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
In Rosh Hashanah video, Rivlin urges Diaspora to fight terror, racism together-Ahead of Jewish new year, president praises the generosity of the Jewish people after the recent natural disasters in US, Mexico-By TOI staff-September 19, 2017, 9:45 pm
In his annual Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews around the world on Tuesday, President Reuven Rivlin struck a positive tone on the upcoming Jewish new year, but also warned of the threat that terrorism and racism continue to pose to Jews and the rest of the world.“This past year there have been some terrible things. Terror has struck across the world, we have seen the danger of hatred and racism,” Rivlin said in a video address. “Meeting with leaders from around the world this year, we said again and again: Israel will always defend its citizens no matter where they are.“But we all have to fight terror together, we have to fight hatred and racism together. There is a long way to go, but together, we will win this fight,” he added.Rivlin also spoke of the recent natural disasters in Houston, Florida and Mexico, saying they showed both the “true power of nature” and the generosity of the Jewish people when confronting such devastation.“In the face of these difficult challenges, in the face of such darkness, we have showed how much light we create when we stand together, Jews of all communities, and Jews and non-Jews together,” he said. “I am proud of Israel’s efforts and those of all the Jewish community, to help those affected by natural disasters around the world.”“We are thinking at this time, of our brothers and sisters of the Jewish communities in Houston, Florida, and Mexico,” he added.Rivlin also told the Diaspora that no matter where they are from, they will always have a home in Israel.“On the verge of the New Year I want to remind you that Israel will always be your home, the home of every Jewish person,” he said.“From our shared home, I wish and pray that this year we will overcome together, all the challenges before us.”
In response to court, state shuts door on Western Wall deal-Asked to rethink freeze on implementing 2016 compromise agreement, and whether it could be forced to implement the plan it agreed to, government answers with a no and a no-By Amanda Borschel-Dan-September 19, 2017, 6:33 pm-TOI
The State of Israel has no plans to “rethink” its freeze of a 2016 government decision to create a permanent pluralistic prayer platform at the Western Wall — and the court can’t compel it to implement the plan, according to an 11-page state response to the court filed Tuesday.An August 31 High Court decision had directed the state to readdress its refusal to implement the January 2016 government decision, and if not, “whether there is a legal option [for the court] to obligate the state to implement the Western Wall decision.”The state’s attorneys wrote that they had brought the issue up again to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, “after weighing all the extenuating circumstances,” decided at this time not to bring the issue for discussion in the government. Likewise, said the state after citing pages of legal precedents, there are no legal grounds for the court to force its implementation of the agreement.In January 2016, a decision to create a designated permanent plaza for pluralistic prayer — and de facto officially recognize non-Orthodox Jewry through a joint council to oversee the area — was greeted with almost euphoric excitement by many Diaspora Jews and earned international media headlines at its announcement. The issue has since become a symbol of the status of non-Orthodox Jewry in Israel.However, the decision — swiftly denounced by ultra-Orthodox politicians and religious leaders — was not implemented and in June 2017 was officially put on ice.The hearing that led to the court’s August 31 directive to the state was one of many held for petitions brought by the Women of the Wall activist group and Reform and Conservative Jewry, who are calling for the plan’s implementation. To streamline the hearings, their petitions have been grouped with organizations who reject the government decision or have other requests regarding Jewish prayer at the Western Wall.Upon hearing the state’s response Tuesday, attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski, IRAC’s legal department director at the Israel Religious Action Center, who is representing the majority of the petitioners, said that in deciding not to renew governmental discussion over the Western Wall the prime minister is “continuing his unfriendly and contemptuous behavior toward Reform and Conservative Judaism and the Women of the Wall.”According to Erez-Likhovski, the prime minister is “denying the state’s duty to allow an egalitarian and respectful prayer for all Jews, their streams and outlooks.”“We will return to the Supreme Court and demand that the judges obligate the government to respect the right of millions of Jews in Israel and around the world to equality, dignity and freedom of religion on the most sacred site of the Jewish people,” said Erez-Likhovski.According to attorney Yizhar Hess, the head of Israel’s Masorti (Conservative) Movement, “The government’s answer reflects cowardice. It does not have one element of vision or leadership. It is the answer of a government that knows very well what needs to be done, but prefers its own narrow interests over a message of reconciliation to the Jewish people.”-What exactly has been frozen?-The government decision on the new Western Wall prayer section was passed in January 2016 after over three years of intense negotiations initiated by Netanyahu and led by Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky that resulted in a long document of “recommendations” that were adopted in the government decision.In the course of the negotiations, representatives of Israeli and international non-Orthodox denominations, as well as the pluralistic Women of the Wall group and the ultra-Orthodox Western Wall Heritage Foundation, sat with a government team and hammered out a deal which would have given pluralistic Jewry a much enlarged and visible prayer section in the Davidson Archaeological park abutting the southern end of the Western Wall, as well as a joint council to oversee this new area.This joint council, as well as a more visible platform and joint entrance to all prayer pavilions in the Western Wall courtyard, are the crux of the conflict in implementing the plan, as they are seen to undermine the Orthodox nature of the holy site.“There’s a struggle for the recognition of the Reform movement in Israel and to limit the power of the Chief Rabbinate. This struggle we won’t solve,” Netanyahu told reporters in New York this week in response to a question by The Times of Israel. “There is a struggle; I don’t hide it; it’s a fact. This struggle has been going on for many years; no government has changed it.”Ahead of the release of the state response to the court, Netanyahu in New York defended his controversial freeze of the deal and stressed that he “didn’t cancel the agreement, but merely froze one paragraph.” The existing pluralistic Western Wall plaza, south of the main plaza, will still be renovated and expanded, he told Israeli reporters.Netanyahu’s foreign policy advisor Jonathan Schachter reiterated to reporters that the government was continuing with “the practical steps” of the agreement.“The Western Wall agreement states, black on white, that it is limited to prayer arrangements only,” Schachter said. “There is not a single word about the status of [religious] streams in Israel.”-Some nuts and bolts of the decision-The question of whether the court has the right to force the state to implement the 2016 government decision took up the bulk of the state’s response. It broke the question down into four elements, each of which it answered separately.The first revolved around the idea of the validity of the 1924 British Mandate Palestine (Holy Places) Order in Council, which holds that the state court doesn’t have jurisdiction over religious matters. The state attorneys rejected this claim (which was made by the Israeli chief rabbinate in its own separate statement).The second issue addressed by the state discusses the idea of conducting negotiations and at the same time creating regulations on the same issues. The third section addresses the “binding legal nature” of the points included in the government decision.The fourth and largest section of the response defends the state’s actions in implementing a 2003 High Court ruling in the case of Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office v. Hoffman. That case, heard before an impressive nine-member plenum, concluded with a decision that was meant to solve the issue of Women of the Wall, led by Anat Hoffman, and its right to worship at the Western Wall.“The Women of the Wall have a right to pray at the Wall in their manner. However, like every right, that right is not unlimited. It must be evaluated and weighed against other rights that are also worthy of protection,” reads the 2003 decision.In that landmark 2003 case, the state was given 12 months to properly prepare the Robinson’s Arch area, or the Women of the Wall could continue to pray in the main plaza, as is its custom.In Tuesday’s response, the state averred that it had indeed fulfilled the letter of the ruling in making unlimited pluralistic prayer possible at the Robinson’s Arch area. Additionally, claimed the state, it is taking further steps to implement the principles of the government decision by continuing the renovation, increased safety features and enlargement of the area.Disgruntled responses and a way to think out of the box-According to the Masorti Movement’s Hess, most cabinet ministers support the 2016 government decision and are hoping the court will save it — especially just prior to the High Holy Days.“The government of Israel could have given a gift to the Jewish people today for the holiday, but it chose, once again, to spit in our faces,” said Hess.Another group of disappointed Jews is looking for a different solution, however. Instead of having a joint council which would only regulate the pluralistic prayer pavilion, the Modern Orthodox Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah movement is holding a social media campaign pushing for new management for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, headed by the rabbi of the Western Wall, which regulates the “mainstream” area.The site should be administrated by a council that reflects the entire Jewish world, according to the proposal. “The Western Wall is not only a place of prayer, it is not a synagogue. It is a regular site for national ceremonies such as on Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers, and swearing-in of new IDF recruits. Family celebrations and public events are also held at the Western Wall,” according to a YouTube promotional video.“We propose setting up by law a Public Council to run the affairs of the Western Wall. The Council members, men and women, would come from the relevant government ministries, from the Israeli public and from representatives of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. The Council would be headed by the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, itself supported by the Government of Israel and Diaspora Jewry,” states the Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah group.When asked, the group said it is still searching for pluralistic backing to its proposal.— Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Israel announces West Bank, Gaza closure for Rosh Hashanah-Only 'exceptional' cases to be allowed into Israel as nation ushers in Jewish new year; police deploy reinforcements in Jerusalem-By Judah Ari Gross-September 19, 2017, 5:47 pm-TOI
The IDF announced on Tuesday that it will put in place a closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, ahead of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which starts Wednesday evening.The closure, a routine procedure during Israeli and Jewish holidays, is expected to last until midnight on Saturday, “depending on a situational assessment,” the army said.Ordinarily, tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank enter Israel for work each day. A far smaller number of Gaza residents also travel to Israel, mostly to receive medical treatment.According to the IDF, during the closure exceptions will be made for humanitarian and other outstanding cases, based on an assessment by the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration.The Israel Police also announced on Tuesday that additional police officers would be stationed around the city of Jerusalem in order to keep the peace during the holiday.The West Bank and Gaza closure is intended both to prevent attempts at terror attacks in Israel during the holiday period and to allow the Israeli security officials who operate the crossings to celebrate the festival.The Jewish high holidays, of which Rosh Hashanah is the first, are generally seen by defense officials as a time period of increased tension in the region, when the risk of terror attacks is higher.The police said they would be focusing considerable attention on the Old City and the Western Wall, where thousands are expected to pray during the two-day holiday on Thursday and Friday, and the following Shabbat. However, additional officers will also be present throughout the city.“Israel Police officers, border guards, reinforcements and volunteer officers will be spread around the city — in areas with large crowds, shopping centers and markets, around the Old City and in its alleyways, and around synagogues — in order to preserve the order and safety, to guard worshipers, and to direct traffic,” police said in a statement.In addition, police announced that beginning on Wednesday private cars would not be able to enter the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, except for those belonging to residents.
UN chief: Two-state solution remains the ‘only way forward’-Kicking off General Assembly speeches, Guterres says continued stagnation in peace talks may 'lead to tomorrow's escalation'-By TOI staff and Agencies September 19, 2017, 5:18 pm
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday opened his first General Assembly speech with a call to renew steps toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“We must not let today’s stagnation in the peace process lead to tomorrow’s escalation,” he told the United Nations chamber in New York, in an address that kicked off several days of speeches from world leaders.“The two-state solution remains the only way forward and must be pursued,” he added.Guterres’ call for the renewal of the efforts toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict echoed remarks made by a number of world leaders ahead of the start of the General Assembly, including US President Donald Trump and Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.While Trump has repeatedly emphasized his desire for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has yet to express explicit backing for the two-state solution, which is endorsed by a large majority of world leaders.In his speech, which touched upon a number of hot-button issues around the globe, Guterres also called for stronger international cooperation to combat terrorism, saying that while “terrorism can never be justified,” countries must “do more to address the roots of radicalization including real and perceived injustices.”In his first state-of-the-world report since taking the reins of the United Nations on January 1, Guterres put “nuclear peril” as the leading threat, warning that “we must not sleepwalk our way into war.”He warned the world’s leaders that the threat of a nuclear attack is at its highest level since the end of the Cold War and “fiery talk can lead to fatal misunderstandings.”The UN chief said that millions are living in fear “under a shadow of dread cast by the provocative nuclear and missile tests” of North Korea.His message on “fiery” rhetoric was implicitly directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but also at the United States and Trump, who has warned of “fire and fury” if North Korea does not back down.Guterres said a solution to the North Korea nuclear threat must be political, and stressed to leaders: “This is a time for statesmanship.”He also urged Myanmar to halt its military campaign against Rohingya Muslims, just hours after Aung San Suu Kyi failed to quell an international outcry in a much-anticipated nationwide address.“The authorities in Myanmar must end the military operations, and allow unhindered humanitarian access,” Guterres said. “They must also address the grievances of the Rohingya, whose status has been left unresolved for far too long.”
US envoy hails administration’s ‘unorthodox’ approach to peacemaking-'We are giving the parties space to make their own decisions about their future,' Jason Greenblatt tells international donor conference-By Raphael Ahren-September 19, 2017, 6:00 am-TOI
NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jason Greenblatt on Monday hailed the administration’s unconventional approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, arguing it was inherently different from previous US-led efforts in its focus on improving the lives of Palestinians and in allowing both parties greater freedom to make their own decisions.Addressing a conference of international donors, Greenblatt also lamented the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on the international community to act immediately to improve the living conditions in the coastal enclave.“It is no secret that our approach to these discussions departs from some of the usual orthodoxy – for after years of well-meaning attempts to negotiate an end to this conflict, we have all learned some valuable lessons,” Greenblatt told participants of Ad Hoc Liaison Committee’s annual meeting at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.The Trump administration has waded into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process keen on clinching a deal, but without an explicit endorsement of the two-state solution or significant restrictions on Israeli settlement building. Greenblatt, on his numerous trips to the Jewish state, has met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as officials and civil society leaders from both sides and has promoted efforts to strengthen Israeli-Palestinian coexistence projects and business partnerships.“Instead of working to impose a solution from the outside, we are giving the parties space to make their own decisions about their future. Instead of laying blame for the conflict at the feet of one party or the other, we are focused on implementing existing agreements and unlocking new areas of cooperation which benefit both Palestinians and Israelis,” Greenblatt continued.Chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the US and the European Union, the AHLC is the main coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian Authority.Donor group for #Palestine #AHCL met in New York. The donors welcomed US efforts to resume peace talks, expressed concern about sit in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/DUrCjIhZRr— Norway MFA (@NorwayMFA) September 19, 2017-Earlier on Monday, Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss, among other things, the administration’s goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.“We are giving it an absolute go. I think there’s a good chance that it could happen,” the US president said.Israeli-Palestinian peace “remains one of the president’s highest priorities,” a senior White House official told The Times of Israel on Monday, adding, however, that Trump’s meetings this week at the UN will focus mostly on other issues like Iran and Syria.Greenblatt’s focus will be on “development assistance to the Palestinian people,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Israelis and Palestinians will hopefully focus their efforts on infrastructure to ensure the West Bank and Gaza get more water, more electricity, better sanitation, and transportation systems, Greenblatt told the conference.“Let us use this next year to improve the movement of Palestinian goods and people,” he told the participants of the AHLC conference, which was attended by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and other top officials from across the world.It is high time to stop merely monitoring the situation in Gaza and start changing the situation there, Greenblatt urged, slamming the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave.“For too long, Hamas has exploited the people of Gaza as hostages and shields, bullying them into submission. Hamas rules by the fist, instead of by improving the lives of the people it purports to govern,” he said.“Hamas continues to divert money belonging to the Palestinians of Gaza — including funds provided by international donors — and uses these funds to build terror tunnels, missiles and for other nefarious uses,” said Greenblatt.He called on the PA to retake control of Gaza and urged the international community to help this process come to fruition. “Relief from the suffering in Gaza can only be found when all interested parties gather together to help the Palestinian people and isolate Hamas,” he said.Earlier this week, Hamas announced that it would dissolve its Administrative Committee, which runs Gaza, and that it was ready to hold new elections, clearing the way the Palestinian Authority to return to the coastal strip.
Bahrain’s king opposes Arab boycott of Israel, Jewish leader says-Simon Wiesenthal Center founder says Gulf monarch ‘absolutely’ ready to allow his citizens to visit Jewish state-By Dov Lieber-September 18, 2017, 7:29 pm-TOI
The king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, opposes the Arab states’ boycott of Israel and intends to allow citizens from his kingdom to visit the Jewish state freely, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, who is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, California.Bahrain and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations.Heir, alongside the Associate Director of the Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, met with the Bahraini king in Manama, the tiny Persian Gulf state’s capital, on February 26, 2017.Hier told The Times of Israel in a phone interview Monday that he was in Dubai on a mission for his organization when the king personally invited him to visit his palace. While the meeting took place in February, Hier said that he was ready now to discuss its contents after receiving “a clear signal” from the king that the royal meant business. In this case, the signal was that Bahraini Prince Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa attended a large event for the Weisenthal Center on Thursday, and also visited the unabashedly pro-Israeli Museum of Tolerance, also located in Los Angeles.The king had members of his cabinet sitting in on the meeting with the two rabbis, Hier said.“The king made a clear statement: ‘It’s illogical for the Arab world to boycott Israel. We must find a better way,’” he said.Asked whether he was sure the king was ready to allow Bahrainis to visit the Jewish state, Heir responded, “absolutely and unequivocally.”Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday seemingly backed the statements by Hier, writing on its Arabic Twitter account, “Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa denounced the Arab boycott against Israel and has confirmed that Bahraini citizens are now free to visit #Israel.”However, the tweet was quickly deleted.Hier was full of praise for Bahrain’s king. He said the two continued to correspond with each other after the meeting in Manama and bonded over a shared love of the late American singer Frank Sinatra, who was a supporter of the Wiesenthal Center.“He is a 21st-century ruler. He doesn’t want to see his country behave as other Middle Eastern countries have,” the rabbi said.Heir, who has met with other Arab leaders, said the Bahraini king “is far advanced in his thinking from other leaders in the region. There is no comparison. The others are much more cautious. ”“He sees, in my opinion, that there is no reason for there to be hostilities between Israel and his kingdom,” he said.Hier added that the king “made it clear” that Bahrain and Israel could be obvious allies in their shared desire to stem Iranian influence in the region.Bahrain, a group of islands in the Persian gulf with a population of 1.4 million, has no formal diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. However, a trickle of Israeli tourists and businessmen have been known to visit the country in recent years.While Jerusalem and Manama have never maintained diplomatic relations, in 2005, the king boasted to an American official that his state has contacts with Israel “at the intelligence/security level (i.e., with Mossad),” according to a secret US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks. The king also indicated willingness “to move forward in other areas, although it will be difficult for Bahrain to be the first.” The development of “trade contacts,” though, would have to wait for the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the king said in the cable.Other WikiLeaks documents show that senior officials from both countries have spoken in recent years, including a 2007 meeting between then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in New York. In 2009, Al Khalifa also signaled that he was willing to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to advance the peace process, but ultimately decided not to go ahead with the plan.In 2009, Bahrain’s crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, in which he urged Arab countries to communicate more with Israel for the sake of the peace process.In 2016, when former president Shimon Peres died, Bahrain was the only Gulf country to publicly mourn his passing.“We are entitled, and look forward, to the day when we see an independent state, living in peace and security, side by side with the State of Israel,” a statement from Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa read at the time.Rest in Peace President Shimon Peres , a Man of War and a Man of the still elusive Peace in the Middle East-— خالد بن أحمد (@khalidalkhalifa) September 29, 2016-In 2010, an Israeli hospital provided life-saving treatment to a Bahraini princess.Netanyahu said recently that Israel is enjoying its “best-ever” relations with the Arab world.-Bahraini crown prince stands for Hatikvah-On September 14, the Simon Wiesenthal Center co-hosted an interfaith event in Los Angeles that was attended by Bahraini Prince Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa.During the ceremony, the prince signed The Bahrain Declaration on Religious Tolerance, a document that attacks extremism and praises religious tolerance.Hier said that there was a debate about whether Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah, would be played at the event, as it is played at all events for his organization.With the permission of the Bahraini delegation, which financed the event, Hatikvah was played and everyone present, including the Arab diplomats, stood in respect, Hier said.Bahraini King’s Declaration of Worldwide Religious Tolerance Unveiled at Historic Wiesenthal Center Interfaith Event https://t.co/UbibAt8ia6 pic.twitter.com/mdUVlJ0aoY— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) September 15, 2017-“If the Hatikvah was a no no, [the prince] is the boss. But he knew on our part that we couldn’t tolerate that,” Hier said.Bahrain is the only Arab Gulf state that has a synagogue. The country had a Jewish population of some 1,500 Jews in 1948. However, after the declaration of the State of Israel, many left, and almost all those who remained followed suit after 1967’s Six Day War. Today, fewer than 50 Jews remain in the country.
In UN debut, Trump blasts ‘murderous’ Iran, says may have to destroy N. Korea-US president condemns Tehran's support for terror, calls nuke deal 'embarrassing'; slams 'Rocket man' Kim and his treatment of Jewish-American Warmbier; no mention of Palestinians-By Alexander Fulbright-September 19, 2017, 6:19 pm-TOI
In his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly, US President Donald Trump issued a scathing rebuke of Iran and North Korea, blasting the “embarrassing” Iran nuclear deal and accusing the Islamic Republic of destabilizing the Middle East through its support of terror groups.Trump said Iran, which “speaks openly of mass murder, death to America and the destruction of Israel,” exports “violence, bloodshed and chaos” throughout the Middle East through its funding of terror groups that threaten Israel and Arab countries.“Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian lives, its oil profits go to Hezbollah and other terror groups that kill innocent Muslims and attack their Arab and Israeli neighbors,” he said, while adding that Iranian funds also “shore up [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s dictatorship, fuel Yemen’s civil war and undermine peace in the entire Middle East.”“Iran’s government must stop funding terrorists,” he said, calling the regime in Tehran “murderous.”Speaking of the 2015 nuclear deal, which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and which Trump said Monday that the US may scrap, he continued, “we cannot abide by an agreement if it it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program.”“The Iran deal is one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the US has ever entered into to. Frankly, that deal was an embarrassment to the US,” he said, echoing his previous criticism of the deal.Trump also called on the Islamic Republic to release a number of imprisoned Americans, while criticizing Iran’s “corrupt dictatorship” for censoring the internet and jailing political opponents.“Iran’s people are what their leaders fear the most,” he said, expressing his hope that Iran would return to being the center of “civilization, culture and wealth” that it was before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Trump, who has ramped up his rhetoric throughout the recent escalating crisis with North Korea, told the murmuring crowd that “it is far past time for the nations of the world to confront” Kim Jong Un and said that Kim’s “reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons” poses a threat to “the entire world with an unthinkable loss of human life.He called the regime in Pyongyang and others like it “the scourge of our planet today” and said, “If the righteous men don’t confront the wicked few, evil will triumph.”Trump strongly condemned North Korea’s starvation, imprisonment and torture of its own people, while also mentioning its treatment of Otto Warmbier, an American Jew who was imprisoned by North Korea and released earlier this year after he became catatonic under unclear circumstances. He died shortly afterward.Addressing North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program, Trump said, “No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arming itself with nuclear weapons and missiles.”He also issued a pointed warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un if war were to break out between the two countries over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.“We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said in reference to Kim. “It is time for North Korea to realize that denuclearization is its only acceptable future.”Trump also called for reform at the UN, saying the US was paying too much to the world body and not getting its money’s worth.Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability. He has pulled the Unites States out of multinational agreements, considered shrinking the US military footprint in the world and deployed bombastic language on North Korea that has been criticized by other world leaders.“The United States is one out of 193 countries in the UN and yet we pay over 20 percent of the budget. In fact we pay much more,” he said.“If the UN could accomplish its stated goals, this investment would easily be worth it,” Trump added. But according to the US president, the international body is failing at its stated goal of providing peace and prosperity to the world.“Major sections of the world are in conflict and some are going to hell,” he said.“We hope the UN can one day be a much more effective advocate of human freedom and dignity in the world. In the meantime, we think that nations of the world should pay their dues and not only rely on the United States.”Trump also addressed a number of other major international concerns, including China’s military expansion in the South China Sea, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine and the growing authoritarianism of Venezuela’s “socialist dictator” Nicolas Maduro.In attendance at Trump’s speech was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to address the General Assembly later Tuesday.Netanyahu, along with his wife Sara and Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, applauded when Trump said earlier in his speech, “I will always put America first, just like you, the leaders of your countries, should and always put your countries first.”Notably absent from the speech was any mention of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and attempts to reach a peace agreement.“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,” Netanyahu, a former ambassador to the UN, said in a statement after the speech. “President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world, and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity.”In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) September 19, 2017-Raoul Wootliff, Raphael Ahren and AP contributed to this report.
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
In Rosh Hashanah video, Rivlin urges Diaspora to fight terror, racism together-Ahead of Jewish new year, president praises the generosity of the Jewish people after the recent natural disasters in US, Mexico-By TOI staff-September 19, 2017, 9:45 pm
In his annual Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews around the world on Tuesday, President Reuven Rivlin struck a positive tone on the upcoming Jewish new year, but also warned of the threat that terrorism and racism continue to pose to Jews and the rest of the world.“This past year there have been some terrible things. Terror has struck across the world, we have seen the danger of hatred and racism,” Rivlin said in a video address. “Meeting with leaders from around the world this year, we said again and again: Israel will always defend its citizens no matter where they are.“But we all have to fight terror together, we have to fight hatred and racism together. There is a long way to go, but together, we will win this fight,” he added.Rivlin also spoke of the recent natural disasters in Houston, Florida and Mexico, saying they showed both the “true power of nature” and the generosity of the Jewish people when confronting such devastation.“In the face of these difficult challenges, in the face of such darkness, we have showed how much light we create when we stand together, Jews of all communities, and Jews and non-Jews together,” he said. “I am proud of Israel’s efforts and those of all the Jewish community, to help those affected by natural disasters around the world.”“We are thinking at this time, of our brothers and sisters of the Jewish communities in Houston, Florida, and Mexico,” he added.Rivlin also told the Diaspora that no matter where they are from, they will always have a home in Israel.“On the verge of the New Year I want to remind you that Israel will always be your home, the home of every Jewish person,” he said.“From our shared home, I wish and pray that this year we will overcome together, all the challenges before us.”
In response to court, state shuts door on Western Wall deal-Asked to rethink freeze on implementing 2016 compromise agreement, and whether it could be forced to implement the plan it agreed to, government answers with a no and a no-By Amanda Borschel-Dan-September 19, 2017, 6:33 pm-TOI
The State of Israel has no plans to “rethink” its freeze of a 2016 government decision to create a permanent pluralistic prayer platform at the Western Wall — and the court can’t compel it to implement the plan, according to an 11-page state response to the court filed Tuesday.An August 31 High Court decision had directed the state to readdress its refusal to implement the January 2016 government decision, and if not, “whether there is a legal option [for the court] to obligate the state to implement the Western Wall decision.”The state’s attorneys wrote that they had brought the issue up again to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, “after weighing all the extenuating circumstances,” decided at this time not to bring the issue for discussion in the government. Likewise, said the state after citing pages of legal precedents, there are no legal grounds for the court to force its implementation of the agreement.In January 2016, a decision to create a designated permanent plaza for pluralistic prayer — and de facto officially recognize non-Orthodox Jewry through a joint council to oversee the area — was greeted with almost euphoric excitement by many Diaspora Jews and earned international media headlines at its announcement. The issue has since become a symbol of the status of non-Orthodox Jewry in Israel.However, the decision — swiftly denounced by ultra-Orthodox politicians and religious leaders — was not implemented and in June 2017 was officially put on ice.The hearing that led to the court’s August 31 directive to the state was one of many held for petitions brought by the Women of the Wall activist group and Reform and Conservative Jewry, who are calling for the plan’s implementation. To streamline the hearings, their petitions have been grouped with organizations who reject the government decision or have other requests regarding Jewish prayer at the Western Wall.Upon hearing the state’s response Tuesday, attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski, IRAC’s legal department director at the Israel Religious Action Center, who is representing the majority of the petitioners, said that in deciding not to renew governmental discussion over the Western Wall the prime minister is “continuing his unfriendly and contemptuous behavior toward Reform and Conservative Judaism and the Women of the Wall.”According to Erez-Likhovski, the prime minister is “denying the state’s duty to allow an egalitarian and respectful prayer for all Jews, their streams and outlooks.”“We will return to the Supreme Court and demand that the judges obligate the government to respect the right of millions of Jews in Israel and around the world to equality, dignity and freedom of religion on the most sacred site of the Jewish people,” said Erez-Likhovski.According to attorney Yizhar Hess, the head of Israel’s Masorti (Conservative) Movement, “The government’s answer reflects cowardice. It does not have one element of vision or leadership. It is the answer of a government that knows very well what needs to be done, but prefers its own narrow interests over a message of reconciliation to the Jewish people.”-What exactly has been frozen?-The government decision on the new Western Wall prayer section was passed in January 2016 after over three years of intense negotiations initiated by Netanyahu and led by Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky that resulted in a long document of “recommendations” that were adopted in the government decision.In the course of the negotiations, representatives of Israeli and international non-Orthodox denominations, as well as the pluralistic Women of the Wall group and the ultra-Orthodox Western Wall Heritage Foundation, sat with a government team and hammered out a deal which would have given pluralistic Jewry a much enlarged and visible prayer section in the Davidson Archaeological park abutting the southern end of the Western Wall, as well as a joint council to oversee this new area.This joint council, as well as a more visible platform and joint entrance to all prayer pavilions in the Western Wall courtyard, are the crux of the conflict in implementing the plan, as they are seen to undermine the Orthodox nature of the holy site.“There’s a struggle for the recognition of the Reform movement in Israel and to limit the power of the Chief Rabbinate. This struggle we won’t solve,” Netanyahu told reporters in New York this week in response to a question by The Times of Israel. “There is a struggle; I don’t hide it; it’s a fact. This struggle has been going on for many years; no government has changed it.”Ahead of the release of the state response to the court, Netanyahu in New York defended his controversial freeze of the deal and stressed that he “didn’t cancel the agreement, but merely froze one paragraph.” The existing pluralistic Western Wall plaza, south of the main plaza, will still be renovated and expanded, he told Israeli reporters.Netanyahu’s foreign policy advisor Jonathan Schachter reiterated to reporters that the government was continuing with “the practical steps” of the agreement.“The Western Wall agreement states, black on white, that it is limited to prayer arrangements only,” Schachter said. “There is not a single word about the status of [religious] streams in Israel.”-Some nuts and bolts of the decision-The question of whether the court has the right to force the state to implement the 2016 government decision took up the bulk of the state’s response. It broke the question down into four elements, each of which it answered separately.The first revolved around the idea of the validity of the 1924 British Mandate Palestine (Holy Places) Order in Council, which holds that the state court doesn’t have jurisdiction over religious matters. The state attorneys rejected this claim (which was made by the Israeli chief rabbinate in its own separate statement).The second issue addressed by the state discusses the idea of conducting negotiations and at the same time creating regulations on the same issues. The third section addresses the “binding legal nature” of the points included in the government decision.The fourth and largest section of the response defends the state’s actions in implementing a 2003 High Court ruling in the case of Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office v. Hoffman. That case, heard before an impressive nine-member plenum, concluded with a decision that was meant to solve the issue of Women of the Wall, led by Anat Hoffman, and its right to worship at the Western Wall.“The Women of the Wall have a right to pray at the Wall in their manner. However, like every right, that right is not unlimited. It must be evaluated and weighed against other rights that are also worthy of protection,” reads the 2003 decision.In that landmark 2003 case, the state was given 12 months to properly prepare the Robinson’s Arch area, or the Women of the Wall could continue to pray in the main plaza, as is its custom.In Tuesday’s response, the state averred that it had indeed fulfilled the letter of the ruling in making unlimited pluralistic prayer possible at the Robinson’s Arch area. Additionally, claimed the state, it is taking further steps to implement the principles of the government decision by continuing the renovation, increased safety features and enlargement of the area.Disgruntled responses and a way to think out of the box-According to the Masorti Movement’s Hess, most cabinet ministers support the 2016 government decision and are hoping the court will save it — especially just prior to the High Holy Days.“The government of Israel could have given a gift to the Jewish people today for the holiday, but it chose, once again, to spit in our faces,” said Hess.Another group of disappointed Jews is looking for a different solution, however. Instead of having a joint council which would only regulate the pluralistic prayer pavilion, the Modern Orthodox Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah movement is holding a social media campaign pushing for new management for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, headed by the rabbi of the Western Wall, which regulates the “mainstream” area.The site should be administrated by a council that reflects the entire Jewish world, according to the proposal. “The Western Wall is not only a place of prayer, it is not a synagogue. It is a regular site for national ceremonies such as on Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers, and swearing-in of new IDF recruits. Family celebrations and public events are also held at the Western Wall,” according to a YouTube promotional video.“We propose setting up by law a Public Council to run the affairs of the Western Wall. The Council members, men and women, would come from the relevant government ministries, from the Israeli public and from representatives of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. The Council would be headed by the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, itself supported by the Government of Israel and Diaspora Jewry,” states the Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah group.When asked, the group said it is still searching for pluralistic backing to its proposal.— Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Israel announces West Bank, Gaza closure for Rosh Hashanah-Only 'exceptional' cases to be allowed into Israel as nation ushers in Jewish new year; police deploy reinforcements in Jerusalem-By Judah Ari Gross-September 19, 2017, 5:47 pm-TOI
The IDF announced on Tuesday that it will put in place a closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, ahead of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which starts Wednesday evening.The closure, a routine procedure during Israeli and Jewish holidays, is expected to last until midnight on Saturday, “depending on a situational assessment,” the army said.Ordinarily, tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank enter Israel for work each day. A far smaller number of Gaza residents also travel to Israel, mostly to receive medical treatment.According to the IDF, during the closure exceptions will be made for humanitarian and other outstanding cases, based on an assessment by the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration.The Israel Police also announced on Tuesday that additional police officers would be stationed around the city of Jerusalem in order to keep the peace during the holiday.The West Bank and Gaza closure is intended both to prevent attempts at terror attacks in Israel during the holiday period and to allow the Israeli security officials who operate the crossings to celebrate the festival.The Jewish high holidays, of which Rosh Hashanah is the first, are generally seen by defense officials as a time period of increased tension in the region, when the risk of terror attacks is higher.The police said they would be focusing considerable attention on the Old City and the Western Wall, where thousands are expected to pray during the two-day holiday on Thursday and Friday, and the following Shabbat. However, additional officers will also be present throughout the city.“Israel Police officers, border guards, reinforcements and volunteer officers will be spread around the city — in areas with large crowds, shopping centers and markets, around the Old City and in its alleyways, and around synagogues — in order to preserve the order and safety, to guard worshipers, and to direct traffic,” police said in a statement.In addition, police announced that beginning on Wednesday private cars would not be able to enter the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, except for those belonging to residents.
UN chief: Two-state solution remains the ‘only way forward’-Kicking off General Assembly speeches, Guterres says continued stagnation in peace talks may 'lead to tomorrow's escalation'-By TOI staff and Agencies September 19, 2017, 5:18 pm
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday opened his first General Assembly speech with a call to renew steps toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“We must not let today’s stagnation in the peace process lead to tomorrow’s escalation,” he told the United Nations chamber in New York, in an address that kicked off several days of speeches from world leaders.“The two-state solution remains the only way forward and must be pursued,” he added.Guterres’ call for the renewal of the efforts toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict echoed remarks made by a number of world leaders ahead of the start of the General Assembly, including US President Donald Trump and Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.While Trump has repeatedly emphasized his desire for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has yet to express explicit backing for the two-state solution, which is endorsed by a large majority of world leaders.In his speech, which touched upon a number of hot-button issues around the globe, Guterres also called for stronger international cooperation to combat terrorism, saying that while “terrorism can never be justified,” countries must “do more to address the roots of radicalization including real and perceived injustices.”In his first state-of-the-world report since taking the reins of the United Nations on January 1, Guterres put “nuclear peril” as the leading threat, warning that “we must not sleepwalk our way into war.”He warned the world’s leaders that the threat of a nuclear attack is at its highest level since the end of the Cold War and “fiery talk can lead to fatal misunderstandings.”The UN chief said that millions are living in fear “under a shadow of dread cast by the provocative nuclear and missile tests” of North Korea.His message on “fiery” rhetoric was implicitly directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but also at the United States and Trump, who has warned of “fire and fury” if North Korea does not back down.Guterres said a solution to the North Korea nuclear threat must be political, and stressed to leaders: “This is a time for statesmanship.”He also urged Myanmar to halt its military campaign against Rohingya Muslims, just hours after Aung San Suu Kyi failed to quell an international outcry in a much-anticipated nationwide address.“The authorities in Myanmar must end the military operations, and allow unhindered humanitarian access,” Guterres said. “They must also address the grievances of the Rohingya, whose status has been left unresolved for far too long.”
US envoy hails administration’s ‘unorthodox’ approach to peacemaking-'We are giving the parties space to make their own decisions about their future,' Jason Greenblatt tells international donor conference-By Raphael Ahren-September 19, 2017, 6:00 am-TOI
NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jason Greenblatt on Monday hailed the administration’s unconventional approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, arguing it was inherently different from previous US-led efforts in its focus on improving the lives of Palestinians and in allowing both parties greater freedom to make their own decisions.Addressing a conference of international donors, Greenblatt also lamented the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on the international community to act immediately to improve the living conditions in the coastal enclave.“It is no secret that our approach to these discussions departs from some of the usual orthodoxy – for after years of well-meaning attempts to negotiate an end to this conflict, we have all learned some valuable lessons,” Greenblatt told participants of Ad Hoc Liaison Committee’s annual meeting at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.The Trump administration has waded into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process keen on clinching a deal, but without an explicit endorsement of the two-state solution or significant restrictions on Israeli settlement building. Greenblatt, on his numerous trips to the Jewish state, has met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as officials and civil society leaders from both sides and has promoted efforts to strengthen Israeli-Palestinian coexistence projects and business partnerships.“Instead of working to impose a solution from the outside, we are giving the parties space to make their own decisions about their future. Instead of laying blame for the conflict at the feet of one party or the other, we are focused on implementing existing agreements and unlocking new areas of cooperation which benefit both Palestinians and Israelis,” Greenblatt continued.Chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the US and the European Union, the AHLC is the main coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian Authority.Donor group for #Palestine #AHCL met in New York. The donors welcomed US efforts to resume peace talks, expressed concern about sit in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/DUrCjIhZRr— Norway MFA (@NorwayMFA) September 19, 2017-Earlier on Monday, Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss, among other things, the administration’s goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.“We are giving it an absolute go. I think there’s a good chance that it could happen,” the US president said.Israeli-Palestinian peace “remains one of the president’s highest priorities,” a senior White House official told The Times of Israel on Monday, adding, however, that Trump’s meetings this week at the UN will focus mostly on other issues like Iran and Syria.Greenblatt’s focus will be on “development assistance to the Palestinian people,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Israelis and Palestinians will hopefully focus their efforts on infrastructure to ensure the West Bank and Gaza get more water, more electricity, better sanitation, and transportation systems, Greenblatt told the conference.“Let us use this next year to improve the movement of Palestinian goods and people,” he told the participants of the AHLC conference, which was attended by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and other top officials from across the world.It is high time to stop merely monitoring the situation in Gaza and start changing the situation there, Greenblatt urged, slamming the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave.“For too long, Hamas has exploited the people of Gaza as hostages and shields, bullying them into submission. Hamas rules by the fist, instead of by improving the lives of the people it purports to govern,” he said.“Hamas continues to divert money belonging to the Palestinians of Gaza — including funds provided by international donors — and uses these funds to build terror tunnels, missiles and for other nefarious uses,” said Greenblatt.He called on the PA to retake control of Gaza and urged the international community to help this process come to fruition. “Relief from the suffering in Gaza can only be found when all interested parties gather together to help the Palestinian people and isolate Hamas,” he said.Earlier this week, Hamas announced that it would dissolve its Administrative Committee, which runs Gaza, and that it was ready to hold new elections, clearing the way the Palestinian Authority to return to the coastal strip.
Bahrain’s king opposes Arab boycott of Israel, Jewish leader says-Simon Wiesenthal Center founder says Gulf monarch ‘absolutely’ ready to allow his citizens to visit Jewish state-By Dov Lieber-September 18, 2017, 7:29 pm-TOI
The king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, opposes the Arab states’ boycott of Israel and intends to allow citizens from his kingdom to visit the Jewish state freely, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, who is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, California.Bahrain and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations.Heir, alongside the Associate Director of the Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, met with the Bahraini king in Manama, the tiny Persian Gulf state’s capital, on February 26, 2017.Hier told The Times of Israel in a phone interview Monday that he was in Dubai on a mission for his organization when the king personally invited him to visit his palace. While the meeting took place in February, Hier said that he was ready now to discuss its contents after receiving “a clear signal” from the king that the royal meant business. In this case, the signal was that Bahraini Prince Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa attended a large event for the Weisenthal Center on Thursday, and also visited the unabashedly pro-Israeli Museum of Tolerance, also located in Los Angeles.The king had members of his cabinet sitting in on the meeting with the two rabbis, Hier said.“The king made a clear statement: ‘It’s illogical for the Arab world to boycott Israel. We must find a better way,’” he said.Asked whether he was sure the king was ready to allow Bahrainis to visit the Jewish state, Heir responded, “absolutely and unequivocally.”Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday seemingly backed the statements by Hier, writing on its Arabic Twitter account, “Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa denounced the Arab boycott against Israel and has confirmed that Bahraini citizens are now free to visit #Israel.”However, the tweet was quickly deleted.Hier was full of praise for Bahrain’s king. He said the two continued to correspond with each other after the meeting in Manama and bonded over a shared love of the late American singer Frank Sinatra, who was a supporter of the Wiesenthal Center.“He is a 21st-century ruler. He doesn’t want to see his country behave as other Middle Eastern countries have,” the rabbi said.Heir, who has met with other Arab leaders, said the Bahraini king “is far advanced in his thinking from other leaders in the region. There is no comparison. The others are much more cautious. ”“He sees, in my opinion, that there is no reason for there to be hostilities between Israel and his kingdom,” he said.Hier added that the king “made it clear” that Bahrain and Israel could be obvious allies in their shared desire to stem Iranian influence in the region.Bahrain, a group of islands in the Persian gulf with a population of 1.4 million, has no formal diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. However, a trickle of Israeli tourists and businessmen have been known to visit the country in recent years.While Jerusalem and Manama have never maintained diplomatic relations, in 2005, the king boasted to an American official that his state has contacts with Israel “at the intelligence/security level (i.e., with Mossad),” according to a secret US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks. The king also indicated willingness “to move forward in other areas, although it will be difficult for Bahrain to be the first.” The development of “trade contacts,” though, would have to wait for the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the king said in the cable.Other WikiLeaks documents show that senior officials from both countries have spoken in recent years, including a 2007 meeting between then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in New York. In 2009, Al Khalifa also signaled that he was willing to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to advance the peace process, but ultimately decided not to go ahead with the plan.In 2009, Bahrain’s crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, in which he urged Arab countries to communicate more with Israel for the sake of the peace process.In 2016, when former president Shimon Peres died, Bahrain was the only Gulf country to publicly mourn his passing.“We are entitled, and look forward, to the day when we see an independent state, living in peace and security, side by side with the State of Israel,” a statement from Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa read at the time.Rest in Peace President Shimon Peres , a Man of War and a Man of the still elusive Peace in the Middle East-— خالد بن أحمد (@khalidalkhalifa) September 29, 2016-In 2010, an Israeli hospital provided life-saving treatment to a Bahraini princess.Netanyahu said recently that Israel is enjoying its “best-ever” relations with the Arab world.-Bahraini crown prince stands for Hatikvah-On September 14, the Simon Wiesenthal Center co-hosted an interfaith event in Los Angeles that was attended by Bahraini Prince Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa.During the ceremony, the prince signed The Bahrain Declaration on Religious Tolerance, a document that attacks extremism and praises religious tolerance.Hier said that there was a debate about whether Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah, would be played at the event, as it is played at all events for his organization.With the permission of the Bahraini delegation, which financed the event, Hatikvah was played and everyone present, including the Arab diplomats, stood in respect, Hier said.Bahraini King’s Declaration of Worldwide Religious Tolerance Unveiled at Historic Wiesenthal Center Interfaith Event https://t.co/UbibAt8ia6 pic.twitter.com/mdUVlJ0aoY— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) September 15, 2017-“If the Hatikvah was a no no, [the prince] is the boss. But he knew on our part that we couldn’t tolerate that,” Hier said.Bahrain is the only Arab Gulf state that has a synagogue. The country had a Jewish population of some 1,500 Jews in 1948. However, after the declaration of the State of Israel, many left, and almost all those who remained followed suit after 1967’s Six Day War. Today, fewer than 50 Jews remain in the country.
In UN debut, Trump blasts ‘murderous’ Iran, says may have to destroy N. Korea-US president condemns Tehran's support for terror, calls nuke deal 'embarrassing'; slams 'Rocket man' Kim and his treatment of Jewish-American Warmbier; no mention of Palestinians-By Alexander Fulbright-September 19, 2017, 6:19 pm-TOI
In his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly, US President Donald Trump issued a scathing rebuke of Iran and North Korea, blasting the “embarrassing” Iran nuclear deal and accusing the Islamic Republic of destabilizing the Middle East through its support of terror groups.Trump said Iran, which “speaks openly of mass murder, death to America and the destruction of Israel,” exports “violence, bloodshed and chaos” throughout the Middle East through its funding of terror groups that threaten Israel and Arab countries.“Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian lives, its oil profits go to Hezbollah and other terror groups that kill innocent Muslims and attack their Arab and Israeli neighbors,” he said, while adding that Iranian funds also “shore up [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s dictatorship, fuel Yemen’s civil war and undermine peace in the entire Middle East.”“Iran’s government must stop funding terrorists,” he said, calling the regime in Tehran “murderous.”Speaking of the 2015 nuclear deal, which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and which Trump said Monday that the US may scrap, he continued, “we cannot abide by an agreement if it it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program.”“The Iran deal is one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the US has ever entered into to. Frankly, that deal was an embarrassment to the US,” he said, echoing his previous criticism of the deal.Trump also called on the Islamic Republic to release a number of imprisoned Americans, while criticizing Iran’s “corrupt dictatorship” for censoring the internet and jailing political opponents.“Iran’s people are what their leaders fear the most,” he said, expressing his hope that Iran would return to being the center of “civilization, culture and wealth” that it was before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Trump, who has ramped up his rhetoric throughout the recent escalating crisis with North Korea, told the murmuring crowd that “it is far past time for the nations of the world to confront” Kim Jong Un and said that Kim’s “reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons” poses a threat to “the entire world with an unthinkable loss of human life.He called the regime in Pyongyang and others like it “the scourge of our planet today” and said, “If the righteous men don’t confront the wicked few, evil will triumph.”Trump strongly condemned North Korea’s starvation, imprisonment and torture of its own people, while also mentioning its treatment of Otto Warmbier, an American Jew who was imprisoned by North Korea and released earlier this year after he became catatonic under unclear circumstances. He died shortly afterward.Addressing North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program, Trump said, “No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arming itself with nuclear weapons and missiles.”He also issued a pointed warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un if war were to break out between the two countries over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.“We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said in reference to Kim. “It is time for North Korea to realize that denuclearization is its only acceptable future.”Trump also called for reform at the UN, saying the US was paying too much to the world body and not getting its money’s worth.Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability. He has pulled the Unites States out of multinational agreements, considered shrinking the US military footprint in the world and deployed bombastic language on North Korea that has been criticized by other world leaders.“The United States is one out of 193 countries in the UN and yet we pay over 20 percent of the budget. In fact we pay much more,” he said.“If the UN could accomplish its stated goals, this investment would easily be worth it,” Trump added. But according to the US president, the international body is failing at its stated goal of providing peace and prosperity to the world.“Major sections of the world are in conflict and some are going to hell,” he said.“We hope the UN can one day be a much more effective advocate of human freedom and dignity in the world. In the meantime, we think that nations of the world should pay their dues and not only rely on the United States.”Trump also addressed a number of other major international concerns, including China’s military expansion in the South China Sea, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine and the growing authoritarianism of Venezuela’s “socialist dictator” Nicolas Maduro.In attendance at Trump’s speech was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to address the General Assembly later Tuesday.Netanyahu, along with his wife Sara and Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, applauded when Trump said earlier in his speech, “I will always put America first, just like you, the leaders of your countries, should and always put your countries first.”Notably absent from the speech was any mention of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and attempts to reach a peace agreement.“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,” Netanyahu, a former ambassador to the UN, said in a statement after the speech. “President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world, and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity.”In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) September 19, 2017-Raoul Wootliff, Raphael Ahren and AP contributed to this report.
