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
Israel launches new plan to ‘defend Jerusalem’ in international arena-Citing UNESCO's 'unprecedented assault,' Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry wants to expose global 'influencers' to city's past and present-By Raphael Ahren-16 October 2017, 1:29 pm
The Israeli government is launching a new plan to “defend Jerusalem in the international arena,” Jerusalem and Heritage Minister Ze’ev Elkin announced Monday.Addressing a conference for Christian journalists in the capital, Elkin said Jerusalem was under “an unprecedented assault,” pointing to recent resolutions passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that ignored the Jewish people’s link to the city.Together with the Foreign Ministry, Elkin said his office was committed to “prepare, budget and lead” a project to defend Jerusalem from various historical distortions.“The plan will include visits to Jerusalem of influencers from diverse fields and nations, who will be exposed directly to the past and present of this wondrous city, and will be able to take part in the holy task of defending its future,” he said.“All who wander even a single day in the streets of ancient Jerusalem, in the City of David, in the Old City, on the Mount of Olives, who touch its stones and listen to what they have to say, will be incapable of taking part in that erasing of the history of this city.”His ministry is planning to hold several “large conferences” in Jerusalem this year, he added. The list includes a gathering of jurists on how international law views the status of Jerusalem, a conference bringing together the Knesset with parliamentary friendship caucuses from around the world, and a new scientific gathering on the the city’s archaeology and history.“This city knows how to defend its good name and its past. One only has to come to her, to open one’s heart and to listen to what she has to say,” Elkin said.Elkin’s office also decided to establish a permanent international “Defender of Jerusalem” prize designated for individuals who “contributed in unique ways to the battle for Jerusalem’s international standing and against the warping of history,” he announced.The committee selecting the honorees will include Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, former Hebrew University president Menachem Ben-Sasson, Jerusalem Foundation head Johanna Arbib and others.Addressing the Government Press Office’s first-ever Christian Media Summit, Elkin hailed Jerusalem as the most important city in Judaism and “the birthplace of the Christian faith, in whose streets occurred the defining events of Christian history and consciousness, the Christian story.”He then launched a bitter attack against UNESCO, arguing that resolutions on the status of the city attempted to erase Jewish and Christian history.“Today, Jerusalem is at the eye of a storm, under an unprecedented assault born from malice and ignorance that attempts to rewrite her history and erase her deep link to the millennia-old history of the Jewish people,” he charged.“This assault is directed not only at Jerusalem’s Jewish roots, but also at the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith,” Elkin — a former historian — went on.“Anyone who attempts to erase from history the Jerusalem of King David and King Solomon, of the greatest of the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Jerusalem of Ezra and Nehemia, and of the Maccabees, and the Jerusalem of the last days of the Second Temple that served as a central arena for the greatest events the shaped Christian consciousness – that same rewriter of history denies the Bible in its entirety.”He went on: “Recent UNESCO resolutions are politically motivated attempts to portray the city as holy only to Islam and the Arab nation. History will view these decisions as low points in the annals of international institutions.”Last week, Israel announced it would follow the United States in quitting UNESCO due to what it said was the Paris-based organization’s anti-Israel bias.UNESCO has become “a platform for delusional, anti-Israeli and – in effect – anti-Semitic decisions,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. “We hope that the organization will change its ways but we are not pinning hopes on this; therefore, my directive to leave the organization stands and we will move forward to carry it out.”
Haley says Iran move strengthens Trump’s hand on North Korea-UN ambassador denies president's decision to decertify 2015 nuclear deal damages US credibly, diplomacy abroad-By Agencies and TOI staff-OCT 17,17
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday said that US President Donald Trump is strengthening his ability to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis by threatening to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran.Haley was defending Trump’s decision not to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal. Trump’s critics argue he’s undermining US credibility and options for diplomacy because North Korea will determine the US doesn’t honor its commitments.Speaking at the annual dinner of the conservative Heritage Foundation, Haley said that the argument is “just wrong.” She says it’s the opposite. Haley said failing to fix the 2015 deal with Iran would send the message that the United States “can be bought by a bad deal” that doesn’t actually eliminate the nuclear threat.Earlier on Friday, Trump caused alarm across the Atlantic with a belligerent speech in which he stopped short of pulling out of the agreement but warned he could do so at any time, restating his belief that the deal was letting Iran off the hook.He left it to the US Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in return for Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions.Trump’s comments came as the EU announced it was sending its chief diplomat to Washington next month to try to save the agreement that saw Tehran dramatically scale back its nuclear ambitions in return for an end to punishing sanctions.Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy head, said she would “be in Washington in early November” to urge US lawmakers not to pull out of the deal, known officially as the JCPOA, which was negotiated with Iran over 12 painstaking years by the US, Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia.EU ministers have warned that ditching the deal when Iran has repeatedly been certified as keeping up its end of the bargain would send a signal to North Korea that negotiating with the international community is a waste of time.
Haley slams UN for electing Congo to rights council despite abuses-US ambassador says voting in rights violators proves the 47-nation body 'lacks credibility and must be reformed in order to be saved'-By AP and TOI staff-OCT 17,17
The United States and human rights groups sharply criticized Monday’s UN election for 15 new members of the Human Rights Council, singling out conflict-torn Congo’s victory despite accusations of serious rights abuses and an investigation by the UN’s top human rights body.US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the election “yet another example of why the Human Rights Council lacks credibility and must be reformed in order to be saved.”Haley previously dangled the possibility that the United States could quit the council during a visit to its Geneva headquarters in June, when she lambasted the 47-nation body as a “forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion” that allows rights abusers to whitewash their images and foes of Israel to criticize the Jewish state unfairly.In a statement after the 193-member General Assembly voted Congo onto the Human Rights Council as part of an uncontested African slate for a three-year term starting Jan. 1, Haley said the rights organization “cannot endure many more blows to its credibility before it is rendered absolutely meaningless.”Haley called Congo “a country infamous for political suppression, violence against women and children, arbitrary arrest and detention, and unlawful killings and disappearances” and said its unopposed election is another spur to US-led efforts to reform the Human Rights Council.She made no mention of a US withdrawal from the council. She said in June the United States wants to see two key reforms: the use of competitive elections to choose the council’s 47 members and removal of Israel as a permanent fixture on its agenda — the only country in the world that has a permanent spot.Since 2007, Israel has been the only country whose alleged human rights abuses are regularly discussed in the framework of a single permanent item on the Council’s agenda.“Countries that aggressively violate human rights at home should not be in a position to guard the human rights of others,” Haley said. “We need a unified voice of moral clarity with backbone and integrity to call out abusive governments. This election has once again proven that the Human Rights Council, as presently constituted, is not that voice.”Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, called Congo’s election “a slap in the face to the many victims of the Congolese government’s grave abuses across the country.”African countries had four candidates for their continent’s four seats on the council and Congo got the lowest number of votes — 151. But that was still far about the 97 votes needed to win a seat.The relatively low total shows President Joseph Kabila’s Congo “is fast becoming a pariah state. If there had been competition, it probably would have lost,” Charbonneau said.Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based rights group, singled out three of the winners — Congo, Qatar and Pakistan — for criticism, saying for the UN to elect them “as a world judge on human rights is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief.”The only contested slate was in Asia where six countries vied for four seats. Nepal topped the vote, followed by Qatar and Pakistan. Afghanistan, which got 130 votes, beat out Malaysia by a single vote for the fourth seat. The Maldives also lost.Last week, the US State Department announced it was withdrawing from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), effective December 31, 2018, citing financial considerations, the need for reform and the organization’s “continuing anti-Israel bias.”Haley recalled that, “In July, when UNESCO made its latest outrageous and politically based decision, designating the Old City of Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as part of Palestinian territory, the United States clearly stated that this decision would negatively affect our evaluation of our level of engagement with the organization.” The decision to withdraw from UNESCO, she indicated, represented the result of that evaluation.Furthermore, she warned the UN of further US scrutiny, saying that Washington would “continue to evaluate all agencies within the United Nations system through the same lens.”Haley added that the “extreme politicization” of UNESCO has become a “chronic embarrassment.”“The Tomb of the Patriarchs decision was just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors,” she said. “Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO, US taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense.”
New York bomber found guilty of IS-inspired terror attacks-Ahmad Rahimi faces life in prison for placing explosive device in busy Manhattan neighborhood that injured 31 people-By AFP-TOI-OCT 17,17
NEW YORK — A New York jury on Monday convicted an American of Afghan descent for a bombing that wounded 31 people last year in a bustling Manhattan neighborhood.Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 29, was found guilty on all eight counts linked to the homemade bombs he was accused of planting in Manhattan as well as New Jersey.Rahimi faces a mandatory life term in prison when he is sentenced on January 18.Following the two-week trial the federal court jury rapidly returned its verdict on the charges, which included use of a weapon of mass destruction and the bombing of a public place.During the trial, a prosecutor called it a “miracle” that nobody was killed on the chaotic night of September 17, 2016.One bomb exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, lightly wounding 31 people.Police defused a second device in Chelsea and found five additional pipe bombs in Rahimi’s hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey.The prosecution said police discovered a notebook containing references to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the Islamic State group after arresting Rahimi.The FBI believes Rahimi acted alone and is not connected to any extremist groups.“He believed he was a soldier in a holy war against America, and New Jersey and New York City was his battling ground,” Assistant US Attorney Shawn Crowley said during the trial.Rahimi’s fingerprints were found on the debris of the bomb that exploded, while the unexploded munitions revealed “more than 40” of his other fingerprints, the prosecution said.The bearded Rahimi pleaded not guilty.He was seriously wounded in a shootout with police that culminated in his arrest two days after the blast.New York Police chief James O’Neill on Monday said the verdict “is the most forceful deterrent for anyone considering waging terror in our city.”New York has stepped up security with police deployed in force at numerous public sites since the attacks of September 11, 2001, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
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
Israel launches new plan to ‘defend Jerusalem’ in international arena-Citing UNESCO's 'unprecedented assault,' Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry wants to expose global 'influencers' to city's past and present-By Raphael Ahren-16 October 2017, 1:29 pm
The Israeli government is launching a new plan to “defend Jerusalem in the international arena,” Jerusalem and Heritage Minister Ze’ev Elkin announced Monday.Addressing a conference for Christian journalists in the capital, Elkin said Jerusalem was under “an unprecedented assault,” pointing to recent resolutions passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that ignored the Jewish people’s link to the city.Together with the Foreign Ministry, Elkin said his office was committed to “prepare, budget and lead” a project to defend Jerusalem from various historical distortions.“The plan will include visits to Jerusalem of influencers from diverse fields and nations, who will be exposed directly to the past and present of this wondrous city, and will be able to take part in the holy task of defending its future,” he said.“All who wander even a single day in the streets of ancient Jerusalem, in the City of David, in the Old City, on the Mount of Olives, who touch its stones and listen to what they have to say, will be incapable of taking part in that erasing of the history of this city.”His ministry is planning to hold several “large conferences” in Jerusalem this year, he added. The list includes a gathering of jurists on how international law views the status of Jerusalem, a conference bringing together the Knesset with parliamentary friendship caucuses from around the world, and a new scientific gathering on the the city’s archaeology and history.“This city knows how to defend its good name and its past. One only has to come to her, to open one’s heart and to listen to what she has to say,” Elkin said.Elkin’s office also decided to establish a permanent international “Defender of Jerusalem” prize designated for individuals who “contributed in unique ways to the battle for Jerusalem’s international standing and against the warping of history,” he announced.The committee selecting the honorees will include Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, former Hebrew University president Menachem Ben-Sasson, Jerusalem Foundation head Johanna Arbib and others.Addressing the Government Press Office’s first-ever Christian Media Summit, Elkin hailed Jerusalem as the most important city in Judaism and “the birthplace of the Christian faith, in whose streets occurred the defining events of Christian history and consciousness, the Christian story.”He then launched a bitter attack against UNESCO, arguing that resolutions on the status of the city attempted to erase Jewish and Christian history.“Today, Jerusalem is at the eye of a storm, under an unprecedented assault born from malice and ignorance that attempts to rewrite her history and erase her deep link to the millennia-old history of the Jewish people,” he charged.“This assault is directed not only at Jerusalem’s Jewish roots, but also at the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith,” Elkin — a former historian — went on.“Anyone who attempts to erase from history the Jerusalem of King David and King Solomon, of the greatest of the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Jerusalem of Ezra and Nehemia, and of the Maccabees, and the Jerusalem of the last days of the Second Temple that served as a central arena for the greatest events the shaped Christian consciousness – that same rewriter of history denies the Bible in its entirety.”He went on: “Recent UNESCO resolutions are politically motivated attempts to portray the city as holy only to Islam and the Arab nation. History will view these decisions as low points in the annals of international institutions.”Last week, Israel announced it would follow the United States in quitting UNESCO due to what it said was the Paris-based organization’s anti-Israel bias.UNESCO has become “a platform for delusional, anti-Israeli and – in effect – anti-Semitic decisions,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. “We hope that the organization will change its ways but we are not pinning hopes on this; therefore, my directive to leave the organization stands and we will move forward to carry it out.”
Haley says Iran move strengthens Trump’s hand on North Korea-UN ambassador denies president's decision to decertify 2015 nuclear deal damages US credibly, diplomacy abroad-By Agencies and TOI staff-OCT 17,17
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday said that US President Donald Trump is strengthening his ability to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis by threatening to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran.Haley was defending Trump’s decision not to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal. Trump’s critics argue he’s undermining US credibility and options for diplomacy because North Korea will determine the US doesn’t honor its commitments.Speaking at the annual dinner of the conservative Heritage Foundation, Haley said that the argument is “just wrong.” She says it’s the opposite. Haley said failing to fix the 2015 deal with Iran would send the message that the United States “can be bought by a bad deal” that doesn’t actually eliminate the nuclear threat.Earlier on Friday, Trump caused alarm across the Atlantic with a belligerent speech in which he stopped short of pulling out of the agreement but warned he could do so at any time, restating his belief that the deal was letting Iran off the hook.He left it to the US Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in return for Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions.Trump’s comments came as the EU announced it was sending its chief diplomat to Washington next month to try to save the agreement that saw Tehran dramatically scale back its nuclear ambitions in return for an end to punishing sanctions.Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy head, said she would “be in Washington in early November” to urge US lawmakers not to pull out of the deal, known officially as the JCPOA, which was negotiated with Iran over 12 painstaking years by the US, Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia.EU ministers have warned that ditching the deal when Iran has repeatedly been certified as keeping up its end of the bargain would send a signal to North Korea that negotiating with the international community is a waste of time.
Haley slams UN for electing Congo to rights council despite abuses-US ambassador says voting in rights violators proves the 47-nation body 'lacks credibility and must be reformed in order to be saved'-By AP and TOI staff-OCT 17,17
The United States and human rights groups sharply criticized Monday’s UN election for 15 new members of the Human Rights Council, singling out conflict-torn Congo’s victory despite accusations of serious rights abuses and an investigation by the UN’s top human rights body.US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the election “yet another example of why the Human Rights Council lacks credibility and must be reformed in order to be saved.”Haley previously dangled the possibility that the United States could quit the council during a visit to its Geneva headquarters in June, when she lambasted the 47-nation body as a “forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion” that allows rights abusers to whitewash their images and foes of Israel to criticize the Jewish state unfairly.In a statement after the 193-member General Assembly voted Congo onto the Human Rights Council as part of an uncontested African slate for a three-year term starting Jan. 1, Haley said the rights organization “cannot endure many more blows to its credibility before it is rendered absolutely meaningless.”Haley called Congo “a country infamous for political suppression, violence against women and children, arbitrary arrest and detention, and unlawful killings and disappearances” and said its unopposed election is another spur to US-led efforts to reform the Human Rights Council.She made no mention of a US withdrawal from the council. She said in June the United States wants to see two key reforms: the use of competitive elections to choose the council’s 47 members and removal of Israel as a permanent fixture on its agenda — the only country in the world that has a permanent spot.Since 2007, Israel has been the only country whose alleged human rights abuses are regularly discussed in the framework of a single permanent item on the Council’s agenda.“Countries that aggressively violate human rights at home should not be in a position to guard the human rights of others,” Haley said. “We need a unified voice of moral clarity with backbone and integrity to call out abusive governments. This election has once again proven that the Human Rights Council, as presently constituted, is not that voice.”Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, called Congo’s election “a slap in the face to the many victims of the Congolese government’s grave abuses across the country.”African countries had four candidates for their continent’s four seats on the council and Congo got the lowest number of votes — 151. But that was still far about the 97 votes needed to win a seat.The relatively low total shows President Joseph Kabila’s Congo “is fast becoming a pariah state. If there had been competition, it probably would have lost,” Charbonneau said.Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based rights group, singled out three of the winners — Congo, Qatar and Pakistan — for criticism, saying for the UN to elect them “as a world judge on human rights is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief.”The only contested slate was in Asia where six countries vied for four seats. Nepal topped the vote, followed by Qatar and Pakistan. Afghanistan, which got 130 votes, beat out Malaysia by a single vote for the fourth seat. The Maldives also lost.Last week, the US State Department announced it was withdrawing from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), effective December 31, 2018, citing financial considerations, the need for reform and the organization’s “continuing anti-Israel bias.”Haley recalled that, “In July, when UNESCO made its latest outrageous and politically based decision, designating the Old City of Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as part of Palestinian territory, the United States clearly stated that this decision would negatively affect our evaluation of our level of engagement with the organization.” The decision to withdraw from UNESCO, she indicated, represented the result of that evaluation.Furthermore, she warned the UN of further US scrutiny, saying that Washington would “continue to evaluate all agencies within the United Nations system through the same lens.”Haley added that the “extreme politicization” of UNESCO has become a “chronic embarrassment.”“The Tomb of the Patriarchs decision was just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors,” she said. “Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO, US taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense.”
New York bomber found guilty of IS-inspired terror attacks-Ahmad Rahimi faces life in prison for placing explosive device in busy Manhattan neighborhood that injured 31 people-By AFP-TOI-OCT 17,17
NEW YORK — A New York jury on Monday convicted an American of Afghan descent for a bombing that wounded 31 people last year in a bustling Manhattan neighborhood.Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 29, was found guilty on all eight counts linked to the homemade bombs he was accused of planting in Manhattan as well as New Jersey.Rahimi faces a mandatory life term in prison when he is sentenced on January 18.Following the two-week trial the federal court jury rapidly returned its verdict on the charges, which included use of a weapon of mass destruction and the bombing of a public place.During the trial, a prosecutor called it a “miracle” that nobody was killed on the chaotic night of September 17, 2016.One bomb exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, lightly wounding 31 people.Police defused a second device in Chelsea and found five additional pipe bombs in Rahimi’s hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey.The prosecution said police discovered a notebook containing references to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the Islamic State group after arresting Rahimi.The FBI believes Rahimi acted alone and is not connected to any extremist groups.“He believed he was a soldier in a holy war against America, and New Jersey and New York City was his battling ground,” Assistant US Attorney Shawn Crowley said during the trial.Rahimi’s fingerprints were found on the debris of the bomb that exploded, while the unexploded munitions revealed “more than 40” of his other fingerprints, the prosecution said.The bearded Rahimi pleaded not guilty.He was seriously wounded in a shootout with police that culminated in his arrest two days after the blast.New York Police chief James O’Neill on Monday said the verdict “is the most forceful deterrent for anyone considering waging terror in our city.”New York has stepped up security with police deployed in force at numerous public sites since the attacks of September 11, 2001, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
