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
Two rockets fired into Israel from Sinai, no injuries-Projectiles apparently fired by IS, coming after major attack on Egyptian forces-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-15 October 2017, 10:53 pm
Two rockets were fired at southern Israel from the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday night, likely by an affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group, the army said.There were no immediate reports of injury or damage.The two rockets were aimed at the southern Eshkol region, an area that abuts both the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, the army said.A military spokesperson said they were still looking for the rockets, indicating that they likely struck an open field, rather than a populated area.Eyal Rozen, a former IDF colonel who lives in Ein Habasor in the Eshkol region, said on Twitter that one projectile struck a field just west of his community.“It fell right next to my house. There was a tremendous ‘boom,'” he wrote.Rozen, who formerly served in the Artillery Corps, said he believed the projectile that landed outside Ein Habasor was, in fact, a mortar shell. This was based on the sound made when it exploded and the short amount of time it took from the launch to the strike, he said.The army did not immediately identify who launched the rockets, but it was likely a Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group.The Sinai-based off-shoot has been waging a bloody war with Egyptian forces for years and has also occasionally directed its aggression toward Israel, launching rockets at nearby Jewish communities and in one case at the southern city of Eilat.On Sunday, members of the terrorist group carried out multiple attacks on six Egyptian checkpoints near the border, killing at least six soldiers and injuring dozens more.Egyptian officials said the near-simultaneous attacks took place at and around the town of Sheikh Zweid, with dozens of militants using heavy machine guns and mortars. Apache helicopter gunships were called in to repel the attackers, said the officials.An army statement said 24 of the attackers were killed and two SUVs they used were destroyed. The area was being combed by army troops in pursuit of the militants.Last Thursday, six Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack in the northern Sinai region.Occasionally, the terrorist group also launches rocket attacks at Israeli targets, in what many analysts believe to be shows of strength and attempts to score propaganda points.In April, one rocket struck a greenhouse in the community of Yuval in the Eshkol region, slightly damaging the structure, but causing no injury.Another rocket was launched at Israel by the terrorist group in May, but it struck an open field.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
US launches $10 million water project in West Bank-10,000 residents in Jericho region to be connected to treatment plant as part of plans to strengthen Palestinian economy-By AFP-TOI-15 October 2017, 8:31 pm
The US government on Sunday launched a $10 million project to improve access to wastewater treatment and water for Palestinian farmers in the Jericho area of the West Bank.A top aide to US President Donald Trump, Jason Greenblatt, was among officials launching the project in the historic city near the Dead Sea.Greenblatt has been among Trump’s aides seeking to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. US officials have spoken of improving the Palestinian economy and infrastructure as part of their efforts.At Sunday’s event, Greenblatt did not comment on White House peace efforts, which have been met with heavy skepticism from many analysts.He also did not speak about a unity deal signed last week between Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas aimed at ending their decade-long division.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah is in power in the West Bank, while Hamas, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organization, runs the Gaza Strip.The project announced Sunday aims to increase the number of homes connected to the Jericho area’s wastewater treatment plant, previously built with Japanese assistance, by about 10,000 residents.Press Release: U.S. Launches $10 Million Water Investment in Jericho City to Benefit Palestinian Farmers @USAIDWBG pic.twitter.com/nr91appbtT— USCGJerusalem (@USCGJerusalem) October 15, 2017-That would leave some 70 percent of Jericho residents connected, according to the US consulate in Jerusalem.Recycled wastewater would then be available to Palestinian date farmers in the area, it said.“The US administration and President Trump personally remain committed to a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and a central element of that peace is a thriving economy and real opportunities for Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza,” US Consul General Donald Blome said.Palestinian Water Authority chairman Mazen Ghunaim said, “This project will have a positive and direct impact on creating jobs and economic growth.”Dry conditions lead to regular water shortages in the Jericho area, while Palestinians say Israel has allocated much of the water resources in the Jordan Valley, where the city is located, to Israeli settlements.
PM pledges West Bank bypass roads for settlers-Netanyahu says funds will be found even if he has to take them from all ministries, but some settler leaders accuse him of empty promises-By Jacob Magid-TOI-15 October 2017, 4:43 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday to pave additional bypass roads for settlers in the West Bank, even if it meant skimming funds from the budgets of all the ministries.Speaking at a meeting with ministers from his Likud party, Netanyahu promised to promote a plan for the roads’ construction as soon as possible, an official close to the prime minister told The Times of Israel.The official added that Netanyahu told the ministers that he intended to go through with the project even if it were to require spending cutbacks in other government offices.The comments were believed to be made in response to criticism from Likud ministers and settler leadership over what they perceive as insufficient settlement construction in the West Bank.Not all present at Sunday’s meeting were satisfied with the pledge. “There are 10 billion shekels that the state is not using. The bypass roads are a matter of saving lives. There is a way to solve this and we must do so,” said Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel.The Prime Minister’s Office official present at the sit-down said that Netanyahu did not respond to Gamliel.The bypass roads were left off the list of construction project set to be advanced on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee — the Defense Ministry body that authorizes building in the West Bank.The bypass roads create separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Settlers say these routes are integral for their safety, citing terror attacks that have taken place on roads that run through Palestinian villages. They also argue that they benefit all residents of the West Bank — Jewish and Arab alike — by reducing traffic congestion.But opponents of these pathways call them discriminatory and argue that they lead to the establishment of illegal outposts that run along these new roads, which are sometimes paved on private Palestinian land.While settler leaders for years have spoken in one voice in demanding the construction of bypass roads, responses to Netanyahu’s pledge were split.Binyamin Regional Council chairman and outgoing leader of the Yesha settlement umbrella council Avi Roeh praised Netanyahu in a Sunday statement. “We are pleased that the prime minister is placing the issue of the (bypass) roads in Judea and Samaria on his agenda. Furthermore, we note that the issue of these roads is a strategic issue that impacts our ability to develop settlements throughout Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the West Bank by its Biblical names.But Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan once again was not willing to take Netanyahu at his word. Dagan panned the prime minister last week over what he viewed as an insufficient number of housing units set to be approved by the Civil Administration this week, and his Sunday statement responding to Netanyahu’s comments was similar.“I am sorry, but there are those who are trying to lead us by the nose,” he said.“The bypass roads have been promised to us time after time. Promises we have. Roads we do not. The prime minister must commit himself to a clear and imminent date when these bypass roads will be paved. The security of the residents of Judea and Samaria must not be abandoned,” Dagan said.The Samaria Council head wasn’t the only one attacking Netanyahu from the right on Sunday regarding building over the Green Line.Jewish Home lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich said the advancement of new West Bank settlement construction has slowed under US President Donald Trump in relation to his predecessor Barack Obama.“We have arrived at a worse situation under the Trump administration than under the Obama administration,” Smotrich told Israel Radio.His remarks were in response to the publishing of Civil Administration’s agenda for sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday during which it will be will be advancing plans for roughly 2,000 new housing units.A quarter of the some 1,2000 houses set to earn final approval are part of projects for evacuees of the illegally built outposts of Ulpana (in Beit El), Migron, and Amona, which were demolished — in June 2012, September 2012 and February 2017, respectively — after the High Court of Justice ruled they had been built on private Palestinian land.In addition, a separate Defense Ministry body is set to advance planning for 31 housing units in the Jewish settlement in Hebron on Monday. It would be the first construction approval for the highly contentious settlement in 12 years. The city’s Palestinian municipality is expected to petition the High Court over the expansion, arguing that the settlers have no right to build in the designated area.Over half of the housing units set to be advanced would be built outside the so-called “settlement blocs” that Israel has vowed to retain under any future peace deal, with mutually agreed land swaps with the Palestinians.Responding to the building numbers last week, Dagan harshly criticized Netanyahu and his government. “We need to tell the truth. The emperor has no clothes,” Dagan said in a statement, characterizing Netanyahu as dishonest for breaking previous pledges to settler leaders to advance over 3,000 housing units.An official from the Prime Minister’s Office deflected the criticism and provided different numbers for the plans set to be advanced. “According to the agenda published by the High Planning Council, 3,736 housing units will be approved at various stages of planning and construction,” the official said in a Tuesday statement.The official went on to assert that building approvals in 2017 are set to be quadruple those of last year. “Those who claim that this is not a significant improvement mislead the public. Those who think that political considerations should not be taken into account are mistaken. There is no one who works more for settlements, with determination and wisdom, than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the official maintained.
Netanyahu praises Trump for ‘bold decision’ on Iran deal-Prime minister says US leader is giving the Middle East and world an opportunity to fix nuclear agreement-By Stuart Winer-TOI-15 October 2017, 7:50 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that by not recertifying the Iranian nuclear deal, US President Donald Trump had given the world an opportunity to avert a very dangerous outcome and that Israel along with key Arab states back his policy.Speaking to the Fox News channel, Netanyahu praised Trump for not shying away from the controversial issue.“I commend the president for taking a historic and bold decision to avert this danger in time,” Netanyahu said. “He could have kicked the can down the road. He could have said ‘this isn’t going to happen on my watch, so I’ll just let it go,’ but he didn’t. He faced up to this danger and I think he gave an opportunity for all of us in the Middle East and beyond to fix this deal. Fix it or nix it. Because it could be very very dangerous if it just went through.”The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear control accord reached between Iran and the so-called P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — was signed in 2015 and saw economic sanctions on Iran lifted in return for limitations place on it nuclear program to prevent it from producing nuclear weapons. Israeli officials, led by Netanyahu, opposed the deal, saying it did not go far enough to prevent Iran from going nuclear in the future.Trump announced Friday that he would not recertify the nuclear deal and vowed to also take a tougher approach toward Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorism.Regional support for Trump comes not just for Israel, Netanyahu said, but also from “key Arab states,” such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.“When Israel and the Arab states agree on something then you should pay attention,” Netanyahu said.Netanyahu expressed his optimism that the other powers party to the deal will understand that Trump is not demanding the agreement be cancelled, but instead calling for it to be amended.After Trump’s announcement last week, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany said they remained committed to the nuclear deal.“It will take time for governments to understand the significance of what the president put forward,” Netanyahu said and warned that Iran’s missile development is aimed at threatening not just Israel, but Europe and the US.“Iran says ‘Death to America, death to Israel.’ You [the US] are the big Satan, we’re the little Satan, I suppose Europe is in between, the middle-sized Satan, I hope they aren’t offended,” he quipped, and described Iran as “the foremost terrorist state of our time.”Trump said Friday he was launching a tougher strategy to check Iran’s “fanatical regime,” and warned that 2015’s landmark international nuclear deal could be terminated at any time.In a much-anticipated White House speech, Trump stopped short of withdrawing from the accord, but “decertified” his support for the agreement and left its fate in the hands of Congress.Asked if he would rather see the deal terminated or changed, Netanyahu stressed that it is the eventual outcome that matters most, less so how it is achieved.“I’m focused on the goal to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons,” he said. “You can achieve it either by fixing the bad deal or by nixing it. I don’t particularly care which one.”The prime minister said that the three key issues are removing the “sunset clause” that expires the agreement in 2025, preventing Iran from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and ensuring that inspectors have access to all sites in Iran, including military sites — something Tehran has so far refused to permit.“If you get it fine; if you don’t, then cancel the deal,” he said.The US, Netanyahu said, can get what it wants because it has “immense leverage” based on “the fact that the United States is a great superpower.”The US economy, at 20 trillion dollars, is 50 times that of Iran and that means that allies will have a “no-brainer” if they have to choose between sanctions on Iran or “cutting themselves out of the American market,” Netanyahu asserted.Trump’s declarations have now put pressure on Tehran and the economic “bonanza” that the radical leaders in Iran were enjoying after the sanctions were lifted following the agreement has now stopped, Netanyahu said.Netanyahu was also quizzed about Iran’s possible cooperation with North Korea.There is “no question they did in the past, but I’d rather not discuss ongoing intelligence,” Netanyahu responded.Netanyahu also gave his full support for the US Treasury measures aimed at punishing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard for supporting terror.On Friday, the US Treasury said it had taken action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards under a 2001 executive order to hit sources of terror funding and added four companies that allegedly support the group to its sanctions list.
Iran foreign minister: Trump speech violated nuclear deal-Mohammad Zarif warns of 'reciprocal measures' if sanctions reimposed, says continued missile development is 'in no way negotiable'-By AFP-TOI-15 October 2017, 7:24 pm
TEHRAN, Iran — US President Donald Trump’s speech outlining an aggressive new strategy against Iran violated Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers, said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.Trump’s virulent speech contravened three articles of the 2015 deal, Zarif said in televised remarks broadcast late on Saturday.They include the requirement to implement the accord “in good faith” and for the US to “refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing” sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme.“I have already written nine letters (to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini) listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA,” Zarif said, using the technical name for the nuclear deal.Mogherini helped negotiate the nuclear deal alongside the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.Zarif said he would write a new letter regarding Trump’s speech last Friday, and warned of a “reciprocal measure” if sanctions were reimposed.In his speech, Trump refused to “certify” the nuclear deal and warned he would “terminate” the deal unless Congress introduced tough new sanctions against Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes, as well as its “destabilizing” activities in the Middle East.Zarif responded by saying: “Our achievements in the field of ballistics are in no way negotiable.“We live in a region into which hundreds of billions of dollars of lethal American weapons have poured, turning it into a gunpowder storehouse… so we have the right to have defensive means,” he said.Meanwhile, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the country would no longer abide by the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if the nuclear deal fell apart.The protocol allows unannounced inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran agreed to implement it as part of the nuclear deal, without turning it into law.“Without the nuclear agreement its application is meaningless,” Salehi told state television.He also repeated his warning that Iran could very quickly return to the production of highly enriched uranium if the US reimposed sanctions.“If one day, the leaders of the country conclude that the nuclear agreement is no longer to the benefit of the country and decide to resume 20 percent enrichment we can do so within four days,” he said.Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to 90 percent, but most of the work to get there has already been done once scientists have achieved 20 percent.
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
Two rockets fired into Israel from Sinai, no injuries-Projectiles apparently fired by IS, coming after major attack on Egyptian forces-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-15 October 2017, 10:53 pm
Two rockets were fired at southern Israel from the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday night, likely by an affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group, the army said.There were no immediate reports of injury or damage.The two rockets were aimed at the southern Eshkol region, an area that abuts both the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, the army said.A military spokesperson said they were still looking for the rockets, indicating that they likely struck an open field, rather than a populated area.Eyal Rozen, a former IDF colonel who lives in Ein Habasor in the Eshkol region, said on Twitter that one projectile struck a field just west of his community.“It fell right next to my house. There was a tremendous ‘boom,'” he wrote.Rozen, who formerly served in the Artillery Corps, said he believed the projectile that landed outside Ein Habasor was, in fact, a mortar shell. This was based on the sound made when it exploded and the short amount of time it took from the launch to the strike, he said.The army did not immediately identify who launched the rockets, but it was likely a Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group.The Sinai-based off-shoot has been waging a bloody war with Egyptian forces for years and has also occasionally directed its aggression toward Israel, launching rockets at nearby Jewish communities and in one case at the southern city of Eilat.On Sunday, members of the terrorist group carried out multiple attacks on six Egyptian checkpoints near the border, killing at least six soldiers and injuring dozens more.Egyptian officials said the near-simultaneous attacks took place at and around the town of Sheikh Zweid, with dozens of militants using heavy machine guns and mortars. Apache helicopter gunships were called in to repel the attackers, said the officials.An army statement said 24 of the attackers were killed and two SUVs they used were destroyed. The area was being combed by army troops in pursuit of the militants.Last Thursday, six Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack in the northern Sinai region.Occasionally, the terrorist group also launches rocket attacks at Israeli targets, in what many analysts believe to be shows of strength and attempts to score propaganda points.In April, one rocket struck a greenhouse in the community of Yuval in the Eshkol region, slightly damaging the structure, but causing no injury.Another rocket was launched at Israel by the terrorist group in May, but it struck an open field.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
US launches $10 million water project in West Bank-10,000 residents in Jericho region to be connected to treatment plant as part of plans to strengthen Palestinian economy-By AFP-TOI-15 October 2017, 8:31 pm
The US government on Sunday launched a $10 million project to improve access to wastewater treatment and water for Palestinian farmers in the Jericho area of the West Bank.A top aide to US President Donald Trump, Jason Greenblatt, was among officials launching the project in the historic city near the Dead Sea.Greenblatt has been among Trump’s aides seeking to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. US officials have spoken of improving the Palestinian economy and infrastructure as part of their efforts.At Sunday’s event, Greenblatt did not comment on White House peace efforts, which have been met with heavy skepticism from many analysts.He also did not speak about a unity deal signed last week between Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas aimed at ending their decade-long division.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah is in power in the West Bank, while Hamas, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organization, runs the Gaza Strip.The project announced Sunday aims to increase the number of homes connected to the Jericho area’s wastewater treatment plant, previously built with Japanese assistance, by about 10,000 residents.Press Release: U.S. Launches $10 Million Water Investment in Jericho City to Benefit Palestinian Farmers @USAIDWBG pic.twitter.com/nr91appbtT— USCGJerusalem (@USCGJerusalem) October 15, 2017-That would leave some 70 percent of Jericho residents connected, according to the US consulate in Jerusalem.Recycled wastewater would then be available to Palestinian date farmers in the area, it said.“The US administration and President Trump personally remain committed to a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and a central element of that peace is a thriving economy and real opportunities for Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza,” US Consul General Donald Blome said.Palestinian Water Authority chairman Mazen Ghunaim said, “This project will have a positive and direct impact on creating jobs and economic growth.”Dry conditions lead to regular water shortages in the Jericho area, while Palestinians say Israel has allocated much of the water resources in the Jordan Valley, where the city is located, to Israeli settlements.
PM pledges West Bank bypass roads for settlers-Netanyahu says funds will be found even if he has to take them from all ministries, but some settler leaders accuse him of empty promises-By Jacob Magid-TOI-15 October 2017, 4:43 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday to pave additional bypass roads for settlers in the West Bank, even if it meant skimming funds from the budgets of all the ministries.Speaking at a meeting with ministers from his Likud party, Netanyahu promised to promote a plan for the roads’ construction as soon as possible, an official close to the prime minister told The Times of Israel.The official added that Netanyahu told the ministers that he intended to go through with the project even if it were to require spending cutbacks in other government offices.The comments were believed to be made in response to criticism from Likud ministers and settler leadership over what they perceive as insufficient settlement construction in the West Bank.Not all present at Sunday’s meeting were satisfied with the pledge. “There are 10 billion shekels that the state is not using. The bypass roads are a matter of saving lives. There is a way to solve this and we must do so,” said Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel.The Prime Minister’s Office official present at the sit-down said that Netanyahu did not respond to Gamliel.The bypass roads were left off the list of construction project set to be advanced on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee — the Defense Ministry body that authorizes building in the West Bank.The bypass roads create separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Settlers say these routes are integral for their safety, citing terror attacks that have taken place on roads that run through Palestinian villages. They also argue that they benefit all residents of the West Bank — Jewish and Arab alike — by reducing traffic congestion.But opponents of these pathways call them discriminatory and argue that they lead to the establishment of illegal outposts that run along these new roads, which are sometimes paved on private Palestinian land.While settler leaders for years have spoken in one voice in demanding the construction of bypass roads, responses to Netanyahu’s pledge were split.Binyamin Regional Council chairman and outgoing leader of the Yesha settlement umbrella council Avi Roeh praised Netanyahu in a Sunday statement. “We are pleased that the prime minister is placing the issue of the (bypass) roads in Judea and Samaria on his agenda. Furthermore, we note that the issue of these roads is a strategic issue that impacts our ability to develop settlements throughout Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the West Bank by its Biblical names.But Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan once again was not willing to take Netanyahu at his word. Dagan panned the prime minister last week over what he viewed as an insufficient number of housing units set to be approved by the Civil Administration this week, and his Sunday statement responding to Netanyahu’s comments was similar.“I am sorry, but there are those who are trying to lead us by the nose,” he said.“The bypass roads have been promised to us time after time. Promises we have. Roads we do not. The prime minister must commit himself to a clear and imminent date when these bypass roads will be paved. The security of the residents of Judea and Samaria must not be abandoned,” Dagan said.The Samaria Council head wasn’t the only one attacking Netanyahu from the right on Sunday regarding building over the Green Line.Jewish Home lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich said the advancement of new West Bank settlement construction has slowed under US President Donald Trump in relation to his predecessor Barack Obama.“We have arrived at a worse situation under the Trump administration than under the Obama administration,” Smotrich told Israel Radio.His remarks were in response to the publishing of Civil Administration’s agenda for sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday during which it will be will be advancing plans for roughly 2,000 new housing units.A quarter of the some 1,2000 houses set to earn final approval are part of projects for evacuees of the illegally built outposts of Ulpana (in Beit El), Migron, and Amona, which were demolished — in June 2012, September 2012 and February 2017, respectively — after the High Court of Justice ruled they had been built on private Palestinian land.In addition, a separate Defense Ministry body is set to advance planning for 31 housing units in the Jewish settlement in Hebron on Monday. It would be the first construction approval for the highly contentious settlement in 12 years. The city’s Palestinian municipality is expected to petition the High Court over the expansion, arguing that the settlers have no right to build in the designated area.Over half of the housing units set to be advanced would be built outside the so-called “settlement blocs” that Israel has vowed to retain under any future peace deal, with mutually agreed land swaps with the Palestinians.Responding to the building numbers last week, Dagan harshly criticized Netanyahu and his government. “We need to tell the truth. The emperor has no clothes,” Dagan said in a statement, characterizing Netanyahu as dishonest for breaking previous pledges to settler leaders to advance over 3,000 housing units.An official from the Prime Minister’s Office deflected the criticism and provided different numbers for the plans set to be advanced. “According to the agenda published by the High Planning Council, 3,736 housing units will be approved at various stages of planning and construction,” the official said in a Tuesday statement.The official went on to assert that building approvals in 2017 are set to be quadruple those of last year. “Those who claim that this is not a significant improvement mislead the public. Those who think that political considerations should not be taken into account are mistaken. There is no one who works more for settlements, with determination and wisdom, than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the official maintained.
Netanyahu praises Trump for ‘bold decision’ on Iran deal-Prime minister says US leader is giving the Middle East and world an opportunity to fix nuclear agreement-By Stuart Winer-TOI-15 October 2017, 7:50 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that by not recertifying the Iranian nuclear deal, US President Donald Trump had given the world an opportunity to avert a very dangerous outcome and that Israel along with key Arab states back his policy.Speaking to the Fox News channel, Netanyahu praised Trump for not shying away from the controversial issue.“I commend the president for taking a historic and bold decision to avert this danger in time,” Netanyahu said. “He could have kicked the can down the road. He could have said ‘this isn’t going to happen on my watch, so I’ll just let it go,’ but he didn’t. He faced up to this danger and I think he gave an opportunity for all of us in the Middle East and beyond to fix this deal. Fix it or nix it. Because it could be very very dangerous if it just went through.”The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear control accord reached between Iran and the so-called P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — was signed in 2015 and saw economic sanctions on Iran lifted in return for limitations place on it nuclear program to prevent it from producing nuclear weapons. Israeli officials, led by Netanyahu, opposed the deal, saying it did not go far enough to prevent Iran from going nuclear in the future.Trump announced Friday that he would not recertify the nuclear deal and vowed to also take a tougher approach toward Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorism.Regional support for Trump comes not just for Israel, Netanyahu said, but also from “key Arab states,” such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.“When Israel and the Arab states agree on something then you should pay attention,” Netanyahu said.Netanyahu expressed his optimism that the other powers party to the deal will understand that Trump is not demanding the agreement be cancelled, but instead calling for it to be amended.After Trump’s announcement last week, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany said they remained committed to the nuclear deal.“It will take time for governments to understand the significance of what the president put forward,” Netanyahu said and warned that Iran’s missile development is aimed at threatening not just Israel, but Europe and the US.“Iran says ‘Death to America, death to Israel.’ You [the US] are the big Satan, we’re the little Satan, I suppose Europe is in between, the middle-sized Satan, I hope they aren’t offended,” he quipped, and described Iran as “the foremost terrorist state of our time.”Trump said Friday he was launching a tougher strategy to check Iran’s “fanatical regime,” and warned that 2015’s landmark international nuclear deal could be terminated at any time.In a much-anticipated White House speech, Trump stopped short of withdrawing from the accord, but “decertified” his support for the agreement and left its fate in the hands of Congress.Asked if he would rather see the deal terminated or changed, Netanyahu stressed that it is the eventual outcome that matters most, less so how it is achieved.“I’m focused on the goal to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons,” he said. “You can achieve it either by fixing the bad deal or by nixing it. I don’t particularly care which one.”The prime minister said that the three key issues are removing the “sunset clause” that expires the agreement in 2025, preventing Iran from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and ensuring that inspectors have access to all sites in Iran, including military sites — something Tehran has so far refused to permit.“If you get it fine; if you don’t, then cancel the deal,” he said.The US, Netanyahu said, can get what it wants because it has “immense leverage” based on “the fact that the United States is a great superpower.”The US economy, at 20 trillion dollars, is 50 times that of Iran and that means that allies will have a “no-brainer” if they have to choose between sanctions on Iran or “cutting themselves out of the American market,” Netanyahu asserted.Trump’s declarations have now put pressure on Tehran and the economic “bonanza” that the radical leaders in Iran were enjoying after the sanctions were lifted following the agreement has now stopped, Netanyahu said.Netanyahu was also quizzed about Iran’s possible cooperation with North Korea.There is “no question they did in the past, but I’d rather not discuss ongoing intelligence,” Netanyahu responded.Netanyahu also gave his full support for the US Treasury measures aimed at punishing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard for supporting terror.On Friday, the US Treasury said it had taken action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards under a 2001 executive order to hit sources of terror funding and added four companies that allegedly support the group to its sanctions list.
Iran foreign minister: Trump speech violated nuclear deal-Mohammad Zarif warns of 'reciprocal measures' if sanctions reimposed, says continued missile development is 'in no way negotiable'-By AFP-TOI-15 October 2017, 7:24 pm
TEHRAN, Iran — US President Donald Trump’s speech outlining an aggressive new strategy against Iran violated Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers, said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.Trump’s virulent speech contravened three articles of the 2015 deal, Zarif said in televised remarks broadcast late on Saturday.They include the requirement to implement the accord “in good faith” and for the US to “refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing” sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme.“I have already written nine letters (to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini) listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA,” Zarif said, using the technical name for the nuclear deal.Mogherini helped negotiate the nuclear deal alongside the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.Zarif said he would write a new letter regarding Trump’s speech last Friday, and warned of a “reciprocal measure” if sanctions were reimposed.In his speech, Trump refused to “certify” the nuclear deal and warned he would “terminate” the deal unless Congress introduced tough new sanctions against Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes, as well as its “destabilizing” activities in the Middle East.Zarif responded by saying: “Our achievements in the field of ballistics are in no way negotiable.“We live in a region into which hundreds of billions of dollars of lethal American weapons have poured, turning it into a gunpowder storehouse… so we have the right to have defensive means,” he said.Meanwhile, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the country would no longer abide by the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if the nuclear deal fell apart.The protocol allows unannounced inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran agreed to implement it as part of the nuclear deal, without turning it into law.“Without the nuclear agreement its application is meaningless,” Salehi told state television.He also repeated his warning that Iran could very quickly return to the production of highly enriched uranium if the US reimposed sanctions.“If one day, the leaders of the country conclude that the nuclear agreement is no longer to the benefit of the country and decide to resume 20 percent enrichment we can do so within four days,” he said.Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to 90 percent, but most of the work to get there has already been done once scientists have achieved 20 percent.
