by Zionists,” it was reported on Sunday.“We received an allegation of anti-Semitic comments and it is being investigated by detectives from Westminster CID. The inquiry continues,” a spokesperson for London Metropolitan Police told the Telegraph newspaper.The man, named in media outlets as Nazim Ali, a senior figure in Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), is accused of giving a speech on June 18 during London’s Al-Qud’s Day, in which he blamed the Grenfell Tower fire on shady deals between the government and Zionists.“As we know in Grenfell, many innocents were murdered by Theresa May’s cronies, many of which are supporters of Zionist ideology,” he was heard saying on video.“Let us not forget that some of the biggest corporations who were supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell, the Zionist supporters of the Tory Party.”Al Quds Day: "Zionist" corporations were responsible for #Grenfell pic.twitter.com/9ZuqZ8YnDb— Zionist Federation (@ZionistFed) June 18, 2017-Later, he shouted, “It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory party, to kill people in high rise blocks…. Careful, careful, careful of those rabbis who belong to the Board of Deputies, who have got blood on their hands,” the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.Ali responded to the allegations, telling the Telegraph that, “You have not presented what I said accurately in the wider context of what was said in the prelude to the minute’s silence for Grenfell. As presented it sounds somewhat inelegant… To say that some of Theresa May or the Tory party’s supporters are Zionists is hardly controversial.”A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust described Ali’s hate speech as “grotesque.”“In any circumstance, these comments would have been utterly hateful, but to hang them on what happened at Grenfell Tower beggared belief,”he said. “It was, of course, a pro-Hezbollah demonstration, but such hatred would have been staggering even in Beirut or Tehran, never mind the streets of London.”Hundreds marched at the rally through the center of London behind the Palestinian flag and behind a flag of Hezbollah, which has been named in Britain as an illegal terror organization. Many marchers also carried paper versions of the Hezbollah flag. No effort was made by London police to stop them.Other chants included: “Zionists/ISIS [Islamic State group] are the same. Only difference is the name.”Al-Quds is the Muslim name for Jerusalem. The annual march is a call for the destruction of Israel.JTA contributed to this report.
Israel rounds up traffic-stopping stray camels-30 animals, which had been left to roam near roads, were treated by a vet, vaccinated, and returned to their owners, with a fine-By Times of Israel staff July 10, 2017, 12:09 amGovernment agencies on Sunday rounded up some 30 stray camels that were roaming near the road and posed a danger to drivers.
The Agriculture Ministry along with the Environmental Protection Ministry’s Green Police found the beasts in the south of the country, according to a statement from the ministry.The animals were taken to a facility belonging to the Agriculture Ministry, checked by a vet and vaccinated. Their owners were located and summoned for questioning.The animals were then returned to them, on condition that they not leave them untended near the road.Since the beginning of 2017, Agriculture Ministry inspectors in the south have taken over 200 camels found without grazing permits. The total fines given came to more than NIS 110,000 ($31,000). Some camels were found in IDF firing zones.Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) said that, “roaming camels are a real danger to drivers on the road, and they are the sole responsibility of their owners. Therefore, in the past year, we have increased our inspections of the roads in the south. We will use every effort to punish those who break the law and we will not allow lives to be put in danger.”A year ago, a woman was killed after her car hit three stray camels that had wandered onto a Negev highway.Stray camels wandering Negev roads are responsible for dozens of car accidents each year.
