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
Rivlin: Government must prioritize ‘unity of
the Jewish people’-Amid fallout over cabinet decision to freeze Western
Wall deal, president hails Diaspora’s ‘significant role’ in building
Israel-By Alexander Fulbright June 29, 2017, 4:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
President
Reuven Rivlin on Thursday urged the government to prioritize the “unity
of the Jewish people” and retain its role as the state for all Jews,
following the fallout from a recent cabinet decision freezing a deal
establishing a pluralistic prayer section at the Western Wall.“The State
of Israel is the state of all the Jewish People and will continue to be
faithful to that commitment. Our fellow Jews in the Diaspora have an
important and significant role in the building of the State of Israel,”
the president said in an open letter.“This has always been so, and will
continue to be so. The unity of the Jewish People must always remain an
important aspiration of the governments of Israel.”In his letter, Rivlin
also said while many Israelis and Diaspora Jews don’t see eye-to-eye on
a number of issues, these “painful” differences must not undermine the
understanding of the Western Wall’s importance for all Jews.“During this
process we inevitably have to face difficult disputes among us,
disputes that are both painful and yet very real, founded in genuine
belief. Even so, we must remember that beyond the disagreements, we are
all one family and that every Jew has a special place in their heart for
the Kotel, the last remnant of our Holy Temple,” he said, using the
Hebrew name for the Western Wall.Sunday’s cabinet decision to halt the
January 2016 agreement establishing a pluralistic prayer area at the
Western Wall has been met with widespread dismay from liberal groups and
Diaspora Jews, with one prominent North American Jewish leader
comparing the move to a “sucker punch.”In response to the decision, the
Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors — which was meeting in Jerusalem this
week — took the unprecedented step on Monday of calling on the
government to reverse the move.The decision to freeze the agreement
coincided with a High Court of Justice deadline for the state to respond
to petitions on its failure to implement the agreement and construct
the mixed-gender plaza near Robinson’s Arch by this week. On Wednesday,
the High Court said a hearing will now be head in July.The move also
came amid pressure from Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox lawmakers to dial
back the plan to establish the egalitarian prayer space at the Western
Wall. Following the decision, a number of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers made
statements questioning Reform and Conservative Jewry’s connection to the
site, further adding to the tensions surrounding the cabinet
decision.Despite the pushback, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
defended the move, with an aide to the premier saying on Monday that it
will in fact help push the deal forward, and that Netanyahu had no
choice but to halt the agreement as a result of pressure from the
ultra-Orthodox parties, whose support he needs to maintain his ruling
coalition.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Interview-The
peace process hasn’t brought peace. The case for moving on-In a new
book, philosopher Micah Goodman seeks to upend the debate about the West
Bank, by urging Israelis — left and right — to set aside their
dreams-By Haviv Rettig Gur June 27, 2017, 9:01 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The
most popular new book in Israel is not a crime thriller, a romance or a
military sci-fi romp, and contains not a single teenage wizard or
vampire. It’s a political treatise written by a professor of medieval
philosophy. And it’s making a lot of people very angry.Its author, Micah
Goodman, is an affable 42-year-old famous among his students for his
enthusiasm in the classroom. Courteous and disarmingly talkative, he
seems an unlikely candidate for the role of iconoclastic upsetter of
Israel’s frenetic national debate about the future of the West Bank.But
upset he has. Over the past few weeks, Goodman’s Hebrew-language book
“Milkud 67,” or “Catch-67,” a play on Joseph Heller’s iconic “Catch-22,”
has angered some of the most respected dons on right and left. It drove
the 75-year-old former general and prime minister Ehud Barak to pen his
first-ever book review, a sprawling, scathing 4,000-word critique in
Haaretz that depicts Goodman as “saturated with right-wing ideology.”
And it drove the editor of the highbrow right-wing Makor Rishon
newspaper, Hagai Segal, to write a column charging that Goodman was a
closet leftist who had “adopted the left’s central moral premise – the
claim of occupation.”It is being read in Israel’s halls of power — Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seen carrying it in the Knesset’s
corridors with a bookmark peeking from its pages — and by many top
officials involved in administering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Roni Numa bought copies for his top
officers.But it isn’t just the elites who have taken notice. Since its
publication in March, Goodman’s book has steadily risen in the
bestseller lists and is now sitting pretty as the number 1 nonfiction
book in the country.But what is it that’s so maddening — and so
attractive — about this book? And why did it take a political outsider, a
student of medieval philosophers, to tell Israelis something new about
their endlessly debated and incessantly scrutinized predicament? -The
catch-The book is written in clear and lucid prose, and wraps up quickly
at page 166. That’s surprisingly short for what it attempts to
accomplish: tracing the history and development of the defining fracture
in Israeli political life across five decades — the question of what to
do with the West Bank.The first third of the book, titled “Political
ideologies in crisis,” offers a bird’s-eye view of the ideas behind what
are today broadly referred to as Israel’s “right” and “left.” The
second part, “Political arguments in crisis,” traces the political
narratives that evolved from these ideologies, and how they crashed and
collapsed in the face of hard, unexpected realities, leaving Israelis
perplexed and despairing.The pro-settlement right, he explains, failed
to convince most Israeli Jews that acquiring the land was worth the risk
of becoming an ethnic minority — or even only a small majority — in
their country. But it succeeded in instilling its second argument: that
withdrawal from the West Bank, especially after the bitter experience of
Gaza and Lebanon, would endanger Israelis.The peace-making left,
meanwhile, failed to convince most Israelis — again, especially after
bitter experiences such as the Second Intifada and the Gaza withdrawal —
that its “religious” (in Goodman’s words) yearning for reconciliation
was reciprocated on the other side. But it succeeded in its second
argument: that Israel could not afford to absorb millions of
Palestinians.Each side has lost the fight to impart its idealistic creed
to the majority of the nation — but convinced the country of the
urgency of its fears.There is deep empathy in the book for both stories,
an empathy that led Barak to complain that Goodman was creating a
“false equivalence.” The right-wing fear of withdrawal was a “tactical”
issue that could be solved by security, technological and intelligence
means, explained the former IDF chief of staff, while the left’s warning
of losing the Jewish state through demographics could not be staved off
by any measure other than withdrawal.Goodman’s response, also in the
pages of Haaretz, is surprisingly simple and straightforward.He accused
Barak of misunderstanding the problem, arguing that the left has failed
not because it is wrong — there is no ruling in this book as to which
side is correct — but because most Israelis, even among those who agree
with its ideals, don’t trust its judgment.“For most Israelis,” Goodman
wrote, “to deny the existential security danger of withdrawal from the
territories sounds just as ridiculous as the denial of an existential
demographic danger sounds to Barak… He expects Israelis to surrender
their strategic judgment to a security figure… [But] for most Israelis,
memories are more powerful than their impulse to obey. The territorial
withdrawals that ended in the rise of new strategic threats are etched
deeply into Israelis’ collective memory.”The exchange illustrates the
deeper argument in the book. Goodman avoids taking sides between left
and right not just because he respects both narratives — that respect,
he believes, is fundamental to seriously analyzing their failures, and
is why he devoted a third of his book to their intellectual
underpinnings — but also because he is sick of them.That Barak, Israel’s
last Labor prime minister, whose political demise in the inferno of the
Second Intifada augured almost two decades of irrelevance for the left,
still seems to believe he is arguing with some right-wing ideologue,
rather than the sway-able but anxious majority in the center, is the
real crisis of present-day Israel.The collapse of their respective
idealistic visions heightened each camp’s fixation on its own fear, and
destroyed the capacity of Israeli politics to carry on a serious
discussion of the country’s predicament. As Goodman explains in the
book, “The right asserts that if the left’s vision were realized, it
would cause the complete collapse of the state. The left asserts that if
the right’s vision were realized, it would cause the complete collapse
of the state. How can you listen to someone whose vision means
catastrophe for us all?”Without the capacity to listen — and, indeed,
with the real possibility that both sides are right — Israeli political
discourse can no longer address problems seriously, and resorts instead
to acts of “identity declaration.”Fifty years on from the Six Day War,
Israelis thus find themselves caught between two debilitating fears —
fear of withdrawal and fear of remaining — and ill-served by a political
class that shuns serious debate in favor of identity politics.That, in
short, is the country’s collective national “catch-67.”-‘There is no
solution’-The first chapter of part three, titled “The state and its
dreams,” is a delicate and crucial chapter. Goodman is about to present
his suggestion for a way forward in the conflict. But first, he has to
ask Israelis to surrender something very precious: their dreams.He does
so by telling them that the surrendering of dreams was among the
primordial acts of Zionism, and that without it Zionism could not have
achieved the establishment of the State of Israel.“When the idea of
partitioning the land between Jews and Arabs was put on the agenda of
the Zionist movement in the 1930s, it had steadfast opponents,” Goodman
writes. “One of the most strident was Menahem Ussishkin [a prominent
Zionist thinker and activist], who asked: ‘Is a nation permitted to
surrender its birthright?’ And he answered: ‘We won’t.’”Ussishkin’s
fear, Goodman explains, was not merely that the partition, which passed
in the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, would shrink the
borders of the new Jewish state. Rather, the fear, “felt by many in the
Zionist movement, was that the extreme territorial shriveling that the
partition plan demanded from the Jews would cause a [commensurate]
shriveling of their historical consciousness” — and at the most delicate
moment of nation-building.Compromising on one’s dreams often means
compromising on the meaning of one’s story and sense of purpose. For
Ussishkin and others, it meant shrinking the very heart of the Zionist
idea to fit the political exigencies of the moment.“I think [Israel’s
first prime minister David] Ben-Gurion agreed with that,” Goodman said
in a recent interview with The Times of Israel. “But he said, ‘Yeah, and
we should do it anyway.’“Ben-Gurion realized that you have to give up
many of your dreams to make the greater dream come true.” He surrendered
his socialism, too — that is, his vision of the idealistic Zionist
society of the future — in the service of a higher good. Thus he
dismantled the socialist Palmah militia to secure a unified military and
state, and sided with the US against the Soviets to ensure Israeli
prosperity and safety. Even his secularism, a deep-seated rebellion
against what he saw as the limited horizons and haplessness of the
diasporic “old Jew,” was up for grabs when he handed the nation’s
religious institutions to the ultra-Orthodox in 1937 in exchange for
their support before the British Peel Commission, which was tasked with
determining whether it was feasible to allow the establishment of a
Jewish state.You have to reach page 127, after part two’s perilous
journey through the agonizing implosion of Israeli political capacity,
to reach Goodman’s earnest defense of abandoning one’s dreams — be it
the fantasy of full, permanent control of the West Bank or the fantasy
that peace is attainable between this generation of Israelis and
Palestinians, or even the next.“There is no solution,” Goodman says. “If
you’re willing to accept the fact that there is no solution, then you
can start dealing with the problem.”He does not mince words about his
frustration with the right and left on this point. “In Israel it usually
goes like this: The left says there is a solution, by which they mean
we need a big peace initiative to solve all our problems. The right says
there isn’t a solution, so there’s nothing we should do except hang on
to the status quo.“I think that’s a false dichotomy. I think there is no
solution, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot we can do – precisely
because there’s no solution.”It is only when old paradigms and dreams
collapse that one is free to pursue new ones.The good news, in his view:
“This book is mainly about Israelis, and Israelis have already done
that. They have already abandoned the old dreams.“If the vision of the
‘Complete Land of Israel’ used to be part of the identity of so many
Israelis, I don’t think it is anymore. If the dream of peace was treated
on the Israeli left religiously, [as a line from the iconic ‘Song for
Peace’ reads,] ‘Don’t say the day will come, bring the day.’ There was a
sense of urgency. If history doesn’t lead toward peace, history has no
meaning. But Israelis on the left aren’t there anymore.”About 70 percent
of Israelis are “on the pragmatic side of Likud, Jewish Home, Labor,
Yesh Atid, Kulanu. All these Israelis, their labels are weak and they’re
open-minded, and they’re the ones my book isn’t challenging at all.
It’s challenging people on the right and left, but most of the responses
I’m getting is people saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re describing me. You’re
describing me.’”Most Israelis realize, he says, “that I’m not asking
them to compromise their identity in order to have a future. We already
compromised our identity. Most Israelis on the right want to stay in the
West Bank for security reasons, not identity reasons. It’s not about
sacred land, but about the unsacred [security realities of the] Middle
East. Most Israelis on the left want to leave the West Bank not because
of peace, which used to be part of their identity, but because of
security, [in the sense of] securing our majority.”The dreams are spent,
“but we didn’t cash that in.”It’s time to claim for ourselves the
upside of abandoning those dreams, he insists. A pragmatic, wary Israeli
polity must “find an intervention that will turn the conflict from one
that will end our national life” — either through demographics or war —
“to one that will be part of our life, like car accidents and crime and
poverty, which will always be part of our life, and we have to minimize
them and deal with them, but we accept the harsh fact that they will be
part of our life.”This is not what Benjamin Netanyahu or Moshe Ya’alon
have in the past referred to as “managing the conflict,” he adds
quickly. “This is reorganizing it — in a way that ends the control over
the Palestinian people without risking the Israeli people.”‘Why don’t we
do them tomorrow morning?’The key lies in “thinking about this like we
think about art, not like we think about religion. It’s not an
all-or-nothing game. We have to think about it quantitatively. Instead
of trying to end the conflict, can we shrink the size of the conflict?
Instead of ending the occupation, can we shrink dramatically the amount
of occupation? Instead of bringing peace, can we bring more peace? Let’s
think about it in quantities.”The book is full of examples, including
some buried in footnotes. He shares them eagerly in the interview.He
says, for example, that Israel could “easily increase” the size of
Palestinian-controlled Area A of the West Bank.“That would allow the
Palestinian Authority to grow economically. Right now it can’t build
homes outside Area A.” But according to Goodman, “If you make [another
20 percentage points] in [Israeli security-controlled] Area B into Area A
and maybe add 20 more from C to A, you’ve grown Area A from 22% of the
West Bank to 60%.“Second, invest a lot in a project that will connect by
roads and bridges all the Palestinian population [centers]. So even if
there’s no territorial contiguity, there’s movement contiguity. You can
maximize that.“A third thing we can do: There are many neighborhoods in
Jerusalem that no Jew ever thought were Jerusalem. There’s no strategic
need [to retain them] and no historic religious need. There are three
Jerusalems: historic Jerusalem is small — the Temple Mount, City of
David, etc; Jordanian Jerusalem was larger; and then we annexed another
18 more [Palestinian] villages [beyond Jordanian East Jerusalem].“Let’s
just declare that only Jordanian [East] Jerusalem is Jerusalem.” That
would allow Israel to take advantage of a “symbolic gap: There’s a lot
of Jerusalem that for Jews is not really Jerusalem but for Palestinians
is Jerusalem. Meaning, there is room for some sort of deal where you
move some neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.”It is here
that the right gets livid and calls Goodman a leftist. Not only is he
talking about concessions — he demands no reciprocity, no Palestinian
peace for such extensive gestures.And that’s the point.“This is not for
peace, but for just one thing: That this new entity that we’re expanding
and strengthening has greater symbolic weight. I would like this
conflict to be between two political entities and not between a
political entity that’s in control of a people. I don’t want them as
conquered, but as enemies from the outside.”Combine those ideas with,
for example, “a deal with the Jordanians to create easier border
crossings to Jordan, and perhaps even a dedicated Palestinian terminal
in Amman airport, so they have an easier way to get out to the world,”
and you’ve accomplished something that is emphatically in Israel’s
interest, and helps Israel escape its catch-67: “Those four things alone
dramatically minimize the occupation, the real-world occupation, but
don’t risk Israelis. So why don’t we do them tomorrow morning?”The
reason, he believes, is that “the left feels we need to keep those parts
[of areas B or C] for the big peace deal, and the right feels we need
them for settlements.” Israel is held back by failed ideologies, he
argues, “not by things that actually bother Israelis.”There is already a
Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. “We don’t have to create it,
only to increase it, to grow it and empower it so it will be what Henry
Kissinger called an ‘almost state.’ It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot
better than what we have now.”-‘Listening to foreigners’-It may be
short, but the book is by no means simple, and Goodman is not a simple
thinker about the Israeli condition. He’s a research fellow at the
left-leaning Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and the founder and
director of Ein Prat, a pluralistic and liberal academy in the West Bank
settlement of Alon that offers Israelis in their twenties programs for
studying and debating questions of Jewish thought and Israeli identity.
Goodman’s own life straddles the boundaries he describes in the book.So
he knows how his readers are likely to respond to his
suggestions.“People on the left will say, ‘You still have occupation at
the end of the day. You still have troops, you’re still occupying the
land.’”His response is unequivocal: “I would freeze all settlements
outside the settlement blocs. It’s important. Israelis and Palestinians
are traumatized by Oslo. Israelis are traumatized that Oslo didn’t lead
to peace, but to the Second Intifada. Palestinians are traumatized that
the settlements grew dramatically during Oslo. So we all feel like we
tricked each other. That’s why freezing settlements is so important. It
shows this is not manipulation.”On the right, he adds, the sense of
concessions without reciprocity will evoke the right’s own traumas from
Oslo, and more recently from the 2005 Gaza Disengagement. The Israeli
right (and many on the left) believes that every round of Israeli
concessions resulted in an uptick in violence and a belief among the
Palestinians that violence is the only way to drive ostensibly powerful
Israel to a slow, steady retreat. For the right, that conviction that
withdrawals breed war rather than peace turns any “pragmatist” in the
Goodman mold into the very blinkered idealist he is railing against.And
Goodman agrees.“I do not think this will end the conflict. It might
amplify the conflict. And you know what? Bring it on.“I’m not for ending
the conflict. It doesn’t seem possible. I want to reorganize the
conflict. I want a conflict where there’s a political almost-state
entity in front of me, and if that state will attack me, fine. I don’t
want to control them, and I don’t want to be threatened by them. I can
maximize these two needs by reducing by 80-90% the occupation, but I’m
still in control” of the security situation on the ground. “That’s the
main thing.”Will it explode in Israel’s face like Gaza after the Hamas
takeover in 2007? “Probably.”“The precedent of Gaza should guide us, but
not paralyze us. We can’t say, ‘Okay, there was a unilateral withdrawal
from Gaza [that had negative outcomes] so we shouldn’t even consider
anything unilateral.’ We should say, ‘We shouldn’t do anything
unilateral like we did in Gaza.’”The Gaza withdrawal involved two
fundamental Israeli mistakes that can serve as lessons for the West
Bank, he argues.“First, we left the Philadelphi Corridor [the border
between Gaza and Egypt], which people in the [IDF] General Staff said we
shouldn’t do. [Then-prime minister Ariel] Sharon was still guided by
the 1967 Green Line. He wanted to show the world that we left all the
land behind the Green Line. It would have been a pain in the butt [to
stay on that border], and soldiers would have died there, but we would
have been able to block the link between Gaza and Tehran. So the [West
Bank] parallel [to leaving the Philadelphi Corridor] would be a
withdrawal from the Jordan Valley.”Second, “the parallel in Gaza to what
I’m saying would have meant not evacuating the northern bloc [of
settlements adjacent to the Israeli border]. There was no need to do
that. Why did we do that? Those villages did not break Arab territorial
contiguity. We probably had to remove Kfar Darom, of course, Morag,
Netzarim [all settlements nestled between Palestinian cities]. The only
consideration in withdrawal should be territorial contiguity, and
leaving the IDF wherever it wants to remain.”It was Sharon’s concern for
international opinion, “which became more important than the security
factor,” that turned the withdrawal into a “disaster.”The mistake, in
other words, “was listening to foreigners, and thinking that the Green
Line gives us any legitimacy. The evidence suggests this isn’t true.
When we protect ourselves from behind the Green Line, we’re still seen
as war criminals. So the Green Line didn’t give us a lot in Gaza. But
not staying in Philadelphi cost us a lot.”‘Handshake in the White
House’-“Catch-67” is a Hebrew book written for Israelis, and Israelis
have responded in dramatic fashion to its validation of their competing
narratives and anxieties.But its popularity is also due in part to the
way it distinguishes between Israeli interests and those of emotionally
invested foreigners, the sort of eager meddlers Israelis no longer trust
to bring either security or peace.“We don’t need a handshake in the
White House,” Goodman asserts. “Let’s just do it. Instead of a grand
deal, let’s do small deals here and there. We’ll open up land so
Palestinians can build here, we’ll sign some investment deal there.
We’ll encourage stability and international investments. There are
actions we can take when we stop looking for the plan that will redeem
us.“This is an 80-20 proposition. We grow their independence by 80%. We
can’t give them the last 20% because that’s the part that threatens
Israel. In the last 20% you’ll lose [the support of] Israelis. The
Palestinians get 20% of the land for free [in the Area A expansion, if
not 40%]. They don’t have to recognize Israel or give up the right of
return or anything like that. It’s just a local deal, not a grand
attempt to solve the conflict. There’s no memorandum of understanding,
no ‘dawn of a new day.’ When Barak was elected [in 1999] he said, ‘This
is a new age.’ This is not a new age. Whatever works — let’s do more of
it.”The Palestinians can’t openly accept such a limited Israeli move, he
knows, but it nevertheless would solve an acute problem for them as
well: immigration.“Practically speaking, what would happen if there was a
completely independent Palestinian state, right now, where they control
the Jordan Valley? There are millions of refugees in the Middle East,
many of them Palestinians. So what happens when the ethos of return
meets the need of emigration [from their current countries]? They’d have
to bring them in. It’s my guess — and it’s more than a guess; many
Palestinians have told me this — that they can’t say to them, ‘No, you
can’t come in.’ They’d want to say no, because Palestine would collapse
if a million refugees were to come in.“But if they’re almost a state,
with Israeli forces in the Jordan Valley…we can be the bad cop for them,
saying ‘no.’ That’s the only way you could have a stable state.”-‘We
can’t talk to them’-In the end, Goodman believes, it is in such
quantitative improvements that any chance for a more comprehensive
reconciliation and separation might be found.“We can’t talk to them. No
interaction with them is a real interaction because of [the gap in]
power. They’ll always react to power, either by over-laughing at my
jokes or somehow pointedly showing me they don’t care about me. Power
corrupts everything.“I want to have a conversation with them. I think as
a Jew that there’s a reason why we’re in the Middle East. There’s a lot
for us to learn from Islam and the Arabs. But there’s nothing we can do
because there’s power there.“I wish there could be no conflict. If I
could, I’d end the occupation. But because I can’t without risking
Israelis, I want to minimize the power element. If I can reduce the
occupation without risking Israelis, I choose that, and that’s the
beginning of reconciliation.”He says the next words almost
apologetically, as though unsure how this sliver of idealism was somehow
allowed to creep into the discussion. “If we can achieve 40 years where
Palestinians almost don’t experience occupation and Jews almost don’t
experience terrorism, we’ve broken catch-67. Jews don’t live with
anxiety, Palestinians don’t live with humiliation, and now,
psychologically, the next generation can reach for reconciliation.”
Israel
freezes visits to Hamas prisoners amid talks over troops’
remains-Terror group says move, demanded by lawmakers and relatives to
up pressure as talks stall, is tantamount to declaration of war-By Avi
Issacharoff and Times of Israel staff June 29, 2017, 3:22 pm-THE TIMES
OF ISRAEL
Hamas on Thursday said that Israel had stopped
allowing Gazan members of the terror group serving time in Israeli
prisons to receive visits from family members, in a move intended to
ramp up pressure amid negotiations for the return of three Israeli
civilians and the bodies of two soldiers being held in the Strip.Hamas
leaders condemned the move as “the beginning of a war against the
prisoners.”“We will not allow this decision to stand, whatever the price
may be,” they said in a statement.An Israeli prison official refused to
confirm the policy change.Israel is holding some 150 Hamas security
prisoners from Gaza. In the past, families of Palestinian inmates have
been granted permits to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel to visit
them.The families of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, two soldiers killed in
Gaza during fighting in 2014, have urged Israel to disallow the visits
as a means of pressuring Hamas to return the troops’ bodies and praised
the reported move.praised the move.“We’ve been asking the government for
two and a half years to apply pressure on Hamas in order to change the
equation, to make them understand that holding IDF soldiers is a burden
rather than an asset. Something is finally moving,” said Simcha Goldin,
father of Hadar Goldin, according to the Ynet news site.Hamas is thought
to also be holding three Israelis who crossed into Gaza.Talks over a
possible swap have mostly stalled, and lawmakers recently joined calls
to cut the visits.Earlier this month Likud MK Yoav Kisch led 40
parliamentarians who put their names to a letter demanding the
government end the family visits until the soldiers are returned, the
Hebrew Walla website reported at the time.The missive, signed by MKs
from both the coalition and opposition, urged a policy of “a
humanitarian step in exchange for a humanitarian step.”The MKs asked the
government to send a message to Hamas that the return of the soldiers
is a precondition for future humanitarian steps.“It is unreasonable for
the Israeli government to decide on a series of humanitarian steps for
Hamas in Gaza while it continues to hold our sons,” the wrote.“We call
on the government to adopt the policy and as a first stage stop the
visits by families from the Gaza Strip to prisoners,” the lawmakers
wrote.On Tuesday, Channel 1 news reported that Israel and Hamas have
been engaged in intensive indirect talks recently over the release of a
number of Israeli nationals held captive by the terror group in Gaza.In
addition to returning the missing soldiers, Israel has been seeking to
reach a deal with the rulers of the Gaza Strip to secure the release of
three Israeli men who crossed into the coastal territory of their own
accord: Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as Juma Ibrahim
Abu Ghanima, whose presence in Gaza is unconfirmed.The talks, which are
being mediated by an unnamed third party, have gathered momentum over
the past two weeks, following the return of Hamas’s leader in Gaza,
Yahya Sinwar, from a visit to Egypt earlier this month, the report
said.Hamas demands that Israel release all prisoners from the 2011
exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who were rearrested in
2014 when three Israeli teens were abducted in the West Bank (it later
emerged that they had been killed almost immediately) before any
advancement in negotiations between the parties can take place.
Edelstein
tells Moscow: Syria spillover a ‘red line’ for Israel-Meeting with
Lavrov, Knesset speaker says Jerusalem won’t tolerate continued errant
fire on its territory, asks Kremlin for help in retrieving soldiers’
remains from Hamas-By Marissa Newman June 29, 2017, 3:00 pm-THE TIMES OF
ISRAEL
MOSCOW — Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on
Thursday warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Israel would
not tolerate continued stray fire from the Syria civil war on the Golan
Heights, describing it as a “red line” for the Jewish state.Over the
past week, errant fire from Syria struck the Golan Heights on at least
four occasions, leading the IDF to target Syrian army installations,
including in a strike on Saturday that reportedly killed two Syrian
soldiers. Israel holds the Assad regime — which is supported by Russia
and Iran in the conflict — responsible for all incidents originating
from the war-torn country.In a meeting in Moscow’s Foreign Ministry,
Edelstein said “fire, or what is being called ‘spillover fire,’ into
Israeli territory is a red line that we will under no circumstances
allow to be crossed, and we will not tolerate an Iranian presence on the
border.”Israel fears the Islamic Republic, along with its proxies, will
entrench its forces on its northern border, giving it greater access to
attack the Jewish state.Edelstein did not say what other steps Israel
would be willing to take to enforce its red line. Jerusalem has been
careful to stay out of the Syrian fighting, beyond retaliatory strikes
and reported airstrikes on alleged weapons transfers to terror group
Hezbollah.Lavrov expressed “understanding” of Israel’s security
concerns, Edelstein said after the meeting, though “not all gaps were
closed” during the powwow.Edelstein also appealed to Lavrov to help
Israel retrieve the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza
war being held by the Hamas terror group in the coastal enclave. He left
a packet of information with Lavrov on soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron
Shaul — as well as IDF soldier Guy Hever, who went missing in 1997 on
the Golan Heights.The Knesset speaker expressed concern over heightened
tensions between Washington and Moscow, which he suggested could affect
Israel.“The good relations between Moscow and Washington are essential
for the peace of the world and certainly for the State of Israel,” he
said.Welcoming Edelstein ahead of the meeting, Lavrov noted the
“constant contact” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel coordinates with Russia to carry out
pinpoint strikes on Hezbollah arms convoys in Syria.Both Lavrov and
Edelstein acknowledged warming ties between Moscow and Jerusalem on
economic affairs, education, and parliamentary cooperation.The Knesset
speaker was in Moscow for a three-day official visit at the invitation
of Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko.A former prisoner
in Siberia for teaching Hebrew, Edelstein on Wednesday became the first
Israeli to address the upper chamber of the Russian parliament.In his
address to Russian lawmakers, the Knesset speaker outlined security
threats facing Israel, from Hezbollah in the north to Hamas in the
south.“Behind Hezbollah and Hamas stands Iran,” which aspires for
regional expansion and “spreads its ideologies of hatred of mankind,
which threaten all the nations of the world,” he said.
UN
chief distances himself from Palestinian summit on 50 years of
occupation-Spokesman for António Guterres says meeting, protested by
Israel over alleged terror ties of 2 participants, has nothing to do
with his office-By Stuart Winer June 29, 2017, 4:35 pm-THE TIMES OF
ISRAEL
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
indicated that a summit organized by a pro-Palestinian UN group to mark
five decades of Israeli control of the West Bank did not have the
blessing of his office.Israel’s envoy to the UN Danny Danon had earlier
protested to Guterres against the “United Nations Forum to Mark Fifty
Years of Occupation” because, he said, some of the billed participants
were from organizations with ties to Palestinian terror groups Hamas and
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.The two-day meeting,
beginning Thursday at UN headquarters in New York, was organized by the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People.Answering questions about the forum, Stephane Dujarric, the
spokesman for Guterres, said Wednesday that his office was “aware of the
position of the Israeli Government.”“They’ve communicated with the
Secretary‑General’s Office,” he said. “This is a meeting that is being
organized by a committee of the membership. It is not something that is
being sponsored by the Secretariat. I think any questions as to the
invitees and the way the meeting is organized should be directed to the
members of the committee.”On Wednesday Israel’s UN delegation said in a
statement that “according to intelligence information” the Al Haq group
“collaborates with the PFLP” and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Organization “works together regularly with the Hamas terrorist
organization.”Representatives of Al Haq and the Al Mezan Center were
scheduled to participate in the forum, the Israeli delegation said.Hamas
and PFLP have both carried out numerous attacks on Israeli security
forces and civilians. Most recently Hamas and the PFLP claimed
responsibility for a June 16 shooting and knife attack outside the Old
City in Jerusalem in which Israeli border policewoman Hadas Malka was
stabbed to death.“The UN is colluding with supporters of terror seeking
to harm Israel,” Danon said in the statement. “It is beyond
comprehension that UN funds are supporting organizations which aid
terrorists and incite against Israel. We call on the Secretary General
to intervene immediately and prevent these individuals from appearing at
the UN.”During the Wednesday press briefing Dujarric was also quizzed
about a celebration event on Tuesday organized by Israel’s delegation at
the UN’s New York headquarters to mark the 50th anniversary of the
reunification of Jerusalem following the June 1967 Six Day War during
which Israel gained control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and other
territories.Durarric referred to his previous sentiments regarding the
Palestinian summit and said, “As I answered…events organized by member
states, whether collectively or one by one, those questions should be
addressed to the member states.”According to the Israeli delegation,
ambassadors and diplomats from around the world joined hundreds of
participants from the pro-Israel community for the Israeli events, which
included a performance by Israeli singer Sarit Hadad.
Politicians
welcome Olmert parole, urge he be left in peace-Former PM to volunteer
with charitable groups after he goes free Sunday, assuming no appeal by
prosecution-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff June 29, 2017,
12:56 pm
Politicians and former colleagues from both
sides of the political divide on Thursday welcomed a parole board
decision to grant an early release from prison to former prime minister
Ehud Olmert, who is serving time for corruption.The board said Olmert
had earned early release with his good behavior. Olmert, 71, who was
premier between 2006 and 2009, has served 16 months out a 27-month
sentence.Olmert’s attorney Shani Illouz said he was very pleased to be
reuniting with his family soon.“The board accepted each and every one of
our arguments,” she said. “Ehud Olmert will be released on
Sunday.”Illouz explained that under the terms of the parole, Olmert will
volunteer at two charity groups, Leket Israel, which collects food for
the needy, and Ezra Lemarpeh, which assists the sick, the Hebrew news
Ynet website reported.Olmert, she noted, asked to volunteer at the
organizations even though he is not required to do so because of his
age. The former prime minister will also make weekly visits to the
prisoner rehabilitation authority and he must sign in with police twice a
month, as is initially required of all paroled prisoners.“Other than
that, there are no additional limitations,” Illouz said.Barring any
unforeseen developments, Olmert will walk free on Sunday, said Prison
Service spokesman Assaf Librati.Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev
Elkin welcomed the decision, saying Olmert has “paid his debt to society
and anyone else in his position would have been released long
ago.”Elkin, in the past a member of the Kadima party led by Olmert,
denounced the State Prosecutor’s Office for considering lodging an
appeal against the release, saying “the prosecutor’s desire to appeal
and delay the immediate release without even studying the decision in
depth, seems like a personal persecution of a man who made a large
contribution to Israel.”It was not immediately clear if the prosecution
would appeal the decision; it had until Thursday afternoon to notify the
prison board.Opposition Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni, who served as
foreign minister under Olmert before he stepped down in 2009, praised
the early release decision as “fitting.”Her fellow faction member MK
Yoel Hasson said it was “a correct decision, legally and personally and I
think also for the public.”Zionist Union MK Shelly Yachimovich tweeted
that “I don’t oppose and I don’t welcome Olmert’s release. Yes, the
obsessive attention on the bitter fate of a criminal from the [social]
elite annoys me when there are many common criminals in prison.”Olmert
was one of eight former officials and businessmen convicted in March
2014 in the Holyland real estate corruption case, which has been
characterized as among the largest graft cases in Israel’s
history.Zionist Union MK Amir Peretz, who served as defense minister in
an Olmert-led coalition, also welcomed the development and said he hoped
that the prosecutor wuold respect the decision and leave Olmert in
peace.Olmert’s chances for early release were complicated over the last
few weeks as he was accused of divulging of sensitive information in
memoirs he is writing and sneaking a transcript out of prison.The
prosecution had said the book Olmert is writing contains “sensitive
security issues” and that his lawyer was caught leaving the prison with a
chapter on “secret operations” not approved by the censor for
publication.Illouz said the prison board found that Olmert had not been
warned by prison authorities before writing the book that he could not
send and receive sensitive material from his cell and therefore could
not be faulted for the security lapse.“It [the board] ruled that if
there was neglect, it shouldn’t be pushed onto the prisoner but that the
prisoner service should review itself,” she said.The prosecution
earlier asked police to open a criminal investigation into the matter
and argued that it would be inappropriate to consider early release
until the probe was completed and it was clear whether Olmert had
engaged in illegal activity.Olmert has denied doing anything
wrong.Police searched the offices of the Yedioth Books publishing house
and the home of Yehuda Yaari, who is editing Olmert’s memoirs on behalf
of the publisher, over the incident.Initially sentenced to 19 months in
the Holyland case, in September 2016 Olmert was sentenced to an
additional eight months behind bars for the so-called Talansky affair.
In that case, a court upheld a 2015 conviction over his accepting
envelopes full of cash from American businessman and fundraiser Morris
Talansky, in exchange for political favors during his decade-long term
as mayor from 1993 to 2003.AP contributed to this report.
Brazil
denied 16,000 visas to Jews during Nazi regime — study-Holocaust expert
says number of rejected requests could be even higher, as research only
covered some of documents-By JTA June 29, 2017, 6:15 pm-THE TIMES OF
ISRAEL
RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian government denied
some 16,000 visas to European Jews attempting to escape the Nazi regime,
according to new research looking at thousands of Brazilian documents
from the World War II era.The research was undertaken by Brazil’s
Virtual Archives on Holocaust and Antisemitism Institute, or Arqshoah.
It was made public for the first time last week in a documentary aired
on Brazilian television.The figures were based on monthly reports sent
by Brazilian diplomats in service in Germany and Nazi-occupied
countries. They obeyed 26 secret memos that forbade the Brazilian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant visas to during the terms of
presidents Getulio Vargas and Eurico Gaspar Dutra between 1937 and
1950.“I believe the number could be much higher, since I researched only
part of the documentation. Even after the news about the Holocaust was
released, the Brazilian government continued to deny visas to survivors
who, in many cases, obtained visas as Catholics,” historian and
Holocaust expert Maria Luiza Tucci Carneiro told JTA.“Both the Vargas
and Dutra governments were intolerant, with political actions marked by
xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and nationalist sentiments that had serious
consequences for Jews seeking a host country,” she said.The result of
the extensive research became a one-hour-long documentary produced in
both Brazil and Germany, named “Reporting Paths – Survivors of History,”
aired by Brazilian television on June 22. In Europe, academics on Nazi
education in German schools were consulted. In Brazil, several video
testimonials were recorded.“Based on oral testimony, we found that many
refugees or exiles in Brazil lost family members during the Holocaust
because they did not receive visas from the Brazilian government between
1937-1945. Not even a request of the great scientist Albert Einstein
was attended by the chancellor Oswaldo Aranha,” she said, in a reference
to the Brazilian diplomat that presided over the United Nations General
Assembly session that partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine into
two states, Jewish and Arab, in 1947.The research led by Tucci Carneiro
was backed by Sao Paulo University, one of Latin America’s most
prestigious. She will present a book based on 6,000 diplomatic documents
from the Nazi era at the Shoah Memorial in Paris on July 2.“Even those
who survived the Nazi genocide faced difficulties in having their visas
released or regularizing their citizenship after they entered as
stateless. Symptoms of trauma and pain continue to mark the voices of
these survivors whose trajectories are examples of courage and struggle
for dignity in gloomy times,” she said.In January, Brazil’s President
Michel Temer attended a service to mark International Holocaust
Remembrance Day, held at the at the country’s largest synagogue, the
2,000-family Congregacao Israelita Paulista, affiliated with both the
Conservative and Reform movements.“Remembering the Holocaust in all its
pain and anguish is preparing the future. It stands to all of us as a
lesson. One day may pass, one month may pass, years may pass, centuries
may pass, we must remember the Holocaust for it’s a lesson for the
future and for the present time,” Temer said.
Trump
ridicules female TV host’s looks, calls her crazy-Trump tweets that he
refused to meet MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski because she ‘was bleeding badly
from a face-lift’-By Julie Bykowicz June 29, 2017, 5:50 pm-THE TIMES OF
ISRAEL
WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump
ridiculed the looks and temperament of a female cable television host
whose show he says he has stopped watching.In a series of tweets
Thursday morning, the president went after Mika Brzezinski and Joe
Scarborough, who have criticized Trump on their MSNBC show “Morning
Joe.”“I heard poorly rated @Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch
anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe,
came…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted
on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said
no!”Brzezinski responded on Twitter by posting a photograph of a
Cheerios box that has the phrase “made for little hands.” That was a dig
at Trump, who has long been sensitive about the size of his hands.I
heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch
anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe,
came.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017…to Mar-a-Lago 3
nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She
was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!— Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017-The White House did not immediately
respond to questions about the tweets, including what it was that set
the president off.On their Wednesday show, Brzezinski and Scarborough
roundly mocked Trump for displaying in several of his golf resorts a
fake Time Magazine cover featuring himself.“That’s needy,” Brzezinski
said on the show.About 15 minutes before the president himself tweeted,
White House social media director Dan Scavino similarly attacked the
hosts.“#DumbAsARockMika and lover #JealousJoe are lost, confused &
saddened since @POTUS @realDonaldTrump stopped returning their calls!
Unhinged,” Scavino wrote on his personal account.Trump was correct that
the MSNBC hosts spent time at the president’s Florida resort, a visit
that Scarborough said was to arrange a Trump interview.
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1
And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel
stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and
them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the
temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is
given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot
forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE
REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
MICAH 4:1-5
1
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the
house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall
go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he
shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under
his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for
the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will
walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of
the LORD our God for ever and ever.
DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms
shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of
strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place
the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)
DANIEL 12:11
11
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE
MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY
DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP
THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety
days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION
PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE
THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL
DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL
REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN
JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)
MATTHEW 24:15-16
15
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF
GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION
PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL
9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
What
color blue did King Solomon wear? New evidence tells us-Excavations of
copper mines find earliest Israeli traces of dye used for prestigious
garments for skilled workers-By Amanda Borschel-Dan June 28, 2017, 9:07
pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Preserved pieces of cloth from
King Solomon’s time point to a colorful clothing palette for
metalworkers in biblical era Timna. This is the earliest evidence of a
plant-based dye in Israel, according to a study released on
Wednesday.The arid desert conditions of Timna, found in Israel’s
southern Negev desert, preserved the red and blue plant pigmentation
found by archaeologists on dozens of fragments of 3,000-year-old
textiles, according to a team of researchers from the Israel Antiquities
Authority, Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University.Since 2013, Dr.
Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University has directed excavations in the
Timna Valley where his team has found textiles dating back to the Iron
Age (11-10 centuries BCE). On some of the fragments, there is a
decorative pattern of red and blue bands.In an article published
Wednesday in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, the researchers
hypothesize that the metalworkers, considered fine craftsmen, “were
probably entitled to wear colorful clothing as a mark of their high
status.”According to Ben-Yosef and the IAA’s Dr. Naama Sukenik, the
findings indicate that the society at Timna, identified with the Kingdom
of Edom, was hierarchical and included an upper class that had access
to colorful, prestigious textiles.The concept of highly prized, skilled
laborers flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which had supposed
that slaves had largely manned the isolated copper mines.The dyes are
mainly derived from two plants: the red from roots of madder; the blue
from indigotin, which likely came from dyer’s woad. The process of
creating and using the blue dye, according to the researchers, is a
multi-day complex process involving reduction and oxidization.While the
types of plants used for dyeing the cloth is unsurprising — both are
among the most common plant dyes in the ancient world — the process of
dyeing, called “true dye,” is sophisticated and exhibits professional
skill. These weren’t garments to be donned by plebeians.As the textile
pieces are kept under climate control conditions at the IAA, the team is
exploring other open-ended questions such as Iron Age fashion and the
status and technology involved in creating them.What is clear is that
these were no ordinary shmattes.
Poll says most Israelis
against Western Wall decision, conversion bill-Survey by religious
pluralism advocacy group indicates that nearly two-thirds of Jewish
respondents oppose the moves-By Tamar Pileggi June 29, 2017, 4:49 pm-THE
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Two-thirds of Jewish Israelis oppose the
recent cabinet decision to shelve a deal for pluralistic worship at the
Western Wall and the coalition’s initial approval of a bill that would
cement the ultra-Orthodox monopoly on conversions, a poll found
Thursday.According to the survey conducted by Hiddush, a local
organization that aims to advance religious pluralism in Israel, 63
percent of respondents said they disagreed with the decision to suspend
the 2016 government-approved deal regarding the Jewish holy site, while
37% supported it.Broken down by parties within the coalition, the
results show that supporters of ultra-Orthodox parties overwhelmingly
(98%) approved of Sunday’s cabinet vote, while respondents affiliated
with the mostly secular Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu parties showed
significantly less support at 16% and 20% respectively. Support among
members of the nationalist-religious Jewish Home party and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party were split almost
evenly.The Conversion Bill — the other controversial measure given
approval by Netanyahu’s government this week — was almost equally
unpopular with the majority of Jewish Israelis, the Hiddush survey
found.According to the results, 64% of respondents said they opposed the
bill, which would give the Chief Rabbinate the sole authority over
conversions to Judaism in Israel, while 36% expressed support for the
legislation.Responses similarly fell according to party affiliation: 94%
of respondents who back ultra-Orthodox parties expressed support for
the measure, Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu voters showed significantly less
support at 20% and 16% respectively, and 66% of respondents from the
Jewish Home party expressed support. Likud voters more evenly split with
57% in favor and 43% opposed.In a statement, Hiddush president Rabbi
Uri Regev said the results “prove how far the government has swerved
away from the public will and the needs of the State of Israel. Instead,
the government leaders act as puppets whose strings are being pulled by
the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox political parties.”The poll was
conducted among a sample of 500 Jewish adults in Israel on June 27 by
the Smith Institute. It has a 4.5% margin or error.Israel had approved a
plan in January 2016 to officially recognize a separate, permanent,
pluralistic prayer area at Robinson’s Arch adjacent to the main Western
Wall prayer area, in a compromise reached after years of negotiations
between liberal Israeli and American Jewish groups and the Israeli
authorities. It gave non-Orthodox Jewish leaders a joint role in the
oversight of the pluralistic site. Currently, a temporary prayer
facility exists there.But the program was never implemented as powerful
ultra-Orthodox members of Netanyahu’s coalition government raised
objections to the decision after they had initially endorsed it. Under
ultra-Orthodox management, the main Western Wall area is separated
between men’s and women’s prayer sections.Netanyahu, trying to placate
both his coalition partners and wealthy American Jewish donors, had
promised a new $9 million plaza for mixed-gender prayer would be
established.On Sunday, the cabinet froze the plan, and he ordered top
aides to formulate a new one.This set off a cascade of criticism from
liberal groups both in Israel and abroad. Liberal Jewish groups accused
Netanyahu of scrapping the deal because of pressure from the two
ultra-Orthodox parties that keep his narrow coalition afloat.They have
already petitioned the Supreme Court to implement the decision and still
hold out hope it will overturn Sunday’s decision.Times of Israel staff
and AP contributed to this report.
Major US Jewish groups
implore Netanyahu to ‘resolve’ Western Wall crisis-Conference of
Presidents says decision is dividing community, warns ‘a lack of unity
could lead to an erosion of support’ for Israel-By Eric Cortellessa June
28, 2017, 10:23 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — The
leaders of two major Jewish organizations on Wednesday called for a
“resolution” to the Israeli cabinet’s decision to freeze an agreement
for a permanent pluralistic prayer section, jointly overseen by
non-Orthodox religious Jewish groups, at the Western Wall.The cabinet
move — which reneged on a January 2016 government-approved measure — has
sparked a crisis between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition
and Diaspora Jewry, many of whom affiliate with non-Orthodox Judaism and
say this decision leaves them feeling unwelcome in the Jewish state.The
chairman and executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephen Greenberg and Malcolm
Hoenlein, respectively, sent a letter to the Israeli premier Wednesday
pleading with him to settle the issue.The two said they sought “to
convey what we have heard from our constituent organizations and from
members of our community expressing concern about the decision taken by
the government this past Sunday.”They went on to tell Netanyahu: “It is
imperative that the government move expeditiously to address this matter
and come up with a resolution that is equitable to all, as you sought
to do in the agreement that was reached before.”Ron Lauder, who heads
the World Jewish Congress, also put out a statement calling for a
“resolution” to the problem, which he said was dividing the global
Jewish community, although he did not directly address Netanyahu.“I am
deeply perturbed by the divisiveness that has arisen in recent days over
the controversy surrounding this sacred site,” he said. “I have
received messages from leaders of Jewish communities around the world
expressing deep concern about the current situation.”“For many of these
communities, praying at the Western Wall is a rite of passage, and they
are understandably anxious that they will not be welcome there,” he
added. “I fervently hope that a resolution can be found in the interest
of Jewish unity and in a spirit of mutual understanding.”Since the
announcement Sunday, which came following pressure from Netanyahu’s
ultra-Orthodox coalition allies to scrap the deal, an internecine
dispute has erupted between the Israeli government and international
Jewish organizations.Both the Jewish Agency and the Reform movement,
which represents the largest denomination of American Jewry, cancelled
scheduled meetings with the prime minister as a form of
protest.Moreover, Natan Sharansky, who chairs the Jewish Agency, warned
that Jewish communities and individuals might reconsider traveling or
donating to Israel because of the decision.Indeed, there have been
alleged threats of groups saying they will withhold financial
contributions to Israel.In his first public speech since taking office
on May 16, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said he heard such
action was being considered, but did not identify any particular
organization.“Yesterday, I heard something that I thought I’d never hear
before. And I understand the source of the frustration and the source
of the anger. But I heard a major Jewish organization say that they
needed to rethink their support for the State of Israel,” he said at a
B’nai B’rith journalism awards ceremony in Jerusalem.“That’s something
unthinkable in my lifetime, up until yesterday. We have to do better. We
must do better.”Greenberg and Hoenlein — whose non-profit comprises 51
national organizations — said this tumult was hurting Jewish unity and
could result in a loss of backing for Israel.“Given all the challenges
facing Israel and American Jewry, this is a time when ‘achdut,’ unity,
is more important than ever,” the statement said. “A lack of unity could
lead to an erosion of support, which has been identified by Israel’s
National Security Council as a vital security asset for Israel.”They
further asked Netanyahu to “convey the sense of urgency regarding this
matter” to his cabinet “and all those in a position to help resolve this
issue.”
Analysis-New government-backed conversion bill
targets the Orthodox, not the Reform-Legislation at the heart of the
flareup in Israel-Diaspora tensions will affect almost no one. So why is
everyone so upset?-By Haviv Rettig Gur June 29, 2017, 1:59 pm-THE TIMES
OF ISRAEL
American Jews are protesting two moves taken
by the Israeli cabinet on Sunday: the cancellation of a Western Wall
agreement, and the advancing of a new bill on conversion.Much of the
energy in the protests by American Jewish leaders has focused on the
Western Wall. The reason is simple: It’s a real-world symbol of
attachment to the land of Israel, and the agreement’s surprise
cancellation is a hard, clear stab in the back. To Americans, agreements
are sacred. If compromises can be canceled willy-nilly, why make the
sacrifices required to reach them in the first place? But the Wall
controversy is, at the end of the day, about a symbol, however potent.
It is in the conversion bill where the rubber hits the road in official
Israel’s acceptance or rejection of American Jewish religion and
identity. It is here where Haredi lawmakers seek to legislate the first
clear rejection of “Reform” Judaism — what these lawmakers call “Reform”
includes no small amount of Conservative and Orthodox — into Israel’s
law books. It is no accident that Tzohar, an Israeli modern-Orthodox
organization that unites the chief rabbis of many cities and towns
around the country, is on the “Reform” side of the debate.On paper, the
bill does very little. It says nothing at all about overseas
conversions. It has nothing to do with conversions in Israel by Israeli
citizens, including the hundreds of thousands of family members of Jews
who are not themselves halachically Jewish. And it doesn’t concern
non-citizens in Israel who seek to convert in the official state
rabbinate framework.Who’s left? Only these: non-citizens living in
Israel for an extended period who obtain Jewish conversions from private
conversion courts.That’s not a lot of people, to put it mildly:
tourists, perhaps African migrants, and very few others. Official
figures, which are imperfect by virtue of the simple fact that these are
conversions carried out beyond the scope of government agencies,
estimate the figure in the very low dozens each year, if not in the
single digits.Furthermore, there are many Israeli officials who support
the bill for reasons that have nothing to do with Haredi culture wars or
Reform views on halacha. In Israel, conversion by a non-citizen is not
just a religious act, but confers on the individual the right to obtain
citizenship. While Reform and Haredi leaders seem to think the bill is
about them, about the battle for religious liberty or against heresy
(respectively), many Israeli officials back the bill for a simpler
reason: any process that confers automatic citizenship on a person, they
feel, should be carried out under the auspices of the state.The bill’s
own explanatory preface, from the draft version released on June 22,
puts this argument above all others. “Given the significant
ramifications of conversion in Israel vis-Ã -vis civil standing; out of
consideration for appropriate public order [in Hebrew the term ‘public
order’ is often used to mean a clear legal and bureaucratic order]; the
need for close state oversight of an issue of such high public
importance; the desire to prevent splintering the status [of Jews by
making some eligible for citizenship and some not] and thus dividing the
nation — the bill establishes that a conversion in Israel that has the
power to confer rights, among them the rights granted under the Law of
Return, is a conversion done under sponsorship of the state only, as
opposed to conversion in various private frameworks that are not
arranged and overseen [by the state].”And, finally, there is the simpler
point of the current status quo. The Neeman Commission, appointed in
June 1997 and headed by then-minister of finance Yaakov Neeman,
established today’s policy: To wit, only Orthodox state institutions may
carry out the conversions, but a shared Reform-Conservative-Orthodox
education system would teach and prepare the converts. Thus are
satisfied the state’s demand for oversight over what is not an
exclusively religious act, but also a naturalization process, as well as
the halachic demands of the Orthodox and the demand for recognition by
the Reform and Conservative.The biggest compromise here, of course, came
from the liberal streams, but the leaders of Reform and Conservative
Jewry explained this to their constituencies in the late 1990s as a
sacrifice made for the sake of Jewish unity.It is vital to understand
that the Neeman proposals essentially established two different
standards for Israeli recognition of conversions. Inside Israel,
conversion would work on the Neeman model, with the Orthodox state
rabbinate in control of the bottleneck of actually carrying out the
conversions. Outside Israel, in a policy established by several High
Court of Justice rulings and government decisions over the years, any
conversion carried out in a “recognized Jewish community” that the
community itself accepts as a valid conversion would be recognized by
the State of Israel.Who does the “recognizing” of recognized
communities? In most cases, the answer is the Jewish Agency, which is
the closest institutional framework that can represent the Israeli state
— roughly half the agency’s board is appointed by Israeli political
parties approximately according to their size in the Knesset — and is
also present in hundreds of communities throughout the Jewish world.So
what happened? How would a conversion bill that would actually affect
exceedingly few people threaten these longstanding compromises? The
answer lies in the party that was left out of the Neeman compromise, but
only realized that fact very recently: Israel’s Modern Orthodox.The
Israeli side of the compromise, the Neeman framework, gives final say on
a conversion to the ultra-Orthodox who control the Chief Rabbinate. The
Diaspora side confers state recognition to all movements recognized by,
well, themselves. After all, what does it mean for the Jewish Agency to
recognize you? The Jewish Agency’s ecumenicism is borne out by the rest
of its board beyond the Israeli political parties: the umbrella
fundraising federations and organizations from around the world (through
representatives from JFNA and Keren Hayesod), and direct
representatives of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform religious
streams themselves.Israel’s Modern Orthodox, who often refer to
themselves as dati leumi, or national-religious, do not fall under the
broadminded openness granted overseas, because they don’t live overseas,
nor under the exceedingly (and increasingly) restrictive standards
imposed by the Haredim within Israel.And so, ironically, it is not the
Reform or Conservative movements who threaten to topple the Neeman
status quo, but these Modern Orthodox. Despairing of what they see as
the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s overly restrictive demands for converts —
including those who are already citizens (thanks to the Law of Return,
which confers citizenship on anyone with at least one Jewish
grandparent), and so cannot be suspected of seeking to become Jews just
to obtain an Israeli passport — the group of Orthodox rabbis organized
under the Tzohar organization has convened its own conversion courts and
begun converting individuals in Israel outside the auspices of state
institutions.The state, of course, refused to recognize these
“unsupervised” conversions when it came to granting citizenship. The
rabbinate, which correctly viewed these conversions as direct challenges
to its religious hegemony, refused to recognize them for the purposes
of marriage, divorce or burial.The issue reached the High Court of
Justice, which gave its ruling on March 31, 2016. The Law of Return, the
court said, applied to anyone who was residing in Israel legally and
had converted in a recognized Jewish community that was Orthodox. (This
was not a statement against Reform conversions, but reflected the
Court’s preference for limiting its rulings to the context of each
case.) That is, the court applied to the private conversion courts in
Israel the standards for recognizing conversions overseas.This is the
essence of justice: universal applicability. It is not surprising that
Supreme Court justices have a hard time sustaining two wholly different
standards of state recognition, nor surprising that the attempt to
maintain two different standards inevitably results in them bleeding
into each other.The court explained that the government was never given
the authority to make the distinction between state and private Orthodox
conversions in Israel when it came to granting citizenship, and that
only Knesset legislation could give it that power.And so the new
conversion bill was born.That is, it was not born from the fact that the
state doesn’t recognize conversions carried out by the Israeli Reform
movement. Non-recognition of Reform conversions in Israel is part of the
Neeman agreement to which the Reform movement itself is a signatory.It
was born from the fact that the Haredi establishment has fought bitterly
in the years since the Neeman Commission to push out of the official
state bodies the very Modern Orthodox who once, in the days of the
Neeman debates, saw themselves as part of a single unified “Orthodox”
side to the controversy.The upshot is that on paper, Haredi lawmakers
are right when they say they’re merely seeking to codify the agreed-upon
Neeman compromise in legislation to protect it against court
challenges.But the social and political context has changed. Neeman only
works when the rabbinate, which is given the monopoly to convert, plays
ball with the broader system of education and preparation run by a
cross-section of religious movements. When the judges in the state
conversion courts no longer accept converts trained by that system, the
compromise becomes a straitjacket for everyone else.In talks held
between Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Tzohar founder Rabbi David Stav
and Reform representatives on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Reform
representatives were told that the bill does not actually reject their
conversions. Their converts, as always, will be registered as Jews in
the Interior Ministry’s population registry — and, as always, will
emphatically not be registered as Jews in the rabbinate. That it would
deny recognition also for the purposes of citizenship is hardly
significant for the Reform, since the denial of citizenship to their
private conversions was already the agreed-upon status quo.Some Israeli
Reform officials were satisfied with that answer, according to sources.
But American Jewish leaders are not.Steven Nasatir, the long-time head
of the Chicago Jewish federation and one of the most influential and
pro-Israel leaders in the American Jewish federation world, told The
Times of Israel’s Raphael Ahren this week that “the federation in
Chicago will not be hosting any member of Knesset that votes for this
bill. None. They will not be welcome in our community.”He added: “We’re
past the time when we’re standing and applauding and being nice because
they’re members of Knesset or because they hold this position or that
position. People who don’t have the understanding of what this bill
means to the Jewish people — God bless ’em, but they’re not welcome in
our community, period.”What bothers them about the bill? Are they
worried about Tzohar’s status? Why protest so vociferously against
legislation that only codifies the already-existing compromise? The
answer lies in the stark difference between government decisions and
Knesset legislation, and with the sheer scale of the compromise and
sacrifice American Jewish leaders believe they made 20 years ago in the
Neeman agreement.It’s one thing to agree to an unfair but nevertheless
negotiated compromise for the sake of Jewish unity. It’s quite another
for the parliament of Israel, in a majority vote for a government-backed
bill (backing was granted officially in the Sunday vote), to declare
for the first time, even if only in a limited way, that the Haredi
rabbinate now polices the most fundamental promise made by the State of
Israel to the world’s Jews: the right of return, the assurance that
Israel belongs to them too.Israeli officials, including the prime
minister, were understandably surprised by the fury of American Jewry in
recent days. It is even true that many Israeli Reform leaders were
surprised. Most do not grasp, even now, some of the most fundamental
assumptions that underlie the American Jewish relationship with
Israel.As long as the American Jewish voice remains a dormant spectator
in the Israeli debates on Jewish identity, that’s not likely to change.
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:11-12,18
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog
(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of
the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of
the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall
they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and
they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300
MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves,
and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do
sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel,
that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES
AGAINST ISRAEL)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink
the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats,
of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall
see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon
them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL
NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye
may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of
mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2
Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA)
the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy
against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and
Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into
thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee
forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with
all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields,
all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6
Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of
the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with
thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and
prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto
thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and
say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the
chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will
turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the
sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I
BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA)
and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,(
ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6
And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them
that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people
Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the
heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
Iran
targeted Star of David in ballistic missile test, Israel says-Israel
complains to UN as satellite imagery shows impact crater from weapons
test next to Jewish symbol target carved in the desert-By Times of
Israel staff June 28, 2017, 7:19 pm
Iran used a Star of
David as a target for missile test last year, Israel said Wednesday,
distributing satellite images of the site to the United Nations Security
Council on Wednesday.“This use of the Star of David as target practice
is hateful and unacceptable,” Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations
Danny Danon wrote in a complaint to the Council.Grainy photos provided
to UN members showed what Danon said was the Jewish and Israeli symbol
as the target in a test of a ballistic missile carried out last year
with the impact crater visible next to it.“The missile launch is not
only a direct violation of UNSCR 2231, but is also a clear evidence of
Iran’s continued intention to harm the State of Israel,” Danon said,
adding that “the targeting of a sacred symbol of Judaism is
abhorrent.”“It is the Iranians who prop up the Assad regime as hundreds
of thousands are killed, finance the terrorists of Hezbollah as they
threaten the citizens of Israel, and support extremists and tyrants
throughout the Middle East and around the world,” he added.Earlier this
month Iran fired missiles at Syria, targeting Islamic State positions in
the first missile attack by Iran outside its own territory in 30 years,
since the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988.The medium-range ballistic
missiles Iran said it fired at the eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour region
were ostensibly in retaliation for the twin terror attacks carried out
by the group on June 7 in Tehran’s parliament, and at the grave of
Ayatollah Khomeini in which 17 people were killed. Revolutionary Guards
officials warned that other assaults on Iran would lead to similar
retaliatory attacks, describing the missiles as a message to its
enemies.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the attack, “I have
one message for Iran: Don’t threaten Israel.”Iran has in the past
test-fired missiles with anti-Israel messages written on them in Hebrew.
In March 2016, it test-fired two ballistic missiles, which an Iranian
news agency said were inscribed with the phrase “Israel must be wiped
out.”After Iran test-fired a ballistic missile in January, the
US-imposed sanctions on a number of entities involved in Iran’s
ballistic missile program, and US President Donald Trump warned the
Islamic Republic it had been “put on notice.”Although Iran maintains
that the testing of ballistic missiles is not banned by the 2015 nuclear
deal designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the US
said that the sanctions were imposed for Iran’s violation of United
Nations Security Council Resolution 2331, which calls upon Iran “not to
undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be
capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such
ballistic missile technology.”Since January’s test-firing of a ballistic
missile, Iran has carried out a number of other tests of cruise and
submarine-based missiles.Agencies contributed to this report.
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