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
Netanyahu tells Red Cross chief of unbelievable Hamas ‘cruelty’-In meeting with Peter Maurer, PM says terror group's continued holding of citizens and bodies of slain soldiers 'in contravention of all international norms'By Alexander Fulbright-September 6, 2017, 6:39 pm-TOI
“We are concerned about this unbelievable cruelty. We have bodies of our slain soldiers that are kept [by Hamas] and even information about them is kept. And no less important, we have innocent, defenseless Israeli civilians held in Gaza,” Netanyahu told the organization’s president Peter Maurer.“[They are] kept in a very closed and cruel way,” he added.Netanyahu also thanked Maurer for his organization’s efforts to return the bodies of the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens “in the face of this Hamas cruelty” and said the terror group was holding the Israelis “in contravention of all international norms and all the ideals the Red Cross has been established for.”Responding to Netanyahu, Maurer said the mission to return the Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers’ bodies was one of the “longest running operations” of the Red Cross and that his organization is mandated by international law to work towards their return.On Tuesday, Maurer visited the Gaza Strip, during which he asked senior Hamas officials to let him meet with the Israeli civilians believed to be held by the terror group.Peter Maurer made the request as he met with Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas political leader in the coastal enclave, the Ma’an news agency reported, citing Palestinian sources. The two men talked for an hour together with senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.Sinwar told Maurer that “all institutions will be open before the Red Cross to ensure the standards of international humanitarian law are being applied,” according to a Hamas statement.It was not immediately clear whether the Red Cross director was seeking to be presented with evidence on the soldiers’ bodies, the living captives, or both.Last month, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who has in the past criticized the Red Cross for not helping with the missing Israelis, caused a media storm by saying that Israel must not repeat the “mistake” of the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange deal, which saw the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in Hamas captivity in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners.Sinwar responded by declaring in a press release there could be no deal without Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in reference to a number of the terror group’s operatives Israel has rearrested since their release in the Shalit deal.Liberman’s comments drew the ire of the families of those held, with the father of one of the deceased IDF soldiers calling the defense minister “weak” and “cowardly.”Hamas is thought to be detaining three Israelis — Avraham Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, all of whom entered the enclave on their own accord over the past several years — as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers — Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin — who were killed during the 2014 war between Israel and the terror group.As part of the efforts to return the bodies of Shaul and Goldin, Israel has reportedly been holding indirect talks with Hamas about a possible prisoner deal.At a memorial in July marking three years since the 2014 Gaza conflict, Netanyahu hinted at recently increased Israeli efforts to return the Israeli citizens and the bodies of IDF soldiers being held by Hamas.“Our commitment to return home Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul is still firm. We have not let up from this sacred mission, in particular in recent days. The same applies to Avraham Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, Israeli citizens who are held in the Gaza Strip by a brutal enemy,” he said, failing to mention Abu Ghanima, the third Israeli civilian held by Hamas.Since the capture of their sons’ bodies, the Shaul and Goldin families have waged public campaigns for their return, with the Goldins recently releasing a video urging the government to up its pressure on Hamas until the two soldiers’ bodies are returned.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Unmanned subs, sniper drones, gun that won’t miss: Israel unveils future weapons-Weapons Development Administration shows off the new armaments it is testing out, also including a hybrid tank and a fleet of autonomous vehicles-By Judah Ari Gross September 5, 2017, 10:25 pm 16-TOI
The Defense Ministry’s weapons development department on Tuesday unveiled nine pieces of technology, including two unmanned submarines and a hybrid gas-electric powerful tank, that are due to enter service in the IDF in the coming years.Some of these technologies are already in the advanced stages of development and have been presented to the military for consideration, while others are still in the planning phase and will need years before they will be combat ready. None of the technologies presented by the ministry has yet been declared operational by the IDF.They were developed by the ministry’s Weapons Development Administration, in collaboration with foreign and domestic companies, and in one case with a public university.The Weapons Development Administration, known in Hebrew by its acronym Mafat, is made up of thousands of workers, hundreds of soldiers. It manages some 1,500 defense projects at a given time.Brig. Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, who leads the department, said on Tuesday that he and his employees “try not to limit ourselves with the classic methodologies that are prevalent around the world,” which are typically top-down efforts.Instead, he said, Mafat tries to connect with soldiers on the ground, determine what they need and then work to make them something that will fulfill that gap.In addition, the department “tries to predict what the future battlefield will look like, in terms of both threats and technologies,” Gold said.One of the more significant pieces of technology presented Tuesday was the Carmel armored vehicle, which is set to eventually replace the army’s current Merkava tank, in use for some 40 years.In addition to its role as the military’s main battle tank, the Merkava is also the basis for the Namer armored personnel carrier and various combat engineering vehicles. According to the ministry, the Carmel is set to preform a similar function and can be outfitted with everything from howitzers to mine-clearing plows. And unlike the Merkava, which requires a four-person crew, the Carmel needs only two soldiers to operate it.The new tank, which will feature a hybrid gas-electric motor, powered by a bank of batteries, is being developed by the Weapons Development Administration and the ministry’s Merkava Administration, along with various defense companies.According to the ministry, the Carmel will be “light, small, fast, deadly, durable, easy to operate and comparatively cheap.”The Weapons Development Administration also unveiled two unmanned submarines, one of them big and the other small.The larger submersible, known as the Caesaron, can be equipped with a variety of sensors and payloads. It is specifically designed for intelligence gathering, the ministry said.In addition to the larger Caesaron, the ministry also unveiled a small, as-yet-unnamed submarine that it is currently developing with the help of Bar Ilan University.The small submersible drone is aimed at “searching and mapping missions,” the ministry said.“It costs a third the amount of similar submarines in the world and surpasses them in its ability to float and move in every direction,” the ministry added.The administration also unveiled three new types of drones. Two of them are transport unmanned aerial vehicles, while the third is an attack drone, capable of firing an attached assault rifle.The two transport drones were developed for an open competition among defense contractors, called the “Green Yasuron.”The ministry said the requirements for the competition were “deliberately very general: develop a small UAV or drone that will be able to fly autonomously to a distance of eight kilometers with a carrying capacity of 150 liters that weighs at least 60 kilograms.”The drone would have to carry that package to a predetermined location, drop the package and return to its base.Two very different UAVs completed the competition, one developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the other by the private Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd.The IAI drone is essentially a remote-controlled helicopter. It has one main rotor to keep it aloft and a second rear rotor to steer. The UAV is able to lift nearly 400 pounds (180 kilograms) and has a top speed of 93 miles per hour (150 kilometers per hour).The Aeronautics UAV, on the other hand, has multiple rotors that get it in the air. The drone is much smaller and much less powerful, capable of carrying half the weight as IAI’s aircraft and flying half as fast.As both completed the competition, there was no clear winner. The Defense Ministry said it was still considering how to proceed and use the two drones.In addition, the Weapons Development Administration unveiled an attack drone produced by a US-based company called Duke Robotics, Inc.The TIKAD, as the drone is known, is capable of carrying and accurately firing an assault rifle. The drone is already in advanced stages of developing and has been presented to the IDF for consideration.“Its operability will be considered in the coming year,” the Defense Ministry said.It would be used to “carry out sniper fire, create surprises on the field of battle and prevent risks to our troops,” the ministry said.The Weapons Development Administration also presented a number of unmanned vehicles that the army is considering for use. This included pre-existing vehicles — trucks, D-9 bulldozers and front-loaders — that are modified to allow them to be controlled from afar or travel autonomouslyt, as well as specially made ones.The ministry said it expected that these autonomous vehicles will be able to replace some manned ones in areas like combat engineering and logistics.The IDF already has a number of autonomous patrol cars and trucks in service.Finally, the ministry unveiled a new gun system that is supposed to ensure that soldiers only hit their targets and not any innocent bystanders.The soldier uses an electro-optical aiming system to lock on to a target and can then set the gun to not fire at anything else with the push of a button.“Tests that have been carried out until now found that use of the system significantly increased the percentage of hits on target and lessened the percentage of hits on ‘bystanders,'” the ministry said.The SMASH system is expected to go into service with the IDF’s Ground Forces soon, the ministry said.
Newport congregation continues battle for artifacts at oldest US synagogue-Jeshuat Israel calls for federal court to rehear case granting custody of ornaments at Touro to NY's Shearith Israel-By JTA-September 6, 2017, 8:10 pm-TOI
Lawyers for Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which meets in the 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, said the court’s decision last month giving control of Touro to Manhattan’s Shearith Israel ignored state law and made constitutional errors.The US Court of Appeals in Boston also gave the Manhattan synagogue ownership of $7.4 million silver Torah ornaments called Rimonim — Hebrew for pomegranates — that the Newport congregation had hoped to sell to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in order to build an endowment.“In light of the panel’s errors, which significantly alter constitutional jurisprudence, and the importance of Touro, an American icon, this case strongly merits rehearing,” lawyers for Jeshuat Israel wrote in their filing with the court on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.The filing said the court’s ruling conflicts with past decisions on church property disputes and ignores state law, as well as findings by the Rhode Island state attorney general that the Touro Synagogue was held in trust for the benefit of the Newport Jewish community, according to AP.Touro Synagogue was founded in the 18th century by a Sephardic Jewish community whose numbers declined over the years. Shearith Israel, a Sephardic congregation that was established in 1654 and has worshipped at various sites in Manhattan, has served as the trustee of Touro since the early 19th century.Jeshuat Israel, which was founded in 1881 as Ashkenazi immigrants began flooding America from Eastern Europe, has worshipped at Touro for more than a century.The current dispute began in 2012 when Jeshuat, which still holds regular services at Touro, attempted to sell the silver ornaments to establish an endowment to maintain a rabbi and care for the building, which was designated a national historic site in 1946.The rimonim have been on loan from the Touro Synagogue to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which had made an offer to purchase them. The museum has since rescinded its offer.
Religious Zionist youth movement reopens in Germany after 8 decades-Granting charitable status to Bnei Akiva, 'another little victory over the Nazis and the new anti-Semites,' says movement's director-By JTA-September 6, 2017, 7:09 pm-TOI
A religious Zionist youth movement is officially reopening in Germany, 79 years after being shut down under the National Socialist regime.Bnei Akiva Deutschland is one of several Zionist organizations to return to Germany in recent years. In this case, the group’s aim is to encourage Jews to leave Germany for Israel.Status as a charitable organization was granted in the city of Dusseldorf on August 18 to the German branch of the Jerusalem-based World Bnei Akiva – which already has emissaries in more than seven cities in Germany. It will now intensify its activities.“Another Jewish organization resurrected in Germany is another little victory over the Nazis and the new anti-Semites,” the movements director for Germany, Eliyos Paz, said in a statement. Several years ago, the secular Zionist Hashomer Hatzair World Movement returned to Germany with youth activities.Unlike Hashomer Hatzair, World Bnei Akiva reaches out especially to Orthodox communities. With emissaries in 23 countries, it also sponsors Jewish programming especially aimed towards Jews from the former Soviet Union, according to the group’s website.That target group is plentiful in Germany, where more than 90 percent of the current Jewish population of some 200,000 have roots in the former Soviet Union and came to Germany since 1990. Only about half that number are actually participating members of Jewish communities.The Central Welfare Council of Jews in Germany reports that about 200 Jews move to Israel each year.On a similar note, the Jewish Agency for Israel this spring announced its opening of a new “Israel Program Center” in Berlin, with a grant from the Britain-based Ebenezer Emergency Fund International, an evangelical Christian organization that works towards “the worldwide return of the Jewish people to Israel prophesied in Scripture.”World Bnei Akiva was established in 1910; in 1927, the activities of several Orthodox Zionist groups were united under the Torah and Avodah Fund, which oversaw related youth movements and their activities, such as camps and conferences.Activities in Germany came to an abrupt end in 1938, when the Nazi regime outlawed most Jewish institutions.
Rivlin inaugurates Munich memorial, raps Palestinians for lauding massacre-At memorial unveiling 45 years after 11 Israelis killed in terror attack at the Olympics, president says Israel 'still waiting' for minute of silence at the Games-By Sue Surkes-September 6, 2017, 2:39 pm-TOI
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday attended the inauguration in Munich of a memorial to the victims of the massacre there at the Olympic Games 45 years ago, and castigated the Palestinian Authority for its continued expressions of support for the terror act, which left 11 Israeli Olympians dead.During the September 1972 attack on the Munich Olympic Village by the Black September Palestinian terror group, 11 Israelis were taken hostage. Two were murdered in the Olympic village and nine others were executed at the airport. A German policeman was killed in a shootout with the terrorists during a botched rescue attempt.“There are still those who see in the murder of sportsmen a heroic deed,” Rivlin said, before singling out the party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. “Just last year, Fatah marked the massacre of the sportsmen as an ‘act of heroism.’“The center we are inaugurating today must be a message to the whole world: There can be no apologizing for terrorism. Terror must be unequivocally condemned everywhere. In Barcelona, in London, in Paris, in Berlin, in Jerusalem, and everywhere else.”Israeli President Rivlin @PresidentRuvi at unveiling of memorial in honor of Munich Massacre victims. Watch live: https://t.co/vB5N4jeHT8 pic.twitter.com/RDH6jtXYV9— (((WJC))) (@WorldJewishCong) September 6, 2017-The president, attending the inauguration with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, and victims’ relatives, also said that having waited 45 years for the memorial, Israel is still waiting for another historical injustice to be rectified, and for a minute’s silence to be observed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games to remember Israel’s dead.“Our brothers who were murdered were not just the State of Israel’s sons,” Rivlin said. “They were the Olympic family’s sons. A family which for many years abandoned its commitment to them.“’The games must go on’ — so said at the time the President of the Olympic Committee, in a sentence which will be remembered eternally as a disgrace,” he noted.“For 45 years – almost half a century – the victims’ families, and the State of Israel looked expectantly for this moment: the inauguration of a center of remembrance and a memorial in the Olympic Village.”In his speech, Steinmeier acknowledged that Germany was unprepared for the attack, even though international terrorism was not a new phenomenon at the time.“It should have never been allowed to happen,” he said. “Until today, we carry a heavy burden regarding this catastrophe. And this better recognition is part of the commemoration of this day — and I think it’s overdue, and we owe it you, dear family members.”Steinmeier then turned to the present, noting that there are still people who preach anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.“In Germany, our way of life includes inseparably a commitment to our history, a commitment to the history of the Holocaust, the responsibility for Israel’s security that grows out of it, and the rejection of any form of anti-Semitism.”The International Olympic Committee first commemorated the victims of the Munich massacre at the Rio Olympic Village in August 2016.To date, IOC officials have maintained that a minute of silence would politicize the Games, compromising “collaboration between all parties of the Olympic family.”The memorial is the result of a decades-long campaign by relatives of the massacre victims for a permanent memorial to the athletes.It occupies a large exhibition area and is carved into a grass mound, creating the effect of an open wound. A triangular column in the center of the memorial displays the biographies and photos of those killed on panels with texts in German, Hebrew, and English. A large LED screen plays a 27-minute loop of news footage broadcast during the events of 1972.Memorial for Israeli athletes at 1972 Olympic massacre in Munich opened today, keeping alive the memory of victims. https://t.co/YYHOrrUrWp pic.twitter.com/uHoKLMG7BX— German Consulate BOS (@GermanyinBoston) September 4, 2017-The memorial cost 2.35 million euros ($2.8 million). Funding came primarily from the State of Bavaria, the German federal government, the City of Munich and the International Olympic Committee.A “school of democracy” will eventually be located in the tower at the Fürstenfeldbruck airport, the site of the fatally botched rescue attempt.Ankie Spitzer, who was 26-years-old when she lost her husband, the coach and fencing master Andre Spitzer, in the attack, was also on hand.She told the Deutschlandfunk radio station ahead of the ceremony that she could not deal with the fact that her loving husband had been brutally murdered and “no one regretted it. It took 45 years, but I don’t regret the long and lonely journey that brought us to this day. This is what I wanted.”JTA contributed to this report.
Unique 7,200-year-old clay model silo forces rethink of how society evolved-Discovered at Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley, one-of-a-kind vessel testifies to earliest agricultural rituals known in the ancient Near East-By Amanda Borschel-Dan September 6, 2017, 5:02 pm-TOI
A unique 7,200-year-old clay silo model, the earliest evidence of ritual food storage, has been discovered during archaeological excavations at the prehistoric settlement of Tel Tsaf in Israel’s Jordan Valley.The one-of-a-kind pottery vessel testifies to a previously undiscovered religious — and perhaps even political — side of food storage for this era in the ancient Near East, according to the international team of archaeologists from the University of Haifa and the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin.Decorated with red balls, the small clay silo is the only such vessel discovered anywhere and from any period, archaeologist Professor Danny Rosenberg of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.“It’s really uncommon and doesn’t look like any vessel we have,” said Rosenberg.The vessel was found in pieces two years ago in a room which appears to be connected to a burial complex filled with an unprecedented number of the bases of large wheat and barley storage silos upon which were found thousands of millennia-old seeds. The vessel was recently reassembled, and is believed to be a model for the construction of the larger containers, as well as a ritual object.Also found with the vessel pieces were ritual figurines and items of evident worth, including the earliest copper item found in the Levant and pieces made from obsidian.Because of context in which the vessel was found and its uniqueness — clearly not a pot for everyday use — the archaeologists believe it was used for ritual purposes.“The entire space was used for more than a domestic structure,” said Rosenberg.Evidence of grain-storage rituals have been discovered in other ancient Near East societies, for example, in ancient Egypt or in Mesopotamia, however, this find at Tel Tsaf predates them by several thousand years, according to the archaeologists.“The findings at Tel Tsaf are first evidence for the connection between food storage at a large-scale, and between the existence of a ritual related to the successful storage and preservation of the agricultural products being stored,” said Rosenberg.The combined discoveries of the model and large grain silos may force archaeologists to rethink the organization of prehistorical society.-Roots of a changing early society-Settlement at Tel Tsaf, near the Jordan River and the modern state of Jordan, dates to circa 5200-4700 BCE. According to the international team of researchers, the site offers “ideal conditions to study changes in household economies and emerging social complexity during the formative stages of the Late Chalcolithic period.”Discovery of large-scale food storage suggests that the ancient people had reached an early formative stage in the development of human society.Excavations at Tel Tsaf have also unearthed well-preserved mudbrick architecture. the earliest metal item in the region, and evidence of long-distance trade.The trove of grain silos represents “unparalleled evidence of storage” in the southern Levant at this time, said Rosenberg. “You have storage, but it’s usually more limited, for the nuclear family. In terms of scale, the amount of grain in each single unit is huge.”Tel Tsaf was initially identified in the 1940s during a Beit She’an Valley archaeological survey. The first detailed excavation took place from 1978-1980, when findings from deep probe trenches suggested that there were two occupation periods at the site: the Pottery Neolithic period and the Early Chalcolithic period. Another set of excavations was undertaken in earnest between 2004 and 2007, and uncovered evidence of Middle and Early Late Chalcolithic settlement.The current dig began in 2013 as a joint multidisciplinary project between the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and the Eurasian Department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, under the leadership of Rosenberg and Dr. Florian Klimsha.According to the Tel Tsaf Research Project’s website, among the dig’s main goals is the exploration of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic transition, through the study of household items, which point to the family unit’s economic status.During the 2017 season of the Tel Tsaf excavation project, which took place between July 2-12, the archaeologists and volunteers attempted to reach the lower levels of the site, to better understand the origin of the village.-Important insights-The archaeologists wrote in a recently published article in Antiquity Journal that, in addition to the important insights the model provides about the “symbolism related to grain storage, burial and the regeneration of life,” it also shows the first evidence of how the large “superstructure” grain silos may have been constructed.The silo model and silos themselves exhibit “the early appearance of distinct strategies for controlling the means of production and for accumulating wealth-factors,” write the archaeologists. In other words, that wealth may be gained through the accumulation — and distribution — of a necessary product. The question the researchers are now debating is whether it was accumulated for individual or communal use.“Something is going on in terms of people starting to store grain beyond their yearly needs,” said Rosenberg. He speculated that perhaps the surplus was produced so it may be exchanged in trade for pottery, or perhaps the obsidian items found at the site which come from the north or other far-away locations.“We found one shell that comes from the Nile,” he said, a lot beads, and other finds that speak to non-local production.For years, scientists have debated how the stratified cultures of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia evolved. The Tel Tsaf finding of organized storage may be a step on the path to this understanding.Once, scholars of the period considered the societies to be basically equal, “people have the same amounts of sheep and grain,” said Rosenberg. With these new finds, “suddenly there’s a sort of imbalance, it’s not equal any more.”Rosenberg said that the evidence points to the fact that society was just at the beginning of the process of social hierarchy, but it’s a bit too early in the research to say conclusively.Between the large-scale storage and the potential for rituals surrounding it, said Rosenberg, “we’re trying to understand the beginning of a process that eventually turned into the first cities.”
Netanyahu hails ‘best-ever’ ties to Arab world-Prime minister says there have been breakthroughs in relations to Sunni states, but can't reveal details yet-By Raphael Ahren-September 6, 2017, 1:18 pm-TOI
Israel’s relations with the Arab world have never been better than they are today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.Hailing a “breakthrough” in Israel’s outreach to moderate Sunni states in the region, he acknowledged that these ties have not advanced to the point where those states have acknowledged them in public.“What is actually happening with [the Arab states] has never happened in our history, even when we signed agreements,” Netanyahu told Israeli diplomats at a Jewish New Year’s toast at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Cooperation between Israel and Arab states exists “in various ways and different levels,” though it still isn’t visible above the surface, he said, adding that away from the public eye, “there is much more than during any other period in the history of Israel. This is a tremendous change. The entire world is changing.”Israel and the Arab world have been engaging for decades in various, mostly clandestine ways. In the 1990s, in the wake of the Oslo Accords, trade and political ties grew stronger, so much so that the Israeli chamber of commerce published a guide in Hebrew on how to do business in the Gulf. In 1994, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin visited Oman, where he was greeted by Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said.In January 1996, Israel and Oman signed an agreement on the reciprocal opening of trade representative offices. “Oman believes that the current step will lead to continued progress in the peace process, and increased stability in the region,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry declared at the time, adding that the office’s main role would be “to develop reciprocal economic and trade relations with Oman, as well as cooperation in the spheres of water, agriculture, medicine, and communications.”Four months later, after Rabin’s assassination, then-acting prime minister Shimon Peres visited Oman and Qatar to officially open “Israel Trade Representation Offices” in both capitals.But the overt ties with Oman didn’t last even for half a decade. In October 2000, when the Second Intifada began, Omani rulers felt the public opinion had turned against Israel, and suspended relations and closed the mission.Qatar shuttered the Israeli mission in 2009 because of Operation Cast Lead, a military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.During his speech Wednesday, Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, hailed his government’s diplomatic achievements, citing improved relations with North America, Europe, Africa, Russia, Latin America and other regions.While Israel has not yet succeeded in overcoming the automatic Arab majority at international forums such as the United Nations, Netanyahu said bilateral ties with many individual countries are improving significantly because Israel is offering technological know-how and security cooperation. This disproves the theory that Israel can only advance its international relations during peace negotiations with the Palestinians, he argued.
ADL hires Jewish-Iranian academic to head anti-Semitism unit-Sharon Nazarian joins the storied Jewish civil rights group after spending years in academia and philanthropy-By Eric Cortellessa-September 6, 2017, 3:04 pm-TOI
WASHINGTON — The Anti-Defamation League named Sharon Nazarian, an Iranian-American-Jewish academic and philanthropist, as its senior vice president of international affairs on Wednesday.In the position, Nazarian will head the Jewish civil rights group’s work combating anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred worldwide. She will be based out of Los Angeles, but will also oversee the ADL’s Israel office in Jerusalem.She comes into her new job after spending most of her career in academia and scholarship in international politics.A longtime adjunct in the political science department at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Nazarian is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.“Sharon’s depth and breadth of experience in academia, philanthropy, policy and international affairs makes her the perfect fit to lead ADL’s international efforts,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.Nazarian, who was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States at a young age with her Persian Jewish family, has strong ties to Israel and the Jewish community.Through her philanthropic work, she has sat on the Board of Governors of Haifa University and the boards of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.At UCLA, she founded the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and was chair of its advisory board.Nazarian said in a statement Wednesday that the ADL is “needed now more than ever — both in the United States and abroad — to stand up against hate and bigotry.”The organization’s international affairs division primarily works with global partners to develop programs and resources that address anti-Semitism worldwide, along with hate crimes, cyber hate and the delegitimization of Israel.
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
Netanyahu tells Red Cross chief of unbelievable Hamas ‘cruelty’-In meeting with Peter Maurer, PM says terror group's continued holding of citizens and bodies of slain soldiers 'in contravention of all international norms'By Alexander Fulbright-September 6, 2017, 6:39 pm-TOI
“We are concerned about this unbelievable cruelty. We have bodies of our slain soldiers that are kept [by Hamas] and even information about them is kept. And no less important, we have innocent, defenseless Israeli civilians held in Gaza,” Netanyahu told the organization’s president Peter Maurer.“[They are] kept in a very closed and cruel way,” he added.Netanyahu also thanked Maurer for his organization’s efforts to return the bodies of the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens “in the face of this Hamas cruelty” and said the terror group was holding the Israelis “in contravention of all international norms and all the ideals the Red Cross has been established for.”Responding to Netanyahu, Maurer said the mission to return the Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers’ bodies was one of the “longest running operations” of the Red Cross and that his organization is mandated by international law to work towards their return.On Tuesday, Maurer visited the Gaza Strip, during which he asked senior Hamas officials to let him meet with the Israeli civilians believed to be held by the terror group.Peter Maurer made the request as he met with Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas political leader in the coastal enclave, the Ma’an news agency reported, citing Palestinian sources. The two men talked for an hour together with senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.Sinwar told Maurer that “all institutions will be open before the Red Cross to ensure the standards of international humanitarian law are being applied,” according to a Hamas statement.It was not immediately clear whether the Red Cross director was seeking to be presented with evidence on the soldiers’ bodies, the living captives, or both.Last month, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who has in the past criticized the Red Cross for not helping with the missing Israelis, caused a media storm by saying that Israel must not repeat the “mistake” of the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange deal, which saw the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in Hamas captivity in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners.Sinwar responded by declaring in a press release there could be no deal without Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in reference to a number of the terror group’s operatives Israel has rearrested since their release in the Shalit deal.Liberman’s comments drew the ire of the families of those held, with the father of one of the deceased IDF soldiers calling the defense minister “weak” and “cowardly.”Hamas is thought to be detaining three Israelis — Avraham Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, all of whom entered the enclave on their own accord over the past several years — as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers — Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin — who were killed during the 2014 war between Israel and the terror group.As part of the efforts to return the bodies of Shaul and Goldin, Israel has reportedly been holding indirect talks with Hamas about a possible prisoner deal.At a memorial in July marking three years since the 2014 Gaza conflict, Netanyahu hinted at recently increased Israeli efforts to return the Israeli citizens and the bodies of IDF soldiers being held by Hamas.“Our commitment to return home Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul is still firm. We have not let up from this sacred mission, in particular in recent days. The same applies to Avraham Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, Israeli citizens who are held in the Gaza Strip by a brutal enemy,” he said, failing to mention Abu Ghanima, the third Israeli civilian held by Hamas.Since the capture of their sons’ bodies, the Shaul and Goldin families have waged public campaigns for their return, with the Goldins recently releasing a video urging the government to up its pressure on Hamas until the two soldiers’ bodies are returned.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Unmanned subs, sniper drones, gun that won’t miss: Israel unveils future weapons-Weapons Development Administration shows off the new armaments it is testing out, also including a hybrid tank and a fleet of autonomous vehicles-By Judah Ari Gross September 5, 2017, 10:25 pm 16-TOI
The Defense Ministry’s weapons development department on Tuesday unveiled nine pieces of technology, including two unmanned submarines and a hybrid gas-electric powerful tank, that are due to enter service in the IDF in the coming years.Some of these technologies are already in the advanced stages of development and have been presented to the military for consideration, while others are still in the planning phase and will need years before they will be combat ready. None of the technologies presented by the ministry has yet been declared operational by the IDF.They were developed by the ministry’s Weapons Development Administration, in collaboration with foreign and domestic companies, and in one case with a public university.The Weapons Development Administration, known in Hebrew by its acronym Mafat, is made up of thousands of workers, hundreds of soldiers. It manages some 1,500 defense projects at a given time.Brig. Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, who leads the department, said on Tuesday that he and his employees “try not to limit ourselves with the classic methodologies that are prevalent around the world,” which are typically top-down efforts.Instead, he said, Mafat tries to connect with soldiers on the ground, determine what they need and then work to make them something that will fulfill that gap.In addition, the department “tries to predict what the future battlefield will look like, in terms of both threats and technologies,” Gold said.One of the more significant pieces of technology presented Tuesday was the Carmel armored vehicle, which is set to eventually replace the army’s current Merkava tank, in use for some 40 years.In addition to its role as the military’s main battle tank, the Merkava is also the basis for the Namer armored personnel carrier and various combat engineering vehicles. According to the ministry, the Carmel is set to preform a similar function and can be outfitted with everything from howitzers to mine-clearing plows. And unlike the Merkava, which requires a four-person crew, the Carmel needs only two soldiers to operate it.The new tank, which will feature a hybrid gas-electric motor, powered by a bank of batteries, is being developed by the Weapons Development Administration and the ministry’s Merkava Administration, along with various defense companies.According to the ministry, the Carmel will be “light, small, fast, deadly, durable, easy to operate and comparatively cheap.”The Weapons Development Administration also unveiled two unmanned submarines, one of them big and the other small.The larger submersible, known as the Caesaron, can be equipped with a variety of sensors and payloads. It is specifically designed for intelligence gathering, the ministry said.In addition to the larger Caesaron, the ministry also unveiled a small, as-yet-unnamed submarine that it is currently developing with the help of Bar Ilan University.The small submersible drone is aimed at “searching and mapping missions,” the ministry said.“It costs a third the amount of similar submarines in the world and surpasses them in its ability to float and move in every direction,” the ministry added.The administration also unveiled three new types of drones. Two of them are transport unmanned aerial vehicles, while the third is an attack drone, capable of firing an attached assault rifle.The two transport drones were developed for an open competition among defense contractors, called the “Green Yasuron.”The ministry said the requirements for the competition were “deliberately very general: develop a small UAV or drone that will be able to fly autonomously to a distance of eight kilometers with a carrying capacity of 150 liters that weighs at least 60 kilograms.”The drone would have to carry that package to a predetermined location, drop the package and return to its base.Two very different UAVs completed the competition, one developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the other by the private Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd.The IAI drone is essentially a remote-controlled helicopter. It has one main rotor to keep it aloft and a second rear rotor to steer. The UAV is able to lift nearly 400 pounds (180 kilograms) and has a top speed of 93 miles per hour (150 kilometers per hour).The Aeronautics UAV, on the other hand, has multiple rotors that get it in the air. The drone is much smaller and much less powerful, capable of carrying half the weight as IAI’s aircraft and flying half as fast.As both completed the competition, there was no clear winner. The Defense Ministry said it was still considering how to proceed and use the two drones.In addition, the Weapons Development Administration unveiled an attack drone produced by a US-based company called Duke Robotics, Inc.The TIKAD, as the drone is known, is capable of carrying and accurately firing an assault rifle. The drone is already in advanced stages of developing and has been presented to the IDF for consideration.“Its operability will be considered in the coming year,” the Defense Ministry said.It would be used to “carry out sniper fire, create surprises on the field of battle and prevent risks to our troops,” the ministry said.The Weapons Development Administration also presented a number of unmanned vehicles that the army is considering for use. This included pre-existing vehicles — trucks, D-9 bulldozers and front-loaders — that are modified to allow them to be controlled from afar or travel autonomouslyt, as well as specially made ones.The ministry said it expected that these autonomous vehicles will be able to replace some manned ones in areas like combat engineering and logistics.The IDF already has a number of autonomous patrol cars and trucks in service.Finally, the ministry unveiled a new gun system that is supposed to ensure that soldiers only hit their targets and not any innocent bystanders.The soldier uses an electro-optical aiming system to lock on to a target and can then set the gun to not fire at anything else with the push of a button.“Tests that have been carried out until now found that use of the system significantly increased the percentage of hits on target and lessened the percentage of hits on ‘bystanders,'” the ministry said.The SMASH system is expected to go into service with the IDF’s Ground Forces soon, the ministry said.
Newport congregation continues battle for artifacts at oldest US synagogue-Jeshuat Israel calls for federal court to rehear case granting custody of ornaments at Touro to NY's Shearith Israel-By JTA-September 6, 2017, 8:10 pm-TOI
Lawyers for Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which meets in the 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, said the court’s decision last month giving control of Touro to Manhattan’s Shearith Israel ignored state law and made constitutional errors.The US Court of Appeals in Boston also gave the Manhattan synagogue ownership of $7.4 million silver Torah ornaments called Rimonim — Hebrew for pomegranates — that the Newport congregation had hoped to sell to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in order to build an endowment.“In light of the panel’s errors, which significantly alter constitutional jurisprudence, and the importance of Touro, an American icon, this case strongly merits rehearing,” lawyers for Jeshuat Israel wrote in their filing with the court on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.The filing said the court’s ruling conflicts with past decisions on church property disputes and ignores state law, as well as findings by the Rhode Island state attorney general that the Touro Synagogue was held in trust for the benefit of the Newport Jewish community, according to AP.Touro Synagogue was founded in the 18th century by a Sephardic Jewish community whose numbers declined over the years. Shearith Israel, a Sephardic congregation that was established in 1654 and has worshipped at various sites in Manhattan, has served as the trustee of Touro since the early 19th century.Jeshuat Israel, which was founded in 1881 as Ashkenazi immigrants began flooding America from Eastern Europe, has worshipped at Touro for more than a century.The current dispute began in 2012 when Jeshuat, which still holds regular services at Touro, attempted to sell the silver ornaments to establish an endowment to maintain a rabbi and care for the building, which was designated a national historic site in 1946.The rimonim have been on loan from the Touro Synagogue to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which had made an offer to purchase them. The museum has since rescinded its offer.
Religious Zionist youth movement reopens in Germany after 8 decades-Granting charitable status to Bnei Akiva, 'another little victory over the Nazis and the new anti-Semites,' says movement's director-By JTA-September 6, 2017, 7:09 pm-TOI
A religious Zionist youth movement is officially reopening in Germany, 79 years after being shut down under the National Socialist regime.Bnei Akiva Deutschland is one of several Zionist organizations to return to Germany in recent years. In this case, the group’s aim is to encourage Jews to leave Germany for Israel.Status as a charitable organization was granted in the city of Dusseldorf on August 18 to the German branch of the Jerusalem-based World Bnei Akiva – which already has emissaries in more than seven cities in Germany. It will now intensify its activities.“Another Jewish organization resurrected in Germany is another little victory over the Nazis and the new anti-Semites,” the movements director for Germany, Eliyos Paz, said in a statement. Several years ago, the secular Zionist Hashomer Hatzair World Movement returned to Germany with youth activities.Unlike Hashomer Hatzair, World Bnei Akiva reaches out especially to Orthodox communities. With emissaries in 23 countries, it also sponsors Jewish programming especially aimed towards Jews from the former Soviet Union, according to the group’s website.That target group is plentiful in Germany, where more than 90 percent of the current Jewish population of some 200,000 have roots in the former Soviet Union and came to Germany since 1990. Only about half that number are actually participating members of Jewish communities.The Central Welfare Council of Jews in Germany reports that about 200 Jews move to Israel each year.On a similar note, the Jewish Agency for Israel this spring announced its opening of a new “Israel Program Center” in Berlin, with a grant from the Britain-based Ebenezer Emergency Fund International, an evangelical Christian organization that works towards “the worldwide return of the Jewish people to Israel prophesied in Scripture.”World Bnei Akiva was established in 1910; in 1927, the activities of several Orthodox Zionist groups were united under the Torah and Avodah Fund, which oversaw related youth movements and their activities, such as camps and conferences.Activities in Germany came to an abrupt end in 1938, when the Nazi regime outlawed most Jewish institutions.
Rivlin inaugurates Munich memorial, raps Palestinians for lauding massacre-At memorial unveiling 45 years after 11 Israelis killed in terror attack at the Olympics, president says Israel 'still waiting' for minute of silence at the Games-By Sue Surkes-September 6, 2017, 2:39 pm-TOI
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday attended the inauguration in Munich of a memorial to the victims of the massacre there at the Olympic Games 45 years ago, and castigated the Palestinian Authority for its continued expressions of support for the terror act, which left 11 Israeli Olympians dead.During the September 1972 attack on the Munich Olympic Village by the Black September Palestinian terror group, 11 Israelis were taken hostage. Two were murdered in the Olympic village and nine others were executed at the airport. A German policeman was killed in a shootout with the terrorists during a botched rescue attempt.“There are still those who see in the murder of sportsmen a heroic deed,” Rivlin said, before singling out the party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. “Just last year, Fatah marked the massacre of the sportsmen as an ‘act of heroism.’“The center we are inaugurating today must be a message to the whole world: There can be no apologizing for terrorism. Terror must be unequivocally condemned everywhere. In Barcelona, in London, in Paris, in Berlin, in Jerusalem, and everywhere else.”Israeli President Rivlin @PresidentRuvi at unveiling of memorial in honor of Munich Massacre victims. Watch live: https://t.co/vB5N4jeHT8 pic.twitter.com/RDH6jtXYV9— (((WJC))) (@WorldJewishCong) September 6, 2017-The president, attending the inauguration with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, and victims’ relatives, also said that having waited 45 years for the memorial, Israel is still waiting for another historical injustice to be rectified, and for a minute’s silence to be observed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games to remember Israel’s dead.“Our brothers who were murdered were not just the State of Israel’s sons,” Rivlin said. “They were the Olympic family’s sons. A family which for many years abandoned its commitment to them.“’The games must go on’ — so said at the time the President of the Olympic Committee, in a sentence which will be remembered eternally as a disgrace,” he noted.“For 45 years – almost half a century – the victims’ families, and the State of Israel looked expectantly for this moment: the inauguration of a center of remembrance and a memorial in the Olympic Village.”In his speech, Steinmeier acknowledged that Germany was unprepared for the attack, even though international terrorism was not a new phenomenon at the time.“It should have never been allowed to happen,” he said. “Until today, we carry a heavy burden regarding this catastrophe. And this better recognition is part of the commemoration of this day — and I think it’s overdue, and we owe it you, dear family members.”Steinmeier then turned to the present, noting that there are still people who preach anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.“In Germany, our way of life includes inseparably a commitment to our history, a commitment to the history of the Holocaust, the responsibility for Israel’s security that grows out of it, and the rejection of any form of anti-Semitism.”The International Olympic Committee first commemorated the victims of the Munich massacre at the Rio Olympic Village in August 2016.To date, IOC officials have maintained that a minute of silence would politicize the Games, compromising “collaboration between all parties of the Olympic family.”The memorial is the result of a decades-long campaign by relatives of the massacre victims for a permanent memorial to the athletes.It occupies a large exhibition area and is carved into a grass mound, creating the effect of an open wound. A triangular column in the center of the memorial displays the biographies and photos of those killed on panels with texts in German, Hebrew, and English. A large LED screen plays a 27-minute loop of news footage broadcast during the events of 1972.Memorial for Israeli athletes at 1972 Olympic massacre in Munich opened today, keeping alive the memory of victims. https://t.co/YYHOrrUrWp pic.twitter.com/uHoKLMG7BX— German Consulate BOS (@GermanyinBoston) September 4, 2017-The memorial cost 2.35 million euros ($2.8 million). Funding came primarily from the State of Bavaria, the German federal government, the City of Munich and the International Olympic Committee.A “school of democracy” will eventually be located in the tower at the Fürstenfeldbruck airport, the site of the fatally botched rescue attempt.Ankie Spitzer, who was 26-years-old when she lost her husband, the coach and fencing master Andre Spitzer, in the attack, was also on hand.She told the Deutschlandfunk radio station ahead of the ceremony that she could not deal with the fact that her loving husband had been brutally murdered and “no one regretted it. It took 45 years, but I don’t regret the long and lonely journey that brought us to this day. This is what I wanted.”JTA contributed to this report.
Unique 7,200-year-old clay model silo forces rethink of how society evolved-Discovered at Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley, one-of-a-kind vessel testifies to earliest agricultural rituals known in the ancient Near East-By Amanda Borschel-Dan September 6, 2017, 5:02 pm-TOI
A unique 7,200-year-old clay silo model, the earliest evidence of ritual food storage, has been discovered during archaeological excavations at the prehistoric settlement of Tel Tsaf in Israel’s Jordan Valley.The one-of-a-kind pottery vessel testifies to a previously undiscovered religious — and perhaps even political — side of food storage for this era in the ancient Near East, according to the international team of archaeologists from the University of Haifa and the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin.Decorated with red balls, the small clay silo is the only such vessel discovered anywhere and from any period, archaeologist Professor Danny Rosenberg of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.“It’s really uncommon and doesn’t look like any vessel we have,” said Rosenberg.The vessel was found in pieces two years ago in a room which appears to be connected to a burial complex filled with an unprecedented number of the bases of large wheat and barley storage silos upon which were found thousands of millennia-old seeds. The vessel was recently reassembled, and is believed to be a model for the construction of the larger containers, as well as a ritual object.Also found with the vessel pieces were ritual figurines and items of evident worth, including the earliest copper item found in the Levant and pieces made from obsidian.Because of context in which the vessel was found and its uniqueness — clearly not a pot for everyday use — the archaeologists believe it was used for ritual purposes.“The entire space was used for more than a domestic structure,” said Rosenberg.Evidence of grain-storage rituals have been discovered in other ancient Near East societies, for example, in ancient Egypt or in Mesopotamia, however, this find at Tel Tsaf predates them by several thousand years, according to the archaeologists.“The findings at Tel Tsaf are first evidence for the connection between food storage at a large-scale, and between the existence of a ritual related to the successful storage and preservation of the agricultural products being stored,” said Rosenberg.The combined discoveries of the model and large grain silos may force archaeologists to rethink the organization of prehistorical society.-Roots of a changing early society-Settlement at Tel Tsaf, near the Jordan River and the modern state of Jordan, dates to circa 5200-4700 BCE. According to the international team of researchers, the site offers “ideal conditions to study changes in household economies and emerging social complexity during the formative stages of the Late Chalcolithic period.”Discovery of large-scale food storage suggests that the ancient people had reached an early formative stage in the development of human society.Excavations at Tel Tsaf have also unearthed well-preserved mudbrick architecture. the earliest metal item in the region, and evidence of long-distance trade.The trove of grain silos represents “unparalleled evidence of storage” in the southern Levant at this time, said Rosenberg. “You have storage, but it’s usually more limited, for the nuclear family. In terms of scale, the amount of grain in each single unit is huge.”Tel Tsaf was initially identified in the 1940s during a Beit She’an Valley archaeological survey. The first detailed excavation took place from 1978-1980, when findings from deep probe trenches suggested that there were two occupation periods at the site: the Pottery Neolithic period and the Early Chalcolithic period. Another set of excavations was undertaken in earnest between 2004 and 2007, and uncovered evidence of Middle and Early Late Chalcolithic settlement.The current dig began in 2013 as a joint multidisciplinary project between the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and the Eurasian Department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, under the leadership of Rosenberg and Dr. Florian Klimsha.According to the Tel Tsaf Research Project’s website, among the dig’s main goals is the exploration of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic transition, through the study of household items, which point to the family unit’s economic status.During the 2017 season of the Tel Tsaf excavation project, which took place between July 2-12, the archaeologists and volunteers attempted to reach the lower levels of the site, to better understand the origin of the village.-Important insights-The archaeologists wrote in a recently published article in Antiquity Journal that, in addition to the important insights the model provides about the “symbolism related to grain storage, burial and the regeneration of life,” it also shows the first evidence of how the large “superstructure” grain silos may have been constructed.The silo model and silos themselves exhibit “the early appearance of distinct strategies for controlling the means of production and for accumulating wealth-factors,” write the archaeologists. In other words, that wealth may be gained through the accumulation — and distribution — of a necessary product. The question the researchers are now debating is whether it was accumulated for individual or communal use.“Something is going on in terms of people starting to store grain beyond their yearly needs,” said Rosenberg. He speculated that perhaps the surplus was produced so it may be exchanged in trade for pottery, or perhaps the obsidian items found at the site which come from the north or other far-away locations.“We found one shell that comes from the Nile,” he said, a lot beads, and other finds that speak to non-local production.For years, scientists have debated how the stratified cultures of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia evolved. The Tel Tsaf finding of organized storage may be a step on the path to this understanding.Once, scholars of the period considered the societies to be basically equal, “people have the same amounts of sheep and grain,” said Rosenberg. With these new finds, “suddenly there’s a sort of imbalance, it’s not equal any more.”Rosenberg said that the evidence points to the fact that society was just at the beginning of the process of social hierarchy, but it’s a bit too early in the research to say conclusively.Between the large-scale storage and the potential for rituals surrounding it, said Rosenberg, “we’re trying to understand the beginning of a process that eventually turned into the first cities.”
Netanyahu hails ‘best-ever’ ties to Arab world-Prime minister says there have been breakthroughs in relations to Sunni states, but can't reveal details yet-By Raphael Ahren-September 6, 2017, 1:18 pm-TOI
Israel’s relations with the Arab world have never been better than they are today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.Hailing a “breakthrough” in Israel’s outreach to moderate Sunni states in the region, he acknowledged that these ties have not advanced to the point where those states have acknowledged them in public.“What is actually happening with [the Arab states] has never happened in our history, even when we signed agreements,” Netanyahu told Israeli diplomats at a Jewish New Year’s toast at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Cooperation between Israel and Arab states exists “in various ways and different levels,” though it still isn’t visible above the surface, he said, adding that away from the public eye, “there is much more than during any other period in the history of Israel. This is a tremendous change. The entire world is changing.”Israel and the Arab world have been engaging for decades in various, mostly clandestine ways. In the 1990s, in the wake of the Oslo Accords, trade and political ties grew stronger, so much so that the Israeli chamber of commerce published a guide in Hebrew on how to do business in the Gulf. In 1994, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin visited Oman, where he was greeted by Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said.In January 1996, Israel and Oman signed an agreement on the reciprocal opening of trade representative offices. “Oman believes that the current step will lead to continued progress in the peace process, and increased stability in the region,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry declared at the time, adding that the office’s main role would be “to develop reciprocal economic and trade relations with Oman, as well as cooperation in the spheres of water, agriculture, medicine, and communications.”Four months later, after Rabin’s assassination, then-acting prime minister Shimon Peres visited Oman and Qatar to officially open “Israel Trade Representation Offices” in both capitals.But the overt ties with Oman didn’t last even for half a decade. In October 2000, when the Second Intifada began, Omani rulers felt the public opinion had turned against Israel, and suspended relations and closed the mission.Qatar shuttered the Israeli mission in 2009 because of Operation Cast Lead, a military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.During his speech Wednesday, Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, hailed his government’s diplomatic achievements, citing improved relations with North America, Europe, Africa, Russia, Latin America and other regions.While Israel has not yet succeeded in overcoming the automatic Arab majority at international forums such as the United Nations, Netanyahu said bilateral ties with many individual countries are improving significantly because Israel is offering technological know-how and security cooperation. This disproves the theory that Israel can only advance its international relations during peace negotiations with the Palestinians, he argued.
ADL hires Jewish-Iranian academic to head anti-Semitism unit-Sharon Nazarian joins the storied Jewish civil rights group after spending years in academia and philanthropy-By Eric Cortellessa-September 6, 2017, 3:04 pm-TOI
WASHINGTON — The Anti-Defamation League named Sharon Nazarian, an Iranian-American-Jewish academic and philanthropist, as its senior vice president of international affairs on Wednesday.In the position, Nazarian will head the Jewish civil rights group’s work combating anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred worldwide. She will be based out of Los Angeles, but will also oversee the ADL’s Israel office in Jerusalem.She comes into her new job after spending most of her career in academia and scholarship in international politics.A longtime adjunct in the political science department at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Nazarian is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.“Sharon’s depth and breadth of experience in academia, philanthropy, policy and international affairs makes her the perfect fit to lead ADL’s international efforts,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.Nazarian, who was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States at a young age with her Persian Jewish family, has strong ties to Israel and the Jewish community.Through her philanthropic work, she has sat on the Board of Governors of Haifa University and the boards of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.At UCLA, she founded the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and was chair of its advisory board.Nazarian said in a statement Wednesday that the ADL is “needed now more than ever — both in the United States and abroad — to stand up against hate and bigotry.”The organization’s international affairs division primarily works with global partners to develop programs and resources that address anti-Semitism worldwide, along with hate crimes, cyber hate and the delegitimization of Israel.
