ISRAEL TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING.

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)

ISRAEL TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING TO GET ARABS OFF ISRAELS (ISAACS)  LAND. GET TO EGYPT DEATH CULT ARABS (ISHMAELITES).OFF ISRAELS LAND ONCE AND FOR ALL.

FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @ 39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS) and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Zephaniah 2:1-15
1 Gather together, yes, gather,O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect[a] -before the day passes away like chaff—before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands;[b] seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows[c] for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab (JORDAN) and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste forever.The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations.
12 You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria,(SYRIA) and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts;[d] even the owl and the hedgehog[e]  shall lodge in her capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.Sa'ar: No free meals; talks possible if more hostages freed Israel halts aid into Gaza, citing Hamas refusal to extend first phase of truce
Footnotes-a -Zephaniah 2:2 Hebrew gives birth, b-Zephaniah 2:3 Or who carry out his judgment, c-Zephaniah 2:6 Or caves, d-Zephaniah 2:14 Hebrew beasts of every nation, e-Zephaniah 2:14 The identity of the animals rendered owl and hedgehog is uncertain

DANIEL 2:37-45
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

DANIEL 7:17-26
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

THE WORLD IN 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS LEAD BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE WORLD LEADER, NOT AMERICA.I PREDICT.

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND REVIVED ROMAN WORLD GOVERNMENT
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17

First From Daniel Chapter 2

1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES

Now From Daniel Chapter 7

1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS
REV 17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS. THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23, REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16

REVELATION 17:10-12
10 And there are seven kings (7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY) five are fallen, (EGYPT, ASSYRIA, BABYLON,:MEDO-PERSIAN,GREECE and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS DAY-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh,(FUTURE-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE-EUROPEAN UNION TODAY) he must continue a short space.(7 YEARS OF WORLD DOMINATION-BUT 3 1/2 YEARS OF NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)
12 And the ten horns (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS OR REGIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS-NATIONS) 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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man. 

DICK MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.

THE CLUB OF ROME FOUNDER AURELIO PECCEI WANTS THE WORLD IN 10 REGIONAL TRADING BLOCKS.

REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, (SLAVE) 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

I KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.) 

THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo

THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.

LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)

01 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO
02 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
03 JAPAN
04 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
05 EASTERN EUROPE
06 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
07 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
08 CENTRAL AFRICA
09 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA

THE CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8, DAN 7:23-24

WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME

NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
http://israel7777777.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-world-trade-blocs-one-world.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2006/09/how-eu-takes-world-control.html 
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/one-world-religion-crislam.html 

FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @ 39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS) and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

COUNCIL FOR EUROPE ON DEFENCE
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/6d6f889c-e58d-4caa-8f3b-8b93154fe206_en?filename=SAFE%20Regulation.pdf

Inside Story'No serious Israeli objection about the Palestinian forces'Egypt and EU stepping up preparations to dispatch Palestinian police force to Gaza-Diplomats push back at claim Hamas members to be part of new body, as Cairo trains thousands of recruits and Brussels looks to join effort, possibly influence postwar Strip-By Nava Freiberg-2 December 2025, 4:30 am

Egypt and the European Union are preparing to expand training of Palestinian police for deployment in Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Strip, two diplomats and a foreign official briefed on the issue have told The Times of Israel.The force, like many components of the US framework, remains largely aspirational, said the officials, who included an Arab and a European diplomat. They noted that its size, composition, command structure, deployment zones, and responsibilities have yet to be finalized.But with the Trump plan now backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, and as officials await the transition to its second phase, Cairo and Brussels are increasingly focused on building out the police force — mainly by training Palestinian officers ahead of deployment.The Security Council resolution authorizes the establishment of a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza to help secure the border, ensure demilitarization, protect civilians and humanitarian operations, and support and work alongside “the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force.”Before the war, Gaza was policed by an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 officers serving under the auspices of Hamas, which has controlled the Strip since 2007, but is supposed to cede power under the Trump plan.In its place, the international community is seeking to install an armed Palestinian force tasked with day-to-day law enforcement among the Strip’s approximately two million inhabitants.Even though much about the force remains unknown, including what its exact remit will be, where it will draw personnel from, and whether it can truly supplant Hamas, both Egypt and the EU are heartily pursuing leading roles in preparing the force for its eventual deployment.Sources indicated that both view the police as a key component allowing them to exert influence on US-led planning for Gaza’s postwar management and wider future, including the possibility that the force will become a significant political player.Cairo and Brussels, which have been involved in prior training of Palestinian police along with Jordan, are now working to add additional cohorts of officers to those pre-existing initiatives, primarily made up of Gazans, including former officers in the territory still on the Palestinian Authority payroll, the officials said.Officials who spoke to the Times of Israel insisted that the new force will be free of Hamas-affiliated personnel, but a report this week quoting an unnamed Palestinian official indicated that members of the terror group could continue to police Gaza as part of the newly installed body.“We want to deploy Gazans who have familiarity with the society,” the Arab diplomat said. “They know the places, they know where to go, they know the people. That’s very important in any police force.”No waiting to train-Meanwhile, Egypt has already begun training police, according to the diplomat.In August, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced after talks with PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that Egypt and Jordan were preparing Palestinian security personnel to manage the Strip and avoid a postwar security vacuum, saying that lists had been finalized for police undergoing training in both countries.Shortly after the ceasefire agreement was signed in October, Mustafa told Reuters that the PA had nominated some 5,500 Palestinians to be trained by Egypt for the new Gaza police force, with a goal of training at least 10,000 officers total.According to the Arab diplomat, a US-backed initiative for Egyptian training of Palestinian security forces in Gaza was conceptualized as early as March 2024.Jordan had a preexisting training program in cooperation with the PA and the United States Security Coordinator, the Jerusalem-based body that helps bolster security coordination between Israel and the PA. But it lacked the infrastructure to train more than 3,000 officers for Gaza, so Washington welcomed an Egyptian proposal for its police academy to train additional officers, the diplomat said, adding that USSC delegations visited Egypt repeatedly last year to coordinate the effort.A Palestinian official told AFP this week that an initial group of more than 500 officers was trained in Cairo in March, and since September, the two-month courses have resumed to train hundreds more cadets.Christophe Bigot, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, is expected to arrive in Cairo “soon” for discussions on the bloc’s role in the police force, the Arab diplomat said.Since the ceasefire and the UNSC resolution, European officials have sought a more active role in the training efforts.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters recently that the EU “discussed whether the EU police support mission could take the lead in training the Palestinian police,” and welcomed a French pledge to provide 100 police trainers.The European diplomat confirmed reports that the bloc wants to train up to 3,000 Palestinian police officers for deployment in Gaza under a program similar to its existing police support mission in the West Bank, EUPOL COPPS.The training would be funded by the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy budget, which pays for the EUPOL COPPS mission. Being that the trainee officers are already on the PA’s payroll, their salaries would be covered by the PA, which is heavily funded by Europe.The European diplomat said that the EU hopes, “as part of implementing the Trump plan,” to use its two civilian missions in the area, EUPOL COPPS and the border mission EUBAM Rafah, by potentially expanding their mandates, though details on how remain unclear.Who will serve? No official could offer a precise breakdown of how many officers have already been trained or how many viable candidates are thought to remain.The Arab diplomat said most of the Palestinian officers trained by Egypt for the force will be from Gaza, and a small fraction will be personnel from the West Bank who have family ties to the Strip.According to the AFP report, Hamas and Fatah — the core of the PA whose security forces were violently toppled in Gaza by Hamas in 2007 — agreed in talks brokered by Egypt late last year that 5,000 of the postwar officers would be trained by Cairo, and 5,000 more would come from the existing Hamas police force in Gaza, a stipulation that would likely draw Israeli protests.The Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that they were unaware of any such arrangement, and the European diplomat said the EU mission would only train those who had been vetted and confirmed as having no affiliation with Hamas.Israel has been targeting Hamas police officers throughout the war and treats them as part of Hamas’s security apparatus.A recent Egyptian report citing officials stated that 9,000 Palestinian officers are being prepared for the new force, with some 3,000 having already been trained by Egypt, another 3,000 undergoing training in Jordan, and an additional 3,000 to be trained by the EU.The Arab diplomat said Egypt is expected to train a further 2,000–3,000 officers.Officials are hoping to draw additional cohorts from PA-affiliated officers in Gaza, the Arab diplomat added, noting that many of them may no longer be physically fit for frontline duty but could also serve in leadership or administrative roles.Since Hamas ousted the PA in 2007, some 7,000 police officers are believed to have remained in the territory on the PA payroll.Michael Milshtein, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center and former head of Palestinian affairs in Israeli military intelligence, said there were likely scant numbers of officers actually fit for reintegration after nearly two decades away from police work.“Until 2007, they numbered in the thousands,” he said. “But today, if you’re talking about people who actually still have basic fitness, a reasonable age, and the motivation to rejoin as police officers or security personnel in Gaza,” there are far fewer.The European diplomat said the majority of the 3,000 officers it had proposed to train would come from Gaza and be trained in Egypt, though the exact site has not been finalized.Vetting would be handled by Israel and the US to ensure recruits are not linked to Hamas and meet basic requirements, they added, while stressing that no deployment date could be given, as neither vetting nor training has begun, and EUPOL COPPS still needs to recruit additional trainers.The police force is intended to deploy in parallel with the ISF, the Arab diplomat said. While the timeline for the ISF’s deployment remains undefined, it is expected to “emerge in the coming weeks,” they said. Both diplomats had heard discussions that the US hopes to deploy the ISF by early 2026, but were not aware of any official timeframe.The exact division of responsibility between the ISF and the police remains unclear, but officials indicated that police would likely serve within the Palestinian population, which is largely concentrated on the Hamas-controlled side of Gaza that Israeli troops have withdrawn from.“Countries that choose to contribute to the ISF don’t want to be directly in contact with the Palestinian population,” the Arab diplomat said. “They want the Palestinian police to be in direct contact with the Palestinian population. That’s the whole idea.”The Washington Post reported over the weekend that countries considering sending troops to the ISF remain hesitant due to fear of armed confrontations with Gazans.The Arab diplomat said that Jerusalem had not raised hackles over the makeup of the police. “There is no serious Israeli objection about the Palestinian forces,” they said, describing Israel as “very happy” with an initial draft of the UNSC resolution, which included the clauses on the ISF and the police force.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Israel’s view of the proposed police force.The diplomat also did not expect extreme resistance from Hamas, noting that the group agreed to the establishment of the Palestinian technocrat committee meant to supervise the security apparatus in Gaza under the US plan.Super troopers-Both Egypt and the EU apparently see the police’s role as a significant entry point for reaching Gazans on the ground and helping mold the Strip’s post-war recovery.Brussels — which has struggled to influence policy during the two-year Gaza war amid internal splits — sees police training as one way to gain influence over Gaza’s future security architecture, the European diplomat said.It could also play an important role in facilitating a gradual, non-violent transition of power in Gaza by providing a viable non-Hamas security presence on the ground, the Arab diplomat noted.“The best way to end Hamas control of Gaza is to bring an alternative… [The police force] can go and peacefully take control, get acquainted with the area, with the place. They are not Hamas, which is good,” they said.A third foreign official likewise saw the force as capable of eventually shifting control away from Hamas, noting that personnel in the apparatus “could form the next leadership of Gaza. From those security services, from among those ranks, could be the next head of intelligence in Gaza, for example.”However, Milshtein remained unconvinced.“If we reach an almost utopian situation where Hamas loses its influence in Gaza, and certainly if it disarms or collapses militarily or politically, then we could talk about a reality in which these local actors might slowly start to gain power. But we’re not there,” he cautioned.Cops and robbers-Today, Hamas is trying to reassert its authority in the 47 percent of the Strip it controls, using armed operatives to execute alleged dissidents, but also to secure aid shipments and public order. Some are police and some are members of its military force, both of which were devastated in the war.Challenging that control in some areas are local armed militias opposed to the group’s rule, some of which cooperated with Israel during the war, and some of which continue to offer protection to civilians in areas of Gaza still held by the IDF.At least one report has indicated that the groups could be integrated into the police force.Hussam al-Astal, a former PA security officer who is today an anti-Hamas militia leader in Khan Younis, told the Kan public broadcaster that he recently received messages from American representatives indicating that his group and other such militias, including the Abu Shabab organization in Rafah, will take part in Gaza’s future under the police force.The Arab diplomat could not confirm whether militias would be included, but said Egypt had not trained any. American and Israeli officials declined to comment on whether militia fighters would be integrated into the police force.Milshtein warned that such groups are both meager in size and have a toxic reputation as criminals, narcotics runners, and Israeli collaborators.“If you take all of them together on a very, very good day, we’re talking about a few hundred. Maybe, maybe a few low thousands at most,” he said. He charged that Abu Shabab members have been linked to ISIS, and argued that bringing local militias into a police force would have “obvious” negative effects.“It doesn’t matter if they’re getting money from the Emirates, from Egypt, from the Americans, or weapons from us. These people are, fundamentally, gang members…to say that they can present themselves as an alternative to Hamas is a complete exaggeration,” Milshtein said.

ExclusiveMove would have likely cut PA out of much-needed foreign aid-US shelved sanctions on PA leaders after Abbas fired minister over prisoner payments-Ramallah believes quick dismissal of minister convinced Washington that Palestinian Authority is serious about implementation of reform to end ‘pay-for-slay,’ officials tell ToI-By Jacob Magid-3 December 2025, 11:26 pm

The US threatened last month to personally sanction Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials over illicit payments to Palestinian security prisoners, but ultimately held off on the move after Abbas fired the minister who had signed off on the stipends, a US official, a Palestinian official and three other sources familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel.US President Donald Trump’s administration planned to designate Abbas, his deputy Hussein al-Sheikh, PA Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, then-PA finance minister Omar Bitar and senior PLO official Ahmad Majdalani as Specially Designated Global Terrorists after getting wind of the payments to the families of prisoners made through an old mechanism that awarded them based on the length of their sentence, the sources said.The terror financing sanctions would have significantly curtailed the PA’s ability to continue operating, as foreign governments would risk exposing themselves to secondary sanctions from the US if they provided further assistance to Ramallah, which the cash-strapped authority desperately needs.But days after its sanctions threat was passed along to Ramallah in early November, Washington decided to hold off on the far-reaching move, with Ramallah understanding that Abbas’s ousting of Bitar had been enough to convince the Trump administration that the PA was serious about ensuring illicit payments to security prisoners would not continue.Abbas signed a decree in February ending a controversial welfare system that included monthly stipends to Palestinian security prisoners — including convicted terrorists — based on the length of their sentence, as well as to families of dead assailants. The reform had long been demanded by the US, Israel, and many of the PA’s Arab and European backers, with some accusing Ramallah of incentivizing attacks on Israelis and dubbing the old policy “pay-for-slay.”The February decree signed by Abbas established a new system under which welfare stipends are distributed strictly based on financial need, and Majdalani was tapped to head the program.However, an internal review conducted in early November found that while the new system had indeed been established, some prisoners — including ones recently jailed — were able to receive stipends through the old mechanism.A Palestinian official told The Times of Israel at the time that the PA’s leadership hadn’t been aware of the illicit payments, arguing that it was Ramallah that invited a US delegation to come to the West Bank and certify that the new welfare system is in place and that it wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t confident about passing such an audit.Abbas’s quick firing of Bitar — who signed off on the illicit payments — demonstrated his determination to see the reform through, the Palestinian official claimed.A US official said that while certain figures in the State Department had still pushed for following through on sanctioning PA officials, they were overruled by the White House, which felt that such an aggressive move risked antagonizing Ramallah, whose support was needed to get a resolution through the UN Security Council to advance Trump’s Gaza peace plan.A source familiar with the matter revealed that this wasn’t even the first time that Washington has threatened to issue such sanctions against the PA over frustration with the pace of Ramallah’s implementation of “pay-for-slay” reform. However, the source questioned the seriousness of the threat, given that the sanctions weighed take months to prepare.The State Department has followed through on a less severe punitive measure against Abbas, denying him and other Palestinian leaders visas needed to attend the September UN General Assembly in New York. That move came in response to the decisions by several leading European countries to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at Ramallah’s encouragement.Since then, the Trump administration has somewhat softened its approach to the PA, inviting Abbas to a Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in October and partially relying on the PA to secure the Security Council support needed to pass a resolution giving Trump’s Board of Peace the mandate to manage Gaza for the next two years.Discovery of the illicit payments broke that trend, and while Abbas managed to “stop the bleeding” by firing his finance minister, personal sanctions may again be weighed against PA officials if the welfare program reform is not fully implemented, the US official warned.

NATO allies vow major new purchases of US arms for Ukraine.

Brussels, Belgium, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-NATO countries pledged Wednesday to buy hundreds of millions more dollars of US arms for Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin was told to end his "bluster" and get serious on peace talks.Foreign ministers from the 32-nation alliance gathered in Brussels to discuss Washington's push to end the fighting -- but US top diplomat Marco Rubio was skipping the meeting.The gathering comes after US envoys appeared to fail to make a major breakthrough on efforts to stop the war in five hours of talks with Putin in Moscow."The peace talks are ongoing, that's good, but at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place -- and we are not sure when they will end -- that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going," NATO chief Mark Rutte said.As part of those moves Germany, Poland, the Norway, The Netherlands and Canada said they would together commit some one billion dollars more to a scheme to buy American weapons for Ukraine."Ukraine needs to stay strong and we, the allies in the largest and most successful military alliance in history, need to stay firm, and we need to stay committed," Norway's Espen Barth Eide said.Europe has largely been left of the sidelines of US President Donald Trump's push to end the war and the absence in Brussels of Rubio, who sent a deputy, risked reinforcing that impression.A string of ministers said that Putin did not appear so far to be willing to make any concessions at talks with Washington's representatives."President Putin should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine," said British foreign minister Yvette Cooper.They also pushed back against comments from the Russian president that he did not want conflict with Europe, but was "ready" for war."It's the rhetoric that Russia is making use of in order to intimidate us, and we shouldn't take such talks too seriously," said Finland's Elina Valtonen."We have very strong capabilities as NATO, as Europe, and we are ramping up by the day."

France's Macron in China with Ukraine on the agenda.

Beijing, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-French President Emmanuel Macron touched down on Wednesday in China, where he is expected to put pressure on his counterpart Xi Jinping to help secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and discuss trade relations.Macron, on a fourth state visit to China since taking office in 2017, landed in Beijing at around 5:10 pm (0910 GMT), an AFP journalist saw.He will meet Xi and Premier Li Qiang at the capital's Great Hall of the People before heading to Chengdu, where two giant pandas loaned to France have recently been returned.Efforts to bring an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine are expected to be on the agenda."We are counting on China, like us a permanent member of the Security Council... to lean on Russia, so that Russia and, in particular, Vladimir Putin can finally agree to a ceasefire," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday."China can play a crucial role in guiding Vladimir Putin's Russia to make the right decision," Barrot told French radio.Macron made similar appeals during his last trip to China in April 2023, as well as during Xi's visit to France in May 2024, without much success.China regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, but has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion.Western governments accuse Beijing of providing Russia with crucial economic support for its war effort, notably by supplying it with military components for its defence industry.The French presidency said Macron will tell Xi that China must "refrain from providing any means, by any means, to Russia to continue the war".Macron's three-day visit follows a trip to Paris this week by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who urged Europe to stand by Kyiv as US President Donald Trump pushes a plan to end the war.European countries fear the proposal championed by Trump risks forcing Kyiv to cave in to Russian demands, notably on territory."We share the view that the war must be brought to a fair end," Zelensky wrote on X after Monday's talks with Macron, which also included phone conversations with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders.- 'Exceptional' -Macron is also due to discuss trade with his Chinese hosts, with the European Union facing a massive trade deficit of $357 billion with the Asian powerhouse."It is necessary for China to consume more and export less... and for Europeans to save less and produce more," an adviser to Macron said.Macron, who is accompanied by his wife Brigitte, will stay in China until Friday, with a final stop in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan.Last week, two giant pandas loaned to France by China were flown back to their ancestral home to retire at an animal sanctuary in the city.Before they departed, a Chinese embassy official promised new bears would soon be dispatched to make up for the popular pair leaving.The Chengdu visit is "quite exceptional in Chinese protocol", the French presidency said, adding it was "appreciated as such" by Macron.During his last trip to China, the French president was given a rock star welcome at a university in the southern city of Guangzhou, with students chanting his name and scrambling for selfies and high-fives.burs-je/ami

After a decade of work, government publishes bill delineating future use of ailing Dead Sea-Environmental groups say Finance Ministry bill to regulate lake’s industrial use from 2030 is geared to profits, misses rare opportunity to restore ever-shrinking natural resourceBy Sue Surkes-3 December 2025, 10:36 pm

The Finance Ministry’s Accountant General published a long-awaited draft bill for public comment on Wednesday on the terms for extracting minerals from the Dead Sea that will come into force on April 1, 2030, though environmental groups charged that it didn’t sufficiently address the steady decline in its water levels.Officials told a press conference that the proposed document aimed to balance economic and environmental needs.As expected, the draft law — a decade in the works — will increase the government’s take from 35 percent of the operating profits (equivalent to around $1.5 billion between 2017 and 2023, according to the Finance Ministry) to 50% on a multi-year average.It will halve the area within which the new franchisee will operate, from 3% of Israel’s land surface to 1.5%, and will allow as much public access as possible.The bill, the media was told, will seek to incentivize the next franchise holder to use water more efficiently by charging for the use of water drawn from wells and from what remains of the Dead Sea.The terminal lake is receding by more than a meter each year due to industrial pumping by Israel and Jordan, and the diversion for human needs of river water that historically flowed into the Dead Sea, compensating for evaporation.The lake’s recession has hit tourism hard, rendering beaches unusable and leading to the opening of thousands of sinkholes.A new Dead Sea Affairs Directorate will ensure, among other things, that the next franchisee regularly reports to the Knesset on its activities and that data is publicly available.Alongside the legislative process in the Knesset, details on taxes and employees are yet to be published, as well as the tender itself.Accountant General Yali Rothenberg said the Dead Sea Concession Law Memorandum emphasized the “fair, efficient and responsible use of one of Israel’s most important natural resources.”The franchise, which dates back to 1961 and expires in 2030, is currently held by ICL Group, formerly Israel Chemicals Ltd., a subsidiary of the Ofer family’s Israel Corporation, the country’s largest holding company.According to a media briefing last year, 53% to 64% of ICL’s total operating profitability comes from the Dead Sea Works, which extracts potassium-rich potash, a key ingredient in fertilizers. On Wednesday, officials said they expected the potash market to grow and Dead Sea extraction to remain profitable, despite the planned increase in state taxation.ICL’s contract grants it the right to automatically win the new concession provided it matches any competing bid.Last month, it surrendered this right in return for a $2.54 billion payment from the state, in a move expected to ensure a more competitive bidding process.Over the years, the company has repeatedly locked horns with state authorities over demands for payment across a range of issues. These have included paying for the water it draws from wells and scraping salt off the bottom of its biggest evaporation pool to prevent the hotels in the Ein Bokek from flooding. There was a drawn-out spat over how to assess the value of the company’s assets before the end of the concession.Finance Ministry officials told the Wednesday press briefing that a new mechanism in the bill and the franchise would ensure an end to creative accounting and disagreements over who pays what.They said the plan was to start the tender process next year.On Wednesday, the High Court responded to a petition submitted by the nonprofits Adam Teva V’Din and Lobby99 against a 2017 Justice Ministry decision to exempt Dead Sea Works from paying for the brackish water it pumps from wells. It ruled that Dead Sea Works will have to pay an estimated NIS 500 million ($154 million) for this water covering the period 2017 to 2030.ICL’s shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange had dropped by nearly 9% by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Israel time.The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel said the state was missing a rare opportunity to get water flowing back into the Dead Sea, and to establish “a thriving economy, alongside a restored environment.” The Finance Ministry, it went on, “chooses to focus on increasing revenues, streamlining the tender process, and collecting taxes – all worthy in their own right. But without addressing the damage caused by industry, it is condemning the Dead Sea to liquidation.”Adam Teva V’Din bemoaned the rejection of its idea for a designated fund to which part of the royalties would be transferred so that there would be cash when the time was ripe to restore the Dead Sea’s levels. It also charged that too many issues had been left for the franchise document, which would not be subject to Knesset oversight.

Exclusive-Israel planning hospital for Jordanian patients in joint cross-border industrial zone-Head of the Israeli side of the Jordan Gateway project tells ToI that it will also be a key node in the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor, piquing interest of US and EU-By Nava Freiberg-3 December 2025, 10:27 pm

Israel is advancing a plan to develop a hospital on its territory to treat Jordanian patients as part of a joint Israeli-Jordanian industrial park along the border of the two countries, the Emek HaMaayanot regional council head revealed to The Times of Israel on Wednesday.The industrial park, dubbed the “Jordan Gateway,” will enable Israelis and Jordanians to cross the border to work on joint projects. An existing bridge, the Jordan River Crossing, located near the Israeli city of Beit She’an, already connects the two sides of the proposed Jordan Gateway Zone.Itamar Matiash, who heads the council that will house the Israeli side of the industrial park, told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that one idea for the hospital was for it to function as “a center for cancer treatment, so that people from Jordan or further away could come and receive treatment.”The industrial park, he said, would both strengthen Israel’s economy and ease the high unemployment rates in Jordan, which stands at roughly 18 percent, compared to around 3% in Israel.“The Jordanian side suffers from high unemployment,” Matiash explained, “and Jordanian workers will be able to cross and work on both sides. And Israelis will be able to establish factories on the Jordanian side.”First proposed during the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace talks and approved by the government in 2022, plans for the industrial zone stalled in recent years due to mutual lawsuits between the state, the contractor building the bridge, and the regional council, according to Matiash. Over the past year, however, the regional council led a mediation process together with the state and the contractor, during which “the disagreements came to an end, and the project is now getting pushed forward,” he said.In the meantime, Matiash said multiple “low-tech factories” aimed at employing Jordanians already exist across the border, and more are being planned. On the Israeli side, he said, the council is focusing on “high-level projects like medical tourism, the potential hospital, academia, innovation hubs, and so on.”With development back on track on the Israeli side, Matiash said the Finance Ministry was working to budget a new road into the Israeli zone, in cooperation with the Transportation Ministry and the Regional Cooperation Ministry.He said that the council overseeing Israel’s portion of the Jordan Gateway project was also hoping to form a “joint management team” with the Israel Land Authority, which is expected to soon begin working on issuing a tender for a developer to build up the Israeli area.This is necessary, he said, “so we can bring in companies and organizations that fit the area and strengthen the regional economy.”While the main purpose of the bridge and the side-by-side industrial zones is to promote cooperation between Israel and Jordan, it will also serve an additional purpose as it sits on a key node in the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) — the US-backed vision for a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East, Israel and Europe.US representatives, including an official from the office of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will be in Israel next week to view the site, a US official told The Times of Israel.Under the IMEC vision, goods from the east would cross into Israel at Jordan Gateway to be loaded onto trains heading for Haifa Port, and then onward to Europe.“The European Union and the US are very interested in this area and are coming for visits,” Matiash added. “This is basically a commercial zone sitting exactly on the midpoint of this entire corridor.”Though the cross-border initiative has been long in the making, there is heightened concern over border security in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel that sparked the two-year-long war in Gaza.The lengthy and porous Jordanian border is not one of Israel’s more dangerous borders, given the decades-long diplomatic ties between Jerusalem and Amman following their peace deal in 1994, but it poses its own unique challenges due to frequent weapon smuggling attempts.And the border has not always been quiet. In September, a truck driver entering Israel from the Jordanian side to deliver aid to Gaza killed two soldiers at the Allenby Crossing in the West Bank. Before that, in September 2024, three Israeli men were killed in a terrorist shooting, also carried out by a Jordanian truck driver.To ensure that the Jordan Gateway initiative remains a safe one, Matiash said the council was waiting “for the state to finalize the security and safety arrangements with the security bodies.”He stressed that the industrial zone would function as an “ex-territorial bubble,” whereby Israelis may cross into the Jordanian industrial area but not into Jordan proper, and Jordanians may cross into the Israeli commercial/medical side but not enter Israel beyond the zone.Full entry into Israel would still require the nearby Allenby Crossing, he said.

Iran’s currency falls to a new low as nuclear sanctions squeeze its ailing economy-Record low puts pressure on food prices, raising cost of meat and rice, making daily life more challenging for the Iranian public By Amir Vahdat 3 December 2025, 6:30 pm

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s rial currency fell Wednesday to a new low of 1.2 million to the US dollar as nuclear sanctions squeeze Tehran’s ailing economy.Traders offered the new exchange rate as attempts so far to restart negotiations between America and Iran over its nuclear program appear stalled.The new record low is increasing pressure on food prices and other costs have been making daily life that much more challenging for Iranians. Prices are up on meat, rice and other staples of the Iranian dinner table.Meanwhile, people worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel — as well as potentially the United States — after June’s 12-day war, when Israel targeted Iran’s nuclear scientists and facilities and its ballistic missile program in widespread bombing campaigns.“Life will not only become more difficult for ordinary people, but it will also fuel public concern over whether the government — given the limited inflow of foreign currency caused by sanctions — has the resources to maintain and repair the country’s aging infrastructure,” said Ali Moshtagh, a 53-year-old electrical engineer.Iran’s economy has been severely affected by international sanctions, particularly after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. At the time of the 2015 deal, which saw Iran drastically limit its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar.After Trump returned to the White House for his second term in January, he restarted his so-called maximum pressure campaign targeting Tehran with sanctions. He again went after firms trading Iranian crude oil, including those selling at a discount in China.In late September, the United Nations reimposed nuclear sanctions on Iran via what diplomats referred to as its “snapback” mechanism. Those sanctions again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures. Iran, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade, with no civilian application.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Australia’s ‘unprecedented’ antisemitic attacks a ‘wake-up call,’ Jewish leaders say-As Executive Council of Australian Jewry reports over 1,600 incidents during the past year, Jewish community leaders sound alarm on worldwide trend-By Zev Stub-3 December 2025, 5:47 pm

Jewish communities around the world sounded the alarm on Wednesday after a new report said the number of antisemitic incidents in Australia remained at “unprecedentedly high levels” during the past year.A report published Tuesday by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said the country saw 1,654 incidents during the 12-month period from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025 — about five times the annual average recorded in the decade prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.That was less, however, than the 2,062 incidents recorded a year earlier, in the year immediately following the attack, ECAJ noted, although the impact of the attacks on the community remained high.Following the report, members of the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism said the spike reflects a global pattern threatening other Jewish communities around the world.J7 is a partnership created by the Anti-Defamation League between Jewish organizations from the seven countries with the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.“What is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to communities worldwide,” said ADL senior vice president for International Affairs Marina Rosenberg in a statement. “Across North America, Europe and Latin America, Jewish communities are reporting the same pattern of unprecedented harassment, threats and incitement. When synagogues can be firebombed in Melbourne, and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to democratic stability itself.”J7 leaders convened on Wednesday in Sydney for strategic consultations and to develop coordinated responses to elevated threat levels.A tidal wave of hate-Australia’s 120,000-strong Jewish community has been among the hardest hit in the world since the October 7 Hamas attack and the subsequent war set off a tidal wave of antisemitism across the globe.After the community saw a record number of attacks in 2023-2024, an arson attack in December on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue was seen by many as a turning point, and Jews have been frustrated by what they say has been the government’s failure to rein in attacks and violent rhetoric.Over the past year, Jews in Australia have seen synagogues, schools and homes firebombed, two nurses threatening to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.In August, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that Iran was suspected of being behind a pair of 2024 antisemitic arson attacks, calling the actions “dangerous acts of aggression” designed to undermine his country’s social cohesion.The country’s decision in August to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September has aggravated a growing sense of alienation among the country’s Jewish community and sparked a sharp war of words between Albanese’s government and Israeli officials.Over the past year, ECAJ tallied 621 cases of antisemitic verbal abuse, representing 38 percent of all incidents. There were more than 350 cases of graffiti, 33 cases of vandalism, and 24 reports of physical assault.The number of physical assaults dropped by 63% from the previous year, but vandalism increased by 14%, the report showed. Incidents were only classified as antisemitic if they met the definition of racist violence developed by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.In its report, ECAJ noted a marked increase in graffiti calling to kill Jews as a direct imperative, in contrast to previous messaging that it has seen as an expression of sentiment rather than a call to action.It observed a dangerous convergence of ideological extremes, noting the “increasing ideological alignment” between neo-Nazis, the anti-Israel left, and Islamists in their “common hatred of Jews/Zionists.” These groups are “more active, more emboldened” to undermine any initiative that will counter their hatred, the report said.Normalized and mainstreamed-Australians now feel that antisemitism has become mainstreamed throughout all aspects of national life, ECAJ said.“We are now at a stage where anti-Jewish racism has left the fringes of society and become… normalised and allowed to fester and spread, gaining ground at universities, in arts and culture spaces, in the health sector, in the workplace and elsewhere,” the report said.“In such an environment, Jews have legitimate concerns for their physical safety and future in Australia,” it added.Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, offered a similar prognosis following the report’s publication.“The most worrying trend in this year’s report isn’t only the number of incidents — it’s how quickly they have become part of the background noise of Australian life,” Leibler told The Times of Israel. “When Jewish students expect hostility on campus, when synagogues quietly increase security, when parents think twice before sending their children on school excursions, something profound has shifted. Antisemitism thrives when people stop being shocked by it. The challenge now is not just to condemn these incidents but to restore the shared norms that once made this country feel safe.”

Iran’s Khamenei defends hijab as more women flout strict dress code-Supreme leader tells women that those who wear the headscarf ‘can progress more than others,’ after conservatives accuse judiciary of becoming lax on modesty laws-By AFP 3 December 2025, 4:42 pm

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday delivered a staunch defense of the hijab as more women flout the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, prompting criticism from ultraconservatives.His remarks came a day after more than half of Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament accused the judiciary of failing to properly enforce the law on mandatory headscarves on women.Last week, Khamenei’s office faced backlash from some ultraconservatives after it published in its newspaper a photo of an unveiled Iranian woman killed in the June war with Israel.In the picture, the woman appeared with a baseball cap on her head, her hair clearly visible.“In the Islamic Republic, it has been shown that a Muslim woman, wearing the hijab and respecting the Islamic dress, can progress more than others in all areas and play an active role both in society and in her home,” said Khamenei in a meeting with a group of women.“With this vision, established in the Islamic Republic after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, our women and girls have progressed in many areas.”Covering the neck and head and dressing modestly became mandatory for women in Iran following the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the US-backed shah in 1979.Women in Iran have in recent years been increasingly flouting the strict dress code, especially since nationwide protests following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd had been arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.Amini’s death triggered months of unrest, with hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, killed and thousands more arrested in what authorities labeled foreign-instigated “riots.”Iran’s government has refused to ratify a bill passed by the parliament in 2023 that would have toughened penalties for women who do not wear the hijab or dress improperly.Since coming to power in July 2024, President Masoud Pezeshkian has maintained that women cannot be forced to wear the hijab.In January, Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the bill was shelved as it “could have had serious social consequences.”

Hamas coerced Gaza aid groups by designating ‘guarantors’ inside them — report-Pro-Israel watchdog NGO Monitor says declassified documents it obtained show how terror group surveilled staff at international organizations, used administrators as liaisons-By Luke Tress-3 December 2025, 3:44 pm

Hamas surveilled the staff of foreign nonprofits in Gaza and designated local “guarantors” approved by the terrorist group to manipulate them, according to a report released on Wednesday.The report from the pro-Israel watchdog NGO Monitor showed how Hamas kept detailed notes on the staff of NGOs, or nongovernment organizations, in Gaza, including their finances, their family relationships, their piety level, and whether they were sympathetic or connected to the terror group.The report was based on internal Hamas documents from 2018 to 2022 — before the latest war in Gaza —  which the IDF obtained in the Strip and declassified, NGO Monitor said.The documents came from the Gaza Interior Security Mechanism, part of Hamas’s Interior Ministry, which oversees the Gaza police and other internal security bodies.The documents indicate that foreign aid organizations in Gaza “do not operate independently or neutrally,” the report said.“They are embedded in an institutional framework of coercion, intimidation and surveillance that serves Hamas’ terror objectives,” NGO Monitor said.International organizations in Gaza must adhere to Hamas security arrangements and can only work with the terror group’s approval, the report said.To facilitate that control over the international groups, Hamas designates “guarantors” — Gazans approved by the Gaza Interior Ministry who serve in senior roles at the organizations and act as liaisons between them and the terror group. The guarantors were mostly existing employees in the organizations who Hamas appointed, but some were appointed to their positions from outside the groups, NGO Monitor said.The guarantors provide a layer between the nonprofits and the terrorist group, thus allowing Western aid groups to operate in Gaza despite sanctions against the terror organization that rules the Strip. The guarantors also allow Hamas to monitor the aid groups’ activities and influence their decisions, the report said.The liaisons helped create lists of aid beneficiaries in Gaza, which were approved by Hamas and used by the UN and aid organizations to distribute assistance, including cash, the report said.Some of the international organizations used guarantors who were Hamas members or who were described in Hamas documents as “affiliated” with the terror group, the report said, citing a 2022 Hamas document.Several groups named in the report — CIVITAS, International Medical Corps, MAP-UK and Human Appeal — denied dealing with Hamas as alleged by NGO Monitor. The aid group Mercy Corps said it was aware of incidents described in the report, including Hamas threatening a staffer, but said it “rejects the report’s portrayal,” adding that the group does not coordinate with Hamas.Hamas monitored employees at the aid groups as potential threats. A Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security document from 2020 showed that the terror group viewed some local and international nonprofits as “security dangers.”Hamas directed its internal security personnel to classify guarantors at the international organizations in order “to make use of them,” create security reports on the guarantors, put the organizations under “constant technological surveillance,” and “infiltrate international organizations’ headquarters,” the report alleged.Hamas collated personal information on the guarantors, according to documents that NGO Monitor shared with The Times of Israel. The documents, from 2022, included Arabic-language records from Gaza’s Interior Ministry along with English translations, with the names of the guarantors redacted.The documents showed notes on 55 guarantors from 48 international nonprofits. The guarantors all held administrative positions in the aid groups, with some serving as directors. Hamas allowed the guarantors to fill out requests for inviting a foreign visitor to the Strip, granting Hamas sway over who was allowed into Gaza.The list included the guarantors’ names, identification numbers, addresses, the group they worked for, a ranking for their “security category” and how cooperative the group was. There were also personal details on the guarantors’ piety, familial relationships, employment, personalities, the color and make of their vehicles, and personal finances, including the precise amounts of foreign money transfers they received.The details showed that many of the guarantors were highly educated, teaching courses and completing degrees at foreign universities. They had degrees in English literature, civil engineering, accounting, chemistry, architecture and political science.Many had connections abroad, traveling to other countries for work, studies and recreation.The guarantors worked for some of the most prominent aid organizations in Gaza, most of which were classified as “neutral” or not cooperative with Hamas.Some were marked as “cooperating,” though, including El Baraka, Rahma Worldwide, Aisha, Culture and Free Thought Society, Palestine Association for Education and Environment Protection and the Society of Women Graduates. The groups did not respond to requests for comment.Some of the women were monitored for their dress or modesty, the documents showed. A journalist’s file had the note, “She wears clothes in line with fashion due to her work.” Another was marked for “embarrassing photos” found on her phone. One woman’s file had the note, “She leaves her house in exposed clothing that transgresses sharia law,” while another was commended for wearing “sharia-compliant clothing.”Hamas also reviewed the guarantors’ social media, writing about one administrator, “She does not have hostile activity on Facebook.”Other details included the strength of the guarantors’ “social ties,” their financial status and political affiliations.Some of the groups were viewed as a challenge to the regime. The Hamas Interior Ministry in a 2021 memo said American organizations posed a threat by resisting cooperation with Hamas and bemoaned a “lack of intelligence grip over American associations.”“The funding is directed to renewing and strengthening associations with views that oppose the ideology of the resistance,” the memo said, instructing Hamas officials to build intelligence sources in the American groups.A 2022 memo said “infiltration” by the guarantors would be “an outstanding security-intelligence accomplishment,” NGO Monitor said.Other documents showed Hamas pressuring the groups to share their finances, the report said. In 2019, Hamas’s internal security service wrote that Save the Children “does not yield” to financial inspections and instructed Hamas officials to “impose restrictions” on the group in response.Hamas also took steps to influence the aid groups’ projects in Gaza.Oxfam worked with a Hamas-affiliated local partner on a project to irrigate fruit trees near the border with Israel, according to a 2021 Hamas document that said the trees were “a cover for resistance activities.” There was no indication that Oxfam was aware that the project was connected to Hamas.Oxfam said in response that it was “an impartial organization with rigorous controls in place.”“We follow strict due diligence and vetting procedures for all contractors including comprehensive screening, including through the internationally recognized LSEG World-Check system,” an Oxfam spokesperson said.Hamas also ordered two aid groups to remove questions from surveys that the groups administered to Gazans because the responses could expose terrorist activities, including by identifying Hamas members.The international organizations listed in the report are largely funded by donors in the US, Europe and the United Nations.Hamas also flagged Jewish staff at aid groups, writing in a 2020 memo that a Jewish media relations staffer at Oxfam was a “threat.”NGO Monitor in September released a report based on a separate trove of documents that detailed how Hamas exploited medical facilities in Gaza for military purposes.The report claimed that the aid organizations often keep quiet about Hamas activities, while condemning Israel, creating a one-sided media narrative that benefits the terror group.

Israel to open Rafah Crossing within days to allow authorized Gazans to exit to Egypt-Cairo denies coordinating with Jerusalem on opening of border; Israel previously insisted on Hamas returning all hostages before allowing passage, but bodies of 2 are still in Gaza-By Emanuel Fabian,Noam Lehmann and Agencies 3 December 2025, 3:00 pm

Israel announced on Wednesday that it will reopen the Rafah Border Crossing in the coming days for the exit of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, though Cairo denied it was coordinating with Jerusalem on renewing operations at the facility.Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Defense Ministry body that oversees the flow of people and goods to and from Gaza, said the move is “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and the directives of the political leadership.”COGAT said that Palestinians will be able to leave Gaza via the Rafah Crossing in coordination with Egypt, after Israeli security approval, and under the supervision of a European Union delegation — a mechanism similar to one activated in January.An Israeli official, who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press to discuss operational plans, said that all Palestinians who want to exit Gaza will be able to exit through Rafah as long as Egypt agrees to receive them, but the crossing won’t be open for people wishing to return to Gaza. The official said the EU still had to make some adjustments to logistics before the crossing could open.There were no details on when Palestinians who leave Gaza would be able to return to the Strip via the crossing.Egypt’s State Information Service denied that the country was coordinating with Israel to reopen the crossing, Al-Qahera news reported.An Egyptian official cited by al-Qahera said that any agreement to open the Rafah Crossing will see it open to traffic in both directions, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.Apparently concerned that Israel was opening the crossing to encourage emmigration, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, told Arabic media that Cairo has a “veto” against Israel’s decision, and that doing so would be a violation of Trump’s plan.“Holding onto the right to stay in Gaza is firmly established in international law, and anything contrary to that would be a war crime,” Diaa was quoted by Egyptian media telling the Cairo News Channel. Speaking later to Al Jazeera, he said, “the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip is a red line.”The first phase of a US-brokered hostage-release ceasefire deal that came into effect in October called for the crossing to be opened for medical evacuations and for travel to and from the Strip.Israel previously said the crossing would remain shuttered until Hamas fulfills its part in the deal. Hamas has yet to return the bodies of two hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023: police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.Hamas announced on Wednesday it would hand over the body of a deceased hostage to Israel at 5 p.m. after it was discovered in the northern Gaza Strip during a search conducted along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades.The Rafah Crossing was shut by Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Gaza side in May 2024, but was briefly reopened in early 2025 during a short-lived ceasefire.At least 16,500 patients in Gaza are said to be in need of medical care outside of the enclave, according to the United Nations. Some Gazans managed to leave for medical treatment abroad through Israel.For a long time, the crossing was the main exit point for Palestinians from Gaza who were authorized to leave the narrow strip of land, which has been under Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007, aimed at preventing terror groups from smuggling in weapons.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6  I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9  I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

'Screwball,' 'crazy,' 'strange': As hurricane season ends, researchers note its surprises-Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30. In some ways, it fit what researchers expect to see as the climate warms, but in others, it was simply odd.Nov. 23, 2025, 5:45 AM EST-By Evan Bush

Three Category 5 storms, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded, zero U.S. landfalls and a mystifying lull at the usual peak of activity: Together, these and other factors made for a “screwball” hurricane season this year.That’s how atmospheric scientist Phil Klotzbach put it, anyway.“It was just a strange year,” said Klotzbach, who studies hurricanes at Colorado State University. “Kind of a hard year to characterize.”Hurricane season comes to its official close on Nov. 30. In some ways, 2025 fits what researchers expect to see more often as the climate warms: Hurricanes continued forming late into the season and several intensified at extreme rates to produce some of the most intense storms in history.But in other ways, it was simply odd. Fewer hurricanes formed than experts predicted, but almost all of them became major storms. And the continental U.S. was spared a landfall for the first time in a decade. The surprises were a reminder of hurricane season’s unpredictability — particularly in a warming world — even as forecasting gets more accurate.Fewer hurricanes, higher intensity-Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in May predicted an above-average season with six to 10 hurricanes. Of those, at least three were expected to be major storms, meaning Category 3 or above, with sustained winds at or above 111 mph.Klotzbach came up with the same forecast independently, and other hurricane-tracking groups were in the same ballpark.In the end, fewer hurricanes formed, but of the five that did — Erin, Gabrielle, Humberto, Imelda and Melissa — four were considered major.“That’s the highest ratio there’s been in the past 50 years,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science.What’s more, three of those major storms were Category 5, the highest level of intensity.Forecasters’ predictions of an above-average season still proved accurate despite the lower number of storms because of a metric called accumulated cyclone energy — essentially a calculation of the overall intensity and duration of all tropical storms in a season.Klotzbach predicted the accumulated energy would be 125% of the 30-year average. The season ended up at 108%, which, given the low number of hurricanes, means each packed a punch.“It was a quality season, not a quantity season,” he said.Nine of the past 10 Atlantic hurricane seasons have been above normal, according to Klotzbach, who attributes the trend to high ocean temperatures and La Niña, a seasonal circulation pattern that tends to weaken the high-altitude winds that discourage hurricane formation.McNoldy, who closely tracks Atlantic water temperatures, said 2025 was “anomalously warm.”“Whatever storms were out there definitely had a lot of fuel to tap into,” McNoldy said. Ocean heat drives evaporation, causing warm, moist air to rise from the surface to create convection; hurricanes require ocean temperatures of at least 79 degrees Fahrenheit to form.Elevated sea temperatures allowed several hurricanes to build intensity at a blistering pace. Erin’s maximum sustained wind speed increased by around 75 mph in just 24 hours. Melissa went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in the same amount of time.Both are “really, really exceptional” rates of intensification, McNoldy said.Melissa also tied the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the strongest storm to make landfall on record. Both had sustained winds of 185 mph, and Melissa saw a 252 mph gust.A strange lull at peak time-Despite the ocean’s hurricane fuel, this season at times lacked a spark. Storm activity typically peaks in late August and early September, but not this year, McNoldy said: “For about three weeks during the peak of the season, it was completely dead.”Nothing of significance formed in the Atlantic between Aug. 24 and Sept. 16, according to Klotzbach. That hadn’t happened since 1992.Although the lull was similar to a slowdown observed last year, researchers do not think it will become a trend.“That we had two quiet peak seasons in a row is certainly strange, but I think it’s just a coincidence,” McNoldy said.The reason for last year’s lull was that tropical storms developed too far north to make their way across the Atlantic and pick up steam, according to Klotzbach. During this year’s pause, the eastern Atlantic was relatively stable and dry, conditions not conducive to the formation of powerful storms.One big near miss-No hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. this year for the first time in a decade, according to Klotzbach.But that would not have been true if Hurricane Imelda had not made a sharp turn.As Imelda tracked toward the U.S. as a tropical storm in September, forecasters thought the Carolinas could receive buckets of rain. But Hurricane Humberto, a Category 5 monster churning several hundred miles away in the open ocean, steered Imelda away from the coast.The phenomenon is known as the Fujiwhara effect: When two storms rotate around a shared midpoint, the weaker storm is often subsumed by the stronger.“Had Humberto not been there, Imelda was probably a big flooding story,” Klotzbach said.As McNoldy put it: “Another crazy aspect of the season.”AI forecasting shows promise-In written forecasts from the National Hurricane Center during Hurricane Melissa, a new term popped up again and again: “Google DeepMind.”Federal forecasters are increasingly leaning on the novel artificial intelligence hurricane forecasting tool, which was instrumental in an early prediction of Hurricane Melissa’s rapid intensification.Google DeepMind built an impressive resume over the course of hurricane season, McNoldy said. Recently, he assessed the levels of forecasting error in more than 10 hurricane models and found that DeepMind was among the best.“It was a model that was just put out in the public eye in June, and it outperformed the other conventional models for track and intensity, which is unheard of, to have something right off the shelf new be that good,” McNoldy said. “It’s hard to not be optimistic about it.”

Satellite imagery shows devastating impact of record rainfall in Asia-Landslides and flooding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand have killed more than 1,200 people in the past week, and 800 others are still missing, authorities said Tuesday.Flooding recovery efforts underway in Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah-Dec. 3, 2025, 12:00 PM EST-By Mithil Aggarwal

Satellite imagery has revealed how deadly flooding in the last two weeks wreaked havoc across Southeast Asia as record rainfall upended life for millions throughout Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.Before and after imagery from the San Francisco-based imaging company Planet Labs PBC and the Colorado-based U.S. defense contractor Vantar, show how rising waters in Sri Lanka transformed parts of the previously verdant capital of some 650,000 people.Along the Kelani River in Colombo, fields, open spaces and roads around the windy waterway turned into muddy ponds after Cyclone Ditwah made landfall Friday.On Monday, media photographs showed children paddling in makeshift rafts around the capital and displaced residents taking shelter in tents. More than 1.1 million people were affected across the country, according to its disaster management office.Floods across the tropical region over the past two weeks have killed more than 1,300 people and displaced millions. Around 400 people were killed in Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake saying Sunday,"This is the first time the entire country has been struck by such a disaster."Over three days, Sri Lanka was inundated by 20 inches of rain — a deluge the country's statistics department says is equivalent to the average rainfall for all of October and November combined.Nearly 15,000 homes were destroyed, with around 400 people still missing, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Scientists say the damage illustrates how climate change is exacerbating extreme weather worldwide, particularly in tropical Asia, where rainy seasons are becoming longer and more intense.“There’s really no point denying that climate change is with us now,” said Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong.“This time next year, when you’ve got the monsoon and if we’re still in La Niña, it’s going to be even worse,” he said, referring to the seasonal climate pattern that brings wetter weather to Southeast Asia.Across the Malacca Strait in Thailand, where almost 200 people have been killed, military ships were deployed to support relief efforts as the record floods hammered the country’s south.Entire alleys turned into rivers in Thailand, with rescuers seen riding in boats searching for survivors. Cars were washed away and rammed against houses in the southern Thai city of Songkhla as water slowly receded from the streets.The city of Hat Yai, a Thai trading hub popular with Malaysian tourists that received 13 inches of rain, was among the worst-hit areas.Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday acknowledged the government’s shortcomings in flood management and announced compensation for those affected.Further south, Indonesia was hit the hardest with more than 700 deaths as of Tuesday.Satellite imagery showed that a section of the Peusangan River in the northern province of Aceh had doubled in width, submerging its banks particularly around a small dam. At least two homes were washed away in the swell, the debris of which was still visible, while a third house was also damaged. Roads leading up to the buildings and paved roads were wiped out from the flooding.Indonesia with its warmer climate is seeing more frequent and intense storms as air can hold about 7% more moisture for every 1 -degree Celsius increase in atmospheric temperature, meaning global warming will inevitably worsen rainfall.Horton said countries like Indonesia “need to invest in long-term resilience of urban areas, agricultural and rural areas.”Damage there became clear over the weekend as weather conditions improved, and the country’s national disaster agency said it was working to open land routes that had been cut off by the flooding.“We’re living in a very different world now. The houses that have been constructed in the past can’t withstand the climate of today,” he added.

Small satellite mission targets maritime activity monitoring from orbit by Robert Schreiber.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 03, 2025-The OTTER Optical Traffic Tracking Experiment for Responsive Space satellite has entered service in orbit to support maritime monitoring following its launch on 28 November 2025 into an orbit at about 500 kilometres altitude. The nanosatellite has a mass of roughly six kilograms, is comparable in size to a shoebox and deployed its solar panels and instruments after separation from the launcher. The German Aerospace Center DLR leads the OTTER mission with industry partners as an experimental effort to determine how small satellites can help deliver space based capabilities more quickly and supplement existing maritime reconnaissance systems.OTTER uses one antenna to receive position signals from ships while its onboard camera acquires images to verify the reported locations. Additional antennas, receivers and reflectors enable detection of illegal fishing, ships in distress, oil pollution and suspected manipulation of signals on the high seas. The mission will operate for about two years in low Earth orbit before the satellite re enters Earths atmosphere, with an electric propulsion system available to hasten its controlled destructive re entry.Satellites in orbit can build situational pictures of maritime activity across ocean regions that are not limited by national borders, which differentiates them from land or sea based systems. Alongside large dedicated satellites, operators now employ growing numbers of commercial small satellites to extend coverage and improve resilience because multiple smaller spacecraft can be replaced more easily if a unit fails.DLRs Responsive Space Cluster Competence Center RSC3 in Trauen, Lower Saxony, manages the OTTER mission and conducts research on responsive space concepts for maritime applications. Responsive space in this context refers to the ability to provide satellite services at short notice, such as expanding infrastructure, replacing failed satellites or deploying new capabilities. The RSC3, founded five years ago with support from Germanys Federal Ministry of Defence, coordinates research, users and industry to develop these capabilities.The OTTER spacecraft is a three unit 3U CubeSat that SpaceX launched from the United States. Over its planned two year mission, it will downlink data from ships Automatic Identification System AIS together with camera imagery to a ground station, where teams process and evaluate the information. Through the same ground segment, controllers upload new instructions and observation schedules to adjust operations as needs change.Spacecraft with masses below 500 kilograms are classified as small satellites or SmallSats. At about six kilograms, OTTER falls into the nanosatellite class, defined for satellites up to ten kilograms, and serves as a testbed for methods to design, build and operate such systems for monitoring marine activities from orbit.

Geopolitical instability and AI drive transformation in EO market by Erica Marchand.

Paris, France (SPX) Nov 10, 2025-Novaspace's latest Earth Observation Data and Services Market report identifies a major shift in the commercial landscape. The combination of geopolitical tension and rapid AI adoption is intensifying demand for defense-grade earth observation (EO) solutions. Buyers now prioritize sovereign control and immediate access to high-resolution imagery, with revisit intervals shaping competition in the sector.Alexis Conte, Senior Manager at Novaspace, stated, "While the past decade saw the emergence of differentiated constellation projects, the next decade will be defined by integration and interoperability. No single company can cover every layer of the information chain, so industry is moving towards strategic vertical integration and key partnerships to close value chain gaps, reshaping the competitive landscape."Recent events have led countries to pursue sovereign EO capabilities, propelling commercial demand and expanding the EO data market to $2.2 billion in 2024, at a 7% CAGR since 2019. Defense applications represent over 65% of market consumption. The Value-Added Services segment has grown to $3.2 billion, with similar CAGR, and is projected to reach $5 billion within a decade.Novaspace forecasts continued robust market activity despite possible budget changes in the United States. Greater coordination between government agencies is expected, broadening EO application from strategic use to operational planning.The industry's focus is shifting to data fusion-integrating multiple sensor sources for actionable intelligence. This trend supports a new class of service providers specializing in multi-source intelligence architectures.Security concerns now influence market priorities. Quantum key distribution and secure data relay technologies have gained strategic significance, ensuring data authenticity and resilient communications across interconnected EO networks.

ICEYE unveils Tactical Access which grants guaranteed SAR satellite imaging for urgent operational needs by Clarence Oxford.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2025-ICEYE has announced Tactical Access, a commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite product for customers needing rapid, high-volume imagery and flexible tasking timelines. Tactical Access allows direct user control over SAR satellite tasking, with reserved imaging capacity and options for dedicated ground stations enabling near real-time image acquisition and delivery.Unlike conventional first-in, first-out scheduling that cannot adapt to sudden intelligence or time-sensitive demands, Tactical Access clients receive assured imaging slots and immediate access. Dedicated ground stations combine antennas and ICEYE's proprietary Edge processor to downlink and process data within minutes, supporting secure data custody for national security applications. Alternatively, users can opt for secure cloud delivery for finished imagery within hours.Tactical Access supports ICEYE's Generation 4 satellites with up to 16 cm resolution and large scanning modes, utilizing electronic beam-steering to capture multiple high-resolution scenes in brief imaging windows. The service features an interface tailored for high-frequency collection planning.John Cartwright, Senior VP of Data Product at ICEYE, stated, "Tactical Access serves the demanding needs of our imagery power users around the globe by breaking the paradigm of the traditional imagery planning and delivery model. We have high-volume national security customers requiring significant planning flexibility and very short tasking planning-to-delivery timelines. Tactical Access is the industry's best product for these needs, providing access to the industry's finest SAR imagery with maximum flexibility."

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.

Taiwan says China simulates 'attacks' on foreign navy ships.

Taipei, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-Taiwan's intelligence chief said Wednesday that Chinese military aircraft have "simulated attacks" on foreign warships passing through sensitive waters separating China and Taiwan.China says Taiwan is part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, a major international shipping route.The United States, Britain and other countries view the strait as international waters open to all vessels.Eight countries, including the United States, Japan, Australia and France, have sent naval ships through the narrow stretch of water so far this year, National Security Bureau director-general Tsai Ming-yen said.China shadows "every vessel", Tsai told lawmakers in parliament."It will deploy corresponding naval assets to conduct necessary monitoring, and at times... it will also mobilise air forces to carry out simulated attacks to signal its military presence and claim of dominance in the Strait."Taiwan exchanges intelligence with its "international allies", including on Chinese military activity during these transits, Tsai said.Tensions across the strait have worsened in recent years as China has increased military pressure on Taiwan and Taipei has ramped up its defence spending.Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te last week unveiled plans for $40 billion in extra defence spending over the next eight years, with a focus on developing a multi-layered air defence system. 

Hong Kong fire death toll climbs to 159: police.

Hong Kong, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-The death toll in Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades has risen to 159 after all affected housing blocks have been searched, police said Wednesday, cautioning that the figure may not be final.The blaze took hold last Wednesday and engulfed Wang Fuk Court in the northern Tai Po district, becoming the world's deadliest residential building fire since 1980."We have found 159 bodies, of whom 140 were identified on a preliminary basis," police commissioner Joe Chow told a news conference, describing the information as an "interim wrap-up" following the completion of building searches.He said the toll may still be revised as officers had found "suspected human bones" that require forensic testing.The dead include at least 91 women and 49 men, with the youngest victim being a one-year-old baby and the oldest 97, Chow added.

S. Korea leader says 'extremely difficult' to make nuclear subs in US.

Seoul, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-South Korea's leader said Wednesday it would be "extremely difficult" to build its nuclear-powered submarines in the United States under a deal with Washington.South Korea is expected to join a small circle of countries that operate nuclear-powered submarines after receiving approval from the United States for the supply of restricted nuclear fuel.There is however no clarity on the production site of the submarines.US President Donald Trump has said on Truth Social that Seoul would manufacture its nuclear-powered submarine in "the Philadelphia Shipyards, right here in the good ol' U.S.A."But South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told a news conference on Wednesday the issue "still needs continued negotiation"."From our perspective, producing them (nuclear submarines) there is extremely difficult realistically," he said."I fully understand the desire to do it, but we need to consider realistically whether it is truly feasible," he added.He underlined Seoul's position was always to produce the submarines domestically."What we asked for was not 'build it for us' or 'give us the technology'," said Lee."Our position was simply, we will build it with our own technology, so just allow fuel supply for what is currently banned."US nuclear submarine technology is considered among the most sensitive and tightly guarded military secrets.

Sudan army chief's Islamist ties complicate peace efforts.

Cairo, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-The already Herculean task of putting an end to the long-running war in Sudan is being further complicated by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's complex relationship with Islamists, whom he relies upon for support.The camp has seen its influence grow since the start of the war, supplying fighters and shaping the strategy of de facto leader Burhan, who since April 2023 has battled his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).But with mediators now pushing for an end to the fighting, analysts say the Islamists fear a peace deal and the return of civilian government will sideline them once again."The Islamists are very upset at the prospect of a ceasefire. They want the war to continue as much as possible," Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair told AFP.Burhan welcomed a recent promise by US President Donald Trump -- made at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- to use his influence to end the war, but the military chief has so far rejected mediators' ceasefire proposals.The United Nations, diplomats and analysts, meanwhile, have all warned that the war will not end until external forces stop fuelling the violence.But Burhan must also carefully navigate inside his own camp, including the Islamists, without whom he could lose support and territory in the two-thirds of the country his forces still hold.In Sudan, the term "Islamists" generally refers to a grouping of parties, leaders and patronage networks cultivated under longtime Islamist-military autocrat Omar al-Bashir.Both Burhan and Daglo rose through Bashir's security architecture.Though a lacklustre career soldier, Burhan was propelled upwards within the capital's Islamist-dominated networks of power, which held only disdain for Daglo -- relegated to doing Khartoum's "dirty work" violently crushing far-flung rebellions in Darfur.After Bashir's ousting in 2019, these Islamist networks, which in the 1990s sheltered Osama bin Laden, resigned themselves to keeping a low profile.But in the current war under Burhan, Bashir-era cronies have been released from prison in an apparent jailbreak, rallied troops for the army and regained political clout.Daglo -- once considered Bashir's protector -- has repeatedly sought to portray the war as a battle against "radical Islamists" and the remnants of Bashir's government.According to Cameron Hudson, a former White House adviser on Sudan, the paramilitary leader was "given these talking points" by the United Arab Emirates, which denies widespread accusations of politically and militarily backing the RSF.- 'Little by little' -Last week, Burhan denied having members of the Muslim Brotherhood in his government entirely. "We do not know who they are, we only hear about them in the media," he said in a video address.But in August, he struck a secret deal with US envoy Massad Boulos to "little by little" create distance from his Islamist allies, a senior diplomat close to the negotiations told AFP."He's in a very difficult position," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity."If he abandons them, they abandon him, and he could very well lose."After the secret meeting with Boulos in Switzerland, Burhan quietly dismissed a handful of officers with Islamist ties.But his about-face seems to have stopped there, to the chagrin of mediators, all of whom consider the Muslim Brotherhood a destabilising threat.In September, the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt -- jointly leading peace efforts -- said "Sudan's future cannot be dictated by violent extremist groups part of or evidently linked to the Muslim Brotherhood", chapters of which Trump has moved to designate as "terrorist organisations".The same day, the US sanctioned Burhan's finance minister, Gibril Ibrahim, and the Islamist militia Al-Baraa ibn Malik Brigade in an attempt to "limit Islamist influence... and curtail Iran's regional activities".In 2024, Iran reportedly supplied the Sudanese army with drones which, along with Al-Baraa ibn Malik's fighters, proved integral to a counteroffensive that saw the army recapture Khartoum in March.- No alternative for Burhan -Today, Burhan is under immense pressure.Within his camp, "he is struggling to maintain unity within a system... that was designed to compete against itself" to prevent challenges to Bashir's authority, according to Hudson.On the battlefield, his troops -- reeling from losing their last stronghold in the vast Darfur region -- are depleted and exhausted as they try to stop the RSF from gaining ground on the route to Khartoum.And the two countries seen to hold the most leverage over him -- Saudi Arabia and his biggest backer, Egypt -- are pressing hard for an end to the war, which they see as a threat to their own national security.Yet Burhan, Khair said, "hasn't been given a branch to hang on to so he could let go of the Islamist branch".A prolonged war is good for the Islamists, she added, because it makes the pro-democracy forces that once pushed them out seem "less and less viable in a vastly militarised spectrum".

We chose it': PKK fighters cherish life in Iraq's mountains.

Qandil Mountains, Iraq, Dec 3 (AFP) Dec 03, 2025-A Kurdish militant picks his way along a switchback road in Iraq's mountains before pulling over to alert his comrades in a nearby hidden bunker that they are about to have company.After calling from a phone dangling from a tree, he leads a team of AFP journalists into a bunker under the Qandil mountains, where they have been granted rare access to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rear base in northern Iraq."A peace process doesn't mean leaving the mountains," said Serda Mazlum Gabar, a 47-year-old commander with her long, rust-coloured hair and unfailing smile."Even if we leave, we will live the same way," she added. "Nature doesn't scare me, but I wouldn't feel safe walking around a city, with its cars, smoke and traffic."Answering a call from the group's imprisoned founder Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK has taken historic steps in recent months towards ending its decades-old fight against Turkey that has claimed around 50,000 lives.The group formally renounced its armed struggle. Thirty of its fighters even burned their weapons in a symbolic move, although many fighters based in Qandil carried rifles during AFP's visit.For decades, the PKK has found sanctuary in mountains in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.Even if fighting has stopped, the guerrilla lifestyle won't end. It will rather adapt to new "peaceful" ways, the commander said."We were not forced into this life. We chose it," she added.- 'Not one place' -At the entrance, a large fan is attached to a duct that runs into a concealed passage, ventilating fresh air to the hidden bunker.The tunnel then opens into a broader corridor where PKK members and commanders dressed in their traditional military dress -- olive green fatigues or dusty-coloured baggy sirwal pants and vest -- line up to greet visitors.The corridor branches out to several rooms. One, its entrance decorated with fresh plants and strings of lights, is the quarters for women fighters.Iraq's mountains have recently welcomed new arrivals -- fighters who withdrew from Turkey to show the group's commitment to the peace process.Among them is Vejin Dersim who joined the PKK at only 23 and had spent most of her time in southeastern Turkey.Now 34, she has withdrawn to Iraq's mountains."Leaving was very emotional. It is a very special place there, especially because we were closer to leader Apo," she said, referring to Ocalan, who has been held in solitary confinement on Turkey's Imrali island since 1999.Her comrade Devrim Palu, 47, joined the movement in 1999 and has recently returned to Iraq."In our movement, it doesn't matter where you are fighting, and one doesn't stay in one place," he said in a soft, low voice.Today is the time for change, he said.He added that the PKK is capable of changing the nature of the conflict and transition from war to peaceful engagement.- 'Eyes closed' -Over decades, the PKK -- still formally designated a "terrorist group" by the United States and the European Union -- has gone through several periods of peace talks with Turkey.They have gone through several seismic shifts from starting as a separatist movement to gradually becoming advocates for Kurdish equality in Turkey.It now says it is entering a new phase by pursuing a democratic path to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority.According to Devrim Palu, it is generally easier to be based in Iraq because the top commanders are closer, and news arrives firsthand.In the bunker that AFP visited, the walls are adorned with pictures of Ocalan and fallen fighters.In a kitchen, PKK members knead dough to make lahmajun, a thin pizza-like bread topped with meat. Others watched TV, drank tea or chatted in the corridors.Qandil has been home to the PKK for years -- a place that offered greater refuge than the mountains of southeast Turkey.At first, fighters hid in caves, then began carving and digging dozens of their own well-maintained bunkers. Qandil became their headquarters."I could drive these mountains with my eyes closed," one member said, skillfully navigating the rugged tracks at high speed in the pitch-dark night.

Fighting intensifies in oil-rich southern Sudan.

Port Sudan, Sudan, Dec 2 (AFP) Dec 02, 2025-Fighting intensified in southern Sudan's North Kordofan region on Tuesday as residents in the capital El-Obeid told AFP a paramilitary drone had exploded near an army division headquarters.The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been battling Sudan's army since April 2023 -- capturing El-Fasher, the last military stronghold in Darfur, western Sudan, in late October.The takeover in Darfur was accompanied by reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting, which led to increasingly vocal international calls for a ceasefire.But the RSF victory in Darfur has allowed its forces to turn more attention to the oil-rich south.One resident in El-Obeid, speaking to AFP anonymously for fear of reprisal, said they saw "smoke rising from the area" after a strike targeting the base of the army's 5th Division.Another witness reported hearing a blast before "clouds of smoke" rose from the direction of the military base.El-Obeid, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum, hosts an airport and lies on a key supply route linking Darfur and the capital.There has also been renewed fighting 400 kilometres southwest of El-Obeid in Babanusa -- the army's last remaining foothold in West Kordofan.On Tuesday, the RSF released video footage appearing to show its fighters inside the base of the 22nd Infantry Division, the city's army headquarters.A day earlier the group said it had secured "the liberation" of the entire city after repelling what it called a "surprise attack" by army units.The army denied on Tuesday losing Babanusa, saying its forces had repelled a new RSF attack the previous day.The army also accused the paramilitary force of launching daily drone and artillery strikes despite a unilateral ceasefire announcement by RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.Kordofan -- an area nearly the size of France -- has become a major battleground as the army seeks to push the RSF away from the vital highway linking the capital Khartoum to Darfur.Meanwhile, international efforts to end the war have stalled.Last month, US President Donald Trump vowed to seek peace after Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman urged him to get involved.Yet fighting has persisted.On Monday, a war monitor accused the army of striking a nursing school in Kordofan's Komo village, killing at least 40 people, according to two residents who participated in the burials.

Iraq to start new chapter without UN mission: envoy.

United Nations, United States, Dec 2 (AFP) Dec 02, 2025-Post-war Iraq will lead its own future after the United Nations closes its mission there at year's end, the UN envoy to the Middle Eastern country said Tuesday.The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) will be shutting down its operations after 22 years of helping the country transition from instability in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation as well as the ouster of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.UNAMI's departure "represents the start of a new chapter rooted in Iraq's leadership of its own future," Mohamed Al Hassan, the head of the mission, told the UN Security Council during a meeting devoted to the situation in Iraq.He assured the council that the international community was witnessing "an honorable and dignified closure of a UN mission."But "the road to peace, security and stability was long and difficult," he added.With the international community's support, "Iraq came out victorious, but with untold sacrifices," Al Hassan said.Last year, the mission established in 2003 was extended one last time until December 31, 2025.Baghdad said the closing of the UN mission marked "the completion of the political building process initiated in 2003 after the fall of the dictatorial regime."UNAMI's tasks included advising the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.On Tuesday, Al Hassan addressed the council after Iraq held its sixth parliamentary election in November.The envoy expressed the hope that a new Iraqi government would be formed without delay."Iraq has overcome successive conflicts on a hard-won path to stability," he said."Nevertheless, the lasting effects of conflict have given rise to dire and persisting humanitarian needs, with about 1 million Iraqis remaining internally displaced."

Environment minister requests $41 million to tackle polluting West Bank waste fires-Describing fires as Palestinian ‘terror,’ and calling for ‘environmental sovereignty,’ Idit Silman says Israel will deduct costs from Palestinian taxes-By Sue Surkes-Today, 12:45 am-DEC 3,25

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman on Wednesday presented the main points of what she called a strategic plan to deal with illegal waste burning in the West Bank and stop pollution that crosses the Green Line into Israel.As an immediate move, the ministry has allocated NIS 40 million ($12.4 million) to help rehabilitate one of only two landfill sites serving the West Bank, and to hire additional inspectors, including at checkpoints along the Green Line, where Israeli trucks illegally transport Israeli waste into the West Bank for burning to save having to pay Israeli landfill fees.Silman’s plan calls for Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank to fast-track building permits for a new landfill site at Ramun, near Ramallah. This is to include a sorting facility and accept trash from Israeli settlements too.A long-term plan foresees the establishment of sites that will burn waste to create energy at Tarkumiya, northwest of Hebron in the southern West Bank, and at Rantis, northwest of Ramallah.Silman told the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environmental Protection Committee that she was examining the idea of a new hotline for public complaints, which would bring together the environment and finance ministries, the Fire and Rescue Service, the Israel Police and the Civil Administration.An additional three air monitoring stations will be established along the Green Line, she said.Silman is requesting NIS 134.6 million ($41.6 million) from the Finance Ministry to enable the Civil Administration to employ additional inspectors, investigators and prosecutors, and to boost inspections along the Israeli side of the Green Line, where illegal waste burning is also taking place, primarily in Arab municipalities.Stopping the fires in the West Bank has become a hot-button public issue in recent weeks, with the NGO Citizens for Clean Air reporting an uptick in complaints from Israelis about transboundary pollution.NGO chairman Yaniv Bleicher told The Times of Israel after the Knesset debate that the Environmental Protection Ministry had focussed on low-hanging fruit, and that instead, the Prime Minister’s Office should be coordinating between the many bodies involved to solve what is a national problem.In a report last year, the State Comptroller cited the lack of waste treatment and landfill sites in the West Bank, and the high cost of transporting waste to far-off facilities, as among the reasons for the illegal dumping and burning phenomenon in the West Bank.He estimated that cross-border pollution costs the Israeli economy around NIS 1.3 billion (just under $400 million) yearly.The burning of Palestinian municipal waste is compounded by widespread smuggling from Israel into the West Bank of electronic waste, which is burned for the extraction of metal.Israeli trucks carrying electronic waste pass through 31 official checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank and many unofficial ones, the Knesset meeting heard.In June 2023, the government ordered the environment and defense ministries to establish an inter-ministerial team to formulate a comprehensive plan for dealing with the problem within six months.That dragged on, with the Environmental Protection Ministry blaming the Defense Ministry for delays, until Silman decided to push ahead with her plan. The Defense Ministry must agree to it before it can be brought for government approval.At the Knesset hearing, Dafna Ravid-Rabinovich, the mayor of Shoham, a central town close to the West Bank, described a trip to the towns of Budrus and Shuqba in the northern West Bank. “In Budrus, I saw parts of cars being burned. In Shuqba, I saw whole cows and animal parts from a slaughterhouse being burned,” she said.“What are the residents of Shoham supposed to do? They phone the fire service and get shouted at. They ring the District Coordination and Liaison Office [which coordinates with the Palestinians] and get no satisfaction. Who are we supposed to phone? I already have monitoring stations, and we see high [pollution]. What do we do with this?”Silman, committee chairman Yitzhak Kreuzer (Otzma Yehudit), and other right-wing figures insisted that the waste burning was a form of deliberate Palestinian “terror” and that the IDF should deal with it as such.“These materials [being burned] cause cancer,” said Silman. “This is environmental terrorism, which is only increasing. We need to deal with it like terror.”Explaining that funds spent by Israel on the waste problem would be deducted from tax money Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority on imports and exports, she said she had asked to open a Judea and Samaria unit in the Environmental Protection Ministry so that Israel could establish “environmental sovereignty” in the West Bank, and that she could lead the country’s response to the fires.

5 soldiers hurt, one seriously, in attack on troops in Rafah; IDF strikes in Khan Younis-Gunfight erupted after troops encountered gunmen emerging from tunnel; Palestinians report 6 killed in retaliatory airstrike that military says targeted terror operative By Emanuel Fabian and Lazar Berman-3 December 2025, 10:12 pm

Five IDF soldiers were wounded Wednesday afternoon, one of them seriously, in an attack by Palestinian terror operatives on troops stationed in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military said.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had violated the truce and vowed a response, saying: “Our policy is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on IDF soldiers and will respond accordingly.”The IDF later said it had carried out an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis targeting a Hamas operative in response. The military did not elaborate on the identity of the target.Palestinian media reported at least six killed in the strike.According to the IDF, troops of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit had encountered several terror operatives who emerged from a tunnel in eastern Rafah — an Israeli-held area in the Strip’s south, where dozens of Hamas fighters are believed to be trapped underground. A gunfight then erupted.The army said a soldier with Golani’s reconnaissance unit was seriously injured in the clash, while three other soldiers — including two from Golani and a non-commissioned officer in the Gaza Division — were moderately injured. A fifth soldier was lightly hurt.In response, the IDF carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling in the area.According to a preliminary military investigation, the incident began as the Golani soldiers spotted a suspicious figure covered in a blanket entering a building. A Namer armored personnel carrier (APC) with troops was dispatched to the area to aid in the search for the suspected terror operative.The soldiers in the APC then spotted two operatives who emerged from a tunnel, and the troops opened fire on them. As the troops fired, one of the operatives launched an RPG missile at the APC, wounding the five soldiers.The soldiers managed to hit both operatives, killing one and wounding the second. The wounded operative, who had fired the RPG, managed to flee back into the tunnel.The IDF was searching the area for the operative who fled, along with the suspect spotted earlierChannel 12 reported that the prime minister held an urgent meeting to debate how to respond to the attack.According to the report, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Shin Bet director David Zini participated in the meeting. Zamir argued that Israel could not let the attack go by without a response, according to the outlet.“This is a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement,” a senior Israeli official told the network. “We are in full coordination with the Americans on the topic, and we have emphasized the severity of the matter.”In recent weeks, the IDF has reported killing over 30 terror operatives and capturing a further eight, after they tried to flee from the tunnels in Rafah. According to a prominent Hamas member in Gaza, the group estimates some 60 to 80 fighters are still holed up in the tunnels beneath the southern Gaza city.On November 30, the commander of Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion, his deputy, and two other terror operatives were killed after attempting to flee a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.The matter of the trapped Hamas fighters has gone without resolution for nearly two months since the ceasefire went into effect in early October, as mediating countries have tried to negotiate terms for their safe passage back to Hamas-controlled areas.According to a Channel 12 report in late November, Israel conveyed a proposal to Hamas the week before that would allow the operatives to leave the tunnel, as long as they surrender and agree to be transferred to Israeli prisons. Since the proposal was made, the operatives have not surrendered and have on multiple occasions emerged from tunnels in attempts to flee or attack IDF forces.Israel has resisted giving the fighters unconditional free passage and has insisted that Hamas disarm, a key piece of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.Those who have survived after months of holding out in the tunnels are thought by the IDF to be running out of supplies and starving.Earlier Wednesday, IDF troops stationed in northern Gaza located several rocket launchers, the military said. The launchers were found by reservists of the Carmeli Brigade, who were deployed to the Israeli side of the Yellow Line for defensive and mop-up operations.The IDF said the launchers contained rockets that were intended to be launched at Israel.Also on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, citing a source in Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. According to the report, the two were killed on the Hamas-controlled side of the ceasefire line, which passes through the neighborhood.There was no immediate comment from the IDF.

UN chief calls Israel’s conduct throughout Gaza war ‘fundamentally wrong’‘Objective was to destroy Hamas. Gaza is destroyed, but Hamas is not yet destroyed,’ Guterres tells Reuters event, claims ‘strong reasons to believe’ war crimes have been committed By Michelle Nichols 3 December 2025, 9:40 pm

NEW YORK (Reuters) — There was something “fundamentally wrong” with how Israel conducted its military operation in the Gaza Strip and there are “strong reasons to believe” that war crimes have been committed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday.“I think there was something fundamentally wrong in the way this operation was conducted with total neglect in relation to the deaths of civilians and to the destruction of Gaza,” Guterres said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference in New York.“The objective was to destroy Hamas. Gaza is destroyed, but Hamas is not yet destroyed. So there is something fundamentally wrong with the way this is conducted,” he told Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni.Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Guterres’s remarks.When asked if war crimes had been committed, Guterres said: “There are strong reasons to believe that that possibility might be a reality.”Guterres also praised the United States for being instrumental in improving aid access in Gaza: “There is an excellent cooperation in the humanitarian aid between the UN and the US, and I hope that this will be maintained and developed.”The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 70,000 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 over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during and immediately after the October 7, 2023, onslaught.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.‘Still far from a solution’ in Ukraine, Guterres says-Turning to Ukraine, Guterres said that negotiations to end the war with Russia appeared stuck and that the solution to the conflict should abide by international law and the territorial integrity of states.“Is it going to be so? Probably not,” he said. “I believe we are still far from a solution.”“The violation of these rules is extremely dangerous because everywhere in the world, people will feel that they can do whatever they want because international law doesn’t matter anymore. And so I hope that the way the negotiations end will respect these principles, even if I understand that will not be easy,” Guterres said.Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War. The United States is trying to broker an end to the conflict.Urges more aid efforts from Trump administration-US President Donald Trump has described the UN as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that. He has slashed US foreign aid and wants to further cut US funding for the United Nations.Guterres described the UN approach to the Trump administration: “Do not make any concession that puts into question the fidelity of the values we defend, but not to engage in polemics that serve no purpose.”“I’m not interested in having any polemic with the US administration. I’m interested in preserving the values of UN and preserving the values in which I believe we can build a world that is more fair, in which international law is respected, and in which the huge inequalities that exist can be overcome,” Guterres said.He said the US cuts had “created an opportunity” for him to push for UN reforms, but that there had been dramatic consequences on the ground: “A reduction of the levels of humanitarian aid that is provided, as we are witnessing now, makes many people die.”Crisis in Venezuela-On US strikes on vessels near Venezuela, Guterres said the United Nations had been clear that those actions were not compatible with international law.US troops have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since early September, killing at least 83 people as Trump escalates a military buildup against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.“I have no particular sympathy for the regime in Venezuela and the violations of human rights that were committed that are well known, but I don’t think military confrontation would be the solution for the problem,” he said.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Israeli startup unveils quest for electromagnetic launcher to shoot cargo into space-Moonshot, led by an Iron Dome veteran, developing hypersonic launcher that it hopes will deliver small to medium payloads to orbit on the cheap within five years-By Sharon Wrobel-3 December 2025, 8:26 pm

An Israeli startup is developing a high-power electromagnetic launcher system designed to propel payloads and enable cargo deliveries into space at hypersonic speed using electricity rather than chemical fuels.The Caesarea-based Moonshot Space came out of stealth on Monday, announcing it had raised $12 million to build a delivery launch system that uses electric acceleration instead of relying on traditional chemical-based rocket propulsion and expensive missiles to hurl payloads at hypersonic speeds and deliver raw materials and supplies to space at a fraction of the cost.Moonshot was founded in 2024 by Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, former director-general of the Science Ministry and member of the team that developed the Iron Dome anti-missile system; Fred Simon, co-founder of software unicorn JFrog; and Shahar Bahiri, co-founder of the AI-driven smart mobility company Valerann.The startup is one of several in Israel and around the world exploring the use of electromagnetic pulses to accelerate a payload to speeds capable of escaping Earth’s gravitational pull. Most designs use high kinetic energy railgun or coilgun concepts, which are also being developed for military use, a field Moonshot is entering as well.“Space exploration is getting more diverse and more complex in what we want to do involving science, manufacturing, and mining, and as any industry that is evolving, there needs to be more than just one mode of transportation, which for now is based on chemical rockets and is too expensive,” Haddad Chmelnik told The Times of Israel. “The concept of a kinetic spacecraft launch has existed since the days of Jules Verne, but now the technologies, renewable energy, and computing power to make a kinetic launch affordable and achievable are available.”The startup has a diverse team of 32 chemical, material, and aerospace engineers, including Gil Eilam, former chief system engineer for the David’s Sling missile defense system; and Ran Livne, former CEO of the Ramon Foundation and head of Israel’s second astronaut mission. Alon Ushpiz, a former Foreign Ministry director has also joined the team, which operates primarily from Caesarea, where its first accelerator is under construction.“We are using the unique know-how of Israel’s defense industry which has a proven track record of developing very complex systems such as the Iron Dome or the Arrow in a very short time with cheaper development costs,” Haddad Chmelnik said.She said the company, which will eventually need to build a larger accelerator outside of Israel, hopes to reach space within five years.The startup’s accelerator launch system will consist of a long, round tube, similar to the barrel of a cannon, with a rail running along its length. A hardened payload capsule will be sped along the rail by a series of coils that generate an electromagnetic wave until it is launched out the end and into space at speeds of up to eight kilometers per second, the startup said.“Instead of rocket boosters burning vast amounts of fuel, the energy comes from electricity, which accelerates through the coils,” said Haddad Chmelnik. “There is capacitor that gets the energy and then releases it to the coils and the capsule goes through this tube and is going out to the sky.”While a conventional rocket launched into space can carry a maximum of 4% of its weight as payload, a kinetic launch boosts payload capacity to around 45% by getting rid of the need for heavy fuel tanks, said Haddad Chmelnik.The system will reduce the cost of supplying equipment, fuels, and raw materials to space stations and satellites to a tenth of traditional rocket launches, the company claimed.Haddad Chmelnik said the launch system will enable frequent, rapid and inexpensive resupply of materials to space stations, satellites and future in-space infrastructure, but will not be suitable for astronauts or humans because of the high g-force created by the acceleration.The space launch system will be designed for small-to-medium payload deliveries of resources and equipment, complementing heavy-lift rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or Starship.The startup’s $12 million funding is led by London-based venture capital firm Angular Ventures and includes a $1 million grant from the Israel Innovation Authority. Moonshot said it had signed preliminary agreements with space logistics and transportation services provider, including Italy’s D Orbit and US–based Orbit Fab.“Our first milestone is to build an electromagnetic mass accelerator that can take a mass of a few kilos to a hypersonic speed to be developed in Israel and after that, we will need to build a bigger accelerator, which will require facilities outside of Israel, but the R&D will stay here,” said Haddad Chmelnik. “We think that we can reach space in about five years, depending on additional funding.”She acknowledged that research teams in the US and China are also working on developing kinetic launch systems and have conducted tests with electromagnetic accelerators, but insisted Moonshot had an edge.“In Israel, we have the talent and know-how from the defense industry to do it faster and cheaper,” she remarked.Need for speed-In parallel to its space venture, Moonshot is building a scaled-down accelerator designed for defense firms to conduct hypersonic testing, shortening the development times of hypersonic weapons amid a global race to build ever-faster missiles and other arms.Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, pose challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.“Today, the United States is investing heavily in its Golden Dome program, and Israel continues to advance systems like Arrow 3 and David’s Sling,” said Haddad Chmelnik. “But testing remains a bottleneck: developers rely on partial simulations, wind tunnels or extremely expensive missile launches.”Moonshot’s Mach-6 hypersonic testing accelerator will be designed to increase trials from one test per week to several per day, with “costs reduced by an order of magnitude,” the startup said.

Coalition MKs have denounced plan's Palestinian state clause-Knesset advances motion adopting Trump’s plan for Gaza; Netanyahu, coalition boycott vote-Lapid, ‘surprised and disappointed’ by PM’s absence, says vote is a chance to show Israel is united around ‘common goal’ and indicate gratitude to US president By Ariela Karmel and Sam Sokol-3 December 2025, 7:45 pm

A motion to adopt US President Donald Trump’s 20-point “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” advanced in the Knesset on Wednesday, passing its first reading with 39 votes in favor and zero votes against.Almost all coalition lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, didn’t attend the vote, in an apparent boycott of the motion, which was brought by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid. The few coalition lawmakers who were in attendance, including Likud MK Tali Gotliv, declined to participate in the vote.Beyond outlining a path toward ending the conflict and disarming Hamas, Trump’s plan hints at a potential pathway to Palestinian statehood, but does not provide many details or an estimated timeline for when this could happen. This element of the plan has drawn pushback from some coalition and government members, who oppose any effort to establish a Palestinian state.Given the plan’s reference to Palestinian statehood, which the government opposes, a coalition boycott of Wednesday’s vote had been expected, with the vote largely viewed as an attempt to embarrass the coalition. Nevertheless, Lapid told the Knesset that he was “surprised and disappointed” by Netanyahu’s absence.“This is the first opportunity we have been given as a Knesset to tell President Trump, to tell the world, to tell ourselves, that we are uniting around a common goal,” Lapid said. “Netanyahu chose to boycott the vote and not come here. It’s a shame.”Beyond outlining a path toward ending the conflict and disarming Hamas, Trump’s plan envisions the Palestinian Authority carrying out extensive reforms in Ramallah, at which point it says “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”Netanyahu has vowed repeatedly that the Palestinian Authority and PA President Mahmoud Abbas will have no role in governing Gaza and has vowed that “there will not be a Palestinian state.”Trump’s plan entered into effect on October 10 with the start of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which has held despite instances of terror operatives attacking troops and Israeli airstrikes across the war-torn enclave. With the start of the ceasefire, Hamas released the final 20 living hostages on October 13, and has slowly been returning the 28 bodies of deceased hostages ever since, with just two bodies yet to be returned as of Wednesday afternoon — those of police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak. Hamas claimed to return the body of one of the remaining captives on Wednesday evening, with the body yet to be identified.The second phase of Trump’s plan will see Israel withdraw further from the so-called Yellow Line to which it is currently deployed, along with the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment of the multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli military, the disarmament of Hamas, and the start of reconstruction.Wednesday’s vote, Lapid said, was an opportunity for the Knesset to “show its gratitude to President Trump for this plan, and for what it has achieved: The return of the hostages, the end of the war, a return to life.”Last week, the opposition leader told an Israel Democracy Institute conference in Jerusalem that he had put the motion forward as he believed there to be symbolic importance for “all factions of the house” to back the American proposal and thereby say that “we stand behind these steps, behind the idea of ending the war.”He posited that the plan had been presented to the Israeli public as solely a hostage deal instead of as “a full and complete outline that puts us on the path toward an arrangement for what happens in Gaza.”The bill, having passed its first vote, will now proceed to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where it will be discussed ahead of a second and third reading.After Lapid submitted the motion last month, his spokesman said there had been “no change” in the Yesh Atid leader’s views on the establishment of a Palestinian state.Lapid told The Times of Israel last year that after the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre, statehood was not currently realistic, but “the best that we can do is to maintain the option for the distant future.”

Officials from Israel and Lebanon hold first direct talks in decades in Naqoura-Netanyahu’s office describes ‘attempt to create a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation’; Lebanese PM disputes this, insisting no economic ties on the table By Lazar Berman and Agencies 3 December 2025, 1:16 pm-DEC 3,25

Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades Wednesday, part of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah.The meeting was held at the UN peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Naqoura in Lebanon, near the border with Israel.Israel was represented by the National Security Council Deputy Director for Foreign Policy Uri Resnick. Morgan Ortagus, the US special representative for Lebanon, headed the US delegation, while Lebanon was represented by former ambassador to the US Simon Karam.Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the premier had instructed Gil Reich, acting head of the National Security Council, to send a representative to Lebanon to meet with government and economic officials.The sides gave different accounts of the content of the meeting. Ahead of the sit-down, the Prime Minister’s Office called it “an initial attempt to create a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon.”However, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam contradicted this, stressing that his country was “far from” diplomatic normalization or economic relations with Israel.Salam said Lebanon was still committed to the 2002 Arab peace plan that conditions normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state — a prospect to which Netanyahu’s government has been adamantly opposed. “Economic relations would be part of such normalization, so then obviously anyone following the news would know that we are not there at all,” Salam said.But in a statement after the meeting concluded, Netanyahu’s office once again insisted that at the meeting, conducted “in a positive atmosphere,” the sides “agreed that ideas would be developed to promote possible economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon.”Lebanon had said earlier that it had agreed to send its own civilian representative — rather than a military figure — following a request to do so by the US, and Netanyahu was reportedly pressured by Washington to do so as well.“Israel emphasized that the disarmament of Hezbollah is mandatory, regardless of progress in economic cooperation,” according to the Israeli readout of the meeting.The sides agreed to continue the dialogue, Israel said.“President Joseph Aoun has decided to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam to lead the Lebanese delegation,” presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said. The decision followed a US request and “after being informed that Israel agreed to include a non-military member in its delegation,” she added.The meeting was part of the “Cessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism” — made up of US, UNIFIL, Israeli, French, and Lebanese officials — which is aimed at pushing forward with the ceasefire reached just over a year ago with Israel.Jerusalem and Beirut last held indirect talks in Naqoura to finalize a maritime boundary in 2022 — an agreement brokered by the US.Wednesday’s meeting came as Israeli and US officials have warned that the IDF could embark on a major operation if the Lebanese government does not make progress in disarming the Hezbollah terror group.Tensions in Lebanon have ratcheted up in recent weeks. The IDF accuses Hezbollah of violating the November 2024 ceasefire and has intensified its strikes against terror group targets, including killing its chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last month.Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to vacate southern Lebanon, while Israel was given 60 days to do so. The IDF later withdrew from all but five posts along the border with Lebanon, citing the incomplete dismantling of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the country’s south.In addition to hundreds of airstrikes amid the ceasefire, the military said, ground troops have conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon, mostly in areas surrounding the five “strategic” border posts, to prevent Hezbollah from restoring its capabilities.The operations included demolishing terror infrastructure, thwarting Hezbollah intelligence collection efforts, and other activities to damage the terror group’s capabilities, the army said. During the raids, troops located numerous weapons, rocket-launching sites, and other buildings used by Hezbollah, the army added.Israel invaded Lebanon in September 2024 in a bid to secure the return home of some 60,000 residents displaced by Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks on northern Israel starting October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

UK government lawyers defend Palestine Action terrorism ban at court challenge-Rebutting anti-Israel group’s claim that criminalization is excessive, attorneys say policy is proportionate and is needed to protect the public and ‘maintain national security’By Agencies and ToI Staff 3 December 2025, 10:47 am

LONDON, United Kingdom — Lawyers for the UK government on Tuesday defended a contentious ban under anti-terror laws of anti-Israel activist group Palestine Action, as three days of hearings challenging the move concluded.The government’s legal team argued the decision to criminalize the direct action organization, announced in July, was proportionate following an “escalation” in its activities.The move makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.That has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organizers Defend Our Juries, and sparked concerns over free speech and civil liberties.Six members of the group went on trial last month for aggravated burglary, criminal damage, and violent disorder over a raid on Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems, with one also charged with causing grievous bodily harm by hitting a police officer with a sledgehammer.United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk, the Council of Europe rights watchdog, and a number of nonprofit organizations have criticized the ban and the “excessive limits” on the right to protest.Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori challenged the ban at the High Court in London, and hearings in front of a three-judge panel got underway last week.Giving evidence on Tuesday, Stephen Kosmin, a lawyer representing the government, defended “the proportionality of the policy,” saying it was needed “in order to protect the public” and “maintain national security.”The government outlawed the group days after activists, protesting the war in Gaza, broke into an air force base in southern England and caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.Ministers have been criticized for taking too broad a view of the definition of what constitutes “terrorism.”‘But in written court submissions, the ministry argued that actions “can constitute terrorism if it involves serious damage to property even if it does not involve violence against any person or endanger life.”“Proscribed organizations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as financial support,” the statements noted.Meanwhile, interior minister lawyer Natasha Barnes argued the ban “has not prevented people from protesting in favor of the Palestinian people or against Israel’s action in Gaza.”Part of the discussions regarding Palestine Action’s activities took place behind closed doors, with the judges imposing some restrictions on journalists reporting on the case.A decision will be handed down at an unspecified date.Group’s actions escalated amid war in Gaza-Palestine Action was founded in 2020 and gained prominence with protests targeting Israeli defense companies and British firms linked to them. It stepped up its actions during the Gaza war, sparked by the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023.Six members were arrested on suspicion of plotting to disrupt the London Stock Exchange in January 2024.Britain’s then-interior minister Yvette Cooper moved to ban the group shortly after the military planes were targeted in June.But the decision has been criticized by groups including Amnesty International and Liberty, which have intervened in the case.Case could end dozens of prosecutions-More than 2,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of the group, with over 200 charged for expressing support for a proscribed organization with placards reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”Six people have also been charged with organizing support for Palestine Action, with prosecutors alleging they arranged meetings to encourage “mass civil disobedience.”But if the legal challenge is successful at London’s High Court, those charged will be able to defend themselves on the basis that Palestine Action’s proscription had been ruled unlawful.

Rabbis, Jewish leaders call for removal of UN official who denied October 7 rapes-Letter expressing ‘horror and outrage’ at social media post by Reem Alsalem, UN rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is sent to UN secretary-general By Grace Gilson 3 December 2025, 5:49 am

JTA — Over 300 Jewish leaders, including women’s rights advocates and rabbis, urged the United Nations on Tuesday to remove Reem Alsalem, the UN rapporteur on violence against women and girls, for denying that rape occurred during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.The letter, which was addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, came two weeks after Alsalem claimed in a post on X that “No independent investigation found that rape took place on the 7th of October.”In the letter, the signatories express their “horror and outrage” at Alsalem’s rhetoric, and cite two UN reports from March 2024 and July 2025 that concluded that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence had taken place during the attacks “in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape.”The petition was organized by Amy Elman, a professor at Kalamazoo College who has authored books on antisemitism and state responses to sexual violence, and Rafael Medoff, the director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. It was shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency soon after being sent to Guterres.“The targeted sexual abuse of Israelis by Hamas and its supporters is one weapon in the arsenal of those seeking Israel’s obliteration,” Elman said in a statement. “It’s outrageous that deniers such as Reem Alsalem are aiding and abetting the sexual violence by claiming it never happened. These apologists should be ashamed of themselves.”The letter’s signatories include Deborah Lipstadt, the former antisemitism envoy; Judith Rosenbaum, the head of the Jewish Women’s Archive; Rabbi Irving Greenberg, the former chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum; Rabbi Deborah Waxman, the president of the Reconstructing Judaism movement; and Hebrew College president Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld.Dispute over whether sexual violence took place as Hamas murdered some 1,200 people in Israel on October 7 has continued, despite evidence of the assaults, among some of Israel’s staunchest critics, who allege that Israel and its supporters are using claims of rape as propaganda.The UN rapporteur on Palestinian rights, Francesca Albanese, a harsh critic of Israel who has faced accusations of antisemitism, as well as her own calls for dismissal from the Trump administration, has also publicly questioned the claims.In addition to the UN reports, independent reporting and research by an Israeli nonprofit have validated claims of sexual violence on Oct. 7.In the social media exchange that spurred the new letter, Alsalem was arguing with another user about the Israeli government’s prosecution of soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian detainee.A day later, Alsalem posted a link to a podcast from October where she criticized the credibility of the March 2024 UN report. She said she had sought contact with the Israeli government to confirm its findings, but had not received a response.“The media, certain organizations and the world basically fell into the trap that Israel set up, which is to project that there was barbaric sexual violence being committed by these barbarian Palestinian men, and it was spun around and disseminated and very much used in order to then justify the genocide,” said Alsalem on the podcast. Israel adamantly rejects the accusation that it has committed genocide.Medoff said in a statement that Alsalem’s continued employment reflected inconsistent standards when it comes to Israel and antisemitism.“If a UN official made such a remark concerning rape victims from any other ethnic or religious group, there would be an international uproar,” he said. “The same standard should apply to Israeli Jewish women who were sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists.”