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
Marking 50 years of settlements, PM vows they will never be uprooted-PM speaks at state ceremony overshadowed by dispute over Supreme Court refusing to send a representative-By Jacob Magid and TOI staff-September 27, 2017, 10:03 pm
Speaking Wednesday at a state ceremony to mark 50 years of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Jewish communities in the territory will never be uprooted.“Settlement is important to you in the same way that it is important to me, so I say very clearly: There will be no further uprooting of settlements in the land of Israel,” Netanyahu told the crowd at the event, which was held in the Gush Etzion bloc, a key settlement region that lies south of Jerusalem.The prime minister was joined at the gathering by a roll call of ministers and dignitaries including Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein — but no representative from the Supreme Court after its chief justice, Miriam Naor, balked at sending a representative, saying that the court should not be involved in controversial political events.“The way to make peace is not through uprooting — not of Jews and not of Arabs,” Netanyahu said.“We did not get peace when we uprooted settlements, we got terror and missiles and we will not do that again,” he continued, referring to Israel’s 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip. “The Gush will always be part of the State of Israel.”“Any territory that falls into the hands of radical Islam becomes the basis for violence, murder and death, and so we will not abandon our national home to danger,” Netanyahu said. “Instead we will strengthen our home with this momentum.”Much of the international community views West Bank settlements as illegal and has frequently tried to pressure Israel to halt construction beyond the Green Line. The Palestinians say the settlement enterprise is one of the major obstacles to reaching a peace deal. Israel says most settlements are legal under Israeli law — though Israel has never extended its sovereignty over the West Bank.Education Minister Naftali Bennett called at the ceremony for Israel to extend its sovereignty to the West Bank.“I don’t take such a step lightly, in order to implement sovereignty, it takes timing and courage,” Bennett said. “There is no better time than now, as it is clear that we are here by right and not by grace.”“There is no better time that this, even if world resists, we shall overcome it,” he added. It [the world] also understands what the Israeli public understands, the Land of Israel will never again be divided!”Edelstein echoed Netanyahu in declaring that removing the settlements would not resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.“It is not the uprooting of settlements that will bring peace. A [settlement construction] freeze is not the way to an agreement. For years we will continue to build and develop our ancestors’ heritage in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, in the Jordan Valley, on the Golan Heights,” he said, using the biblical names for the West Bank.Culture Minister Miri Regev was also at the ceremony. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was absent as he was on a work trip abroad.Naor explained her decision to cancel Justice Neal Hendel’s attendance at ceremony saying it would be inappropriate for the court to attend a political event “devoted to one side.” Her decision drew criticism from right-wing lawmakers led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Liberman and Regev and support from opposition lawmakers including Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid.
US, others won’t honor Palestinian Interpol notices, top lawmaker says-Amid opposition, Palestinian official says warrants will be used to nab Palestinian criminals, including Abbas rival Dahlan, though Ramallah 'can now sue anyone'-By AP and TOI staff-September 28, 2017, 3:17 am
A top US lawmaker said that Washington won’t honor Palestinian warrants issued through Interpol, though a Palestinian official claimed Ramallah had no plans to use the international policing body to seek the arrest of Israelis, but rather would pursue Palestinian criminals, including a top rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Interpol voted Wednesday to include Palestine as a member state, in a new boost to Palestinian efforts for international recognition and influence amid long-stalled negotiations with Israel for full statehood.The decision drew an angry Israeli reaction and threat of retaliation. It also raised concerns that the Palestinians might use their elevated status to seek the arrests of Israelis.US Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was concerned that the Palestinians would now issue Interpol “red notices,” which the US Justice Department describes as the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today.Cardin said any “red notices” issued by the Palestinians “will not be recognized in many countries, including the United States.”Cardin also told reporters that the Palestinian membership could harm peace efforts.“The international community has a great deal at stake in pursuing the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Cardin said. “There’s only one way forward: two states living side by side in peace; a Palestinian state and a Jewish state. To try to use international organizations to advance the cause only sets back that opportunity.”In a statement, Interpol said red notices are not international arrest warrants, but rather act as an alert to member countries, and are issued based on a valid national arrest warrant. Each member country decides how to respond to such a notice and Interpol can’t compel its members to arrest a wanted person who is the subject of a red notice.Omar Awadallah, the head of the UN organizations department in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said the Palestinians “now have the right to sue anyone” and could theoretically use their Interpol status to pursue legal steps against Israelis suspected of crimes in Palestinian territory.“But this is a political issue and needs a political decision,” he said.The Palestinians already have been providing evidence in a preliminary war crimes investigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court, another international body they have joined.A senior Palestinian official said there were no plans to sue any Israelis through Interpol. He said the purpose is “to pursue criminals who commit crimes here and escape.”He said one target would be Mohammed Dahlan, a rival of Abbas.Dahlan, convicted in absentia on corruption charges, now lives in exile after a falling out with the Palestinian leader. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal Palestinian deliberations.The rivalry between Dahlan and Abbas surfaced in late 2010, when reports of dubious accuracy spread that Dahlan was preparing a putsch against the PA president. The reports, together with critical statements made by Dahlan against Abbas’s sons, led the PA president to make a rapid move that ended with Dahlan’s expulsion from the Palestinian territories in January 2011.Dahlan has been living in the United Arab Emirates since then and trying to set up bastions of support in the Palestinian territories, particularly among the inhabitants of the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza.He recently played a key role in brokering an agreement between Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas and Egypt to provide electricity to the impoverished Strip.Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki hailed Wednesday’s vote as a “victory for law enforcement” and a “voice of confidence in the capacity of law enforcement in Palestine.” He promised to uphold Palestinian commitments to combating crime and strengthening the rule of law.Interpol announced the inclusion of the “State of Palestine” as well as the Solomon Islands on Twitter and its website Wednesday after a vote by its general assembly in Beijing.With the new votes, Interpol will have 192 member countries. Interpol didn’t immediately announce how many members supported Palestinian membership.The Palestine Liberation Organization’s negotiations affairs department said on Twitter that it had received more than 75 percent of the vote.The move was roundly criticized by Israeli leaders and US Jewish organizations.Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah applied for Interpol membership in 2015, and submitted a formal letter this July promising not to use the organization “for any political, military, racial or religious interventions or activities,” and to cooperate with Interpol, according to minutes of the Interpol meeting.The approval vote requires the Palestinians to pay membership dues worth 0.03 percent of the Interpol budget.Interpol, based in Lyon, France, is an international clearing house for arrest warrants and police cooperation against cross-border terrorism, trafficking and other crime.
Saudi women still can’t fly, marry, or leave jail without male consent-From next summer, females in the kingdom will be allowed to drive, but still face the Muslim's world's strictest 'guardianship' restrictions-By Agencies September 27, 2017, 6:39 pm-TOI
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to drive as of next summer, following a landmark royal decree, but they still face other hurdles in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.Here’s a look at some of those obstacles:-GUARDIANSHIP LAWS-Under Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islamic law, a male guardianship system bars women from traveling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or even leaving prison without the consent of a male relative. This consent is also often demanded whenever a woman tries to do any number of things, including rent an apartment, buy a car, open a bank account or take a job.The guardianship system requires a woman to get permission from a male family member for some of the most important and even mundane decisions of her life.That could mean a woman being compelled to ask her younger brother for permission to have a medical procedure.Women are generally not allowed to socialize with males outside their immediate families and can be thrown in prison for such an offence. At the end of their sentence, their male guardian may choose not to sign them out, leaving them in the care of the state. A hole was poked in that restriction last week, with women allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh for Saudi National Day — in a family section, away from single men.As a result of the guardianship laws, women are practically consigned to the status of minors for their entire lives. No other Muslim country enforces such strict guardianship measures.-ABILITY TO SERVE IN TOP GOVERNMENT POSITIONS-There are no women in charge of government ministries in Saudi Arabia and there has been no woman ruler since the kingdom’s founding in 1932. Saudi women can, however, run and vote in local elections though ultimate power resides with the throne. The same day as the driving decree, Saudi Arabia also announced its first spokeswoman for its embassy in Washington, a high-profile role.-SEGREGATION OF THE SEXES-Saudi Arabia’s enforcement of gender segregation means women cannot attend sporting matches or sit in restaurants that do not have separate “family” sections. These rules also impact the ability of some employers to hire women where segregated office spaces are not available. Privately, the segregation rules often relegate women to the home unless a male relative, such as a father or brother, is available to escort them outside. Many conservative families also bar male cousins from seeing their female cousins past childhood age.-RULES ON WHAT THEY CAN WEAR-Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.In Riyadh, some Saudi women have started showing their faces, a change in the conservative capital where most show only their eyes — if that. Expatriate women, once obliged to veil, now get away with only an abaya.-DIVORCE, MARRIAGE AND OTHER ISSUES-If a woman divorces her husband, she cannot travel abroad with their children without the permission of the father, who remains the children’s legal guardian. Women cannot provide consent for their daughters to marry, or pass their nationality to their children. Women also are not afforded equal inheritance rights nor are they guaranteed custody of children after the age of seven or eight years old.Women are also restricted in marriage. In addition to the Islamic restriction found in most Arab countries preventing Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas (religious decrees) — a governmental body — has ruled a Sunni woman should not marry a “Shiite man or a communist (atheist).”
Netanyahu to US envoy: PA actions harming chances for peace-PM tells Greenblatt that Abbas's failure to condemn Har Adar terror attack, Palestine joining Interpol, and the PA's bid to try Israel at the ICC all undermine negotiations-By TOI staff-September 27, 2017, 8:08 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with US special peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, and told him that the actions of the Palestinian leadership in the past few days seriously harmed any chance for reaching a peace deal.Netanyahu told Greenblatt, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman who also attended the meeting in Jerusalem, that the refusal of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn Tuesday’s terror attack in Har Adar, in which three Israelis were killed and a fourth injured, gravely undermined the prospects of achieving an accord.In addition, two other international political steps by the Palestinians in the past week showed that the Palestinian leadership was trying to avoid direct negotiations with Israel, he said. Netanyahu highlighted the PA’s successful bid to join Interpol and its efforts to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court.Earlier on Wednesday at Interpol’s annual General Assembly in Beijing, the Palestinians’ membership bid was accepted.According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu told the US envoy that the PA’s membership at Interpol violated past agreements the Palestinians have signed with Israel.A year ago, following a failed Palestinian bid to join Interpol, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement with the Israel Police that it was an attempt to avoid negotiations with Israel.“This attempt forms part of the ongoing Palestinian campaign to evade direct negotiations with Israel and to continue the conflict with Israel inside professional international bodies in a way that disrupts these bodies’ work,” the statement said.Last week Palestinian human rights lawyers and activists handed a 700-page dossier to the International Criminal Court alleging that Israeli authorities are responsible for crimes including apartheid and persecution in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.While rejecting the claims against it, Israel also views the appeal to the ICC as an attempt by the Palestinians to be recognized as a de facto state, which prejudices any future negotiations.“The actions of the Palestinian leadership in recent days severely impairs the chances of achieving peace,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office said, adding that “the Palestinian diplomatic warfare would not go unanswered.”Netanyahu also asked Israel’s ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, who attended the meeting, to look into whether the PA’s most recent effort to have Israel prosecuted for committing alleged war crimes against Palestinians at The Hague violates US law, which would lead to the closure of PA offices in Washington DC.
IDF team heads home as Mexico quake rescue mission ends-Rescuers spent a week looking for trapped survivors buried under rubble, surveying 158 buildings damaged in deadly Mexico City temblor-By Stuart Winer and AP-TOI-September 28, 2017, 5:37 am
The IDF said Wednesday that the delegation sent to Mexico to help find victims of buried under rubble from a devastating earthquake would return to Israel.The team was scheduled to arrive back in the country on Thursday, the army said in a statement.They ended their time in the central American country with a ceremony at which they were thanked for their search and rescue operation and recovery efforts following a 7.1-magnitude quake on September 19 that killed over 300 people and collapsed buildings all over Mexico City.During their time in Mexico the team engaged in efforts to find trapped survivors, locate missing people. The team also surveyed 158 buildings including hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and government offices to find whether they remained structurally sound after the quake, the statement said.The Israeli delegation was one of the first foreign groups to arrive in Mexico City, touching down on September 21.The Mexican government, which had requested Israeli assistance, specified two areas in which it needed help: search and rescue operations alongside local authorities, and mapping of the city’s buildings to determine which were structurally sound and which would need to be demolished.The delegation was made up of 71 soldiers, mostly reservists, from the army’s Home Front Command. Approximately half were engineers, while the rest came from search and rescue, logistics and medical units. It was led by Col. Dudi Mizrachi.Speaking to The Times of Israel on the phone from Mexico, Col. (res.) Gili Shenhar said the delegation reached Mexico in “record time,” arriving in the country less than 48 hours after the initial earthquake.The IDF delegation focused only on Mexico City, a sprawling “mega city” home to some 9 million people, with a total of 21 million living in the metropolitan area, Shenhar said.The Mexican capital was one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquake, but the IDF colonel said most of the city was largely “up and running” as of Sunday. Electricity, water, public transportation services have returned to most of the city, and the international airport also reopened.While the search-and-rescue operation was perhaps the more eye-catching aspect of the delegation’s mission, its primary mission was to help local officials assess the structural integrity of Mexico City’s buildings.Most of the city’s structures were unharmed, but others will need reconstructive work to make them safe again and a smaller number will need to be torn down entirely and rebuilt, Shenhar said.Authorities on Wednesday raised the death toll in the qauke to 338.National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente reported on Twitter that the dead included 199 in Mexico City.He said there were also 74 in Morelos state, 45 in Puebla state, 13 in the State of Mexico, six in Guerrero state and one in Oaxaca state.The quake collapsed at least 38 buildings in the capital, and search efforts were continuing at some sites.It followed the even stronger earthquake less than two weeks earlier off the country’s southern Pacific coast that especially hit Chiapas and Oaxaca. That one killed nearly 100 people.President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday that preliminary accounting of the damage caused by the two earthquakes could cost upward of $2 billion.Pena Nieto stressed that damage assessments were continuing, especially in hard-hit Mexico City. But preliminary estimates put repairing and rebuilding schools in several states and the capital at nearly $750 million.Repairing and rebuilding homes will be $550 million. Damage to cultural sites could reach $440 million.The government is making direct electronic transfers to victims of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake and aftershocks in Chiapas and Oaxaca to the tune of $356 million so they can begin repairing their homes.“I hope that in the new year we will be able to have also a new Mexico, rebuilt and in normal conditions,” Pena Nieto said.
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
Marking 50 years of settlements, PM vows they will never be uprooted-PM speaks at state ceremony overshadowed by dispute over Supreme Court refusing to send a representative-By Jacob Magid and TOI staff-September 27, 2017, 10:03 pm
Speaking Wednesday at a state ceremony to mark 50 years of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Jewish communities in the territory will never be uprooted.“Settlement is important to you in the same way that it is important to me, so I say very clearly: There will be no further uprooting of settlements in the land of Israel,” Netanyahu told the crowd at the event, which was held in the Gush Etzion bloc, a key settlement region that lies south of Jerusalem.The prime minister was joined at the gathering by a roll call of ministers and dignitaries including Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein — but no representative from the Supreme Court after its chief justice, Miriam Naor, balked at sending a representative, saying that the court should not be involved in controversial political events.“The way to make peace is not through uprooting — not of Jews and not of Arabs,” Netanyahu said.“We did not get peace when we uprooted settlements, we got terror and missiles and we will not do that again,” he continued, referring to Israel’s 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip. “The Gush will always be part of the State of Israel.”“Any territory that falls into the hands of radical Islam becomes the basis for violence, murder and death, and so we will not abandon our national home to danger,” Netanyahu said. “Instead we will strengthen our home with this momentum.”Much of the international community views West Bank settlements as illegal and has frequently tried to pressure Israel to halt construction beyond the Green Line. The Palestinians say the settlement enterprise is one of the major obstacles to reaching a peace deal. Israel says most settlements are legal under Israeli law — though Israel has never extended its sovereignty over the West Bank.Education Minister Naftali Bennett called at the ceremony for Israel to extend its sovereignty to the West Bank.“I don’t take such a step lightly, in order to implement sovereignty, it takes timing and courage,” Bennett said. “There is no better time than now, as it is clear that we are here by right and not by grace.”“There is no better time that this, even if world resists, we shall overcome it,” he added. It [the world] also understands what the Israeli public understands, the Land of Israel will never again be divided!”Edelstein echoed Netanyahu in declaring that removing the settlements would not resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.“It is not the uprooting of settlements that will bring peace. A [settlement construction] freeze is not the way to an agreement. For years we will continue to build and develop our ancestors’ heritage in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, in the Jordan Valley, on the Golan Heights,” he said, using the biblical names for the West Bank.Culture Minister Miri Regev was also at the ceremony. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was absent as he was on a work trip abroad.Naor explained her decision to cancel Justice Neal Hendel’s attendance at ceremony saying it would be inappropriate for the court to attend a political event “devoted to one side.” Her decision drew criticism from right-wing lawmakers led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Liberman and Regev and support from opposition lawmakers including Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid.
US, others won’t honor Palestinian Interpol notices, top lawmaker says-Amid opposition, Palestinian official says warrants will be used to nab Palestinian criminals, including Abbas rival Dahlan, though Ramallah 'can now sue anyone'-By AP and TOI staff-September 28, 2017, 3:17 am
A top US lawmaker said that Washington won’t honor Palestinian warrants issued through Interpol, though a Palestinian official claimed Ramallah had no plans to use the international policing body to seek the arrest of Israelis, but rather would pursue Palestinian criminals, including a top rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Interpol voted Wednesday to include Palestine as a member state, in a new boost to Palestinian efforts for international recognition and influence amid long-stalled negotiations with Israel for full statehood.The decision drew an angry Israeli reaction and threat of retaliation. It also raised concerns that the Palestinians might use their elevated status to seek the arrests of Israelis.US Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was concerned that the Palestinians would now issue Interpol “red notices,” which the US Justice Department describes as the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today.Cardin said any “red notices” issued by the Palestinians “will not be recognized in many countries, including the United States.”Cardin also told reporters that the Palestinian membership could harm peace efforts.“The international community has a great deal at stake in pursuing the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Cardin said. “There’s only one way forward: two states living side by side in peace; a Palestinian state and a Jewish state. To try to use international organizations to advance the cause only sets back that opportunity.”In a statement, Interpol said red notices are not international arrest warrants, but rather act as an alert to member countries, and are issued based on a valid national arrest warrant. Each member country decides how to respond to such a notice and Interpol can’t compel its members to arrest a wanted person who is the subject of a red notice.Omar Awadallah, the head of the UN organizations department in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said the Palestinians “now have the right to sue anyone” and could theoretically use their Interpol status to pursue legal steps against Israelis suspected of crimes in Palestinian territory.“But this is a political issue and needs a political decision,” he said.The Palestinians already have been providing evidence in a preliminary war crimes investigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court, another international body they have joined.A senior Palestinian official said there were no plans to sue any Israelis through Interpol. He said the purpose is “to pursue criminals who commit crimes here and escape.”He said one target would be Mohammed Dahlan, a rival of Abbas.Dahlan, convicted in absentia on corruption charges, now lives in exile after a falling out with the Palestinian leader. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal Palestinian deliberations.The rivalry between Dahlan and Abbas surfaced in late 2010, when reports of dubious accuracy spread that Dahlan was preparing a putsch against the PA president. The reports, together with critical statements made by Dahlan against Abbas’s sons, led the PA president to make a rapid move that ended with Dahlan’s expulsion from the Palestinian territories in January 2011.Dahlan has been living in the United Arab Emirates since then and trying to set up bastions of support in the Palestinian territories, particularly among the inhabitants of the refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza.He recently played a key role in brokering an agreement between Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas and Egypt to provide electricity to the impoverished Strip.Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki hailed Wednesday’s vote as a “victory for law enforcement” and a “voice of confidence in the capacity of law enforcement in Palestine.” He promised to uphold Palestinian commitments to combating crime and strengthening the rule of law.Interpol announced the inclusion of the “State of Palestine” as well as the Solomon Islands on Twitter and its website Wednesday after a vote by its general assembly in Beijing.With the new votes, Interpol will have 192 member countries. Interpol didn’t immediately announce how many members supported Palestinian membership.The Palestine Liberation Organization’s negotiations affairs department said on Twitter that it had received more than 75 percent of the vote.The move was roundly criticized by Israeli leaders and US Jewish organizations.Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah applied for Interpol membership in 2015, and submitted a formal letter this July promising not to use the organization “for any political, military, racial or religious interventions or activities,” and to cooperate with Interpol, according to minutes of the Interpol meeting.The approval vote requires the Palestinians to pay membership dues worth 0.03 percent of the Interpol budget.Interpol, based in Lyon, France, is an international clearing house for arrest warrants and police cooperation against cross-border terrorism, trafficking and other crime.
Saudi women still can’t fly, marry, or leave jail without male consent-From next summer, females in the kingdom will be allowed to drive, but still face the Muslim's world's strictest 'guardianship' restrictions-By Agencies September 27, 2017, 6:39 pm-TOI
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to drive as of next summer, following a landmark royal decree, but they still face other hurdles in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.Here’s a look at some of those obstacles:-GUARDIANSHIP LAWS-Under Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islamic law, a male guardianship system bars women from traveling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or even leaving prison without the consent of a male relative. This consent is also often demanded whenever a woman tries to do any number of things, including rent an apartment, buy a car, open a bank account or take a job.The guardianship system requires a woman to get permission from a male family member for some of the most important and even mundane decisions of her life.That could mean a woman being compelled to ask her younger brother for permission to have a medical procedure.Women are generally not allowed to socialize with males outside their immediate families and can be thrown in prison for such an offence. At the end of their sentence, their male guardian may choose not to sign them out, leaving them in the care of the state. A hole was poked in that restriction last week, with women allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh for Saudi National Day — in a family section, away from single men.As a result of the guardianship laws, women are practically consigned to the status of minors for their entire lives. No other Muslim country enforces such strict guardianship measures.-ABILITY TO SERVE IN TOP GOVERNMENT POSITIONS-There are no women in charge of government ministries in Saudi Arabia and there has been no woman ruler since the kingdom’s founding in 1932. Saudi women can, however, run and vote in local elections though ultimate power resides with the throne. The same day as the driving decree, Saudi Arabia also announced its first spokeswoman for its embassy in Washington, a high-profile role.-SEGREGATION OF THE SEXES-Saudi Arabia’s enforcement of gender segregation means women cannot attend sporting matches or sit in restaurants that do not have separate “family” sections. These rules also impact the ability of some employers to hire women where segregated office spaces are not available. Privately, the segregation rules often relegate women to the home unless a male relative, such as a father or brother, is available to escort them outside. Many conservative families also bar male cousins from seeing their female cousins past childhood age.-RULES ON WHAT THEY CAN WEAR-Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.In Riyadh, some Saudi women have started showing their faces, a change in the conservative capital where most show only their eyes — if that. Expatriate women, once obliged to veil, now get away with only an abaya.-DIVORCE, MARRIAGE AND OTHER ISSUES-If a woman divorces her husband, she cannot travel abroad with their children without the permission of the father, who remains the children’s legal guardian. Women cannot provide consent for their daughters to marry, or pass their nationality to their children. Women also are not afforded equal inheritance rights nor are they guaranteed custody of children after the age of seven or eight years old.Women are also restricted in marriage. In addition to the Islamic restriction found in most Arab countries preventing Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas (religious decrees) — a governmental body — has ruled a Sunni woman should not marry a “Shiite man or a communist (atheist).”
Netanyahu to US envoy: PA actions harming chances for peace-PM tells Greenblatt that Abbas's failure to condemn Har Adar terror attack, Palestine joining Interpol, and the PA's bid to try Israel at the ICC all undermine negotiations-By TOI staff-September 27, 2017, 8:08 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with US special peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, and told him that the actions of the Palestinian leadership in the past few days seriously harmed any chance for reaching a peace deal.Netanyahu told Greenblatt, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman who also attended the meeting in Jerusalem, that the refusal of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn Tuesday’s terror attack in Har Adar, in which three Israelis were killed and a fourth injured, gravely undermined the prospects of achieving an accord.In addition, two other international political steps by the Palestinians in the past week showed that the Palestinian leadership was trying to avoid direct negotiations with Israel, he said. Netanyahu highlighted the PA’s successful bid to join Interpol and its efforts to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court.Earlier on Wednesday at Interpol’s annual General Assembly in Beijing, the Palestinians’ membership bid was accepted.According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu told the US envoy that the PA’s membership at Interpol violated past agreements the Palestinians have signed with Israel.A year ago, following a failed Palestinian bid to join Interpol, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement with the Israel Police that it was an attempt to avoid negotiations with Israel.“This attempt forms part of the ongoing Palestinian campaign to evade direct negotiations with Israel and to continue the conflict with Israel inside professional international bodies in a way that disrupts these bodies’ work,” the statement said.Last week Palestinian human rights lawyers and activists handed a 700-page dossier to the International Criminal Court alleging that Israeli authorities are responsible for crimes including apartheid and persecution in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.While rejecting the claims against it, Israel also views the appeal to the ICC as an attempt by the Palestinians to be recognized as a de facto state, which prejudices any future negotiations.“The actions of the Palestinian leadership in recent days severely impairs the chances of achieving peace,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office said, adding that “the Palestinian diplomatic warfare would not go unanswered.”Netanyahu also asked Israel’s ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, who attended the meeting, to look into whether the PA’s most recent effort to have Israel prosecuted for committing alleged war crimes against Palestinians at The Hague violates US law, which would lead to the closure of PA offices in Washington DC.
IDF team heads home as Mexico quake rescue mission ends-Rescuers spent a week looking for trapped survivors buried under rubble, surveying 158 buildings damaged in deadly Mexico City temblor-By Stuart Winer and AP-TOI-September 28, 2017, 5:37 am
The IDF said Wednesday that the delegation sent to Mexico to help find victims of buried under rubble from a devastating earthquake would return to Israel.The team was scheduled to arrive back in the country on Thursday, the army said in a statement.They ended their time in the central American country with a ceremony at which they were thanked for their search and rescue operation and recovery efforts following a 7.1-magnitude quake on September 19 that killed over 300 people and collapsed buildings all over Mexico City.During their time in Mexico the team engaged in efforts to find trapped survivors, locate missing people. The team also surveyed 158 buildings including hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and government offices to find whether they remained structurally sound after the quake, the statement said.The Israeli delegation was one of the first foreign groups to arrive in Mexico City, touching down on September 21.The Mexican government, which had requested Israeli assistance, specified two areas in which it needed help: search and rescue operations alongside local authorities, and mapping of the city’s buildings to determine which were structurally sound and which would need to be demolished.The delegation was made up of 71 soldiers, mostly reservists, from the army’s Home Front Command. Approximately half were engineers, while the rest came from search and rescue, logistics and medical units. It was led by Col. Dudi Mizrachi.Speaking to The Times of Israel on the phone from Mexico, Col. (res.) Gili Shenhar said the delegation reached Mexico in “record time,” arriving in the country less than 48 hours after the initial earthquake.The IDF delegation focused only on Mexico City, a sprawling “mega city” home to some 9 million people, with a total of 21 million living in the metropolitan area, Shenhar said.The Mexican capital was one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquake, but the IDF colonel said most of the city was largely “up and running” as of Sunday. Electricity, water, public transportation services have returned to most of the city, and the international airport also reopened.While the search-and-rescue operation was perhaps the more eye-catching aspect of the delegation’s mission, its primary mission was to help local officials assess the structural integrity of Mexico City’s buildings.Most of the city’s structures were unharmed, but others will need reconstructive work to make them safe again and a smaller number will need to be torn down entirely and rebuilt, Shenhar said.Authorities on Wednesday raised the death toll in the qauke to 338.National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente reported on Twitter that the dead included 199 in Mexico City.He said there were also 74 in Morelos state, 45 in Puebla state, 13 in the State of Mexico, six in Guerrero state and one in Oaxaca state.The quake collapsed at least 38 buildings in the capital, and search efforts were continuing at some sites.It followed the even stronger earthquake less than two weeks earlier off the country’s southern Pacific coast that especially hit Chiapas and Oaxaca. That one killed nearly 100 people.President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday that preliminary accounting of the damage caused by the two earthquakes could cost upward of $2 billion.Pena Nieto stressed that damage assessments were continuing, especially in hard-hit Mexico City. But preliminary estimates put repairing and rebuilding schools in several states and the capital at nearly $750 million.Repairing and rebuilding homes will be $550 million. Damage to cultural sites could reach $440 million.The government is making direct electronic transfers to victims of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake and aftershocks in Chiapas and Oaxaca to the tune of $356 million so they can begin repairing their homes.“I hope that in the new year we will be able to have also a new Mexico, rebuilt and in normal conditions,” Pena Nieto said.
