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)
BIDEN GOV DRONE CONSPIRACY THEORY-DRONES ARE MAPPING OUT THE AREAS WERE THEY ARE.
LONG
EXPLANATION OF AMERICAS DESTRUCTION (NEW YORK POLITICAL BABYLON OF
REVELATION CHAPTER 18)(REVELATION CHAPTER 17 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
RELIOUS BABYLON THE VATICAN IN ROME)
JEREMIAH 51:29-32
29 And
the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall
be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land of
Babylon (NEW YORK) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty
men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have remained in
their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have
burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
31 One post shall
run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king
of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32 And
that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D) and
the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are
affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)
LEVITICUS 26:30-34 (NY IS BUILT ON A GARBAGE DUMP)
30
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast
your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my (GODS) soul shall
abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities waste,(GARBAGE-DESTROYED)
and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the
savour of your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation:(RUIN) and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33
And I will scatter you among the heathen,(ENEMY NATIONS) and will draw
out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities
waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it
lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the
land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
2 KINGS 19:25
25 Hast thou
not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have
formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay
waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
ISAIAH 34:10
10 It
(NEW YORK-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the
smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it
shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
EZEKIEL 39:21
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.
ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon
the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and
peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation
meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!(AMERICA)
JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine
heritage,(ISRAEL) because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and
bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and
upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the
midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her
treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12
Your mother (england) shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall
be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall
be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7
Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the
earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the
nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon (NEW YORK) should mount up to
heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet
from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her
delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much
torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen,
and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3
For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they
shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a
snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(NEW YORK) and thou
wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast
striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK ON NEW YORK)
REVELATION 18:9-11,15-21
9
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived
deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they
shall see the smoke of her burning,(NUKE ATTACK I BELIEVE FROM RUSSIA)
10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
15
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand
afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And
saying, Alas, alas that great city, (NEW YORK) that was clothed in fine
linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious
stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to
nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors,
and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! (NEW YORK)
19
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing,
saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had
ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she
made desolate.(1 HOUR NEW YORK IS GONE)
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it
into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon
(NEW YORK) be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
THE
CRAZY WORLD IS STILL TRYING TO POKE GOD IN THE EYE WITH THIS USELESS
WASTE OF TIME ISRAEL HATE CEASEFIRE.he continued.“When the locals
realized that the elephant population was dwindling, they gradually
shifted their focus to fallow deer. Identifying the deer’s plentiful
source, they began to develop the unique scrapers in the same place.
This is the earliest instance of a phenomenon that later spread
throughout the world,” Litov said.The Mount Gerizim location, near
Nablus, is especially important because numerous fallow deer bones were
found there at an ancient altar site. As Gerizim is associated with the
Israelite’s entry into the Land of Israel and is considered a sacred
site by the local Samaritan community, “apparently, the Mountains of
Samaria gained a prominent, or even sacred status as early as the
Paleolithic period, and retained their unique cultural position for
hundreds of thousands of years,” the researchers said.
I STILL
SAY THE DRONES WERE LOOKING FOR HIDDEN NUKES AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS.AND
HERES WHY I SAID I BELIEVE RUSSIA IS THE CULPRET.AND NEW YORK WILL BE
THE VICTIM.
Joe Rogan left stunned as Navy pilot reveals secret
tech powering drones over New Jersey'By STACY LIBERATORE FOR
DAILYMAIL.COM-Published: 15:16 EST, 19 December 2024
A former
Navy pilot has weighed in on the drone sightings in New Jersey as the
mystery rages on. Ryan Graves, a former lieutenant, appeared on the Joe
Rogan Podcast where he discussed possible technologies powering the
drones, which would allow them to avoid detection.He told Rogan that law
enforcement has been unable to pick up the objects with their infrared
systems, suggesting the drones are using 'some type of signature
management' to reduce heat emissions.'We do this in fighter jets...
where we cover the engine to essentially make it harder to see, but to
have zero ability to detect or lock onto these objects is not the
technology I'm familiar with,' said Graves.The pilot pointed how the
objects are not behaving like normal aircraft, such as their High-G
force maneuvers that include sharp turns, climbs and dives.'Then they
remain in the area for another five or six or seven hours and still have
the battery life or whatever's propelling them to then go over the
ocean to a point where they're untrackable again. I'm not really
familiar with that type of capability,' he said.Graves became a
household name in the UAP world in 2023 when he became the first
active-duty pilot to come forward publicly about regular sightings of
UAP.He testified in front of Congress that year, claiming to have had
firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs
involving technology that is 'non-human.''The word on the street is that
these objects appear to be coming from over the ocean, said Graves
during the podcast. 'There's senior congressmen, Coast Guard personnel,
law enforcement [who are] seeing a large number of these come from
somewhere over the ocean.'I don't know if that means necessarily they're
popping out of the water physically or if they're coming from some
unknown location in the water and then proceeding over the coast.''They
are flying very low, in some cases they seem to be operating as a group
in the vicinity of each other. They are emitting energy or not so you
know like radio communications or their own.'It's unknown I've poked on
that front and best I can tell the government doesn't know either.'The
sightings began mid-November with the first sightings over Picatinny
Arsenal in Rockaway.Rogan said that 'it is so weird' that the drones are
a mystery to the White House.Graves offered some explanations,
suggesting that the drones might be using cameras to measure their
surroundings instead of radar, which is more easily detectable. He told
Joe Rogan that the drones are able to manage their heat signatures,
allowing them to go undetected by the government'They could have a
self-contained navigational system with their onboard maps and they're
using cameras to map where they are,' he said.Rogan asked if the
technology would make them completely autonomous, to which Graves said:
'Exactly.''I could imagine a fully self-contained autonomous drone
system that is doing something potentially with passive sensors that
allows it to operate without emissions, which is going to make it harder
to track,' he said.Rogan asked why the powers of be have not put a stop
to the drones, and the former pilot said it all comes down to the laws
in the US.While the White House has yet to provide the public with
answer, it has been holding classified briefings on the matter.'Because
of that they essentially need a warrant in order to wiretap these,'
Graves said, explaining that is the feedback he has received.'[They need
a warrant] to even intercept these signals that they may or may not
even be emitting to be able to determine where they're going.'He
explained that base commanders have to submit a request to the Secretary
of Defense, making it 'a super politically charged situation.''If they
take action and shoot one of these down even with this the Secretary of
Defense's permission you know they're on the hook if that thing takes
out a school bus or otherwise damages someone's property kill somebody,'
said Graves.Rogan began the Tuesday podcast by discussing the different
narratives surrounding the mysterious sightings.'The scariest one that
I've heard is that their drones are looking for gamma radiation because
there's a missing nuke. Let's address that one first please,' he
said.Rogan had been quiet about the New Jersey drones until John
Ferguson, who runs Saxon Unmanned, posted a TikTok video claiming the
craft was looking for either a gas leak of 'radioactive material.'Graves
told the podcaster that he has interacted with individuals who work on
weapons of mass destruction and they told him that 'there's not a loose
nuke or other type of weapon of mass destruction that these objects are
pursuing right now.''Otherwise they'd be working in a skiff nonstop to
make that go away,' he added.The response, however, did not hit home
with Rogan who questioned if Graves' sources were being truthful.'How
[did] they persuade you? Just by saying 'that's not the case' or have
they given you any information that leads to this conclusion,' Rogan
asked.Graves replied that the people he spoke to would be the ones
responsible for finding the nuke or weapon of mass destruction.The mayor
of Belleville, Michael Melham, had said on Fox TV's 'Good Day New York'
Tuesday that the drones may be looking for radioactive material.'It was
a shipment. It arrived at its destination. The container was damaged,
and it was empty,' Melham said.The mayor was referring to an alert from
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that said a piece of medical
equipment used for cancer scans went missing on December 2 during
transit through the state.The device, known as a 'pin source,' contained
a small amount of Germanium-68 (Ge-68)used to calibrate a medical
scanner's accuracy.The pin source contained about 0.267 millicuries
(mCi) of Ge-68, which is a very small amount that would only cause harm
during close and prolonged exposure.The material emits low-energy gamma
radiation, making it useful for calibration purposes in medical
equipment.
Officials push back on online rumors, say mystery
drones are not tracking radioactive material By Emma Li-December 19,
2024 / 7:13 PM EST / CBS News
New Jersey officials have debunked
claims that drones were deployed to search for missing radioactive
material from a shipping container, following social media speculation
linked to reports of mystery drone sightings.The shipment was a piece of
medical equipment called a pin source, which contains a radioactive
component commonly used to calibrate PET scanners. The pin source has
since been recovered.The rumor gained traction online and was echoed by
Belleville Mayor Michael Melham during a Tuesday interview, when he
suggested the drones, which have been spotted over several eastern
states in recent weeks, might be involved in a search."In my opinion,
they're looking for something," Melham said. "There is an alert that's
out right now that radioactive material in New Jersey has gone missing
on Dec. 2. There was a shipment that arrived at its destination. The
container was damaged and was empty."Melham told CBS News he used the
instance as an example of what the drones may be looking for. "My point
is, they are flying in a grid-like pattern, in my opinion, sniffing for
something," he said.A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection told CBS News that the material in question has
been recovered and drones were not part of the recovery operation.The
Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued a notice restricting
drone flights over nearly two dozen towns in New Jersey until Jan. 17.
Claims of missing radioactive material in New Jersey-The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission released a report on Dec. 13 that said medical
equipment from Nazha Cancer Center in southern New Jersey had been "lost
in transit on December 2" after the shipping container "arrived at its
destination damaged and empty."Kalman Rosenfeld, a radiation site
manager at Nazha Cancer Center, told CBS News that the equipment has
arrived at a disposal facility in Knoxville, Tennessee.The shipment
contained trace amounts of Germanium-68, a "very low-level radiation
source" permitted to be shipped through common carriers, according to
the NJDEP. The department said the device was misplaced at a FedEx
shipping facility before it was located on Dec. 10, repackaged and sent
back to the manufacturer.How the theory spread online-On Dec. 14, John
Ferguson, the CEO of an unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer based in
Kansas, posted a TikTok video that suggested the drones may be detecting
gas leaks or radioactive material on the ground.Podcast host Joe Rogan
reposted the video and said, "This is the first video about these drones
that has got me genuinely concerned."Ferguson's video has circulated
widely across social media, amassing more than 30 million views on X and
thousands of users' engagement, with some users linking it to the
missing shipment. However, Ferguson does not mention the shipping
container, and he told CBS News he did not know about the shipment until
after he made the video. "I have heard about the medical equipment that
came up missing in a shipping container," Ferguson said. "I do not know
much about it, but I do know that that is not a part of my video or
anything that I have done to date."Government response to nuclear
emergencies-A spokesperson from the National Nuclear Security
Administration, an agency under the Department of Energy that works with
the nuclear stockpile, told CBS News that the administration is not
engaged in any operations involving radiological or nuclear threats.
Additionally, their specialized Nuclear Emergency Support Team uses
aircraft rather than drones to detect nuclear or radiological
substances.Researchers from the federal energy department's Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory found that drones have the potential to
conduct detection of low levels of radiation across survey sites, but
more studies are needed before the devices are approved for use in
decommissioning.The FBI has received more than 5,000 tips about drone
sightings in recent weeks, according to a joint statement released on
Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the FAA and the
Department of Defense.
Space Force must grow to counter China and Russia, lawmaker says-By Courtney Albon- Tuesday, Dec 17, 2024
The
leader of the House Armed Services Committee said Tuesday the Space
Force needs to grow in size to overcome increasing threats from China
and Russia.Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., was a key player in establishing
the Space Force five years ago. At the time, he and others in Congress
advocated for a small, agile force that could quickly establish the
processes and organizations needed to get the service up and
running.“We’ve come a long way since those early tasks,” Rogers said
Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington. “Now, it’s time to increase the size of the Space Force to
meet growing threats.”Rogers didn’t specify to what extent he thinks the
service needs to expand.Acknowledging that many lawmakers do not
support a major increase in overhead, he noted that he’s not calling for
a “wholesale” end strength increase. Yes, Congress should approve more
general officers, he said, but the Air Force and the defense secretary
should also transfer billets to the service.“If we want the [branch]
capable of doing what the nation expects, it has to have enough people —
and the right people [to] carry out its mission,” Rogers said.Along
with manpower growth, Rogers also advocated for more development
opportunities for guardians across career fields, particularly technical
and acquisition roles.He and the committee’s Ranking Member Adam Smith,
D-Wash., elaborated on these concerns on Tuesday in a letter to Chief
of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.In the letter, obtained by
Defense News, the lawmakers suggest the Space Force may be placing too
much emphasis on its operational community to the detriment of its
acquisition, training and testing workforce.“We believe this is needed
to not only be successful in developing the next generation space
warfighter, but also to ensure that the service will have the skillset
and workforce to design, develop, and acquire systems that guardians are
going to need in the future,” the letter states. “We fear a divide that
elevates operators at the detriment to other core functions of the
Space Force will have negative impacts, potentially not immediately, but
as we look to 2030 and beyond.”For its part, the Space Force over the
last few years has been working to better align its acquisition and
operator communities. Last year, the Saltzman announced a pilot program
to create integrated Mission Deltas as a way to better coordinate
responsibility, authority and resources within mission areas.The pilot
was widely viewed as successful in its first two mission areas —
positioning, navigation and timing and electronic warfare. In April, the
Space Force expanded the pilot to include space domain awareness and
missile warning and tracking. The service now plans to expand the
concept to additional Mission Deltas over the next year.Rogers and Smith
said in their letter they want more detail on how those integrated
deltas will be staffed with additional acquisition personnel in the
coming years. They also asked for a breakdown of the Space Force’s
officer selection boards by rank between 2021 and 2024.Further, the
committee leaders ask for more information on how acquisition training
personnel are developed through the Space Force’s force generation
model, known as SPAFORGEN, and what specific recruiting, training and
retention efforts are in place.In his speech Tuesday, Rogers noted that
his concerns about operator emphasis within the service are linked to
the Air Force’s tendency to promote fighter pilots over airmen in other
career fields. He said he’ll be watching closely to ensure the Space
Force doesn’t follow similar patterns.“The Space Force has to be led by
more than just operators,” he said. “It must represent the contributions
of all career services if it’s to be successful. A deep understanding
and connection with technology is at the core of the Space Force.
Operators, acquisition, intel and cyber professionals all must be on
equal footing.”
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
(NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD
HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY
NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS
SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3
PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD
IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about
thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in
fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I
shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their
destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I
send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED
THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and
they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have
spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out
from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully
ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200
MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold,
the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
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.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD
DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM
NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
World
War III is already underway.In Ukraine.Three years in, Russia’s
invasion has drawn in dozens of countries.By EVA HARTOG-December 18,
2024 4:00 am CET
If you had walked the front lines in the early
weeks of the war in Ukraine, you might have heard shouts in Ukrainian
and Russian, perhaps mingled with voices speaking regional languages
such as Buryat and Chechen.Today, troops on either side of the line of
conflict communicate in Spanish, Nepali, Hindi, Somali, Serbian and
Korean.Foreign tongues spoken in muddy trenches are just one sign of how
the conflict has taken on an increasingly international dimension.In
the sky above the battlefield, an Iranian Shahed drone might be
intercepted by an American air defense system, while on the ground,
German-made artillery whizzes past North Korean shells. Almost three
years in, even the most dogged isolationists would have a hard time
selling the war as a “regional conflict” between Russia and Ukraine.
What began in February 2022 as the biggest European land war since World
War II, now competes for the title of the most global conflict since
the Cold War, with dozens of countries directly or indirectly
involved.That aspect of the conflict could ultimately seal its fate as
Ukraine risks losing its biggest backer with the ascension in the United
States of Donald Trump as president, even as Russia attracts increasing
support from Washington’s other enemies, most notably North Korea.“The
last time we saw anything like this would probably have been the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan,” said the prominent Cold War historian Sergey
Radchenko. “When there was support for the mujahideen from the West and
also from Pakistan, and everybody was having a go.”Proxy war-When Moscow
launched its full-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the
Kremlin and its propagandists justified it as a necessary and defensive
move against NATO. Opinions differ on whether Russian President Vladimir
Putin genuinely intended to take on the so-called collective West, guns
blazing. But there is a broad consensus that he expected the war to be
over in a matter days — and that he, with reason, counted on the West to
answer with the condemn-but-mostly-accept attitude that it had shown
toward his earlier land grabs in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. “It would
have been a local conflict if it had ended quickly,” said Radchenko.
“But it didn’t.”Ukrainians fought back tooth and nail, and Putin’s
troops floundered just long enough for the West to snap to attention.
Europe worried that its own security was on the line; the U.S. had an
image to uphold as a backer of democracy and European security. Within
days, Western weapons and intelligence poured in, helping Ukrainians
beat back the Russian advance and internationalizing the conflict.With
time, as both Ukraine and Russia have found themselves hamstrung by
shell hunger and overstretched troops, that international dimension has
become both more visible and more important.Today, both countries rely
on outside help: Ukraine, to keep standing; Russia, to maintain its
dominance in the sky and on the ground, while minimizing the effect of
the war on its own population.As they have lobbied the world for more
resources, both sides have made large, ideological claims. Ukraine says
it is fighting for “democracy;” Russia says it is crusading against what
it calls American hegemony and “the collective West.”Moscow’s sales
pitch of a “multipolar world order,” as vaguely defined as it is, has
been sufficiently convincing for Iran to provide it with Shahed drones
and North Korea to ship it ballistic missiles, millions of shells and,
more recently, thousands of troops.The so-called Global South, too, has
tilted toward Putin under the umbrella of BRICS, a club of countries
that, despite their stark differences, have found common ground in their
shared grudge toward a system that has sidelined them from key
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank.Moscow’s biggest lifeline is China, which has played a crucial role
in buttressing the Russian economy from Western sanctions by providing a
market for its oil and fertilizer, while also giving it access to
much-needed technology. “India and others can trade with Russia and
that’s significant. But nothing comes close to what China brings to the
table,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia
Center.Separately, Russia has continued and expanded upon its age-old
practice of hybrid warfare, stirring up trouble and widening existing
cleavages abroad.Unlike during the Cold War, however, there aren’t proxy
conflicts where Moscow can strike at NATO. So “Russia is trying to look
for tools to push back,” in other ways, said Gabuev. “Attach costs,
inflict pain, avenge.”That has included interfering with elections,
starting fires and other acts of sabotage, and providing support to
various anti-Western actors and groups; from bankrolling a pro-Russian
oligarch intent on derailing Moldova’s pro-EU course, to providing data
to Yemen’s Houthis to help them strike Western ships in the Red
Sea.Western assistance-Meanwhile, Russia’s adversaries haven’t been
standing still.Kyiv’s pitch, telecast by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
has won it more than $220 billion worth of aid from Europe and the U.S.
NATO countries have delivered more and more powerful weapons: From
howitzer artillery shells at the beginning of the war, to F-16 fighter
jets and ATACMS long-range missiles today. In as clear a geopolitical
warning shot to Moscow as Brussels is able to give, the European Union
has progressed Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia’s bids to join the
bloc.Without Western help, the war would not have survived its first
year and would have ended in a “crushing defeat” for Ukraine, said
Gabuev. But the West has also stuck to certain guardrails; choosing a
strategy of cautious incrementalism over escalation. Much to Kyiv’s
frustration, arms deliveries have come in phases, and with rules
attached. For almost three years, leaders in the U.S. and Europe played
deaf to Kyiv’s increasingly desperate pleas for permission to use
long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. On the other side,
despite frequent threats from Moscow that it might nuke a Western city,
the red button appears to be off-limits. And, notwithstanding alarm from
countries on Europe’s eastern flank about an impending Russian
invasion, Moscow’s troops have steered clear of NATO territory.China,
too, has respected some of the West’s red lines, ensuring that it
doesn’t directly violate Western sanctions (although doing so
indirectly) and, for now, not providing Russia with any lethal weapons
(although it has delivered individual parts and, according to recent
reports, it is suspected of delivering drones.)On both sides, foreign
troops on the ground seemed a no-go. While some voices, most notably
French President Emmanuel Macron, have floated the possibility of
putting Western boots on the ground, the idea has never gone beyond a
quickly slapped down proposal. That’s not to say those red lines haven’t
been tested. Ukraine invaded Russia’s Kursk region and used Western
weapons to strike Russian targets, such as its Black Sea Fleet. North
Korean troops traveled to Russia. And outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden
finally green-lighted Ukraine’s use of ATACMS long-range weapons to be
used against targets on Russian soil. Still, the problem with
internationalized conflicts — as Ukraine has been finding out — is that
external backers can be whimsical and their commitment only as deep as
the next electoral campaign.Toward the end of 2024, the appetite for
supporting a Ukrainian victory — defined as a return to Ukraine’s 1991
borders — has dwindled in Washington and Brussels.Even before Trump’s
win, the idea that containment in the form of a deal that would freeze
the conflict and involve Ukraine ceding territory appears to have gone
from being taboo to lodestar. “It was clear from the beginning that if
Ukraine didn’t win fast enough, America would drop out,” said Nina
Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in
New York and the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev.“All of this was seen right from the beginning as a Hollywood
series,” she said. Initially, she added, Ukraine’s backers thought it
would be over after a single season. But then there was another. “And
now there’s a third one, and so of course attention has faded,” she
said. “We don’t want a fourth series, but it’s going to happen.”
Radchenko, the historian, is more forgiving. “For the United States,
avoiding a nuclear war with Russia has always been the No. 1 priority in
this conflict. The second is helping Ukraine win,” Radchenko said,
adding, “Those two competing objectives somehow have to be
reconciled.”Then there’s the fact that Ukraine’s backers, as opposed to
Russia’s, have to deal with public opinion. A Pew Research Center poll
in July showed Americans were evenly split on whether they thought their
country had a responsibility to help Ukraine. The end of the war-As the
conflict heads toward the start of its fourth year, neither side is
getting all the help it wants. Meanwhile, the conflict looks more like a
WWI war of attrition than a high-tech WWIII. “It would be logical to
see thousands of Iranians and a compact army of Chinese fighting [for
Russia] in Ukraine right now,” the ultranationalist Russian thinker
Alexander Dugin, considered one of the ideologues of the Ukraine war,
wrote in October. “It is logical that those who are against Western
hegemony and in favor of a multipolar world would support Russia with
actions. And Russia will then support them in their own anti-imperialist
wars.” So far Russia’s pipe dream of global solidarity has produced
nothing more than smoke. Russia is estimated to be hemorrhaging some
30,000 soldiers a month and recruiting only just as many to replace
them. North Korea (for now) is not supplying enough troops to make a
significant difference. Kyiv is in even more dire straits. Doubts over
the depth of Western support are rising just as Ukrainians are facing
another winter, weakened by low morale and suffering a deficit in pretty
much everything. According to an estimate from the Pentagon, the
country only has enough troops to last another six to twelve months
before it runs into serious trouble. With both Russia and Ukraine
struggling to mobilize enough of their own men, the two sides used as
triage thousands of foreigners, mostly from impoverished countries, to
join their fight.In addition to troops provided by Pyongyang, Moscow has
recruited fighters from Cuba, India, Nepal, Syria, Serbia, Central
African Republic and Libya with promises of generous salaries and
Russian citizenship (a commitment that isn’t always kept, according to
some who have enlisted).Meanwhile, Ukraine, on top of financial
incentives, is offering foreigners the chance to be on the right side of
history.“Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too,”
the country’s then-foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on the social
media platform X in 2022.That has led to a situation where, more than
three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the supposed
“end of history,” Colombians are battling Cubans, suffering shrapnel
injuries and dying, thousands of kilometers away from home.“We are
fighting for freedom whereas the Latin Americans on the other side are
defending an oppressive regime of oppression,” said Jhoe Manuel Almanza
Chica, a Colombian enlisted in the Ukrainian army’s 241st Brigade.He
said there was no cause more noble to die for than freedom. “But if I
remain alive, I want to be able to tell my children that I was part of
history.” Ultimately, analysts said, the outcome of the war will likely
depend on the decisions of the combatants’ primary backers: NATO and
China. “If you withdraw NATO support to Ukraine, there will be no
Ukraine,” said Gabuev. “But if you withdraw Chinese support from the
Russian war effort, it would force Moscow to limit its appetite and
dampen its hopes that time is on its side.”Right now, China appears to
be the main benefactor of the conflict, said Gabuev. The war has
distracted Washington and helped Beijing tighten its hold over Russia — a
weakened but, under Putin, reliable partner. That could change,
however, if the involvement of North Korea in the conflict makes it
spill over into the Indo-Pacific, which Beijing sees as its backyard, by
drawing in South Korea and possibly NATO.Other factors could tip the
balance; in the U.S., an unpredictable Trump. In the Middle East, Iran’s
conflict with Israel. In Europe, a surge of popularity for far-right
parties, some of which are skeptical of aiding Ukraine. In the meantime,
there’s always the risk of further escalation, said Radchenko. “As long
as the war continues, there is a danger that somebody else will join
the fight.”
World War III has begun, West not prepared for it, says Ukraine’s former military commander-#DefeatRussia-November 26,2024
A
third World War has started as Russia has involved its autocratic
allies in the war against Ukraine, stated Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s
ambassador to Great Britain and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.“I believe that
in 2024, we can absolutely assume that World War III has begun,” he
said.Ukraine is being attacked by missiles of North Korean origin and
Iranian drones, while Russian weapons contain Chinese components, the
former four-star general said.“The reason is that in 2024, Ukraine is no
longer facing Russia. Ukraine is facing soldiers from North Korea.
Let’s be honest. Iranian-made Shaheds [loitering munitions] are killing
civilians in Ukraine quite openly,” Zaluzhnyi said.Thus, he said, the
global community must prepare for the third world war that is
unraveling. However, there is still time to stop it within Ukraine’s
borders. Unfortunately, he noted, international partners have yet to
fully grasp this reality.“What we’ve expected for so long has started.
But I want to say that God himself is giving a chance, not only to
Ukraine but to the whole world, to have time to draw the correct
conclusions now,” Zaluzhnyi added.Russia is currently using a strategy
of prolonged siege, which is aimed at “the attrition of Ukraine’s
economic and moral conditions.”Zaluzhnyi noted that Ukraine’s survival
depends on technology, but it is uncertain whether the country can win
the war alone. Major breakthroughs on the frontlines are not possible
yet due to a technical and evolutionary process that is expected to
conclude by 2027, he explained.“When robots [drones] began to appear on
the battlefield en masse, they made it impossible for soldiers to move.
The inability to fight the robots led to a stupor. […] This situation is
still the same,” Zaluzhnyi said.Meanwhile, Zaluzhnyi believes European
countries are unprepared for a long war with Russia. From Ukraine’s
experience, the number of enemy air targets is increasing, while the
means to combat them are limited and prohibitively expensive.“Even by
this number, I believe neither the UK nor European countries will be
ready,” he said.Despite the availability of F-16 aircraft in many
European countries – aircraft with “excellent air defense capabilities,”
– Zaluzhnyi noted that air defense systems could be depleted within two
to three months.“It is difficult to say whether they are engaged in
alternative measures to learn how to deal with air targets. Most likely
they’re not,” the general explained.Regarding short-term military
actions, Zaluzhnyi believes that European countries are prepared. “But
the real question is whether they are ready for a war of attrition,” he
concluded.
Taiwan gets US Abrams tanks, hardening final defenses in an invasion-By Gordon Arthur- Friday, Dec 20, 2024
CHRISTCHURCH,
New Zealand — Taiwan, which ratified a record defense budget of $20.2
billion in August as it contemplates rising Chinese aggression, received
a first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams tanks on home shores this month.After
being unloaded at Taipei’s port on Dec. 15, the tanks were transported
to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County southwest of Taipei.
Around ten will remain there for training purposes.The M1A2T is a
customized M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams version, and these are the first new tanks
Taiwan has received in nearly a quarter of a century. Taiwan previously
received M60A3 TTS tanks from the U.S. between 1995 and 2001.Following
this month’s first batch, 42 more Abrams tanks would be delivered next
year, and the final 28 in 2026, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense
(MND) said. Taiwan had ordered them in 2019.Chen Kuoming, a Taipei-based
military analyst, told Defense News the weapons are meant “most
importantly” for defending the Taipei capital area. They will outfit an
armored brigade in Linkou in Taipei, and another brigade in Hukou in
Hsinchu.The Abrams represents a significant step up in terms of
firepower and protection compared to the existing fleet of M60A3 and
M48H/CM11 models, which are armed with a 105mm main gun.Chen said those
tank types were too old and outdated, although 108 new Abrams “are just
not enough” to cover replacements in central and southern Taiwan as
well.No runways, no sorties: Chinese missiles threaten US airpower
plans-American warplanes could be kept from joining the fray of a
conflict with China for days or weeks, analysts have concluded.By Kelly
A. Grieco and Hunter SlingbaumTanks essentially represent a final line
of defense against any Chinese invasion. Taiwan’s earlier lines of
defense against an amphibious assault include anti-ship missiles,
artillery and rockets as well as attack helicopters.“From the
Russia-Ukraine war, we’ve seen drones and loitering munitions attacking
tanks,” Chen said. He therefore expressed a need for the new M1A2Ts to
be upgraded against such aerial attacks.In that context, the analyst
warned of diminishing returns for tank investments. Instead, he
suggested the budget should be used on other equipment like small drones
and loitering munitions, Javelin antitank missiles, Stinger air defense
missiles or lighter armored vehicles.“I want to encourage army officers
to think about future wars, so they’ll change their thoughts about
buying heavier tanks,” he urged.Taiwan is also in receipt of an initial
11 of 29 M142 HIMARS rocket launchers. The defense ministry revealed
that the first tranche arrived in October, with 18 more systems due
before the end of 2026. These HIMARS were delivered to the 58th
Artillery Command in Taichung, a city midway down Taiwan’s west
coast.Taiwan’s army has received a first batch of an undisclosed number
of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the U.S. too.
Fired from the HIMARS launchers, the ATACMS’s range of 186 miles (300km)
puts mainland China within strike range.
New US Space Force jammers aim to disrupt China’s SATCOM signals-By Courtney Albon- Thursday, Dec 19, 2024
The
U.S. Space Force is on track to field its first batch of a new
ground-based satellite communications jammer in the coming months —
designed to disrupt signals from enemy spacecraft.Space Operations
Command just approved the Remote Modular Terminals for initial fielding,
a spokesperson told Defense News Wednesday, adding that the jammers
will be in the hands of military users imminently.The Space Force plans
to field 11 systems as part of the first release, giving units a chance
to use the system before it’s accepted for operations. The program has
funding to build around 160, and the service expects to need as many as
200 in the coming years.The Space Rapid Capabilities Office, a
fast-moving acquisition team based at Kirtland Air Force Base in New
Mexico, is the lead for the RMT program. Space RCO Director Kelly
Hammett told reporters last week the small, modular terminals are
designed to block adversary communications from satellites that are
surveilling U.S. and allies, particularly in the U.S. Indo-Pacific
Command.“We want to be able to disrupt their comms and their kill chains
and their targeting links,” Hammett said during a Dec. 11 media
briefing at the Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Fla. “That’s what
these systems are intended to do: to block reception going either from,
say, sensors that are that are looking at our joint forces and reporting
up to a satellite and back to a battle management node, or vice
versa.”The U.S. is particularly concerned about surveillance satellites
China has launched in recent years. The remote systems, called Yaogan,
provide continuous, uninterrupted coverage of the Indo-Pacific theater
to identify gaps in U.S. and allied forces. The latest version,
Yaogan-41, launched to geostationary orbit late last year and can track
car-sized objects, according to a January 2024 report from the Center
for Strategic and International Studies.The RMT jammers will essentially
“yell in their ear” so the radars can’t command other systems to attack
U.S. assets, according to Hammett.Hammett declined to say where the
first systems will be fielded, but said the initial locations have been
identified. Speaking this fall at a separate Space Industry Days
conference in Los Angeles, Hammett said operators will be able to
control the systems from locations in the U.S. even as they’re deployed
around the world.The Space RCO awarded contracts for the program just 18
months ago, working with a small, Virginia-based company called
Northstrat. The firm partnered with a larger company, CACI, to leverage
mostly off-the-shelf technology to build the terminals.The terminals
themselves are small, Hammett said, and cost roughly $1.5 million
each.“As far as space electronic warfare goes, you can’t get much better
than that,” he said.
Three soldiers killed fighting in northern
Gaza, airstrike hits Hamas security chief-Kfir Brigade’s Cpt. Ilay
Gavriel Atedgi, 22, Staff Sgt. Netanel Pessach, 21, and Sgt. First Class
(res.) Hillel Diener, 21, killed by explosive during operation in Beit
Hanoun area-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 10:22 pm-DEC 23,24
Three
Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip
on Monday, the military announced, as operations to combat the Hamas
terror group’s regrouping efforts in the area continued.The slain troops
were named as: Cpt. Ilay Gavriel Atedgi, 22, from Kiryat Motzkin; Staff
Sgt. Netanel Pessach, 21, from Elazar; and Sgt. First Class (res.)
Hillel Diener, 21, from Talmon.They all served in the Kfir Brigade’s
Shimshon Battalion.According to an initial Israel Defense Forces probe,
the soldiers were killed by an explosive device in the Beit Hanoun
area.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in
military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 391. The
toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a
Defense Ministry civilian contractor.The Kfir Brigade had just wrapped
up an operation against Hamas in nearby Beit Lahiya earlier this
week.Troops advanced to the Beit Hanoun area “following intelligence
information about the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure
in the area,” the IDF said on Sunday.The military and Shin Bet also
announced Monday that a senior member of Hamas’s general security forces
had been killed in a Sunday airstrike in Gaza City.According to the
military, the target of the strike, Tharwat Muhammad Ahmad al-Bayk,
served as the head of the security directorate in Hamas’s General
Security Service.Al-Bayk was targeted while at a Hamas command center
embedded within the Musa Ibn Nusayr school, in Gaza City’s Daraj
neighborhood, the IDF said.The school was serving as a shelter for
displaced Gazans, and Palestinian media reported at least eight dead in
the strike.The IDF and Shin Bet said that the security directorate in
the General Security Service is a Hamas body that is tasked with
building an intelligence picture to help the terror group make
decisions.The unit is also responsible for the protection of Hamas’s top
officials, and has the job of providing shelters for the senior
commanders and leaders to enable them to continue their military
activity, the joint statement said.“Al-Bayk was considered one of the
main links in the mechanism, and a significant factor in [Hamas’s]
decision-making,” the statement continued.The IDF said it took steps to
mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using a precision
munition and aerial surveillance.Meanwhile, organized looting is
increasingly threatening aid delivery in war-torn Gaza, with armed
groups taking advantage of the chaos and lack of governance to steal
basic items, The New York Times reported Monday.The paper said the
phenomenon, which was once limited to desperate individuals, has now
blossomed into systematic practices by armed groups in the enclave.The
growing threat has led the UN and other aid groups to halt operations,
contributing to rising hunger and leaving tens of thousands of people
without critical supplies, the report said.The report said the Israeli
military has tried to find alternate routes for aid that will bypass
looters, but success has been only partial.It added that the IDF appears
to increasingly be targeting armed looters with airstrikes to deter the
practice.Israel has been at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip since
October 7, 2023, when the terror group invaded southern Israel, killing
some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, amid acts of brutality and
sexual assault.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in
Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands
at 391. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue
mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.It is believed that
96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza,
including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is
also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and
2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Lebanese
PM, UNIFIL call for Israel to withdraw troops faster than ceasefire
demands-Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urges US, France to
pressure accelerated IDF pull-out from southern Lebanon, even as Israel
continues to find Hezbollah weapons in border area-By AFP and ToI Staff
Today, 11:17 pm-DEC 23,24
United Nations peacekeepers and
Lebanon’s prime minister called on Monday for the Israel Defense Forces
to speed up its withdrawal from the country, nearly a month into a
fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.“UNIFIL
strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF’s withdrawal from and the
LAF’s (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon,” the force said in a
statement.It called on “all actors to cease and refrain from violations
of (Security Council) Resolution 1701 and any actions that could
jeopardize the fragile stability that currently prevails,” referring to
the 2006 agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War and served as a
basis for the more recent ceasefire deal in November.The UNIFIL
statement came after Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said
the United States and France should put pressure on Israel to complete
its withdrawal faster.The United States and France, along with Lebanon,
Israel and UNIFIL, make up the committee tasked with maintaining
communication between the parties to the ceasefire and ensuring any
violations are identified and dealt with.As part of the truce agreement,
the Lebanese army and peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon, as
the Israeli army pulls out over a period of 60 days.The IDF under the
ceasefire agreement has until late January to withdraw from southern
Lebanon, and, in the meantime, it continues to operate against and
destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.“In order for the army to be able to
fully accomplish its missions, the committee must… put pressure on the
Israeli enemy to bring an end to all the violations” of the ceasefire,
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in the town of Khiam during a tour of
the south.“It is necessary to put pressure on the parties to the
ceasefire agreement, namely the French and the Americans, to accelerate
the process before the expiration of the 60-day period,” he added, going
on to accuse Israel of “dragging its feet.”On December 11, the Lebanese
army reported that it had deployed around Khiam, five kilometers (3.1
miles) from the border, in coordination with UNIFIL, following the
withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.Accusations of
violations-Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that
“the Israeli enemy continues its invasion and attacks on southern
Lebanese territories,” where it has “raised the Israeli flag” on a hill
between the towns of Bayada and Naqura.The NNA frequently reports
instances of Israel dynamiting homes in border villages.For its part,
the Israeli army stated on Monday that it was continuing its defensive
activities in the south “in accordance with the agreement,” adding that
it had “seized and dismantled various weapons and military equipment
from a warehouse.”The truce in southern Lebanon went into force on
November 27, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities between
Israel and Hezbollah that began when the Iranian-backed terror group
started attacking Israel with rockets and drones on October 8, 2023, a
day after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza, starting the
ongoing multi-front war.Fearing a similar Hezbollah onslaught, Israel
evacuated residents of border towns. Hezbollah’s persistent rocket fire
prevented some 60,000 displaced northerners from returning home. In a
bid to stop the rocket fire, Israel stepped up operations against
Hezbollah in late September, all but decimating the terror group’s
leadership.Mikati said that he wanted to resolve any questions over the
Blue Line — the UN-demarcated boundary between Lebanon and Israel — “so
there will be no justification for any Israeli occupation of our
land.”He also said he was working with “the World Bank, the European
Union, Arab countries, and our international partners to create a trust
fund” for reconstruction efforts.The World Bank estimated in October
that the fighting had caused physical damage amounting to “at least $3.4
billion” in Lebanon.
Gantz says Israel must directly target Iran
to deter ongoing Houthi attacks-National Unity leader also calls for
regional nations, US to partner with Israel to remove threat of nuclear
Iranian regime-By Sam Sokol-and ToI Staff Today, 8:55 pm-DEC 23,24
Faced
with Houthi attacks from Yemen and dangers posed by other Iranian
proxies, Israel “must target Iran directly,” opposition politician Benny
Gantz declared on Monday.Speaking with the press ahead of his National
Unity party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Gantz stated that
“the solution to putting an end to the attacks lies in Tehran.”“Today,
we have the opportunity to catalyze a ‘strategic flip’ against Iran and
its proxies. We must capitalize on the opportunity. It would be a
strategic mistake of historic proportion not to,” said Gantz, a former
defense minister and IDF chief.The security establishment apparently
agrees with Gantz, according to a Channel 12 report Sunday that said the
question of tackling Iran — a possible reference both to efforts to
deter the Houthis and to target Iran’s nuclear facilities — has come up
repeatedly in security cabinet meetings, even as the focus has been on
finding ways to counter the upsurge in Houthi missile attacks.Channel
13, for its part, quoted Mossad chief David Barnea saying: “We need to
go for the head [of the snake], for Iran — if we only hit the Houthis,
it’s not certain we’ll manage to stop them.”Quoting unnamed Israeli
political and military leaders, Channel 12 reported that Tehran’s
leadership believes Israel may soon attack it, and is holding frenzied
consultations to decide what to do in the event that it does.The report
added that Iran believes Israel agreed to a ceasefire last month in its
conflict with Hezbollah up north because it would free up forces to
focus on a direct attack against the Islamic regime.In his statement,
Gantz said that “the nations of the region together with the United
States must work together with Israel to remove the threat of a nuclear
Iranian regime,” adding that a comprehensive deal with Hamas covering
all of the hostages held in Gaza was also needed, even if their release
would be spread over a period of time.Negotiations for a hostage deal
are ongoing with officials involved in the talks expressing cautious
optimism in the last week that an agreement may be close. However,
reports on the details of the deal say it would not include all the
remaining hostages held captive in Gaza, but would only see 34 hostages
released, including some bodies of hostages who have been killed.It is
believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7
remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by
the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late
November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages
have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have
also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military
as they tried to escape their captors.Other than securing the release of
the remaining hostages, Gantz said, “We must use this time to do what
Netanyahu has refused to do for over a year: replace the Hamas
government,” adding that while Hamas’s commanders have largely been
eliminated and its infrastructure destroyed, Israel “continues to let it
run the Strip.”“The State of Israel has not made a real decision to
replace Hamas. It is not working with our friends in the world to
establish an administration to run the Gaza Strip as I proposed a year
ago. Such plans exist in the defense establishment, but this is
something that can only be led by a determined political echelon, one
that is not bound by messianic dreams and coalition needs,” he
asserted.Even if a new government focused on de-radicalization is
established, however, Hamas will not disappear overnight, requiring the
IDF to continue operating in Gaza in the future and “ninth-grade
children will still be fighting in Gaza” when they grow up and are
conscripted.On the topic of enlistment, Gantz cited an internal Finance
Ministry report slamming the government’s enlistment bill, stating that
if it had accepted his proposal for a mobilization outline “we would
already have thousands of young soldiers on the front lines.”“The
conscription outline they want to pass is a car without an engine,” he
added, calling on Likud lawmakers Yuli Edelstein and Yoav Gallant not to
support the bill.According to an internal analysis of the economic
impact of the legislation, the bill — which would enshrine the exemption
of ultra-Orthodox men from military service — has “significant flaws”
and would fail to ease the burden on Israel’s reservists.The Haredi
religious and political leadership have fiercely resisted any effort to
force members of the community to serve in the military. The community’s
longstanding exemptions from the mandatory military draft were
challenged in June, when the High Court of Justice ruled that there is
no legal basis for their decades-long exemption.
Russia denies
reports that Bashar al-Assad’s wife, Asma, filed for divorce-Kremlin
also denies that UK-born ‘Desert Rose’ requested to leave Moscow, where
the Assad family fled as rebels took Damascus-By Agencies Today, 7:06
pm-DEC 23,24
The Kremlin on Monday rejected Turkish media reports
that suggested that Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of former
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, sought a divorce and wanted to leave
Russia.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also rejected Turkish media
reports that suggested that Assad had been confined to Moscow and had
his property assets frozen.Asked on a conference call if the reports
corresponded to reality, Peskov said: “No, they do not correspond to
reality.”Turkish and Arabic media reported on Sunday that Asma al-Assad
had filed for divorce in Russia, where the Assad family were granted
asylum this month after rebels took control of Damascus following a
lightning advance.Reports said she was unhappy with their diminished
lifestyle and wanted to return to the UK, although it is unlikely she
would be allowed back.Asma al-Assad was born in London in 1975 and has
spent half her life in the UK, with her parents still living in the west
of the capital city.She later graduated from London’s King’s College
University with a degree in computer science and French literature
before moving into finance, working at Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.It
was in this line of work that she met Bashar al-Assad in the late 1990s,
and the couple married a few months after he succeeded his father,
Hafez, as Syrian president in July 2000.Feted by the Western media for
her looks and style, Asma became the toast of high society, hosting
celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie while enjoying a lavish
reception overseas. Fashion bible Vogue called her the “Desert
Rose.”But her reputation crumbled when she stood by her husband’s side
as he cracked down on anti-government protests that erupted in 2011,
turning into a full-scale civil war in June 2012.She had her UK assets
frozen in March 2012 amid growing protests against her husband’s rule,
as part of a European sanction program that London maintained after
Brexit.She retains British citizenship, but foreign minister David Lammy
said Monday that she was no longer welcome in the country, suggesting
she may soon lose her UK passport.In 2020 the United States imposed
sanctions on Asma al-Assad, her parents and two brothers, with
then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo describing her as “one of Syria’s
most notorious war profiteers.”Earlier this month, Syrian rebels took
control of Damascus after a two-week offensive, ending 13 years of civil
war against the Syrian government and over 50 years of Assad family
rule.Bashar al-Assad himself fled Damascus on December 8, and was
granted asylum in Russia where his wife and family were already waiting
for him in Moscow, according to three former close aides and a senior
regional official.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time
Netanyahu
tells Knesset: ‘Some progress’ achieved in hostage deal talks with
Hamas-PM doesn’t reveal details, but says negotiation efforts are
‘significant’; says those who think Arab-Israeli peace depends on
Palestinians ‘have no idea’ what they’re talking about-By Lazar
Berman-and ToI Staff Today, 10:48 pm-DEC 23,24
In a typically
rowdy session in the Knesset plenum Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu expressed cautious optimism about the chances for a hostage
deal with Hamas.“I would like to tell you carefully,” he said, during a
so-called 40 signatures debate which the opposition can call once a
month, “there is some progress.”Clarifying reasons for the progress,
Netanyahu said: “First, [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is no longer with
us.”“Hamas hoped that Hezbollah and Iran would come to their aid, but
they are licking their wounds; and Hamas itself is also taking more and
more blows. So there is progress. I don’t know how long it will take,
but we are making efforts,” he said.Days before the Hanukkah holiday,
Netanyahu said happiness cannot be complete “until we get all the
hostages home.”“I cannot tell you all the things we are doing, but we
are taking significant actions on all levels,” Netanyahu continued.“We
will continue to act in every way, without respite, until we bring
everyone home from enemy territory,” he promised.Gaps between Israel and
the Hamas terror group over a possible Gaza hostage release and
ceasefire deal have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian
officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be
resolved, as fighting continues in the war-torn enclave.The war started
with the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which
terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251
people to Gaza as hostages.It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages
abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of
at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians
during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were
released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive,
and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three
mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their
captors.Shifting his speech to the wider region, Netanyahu said that
Israel’s military feats are “changing the face of the Middle East.”“Our
string of successes and victories inspires enormous appreciation in our
region and throughout the world,” he said, adding that even Israel’s
enemies recognize the scale of its achievements.“They see the enormous
destruction that Hamas and Hezbollah have brought upon themselves with
their own hands,” he said. “They are staring at the elimination of their
leaders in the first, second, and third echelons. In the fourth
echelon. There are no echelons left.”Netanyahu also blasted the
opposition for mocking his insistence on total victory. “Reality is
stronger than your contempt and mockery,” he said.Had Israel stopped the
war before entering Gaza’s Rafah and taking control of the Philadelphi
corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, and before tackling Hezbollah, as
many in the opposition had urged, said Netanyahu, that would have marked
a victory for Iran and its axis of evil, and it “would not have freed
anybody.”“Time and again, it has been proven who was right and who was
wrong.”There are more challenges ahead of Israel, he warned. “We are not
taking our eyes off Iran, which threatens to destroy us, and we are
determined to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and other
weapons that could threaten our cities and our homeland.”Turning to
Yemen, Netanyahu said that Israel’s recent strikes on the Houthis “are
not the first and I will tell you that will not be the last. We have
destroyed significant terrorist assets that the Houthi have, that were
used against us.”Netanyahu also said that it is possible to expand the
circle of peace around Israel, and claimed that those who believe peace
with Arab countries depends on peace with the Palestinians “have no idea
what you are talking about.”“We brought about four historic peace
agreements with the Abraham Accords. And now I am telling you there will
be more agreements,” he said.“I’m not saying the Palestinian issue
doesn’t make things hard for us,” but “there is a change,” he said. “And
if you think that our Arab neighbors do not see the reality that many
of you here, at least some of you, are trying to deny, the tectonic
changes that are taking place here are not happening by
themselves.”Israel’s success in the ongoing war “creates opportunities
for expanding the circle of peace,” he claimed. “And the moderate Arab
countries see Israel as a regional power and a possible ally for
ensuring their security, the stability, and prosperity of the entire
region. And I intend to fully exploit this opportunity, together with
our American friends.”The wave of normalization in relations between
Israel and neighboring Arab states has halted since the war in Gaza
began, most notably in the case of Saudi Arabia, which has since said
that it will not consider normalizing relations until Jerusalem commits
to a “credible path” to a Palestinian state.
Arab diplomats flock
to Damascus for meetings with new Syrian leader-Jordanian, Qatari,
Saudi delegations meet Ahmed al-Sharaa, vowing cooperation against drug
and weapons smuggling, support for rebuilding Syria; Iran reports ‘no
direct contact’By Agencies Today, 7:06 pm-DEC 23,24
Syria’s new
leader Ahmed al-Sharaa held talks Monday with senior Arab diplomats in
the latest high-profile visits since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.Sharaa,
better known by his former nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani and
whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded the
offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, has welcomed envoys from the
Middle East and beyond in recent days.Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman
Safadi expressed his country’s support for Syria’s reconstruction in a
meeting with Sharaa in Damascus, in the first trip to Syria by a senior
Jordanian official since Assad was toppled.“Our talks were clear that we
in the Kingdom are ready to provide support,” Safadi said after the
meeting, adding that the new Syrian administration must have the
opportunity to develop its plans. “I focused on reconstruction efforts
and Jordan will provide aid,” Safadi added.Safadi said he agreed with
Sharaa on cooperating to counter the smuggling of drugs and weapons from
Syria to Jordan — a problem for years under Assad.Safadi also noted
that Islamic State, with which Sharaa’s group clashed earlier in the
Syrian war, remained a threat.“Our brothers in Syria also realize that
this is a threat. God willing, we will all cooperate, not just Jordan
and Syria, but all Arab countries and the international community, in
fighting this scourge that poses a threat to everyone,” he said.Images
released by the foreign ministry showed the pair shaking hands, while
Jordan’s official Al-Mamlaka TV reported that Safadi had discussed
avenues of cooperation, including in the areas of trade, border
management, aid and electricity connections, along with security.Safadi
expressed support for “a government that represents all spectrums in
Syria,” as well as for “the drafting of a new constitution,” according
to Al-Mamlaka.“We agree to support the Syrian people in rebuilding their
state,” he was quoted as saying, adding that “the Arab countries agree
to support Syria at this stage without any external interference.”Qatari
delegation-Also in Damascus on Monday was Qatar’s minister of state at
the foreign ministry, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, leading the “first
high-level Qatari delegation” to Damascus “after 13 years of diplomatic
rupture,” his ministry said.“This visit reaffirms the strong fraternal
ties” between Qatar and Syria, and underscored Doha’s “unwavering
commitment to supporting and assisting the Syrian people in their quest
for progress, while preserving Syria’s sovereignty,” the foreign
ministry statement added.Syrian state news agency SANA published images
of the meeting between Sharaa and the Qatari delegation.Khulaifi arrived
in Damascus aboard “the first Qatar Airways plane to land at the Syrian
airport” since Assad’s ouster, foreign ministry spokesman Majed
al-Ansari wrote on X.A Qatari official told AFP that “a technical
aviation team” accompanied the delegation “to assess the readiness of
Damascus airport to resume operations.”“Qatar has offered to provide
technical support for the resumption of commercial and cargo flights, as
well as ensure the airport’s maintenance during the transitional
phase,” the official added.Saudi talks-A source close to the Saudi
government told AFP on Monday that a delegation from the kingdom had
also met with Sharaa in Damascus a day earlier to discuss the “Syria
situation and captagon,” an illegal amphetamine-like stimulant.The drug
has flooded the region in recent years, and was Syria’s largest export
under Assad, turning the country into one of the world’s biggest
narco-states.Jordan in recent years has cracked down on the smuggling of
weapons and drugs, including captagon, along its 375-kilometer
(230-mile) border with Syria.Iran, meanwhile, said Monday that it had
“no direct contact” with Syria’s new rulers since the fall of longtime
Tehran ally Assad.Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei expressed
support for Syria’s sovereignty, and said the country should not become
“a haven for terrorism.”Sharaa’s HTS is rooted in al-Qaeda’s Syria
branch, but has sought to moderate its image in recent years.At a summit
in Jordan earlier this month, top Arab, Turkish, EU and US diplomats
called for an inclusive and peaceful transition after years of civil
war.
Israel still hasn’t received list of living hostages from
Hamas, official says-Israeli official tells ToI gaps are narrowing in
talks with terror group, but crucial issues — including length of
ceasefire, Palestinian prisoners to be freed — still unresolved-By Lazar
Berman and Agencies Today, 6:14 pm-DEC 23,24
Gaps between Israel
and the Hamas terror group over a possible Gaza hostage release and
ceasefire deal have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian
officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be
resolved, as fighting continues in the war-torn enclave.Israel still has
not received a list of living hostages from Hamas, an Israeli official
with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations told The Times of Israel on
Monday, saying, “We are waiting.”“It’s slow progress,” the official
said. “We would want to see it move quicker, the entire process, but
there is absolutely progress.”The official pointed to divisions within
Hamas.“We understand that [Gaza-based senior official] Mohammed Sinwar
is no less of an extremist and zealot than [his brother, slain Hamas
leader] Yahya Sinwar,” the official continued, “and this is definitely
causing delays.”Another factor slowing down talks is the time it takes
for Hamas officials in Doha to communicate with those in Gaza, said the
official.The official also alleged that Qatar, despite returning to its
mediating role, was also getting in the way.“Qatar doesn’t stop playing
games and trying to carry out psychological warfare on Israeli society
with all kinds of reports, half-truths, all kinds of things that they
try to launch, experimental balloons, all kinds of things that don’t
contribute to the negotiations,” he said.The official explained that
Israel is nevertheless willing to use Qatar as a mediator because it has
excellent access to Hamas leaders.Ceasefire terms unresolved-The
official also insisted that Israel will not leave the Philadelphi
Corridor as part of any partial deal or in a first phase of a deal.“If
we reach an end to the war, then maybe it will be possible,” said the
official. “We’ll see what arrangements we reach, but I also find it hard
to believe that we will withdraw.”“We are ready to thin out our forces
and redeploy our forces on the ground,” the official conceded.Meanwhile,
a Palestinian official familiar with the talks said that while some
sticking points had been resolved, the identity of some of the
Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages
had yet to be agreed on, along with the precise deployment of Israeli
troops in Gaza.The remarks corresponded with comments by Israel’s
Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who said both issues were
still being negotiated. Nonetheless, he said, the sides were far closer
to reaching agreement than they have been for months.“This ceasefire can
last six months or it can last 10 years, it depends on the dynamics
that will form on the ground,” Chikli told Israel’s Kan radio. Much
hinged on what powers would be running and rehabilitating Gaza once
fighting stopped, he said.The duration of the ceasefire has been a
fundamental sticking point throughout several rounds of failed
negotiations. Hamas wants an end to the war, while Israel wants an end
to Hamas’s rule of Gaza first.“The issue of ending the war completely
hasn’t yet been resolved,” said the Palestinian official.Minister Ze’ev
Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet,
told Israel’s Army Radio that the aim was to find an agreed-upon
framework that would resolve that difference during a second stage of
the ceasefire deal.Chikli said the first stage would be a humanitarian
phase that would last 42 days and include a hostage release.It is
believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7
remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by
the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late
November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages
have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have
also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli
military as they tried to escape their captors.The war started with the
Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which
terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251
people to Gaza as hostages.Overnight strikes in Gaza-Israeli airstrikes
on the Gaza Strip overnight and during the day on Monday killed at least
20 people, Hamas-controlled Palestinian medics said.One of the strikes
hit a tent camp in the al-Mawasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian
zone, killing eight people, including two children, according to Nasser
Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the
bodies.The Israeli military says it only strikes terror operatives,
accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had
targeted a Hamas operative in the humanitarian zone.The strike was
carried out in the Khan Younis area and the IDF said it took numerous
steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike.One of Gaza’s few still
partially functioning hospitals, on the Strip’s northern edge, an area
under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months, sought
urgent help on Monday after claiming to be hit by Israeli fire.“We are
facing a continuous daily threat,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of
the Kamal Adwan Hospital. “The bombing continues from all directions,
affecting the building, the departments, and the staff.”An Israeli
military spokesman denied that the hospital was being targeted. “I am
unaware of any strikes on Kamal Adwan Hospital,” he told AFP.Safiyeh
reported that the hospital, which is currently treating 91 patients, had
been targeted on Monday by Israeli drones.“This morning, drones dropped
bombs in the hospital’s courtyards and on its roof,” said Safiyeh in a
statement. “The shelling, which also destroyed nearby houses and
buildings, did not stop throughout the night.”The shelling and
bombardment have caused extensive damage to the hospital, Safiyeh
added.“Bullets hit the intensive care unit, the maternity ward, and the
specialized surgery department causing fear among patients,” he said,
adding that a generator was also targeted.On Sunday, Safiyeh said he
received orders to evacuate the hospital, but the IDF denied issuing
such directives. It also said it was supplying fuel and food to the
hospital and helping evacuate some patients and staff to safer
areas.Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate
northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.The area has
been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces
since October 6, aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.Israel says
its operation around the three communities on the northern edge of the
Gaza Strip — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas
terror operatives and is aimed at preventing them from regrouping.There
are two functioning medical centers in the area, the Kamal Adwan and
Al-Awda hospitals.Israeli officials have accused Hamas operatives of
using the hospitals as command and control centers to plan attacks
against the military.On Monday, the United Nations aid chief, Tom
Fletcher, said Israeli forces had hampered efforts to deliver
much-needed aid in northern Gaza.“North Gaza has been under a near-total
siege for more than two months, raising the specter of famine,” he
said. “South Gaza is extremely overcrowded, creating horrific living
conditions and even greater humanitarian needs as winter sets
in.”Pre-Christmas mass-Also Sunday, Latin Archbishop Pierbattista
Pizzaballa led a pre-Christmas Mass during a rare visit to Gaza that was
coordinated with Israeli authorities.Footage shared on social media
showed the event.GAZA-Cardinal Pizzaballa leads Mass with Catholics at
Holy Family Parish.Pope Francis yesterday criticised Israel for stopping
Pizzaballa from entering Gaza with Christmas presents for children.
pic.twitter.com/AA1Zap0AkK — Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) December
22, 2024-His visit to Holy Family in Gaza City, the Palestinian
enclave’s only Catholic church, came a day after Pope Francis issued a
series of condemnations of Israeli strikes during the ongoing war
against Hamas, and said the attacks had prevented Pizzaballa from
entering the Strip the day before.The pope’s comments prompted a sharp
response from the Foreign Ministry, which said his comments were
“particularly disappointing, as they are disconnected from the true and
factual context of Israel’s fight against jihadist terrorism — a
multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7.”The
Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip
have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though
the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians
and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in
battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on
October 7, 2023.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities
and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields,
fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and
mosques.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and
in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 388.
The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission
and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Report suggests IDF
logistics road in north Gaza may become new corridor, buffer zone-Israel
says path cutting through urban areas is temporary, aimed at providing
supplies and cutting area off from Gaza City terror operatives-By ToI
Staff Today, 2:18 pm-DEC 24,24
The Washington Post published
footage Tuesday showing progress on a road Israel has been carving out
through urban parts of northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit
Lahiya, dividing Gaza City from the cities to its north, in what the
military has said is a temporary logistics and separation road.The
outlet cited a researcher who argued that the pattern of construction
and the destruction of buildings near the new east-west road resemble
the process of establishing the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza and
the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border in the south.It cited
William Goodhind, an analyst at the Contested Ground military research
project, as speculating that Israel may be establishing a third corridor
that bisects Gaza from the Israeli border in the east to the
Mediterranean Sea in the west, as part of a plan to create a buffer zone
in Gaza’s far north that will stay under Israeli military rule.The road
“effectively segments Gaza so that more systematic clearance operations
can begin while a de facto border locks down movement to the south,” he
claimed.Rejecting that notion, former IDF Gaza division deputy
commander Brig. Gen. (Res.) Amir Avivi told the Post that the pathway is
aimed at providing “logistics channels” and doesn’t represent a
“long-term policy.”Similarly, the IDF said in early November that
northern Gaza’s towns had been disconnected from Gaza City amid the
ongoing operation, whose goal the army said was to prevent Hamas
operatives from escaping or, alternatively, from bringing in
reinforcements from Gaza City, where thousands of terror operatives were
thought to be.The BBC has also previously reported on the road under
construction.The establishment of this corridor, the clearing of tracts
of land on either side of it and the construction of square-shaped
protected outposts resemble the IDF’s transformation of the Netzarim
Corridor, a strategic Israeli military zone in the center of Gaza,
analysts said. pic.twitter.com/lXZsgYdIhh— Imogen Piper (@imogen_piper)
December 23, 2024The Post story also focused on testimonies of residents
of northern Gaza who have been evacuated from the area amid the renewed
operation, which has demolished most of the buildings there and
prompted an outcry from international bodies and groups.Israel says much
of the destruction in Gaza is a result of Hamas using the Strip’s
infrastructure for terror purposes, but the widespread destruction has
fueled accusations of excessive force and collective punishment.The vast
majority of Gaza’s population has been staying in an Israel-designated
humanitarian zone near the coast in southern Gaza. The IDF estimates
that only thousands of people remain in the northern areas where it is
currently operating. Israel denies the displacement is permanent or that
it is planning to establish an open-ended military rule, though some in
the far-right flank of the government have been calling for this.On
Monday, Channel 12 aired satellite footage from Hebrew University GIS
specialist Adi Ben Nun that it said showed 100 percent of the 19,000
buildings in the northern Gaza city of Jabalia had been
destroyed.Similar footage from July — before the IDF launched its third
counter-terrorism operation in the city since the start of the war —
showed 54% of Jabalia’s buildings destroyed, the network said.The
satellite footage also indicated that the IDF has completed demolishing
all 4,000 buildings in Gaza that were within one kilometer of the border
with Israel. Channel 12 said the military believes it has completed its
goal of creating a buffer zone in that border area.Israel has been at
war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, when the terror
group invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251
hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.Israel’s toll in the
ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along
the border with the Strip stands at 391. The toll includes a police
officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry
civilian contractor.It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted
by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least
34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli
civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies
of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.The Hamas-run Gaza health
ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or
are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be
verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of
November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Israel
has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that
Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian
areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Airline
pilots, crews voice concerns about Middle East routes-Safety debate
about flying over Mideast — a key air corridor to Asia — is playing out
in Europe, where pilots are protected by unions, unlike in other parts
of the world-By Joanna Plucinska and Lisa Barrington Today, 5:40 am-DEC
24,24
LONDON (Reuters) — In late September, an experienced pilot
at low-cost European airline Wizz Air felt anxious after learning his
plane would fly over Iraq at night amid mounting tensions between nearby
Iran and Israel.He decided to query the decision since just a week
earlier the airline had deemed the route unsafe. In response, Wizz Air’s
flight operations team told him the airway was now considered secure
and he had to fly it, without giving further explanation, the pilot
said.“I wasn’t really happy with it,” the pilot, who requested anonymity
from fear he could lose his job, told Reuters. Days later, Iraq closed
its airspace when Iran fired missiles on October 1 at Israel. “It
confirmed my suspicion that it wasn’t safe.”In response to Reuters’
queries, Wizz Air said the safety of crew and passengers was its utmost
priority and would not be compromised “in any circumstances,” adding its
decisions on where to fly are based on stringent risk assessments in
collaboration with third party intelligence specialists.“Our aircraft
and crews will only fly in airspace that has been deemed safe and we
would never take any risks in this respect,” Wizz Air also said in a
statement.The airline said it had conducted a thorough risk assessment
before deciding to fly over Iraqi airspace in November and followed
guidance from the European Commission and the European Union Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA), which had deemed it safe on July 31.It also said
it was rerouting some flights following EASA recommendations and its own
risk assessment review. It did not give further details on which routes
and flights were affected.The airline has suspended flights to and from
Tel Aviv until Jan. 14.Reuters spoke to four pilots, three cabin crew
members, three flight security experts and two airline executives about
growing safety concerns in the European air industry due to escalating
tensions in the Middle East following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on
Israel that prompted the war in Gaza.The Middle East is a key air
corridor for planes heading to India, Southeast Asia and Australia and
last year was crisscrossed daily by 1,400 flights to and from Europe,
Eurocontrol data show.The safety debate about flying over the region is
playing out in Europe largely because pilots there are protected by
unions, unlike other parts of the world.Reuters reviewed nine
unpublished letters from four European unions representing pilots and
crews that expressed worries about air safety over Middle Eastern
countries. The letters were sent to Wizz Air, Ryanair, airBaltic, the
European Commission and EASA between June and August.“No one should be
forced to work in such a hazardous environment and no commercial
interests should outweigh the safety and well-being of those on board,”
read a letter, addressed to EASA and the European Commission from the
Romanian flight crew union FPU Romania, dated Aug. 26.In other letters,
staff called on airlines to be more transparent about their decisions on
routes and demanded the right to refuse to fly a dangerous route.There
have been no fatalities or accidents impacting commercial aviation tied
to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East since the war in Gaza
erupted last year.Air France opened an internal investigation after one
of its commercial planes flew over Iraq on October 1 during Tehran’s
missile attack on Israel. On that occasion, airlines scrambled to divert
dozens of planes heading toward the affected areas in the Middle
East.The ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran and the abrupt ousting
of president Bashar al-Assad by Syrian rebels this month have raised
concerns of further insecurity in the region.The use of missiles in the
region has revived memories of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight
MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and of Ukraine International Airlines
flight PS752 en route from Tehran in 2020.Being accidentally shot down
in the chaos of war is the top worry, three pilots and two aviation
safety experts told Reuters, along with the risk of an emergency
landing.While airlines including Lufthansa and KLM no longer fly over
Iran, carriers including Etihad, flydubai, Aeroflot and Wizz Air were
still crossing the country’s airspace as recently as Dec. 2, data from
tracking service FlightRadar24 show.Some European airlines including
Lufthansa and KLM allow crew to opt out of routes they don’t feel are
safe, but others such as Wizz Air, Ryanair and airBaltic don’t.AirBaltic
CEO Martin Gauss said his airline meets an international safety
standard that doesn’t need to be adjusted.“If we start a right of
refusal, then where do we stop? [When] the next person feels unhappy
overflying Iraqi airspace because there’s tension there?” he told
Reuters on Dec. 2 in response to queries about airBaltic flight safety
talks with unions.Ryanair, which intermittently flew to Jordan and
Israel until September, said it makes security decisions based on EASA
guidance.“If EASA says it’s safe, then, frankly, thank you, we’re not
interested in what the unions or some pilot think,” Ryanair CEO Michael
O’Leary told Reuters in October, when asked about staff security
concerns.EASA said it has been involved in a number of exchanges with
pilots and airlines on route safety in recent months concerning the
Middle East, adding that disciplining staff for raising safety concerns
would run counter to a “just culture” where employees can voice
worries.Insufficient reassurances-One Abu Dhabi-based Wizz Air pilot
told Reuters he was comfortable flying over the conflict-torn region as
he believes the industry has a very high safety standard.Wizz Air said
it has a safety, security and operational compliance committee which
assists the board by overseeing policies and their implementation.“We
always strive to be transparent and to keep our crew well informed,” it
said, referring to the internal safety reporting system and regular
updates to staff.For some pilots and crew members working at budget
airlines, the reassurances of the companies are insufficient.They told
Reuters pilots should have more choice in refusing flights over
potentially dangerous airspace and requested more information about
airline security assessments.“The fact that Wizz Air sends emails
asserting that it’s safe is irrelevant to commercial employees,” read a
letter from FPU Romania to Chief Operating Officer Diarmuid O’Conghaile,
dated August 12. “Flights into these conflict areas, even if they are
rescue missions, should be carried out by military personnel and
aircraft, not by commercial crews.”Mircea Constantin, a former cabin
crew member who represents FPU Romania, said Wizz Air never gave a
formal response to this letter and similar ones sent earlier this year
but did send security guidance and updates to staff.A pilot and a cabin
crew member, who declined to be named for fear of retaliatory action,
said they got warnings from their employers for refusing to fly on
Middle Eastern routes or calling in sick.Congested skies-Last month, 165
missiles were launched in Middle Eastern conflict zones versus just 33
in November 2023, according to the latest available data from Osprey
Flight Solutions.But airspace can only be enforceably restricted if a
country chooses to shut it down, as in the case of Ukraine after
Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.Several airlines have opted to
briefly suspend flights to places like Israel when tension rises.
Lufthansa and British Airways did so after Iran bombarded Israel on
April 13.But this limits the airspace in use in the already congested
Middle Eastern skies.Choosing to fly over Central Asia or Egypt and
Saudi Arabia to avoid Middle Eastern hot spots is also more costly as
planes burn more fuel and some countries charge higher overflight
fees.Flying a commercial plane from Singapore to London-Heathrow through
Afghanistan and Central Asia, for instance, cost an airline $4,760 in
overflight fees, about 50% more than a route through the Middle East,
according to two August 31 flight plans reviewed by Reuters.Reuters
could not name the airline as the flight plans are not public.Some
private jets are avoiding the most critical areas.“At the moment, my
no-go areas would be the hotspot points: Libya, Israel, Iran, simply
because they’re sort of caught up in it all,” said Andy Spencer, a
Singapore-based pilot who flies private jets and who previously worked
as an airline pilot.Spencer, who has two decades of experience and flies
through the Middle East regularly, said that on a recent flight from
Manila to Cuba, he flew from Dubai over Egypt and north through Malta
before refueling in Morocco to circumvent Libyan and Israeli
airspace.EASA, regarded by industry experts as the strictest regional
safety regulator, issues public bulletins on how to fly safely over
conflict zones.But these aren’t mandatory and every airline decides
where to travel based on a patchwork of government notices, third-party
security advisors, inhouse security teams and information sharing
between carriers, leading to divergent policies.Such intelligence is not
usually shared with staff.The opacity has sown fear and mistrust among
pilots, cabin crew and passengers as they question whether their airline
has missed something carriers in other countries are aware of, said
Otjan de Bruijn, a former head of European pilots union the European
Cockpit Association and a pilot for KLM.“The more information you make
available to pilots, the more informed a decision they can make,” said
Spencer, who is also an operations specialist at flight advisory body
OPSGROUP, which offers independent operational advice to the aviation
industry.When Gulf players like Etihad, Emirates or flydubai suddenly
stop flying over Iran or Iraq, the industry sees it as a reliable
indicator of risk, pilots and security sources said, as these airlines
can have access to detailed intelligence from their governments.Flydubai
told Reuters it operates within airspace and airways in the region that
are approved by Dubai’s General Civil Aviation Authority. Emirates said
it continuously monitors all routings, adjusting as required and would
never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so. Etihad said it only
operates through approved airspace.Passenger rights groups are also
asking for travelers to receive more information.“If passengers decline
to take flights over conflict zones, airlines would be disinclined to
continue such flights,” said Paul Hudson, the head of US-based passenger
group Flyers Rights. “And passengers who take such flights would do so
informed of the risks.”
25 treated for injuries from racing for
safety or acute anxiety-Israel intercepts Houthi missile as sirens wail
across central Israel-No reports of injuries due to falling fragments,
though woman in serious condition after falling while running to
shelter; Houthis say attacks will continue until Gaza war ends By ToI
Staff and Emanuel Fabian-Today, 4:52 am-DEC 24,24
Yemen’s
Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired another ballistic missile at Israel
early Tuesday morning, triggering sirens across the center of the
country as well as in southern Israel, for the third time in less than a
week.The Israel Defense Forces said it managed to intercept the missile
before it entered Israeli airspace.According to a military source, the
projectile was shot down using the long-range Arrow air defense system,
which is designed to take out ballistic missiles outside of the
atmosphere.Sirens were triggered across central Israel — between
Herzliya and Ashdod — as well as in several towns east of Beersheba, as a
precaution due to the possibility of fragments landing inside Israeli
territory following the interception, the military said.The Magen David
Adom emergency medical service said it did not receive any reports of
injuries due to fallen missile or interceptor fragments.However, a
60-year-old woman fell while running to a shelter in Tel Aviv and was
taken to the city’s Ichilov Hospital in serious condition, MDA said.At
least 25 people were treated for minor injuries after falling while
running to the shelter or due to anxiety attacks caused by the missile
sirens, MDA added.Shortly after the launch, senior Houthi official Hezam
al-Asad tweeted that such attacks would continue “until the aggression
against our people in Gaza stops.” Hezbollah made similar pledges to
continue firing rockets and drones at Israel until a ceasefire was
reached in Gaza but caved last month after two months of Israeli attacks
that decimated the Lebanese terror group’s capabilities.Hours earlier,
the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching drones at Israel on
Monday afternoon.The IDF said that the air force shot down one drone
outside of Israeli airspace.The Houthis claimed to have launched two
drones, at targets in Ashkelon and the Tel Aviv area. There were no
reports of impacts in either city on Monday.Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel would act against the Houthis in
Yemen with the same force it used against Iran’s other “terrorist arms,”
appearing to indicate the start of a stepped-up campaign against the
Islamic Republic’s proxy group after a ballistic missile crashed into a
Tel Aviv playground overnight Friday.On Thursday, a multistory school
building in Ramat Gan collapsed after it was hit by the warhead from a
partially intercepted ballistic missile fired at Israel by Houthi
rebels.????Sirens sounding across central and southern Israel following a
projectile launched from Yemen???? pic.twitter.com/X0nnsDASGR— Israel
Defense Forces (@IDF) December 23, 2024-Israel and the US have carried
out strikes against Houthi targets throughout Yemen in recent days but
they don’t seem to have deterred the rebel group.Senior opposition
politician Benny Gantz argued Monday that Israel “must target Iran
directly” over the attacks.Israel’s security establishment apparently
agrees with Gantz, with Channel 12 reporting Sunday that the question of
tackling Iran — a possible reference both to efforts to deter the
Houthis and to target Iran’s nuclear facilities — has come up repeatedly
in security cabinet meetings, even as the focus has been on finding
ways to counter the upsurge in Houthi attacks.The Houthis have launched
more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year.
According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were
intercepted by the military and Israeli allies in the region.Israel has
carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets only three times in
response to the group’s attacks, the latest on Thursday.The Iran-backed
group has also carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on some
100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many
carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping.
Lebanese
PM, UNIFIL call for Israel to withdraw troops faster than ceasefire
demands-Prime Minister Mikati urges US, France to push for accelerated
IDF pull-out from southern Lebanon, even as Israel continues to find
Hezbollah weapons in border area-By AFP and ToI Staff 23 December 2024,
11:17 pm
United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon’s prime minister
called on Monday for the Israel Defense Forces to speed up its
withdrawal from the country, nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire
between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.“UNIFIL strongly urges
accelerated progress in the IDF’s withdrawal from and the LAF’s
(Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon,” the force said in a
statement.It called on “all actors to cease and refrain from violations
of (Security Council) Resolution 1701 and any actions that could
jeopardize the fragile stability that currently prevails,” referring to
the 2006 agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War and served as a
basis for the more recent ceasefire deal in November.The UNIFIL
statement came after Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said
the United States and France should put pressure on Israel to complete
its withdrawal faster.The United States and France, along with Lebanon,
Israel and UNIFIL, make up the committee tasked with maintaining
communication between the parties to the ceasefire and ensuring any
violations are identified and dealt with.As part of the truce agreement,
the Lebanese army and peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon, as
the Israeli army pulls out over a period of 60 days.The IDF under the
ceasefire agreement has until late January to withdraw from southern
Lebanon, and, in the meantime, it continues to operate against and
destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.“In order for the army to be able to
fully accomplish its missions, the committee must… put pressure on the
Israeli enemy to bring an end to all the violations” of the ceasefire,
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in the town of Khiam during a tour of
the south.“It is necessary to put pressure on the parties to the
ceasefire agreement, namely the French and the Americans, to accelerate
the process before the expiration of the 60-day period,” he added, going
on to accuse Israel of “dragging its feet.”On December 11, the Lebanese
army reported that it had deployed around Khiam, five kilometers (3.1
miles) from the border, in coordination with UNIFIL, following the
withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.Accusations of
violations-Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that
“the Israeli enemy continues its invasion and attacks on southern
Lebanese territories,” where it has “raised the Israeli flag” on a hill
between the towns of Bayada and Naqura.The NNA frequently reports
instances of Israel dynamiting homes in border villages.For its part,
the Israeli army stated on Monday that it was continuing its defensive
activities in the south “in accordance with the agreement,” adding that
it had “seized and dismantled various weapons and military equipment
from a warehouse.”The truce in southern Lebanon went into force on
November 27, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities between
Israel and Hezbollah that began when the Iranian-backed terror group
started attacking Israel with rockets and drones on October 8, 2023, a
day after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza, starting the
ongoing multi-front war.Fearing a similar Hezbollah onslaught, Israel
evacuated residents of border towns. Hezbollah’s persistent rocket fire
prevented some 60,000 displaced northerners from returning home. In a
bid to stop the rocket fire, Israel stepped up operations against
Hezbollah in late September, all but decimating the terror group’s
leadership.Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas all seek to destroy Israel.Mikati
said that he wanted to resolve any questions over the Blue Line — the
UN-demarcated boundary between Lebanon and Israel — “so there will be no
justification for any Israeli occupation of our land.”He also said he
was working with “the World Bank, the European Union, Arab countries,
and our international partners to create a trust fund” for
reconstruction efforts.The World Bank estimated in October that the
fighting had caused physical damage amounting to “at least $3.4 billion”
in Lebanon.
A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten
seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of
seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go
about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody,
sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall
come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit
Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with
all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE
70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE
WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND
CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET
ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR
TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN
POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he
spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR
FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE
WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE
NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the
beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had
power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth
all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a
mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 17:1-18
1
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN
POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the
wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into
the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And
the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet
colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES
FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of
her fornication:(THE VATICAN GOES AGAINST A PRIEST MARRING A WOMAN-LIKE
THE BIBLE SAYS-AND WHATS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD-HOMOSEXUALITY AND
PEDOPHILIA JUST LIKE THIS SCRIPTURE SAYS-FORNICATION IS THE SINGLE
HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVING UNMARRIED FORNICATION
OR SEX WITH SINGLES-IN THIS CASE ITS SEX WITH CHILDREN OR PEDOPHILIA)
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast
that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is
not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS
BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are
fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one
is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet
come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED
ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-THE
EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL
HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR
TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE
EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION
TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE
THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD
OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE
EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS
CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received
no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him
are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE
WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the
beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her
desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(GOD
HIMSELF GIVES THE OK TO NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in
their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom
unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.(VATICAN)
Latin
patriarch visits Catholic community in Gaza for second time since war’s
start-Pierbattista Pizzaballa visits Holy Family parish in Gaza City,
home to some 400 sheltering Christians, for an early Christmas Mass;
reports worse conditions than he saw in May-By ToI Staff Today, 2:38
pm-DEC 24,24
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa
was in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for a Christmas season visit with the
war-torn enclave’s Christians, some 400 of whom are sheltering on the
premises of the Holy Family parish in Gaza City.“We are living in a time
filled with darkness, and there is no need to elaborate because you
know it well,” the cardinal told parishioners, in remarks quoted by the
Washington-based Catholic Standard. He urged Gaza’s Christians — who
number some 1,000 — to keep the faith, expressing support on behalf of
the entire world.“The war will end, and we will rebuild again, but we
must guard our hearts to be capable of rebuilding. We love you, so never
fear and never give up,” he said.Pizzaballa, a cardinal who originally
hails from Italy, entered Gaza through the Erez Crossing at dawn,
accompanied by an Israel Defense Forces escort.“Entering Gaza is never
easy — it is complicated with many issues, such as protocol and
security, among others. However, there were also people who helped
overcome the obstacles. This is what matters,” the patriarch said during
a press conference following his visit, according to the Catholic News
Agency.It was his second time in the Strip since war broke out on
October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terror group invaded southern Israel,
killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.#PALESTINA
????????Luego de las palabras del Papa #Francisco ????????sobre el
asesinato de niños en #Gaza y la prohibición israelà del ingreso del
arzobispo católico Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarca Latino de
#Jerusalén y perteneciente a la orden franciscana a la Franja de Gaza,
#ISRAEL… pic.twitter.com/UOZvM6T8M8— Koldo News (@Koldo_News) December
24, 2024-The deterioration in living conditions since his previous
visit, in May, was evident, Pizzaballa said: “The hygiene, the smell,
all the context of life is much more harsh, more terrible than
before.”His entrance to the territory came some 24 hours after Pope
Francis publicly accused Israel of preventing the cardinal from visiting
the community, amid remarks accusing the Jewish state of “cruelty,” to
which the Foreign Ministry responded sharply online.During his visit,
the patriarch chose “to stay for a few hours, to be with them, visit
where they are living, their conditions, how they live, what they need,”
he said.“I never heard a word of anger. Never. Everything is destroyed
in Gaza, but they are not destroyed. They are tired, but you can
perceive life,” he added.According to writeups of the visit in the
Catholic press, Pizzaballa celebrated an early Christmas Mass, during
which three children received their first communion, and three received
the sacrament of confirmation.Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited
the graves of Naheda Anton and her daughter, Samar Anton, who were
killed by an Israeli sniper on December 16, 2023, at the Holy Family
Catholic Church in Gaza.Turn on the sound to hear the incessant buzz of
Israeli army drones—this is… pic.twitter.com/ctqnslOqHR— Ihab Hassan
(@IhabHassane) December 24, 2024-Video circulating online also purported
to show the cardinal visiting the graves of Nahida Khalil Anton, an
elderly Christian woman, and her daughter Samar, who were killed during
fighting on the grounds of the church last December, for which the
patriarchate blamed the IDF.The military denied responsibility for the
women’s deaths, saying that Hamas operatives had launched a
rocket-propelled grenade at troops from the vicinity of the church, and
that reports on the deaths did not match the conclusions of an initial
review of what happened.Pizzaballa’s visit came at a time of increased
tension between Israel and the Catholic Church, following a series of
comments by Pope Francis about the ongoing war, including a call that
Israel’s campaign against Hamas be investigated as a potential genocide —
a charge Israel strenuously denies, pointing to its efforts to avoid
civilian casualties and to Hamas’s use of human shields.The patriarch is
expected to enter Bethlehem, in the West Bank, on Tuesday night, for
Christmas Eve Mass in St. Catherine’s Church, next to the Church of the
Nativity.