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
Jordanian king warns US against moving embassy to Jerusalem-Abdullah II tells US lawmakers the promised step could stoke terrorism and undermine peace efforts-By TOI staff-NOV 30,17
Moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would threaten the prospects for peace, the Jordanian king told US decision-makers on Wednesday.Emphasizing that there is no alternative to the two-state solution, King Abdullah II said in Washington that it was important no measures be taken to undermine US efforts to kickstart peace talks, the Jordan Times reported.On Tuesday, US Vice President Mike Pence said US President Donald Trump was “actively considering” moving the embassy to Jerusalem, evoking a campaign promise that the administration had sidelined.On Wednesday, Hadashot television news reported that in Israel, “there is a very high expectation” that Trump will declare that he “formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and instructing his team to actively prepare to move the embassy.” The report said the declaration was expected within days, possibly as soon as Sunday.The White House said the TV report was premature, and there was no official confirmation of the claim from Israel or the US.The king, visiting Capitol Hill to discuss US-Jordanian strategic, military and economic cooperation, said that moving the embassy could only come as part of a comprehensive deal for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.Taking that step now could prompt terrorists to whip up anger, frustration and desperation in order to spread their ideologies, he warned.King Abdullah & Queen Rania of Jordan continued meetings today in Wash DC pic.twitter.com/Iqc2pBrRaq— Mica Mosbacher (@mosbacher_mica) November 30, 2017
Netanyahu proposed settling Palestinians in Sinai, Mubarak says-Former Egyptian president says he rejected PM's idea outright; remarks follow report on international bid to have Egypt take in Palestinians in 1983-By Sue Surkes-NOV 30,17
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had proposed settling Palestinians in the Sinai peninsula as part of a peace deal-related land swap in 2010.Mubarak said he rejected the idea outright.“In 2010, the prime minister of Israel proposed to me that Palestinians be settled in part of the territory of Sinai within [the framework] of a land swap. I immediately emphasized to him at that meeting that I’m not even willing to listen to those kinds of proposals in this connection,” Mubarak said, in comments posted on Facebook.On Monday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rejected calls by Likud lawmaker Gila Gamliel to use the Sinai for a Palestinian state and said Egypt had communicated its position on the issue to the Israeli ambassador in Cairo.Mubarak’s comments were published in response to a report by the BBC’s Arabic Service on Wednesday saying that he had agreed to resettle Palestinian refugees on Egyptian soil in 1983, although only within the context of a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.It was important, he said, to “clarify the following historical facts to the Egyptian people.“There is absolutely no truth to any claims of Egypt’s acceptance, or my acceptance, of resettling Palestinians in Egypt, specifically those who were in Lebanon at that time,” Mubarak added, according to a translation by Middle East Monitor.“Some parties tried to convince me to settle some of the Palestinians who were in Lebanon at the time in Egypt, which I absolutely refused, along with attempts and subsequent efforts to either settle Palestinians in Egypt or… in part of the Sinai territories through a suggestion of land exchanges that the Israeli prime minister at that time proposed,” he said.“I immediately confirmed to him in the meeting that I was not even ready to listen to any proposals regarding this matter again.”Mubarak, who was overthrown in the face of mass public protests in 2011, concluded, “I have maintained a principle that I have never changed, which is not letting go of any inch of the Egyptian land that I fought along with my generation for. This was embodied in our insistence on restoring the last inch of our land which was occupied in 1967 and our success in returning the whole town of Taba to Egyptian sovereignty.”The idea of establishing a Palestinian state in Sinai resurfaced in February in remarks by minister Ayoub Kara (Likud). They caused an outcry in Egypt.Just before a meeting between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in Washington, Kara claimed that the two leaders would discuss a plan to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula and not in the West Bank.A spokesman for Sissi categorically denied at the time that such an “unimaginable,” “unrealistic” and “unacceptable” plan had been discussed “on any level.”Kara was referring to a reported 2014 Egyptian proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in a large tract of land in the Sinai Peninsula to be annexed to the Gaza Strip. While the plan was rejected by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and denied by Egyptian officials, Israeli ministers welcomed the reported proposal as a rejection of efforts to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank.On the basis of documents obtained through Britain’s Freedom of Information Act, the BBC described on Wednesday a bid by world leaders to solve both the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the civil war in Lebanon, which had begun in 1975, by resettling Palestinians on Egyptian soil.Notes from a meeting between Mubarak and the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher indicated that the former had agreed to a request from then US president Ronald Reagan that Egypt accept Palestinians trying to flee Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982, on the condition that it form part of a “comprehensive framework for a solution” to Palestinian national aspirations.Israel had moved into southern Lebanon to stop Palestinian raids on Israel conducted from there.Thatcher’s response to the idea of a Palestinian state was reportedly lukewarm. She was concerned about increased Palestinian military activity against Israel, by the fact that “even the establishment of a Palestinian state could not lead to the absorption of the whole of the Palestinian diaspora,” and by the risk that a Palestinian state might serve as a regional foothold for the Soviet Union.According to the documents, Egypt’s foreign minister at the time, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, replied to Thatcher, “The Palestinians will have their own passports at that point and they will have different positions. We don’t only have to have an Israeli state and Jewish diaspora, but also a small Palestinian state with Palestinian diaspora.”Mubarak’s political adviser at the time, Osama al-Baz, said that a Palestinian state would be dependent on the anti-Soviet monarchies of the Gulf. “There will be no Palestinian state under Russian influence,” he reportedly stressed.Al-Baz spelled out a staged approach whereby a Palestinian state would first form part of a confederation with Jordan, evolving within 10 to 15 years into a demilitarized state.Mubarak, who was tried and jailed under the regime of his successor Mohammed Morsi, resigned in February 2011 in the face of massive protests against his rule in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Earlier this year, he was released from a military hospital after a long legal roller coaster.The two-state solution has long been favored by the international community as a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would see a Palestinian state established alongside the Jewish state of Israel.
IDF: Settlers attacked during West Bank hike, shoot Palestinian dead-Troops arrive at scene after clash; unclear if trip was coordinated with military-By Judah Ari Gross and Jacob Magid-TOI-NOV 30,17
A group of Israeli settlers, mostly children, came under attack outside a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank on Thursday, prompting their security guard to fire into the crowd of Palestinians, killing one person, the army said.According to the Israel Defense Forces, the settlers were on a hike near the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, when a group of Palestinian residents started throwing rocks at them.A settler, one of two armed escorts for the hike, took out his handgun and fired into the mob, killing one of the Palestinians, 48-year-old Mahmoud Za’al Odeh.One of the Israeli escorts suffered a light head wound. Another sustained an injury to one of his arms, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service. They were both taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.The IDF denied reports that one of the escorts had his gun stolen during the clash. “We heard the reports, we looked into it. No gun was stolen,” an army spokesperson said.Avraham Binyamin, a spokesperson for the Yitzhar settlement, said the hike was part of a “bar mitzvah trip for one of the children.”IDF troops and police arrived at the scene shortly after the clash broke out and drove back both sides with riot dispersal equipment, including tear gas. Medics also treated the wounded.Police said they had opened an investigation into the incident.During the clash, some of the hikers held up in a cave south of Qusra. A video from the scene, showed that their exit was blocked by a group of Palestinians. They were later rescued by Israeli security forces.One of the children said a Palestinian man discharged pepper spray into the cave while they were inside it.The child, who gave an on-camera statement that was released by the Samaria Regional Council, said that a second group of Palestinians arrived at the entrance of the cave and helped drive back the initial group that was blocking their exit, until the army arrived.One of the parents escorting the group said they opened fire at Odeh out of self-defense. “Our lives were in danger, as [the Palestinians] threw rocks and boulders at us,” he said.The Yesh Din human rights organization said the hikers came from the nearby illegal Esh Kodesh outpost and entered Palestinian farmland outside Qusra.According to Yesh Din, the slain Palestinian was working in his field at the time of the clash.The Samaria Regional Council said in a statement that there were approximately 100 Palestinians who attacked the group of children and parents.It was not immediately clear if the Israelis coordinated their hike with the military, as is generally required in the West Bank.According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers took Odeh’s body into custody as it was being taken to a hospital in the city of Nablus.Dov Lieber contributed to this report.
Britain’s May tours Mideast amid Islam row with Trump-Premier asks Saudis to ensure reopening of Yemen port to relieve humanitarian crisis-By AFP-NOV 30,17-TOI
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — British Prime Minister Theresa May met Saudi leaders in the capital Riyadh late Wednesday before leaving for Jordan Thursday on a Middle East tour overshadowed by a high-profile row with US President Donald Trump over Islam.Trump has infuriated British authorities with his tweets on terrorism in Britain, including highly publicized run-ins with London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan.On Tuesday, he drew fierce condemnation at home and abroad for retweeting three incendiary anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy head of a British far-right group who has been convicted of a hate crime.When challenged over the tweet, he then plunged deeper into controversy by suggesting May focus on defending Britain rather than criticizing him..@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017-She met both King Salman and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.The official Saudi Press Agency said May and the Saudi leaders “reviewed bilateral relations… in addition to discussing developments in the region.”May had promised to raise concerns over a worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen where a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has only partially lifted a crippling aid blockade.“The prime minister made clear that the flow of commercial supplies… must be resumed if we are to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” May’s office said. “They agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this.”UN officials have warned of the risks of the “world’s worst famine in many decades.”May had insisted that she would send a clear message to the Saudi leadership about the need to fully reopen the main rebel-held port of Hodeida.“I’m very concerned about the humanitarian crisis that has developed in Yemen, particularly most recently,” May told the BBC on Wednesday.“That’s why the strong message I will be giving to Saudi Arabia tonight is that we want to see Hodeida port opened for humanitarian and commercial access.”Saudi Arabia is Britain’s largest trading partner in the Middle East, and London has signed off on more than £3.3 billion ($4.4 billion/3.7 billion euros) worth of arms sales to Riyadh since March 2015.That was the month that Riyadh launched its intervention in Yemen. The war has since killed some 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.In Jordan, May is due to hold talks with King Abdullah II and Prime Minister Hani Mulki. Jordan is a close British ally and a partner in the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
EU official: Despite losing ‘caliphate,’ Islamic State still a threat-Gilles de Kerchove says those inspired by ideology may become entrenched in other countries with 'weak governance'-By Suzan Fraser-NOV 30,17
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The recent loss of its so-called “caliphate” will cripple the Islamic State group but the terror threat posed by the extremists is not over yet, the European Union’s counter-terrorism coordinator said.Gilles de Kerchove told The Associated Press in an interview that there hasn’t been a massive flow of IS fighters returning to Europe as many had feared following the group’s loss of territory in Syria and Iraq, adding that the intelligence services describe the fighters’ return as “more a trickle than a flow.”However, people inspired by the ideology remain a threat and the group is likely to entrench in other parts of world with “weak governance” such as Libya or Afghanistan, the EU official said.De Kerchove was in Turkey for talks on enhancing cooperation against terrorism. He spoke with the AP on Tuesday but his comments were under an embargo set by the EU’s office in Ankara until Thursday.IS has been driven from more than 96 percent of the large parts of Iraq and Syria it once held, crushing its goal of establishing a “caliphate” in the region.Raqqa, the group’s de-facto capital in Syria, fell to Kurdish-led forces on October 17, four months after operations to reclaim it began. The city was the group’s hub of operations, and its capture was a major symbolic blow.“With no physical ‘caliphate’ anymore, it will be much more difficult for the organization to repeat what they have done and attract so many people,” de Kerchove said. “That does not mean that the game is over. We still have to address the ideology. More and more, we see in Europe (people) inspired by terrorism, home-grown terrorism.”He said Islamic State “will probably develop in one way or the other in some parts where you have weak governance. Either more weak governance like in Libya or Afghanistan or where it’s more difficult to police, like in the Sinai.”An attack on a mosque in Egypt’s northern Sinai region last week killed more than 300 people.Addressing the issue of dozens of European women and children in Iraq and Syria whose husbands and fathers joined IS, de Kerchove said they should be allowed to return, but spoke of the necessity of putting in place effective rehabilitation programs.He praised Turkey’s efforts to fortify its border with Syria, through the construction of a wall and improved policing.“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to cross the border but it’s now 10 times more difficult than it was before,” he said.
What North Korean photos say about new ballistic missile-Experts examine images, conclude ICBM is bigger, more advanced and harder to destroy, but may not reach beyond US West Coast-NOV 30,17-TOI-By Eric Talmadge
TOKYO (AP) — North Korea released dozens of photos Thursday of the Hwasong-15, a new intercontinental ballistic missile it claims can reach any target in the continental United States. The photo dump, published in the paper and online editions of the ruling party’s official daily, is a goldmine for rocket experts trying to parse reality from bluster.Their general conclusion is that it’s bigger, more advanced and comes with a domestically made mobile launcher that will make it harder than ever to preemptively destroy. But there’s a potentially major catch: it might not have the power to go much farther than the West Coast if it is loaded down with a real nuclear warhead, not a dummy like the one it carried in its test launch on Wednesday.Here’s a closer look:-The missile-This November 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea.The North’s new missile appears to be significantly bigger than the Hwasong-14 ICBM it tested twice in July. Note how it dwarfs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who stands about 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches) tall. In a tweet just after the photos were published, Michael Duitsman, a researcher at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said: “This is very big missile … And I don’t mean ‘Big for North Korea.’ Only a few countries can produce missiles of this size, and North Korea just joined the club.” Size is important because a missile targeting the United States would have to carry a lot of fuel. Duitsman also suggested the new ICBM appears to have a different engine arrangement and improved steering.-The launcher-This November 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, in North Korea.North Korea boasted repeatedly in its announcement of the launch Wednesday that the Hawasong-15 was fired from a domestically made erector-launcher vehicle. Its photos back that up. Being able to make its own mobile launch vehicles, called TELs, frees the North from the need to get them from other countries, like China, which is crucial considering the tightening of international sanctions that Pyongyang faces. TELs make it easier to move missiles around and launch them from remote, hard-to-predict locations. That makes finding and destroying the Hawasong-15 before a launch more difficult.-The payload-North Korea claims the Hwasong-15 can carry a “super-heavy” nuclear payload to any target in the mainland United States. The re-entry vehicle, that nose cone in the photo, does indeed look quite large. But the heavier the load the shorter the range. Michael Elleman, a leading missile expert, has suggested in the respected 38 North blog that Hwasong-15’s estimated 13,000-kilometer (8,100 mile) range assumes a payload of around 150 kilograms (330 pounds), which is probably much lighter than any real nuclear payload the North can produce. To get to the West Coast, the North needs to keep that weight down to 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds). Whether it can do that remains questionable. “Kim Jong Un’s nuclear bomb must weigh less than 350 kilograms (800 pounds) if he expects to strike the western edges of the US mainland,” Elleman estimated. “A 600-kilogram (1,300-pound) payload barely reaches Seattle.”
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
Jordanian king warns US against moving embassy to Jerusalem-Abdullah II tells US lawmakers the promised step could stoke terrorism and undermine peace efforts-By TOI staff-NOV 30,17
Moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would threaten the prospects for peace, the Jordanian king told US decision-makers on Wednesday.Emphasizing that there is no alternative to the two-state solution, King Abdullah II said in Washington that it was important no measures be taken to undermine US efforts to kickstart peace talks, the Jordan Times reported.On Tuesday, US Vice President Mike Pence said US President Donald Trump was “actively considering” moving the embassy to Jerusalem, evoking a campaign promise that the administration had sidelined.On Wednesday, Hadashot television news reported that in Israel, “there is a very high expectation” that Trump will declare that he “formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and instructing his team to actively prepare to move the embassy.” The report said the declaration was expected within days, possibly as soon as Sunday.The White House said the TV report was premature, and there was no official confirmation of the claim from Israel or the US.The king, visiting Capitol Hill to discuss US-Jordanian strategic, military and economic cooperation, said that moving the embassy could only come as part of a comprehensive deal for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.Taking that step now could prompt terrorists to whip up anger, frustration and desperation in order to spread their ideologies, he warned.King Abdullah & Queen Rania of Jordan continued meetings today in Wash DC pic.twitter.com/Iqc2pBrRaq— Mica Mosbacher (@mosbacher_mica) November 30, 2017
Netanyahu proposed settling Palestinians in Sinai, Mubarak says-Former Egyptian president says he rejected PM's idea outright; remarks follow report on international bid to have Egypt take in Palestinians in 1983-By Sue Surkes-NOV 30,17
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had proposed settling Palestinians in the Sinai peninsula as part of a peace deal-related land swap in 2010.Mubarak said he rejected the idea outright.“In 2010, the prime minister of Israel proposed to me that Palestinians be settled in part of the territory of Sinai within [the framework] of a land swap. I immediately emphasized to him at that meeting that I’m not even willing to listen to those kinds of proposals in this connection,” Mubarak said, in comments posted on Facebook.On Monday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rejected calls by Likud lawmaker Gila Gamliel to use the Sinai for a Palestinian state and said Egypt had communicated its position on the issue to the Israeli ambassador in Cairo.Mubarak’s comments were published in response to a report by the BBC’s Arabic Service on Wednesday saying that he had agreed to resettle Palestinian refugees on Egyptian soil in 1983, although only within the context of a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.It was important, he said, to “clarify the following historical facts to the Egyptian people.“There is absolutely no truth to any claims of Egypt’s acceptance, or my acceptance, of resettling Palestinians in Egypt, specifically those who were in Lebanon at that time,” Mubarak added, according to a translation by Middle East Monitor.“Some parties tried to convince me to settle some of the Palestinians who were in Lebanon at the time in Egypt, which I absolutely refused, along with attempts and subsequent efforts to either settle Palestinians in Egypt or… in part of the Sinai territories through a suggestion of land exchanges that the Israeli prime minister at that time proposed,” he said.“I immediately confirmed to him in the meeting that I was not even ready to listen to any proposals regarding this matter again.”Mubarak, who was overthrown in the face of mass public protests in 2011, concluded, “I have maintained a principle that I have never changed, which is not letting go of any inch of the Egyptian land that I fought along with my generation for. This was embodied in our insistence on restoring the last inch of our land which was occupied in 1967 and our success in returning the whole town of Taba to Egyptian sovereignty.”The idea of establishing a Palestinian state in Sinai resurfaced in February in remarks by minister Ayoub Kara (Likud). They caused an outcry in Egypt.Just before a meeting between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in Washington, Kara claimed that the two leaders would discuss a plan to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula and not in the West Bank.A spokesman for Sissi categorically denied at the time that such an “unimaginable,” “unrealistic” and “unacceptable” plan had been discussed “on any level.”Kara was referring to a reported 2014 Egyptian proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in a large tract of land in the Sinai Peninsula to be annexed to the Gaza Strip. While the plan was rejected by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and denied by Egyptian officials, Israeli ministers welcomed the reported proposal as a rejection of efforts to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank.On the basis of documents obtained through Britain’s Freedom of Information Act, the BBC described on Wednesday a bid by world leaders to solve both the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the civil war in Lebanon, which had begun in 1975, by resettling Palestinians on Egyptian soil.Notes from a meeting between Mubarak and the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher indicated that the former had agreed to a request from then US president Ronald Reagan that Egypt accept Palestinians trying to flee Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982, on the condition that it form part of a “comprehensive framework for a solution” to Palestinian national aspirations.Israel had moved into southern Lebanon to stop Palestinian raids on Israel conducted from there.Thatcher’s response to the idea of a Palestinian state was reportedly lukewarm. She was concerned about increased Palestinian military activity against Israel, by the fact that “even the establishment of a Palestinian state could not lead to the absorption of the whole of the Palestinian diaspora,” and by the risk that a Palestinian state might serve as a regional foothold for the Soviet Union.According to the documents, Egypt’s foreign minister at the time, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, replied to Thatcher, “The Palestinians will have their own passports at that point and they will have different positions. We don’t only have to have an Israeli state and Jewish diaspora, but also a small Palestinian state with Palestinian diaspora.”Mubarak’s political adviser at the time, Osama al-Baz, said that a Palestinian state would be dependent on the anti-Soviet monarchies of the Gulf. “There will be no Palestinian state under Russian influence,” he reportedly stressed.Al-Baz spelled out a staged approach whereby a Palestinian state would first form part of a confederation with Jordan, evolving within 10 to 15 years into a demilitarized state.Mubarak, who was tried and jailed under the regime of his successor Mohammed Morsi, resigned in February 2011 in the face of massive protests against his rule in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Earlier this year, he was released from a military hospital after a long legal roller coaster.The two-state solution has long been favored by the international community as a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would see a Palestinian state established alongside the Jewish state of Israel.
IDF: Settlers attacked during West Bank hike, shoot Palestinian dead-Troops arrive at scene after clash; unclear if trip was coordinated with military-By Judah Ari Gross and Jacob Magid-TOI-NOV 30,17
A group of Israeli settlers, mostly children, came under attack outside a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank on Thursday, prompting their security guard to fire into the crowd of Palestinians, killing one person, the army said.According to the Israel Defense Forces, the settlers were on a hike near the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, when a group of Palestinian residents started throwing rocks at them.A settler, one of two armed escorts for the hike, took out his handgun and fired into the mob, killing one of the Palestinians, 48-year-old Mahmoud Za’al Odeh.One of the Israeli escorts suffered a light head wound. Another sustained an injury to one of his arms, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service. They were both taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.The IDF denied reports that one of the escorts had his gun stolen during the clash. “We heard the reports, we looked into it. No gun was stolen,” an army spokesperson said.Avraham Binyamin, a spokesperson for the Yitzhar settlement, said the hike was part of a “bar mitzvah trip for one of the children.”IDF troops and police arrived at the scene shortly after the clash broke out and drove back both sides with riot dispersal equipment, including tear gas. Medics also treated the wounded.Police said they had opened an investigation into the incident.During the clash, some of the hikers held up in a cave south of Qusra. A video from the scene, showed that their exit was blocked by a group of Palestinians. They were later rescued by Israeli security forces.One of the children said a Palestinian man discharged pepper spray into the cave while they were inside it.The child, who gave an on-camera statement that was released by the Samaria Regional Council, said that a second group of Palestinians arrived at the entrance of the cave and helped drive back the initial group that was blocking their exit, until the army arrived.One of the parents escorting the group said they opened fire at Odeh out of self-defense. “Our lives were in danger, as [the Palestinians] threw rocks and boulders at us,” he said.The Yesh Din human rights organization said the hikers came from the nearby illegal Esh Kodesh outpost and entered Palestinian farmland outside Qusra.According to Yesh Din, the slain Palestinian was working in his field at the time of the clash.The Samaria Regional Council said in a statement that there were approximately 100 Palestinians who attacked the group of children and parents.It was not immediately clear if the Israelis coordinated their hike with the military, as is generally required in the West Bank.According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers took Odeh’s body into custody as it was being taken to a hospital in the city of Nablus.Dov Lieber contributed to this report.
Britain’s May tours Mideast amid Islam row with Trump-Premier asks Saudis to ensure reopening of Yemen port to relieve humanitarian crisis-By AFP-NOV 30,17-TOI
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — British Prime Minister Theresa May met Saudi leaders in the capital Riyadh late Wednesday before leaving for Jordan Thursday on a Middle East tour overshadowed by a high-profile row with US President Donald Trump over Islam.Trump has infuriated British authorities with his tweets on terrorism in Britain, including highly publicized run-ins with London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan.On Tuesday, he drew fierce condemnation at home and abroad for retweeting three incendiary anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy head of a British far-right group who has been convicted of a hate crime.When challenged over the tweet, he then plunged deeper into controversy by suggesting May focus on defending Britain rather than criticizing him..@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017-She met both King Salman and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.The official Saudi Press Agency said May and the Saudi leaders “reviewed bilateral relations… in addition to discussing developments in the region.”May had promised to raise concerns over a worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen where a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has only partially lifted a crippling aid blockade.“The prime minister made clear that the flow of commercial supplies… must be resumed if we are to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” May’s office said. “They agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this.”UN officials have warned of the risks of the “world’s worst famine in many decades.”May had insisted that she would send a clear message to the Saudi leadership about the need to fully reopen the main rebel-held port of Hodeida.“I’m very concerned about the humanitarian crisis that has developed in Yemen, particularly most recently,” May told the BBC on Wednesday.“That’s why the strong message I will be giving to Saudi Arabia tonight is that we want to see Hodeida port opened for humanitarian and commercial access.”Saudi Arabia is Britain’s largest trading partner in the Middle East, and London has signed off on more than £3.3 billion ($4.4 billion/3.7 billion euros) worth of arms sales to Riyadh since March 2015.That was the month that Riyadh launched its intervention in Yemen. The war has since killed some 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.In Jordan, May is due to hold talks with King Abdullah II and Prime Minister Hani Mulki. Jordan is a close British ally and a partner in the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
EU official: Despite losing ‘caliphate,’ Islamic State still a threat-Gilles de Kerchove says those inspired by ideology may become entrenched in other countries with 'weak governance'-By Suzan Fraser-NOV 30,17
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The recent loss of its so-called “caliphate” will cripple the Islamic State group but the terror threat posed by the extremists is not over yet, the European Union’s counter-terrorism coordinator said.Gilles de Kerchove told The Associated Press in an interview that there hasn’t been a massive flow of IS fighters returning to Europe as many had feared following the group’s loss of territory in Syria and Iraq, adding that the intelligence services describe the fighters’ return as “more a trickle than a flow.”However, people inspired by the ideology remain a threat and the group is likely to entrench in other parts of world with “weak governance” such as Libya or Afghanistan, the EU official said.De Kerchove was in Turkey for talks on enhancing cooperation against terrorism. He spoke with the AP on Tuesday but his comments were under an embargo set by the EU’s office in Ankara until Thursday.IS has been driven from more than 96 percent of the large parts of Iraq and Syria it once held, crushing its goal of establishing a “caliphate” in the region.Raqqa, the group’s de-facto capital in Syria, fell to Kurdish-led forces on October 17, four months after operations to reclaim it began. The city was the group’s hub of operations, and its capture was a major symbolic blow.“With no physical ‘caliphate’ anymore, it will be much more difficult for the organization to repeat what they have done and attract so many people,” de Kerchove said. “That does not mean that the game is over. We still have to address the ideology. More and more, we see in Europe (people) inspired by terrorism, home-grown terrorism.”He said Islamic State “will probably develop in one way or the other in some parts where you have weak governance. Either more weak governance like in Libya or Afghanistan or where it’s more difficult to police, like in the Sinai.”An attack on a mosque in Egypt’s northern Sinai region last week killed more than 300 people.Addressing the issue of dozens of European women and children in Iraq and Syria whose husbands and fathers joined IS, de Kerchove said they should be allowed to return, but spoke of the necessity of putting in place effective rehabilitation programs.He praised Turkey’s efforts to fortify its border with Syria, through the construction of a wall and improved policing.“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to cross the border but it’s now 10 times more difficult than it was before,” he said.
What North Korean photos say about new ballistic missile-Experts examine images, conclude ICBM is bigger, more advanced and harder to destroy, but may not reach beyond US West Coast-NOV 30,17-TOI-By Eric Talmadge
TOKYO (AP) — North Korea released dozens of photos Thursday of the Hwasong-15, a new intercontinental ballistic missile it claims can reach any target in the continental United States. The photo dump, published in the paper and online editions of the ruling party’s official daily, is a goldmine for rocket experts trying to parse reality from bluster.Their general conclusion is that it’s bigger, more advanced and comes with a domestically made mobile launcher that will make it harder than ever to preemptively destroy. But there’s a potentially major catch: it might not have the power to go much farther than the West Coast if it is loaded down with a real nuclear warhead, not a dummy like the one it carried in its test launch on Wednesday.Here’s a closer look:-The missile-This November 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea.The North’s new missile appears to be significantly bigger than the Hwasong-14 ICBM it tested twice in July. Note how it dwarfs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who stands about 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches) tall. In a tweet just after the photos were published, Michael Duitsman, a researcher at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said: “This is very big missile … And I don’t mean ‘Big for North Korea.’ Only a few countries can produce missiles of this size, and North Korea just joined the club.” Size is important because a missile targeting the United States would have to carry a lot of fuel. Duitsman also suggested the new ICBM appears to have a different engine arrangement and improved steering.-The launcher-This November 29, 2017, image provided by the North Korean government shows what the North Korean government calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, in North Korea.North Korea boasted repeatedly in its announcement of the launch Wednesday that the Hawasong-15 was fired from a domestically made erector-launcher vehicle. Its photos back that up. Being able to make its own mobile launch vehicles, called TELs, frees the North from the need to get them from other countries, like China, which is crucial considering the tightening of international sanctions that Pyongyang faces. TELs make it easier to move missiles around and launch them from remote, hard-to-predict locations. That makes finding and destroying the Hawasong-15 before a launch more difficult.-The payload-North Korea claims the Hwasong-15 can carry a “super-heavy” nuclear payload to any target in the mainland United States. The re-entry vehicle, that nose cone in the photo, does indeed look quite large. But the heavier the load the shorter the range. Michael Elleman, a leading missile expert, has suggested in the respected 38 North blog that Hwasong-15’s estimated 13,000-kilometer (8,100 mile) range assumes a payload of around 150 kilograms (330 pounds), which is probably much lighter than any real nuclear payload the North can produce. To get to the West Coast, the North needs to keep that weight down to 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds). Whether it can do that remains questionable. “Kim Jong Un’s nuclear bomb must weigh less than 350 kilograms (800 pounds) if he expects to strike the western edges of the US mainland,” Elleman estimated. “A 600-kilogram (1,300-pound) payload barely reaches Seattle.”
