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
Israeli minister in Japan: Iran may become ‘tomorrow’s North Korea’-Yisrael Katz calls for Japanese support in changing nuclear deal; says Tokyo showed 'great interest' in regional rail proposal-By Stuart Winer-OCT 24,17
Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) on Monday urged Japan to back revisions to the Iran nuclear deal, warning that Tehran could follow in the footsteps of rogue nuclear state North Korea if not contained.Katz met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono during an official visit to Japan.“Iran must be stopped today so that it doesn’t become the North Korea of tomorrow,” said Katz, who is also transportation minister, according to a statement from his ministry.“Japan, like Israel, stands on the front line against North Korea as Israel stands on the front line against Iran,” Katz said. “The lesson learned from North Korea is that it is forbidden to let a dictatorship obtain nuclear capabilities and Iran should be prevented from obtaining missile ability that can threaten the region and the whole world.”The nuclear agreement, known in the US as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed between Iran and six world powers in 2015, and saw the lifting of crippling economic sanctions in return for Tehran accepting measures to prevent it from producing nuclear weapons before the deal’s expiration in 2025.Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposed the deal at the time and support US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to walk away from the agreement signed by his predecessor if it was not amended.Defying international pressure, North Korea has developed nuclear capabilities and detonated six nuclear test blasts alongside a series of ballistic missile tests that demonstrated its ability to hit targets as far away as the US. Iran has also vowed to continue improving its ballistic missiles, which Netanyahu has stressed could be mounted with nuclear warheads.Kono said Japan sees the connection between the Iranian threat to Israel and the North Korean threat to Japan. He said his country will support monitoring the nuclear agreement, as well as additional measures against Iran’s activities that destabilize the region.Katz discussed with Kono the possibility of increasing Japanese involvement in the Middle East and of Tokyo assisting in achieving peace and stability in the region.The two ministers agreed to set up a joint inter-government team to advance Katz’s Tracks for Peace project of regional transportation, which envisions plans to connect Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, the Gulf states, and even Iraq via an extended railroad network. The Japanese showed great interest in the initiative, the statement from Katz’s office said.“The promotion of political and strategic cooperation between the two countries and the mobilization of Japan’s support for important regional initiatives are significant in this visit,” Katz said. “Especially in its activity against Iran’s nuclear program and advancement in ballistic missiles”Katz’s visit was set to continue Wednesday with a meeting with the Japanese envoy to the Middle East and intelligence officials.
Poland honors historian who said Nazi invasion wasn’t so bad for Jews-Head of Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin receives government award, weeks after publishing article downplaying Jewish suffering in WW2-By JTA-oct 24,17
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish historian who said the country’s Nazi invasion was initially not so bad for Jews received a medal from the Polish Minister of National Education “for special merits for education.”The minister, Anna Zalewska, presented Tomasz Panfil with the honor at a ceremony in Warsaw earlier this month.Panfil, who is responsible for education at the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin, earlier this month wrote an article in which he stated that “after the aggression of Germany into Poland, the situation of the Jews did not look very bad.”“Although the [Nazi] occupation authorities took over, they ordered the wearing of armbands with the star of David, charged them heavy taxes, began to designate Jews-only zones only for the Jews,” he wrote, “but at the same time permitted the creation of Judenrat, that is, organs of self-government.”Panfil was criticized for his statement by the Institute of National Remembrance. Historians of the Holocaust note that the Judenrats were specifically set up to carry out German policy in the newly formed ghettos, where Jews were forbidden to leave under penalty of death.The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper this week revealed that in 2014 he issued an expert opinion to a Polish court in which he wrote that the swastika is an ambiguous symbol — not only related to Nazism, but also one that symbolizes happiness in some cultures. He also claimed then that the NSDAP, or the Nazi party, was a leftist party.
Iran sentences alleged Mossad agent to death-Prosecutor says suspect provided information on officials involved in country's military and nuclear programs in exchange for cash, Swedish residency-By AP-oct 24,17
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s judiciary said a court sentenced an alleged agent for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency to death.Tuesday’s report on the judiciary’s news website Mizanonline.ir quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying the suspect had relayed information about some 30 significant Iranian figures to Mossad during meetings with more than eight members of the Israeli agency at various occasions.He said the 30 Iranians were involved in research, military and nuclear projects, including two who were killed in bomb attacks in 2010, nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari and physicist Masoud Ali Mohammadi.The report said the suspect provided information in return for money and obtaining residency in Sweden. It did not elaborate.Iran occasionally announces similar verdicts. The fates of those sentenced remain unknown.
Syrians have hot water for dinner in hunger-hit besieged town-Red Cross says food scarcity 'getting worse' in rebel-held district outside Damascus blockaded by Syrian regime-By Abdulmonam Eassa and Amer Almohibany-oct 24,17-toi
HAMOURIA, Syria (AFP) — Manal boils water on the stove in the besieged Syrian town of Hamouria, hoping to convince her four children that she is cooking, but she has no food.She puts the pot on the flame as a ruse, waiting for the children to fall asleep in the dilapidated house before they realize there is nothing for dinner.In the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region where she lives, over 1,100 children are suffering acute malnutrition, and hundreds more are at risk because of food shortages caused by a government siege.Aid agencies warn the situation is worsening, despite an international agreement to implement a “de-escalation zone” in the area, which has decreased violence but led to no new access for food, medicine and humanitarian aid.“They haven’t eaten anything but bread for the last three days,” Manal told AFP in tears.“A neighbor gave us the flour.”Eastern Ghouta, which lies outside the capital Damascus, was once a prime agricultural region.But the rebel stronghold has been under a tight government siege since 2013, causing shortages of food and medicine, and pushing up prices for what remains on the market, produced locally or smuggled in.The region has been devastated by years of fighting, with government air strikes and shelling bringing down multi-story buildings and rendering whole streets uninhabitable.Basic services for the region’s estimated 400,000 residents are virtually non-existent, with electricity produced only by generators and the water available often dirty and a vector for illness.-Situation ‘getting worse’-Manal’s husband Abu Azzam is unable to work because of a serious injury he sustained in a shelling attack in their old home elsewhere in Eastern Ghouta several years ago.The attack killed one of their children, and left another, Azzam, missing a foot and dependent on crutches to get around.The family are desperately poor and have sold most of their furniture to afford food.“In 24 hours, we have a single meal, which is not enough for the children,” said Abu Azzam in despair.Ordinarily, the family might hope for assistance from aid groups, but humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta has been vanishingly rare throughout the conflict that began with anti-government protests in March 2011.Aid convoys can only enter with government permission, with just two accessing the region since August, carrying assistance for fewer than 100,000 people.In July, a “de-escalation zone” was implemented in Eastern Ghouta under a deal agreed by government allies Russian and Iran and rebel backer Turkey.The agreement was meant to improve humanitarian access, but Russian forces “did two distributions at a checkpoint and since then stopped,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.“Humanitarian needs in Eastern Ghouta are huge, and more needs to be done,” said Ingy Sedky, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.“The situation is getting worse,” she added.“We know from past experience that such situations, where the population depends on the provision of humanitarian aid for its very basic needs, can deteriorate very quickly, and reach tragic proportions.”-Dreaming of three meals a day-For some families, tragedy has already arrived.At least two children are reported to have died from malnutrition or its complications this month, among them 34-day-old Sahar Dofdaa, whose emaciated form, swamped by her diaper, appeared in shocking images beamed around the world over the weekend.She weighed less than two kilograms (just over four pounds) before she died Sunday at a hospital in Hamouria.Doctor Yayha Abu Yayha, who works at the hospital where Sahar died, said a key cause of infant malnutrition was that undernourished mothers were unable to feed their babies.“The basic nutrients that breastfeeding mothers need are not available,” he told AFP.“Most of them have anemia and deficiencies of vitamins A and D, as well as zinc and iron.”“Their bodies are weak, and so their children’s bodies are weak,” he said.Another factor is poor hygiene caused by dire living conditions, lack of running water, and lack of clean water, he said.Illnesses like diarrhea can quickly leave even well-fed children underweight.The UN’s children’s fund UNICEF told AFP that 232 children in Eastern Ghouta were suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which requires urgent treatment if the child is to survive.Another 882 were suffering moderate acute malnutrition, with more than 1,500 other children at risk, a spokeswoman told AFP.“All I want is to see my children with full bellies,” said Abu Azzam.“I hope the day will come when we’ll be able to eat three meals a day.”
Saudi crown prince says kingdom ‘returning to moderate Islam’-Mohammed bin Salman says country known for its ultra-conservative rule will become 'open to all religions and to the world'-By Agencies and TOI staff-oct 24,17
As Saudi Arabia feverishly portrays itself as ready to join the ranks of modern, tolerant societies, its powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday vowed to restore “moderate, open” Islam in a kingdom known for its ultra-conservative rule.“We are returning to what we were before — a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world,” he said at an economic forum in Riyadh.The kingdom’s Gulf Arab neighbors have sprinted toward modernity in recent years, building flashy skyscrapers and attracting foreign tourists, but Saudi Arabia’s development has lagged. Though the US prizes the close security alliance, Saudi Arabia’s restrictive freedoms, its conservative religious clergy and its human rights record made it difficult for two countries to claim they had much in common culturally.Now Saudi Arabia is under de facto control bin Salman, or MBS, as he’s known in foreign capitals. The 32-year-old is in line to inherit the throne from his father, King Salman, and is behind ambitious goals to create more jobs for young Saudis, bolster tourism and ease a historic overreliance on oil revenues after a drop in prices plunged the country into deficit, as well as change the country’s perceived extremist tendencies.“We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today,” he said Tuesday. “We will end extremism very soon.”The overhaul also means bringing more Saudi women into the workforce, with an eye toward creating more two-income households and weaning Saudis off of reliance on government perks. The official plan calls for increasing female participation from 22 percent to 30 percent.As part of that vision, the nation’s rulers issued a decree last month to lift its ban on women driving, starting next summer. It was a step toward erasing what much of the world sees as a stain on Saudi Arabia’s women’s rights record. Activists are pushing for greater human rights and political freedoms, even with the recent openings for women.
Gaza activists battle Hamas plan to turn rare Bronze Age city into military base-Strip's Islamist rulers want to concrete over Tell es-Sakan, a fortified Canaanite city-By AFP and TOI staff-OCT 24,17
Archaeologists and preservation activists in the Gaza Strip have managed to halt the destruction of a Bronze Age site for now, but the future of what remains may still be in jeopardy.Palestinian archaeologist Moain Sadeq said the mound at Tell es-Sakan near Gaza City is a “unique” site that could offer an invaluable glimpse into the region’s ancient heritage.It is “maybe the only fortified Canaanite city in southern Palestine” occupied continuously from 3200 to 2000 BCE, he says.Since it was discovered by chance in 1998, the manmade mound has been scarred by bulldozers more than once.A few weeks ago the earthmoving equipment returned yet again, destroying a large part of archaeological excavations carried out in 1999 and 2000 by Sadeq and his French colleague Pierre de Miroschedji.The land was to be cleared for homes for public officials in the Hamas-ruled territory and later for Hamas military bases. But after a concerted effort by archaeologists, academics and those concerned with Gaza’s heritage, the work was eventually halted.Still, the activists are unsure how long the reprieve will last in a strip of land that has already seen its archaeological riches devastated by three wars fought against Israel, Palestinian infighting, overcrowding and indifference.Excavation stops-The latest attempt to build over the ancient mound was the third time the site has been threatened by bulldozers since 1998.The first building works actually helped uncover the site as vigilant archaeologists spotted traces of ancient civilization being revealed and quickly intervened to stop construction.After that French and Palestinian experts moved in, but their dig was cut short in 2000 when the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel drove them away.Since then excavation work has remained frozen in time — with any attempt to restart it complicated by a new housing project that has cut off the north of the site.When the bulldozers recently returned, they devastated the excavation Sadeq and his colleagues had left as a work in progress.“The damage is very, very significant. Ancient dwelling structures and sections of the ramparts have been destroyed. Moveable artifacts have been taken away,” he said.Tell es-Sakan, a 300-meter (984-foot) diameter expanse of sand in an arid landscape, does not catch the eye of the casual observer.But archaeologists insist the site is of major interest, marking the shift from agricultural to urban society.Beneath the surface is “a huge, very important site, with (the remains of) fortifications, houses,” Sadeq said. “It is a city — not a small town, but a royal city, with a high level of organization, administrative and military structures.”-Egyptian royal seal-The site is located at the mouth of Gaza’s main watercourse, on the coastal route between Egypt and the ancient Canaanite region and beyond, to Syria and Mesopotamia.The oldest finds are remains of Egyptian design of clay dwellings, ceramics, stone tools and fragments of pendants.Pottery was found that could be linked to Narmer, Egypt’s first king, whose seal has been located elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, indicating Gaza’s close ties with its giant neighbor 1,000 years before the pyramids were built.To most Gazans the spot is a weekend leisure destination, where children play in the sand and young men practice motocross.They are vaguely aware of its historical significance, although no signs point it out.Nevertheless it was Gaza’s citizens who raised the alarm when the earthmovers rumbled in lately, said Jean-Baptiste Humbert, of the French Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem.Locals posted on social media, drawing the attention of the Gaza archaeology authority, which in turn alerted contacts outside the isolated strip, which Israel and Egypt have blockaded in order to prevent the import of weapons.Humbert, who helped block earlier construction, visited the site to assess the latest threat.His report and enlistment of supporters paid off, with the authorities behind the housing program agreeing to halt it, Jamal Abu Rida, general secretary of the Gaza archaeology authority, told AFP.The site, he said, is the authority’s property.“Nobody has the right to strip it,” he said.-Clashes of interest-Disputes between archaeologists and housing planners are common in the densely populated coastal territory of Gaza, where Israeli bombing and artillery fire during a war with Hamas, sparked after thousands of missiles were fired at Israeli civilians from the Strip, left tens of thousands homeless in 2014.Israel points to Hamas’s practice of embedding military infrastructure, including missile launchers, in residential areas as responsible for the large amount of destroyed housing.Humbert said that archaeologists on a dig are “like butterfly hunters” entranced by the history at their feet while Gaza housing officials have a totally different viewpoint.“They look at us… saying, from the 2014 war there are thousands of people still to be relocated. What is more important? “For them,” he aded, the building plan “was a positive operation.”Hamas, a terror group that seized control of Gaza from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup in 2007, has been accused of neglecting the Strip’s past, especially its pre-Islamic heritage.“We have a housing crisis and high population growth. We are talking about 2.05 million people in Gaza now,” said Amal Shmalee, a spokeswoman for the housing authority. “This necessitates new housing programs.”She said that nevertheless, construction work at Tell es-Sakan had been halted and “we are going to stick” to that decision.Archaeologist Sadeq, however, was not convinced that the pause in work would be for good.“I’m not sure it will last forever,” he said.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Israeli minister in Japan: Iran may become ‘tomorrow’s North Korea’-Yisrael Katz calls for Japanese support in changing nuclear deal; says Tokyo showed 'great interest' in regional rail proposal-By Stuart Winer-OCT 24,17
Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) on Monday urged Japan to back revisions to the Iran nuclear deal, warning that Tehran could follow in the footsteps of rogue nuclear state North Korea if not contained.Katz met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono during an official visit to Japan.“Iran must be stopped today so that it doesn’t become the North Korea of tomorrow,” said Katz, who is also transportation minister, according to a statement from his ministry.“Japan, like Israel, stands on the front line against North Korea as Israel stands on the front line against Iran,” Katz said. “The lesson learned from North Korea is that it is forbidden to let a dictatorship obtain nuclear capabilities and Iran should be prevented from obtaining missile ability that can threaten the region and the whole world.”The nuclear agreement, known in the US as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed between Iran and six world powers in 2015, and saw the lifting of crippling economic sanctions in return for Tehran accepting measures to prevent it from producing nuclear weapons before the deal’s expiration in 2025.Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposed the deal at the time and support US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to walk away from the agreement signed by his predecessor if it was not amended.Defying international pressure, North Korea has developed nuclear capabilities and detonated six nuclear test blasts alongside a series of ballistic missile tests that demonstrated its ability to hit targets as far away as the US. Iran has also vowed to continue improving its ballistic missiles, which Netanyahu has stressed could be mounted with nuclear warheads.Kono said Japan sees the connection between the Iranian threat to Israel and the North Korean threat to Japan. He said his country will support monitoring the nuclear agreement, as well as additional measures against Iran’s activities that destabilize the region.Katz discussed with Kono the possibility of increasing Japanese involvement in the Middle East and of Tokyo assisting in achieving peace and stability in the region.The two ministers agreed to set up a joint inter-government team to advance Katz’s Tracks for Peace project of regional transportation, which envisions plans to connect Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, the Gulf states, and even Iraq via an extended railroad network. The Japanese showed great interest in the initiative, the statement from Katz’s office said.“The promotion of political and strategic cooperation between the two countries and the mobilization of Japan’s support for important regional initiatives are significant in this visit,” Katz said. “Especially in its activity against Iran’s nuclear program and advancement in ballistic missiles”Katz’s visit was set to continue Wednesday with a meeting with the Japanese envoy to the Middle East and intelligence officials.
Poland honors historian who said Nazi invasion wasn’t so bad for Jews-Head of Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin receives government award, weeks after publishing article downplaying Jewish suffering in WW2-By JTA-oct 24,17
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish historian who said the country’s Nazi invasion was initially not so bad for Jews received a medal from the Polish Minister of National Education “for special merits for education.”The minister, Anna Zalewska, presented Tomasz Panfil with the honor at a ceremony in Warsaw earlier this month.Panfil, who is responsible for education at the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin, earlier this month wrote an article in which he stated that “after the aggression of Germany into Poland, the situation of the Jews did not look very bad.”“Although the [Nazi] occupation authorities took over, they ordered the wearing of armbands with the star of David, charged them heavy taxes, began to designate Jews-only zones only for the Jews,” he wrote, “but at the same time permitted the creation of Judenrat, that is, organs of self-government.”Panfil was criticized for his statement by the Institute of National Remembrance. Historians of the Holocaust note that the Judenrats were specifically set up to carry out German policy in the newly formed ghettos, where Jews were forbidden to leave under penalty of death.The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper this week revealed that in 2014 he issued an expert opinion to a Polish court in which he wrote that the swastika is an ambiguous symbol — not only related to Nazism, but also one that symbolizes happiness in some cultures. He also claimed then that the NSDAP, or the Nazi party, was a leftist party.
Iran sentences alleged Mossad agent to death-Prosecutor says suspect provided information on officials involved in country's military and nuclear programs in exchange for cash, Swedish residency-By AP-oct 24,17
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s judiciary said a court sentenced an alleged agent for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency to death.Tuesday’s report on the judiciary’s news website Mizanonline.ir quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying the suspect had relayed information about some 30 significant Iranian figures to Mossad during meetings with more than eight members of the Israeli agency at various occasions.He said the 30 Iranians were involved in research, military and nuclear projects, including two who were killed in bomb attacks in 2010, nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari and physicist Masoud Ali Mohammadi.The report said the suspect provided information in return for money and obtaining residency in Sweden. It did not elaborate.Iran occasionally announces similar verdicts. The fates of those sentenced remain unknown.
Syrians have hot water for dinner in hunger-hit besieged town-Red Cross says food scarcity 'getting worse' in rebel-held district outside Damascus blockaded by Syrian regime-By Abdulmonam Eassa and Amer Almohibany-oct 24,17-toi
HAMOURIA, Syria (AFP) — Manal boils water on the stove in the besieged Syrian town of Hamouria, hoping to convince her four children that she is cooking, but she has no food.She puts the pot on the flame as a ruse, waiting for the children to fall asleep in the dilapidated house before they realize there is nothing for dinner.In the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region where she lives, over 1,100 children are suffering acute malnutrition, and hundreds more are at risk because of food shortages caused by a government siege.Aid agencies warn the situation is worsening, despite an international agreement to implement a “de-escalation zone” in the area, which has decreased violence but led to no new access for food, medicine and humanitarian aid.“They haven’t eaten anything but bread for the last three days,” Manal told AFP in tears.“A neighbor gave us the flour.”Eastern Ghouta, which lies outside the capital Damascus, was once a prime agricultural region.But the rebel stronghold has been under a tight government siege since 2013, causing shortages of food and medicine, and pushing up prices for what remains on the market, produced locally or smuggled in.The region has been devastated by years of fighting, with government air strikes and shelling bringing down multi-story buildings and rendering whole streets uninhabitable.Basic services for the region’s estimated 400,000 residents are virtually non-existent, with electricity produced only by generators and the water available often dirty and a vector for illness.-Situation ‘getting worse’-Manal’s husband Abu Azzam is unable to work because of a serious injury he sustained in a shelling attack in their old home elsewhere in Eastern Ghouta several years ago.The attack killed one of their children, and left another, Azzam, missing a foot and dependent on crutches to get around.The family are desperately poor and have sold most of their furniture to afford food.“In 24 hours, we have a single meal, which is not enough for the children,” said Abu Azzam in despair.Ordinarily, the family might hope for assistance from aid groups, but humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta has been vanishingly rare throughout the conflict that began with anti-government protests in March 2011.Aid convoys can only enter with government permission, with just two accessing the region since August, carrying assistance for fewer than 100,000 people.In July, a “de-escalation zone” was implemented in Eastern Ghouta under a deal agreed by government allies Russian and Iran and rebel backer Turkey.The agreement was meant to improve humanitarian access, but Russian forces “did two distributions at a checkpoint and since then stopped,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.“Humanitarian needs in Eastern Ghouta are huge, and more needs to be done,” said Ingy Sedky, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.“The situation is getting worse,” she added.“We know from past experience that such situations, where the population depends on the provision of humanitarian aid for its very basic needs, can deteriorate very quickly, and reach tragic proportions.”-Dreaming of three meals a day-For some families, tragedy has already arrived.At least two children are reported to have died from malnutrition or its complications this month, among them 34-day-old Sahar Dofdaa, whose emaciated form, swamped by her diaper, appeared in shocking images beamed around the world over the weekend.She weighed less than two kilograms (just over four pounds) before she died Sunday at a hospital in Hamouria.Doctor Yayha Abu Yayha, who works at the hospital where Sahar died, said a key cause of infant malnutrition was that undernourished mothers were unable to feed their babies.“The basic nutrients that breastfeeding mothers need are not available,” he told AFP.“Most of them have anemia and deficiencies of vitamins A and D, as well as zinc and iron.”“Their bodies are weak, and so their children’s bodies are weak,” he said.Another factor is poor hygiene caused by dire living conditions, lack of running water, and lack of clean water, he said.Illnesses like diarrhea can quickly leave even well-fed children underweight.The UN’s children’s fund UNICEF told AFP that 232 children in Eastern Ghouta were suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which requires urgent treatment if the child is to survive.Another 882 were suffering moderate acute malnutrition, with more than 1,500 other children at risk, a spokeswoman told AFP.“All I want is to see my children with full bellies,” said Abu Azzam.“I hope the day will come when we’ll be able to eat three meals a day.”
Saudi crown prince says kingdom ‘returning to moderate Islam’-Mohammed bin Salman says country known for its ultra-conservative rule will become 'open to all religions and to the world'-By Agencies and TOI staff-oct 24,17
As Saudi Arabia feverishly portrays itself as ready to join the ranks of modern, tolerant societies, its powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday vowed to restore “moderate, open” Islam in a kingdom known for its ultra-conservative rule.“We are returning to what we were before — a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world,” he said at an economic forum in Riyadh.The kingdom’s Gulf Arab neighbors have sprinted toward modernity in recent years, building flashy skyscrapers and attracting foreign tourists, but Saudi Arabia’s development has lagged. Though the US prizes the close security alliance, Saudi Arabia’s restrictive freedoms, its conservative religious clergy and its human rights record made it difficult for two countries to claim they had much in common culturally.Now Saudi Arabia is under de facto control bin Salman, or MBS, as he’s known in foreign capitals. The 32-year-old is in line to inherit the throne from his father, King Salman, and is behind ambitious goals to create more jobs for young Saudis, bolster tourism and ease a historic overreliance on oil revenues after a drop in prices plunged the country into deficit, as well as change the country’s perceived extremist tendencies.“We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today,” he said Tuesday. “We will end extremism very soon.”The overhaul also means bringing more Saudi women into the workforce, with an eye toward creating more two-income households and weaning Saudis off of reliance on government perks. The official plan calls for increasing female participation from 22 percent to 30 percent.As part of that vision, the nation’s rulers issued a decree last month to lift its ban on women driving, starting next summer. It was a step toward erasing what much of the world sees as a stain on Saudi Arabia’s women’s rights record. Activists are pushing for greater human rights and political freedoms, even with the recent openings for women.
Gaza activists battle Hamas plan to turn rare Bronze Age city into military base-Strip's Islamist rulers want to concrete over Tell es-Sakan, a fortified Canaanite city-By AFP and TOI staff-OCT 24,17
Archaeologists and preservation activists in the Gaza Strip have managed to halt the destruction of a Bronze Age site for now, but the future of what remains may still be in jeopardy.Palestinian archaeologist Moain Sadeq said the mound at Tell es-Sakan near Gaza City is a “unique” site that could offer an invaluable glimpse into the region’s ancient heritage.It is “maybe the only fortified Canaanite city in southern Palestine” occupied continuously from 3200 to 2000 BCE, he says.Since it was discovered by chance in 1998, the manmade mound has been scarred by bulldozers more than once.A few weeks ago the earthmoving equipment returned yet again, destroying a large part of archaeological excavations carried out in 1999 and 2000 by Sadeq and his French colleague Pierre de Miroschedji.The land was to be cleared for homes for public officials in the Hamas-ruled territory and later for Hamas military bases. But after a concerted effort by archaeologists, academics and those concerned with Gaza’s heritage, the work was eventually halted.Still, the activists are unsure how long the reprieve will last in a strip of land that has already seen its archaeological riches devastated by three wars fought against Israel, Palestinian infighting, overcrowding and indifference.Excavation stops-The latest attempt to build over the ancient mound was the third time the site has been threatened by bulldozers since 1998.The first building works actually helped uncover the site as vigilant archaeologists spotted traces of ancient civilization being revealed and quickly intervened to stop construction.After that French and Palestinian experts moved in, but their dig was cut short in 2000 when the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel drove them away.Since then excavation work has remained frozen in time — with any attempt to restart it complicated by a new housing project that has cut off the north of the site.When the bulldozers recently returned, they devastated the excavation Sadeq and his colleagues had left as a work in progress.“The damage is very, very significant. Ancient dwelling structures and sections of the ramparts have been destroyed. Moveable artifacts have been taken away,” he said.Tell es-Sakan, a 300-meter (984-foot) diameter expanse of sand in an arid landscape, does not catch the eye of the casual observer.But archaeologists insist the site is of major interest, marking the shift from agricultural to urban society.Beneath the surface is “a huge, very important site, with (the remains of) fortifications, houses,” Sadeq said. “It is a city — not a small town, but a royal city, with a high level of organization, administrative and military structures.”-Egyptian royal seal-The site is located at the mouth of Gaza’s main watercourse, on the coastal route between Egypt and the ancient Canaanite region and beyond, to Syria and Mesopotamia.The oldest finds are remains of Egyptian design of clay dwellings, ceramics, stone tools and fragments of pendants.Pottery was found that could be linked to Narmer, Egypt’s first king, whose seal has been located elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, indicating Gaza’s close ties with its giant neighbor 1,000 years before the pyramids were built.To most Gazans the spot is a weekend leisure destination, where children play in the sand and young men practice motocross.They are vaguely aware of its historical significance, although no signs point it out.Nevertheless it was Gaza’s citizens who raised the alarm when the earthmovers rumbled in lately, said Jean-Baptiste Humbert, of the French Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem.Locals posted on social media, drawing the attention of the Gaza archaeology authority, which in turn alerted contacts outside the isolated strip, which Israel and Egypt have blockaded in order to prevent the import of weapons.Humbert, who helped block earlier construction, visited the site to assess the latest threat.His report and enlistment of supporters paid off, with the authorities behind the housing program agreeing to halt it, Jamal Abu Rida, general secretary of the Gaza archaeology authority, told AFP.The site, he said, is the authority’s property.“Nobody has the right to strip it,” he said.-Clashes of interest-Disputes between archaeologists and housing planners are common in the densely populated coastal territory of Gaza, where Israeli bombing and artillery fire during a war with Hamas, sparked after thousands of missiles were fired at Israeli civilians from the Strip, left tens of thousands homeless in 2014.Israel points to Hamas’s practice of embedding military infrastructure, including missile launchers, in residential areas as responsible for the large amount of destroyed housing.Humbert said that archaeologists on a dig are “like butterfly hunters” entranced by the history at their feet while Gaza housing officials have a totally different viewpoint.“They look at us… saying, from the 2014 war there are thousands of people still to be relocated. What is more important? “For them,” he aded, the building plan “was a positive operation.”Hamas, a terror group that seized control of Gaza from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup in 2007, has been accused of neglecting the Strip’s past, especially its pre-Islamic heritage.“We have a housing crisis and high population growth. We are talking about 2.05 million people in Gaza now,” said Amal Shmalee, a spokeswoman for the housing authority. “This necessitates new housing programs.”She said that nevertheless, construction work at Tell es-Sakan had been halted and “we are going to stick” to that decision.Archaeologist Sadeq, however, was not convinced that the pause in work would be for good.“I’m not sure it will last forever,” he said.
