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
Interview / 'Scholars were saying the Hebrew Bible was a work of fiction'-Researcher gives seal of approval to 53 biblical characters’ existence-Lawrence Mykytiuk looks for ancient personalities who have made an impression — be it on a signet ring or a monument-By Rich Tenorio August 4, 2017, 6:29 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Thanks to a researcher’s unique system, 53 individuals in the Hebrew Bible have been proven as genuine historical characters through material evidence of their existence. The system’s creator, Lawrence Mykytiuk, an associate professor of library science at Purdue University, calls it “a way to develop historicity.”It sounds like an unlikely project: a professor in the Midwest verifying ancient names from the Mideast. Yet Mykytiuk’s training as a librarian and interest in the Bible help him do what he says on-the-scene archaeologists are too busy to — pore through journals and books, scrutinize inscriptions discovered on digs and attempt to match names in the historical record with names in the Bible.Mykytiuk’s system relies on three criteria: A biblical name must match the name on an authentic inscription, with no possibility of a forgery (thus ruling out items from the antiquities market, he said). The names — in the Bible and on the inscription — must match in terms of setting and time period. And, in perhaps the most exacting category, Mykytiuk looks for matches of at least three specific details identifying an individual, such as name, father’s name and title.“If it matches the same three mentions in Scripture, it’s a virtual certainty,” Mykytiuk said. “There might be a few people with the same name, father’s name,” he added, “but same title? That’s stretching it. I consider it a virtual certainty, either a dead ringer or virtual certainty.”He does note in a PowerPoint presentation, however, that verifications of biblical names do not guarantee verifications of biblical events involving these individuals.Developed over 25 years, Mykytiuk’s system is arguably successful. Studying 94 inscriptions, he has verified kings, pharaohs, high priests and scribes, among others.All of the names are male, although he said he is “hoping to identify a woman from an inscription. Not yet.”Verified characters include eight kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and six from the Southern Kingdom of Judah. One is King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who fought in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE — an event that eagle-eyed Mykytiuk noted in both the Book of Kings and on an image of the Kurkh Monolith.“There was only one Israelite king at a time who could have fought [in the battle],” Mykytiuk said. “Bingo. There was a match between the inscription and the Bible.”Mykytiuk’s oldest verification is another sovereign — King David himself, from 1000 BCE. He found a match between the protagonist of Samuel I and the “House of David” wall inscription at the Tel Dan excavations in northern Israel.“‘King of Israel’ was in one line,” Mykytiuk said. “The next line read ‘Melech Beit David.’ It was in Aramaic, by the enemies, the Arameans, who conquered Tel Dan and indicated a victory monument, a stele, a big sign in stone. The Israelites reconquered it, and smashed [the stele] to pieces that they used to make a wall.”‘David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament… If you want to verify anybody, he’s the guy’“David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament… If you want to verify anybody, he’s the guy,” he added.Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Moabites, Arameans and Damascenes also show up on Mykytiuk’s list — a fraction of the almost 3,000 people in the Hebrew Bible.“For most, all we get is a name,” Mykytiuk said. “Perhaps not more than a couple hundred have enough identifying facts in the Bible to actually identify [them] in some other written source.”But the identifications keep coming. His latest, published in the May/June issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, are Tattenai, a Persian administrator under Darius the Great; and Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer, two Babylonian warriors who fought for King Nebuchadnezzar II, destroyer of the First Temple.Tattenai is mentioned in biblical sources such as Ezra 5:3 — and in a tablet from Darius dating to 502 BCE.Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer appear in Kings and Jeremiah, respectively. Their names are inscribed in cuneiform on Nebuchadnezzar II’s Prism, reproduced in James B. Pritchard’s book “Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.”Mykytiuk said that his criteria “apply across the board.” And indeed, he is expanding his focus to the New Testament as well.One ring to rule them all-Mykytiuk’s interest in verifications began in 1992, while he was in graduate school in Hebrew and Semitic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He saw an image of a clay impression from a signet ring belonging to a servant of King Hezekiah, who ruled the Southern Kingdom of Judah and is mentioned in the Book of Kings. He recalled seeing what looked to be the king’s name.“[It was from] 700 BCE,” he said. “I couldn’t shake my interest.”He said he also found it noteworthy at a time when some scholars who were “European mainly, were saying the Hebrew Bible was a work of fiction with a few historical references thrown in. I said, ‘Wait a minute. I just saw a seal impression of a servant of Hezekiah.’”Thus began a quest for Mykytiuk — who is Christian — to verify names in the Old Testament by studying inscriptions. He made this the topic of his dissertation, completed in 1998 and published in 2004 as a book, “Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 BCE.”He found inspiration in Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad, who died in 1992 and who had set a precedent for biblical verifications. Mykytiuk dedicated his dissertation to Avigad.“He laid down some criteria that I used and built on,” Mykytiuk said. “Nobody had criteria except Avigad. I could build on his beginning.”Two other scholars have adopted Mykytiuk’s system, he said — Kenneth Kitchen, a professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, and Bob Becking, Emeritus Faculty Professor for Bible, Religion and Identity at Universiteit Utrecht.“When Larry’s book appeared, I immediately bought and read it,” Becking wrote in an email, adding that in his view, a multidimensional approach such as Mykytiuk’s “helps to give a more firm ground for biblical studies.” ‘I said, wait a minute. I just saw a seal impression of a servant of Hezekiah’-Others have noticed as well, including Biblical Archaeology Review editor Hershel Shanks, who read Mykytiuk’s 2012 book chapter in which he published his best results.“[Shanks] saw an article in it for Biblical Archaeology Review,” Mykytiuk recalled. And, he added, Shanks “wanted me [to do] the Old Testament, New Testament, everybody. It was too much.”He did publish verifications of 50 people in the Hebrew Bible in 2014, updating them with his most recent findings this year. He has also written about the historical existence of Jesus — a topic he calls “forever controversial” — and is returning to the New Testament for his next two articles.-Assessing accuracy-Some scholars are cautioning that biblical verification has limits — including Marc Zvi Brettler, a professor of Judaic studies at Duke University.In an email, Brettler wrote, “It is not surprising that certain figures who lived in [the] biblical period — though not at its beginning or middle — are also attested in non-biblical texts. But all this archeological evidence does is show that they existed. It does not prove that what the Bible says about them is true, nor does the verification of certain individuals in Kings II, for example, prove that Genesis or Judges is historically accurate.”As an example, Brettler discussed Tel Dan, including its House of David inscription that Mykytiuk used to verify King David.Brettler noted that “even though David’s name is likely verified by the Tel Dan Inscription, that inscription is at least a century after David would have lived according to the biblical chronology, so all it proves is that a century or more after David might have lived, some people thought he lived, and traced a dynasty to his name. It does not prove the existence of David as a historical figure, and certainly does not verify anything said about David in any biblical book.”And, he noted, “we must also discuss cases where outside information shows that the Bible is wrong.”‘We must also discuss cases where outside information shows that the Bible is wrong’-He cited Kings II 19:36-37 and its discussion of a siege of Jerusalem: “So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and retreated, and stayed in Nineveh. While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sarezer struck him down with the sword. They fled to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.”“This verse is correct that Sennacherib was assassinated by his children, and was succeeded by Esarhaddon, but incorrectly suggests that this happened immediately after he returned home from besieging Jerusalem in 701 BCE, and it gets wrong the name of his children and the name of the Assyrian god,” Brettler explained. “This is a good case, illustrating how external sources show that sometimes the Bible gets part of what happened right, and part wrong.”-New directions-Mykytiuk is continuing with his verifications — this time, involving the New Testament.He said that after his first 50 Old Testament verifications, Shanks told him, “We can finish the New Testament, too.” (Shanks declined to comment for this story.)-Mykytiuk described this as “a challenge. I’m a Hebrew Bible guy. I would go on a New Testament study. It’s a very different ballgame, with Greek and Latin inscriptions and coins that you don’t deal with in Old Testament, Hebrew Bible studies.”His next article will include verifications of 23 New Testament political figures. He expects to publish it in the September/October issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Unlike his Old Testament verifications, the New Testament ones will include both men and women.“A lot are mentioned on coins — rulers and women who were their wives [or] sisters and were politically influential,” Mykytiuk said.Mykytiuk is also working on another article which he hopes to finish in 2017 about New Testament religious figures such as John the Baptist, Gamaliel and high priests.In the meantime, he can be satisfied that he has another application for his modern system of verifying millennia-old texts.
US special forces on the ground in Lebanon – report-American troops aiding Lebanese army ahead of border offensive against Islamic State, which could see participation of Hezbollah-By Times of Israel staff and Agencies August 6, 2017, 4:25 pm
US special forces were reportedly on the ground in Lebanon ahead of a push by the US-backed Lebanese army against the Islamic State jihadist group along its northeastern border with Syria.“I can confirm the presence of US Special Forces in Lebanon,” a Pentagon spokesman told the Al-Hurra TV network on Thursday. “Our special forces are providing training and support to the Lebanese Armed Forces.“That not only concentrates on operational type missions, but also tactical and strategic type missions. We also have a presence with Lebanese Special Forces in all aspects of training and special operations,” said spokesperson Eric Pahon.Pahon would not elaborate on the nature of the operations by US troops and the number of special forces soldiers in the country.According to the report, the US troops were in Lebanon to assist the Lebanese army in its upcoming offensive against the Islamic State — a campaign that the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was expected to join.Military sources told the Asharq al-Awsat daily the US soldiers “have been present in Lebanon to monitor the US military aid delivered to the army.”This week, Hezbollah took credit for ending the presence of al-Qaeda elements in the border area, following a week-long military offensive and then a negotiated settlement that saw hundreds of al-Qaeda-linked militants return to Syria along with their families and thousands of civilians.The Lebanese military, which has received more than $1 billion in US security assistance in the past decade, took a back seat in that operation.In a clear distribution of roles, the army is now expected to spearhead an upcoming fight in another section of the border, this time against IS.Declaring victory Friday night, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the army was perfectly capable of winning that fight but offered his support should it be needed.“We are at the service of the Lebanese army and under its command… if they ask for any help we will help,” he said in a televised speech.
In first, court revokes citizenship of Arab Israeli car-ramming attacker-Measure called for by interior minister; judge rules that by committing a terror attack, Alaa Raed Ahmad Zayoud has removed himself from society-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff August 6, 2017, 4:21 pm
The Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Sunday revoked the citizenship of an Arab Israeli man convicted of carrying out a combined stabbing and car-ramming attack that seriously injured an IDF soldier as well as three others last year.The ruling marked the first time Israel has stripped an Arab Israeli of citizenship over terror charges, activists said.The court was responding to a request from Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.Alaa Raed Ahmad Zayoud was convicted of four counts of attempted murder after he drove his car into an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, and then stepped out of the vehicle to stab three others, causing them light to moderate wounds, on October 11, 2015.The attack took place on Route 65 near the entrance to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, northeast of Hadera, in the midst of a wave of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June last year.The court ruled that after Zayoud’s citizenship is revoked in October he will be given a temporary status, as exists in citizenship laws, and that it will be extended from time to time at the discretion of the interior minister after he has completed his sentence.The Adalah NGO said it would file a Supreme Court appeal of what it called a “dangerous precedent,”along with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.“Alaa Zayoud will be left stateless, in contravention of international law,” Adalah said in a statement.Deri, last May, filed a request with the court to revoke Zayoud’s Israeli citizenship. The move had also been green-lighted by the attorney general. Zayoud is a resident of the Arab Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. At the time Deri said he had also informed the family that the ministry would not renew the residency of Zayoud’s father, who is not an Israeli citizen.Deputy president of the Haifa Magistrate’s Court Avraham Elyakim said in his ruling that the measure was “suitable and proportional.”“For every citizen, alongside his rights, there are commitments,” Elyakim reasoned. “One of them is the significant and important commitment to maintain loyalty to the state, which is given expression also in the commitment to not carry out terror acts to harm its residents and their security.”“We cannot allow an Israeli citizen to impact the lives and dignity of other Israeli citizens and whoever decides to so in acts of terror, removes himself from the general society of the country,” he added.Deri responded to the decision saying the measure will help prevent future attacks, Channel 2 television reported.“The court decision strengthens the deterrent and strengthens our campaign to protect the security of the country,” Deri said in a statement. “The decision unequivocally defines that anyone who damages the state or its citizens can’t be a part of it.”Zayoud had admitted to investigators his attack was “nationalistically motivated,” a police term indicating a terror attack. His confession marks a retraction from his initial claim that the attack was an accidental car collision, and the stabbings an act of self-defense after he was attacked by onlookers.In his testimony, Zayoud told investigators he wished to kill himself by killing Jews.
Bennett says he hopes Netanyahu won’t be indicted-Jewish Home chair calls on others to refrain from ‘pressuring’ law enforcement officials, says Israel needs ‘stability’-By Raoul Wootliff August 6, 2017, 4:36 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Breaking the recent silence of the Likud party’s junior coalition partners over recent developments in the investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett expressed ongoing support for the government on Sunday, saying he hoped the probes would end “without indictment.”“Israel needs stability and we need to support the national government, and we are committed to its continuation,” Bennett said in a statement hours after Netanyahu made a subtle jab at his ministers for their lackluster support.“The prime minister is presumed innocent and I hope that the investigation will conclude without an indictment,” Bennett, the education minister, said, while urging that others refrain from “pressuring” law enforcement officials.With Netanyahu facing increasing pressure, as police appeared close to recommending indictments in two corruption investigations against him, several Likud ministers came to his defense Sunday morning, but most chose to stay out of the fray.Ari Harow, a former key associate of the prime minister, signed a deal on Friday to turn state’s witness, a day after police explicitly said for the first time that the investigations involving Netanyahu revolve around “bribery, fraud and breach of trust.”During the public part of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu ignored the developments, instead focusing on Monday’s visit to Israel of the president of Togo and a new biometric identification system. He only mentioned the investigations briefly afterward, during his closed-door comments to ministers.“I want to thank our ministers,” Netanyahu said in his comments on the intense media coverage of the probes, according to coalition sources, “those who gave interviews.”The comment was understood by some to be a dig at the majority of his ministers, including most of those within his own Likud party, who have avoided any public statements or interviews on the issue.Arriving at the meeting, only one of the 22 ministers agreed to speak with reporters outside the cabinet room.Culture Minister Miri Regev, one of the few who have given interviews in support of the prime minister, said she was “not worried and neither is the prime minster” about the recent developments.On Friday, Hebrew media reported that police would recommend filing indictments against Netanyahu in two cases — Case 1000 and Case 2000 — as the investigations appear to be strengthened by “significant material” provided by Harow, the prime minister’s former chief of staff.A police recommendation does not carry legal weight; it is for state prosecutors to decide whether to press charges.In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister hobble a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.Earlier Sunday, Regev gave impassioned interviews to several Hebrew radio stations, dismissing the allegations as “a media lynching.”“The media and parts of the opposition have been trying to bring down the prime minister for 20 years,” she told Army Radio. “It’s the same now with these half-truths about the latest corruption. They won’t succeed.”After the cabinet meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said that the media was trying to force Netanyahu out of office without allowing him a fair trial.“It’s legitimate to criticize the government. It’s not legitimate to force a pre-written judgment on the legal authorities,” she said in a statement.Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, of Bennett’s Jewish Home party, has said the law does not require a prime minister to step down unless convicted of a crime carrying moral turpitude. Ministers have to step down if indicted, but not prime ministers, she said — an opinion not universally accepted by legal experts.Shaked told Channel 2 that she was opposed to bringing down the government, but there were ethical implications if Netanyahu was indicted.“If we arrive at a situation in which an indictment is served, the coalition parties will sit down and consider what to do,” she said.Netanyahu’s predecessor Ehud Olmert stepped down in 2009 ahead of being indicted on graft charges.In a video posted Friday evening, hours after the deal with Harrow was announced, Netanyahu said the investigations against him were “background noise” and that he was focused on working on behalf of Israeli citizens.
The beginning of the end of King Bibi? Netanyahu’s ex-aide turned state’s witness has the Hebrew press abuzz with rumors of an indictment that could see the PM ousted after a total of 11 years in power-By Tamar Pileggi August 6, 2017, 3:00 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The latest development in the ongoing investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has Israel’s Hebrew print media buzzing with news of a likely corruption indictment against the premier, and the possible downfall of King Bibi.Yedioth Ahronoth devotes its entire front page to the “breakthrough in the Bibi cases,” declaring that Ari Harow — Netanyahu’s former chief of staff who on Friday turned state’s witness against his former boss — would “ultimately be his downfall.”Its columnists, however, strike a more cautious tone, warning that a criminal indictment does not necessarily mean early elections in Israel.Yedioth’s chief columnist Ben Dror Yemini wastes no time in calling on Netanyahu to immediately resign for the sake of the country.“The Israeli people need a full time prime minister. How can important decisions be made when he’s not even around? The people’s best interest trumps the prime minister’s best interest,” he writes.Yemini goes on to castigate the Likud leadership for its relative silence on the matter in recent weeks, noting that it was the same party whose MKs vocally demanded former prime minister Ehud Olmert resign over lesser crimes.“If there is even a shred of intellectual integrity that remains among senior Likud members, then they need to say [to Netanyahu] ‘please take some time off, we hope you emerge from this clean, but because of everything that we’ve said in the past (and that includes you), we must tell you the same.’”Columnist Yoav Fromer also excoriates the Likud party in his column for enabling the “Israeli Nixon.” Though he notes that removing a sitting prime minister from power would be unprecedented for a young democracy like Israel’s, it represents an important process that would help restore the public’s trust in their government.“The burning question for Israelis isn’t if or when it will happen, it’s how: How will Netanyahu’s ouster from power unfold?”Fromer argues that during his 11 years in power Netanyahu has weakened the judiciary and contributed to partisan divides in Israel, and says now Likud must choose country over party.“The responsibly of preserving Israel’s democracy the day after Netanyahu rests on the shoulders of Likud,” he writes. “Meanwhile, they’ve remained silent.“Let’s hope that when faced with decisions regarding the future of the country… they will do the right thing,” he says, adding that “it might just save the country.”Yedioth’s Sima Kadmon notes that indicting Netanyahu could be years away, and that in the meantime, it’s not likely he will resign willingly.“Resign? That’s hilarious,” she writes. “Unless he goes through some metamorphosis overnight, he’s not going anywhere. From what we know about him and his family, they’ll have to be pushed out of [the Prime Minister’s Residence] with a bulldozer.”“So breathe deep. We have many long months ahead of us before we close in on a courtroom,” Kadmon says.Meanwhile, Sunday’s free Israel Hayom daily reports Harow’s new role much less dramatically, appearing to return to its longtime support of Netanyahu, despite a brief abandonment last month.On its front page, the tabloid prominently features Netanyahu’s defense, not the actual news of the latest development in the case. And an op-ed by Mati Tuchfeld on page 2 downplays the talk of a possible indictment against the prime minister as media hype.“The agenda against the prime minister is seen in the headlines morning, noon and night,” he writes. “The sole purpose, it appears, is to bring about his downfall.”“Just like [during the 2015 elections], today commentators and pundits are declaring with one voice that Netanyahu will be taken out. Both politically and criminally.”Columnist Lior Jacoby also minimizes reports Harow could lead prosecutors to file a criminal indictment, saying the former Netanyahu confidant may not be the smoking gun he is being made out to be in the media.“The advantages of recruiting a state’s witness are clear, but state witnesses don’t always deliver the goods in terms of securing a conviction in court,” he writes, listing a handful of cases in which state witnesses failed to deliver damning evidence during trial.As expected, Haaretz has plenty to say about the possible indictment and the ramifications of Netanyahu’s possible ouster.Its front page features no fewer than six op-eds on the Harow development, driving home the gravity of Netanyahu’s legal situation to its readers.Columnist Ravit Hecht warns Israelis against eulogizing Netanyahu too soon, saying his political shrewdness and a loyal political base could see him remain in power.“The Likud base unnaturally worships Netanyahu in a way that exceeds the traditional right-wing tradition to follow the leader,” Hecht writes. “Most Likud activists see Netanyahu as above democracy, above the rule of law and therefore, above the state itself.”Gideon Levy says Netanyahu’s fall from power won’t change the political landscape, and Israel’s problems will remain with or without Netanyahu.“It’s intoxicating to think that the person who replaces Netanyahu will be better than Netanyahu, that the next prime minister will bring hope,” Levy writes. “That the years of right-wing, nationalist and religious governments are over, that whoever leads instead of him, even from the right wing, is preferable.”He predicts that Netanyahu will be forced to resign over the affair, but laments the fact that the nationalist, pro-settlement and right-wing ministers the prime appointed during his tenure are in government to stay.“Only a revolution in thinking will generate some kind of change. But for now, a revolution like this has no one to lead it, with or without Netanyahu,” he says. “Netanyahu is going, and Israel is staying the way it was.”
Indian PM’s security goes to the (Israeli) dogs-India buys dozens of highly trained four-footed graduates of IDF’s canine unit to boost protection of senior officials-By Stuart Winer August 6, 2017, 3:55 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Post-army Israelis have long made India a favorite destination after completing their service, but another kind of IDF veteran has also been heading to the south Asian nation — attack and sniffer dogs trained by the army’s Oketz canine unit.Over the past year India has taken delivery of some 30 security dogs to amplify protection for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top figures, The Telegraph India reported Saturday.A security official, not named in the report, explained that “because of a heightened threat perception, we wanted to beef up the Prime Minister’s security.”“They are part of the Israeli defence forces’ ace canine unit,” he added.The official would not discuss the cost of the dogs, but local Israeli media estimated in the past that each pooch costs tens of thousands of dollars to train.The dogs, trained for attack and bomb-sniffer duties, will join the Special Protection Group tasked with security of senior officials, former prime ministers, and members of their families, the report said.“The new four-legged recruits to the SPG are considered the best in the world in sniffing out explosive booby-traps,” another senior security official told the paper.The dogs — Labradors, German shepherds, Belgian Malinois dogs and a fourth “rare breed” the source would not identify — are also considered very effective in combat, the source said.The SPG’s home-trained sniffer dogs come from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which has a dog-training center at Bhanu in Chandigarth. Training lasts for 24 weeks, and the program churns out 24 dogs every six months.An ITBP official explained that “Israel is also helping us upgrade the dog-training center.”In July Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel when he came for a three-day visit. Israel and India have cooperated on a range of defense projects.
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
Interview / 'Scholars were saying the Hebrew Bible was a work of fiction'-Researcher gives seal of approval to 53 biblical characters’ existence-Lawrence Mykytiuk looks for ancient personalities who have made an impression — be it on a signet ring or a monument-By Rich Tenorio August 4, 2017, 6:29 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Thanks to a researcher’s unique system, 53 individuals in the Hebrew Bible have been proven as genuine historical characters through material evidence of their existence. The system’s creator, Lawrence Mykytiuk, an associate professor of library science at Purdue University, calls it “a way to develop historicity.”It sounds like an unlikely project: a professor in the Midwest verifying ancient names from the Mideast. Yet Mykytiuk’s training as a librarian and interest in the Bible help him do what he says on-the-scene archaeologists are too busy to — pore through journals and books, scrutinize inscriptions discovered on digs and attempt to match names in the historical record with names in the Bible.Mykytiuk’s system relies on three criteria: A biblical name must match the name on an authentic inscription, with no possibility of a forgery (thus ruling out items from the antiquities market, he said). The names — in the Bible and on the inscription — must match in terms of setting and time period. And, in perhaps the most exacting category, Mykytiuk looks for matches of at least three specific details identifying an individual, such as name, father’s name and title.“If it matches the same three mentions in Scripture, it’s a virtual certainty,” Mykytiuk said. “There might be a few people with the same name, father’s name,” he added, “but same title? That’s stretching it. I consider it a virtual certainty, either a dead ringer or virtual certainty.”He does note in a PowerPoint presentation, however, that verifications of biblical names do not guarantee verifications of biblical events involving these individuals.Developed over 25 years, Mykytiuk’s system is arguably successful. Studying 94 inscriptions, he has verified kings, pharaohs, high priests and scribes, among others.All of the names are male, although he said he is “hoping to identify a woman from an inscription. Not yet.”Verified characters include eight kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and six from the Southern Kingdom of Judah. One is King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who fought in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE — an event that eagle-eyed Mykytiuk noted in both the Book of Kings and on an image of the Kurkh Monolith.“There was only one Israelite king at a time who could have fought [in the battle],” Mykytiuk said. “Bingo. There was a match between the inscription and the Bible.”Mykytiuk’s oldest verification is another sovereign — King David himself, from 1000 BCE. He found a match between the protagonist of Samuel I and the “House of David” wall inscription at the Tel Dan excavations in northern Israel.“‘King of Israel’ was in one line,” Mykytiuk said. “The next line read ‘Melech Beit David.’ It was in Aramaic, by the enemies, the Arameans, who conquered Tel Dan and indicated a victory monument, a stele, a big sign in stone. The Israelites reconquered it, and smashed [the stele] to pieces that they used to make a wall.”‘David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament… If you want to verify anybody, he’s the guy’“David is so important in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament… If you want to verify anybody, he’s the guy,” he added.Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Moabites, Arameans and Damascenes also show up on Mykytiuk’s list — a fraction of the almost 3,000 people in the Hebrew Bible.“For most, all we get is a name,” Mykytiuk said. “Perhaps not more than a couple hundred have enough identifying facts in the Bible to actually identify [them] in some other written source.”But the identifications keep coming. His latest, published in the May/June issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, are Tattenai, a Persian administrator under Darius the Great; and Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer, two Babylonian warriors who fought for King Nebuchadnezzar II, destroyer of the First Temple.Tattenai is mentioned in biblical sources such as Ezra 5:3 — and in a tablet from Darius dating to 502 BCE.Nebuzaradan and Nergal-sharezer appear in Kings and Jeremiah, respectively. Their names are inscribed in cuneiform on Nebuchadnezzar II’s Prism, reproduced in James B. Pritchard’s book “Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.”Mykytiuk said that his criteria “apply across the board.” And indeed, he is expanding his focus to the New Testament as well.One ring to rule them all-Mykytiuk’s interest in verifications began in 1992, while he was in graduate school in Hebrew and Semitic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He saw an image of a clay impression from a signet ring belonging to a servant of King Hezekiah, who ruled the Southern Kingdom of Judah and is mentioned in the Book of Kings. He recalled seeing what looked to be the king’s name.“[It was from] 700 BCE,” he said. “I couldn’t shake my interest.”He said he also found it noteworthy at a time when some scholars who were “European mainly, were saying the Hebrew Bible was a work of fiction with a few historical references thrown in. I said, ‘Wait a minute. I just saw a seal impression of a servant of Hezekiah.’”Thus began a quest for Mykytiuk — who is Christian — to verify names in the Old Testament by studying inscriptions. He made this the topic of his dissertation, completed in 1998 and published in 2004 as a book, “Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 BCE.”He found inspiration in Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad, who died in 1992 and who had set a precedent for biblical verifications. Mykytiuk dedicated his dissertation to Avigad.“He laid down some criteria that I used and built on,” Mykytiuk said. “Nobody had criteria except Avigad. I could build on his beginning.”Two other scholars have adopted Mykytiuk’s system, he said — Kenneth Kitchen, a professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, and Bob Becking, Emeritus Faculty Professor for Bible, Religion and Identity at Universiteit Utrecht.“When Larry’s book appeared, I immediately bought and read it,” Becking wrote in an email, adding that in his view, a multidimensional approach such as Mykytiuk’s “helps to give a more firm ground for biblical studies.” ‘I said, wait a minute. I just saw a seal impression of a servant of Hezekiah’-Others have noticed as well, including Biblical Archaeology Review editor Hershel Shanks, who read Mykytiuk’s 2012 book chapter in which he published his best results.“[Shanks] saw an article in it for Biblical Archaeology Review,” Mykytiuk recalled. And, he added, Shanks “wanted me [to do] the Old Testament, New Testament, everybody. It was too much.”He did publish verifications of 50 people in the Hebrew Bible in 2014, updating them with his most recent findings this year. He has also written about the historical existence of Jesus — a topic he calls “forever controversial” — and is returning to the New Testament for his next two articles.-Assessing accuracy-Some scholars are cautioning that biblical verification has limits — including Marc Zvi Brettler, a professor of Judaic studies at Duke University.In an email, Brettler wrote, “It is not surprising that certain figures who lived in [the] biblical period — though not at its beginning or middle — are also attested in non-biblical texts. But all this archeological evidence does is show that they existed. It does not prove that what the Bible says about them is true, nor does the verification of certain individuals in Kings II, for example, prove that Genesis or Judges is historically accurate.”As an example, Brettler discussed Tel Dan, including its House of David inscription that Mykytiuk used to verify King David.Brettler noted that “even though David’s name is likely verified by the Tel Dan Inscription, that inscription is at least a century after David would have lived according to the biblical chronology, so all it proves is that a century or more after David might have lived, some people thought he lived, and traced a dynasty to his name. It does not prove the existence of David as a historical figure, and certainly does not verify anything said about David in any biblical book.”And, he noted, “we must also discuss cases where outside information shows that the Bible is wrong.”‘We must also discuss cases where outside information shows that the Bible is wrong’-He cited Kings II 19:36-37 and its discussion of a siege of Jerusalem: “So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and retreated, and stayed in Nineveh. While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sarezer struck him down with the sword. They fled to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.”“This verse is correct that Sennacherib was assassinated by his children, and was succeeded by Esarhaddon, but incorrectly suggests that this happened immediately after he returned home from besieging Jerusalem in 701 BCE, and it gets wrong the name of his children and the name of the Assyrian god,” Brettler explained. “This is a good case, illustrating how external sources show that sometimes the Bible gets part of what happened right, and part wrong.”-New directions-Mykytiuk is continuing with his verifications — this time, involving the New Testament.He said that after his first 50 Old Testament verifications, Shanks told him, “We can finish the New Testament, too.” (Shanks declined to comment for this story.)-Mykytiuk described this as “a challenge. I’m a Hebrew Bible guy. I would go on a New Testament study. It’s a very different ballgame, with Greek and Latin inscriptions and coins that you don’t deal with in Old Testament, Hebrew Bible studies.”His next article will include verifications of 23 New Testament political figures. He expects to publish it in the September/October issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Unlike his Old Testament verifications, the New Testament ones will include both men and women.“A lot are mentioned on coins — rulers and women who were their wives [or] sisters and were politically influential,” Mykytiuk said.Mykytiuk is also working on another article which he hopes to finish in 2017 about New Testament religious figures such as John the Baptist, Gamaliel and high priests.In the meantime, he can be satisfied that he has another application for his modern system of verifying millennia-old texts.
US special forces on the ground in Lebanon – report-American troops aiding Lebanese army ahead of border offensive against Islamic State, which could see participation of Hezbollah-By Times of Israel staff and Agencies August 6, 2017, 4:25 pm
US special forces were reportedly on the ground in Lebanon ahead of a push by the US-backed Lebanese army against the Islamic State jihadist group along its northeastern border with Syria.“I can confirm the presence of US Special Forces in Lebanon,” a Pentagon spokesman told the Al-Hurra TV network on Thursday. “Our special forces are providing training and support to the Lebanese Armed Forces.“That not only concentrates on operational type missions, but also tactical and strategic type missions. We also have a presence with Lebanese Special Forces in all aspects of training and special operations,” said spokesperson Eric Pahon.Pahon would not elaborate on the nature of the operations by US troops and the number of special forces soldiers in the country.According to the report, the US troops were in Lebanon to assist the Lebanese army in its upcoming offensive against the Islamic State — a campaign that the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was expected to join.Military sources told the Asharq al-Awsat daily the US soldiers “have been present in Lebanon to monitor the US military aid delivered to the army.”This week, Hezbollah took credit for ending the presence of al-Qaeda elements in the border area, following a week-long military offensive and then a negotiated settlement that saw hundreds of al-Qaeda-linked militants return to Syria along with their families and thousands of civilians.The Lebanese military, which has received more than $1 billion in US security assistance in the past decade, took a back seat in that operation.In a clear distribution of roles, the army is now expected to spearhead an upcoming fight in another section of the border, this time against IS.Declaring victory Friday night, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the army was perfectly capable of winning that fight but offered his support should it be needed.“We are at the service of the Lebanese army and under its command… if they ask for any help we will help,” he said in a televised speech.
In first, court revokes citizenship of Arab Israeli car-ramming attacker-Measure called for by interior minister; judge rules that by committing a terror attack, Alaa Raed Ahmad Zayoud has removed himself from society-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff August 6, 2017, 4:21 pm
The Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Sunday revoked the citizenship of an Arab Israeli man convicted of carrying out a combined stabbing and car-ramming attack that seriously injured an IDF soldier as well as three others last year.The ruling marked the first time Israel has stripped an Arab Israeli of citizenship over terror charges, activists said.The court was responding to a request from Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.Alaa Raed Ahmad Zayoud was convicted of four counts of attempted murder after he drove his car into an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, and then stepped out of the vehicle to stab three others, causing them light to moderate wounds, on October 11, 2015.The attack took place on Route 65 near the entrance to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, northeast of Hadera, in the midst of a wave of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June last year.The court ruled that after Zayoud’s citizenship is revoked in October he will be given a temporary status, as exists in citizenship laws, and that it will be extended from time to time at the discretion of the interior minister after he has completed his sentence.The Adalah NGO said it would file a Supreme Court appeal of what it called a “dangerous precedent,”along with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.“Alaa Zayoud will be left stateless, in contravention of international law,” Adalah said in a statement.Deri, last May, filed a request with the court to revoke Zayoud’s Israeli citizenship. The move had also been green-lighted by the attorney general. Zayoud is a resident of the Arab Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. At the time Deri said he had also informed the family that the ministry would not renew the residency of Zayoud’s father, who is not an Israeli citizen.Deputy president of the Haifa Magistrate’s Court Avraham Elyakim said in his ruling that the measure was “suitable and proportional.”“For every citizen, alongside his rights, there are commitments,” Elyakim reasoned. “One of them is the significant and important commitment to maintain loyalty to the state, which is given expression also in the commitment to not carry out terror acts to harm its residents and their security.”“We cannot allow an Israeli citizen to impact the lives and dignity of other Israeli citizens and whoever decides to so in acts of terror, removes himself from the general society of the country,” he added.Deri responded to the decision saying the measure will help prevent future attacks, Channel 2 television reported.“The court decision strengthens the deterrent and strengthens our campaign to protect the security of the country,” Deri said in a statement. “The decision unequivocally defines that anyone who damages the state or its citizens can’t be a part of it.”Zayoud had admitted to investigators his attack was “nationalistically motivated,” a police term indicating a terror attack. His confession marks a retraction from his initial claim that the attack was an accidental car collision, and the stabbings an act of self-defense after he was attacked by onlookers.In his testimony, Zayoud told investigators he wished to kill himself by killing Jews.
Bennett says he hopes Netanyahu won’t be indicted-Jewish Home chair calls on others to refrain from ‘pressuring’ law enforcement officials, says Israel needs ‘stability’-By Raoul Wootliff August 6, 2017, 4:36 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Breaking the recent silence of the Likud party’s junior coalition partners over recent developments in the investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett expressed ongoing support for the government on Sunday, saying he hoped the probes would end “without indictment.”“Israel needs stability and we need to support the national government, and we are committed to its continuation,” Bennett said in a statement hours after Netanyahu made a subtle jab at his ministers for their lackluster support.“The prime minister is presumed innocent and I hope that the investigation will conclude without an indictment,” Bennett, the education minister, said, while urging that others refrain from “pressuring” law enforcement officials.With Netanyahu facing increasing pressure, as police appeared close to recommending indictments in two corruption investigations against him, several Likud ministers came to his defense Sunday morning, but most chose to stay out of the fray.Ari Harow, a former key associate of the prime minister, signed a deal on Friday to turn state’s witness, a day after police explicitly said for the first time that the investigations involving Netanyahu revolve around “bribery, fraud and breach of trust.”During the public part of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu ignored the developments, instead focusing on Monday’s visit to Israel of the president of Togo and a new biometric identification system. He only mentioned the investigations briefly afterward, during his closed-door comments to ministers.“I want to thank our ministers,” Netanyahu said in his comments on the intense media coverage of the probes, according to coalition sources, “those who gave interviews.”The comment was understood by some to be a dig at the majority of his ministers, including most of those within his own Likud party, who have avoided any public statements or interviews on the issue.Arriving at the meeting, only one of the 22 ministers agreed to speak with reporters outside the cabinet room.Culture Minister Miri Regev, one of the few who have given interviews in support of the prime minister, said she was “not worried and neither is the prime minster” about the recent developments.On Friday, Hebrew media reported that police would recommend filing indictments against Netanyahu in two cases — Case 1000 and Case 2000 — as the investigations appear to be strengthened by “significant material” provided by Harow, the prime minister’s former chief of staff.A police recommendation does not carry legal weight; it is for state prosecutors to decide whether to press charges.In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister hobble a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.Earlier Sunday, Regev gave impassioned interviews to several Hebrew radio stations, dismissing the allegations as “a media lynching.”“The media and parts of the opposition have been trying to bring down the prime minister for 20 years,” she told Army Radio. “It’s the same now with these half-truths about the latest corruption. They won’t succeed.”After the cabinet meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said that the media was trying to force Netanyahu out of office without allowing him a fair trial.“It’s legitimate to criticize the government. It’s not legitimate to force a pre-written judgment on the legal authorities,” she said in a statement.Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, of Bennett’s Jewish Home party, has said the law does not require a prime minister to step down unless convicted of a crime carrying moral turpitude. Ministers have to step down if indicted, but not prime ministers, she said — an opinion not universally accepted by legal experts.Shaked told Channel 2 that she was opposed to bringing down the government, but there were ethical implications if Netanyahu was indicted.“If we arrive at a situation in which an indictment is served, the coalition parties will sit down and consider what to do,” she said.Netanyahu’s predecessor Ehud Olmert stepped down in 2009 ahead of being indicted on graft charges.In a video posted Friday evening, hours after the deal with Harrow was announced, Netanyahu said the investigations against him were “background noise” and that he was focused on working on behalf of Israeli citizens.
The beginning of the end of King Bibi? Netanyahu’s ex-aide turned state’s witness has the Hebrew press abuzz with rumors of an indictment that could see the PM ousted after a total of 11 years in power-By Tamar Pileggi August 6, 2017, 3:00 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The latest development in the ongoing investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has Israel’s Hebrew print media buzzing with news of a likely corruption indictment against the premier, and the possible downfall of King Bibi.Yedioth Ahronoth devotes its entire front page to the “breakthrough in the Bibi cases,” declaring that Ari Harow — Netanyahu’s former chief of staff who on Friday turned state’s witness against his former boss — would “ultimately be his downfall.”Its columnists, however, strike a more cautious tone, warning that a criminal indictment does not necessarily mean early elections in Israel.Yedioth’s chief columnist Ben Dror Yemini wastes no time in calling on Netanyahu to immediately resign for the sake of the country.“The Israeli people need a full time prime minister. How can important decisions be made when he’s not even around? The people’s best interest trumps the prime minister’s best interest,” he writes.Yemini goes on to castigate the Likud leadership for its relative silence on the matter in recent weeks, noting that it was the same party whose MKs vocally demanded former prime minister Ehud Olmert resign over lesser crimes.“If there is even a shred of intellectual integrity that remains among senior Likud members, then they need to say [to Netanyahu] ‘please take some time off, we hope you emerge from this clean, but because of everything that we’ve said in the past (and that includes you), we must tell you the same.’”Columnist Yoav Fromer also excoriates the Likud party in his column for enabling the “Israeli Nixon.” Though he notes that removing a sitting prime minister from power would be unprecedented for a young democracy like Israel’s, it represents an important process that would help restore the public’s trust in their government.“The burning question for Israelis isn’t if or when it will happen, it’s how: How will Netanyahu’s ouster from power unfold?”Fromer argues that during his 11 years in power Netanyahu has weakened the judiciary and contributed to partisan divides in Israel, and says now Likud must choose country over party.“The responsibly of preserving Israel’s democracy the day after Netanyahu rests on the shoulders of Likud,” he writes. “Meanwhile, they’ve remained silent.“Let’s hope that when faced with decisions regarding the future of the country… they will do the right thing,” he says, adding that “it might just save the country.”Yedioth’s Sima Kadmon notes that indicting Netanyahu could be years away, and that in the meantime, it’s not likely he will resign willingly.“Resign? That’s hilarious,” she writes. “Unless he goes through some metamorphosis overnight, he’s not going anywhere. From what we know about him and his family, they’ll have to be pushed out of [the Prime Minister’s Residence] with a bulldozer.”“So breathe deep. We have many long months ahead of us before we close in on a courtroom,” Kadmon says.Meanwhile, Sunday’s free Israel Hayom daily reports Harow’s new role much less dramatically, appearing to return to its longtime support of Netanyahu, despite a brief abandonment last month.On its front page, the tabloid prominently features Netanyahu’s defense, not the actual news of the latest development in the case. And an op-ed by Mati Tuchfeld on page 2 downplays the talk of a possible indictment against the prime minister as media hype.“The agenda against the prime minister is seen in the headlines morning, noon and night,” he writes. “The sole purpose, it appears, is to bring about his downfall.”“Just like [during the 2015 elections], today commentators and pundits are declaring with one voice that Netanyahu will be taken out. Both politically and criminally.”Columnist Lior Jacoby also minimizes reports Harow could lead prosecutors to file a criminal indictment, saying the former Netanyahu confidant may not be the smoking gun he is being made out to be in the media.“The advantages of recruiting a state’s witness are clear, but state witnesses don’t always deliver the goods in terms of securing a conviction in court,” he writes, listing a handful of cases in which state witnesses failed to deliver damning evidence during trial.As expected, Haaretz has plenty to say about the possible indictment and the ramifications of Netanyahu’s possible ouster.Its front page features no fewer than six op-eds on the Harow development, driving home the gravity of Netanyahu’s legal situation to its readers.Columnist Ravit Hecht warns Israelis against eulogizing Netanyahu too soon, saying his political shrewdness and a loyal political base could see him remain in power.“The Likud base unnaturally worships Netanyahu in a way that exceeds the traditional right-wing tradition to follow the leader,” Hecht writes. “Most Likud activists see Netanyahu as above democracy, above the rule of law and therefore, above the state itself.”Gideon Levy says Netanyahu’s fall from power won’t change the political landscape, and Israel’s problems will remain with or without Netanyahu.“It’s intoxicating to think that the person who replaces Netanyahu will be better than Netanyahu, that the next prime minister will bring hope,” Levy writes. “That the years of right-wing, nationalist and religious governments are over, that whoever leads instead of him, even from the right wing, is preferable.”He predicts that Netanyahu will be forced to resign over the affair, but laments the fact that the nationalist, pro-settlement and right-wing ministers the prime appointed during his tenure are in government to stay.“Only a revolution in thinking will generate some kind of change. But for now, a revolution like this has no one to lead it, with or without Netanyahu,” he says. “Netanyahu is going, and Israel is staying the way it was.”
Indian PM’s security goes to the (Israeli) dogs-India buys dozens of highly trained four-footed graduates of IDF’s canine unit to boost protection of senior officials-By Stuart Winer August 6, 2017, 3:55 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Post-army Israelis have long made India a favorite destination after completing their service, but another kind of IDF veteran has also been heading to the south Asian nation — attack and sniffer dogs trained by the army’s Oketz canine unit.Over the past year India has taken delivery of some 30 security dogs to amplify protection for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top figures, The Telegraph India reported Saturday.A security official, not named in the report, explained that “because of a heightened threat perception, we wanted to beef up the Prime Minister’s security.”“They are part of the Israeli defence forces’ ace canine unit,” he added.The official would not discuss the cost of the dogs, but local Israeli media estimated in the past that each pooch costs tens of thousands of dollars to train.The dogs, trained for attack and bomb-sniffer duties, will join the Special Protection Group tasked with security of senior officials, former prime ministers, and members of their families, the report said.“The new four-legged recruits to the SPG are considered the best in the world in sniffing out explosive booby-traps,” another senior security official told the paper.The dogs — Labradors, German shepherds, Belgian Malinois dogs and a fourth “rare breed” the source would not identify — are also considered very effective in combat, the source said.The SPG’s home-trained sniffer dogs come from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which has a dog-training center at Bhanu in Chandigarth. Training lasts for 24 weeks, and the program churns out 24 dogs every six months.An ITBP official explained that “Israel is also helping us upgrade the dog-training center.”In July Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel when he came for a three-day visit. Israel and India have cooperated on a range of defense projects.
