Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts

Monday, May 03, 2021

NORTH AMERICAN JEWS TO ISRAEL YESTERDAY FULLFILLS BIBLE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAH

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)

 DISEASES-ANIMAL TO HUMAN

REVELATION 6:7-8 (500 MILLION DEAD EACH FROM THE 4 JUDGEMENTS)(2 BILLION TOT DEAD HERE)
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) of (8 billion) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS)(500 million) and with hunger,(FAMINE)(500 million) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES)(500 million) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)(500 million).

THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 154,174,142 DEAD 3,226,724 AS OF TUE MAY 04,21

I GUESS RICK SANTORUM WAS ON PROPAGANDIST CHRIS CUOMOS SHOW WHICH I NEVER SEEN. BUT AT 10PM PROPAGANDIST DON LEMON RACE BAITER-CAME ON YAPPIN WITH CUOMO. AND HE WAS HOPPIN MAD WHAT SANTORUM SAID TO CUOMO. THEN AFTER CUOMO LOVES LEMON. HE SAYS. LEMON WINES TO HIS REGULAR SHOW. THEN HE YAPS ABOUT CERTAIN REPUBLICANS SAYING DIFFERENT THINGS. BUT STILL STICKING UP FOR TRUMP.  I HAVE A FEELING THE LEMON-AIDS OF CNN IS JELOUS BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS ARE STICKING TOGETHER. AND THE DEMOLIBNUTS ARE IN FIGHTING OVER WHO CAN RACE BAIT THE BEST. AS THEY DISINTEGRATE AMERICA INTO THE NEXT 3RD WORLD COUNTRY.  

EU drug agency starts evaluating Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year olds-European Medicines Agency says it will carry out ‘accelerated assessment of data’ on shot when submitted by its producers-By AFP and TOI staff-3 May 2021, 7:50 pm

Europe’s medicines watchdog said Monday that it had begun evaluating the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, after a similar request in the United States.Its possible authorization for children is seen as a crucial step toward achieving herd immunity.The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee “will carry out an accelerated assessment of data submitted by the company that markets Comirnaty,” said an EMA statement — referring to vaccine’s brand name.This included results from a large ongoing clinical study involving adolescents from 12 years of age, the Amsterdam-based agency said.The agency would announce its findings in June “unless supplementary information is needed,” the statement added.Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday asked the European regulator to authorize their COVID-19 vaccine, after filing a similar request with the US authorities earlier in April.Their vaccine is currently only approved for use on people aged 16 and over.The move comes after phase 3 trial data showed the vaccine provided “robust antibody responses” and was 100-percent effective in warding off the disease among those aged 12 to 15, the companies said.If approved, the green light would apply to all 27 European Union member states.Pfizer and BioNTech added that they also planned to seek clearance from “other regulatory authorities worldwide.”No coronavirus vaccines are currently authorized for use by children.While children and teenagers are less likely to develop severe COVID, they make up a large part of the population, and inoculating them — to prevent them from infecting others — is considered key to ending the pandemic.Getting older children vaccinated before the next school year begins would also ease the strain on parents juggling the demands of homeschooling and work.“It’s very important to enable children (to make) a return to their normal school lives and allow them to meet with family and friends,” Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO Germany’s BioNTech told German weekly Der Spiegel last week.BioNTech and Pfizer are also racing to get their shot approved for younger kids, from six months upwards.The BioNTech/Pfizer shot, based on mRNA technology, was the first COVID-19 jab to be approved in the West late last year.Israel is already making preparations to launch a vaccination drive of 12- to 15-year-olds following its adult inoculation campaign, which has given the Pfizer-BioNTech shots to over half the population. Health officials have said the program will start as soon as US authorities approve the vaccines for use with children.Last month, Israel signed deals to purchase millions of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine doses to ready the country for another campaign that would also include young adolescences.The Israeli Pediatric Associated has called for parents and family doctors to vaccinate their children when the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is approved for those children. Currently, the vaccine has emergency authorization for use in people 16 and older.

104 North American Jews fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy returning to Israel-by Video Manager | Apr 28, 2021 | News Videos

And there is hope for your future —declares Hashem: Your children shall return to their country. Jeremiah 31:16 (The Israel BibleTM)-104 Jewish Americans and Canadians have made Aliyah on Monday. The newest naturalized citizens of Israel arrived in the Holy Land via Nefesh b’Nefesh charter flight.The Nefesh b’Nefesh organization enables Jewish people in North America to become Israeli citizens through the Aliyah process.“Honestly, it just feels really good to be home,” said one arrival.“I dreamt about this since I was a child,” said another elderly Olah.Another couple said that they made “100 trips to Israel” adding that they “now feel like they’re part of the land.”The idea of the Jewish people ingathering from the exile has been prophesied in the book of Jeremiah:And there is hope for your future —declares Hashem: Your children shall return to their country. (Jeremiah 31:16)-Welcome home.

Israel to fly planeloads of medical aid to virus-wracked India-Shipments will include oxygen generators, ventilators; non-government organizations join effort; deliveries to arrive this week-By TOI staff-MAY 4,21-Today, 12:24 am

The Foreign Ministry said Monday that it is sending planeloads of medical equipment, including respirators, oxygen generators, and medicines to India, where the health system is collapsing under a wave of resurgent coronavirus infectionsThe shipments will include hundreds of oxygen generators, ventilators, and medical equipment that are urgently needed by India, the ministry said in a statement.The first batches will be sent Tuesday and the rest throughout the week.“India is one of Israel’s closest and most important friends. Especially in this difficult period that India is going through, we stand by it and are sending life-saving equipment to our Indian brethren,” said Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.Several ministries and other government bodies, including the Israeli and Indian embassies in each country, were involved in setting up the operation, the ministry said.In addition, the ministry’s Economics Division worked with key organizations such as the Israel-India Chamber of Commerce, the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers Association of Israel, the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, and the government-funded Israel Export Institute.The Startup Nation Central non-profit called on Israeli companies that work with Indian counterparts to join in the effort to build the Israeli aid package.Additional help came from Amdocs, a software and communications company, which donated 150 oxygen generators, the statement said. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which describes itself as the largest Jewish humanitarian organization in the world, will also donate equipment to India, including some for the Jewish community in Mumbai.Last week the Kan public broadcaster reported that an unofficial request for medical equipment, including oxygen supplies and various drugs, was made to the Israeli embassy in India.Israel and India have cooperated in the past on the coronavirus and last April, the New Delhi government reportedly sent Israel five tons of the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are used to treat malaria. At the time, the drugs were being reviewed in various countries as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.On Sunday, India recorded a slight drop in new infections with 392,488, down from a high of 401,993 in the previous 24 hours. It also reported 3,689 additional deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 215,542. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.Other countries, including the US and Britain, have also said they will send assistance.

Minister said to muzzle police chief request for Meron probe commission-Reports say police document prepared before event specifically warned of danger at the site of the deadly crush that killed 45 and wounded dozens-By TOI staff-MAY 4,21-Today, 2:18 am

Public Security Minister Amir Ohana reportedly told Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to drop a request for a state commission of inquiry into the deadly Meron festival disaster, Channel 13 News reported Monday.There have been increasing demands for a state probe of the tragedy at Lag B’Omber celebrations last week when 45 people were killed in a crush and over 150 injured.During a meeting of senior police commanders, Shabtai declared that he would make a formal request to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to set up a state commission of inquiry, the report said.At some point during the Monday morning meeting,  Ohana arrived and, after learning of Shabtai’s intention, asked to speak with the chief in private. When they returned to the room, Northern District Commander Shimon Lavi also voiced his request for a state inquiry, at which point Ohana asked to speak with him too, in private, according to the report.What was said between the minister and the two police officers was not reported but no request has been made by Shabtai to Mandelblit, the report said.Police said in response that during the meeting Shabtai had demanded that an investigative committee be established to examine the circumstances of the disaster and the role of all relevant organizations. Other options were also raised, including by Shabtai himself, the statement said.Ohana spoke with the police chief and others both before and after the meeting, but before any final decision was taken on the matter the State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman announced a special probe of the disaster, which is nonetheless not a state inquiry commission.“Therefore, it was decided, at this stage, to wait for the outcome,” the police said.A statement on behalf of Ohana said that “as usual, in the past few days attempts are made to attribute to the minister and police claims and actions that have no relation to the truth. So also in this case.”Later in the day Attorney General, Mandelblit ruled there is no legal obstacle that would prevent the current caretaker government from forming a state commission of inquiry.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Hebrew media reports, fears the political repercussions of such an inquiry.The tragedy occurred early Friday, as thousands streamed through a narrow walkway that was covered with metal flooring and may have been wet, causing some people to fall underfoot during the rush for the exit. Some apparently fell on the walkway and down a flight of stairs at its end, toppling onto those below and precipitating a fatal crushing domino effect.As attention moved from the tragedy of the lost lives, many of who were children or teenagers, the focus was being directed on the organization of annual Lag B’Omer events at Mount Meron where various ultra-Orthodox sects hold bonfire ceremonies in adjacent compounds on the side of the mountain around the gravesite of the 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.The site, the second-most visited religious site in Israel after the Western Wall, appears to have become a kind of extraterritorial zone, with separate ultra-Orthodox sects organizing their own events and their own access arrangements, no overall supervision, and police routinely pressured by government ministers and ultra-Orthodox politicians not to object.Channel 13 reported that a police assessment ahead of this year’s Lag B’Omer events warned of the dangers of overcrowding at access points as well as the possibility of structures collapsing.In particular, the document alerted of overcrowding in the Toldot Aharon compound, the scene of the crush, and urged that the area be expanded.“Despite the addition of extra bleachers, it is evident that the area is too small to contain the numbers of celebrants,” the document said. “There, preparations should be made to expand it…and to widen the exit.”The order was not followed through.The police document noted that the fire lighting ceremony that occurs in the Toldot Aharon compound is not suitable for the location “since the number of participants is more than the compound can hold.According to Channel 13, a bonfire lighting ceremony in the compound was permitted to have a maximum of 3,000 participants, whereas in fact there were 12,000.In general, the document warned that taking into account the space needed between each bonfire and the number of different compounds set up, “we have reached the limit of capacity.”It also noted that there is particularly dangerous overcrowding at Meron between the hours 12.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m.“Consideration should be given to limiting the number of fires which will bring down the size of the crowd at the mount,” the police document advised.The disaster happened at around 1.00 a.m. Friday morning.Channel 13 reported police had provided the National Center for the Development of Holy Places a list of shortcomings at the site that needed to be corrected.However, according to information obtained by the station, during a meeting to approve this year’s celebrations the center’s chief engineer said that all the faults were corrected. The minutes from the meeting have been passed on to the Lahav 433 nation serious crime unit, the report said.A police source told the station that the force was shown authorizations showing that the shortcomings had been corrected.However, Channel 12 quoted the engineering firm that did the work as saying they had provided police with a list of issues that needed fixing.The center, which sits under the Religious Affairs Ministry refused to comment on the report, the station said.The station further said that police fear that some of the sects that operate compounds at Mount Meron may be trying to remove evidence from the scene to disrupt the investigation. Police have noticed unknown people who were seen taking documents from Mount Meron after the disaster, the report said.Multiple reports in Hebrew media outlets indicated that there had been immense pressure by religious lawmakers ahead of the festivities to ensure that there would be no limits placed on the number of attendees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 100,000 ultra-Orthodox pilgrims ultimately attended the event; a framework drawn up by the Health Ministry, in consultation with other government officials, police, and others, would have limited the event to 9,000 participants but was not implemented.

Rivlin said set to ask Lapid to form coalition, won’t give mandate to Bennett-Reports say president believes tasking Yamina leader with building a government would be tantamount to giving Netanyahu a second chance-By TOI staff-MAY 4,21-Today, 1:07 am

President Reuven Rivlin will likely tap Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid with forming the next government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to do so by the Tuesday night deadline, but will likely not consider offering it to Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, according to Hebrew media reports.Netanyahu was given the first opportunity to cobble together a coalition, on April 6, after receiving 52 recommendations to Lapid’s 45.Rivlin, who as Israel’s president is tasked with mandating a lawmaker to form a government, can give Netanyahu an extension after his 28 days end Tuesday night, hand the mandate to another lawmaker, or send it to the Knesset for a 21-day period, after which fifth elections would automatically be called if no one can form a government.The president prefers the second option, according to Hebrew media reports Monday, and is slated to transfer the government-forming mandate to Lapid as he received the second most recommendations when Rivlin consulted with party representatives after the March 23.Rivlin could also offer Bennett the chance to form a government, but the reports, citing senior political sources, said the president was unlikely to take this route. Even if Netanyahu and a majority of right-wing lawmakers choose to alter their recommendations to Rivlin in order to back Bennett, the president is not expected to transfer the mandate to the Yamina chair, the reports said.This is because the move would largely be seen as an attempt to provide an extension for Netanyahu to form the government after he failed to do so for the past month, senior political figures who have spoken with Rivlin told Channel 12 and Ha’aretz.Moreover, it would nullify the initial recommendations made by parties following the election, which are not meant to be subject to change.“There is no reason why the mandate should not go to Lapid unless Bennett were to publicly announce that he has no interest in a ‘change’ government,” one senior political source told Haaretz, referring to the coalition of anti-Netanyahu parties seeking to oust the Likud leader.While Bennett insists that he prefers joining a right-wing government, he noted again Monday that Netanyahu lacks the votes to form such a coalition and has said that Yamina is negotiating with Lapid to form a unity government as an alternative.“Rivlin will not lend a hand to a political ploy in which Netanyahu will recommend Bennett, only to preserve the chances of an incumbent prime minister to send Israel back to the polls. If the scenario in which Netanyahu forms a right-wing government were possible, one would have been formed already,” the source added.The official told Haaretz that it was also unlikely that Rivlin would send the matter to the Knesset to decide as this would likely be sentencing Israel to a fifth election in barely two years.If the mandate goes to the Knesset, an absolute majority, of at least 61 of the 120 MKs, would be needed to vote in favor of a particular lawmaker to form the next government, and “there is no chance that the (the majority-Arab) Joint List and Ra’am parties will sign off on Bennett’s appointments,” the source said.With less than two days remaining for him to form a coalition, Netanyahu said Monday that he was ready to step aside as premier and let Bennett serve as prime minister first in a rotation agreement — a proposal immediately dismissed by Bennett, who said in response that Netanyahu simply doesn’t have the votes.Meanwhile, opposition leader Lapid said he expected Rivlin to task him with forming a government “if nothing surprising happens” before Tuesday night, but that he would willing to let Bennett serve first as prime minister in any rotation agreement between them.Meanwhile, Channel 13 reported Monday night that Lapid has offered Bennett to become prime minister first in their power-sharing agreement for a period of 2 years and three months, after which Bennett would be appointed foreign minister and Lapid would assume the premiership.Lapid is also promising a senior portfolio for Yamina’s Ayelet Shaked (either interior or public security), and two or three additional portfolios for members of the seven-MK right-wing party, if a government is formed.Lapid is also willing to give Bennett’s right-wing bloc within a prospective unity coalition wide veto powers, the network said.Netanyahu, by contrast, has offered that Bennett becomes prime minister first in a rotation deal, but only for a year; a senior portfolio for Shaked; and for Yamina to be eventually merged with Likud in a future election race.Though Yamina won just seven seats in the March election, Bennett has become a potential kingmaker and even king.The last elections, the fourth since April 2019, ended in gridlock, with Netanyahu’s right-wing religious bloc again coming short of a ruling majority, in part because three right-wing parties ran with the declared goal of replacing him.

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.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)(NUKED BY SNEAK ATTACK FROM RUSSIA)

IN REVELATION 17 & 18 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL BABYLONS.IF YOU CAN NOT DECERN BETWEEN THE 2 BABYLONS IN REV 17 & 18.YOU WILL JUST THINK THEIR BOTH THE SAME.BUT NO-THERES A RELIGIOUS BABYLON (THE VATICAN IN REV 17)(AND THE POLITICAL BABYLON IN REV 18 (AMERICA OR NEW YORK TO BE EXACT)

ISAIAH 34:10
10  It (AMERICA-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

JEREMIAH 51:29-32 (CYBER ATTACK 1ST)
29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land of Babylon (AMERICA) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30  The mighty men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
031  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32  And that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D) and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)

COMPLETE SILENCE AFTER AN EMP GOES OFF
REVELATION 8:1
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(AMERICA) and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK CYBER,EMP ATTACK,THEN NUKE ATTACK ON AM

Suspected balloon-borne bombs from Gaza land in south for first time in months-Sappers called to remove devices that touched down in a field just east of the Strip, amid rising tensions between Israel and Palestinians-By Judah Ari Gross-MAY 4,21-Today, 12:16 am

Two balloons carrying suspected explosive devices that were apparently launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel on Monday, local authorities said in the first such attacks in months.According to the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council, the suspected bombs were found in agricultural fields in the community of Kfar Aza, east of Gaza Residents of the area reported seeing additional balloons overhead throughout the afternoon. It was not immediately clear where they landed.Police sappers were called to remove the suspected explosives from Kfar Aza.Once a regular phenomenon, balloons carrying explosives and incendiary devices have largely stopped being launched into Israel by Palestinian terrorist groups, following a ceasefire brokered between Jerusalem and Hamas last year.These were the first such balloons to land in Israel in several months.The apparent airborne attack comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Palestinian groups over the Palestinian Authority’s decision to indefinitely postpone elections planned for later this month. Hamas, the de facto ruler of Gaza, has condemned the PA’s move, calling it a “coup.”Earlier this month, terrorists in Gaza launched dozens of rockets at southern Israel. Most of these landed in open fields where they caused no injury or damage, but a few struck inside Israeli communities with shrapnel hitting buildings and vehicles. No Israelis have been injured directly by the rockets or shells, but a number of people were hurt while running to bomb shelters or required medical assistance after suffering acute panic attacks from the sirens.

Islamist party chief Abbas condemns terror attack, calls victims ‘innocents’Unusual statement comes amid mounting pressure on far-right leader Smotrich to accept coalition with the conservative Arab Ra’am, which he has called ‘terror supporting’-By Aaron Boxerman-3 May 2021, 11:19 pm

Ra’am party chief Mansour Abbas implicitly condemned on Monday a recent Palestinian terror attack at Tapuach Junction in the West Bank that left three Israeli yeshiva students injured.Abbas said that the Israelis who were shot on Sunday were “innocents” and said he hoped to one day live together with them in peace. The three wounded Israelis were studying at a yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Itamar.“As one who has formulated Ra’am’s vision, a vision of peace and mutual security, partnership and tolerance between peoples, I unequivocally oppose any harm to innocents and call for the preservation of human life and to give hope that we can live together in peace,” Abbas said.However, his comments sparked a backlash in his own party.“We stand completely behind our people the Palestinians and condemn all the actions of the occupation and the settlers against our people,” wrote fellow Ra’am MK Walid Taha.“The position of Ra’am supports the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa mosque,” he said, referring to the Muslim holy site on the Temple Mount.Sunday’s shooting was followed by several apparent retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers, including the storming of a Palestinian village in the predawn hours of Monday morning, where the settlers threw rocks and stun grenades, and started fires.The conservative Islamist Ra’am is key to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes to remain in power and avoid a fifth round of elections in little more than two years. In a rare move for an Arab Israeli politician, Abbas has expressed willingness to back a right-wing government in order to advance legislative priorities for his community.While Abbas’s former colleagues in the predominantly Arab Joint List party regularly denounce terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, they most often append criticism of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians.Abbas did no such thing on Monday, merely adding: “My path is tolerance and peace between peoples and nations, and I have always worked to reconcile people in every legal way without quarrels and without wars, including within Arab society.”Abbas’s statements come as the clock winds down on Netanyahu’s mandate to form a new government. The premier has until midnight on Tuesday to form one, or else risk seeing one of his rivals take his seat.It remains unclear whether Netanyahu can yet form a coalition, however. Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich — whose seven seats are key to any right-wing, Netanyahu-led government — is vehemently opposed to any government that depends on Ra’am’s support.“We will not be a partner in any government that leans actively or by the abstention of Ra’am or other terror supporters,” Smotrich said last month.Channel 12 said Smotrich was unswayed by Abbas’ remarks.Ra’am party officials had previously ruled out supporting Smotrich’s anti-Arab party in government. But Abbas has backtracked in recent days, hinting that he would be willing to back Smotrich from outside the government.With the risk that Netanyahu will be forced to return his mandate to President Reuven Rivlin approaching with each passing day, some far-right rabbis have come out in favor of a government backed by the Islamists.The ultra-nationalist Rabbi Tzvi Tau released a letter in which he expressed grudging support for Ra’am playing a role in a Netanyahu-led government. It would be a “desecration of the Lord’s name” for Ra’am to enter the government, he conceded, but that would be trumped by the “sanctification of God’s name” that would ensue should Netanyahu remain in power.“The sanctification will be greater than the desecration,” wrote Tau, who directs the Har Hamor Yeshiva and whose Noam faction within Zionist Union campaigned almost exclusively on opposing gay rights.Others, however, have backed Smotrich’s position. Fifty-five rabbis signed a public petition condemning any partnership with Ra’am in late April, including the prominent Rabbi Shlomo Aviner — and the very same Tau who would later publicly support it.Rabbi Haim Druckman, who directs the Or Etzion yeshiva, said in a video statement on Monday that no Israeli government could rely on the support of those whom he euphemistically deemed “others.”“Of course, our right-wing government [must] depend on Jews who vote for it, and not others. No ‘others’ will crown our government…. The government must be based on Jews,” Druckman said, sitting side-by-side with Smotric.According to reports, Abbas and Druckman met for more than an hour Monday, following pressure from Netanyahu’s associates in an attempt to sway the rabbi.

Iran a key topic as US envoy Blinken meets UK counterpart in first trip abroad-Secretary’s visit to London comes amid mounting speculation of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran, which was feature of JCPOA talks as well-By Pan Pylas-3 May 2021, 10:17 pm

LONDON (AP) — Iran is expected to be a key topic in talks Monday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his host in London, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.The two envoys donned face masks and fist-bumped before heading into the talks, a day ahead of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations’ first face-to-face discussions in two years, involving foreign and development ministers. The UK holds this year’s G-7 presidency.Blinken’s visit to London, his first since being appointed by US President Joe Biden, comes amid mounting speculation of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran. Prisoner exchanges are not uncommon and were a feature of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and the world’s leading powers. Biden has indicated that he is looking to restart nuclear talks with Tehran after his predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the US out of the agreement.In Britain, there is particular interest in the well-being of a British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who last week was sentenced in Iran to an additional year in prison, on charges of spreading “propaganda against the system.”Touched down in London and glad to be welcomed by @USAinUK. It was eight years ago that the UK, our indispensable Ally, last hosted the @G7 presidency. It’s good to be back among partners and allies for these discussions. pic.twitter.com/q1afyAxXNI — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 2, 2021-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government is doing what it can, amid reports in Iran that Britain would pay a 400 million-pound ($550 million) debt to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.“We, of course, make sure that we do everything we can to look after the interests of Nazanin and all the very difficult dual national cases we have in Tehran,” he said.Earlier Monday, Blinken held bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on an array of subjects including the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, as well as raising concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.On Tuesday, the full G-7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US — will meet along with representatives from other countries, including Australia, India and South Africa.Today, Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and I discussed our joint efforts to combat the climate crisis and COVID-19. We also stressed trilateral cooperation with Japan to address shared security challenges, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. pic.twitter.com/eubpea8K9z — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 3, 2021-Ahead of the gathering, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned that “authoritarian states” around the world are “trying to play us against each other,” and that breaches of international law have become commonplace.“It is important that we hold our values of democracy, state of law, human rights, and a global order based on rules against them, united and credibly,” he said.Before the meeting, Britain’s Foreign Office said the G-7 ministers will invest $15 billion in development finance over the next two years to help women in developing countries access jobs, build resilient businesses, and recover from the coronavirus pandemic.They are also expected to establish new targets to get 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls in poorer nations reading by the age of 10, by 2026.

Palestinians torch vehicle used in shooting attack as IDF arrives to seize it-Clashes break out between Palestinians and soldiers who converge on West Bank village of Aqraba to seize grey van-By Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff-3 May 2021, 9:18 pm

The vehicle that is believed to have been used in a drive-by shooting attack at a northern West Bank junction leaving three Israelis wounded was found outside a nearby Palestinian village on Monday.Photos of the car began circulating on Palestinian social media showing that it was hit by at least two bullets, one of which shattered the back windshield and the other hit the trunk door. That matched the claims by soldiers at the scene, who said they returned fire at the vehicle after the driver shot and gravely wounded two Israeli teenagers, and a third lightly.Shortly after the spotting of the vehicle outside the town of Aqraba, Israel Defense Forces troops arrived at the scene in order to confiscate the evidence. Clashes subsequently broke out between the soldiers and Palestinian locals, who managed to set the van alight before it was seized by the troops.Channel 12 reported that the security establishment believes the grey Hyundai belongs to a Hamas member who lives in Aqraba and that forces will be able to track down the suspect in the coming day.The military and Shin Bet security service, meanwhile, were continuing their search efforts on Monday for the terrorists who committed the shooting attack on Sunday evening at Tapuah Junction.The IDF had initially said that it was believed there was only one assailant behind the attack, but on Monday said they were looking for more than one suspect.According to Beilinson Hospital, where the three were taken, one of the victims, Yehuda Guetta, 19, from Jerusalem, remained in critical condition as of Monday morning, with a head wound, and doctors fearing for his life.Benaya Peretz, 19, from Beit She’an, who was shot in the back, remained in very serious condition. The third victim, Amichai Hala from Safed, also 19, was released from the hospital to recover from his wounds at home.The attack came amid heightened tensions in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority announced it was indefinitely delaying elections planned for later this month, blaming the decision on ostensible Israeli refusal to allow PA voting in East Jerusalem.The IDF also bolstered its forces in the West Bank for the month of Ramadan, a period that regularly sees an uptick in violence.Sunday’s shooting was followed by several apparent retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers, including the storming of a Palestinian village in the predawn hours of Monday morning, where they threw rocks and stun grenades, and started fires.Clashes broke out between the residents of Jaloud village and the Israelis from the nearby Shiloh settlement, whereupon the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police attempted to break up the fighting by firing rubber-coated bullets and other riot dispersal weapons — though only at the Palestinians, injuring four of them in the process.Eleven Palestinian residents of the village were arrested by the IDF. No settlers were arrested, even though several police vehicles’ tires were punctured by the Israelis.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

THE PROPAGANDA HITLER MEDIA AND THE FUTURE EU WORLD DICTATOR

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)

 2020 AMERICAN ELECTION RESULTS BY STATE TRUMP VS LOSER LIBERAL SLEEPY (SLOPPY JOE) BIDEN.

ON D-74 OF THE TRUMP WIN OF THE PRESIDENCY. THU JAN 14, 21.

Key dates for the Electoral College and what they mean-AEIdeas-DECEMBER 14,20

What are the key dates for the workings of the Electoral College?

November 3 — Election Day

Election Day is November 3. We may or may not know the winner of the presidential contest on election night, but we certainly will not have a final tally and certified results until weeks later. States vary widely in the time they allot for certifying their election results. Some may give a final certification the week after Election Day. Others may take over 30 days. And there is the possibility of recounts and judicial contests of elections which could extend the time to determine an official winner of a state.
Ballots are passed out to 16 Electors on the Michigan Senate floor for them to cast their formal votes for the president and vice president of the United States in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

December 8 — Safe Harbor

December 14 — The meeting of the Electors

Two key dates loom in December. On December 14, presidential electors must have been selected by the states and will meet as a group in their states to cast electoral votes for president and vice president. But December 8 is also a significant date, the so-called “safe harbor” date. The Electoral Count Act sets this date as an important date for states to make their official selection of electors, as those electoral votes will be given greater protection from challenge when Congress counts the electoral votes in January. The Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore assigned great significance to this date in Bush v. Gore.

January 3 — The convening of the new Congress

January 6 — Congress counts the votes

January 20 — Inauguration Day. The new presidential term begins at noon.

On January 3rd, the new Congress will take office, and on January 6th it will meet to count the electoral votes and declare a president- and vice president-elect. On January 20th at noon, the current presidential term will end and the next one will begin.This is excerpted from the new fourth edition of After the People Vote, edited by John Fortier, senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of AEI’s Election Watch team.John C. Fortier-AEI Adjunct Scholar-SENOIRFELLOWKarlyn Bowman-Senior Fellow

THE HITLER MEDIA CNN AND ALL THE DEMOLIBNUTS AND MORE MEDIA ARE HAVING A HAY DAY WITH THIS FAKE TRUMP IMPEACHMENT. NOW THERE SAYING TODAY TRUMP WILL BE GIVING LOTS OF PARDONS OUT TODAY TO DISTRACT FROM THE 2ND FAKE IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP. ITS 9.09AM-AND THIS RIOT BY A FEW HUNDRED FAKE LEFTWING TRUMP SUPPORTERS. WAS A TOTAL PLANNED SETUP BY THE DNC-DEMOLIBNUTS IN GOVERNMENT-OBAMAS AND CLINTONS I BELIEVE TO DESTROY TRUMP AGAIN. IT WOULD MAKE SENSE THAT AN EX LIB ARMY LADY ASHLI IT SOUNDED LIKE WAS GIVING DETAILS OF WERE TO GO ONCE THE LIB RIOTERS GOT INSIDE THE CAPITAL. SHE WAS GIVING SPECIFIC DETAILS WERE TO GO. SO THIS DEFINATELY WAS A DEMOLIBNUT INSIDE JOB. SHE SAID GO HERE-THEN DOWN THERE ETC. THIS WAS A SETUP BY THE LIBDEMONUTS TO MAKE THE PEACEFUL TRUMP PROTESTERS AND TRUMP LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF DOMESTIC EXTREMIST TERRORISTS. BECAUSE THATS EXACTLY WHATS BEEN GOING ON BY THE HITLER PROPAGANDA DEMOLIBNUTS MEDIA. EVER SINCE LAST WEDNESDAY. NOW THE LEFT NUT JOBS ARE SAYING THE FAKE SO CALLED DOMESTIC EXTREMIST TERRORISTS ARE GOING TO HIT ALL 50 CAPITALS IN AMERICA FROM JAN 16-20, 2021. IF THIS WAS A LEGIT THREAT-THEY WOULD BE ROUNDING UP ALL THE SETUP DEMOLIBNUT RIOTERS THAT ARE PAID RIOTERS BY THE DNC AND JAIL THEM ALL BY THE 16TH IN 2 DAYS. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF ANY WERE KEPT IN JAIL. OR ALL OUT WAITING FOR A COURT DATE. IF THERE ALL OUT. THEY WERE DEFINATELY PAID PROTESTERS SET FREE TO DO SETUPS AT OTHER CAPITALS. LIKE THE FBI AND OTHER SECURITY SERVICES CLAIM. TO GRAB THE FREE SPEECH OF CITIZENS AND TRUMP. AND PROBABLY SO THE DEMOLIBNUTS IN POWER ON THE 20TH CAN CALL FOR AN AMERICA WIDE GUN BAN. AND GIVE TOTAL CONTROL OF AMERICA OVER TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER-ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT CROWD. AND SINCE THE BIBLE SAYS THE EUROPIAN UNION WILL BE IN CONTROL OF THE WORLDS ECONOMIES THREW TRADE BLOCS. YOU CAN LOOK FOR AMERICA AND ALL THE WORLDS STATES TO JOIN THE EU BY JOINING INTO TRADE BLOCS WITH THE EU. PROBABLY 10 MAIN EU COUNTRIES WILL CONTROL THE 7 CONTINENTS THREW THESE ASSOCIATE WORLD TRADE BLOCS. EITHER THERE WILL BE A WORLD STOCK MARKET CRASH AFTER THE EU HAS ASSOCIATE TRADE BLOCKS WITH EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH. AND THE EU WILL COMMAND ALL IN THE COUNTRYS ON EARTH MUST HAVE A MICROCHIP IMPLANTED UNDER THEIR SKIN. SO THE EU CAN KEEP TRACK OF ALL PEOPLES TRANSACTIONS. AND ALL THEIR TRADE WITH THAT STATE. AND THE EU CAN BE THE LEADER TO DISTRIBUTE CASH TO NATURAL DISASTER AREAS. BY FORCING ALL THER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ON EARTH THREW SOCIALIST BELIEFS. TAKE FROM COUNTRIES-GIVE TO DISASTERS-COVID-19 VACCINES ETC. AND IF YOU WANNA LEAVE THIS DICTATORIAL SOCIALIST LEADER. YOU WILL BE THREATENED WITH SANCTIONS-NO FOOD ETC. OR THREATS THAT THE EUS ARMY WILL CONTROL THAT STATE BY MARTIAL LAW. SAME WITH IF YOU WOULD NOT ACCEPT THE EUS MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD. YOU AS A SINGLE CITIZEN WOULD BE HUNTED DOWN BY THE EU MUSLIM ARMY AND BEHEADED ON THE SPOT. WHEN FOUND. YOU EITHER GO BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE EU. OR YOUR BEHEADED FOR YOUR CHRISTIAN BELIEFS - OR EXTREMIST BELIEFS AGAINST THE EU DICTATOR OR HIS SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE HITLER PROPAGANDA MEDIA LEAD BY CNN ARE SAYING RIGHT NOW. THEIR SAYING THE PROTESTERS ARE EXTREMISTS WHO SAY THE SAME STUFF DONALD J TRUMP SAYS. WE CAN SEE WE MUST BE CLOSE TO THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD. AND THE EARTH DEBUT OF THE FUTURE EUROPIAN UNION WORLD DICTATOR. WHO COMES IN PEACEFULLY LIKE THE DEMOLIBNUTS CLAIM THEY ARE NOW. SIGNS A 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY ISRAEL HATERS. THERES PEACE FOR 3 1/2 YRS. THEN HE TURNS ON THE ISRAELS WHO THINK HES THEIR MESSIAH FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YRS. AND HE KILLS MOSES AND ELIJAH WHOS BEEN PREACHING FOR 3 1/2 YRS. THEY COME BACK TO LIFE AFTER 3 1/2 DAYS. AND ARE RAPTURED TO HEAVEN. I BELIEVE A JEWISH TERRORIST WILL THEN MURDER THE EU LEADER FOR MURDERING MOSES AND ELIJAH. AND THE EU LEADER AFTER 3 DAYS-AFTER A FALSE RESURRECTION. WILL COME BACK TO LIFE SATANICALLY INDUCED BY SATAN. THEN THE EU LEADER WILL STOP THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES BEING DONE IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS. HE WILL SET UP HIS THRONE IN THAT 3RD TEMPLE. AND CLAIM SINCE HE WAS RESURRECTED TO LIFE LIKE JESUS WAS. HE IS A REINCARNATION OF JESUS AND HE IS THE GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH NOW. THE WHOLE EARTH WILL ACCEPT HIM AS GOD NOW HE SAYS. OR YOU ALSO WILL BE BEHEADED. HE THEN GOES AFTER THE ISRAELIS TO PULL ANOTHER HITLER OUT OF THE HAT. HE TRYS TO DESTROY THE ISRAELIS WITH A TSUNAMI. BUT GOD CAUSES AN EARTHQUAKE TO OCCURR SO THE GROUND BREAKS OPEN AND SWALLOWS UP ALL THE TSUNAMI FLOOD. THEN 1/2 OF THE ISRAELIS IN ISRAEL ARE QUICKLY AIR LIFTED BY ALLIES AND ISRAEL AIR COMPANIES. TO PETRA JORDAN WERE THEY WILL BE PROTECTED BY THE IDF FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD. AND THE LEADER OF THE EU NOW BECOMES THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT LEADER OF THE WHOLE EARTH. AND FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YRS OF THE 7 YR PERIOD. HE WILL LEAD IN WARS AND NUKE ALL ENEMIES THAT COME AGAINST HIM. AND AT THE END OF THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD. A TOTAL OF 4 BILLION OR HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION - WILL BE KILLED OFF BY NUKE WARS OR GODS 21 JUDGEMENTS THAT HAVE HIT THE WHOLE EARTH. TO TEACH ALL -JESUS IS THE ISRAELIS MESSIAH. AND JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED-NO OTHER. AND EVERY WORD OF THE BIBLE IS TRUE.

Hopes for global vaccine ‘green passport’ said dampened as some EU states object-Germany, Austria, Belgium, others reportedly fear document will create indirect obligation to get inoculated; Israel said set to expand shots to those aged 45+, as cases stay high-By TOI staff-JAN 14,21-Today, 11:54 am

Israeli hopes for an international “green passport” that will enable those vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel the globe without quarantine restrictions have been dampened due to objections voiced by several major countries, according to a report Wednesday.The planned green passports were seen as a mean of granting some benefits to Israelis who have received their second vaccine doses, such as permission to attend cultural and other public events. There have been hopes that a similar strategy would be adopted on a global level, restoring the ability to travel abroad to those who have been inoculated.But according to Channel 12 news, prospects for such an international document are in doubt after several European states voiced fears in talks held by the World Health Organization (WHO) that it would indirectly force people to get vaccinated and overly limit individual rights.The report said the objections were being led by Germany, Austria and Belgium. It cited Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Itamar Grotto as expecting more countries to express doubts in the coming days about the green passport plan.Still, the document is going ahead at least on a national level, with Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen telling the Kan public broadcaster Thursday that it will be rolled out at the end of the month.He added that more than 3 million Israelis would receive both vaccine shots by the end of February and be able to return to something close to normal life.Health Ministry figures published Thursday morning said there were 9,388 cases confirmed Wednesday, similar to recent days, with 7.9 percent of tests coming back positive.The total number of cases since the pandemic began grew to 522,974, including 78,826 active cases — an all-time high. Of them, 1,063 were in serious condition, including 305 in critical condition and 273 on ventilators.The death toll reached 3,826, registering an alarming 56 deaths in 24 hours.According to the data, 1,934,685 Israelis have received their first vaccine shots, including more than 80% of all citizens aged 70 and up. A second dose was administered to 104,346 people.Israel has seen a shortage of vaccines in recent days, but Pfizer has stepped up deliveries once again and is expected to send hundreds of thousands of doses a week. Another half a million doses are expected to arrive in Israel early next week.After all Israelis over the age of 50 became eligible to get inoculated, Army Radio reported Thursday that that could be expanded to anyone aged 45 and up as early as this coming Sunday.Thursday night will mark one week since Israel entered a tightened lockdown that is scheduled to last until January 21, although officials have repeatedly said the rules will likely extend beyond that date.Coronavirus czar Nachman Ash expressed optimism despite the high infection numbers, estimating that the current tightened lockdown could be extended for just a week and be over as early as January 28.Thanks to much of the at-risk population becoming immunized, and if serious cases start going down, measures could be eased even if confirmed cases remain high, Ash told the Ynet news site on Thursday.Health Ministry officials believe virus morbidity in the third wave sweeping the country has peaked and is set to decline, and are weighing loosening the current lockdown restrictions, a separate report said Wednesday.Netanyahu will meet with Health Ministry officials on Thursday to discuss whether to extend the restrictions. Some health officials support loosening the rules if there is a decline in the number of serious cases, Channel 12 News reported.Netanyahu’s discussions on Thursday will also include talks on the green passport plan.Channel 13 News reported on Wednesday Health Ministry guidelines for easing the lockdown: In the first stage, kindergartens and grades 1-4 and 11-12 will partially reopen, as will street-front stores, the report said. In the second stage, grades 5-10 will resume studies and green passport holders will be given certain freedoms, such as permission to attend cultural events. In the third stage, restaurants and cafes will reopen.

Twitter chief backs need for Trump ban, but says it sets ‘dangerous’ precedent-Jack Dorsey says censorship has serious ramifications and blames drastic step on ‘a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation’-By AFP-JAN 14,21-Today, 6:20 am

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter chief Jack Dorsey backed the messaging platform’s ban of US President Donald Trump, but said Wednesday it sets a “dangerous” precedent and represents a failure to promote healthy conversation on the social network.“Having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications,” Dorsey said in a string of tweets inviting feedback from users.“While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation.”Trump’s access to social media platforms he has used as a megaphone during his presidency has been largely cut off since a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington last week.Operators say the embittered leader could use his accounts to foment more unrest in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.Late last week Twitter shut down Trump’s account, booting him from the global platform he has fervently used throughout his term in office to make proclamations, accusations and spread misinformation.Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Trump is considered overdue by critics who argue he has gotten away with abuses, but has inflamed members of the far right who say it stifles free speech.Twitter said in a blog post explaining its decision that after close review of the president’s recent tweets it had “permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”Twitter also blocked efforts by Trump to sidestep the ban when he posted tweets from the official presidential account @POTUS and the @TeamTrump campaign account.“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now,” ACLU senior legislative counsel Kate Ruane said at the time.“But, it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions.”Dorsey said Wednesday that while he believes Twitter made the right decision to ban Trump, it “sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.”“Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation,” Dorsey said.“This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet.”Twitter is far from the only major platform to oust Trump, with bans also in effect by Facebook plus Snapchat, and YouTube temporarily suspending his channel.Dorsey rejected the notion that social media giants coordinated these efforts, reasoning that it was more likely they each came to the same conclusion about the potential for violence.

Subdued Trump condemns ‘calamity’ Capitol invasion, doesn’t mention impeachment-In first remarks after being impeached a 2nd time, US president calls for unity, says no true supporter of his would ever take part in violence; doesn’t specify Biden won election-By TOI staff and Agencies-JAN 14,21-Today, 3:28 am

Hours after becoming the first US President to be impeached twice, on Wednesday Donald Trump for the first time condemned the “calamity” of the mob invasion of the Capitol and urged his followers to refrain from further violence.Holed up at the White House, watching proceedings on TV, Trump later released a video statement in which he made no mention at all of the impeachment but appealed to his supporters to refrain from any further violence or disruption of US President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.“Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the Capitol last week,” he said, his first condemnation of the attack. He appealed for unity “to move forward” and said, “Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for.”“No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement,” he said.In the videotaped speech, Trump said he was “calling on all Americans to overcome the passions of the moment and join together as one American people. Let us choose to move forward united for the good of our families.”pic.twitter.com/FIJbvCYGJ6— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2021-Apparently repudiating his supporters who assaulted Congress a week ago, an event that triggered his second impeachment in the House of Representatives, Trump said, “There is never a justification for violence. No excuses, no exceptions: America is a nation of laws.”“Those who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice,” he said, before launching into a condemnation of “censorship” following the decision by tech companies to ban his social media accounts.Trump did not mention the impeachment or specifically acknowledge Biden’s election victory, although he did note the need for a peaceful “transition.”Trump appeared subdued in the video, a marked contrast from his fiery speeches the week before, which saw him accused of inciting an insurrection and the mob that stormed the Capitol.Analysts suggested his remarks were aimed at leading Republican senators such as Mitch McConnell, who has indicated he could support a Senate vote for impeachment.The New York Times reported that Trump had to be pressured to put out the video and was deeply uneasy about it afterward.“Several officials urged him to shoot the video, with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, enlisting aides and even Vice President Mike Pence to tell him it was the right thing to do,” the report said. “After it was recorded and posted, Mr. Trump still had to be reassured it was the right thing, according to administration officials.”The speech was largely written by White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, his deputy, Pat Philbin, and Trump’s main speechwriter, Stephen Miller, the Times said.Trump earlier became the first US president in history to be impeached twice when the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to charge him with inciting last week’s mob attack on Congress.“Today, in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi said afterward.The Senate will not hold a trial before January 20, when Biden assumes the presidency, meaning the real estate tycoon will escape the ignominy of being forced to leave early.He is set, however, to face a Senate trial later and if convicted he might then be barred in a follow-up vote from seeking the presidency again in 2024.“Donald Trump has deservedly become the first president in American history to bear the stain of impeachment twice over,” said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, who in a week’s time will become Senate leader.“The Senate is required to act and will proceed with his trial.”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., signs the article of impeachment against President Donald Trump in an engrossment ceremony before transmission to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)-In the House of Representatives, the only question was how many Republicans would join the lockstep Democratic majority in the 232-197 vote. At final count, 10 Republicans broke ranks, including the party’s number three in the House, Representative Liz Cheney.“I am in total peace today that my vote was the right thing and I actually think history will judge it that way,” said Adam Kinzinger, a vocal Trump critic and one of the Republicans who crossed the aisle.Following the mayhem inflicted by Trump’s followers when they invaded Congress, fears of violence remained high.Armed National Guards deployed across the capital and central streets were blocked to traffic.In the Capitol building itself, guards in full camouflage and carrying assault rifles assembled, some of them grabbing naps early Wednesday under the ornate statues and historical paintings.Speech to mob-Trump survived a first impeachment almost exactly a year ago when the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him of abusing his office to try and get dirt on Biden’s family before the election.This time, his downfall was triggered by a speech he delivered to a crowd on the National Mall on January 6, telling them that Biden had stolen the presidential election and that they needed to march on Congress and show “strength.”Amped up on weeks of election conspiracy theories pushed by Trump, the mob then stormed into the Capitol, fatally wounded one police officer, wrecked furniture and forced terrified lawmakers to hide, interrupting a ceremony to put the legal stamp on Biden’s victory.One protester was shot dead, and three other people died of “medical emergencies,” bringing the toll to five.Pelosi told the chamber before the impeachment vote that Trump “must go.”“He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” she said.Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar branded Trump a “tyrant,” saying that “for us to able to survive as a functioning democracy there has to be accountability.”But Nancy Mace, a newly elected Republican congresswoman, said that while lawmakers “need to hold the president accountable,” the speed of the impeachment “poses great questions about the constitutionality.”The top Republican in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, said that while Trump deserves censure, hurriedly impeaching will “further divide this nation.”-McConnell open to voting for conviction-Trump, who has been stripped of his social media megaphones by Twitter and Facebook, and finds himself increasingly ostracized in the business world, is struggling to impose his message — let alone any kind of resistance.His refusal to accept any responsibility for the horrifying scenes on January 6 — including his insistence Tuesday that his speech was “totally appropriate” — has infuriated allies and opponents alike.The main question now is to what extent former Republican allies in the Senate will turn on their party’s figurehead once the Democrats take over control of the chamber.Current Senate leader McConnell says he will not call for an impeachment trial before Trump’s January 20 exit. However, he said he is open to the possibility of voting to convict Trump in a later trial after Biden becomes president.“I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” McConnell said.The New York Times reported Tuesday that McConnell is signaling privately that he believes Trump did commit impeachable offenses.This presents a potentially fatal shift in the ground under Trump’s feet, because it could lead other Republican senators to join in convicting Trump with the goal of turning the page in the turbulent relationship between the party and former reality TV host and real estate magnate.

Amid impeachment, Pompeo says Trump should win Nobel for Israel-Gulf peace-US secretary of state tweets photo from signing of Abraham Accords between Israel and UAE and Bahrain and tags prize committee-By TOI staff-JAN 14,21-Today, 4:16 am

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting Arab-Israeli ties.Pompeo’s suggestion, made on his official Twitter account, came as the House was voting on impeaching Trump, accusing him of rallying a violent mob of supporters to attack the US Capitol last week.Trump and many of his allies have made no secret of their desire to see him honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, which is one of the world’s most distinguished awards.Their campaign on his behalf has raised eyebrows because self-promotion for the prize is considered unseemly.Pompeo tweeted a photo of Trump waving from a White House balcony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and tagged the Nobel Committee.cc: @NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/XtjW6ehEMt — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 13, 2021The photo was taken in September last year when Israel normalized relations with the UAE and Bahrain under the so-called Abraham Accords, which were negotiated by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. Since then Morocco and Sudan have also agreed to normalize ties with Israel.Following the signing, a Norwegian lawmaker said he had nominated the US president for the award.“For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Christian Tybring-Gjedde, who heads Norway’s delegation to NATO, told Fox News.Tybring-Gjedde wrote in his nomination letter to the Nobel Committee that “as it is expected other Middle Eastern countries will follow in the footsteps of the UAE, this agreement could be a game changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity,” the report said.Trump himself retweeted dozens of news stories announcing his nomination, replying “thank you” to one of them.Kushner later said that Trump was “very, very honored” to be nominated for the prize 'President Trump was very, very honored to be nominated this morning for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in bringing the Middle East closer together and the peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, told reporters.US President Donald Trump, center, with, from left, Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, during the Abraham Accords signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, September 15, 2020, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)-Tybring-Gjedde already nominated Trump for the same prize in 2018 after the US president held a summit with North Korean dictator Kin Jong Un.The lawmaker, who belongs to a conservative-leaning populist party, denied trying to curry favor with Trump through the nomination.Since then, several other people have nominated Trump for the prize, often together with Netanyahu, along with the leaders of Arab nations who have signed up for the accords.Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama got the prize in 2009 in a controversial decision, for what the Nobel Committee described as his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland presents Then-US president Barack Obama with the Nobel Prize medal and diploma during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Raadhuset Main Hall at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)-The winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize — selected by a five-member committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament — will not be announced until October.Nominations can be made by a select group of people and organizations, including national lawmakers, heads of state and certain international institutions. In 2020, the committee received 318 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, of which 211 are individuals and 107 are organizations.In 2019, Trump predicted he would win the Nobel Prize “for a lot of things if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.”The Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn’t publicly comment on nominees. Under its rules, the information is required to be kept secret for 50 years.The process of considering candidates and awarding the Nobel Peace Prize is done in Norway, in contrast to the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded in neighboring Sweden.

FBI said to warn of attacks on state capitols, lawmakers’ homes during inaugural-Over 70 arrests made of rioters who participated in assault on Capitol, as Washington DC shuts down to combat threat posed by extremist Trump backers a week before Biden sworn in-By TOI staff and Agencies-jan 14,21-Today, 3:28 pm

The FBI has warned police forces across the United States to be on high alert and share intelligence on threats ahead of next week’s presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, a report said Wednesday.FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of “potential attacks on state capitols, federal buildings, the homes of congressional members and businesses,” the New York Times reported, citing one of the police chiefs on the call.“They don’t want to be dismissive of anything,” the report cited Chief Jorge Colina of the Miami Police Department. “So even if it sounds aspirational, even if it’s just like, ‘Yeah, it’d be great if the whole place is burned down,’ they don’t want us to think, ‘Ah, that’s just some knucklehead, pinhead,’ and be dismissive.”A separate bulletin published Wednesday by the National Counterterrorism Center and the Justice and Homeland Security Departments warned that extremists could view the death of protester and QAnon supporter Ashli Babbit during the Capitol riots as an “act of martyrdom,” according to the NYT.The officials warned that “the shared false narrative of a ‘stolen’ election’ may lead some individuals to adopt the belief that there is no political solution to address their grievances and violent action is necessary.”The FBI has previously warned that armed protests by violent supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump were being planned in all 50 state capitals as well as in Washington for the days leading up to the inauguration of Biden.According to NYT, more than 70 people have been arrested over participation in the breach of the Capitol, including at least three police officers who were off-duty — two from Rocky Mount Police Department in Virginia who face charges of disorderly conduct and entering a restricted space, and one from Houston police who hasn’t yet been charged.Apart from an Olympic gold medalist, a rioter who wore a shirt saying “Camp Auschwitz” and a son of a Jewish judge who breached the Capitol in fur pelt, those arrested also include a firefighter from Sanford, near Orlando, who is charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct, the report said.Meanwhile, CNN reported that evidence points to the raid of the Capitol being planned ahead of time rather than a spontaneous decision or a rally that spiraled out of control.Authorities suspect that some participants left the rally early and went to get weapons and other items used in the Capitol assault, the report said.Downtown Washington was fenced off and boarded up Wednesday, with concrete barriers blocking avenues, police at street corners, and armed National Guard soldiers patrolling Capitol Hill.The city at the heart of US democracy has been a shadow of itself during pandemic shutdowns, but now it is also under heavy guard after the January 6 deadly attack by Trump supporters on the Congress building.National Guard soldiers in body armor and camouflage spent the night inside the Capitol, their black rifles leaning against the polished stone walls of the building’s halls.“Clearly we are in uncharted waters,” said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.Last week’s “violent insurrection” at the Capitol by supporters of Trump has “impacted the way we are approaching working with our federal partners in planning for the 59th inauguration,” Bowser said Wednesday.Between the pandemic and the security threat, Bowser is flat-out asking people not to come to the District of Columbia for the inauguration. And at Bowser’s request, a National Special Security Event declaration was moved up to January 13, a distinction which she said “puts in place an entirely different command and control structure” for security.The NSSE status is normal for a presidential inauguration and other major events like an international summit or the Super Bowl. But it’s rare to start the lockdown so far in advance of the event.Police vehicles sealed off a huge swath of downtown DC Wednesday, causing immediate traffic snarls. Starting Wednesday, Bowser said, anyone inside the inauguration perimeter might be stopped and questioned. Starting Friday, all parking garages in the downtown restricted zone will be sealed through the inauguration.Bowser is also being pushed to deny lodging options to potentially violent protesters. The local Black Lives Matter affiliate and Shutdown DC issued a joint statement Wednesday urging all downtown hotels to voluntarily close and pay their staffs. In addition to the threat of violence, the activist groups say Trump supporters are a threat to the health of hotel staff for their general refusal to wear facemasks amid the pandemic. Several downtown hotels, including one which had become a favorite hangout of the militant Proud Boy faction, chose to avoid trouble by closing last week.“Closing hotels completely for these six nights is the only way to guarantee the safety of hotel workers, neighbors, vulnerable and unhoused residents, incoming administration officials, members of Congress, and our democracy,” the statement said. “If hotels do not willingly close, we ask Mayor Bowser to extend today’s emergency order and close all hotels in the city.”On Wednesday, Airbnb announced it was canceling all reservations in the Washington metro area. Bowser said she had been in regular contact with Airbnb officials since last week, but did not specifically request this step.“We are aware of reports emerging yesterday afternoon regarding armed militias and known hate groups that are attempting to travel and disrupt the Inauguration,” a company statement said. “We are continuing our work to ensure hate group members are not part of the Airbnb community.”On the ground, much of the most visible security will come in the form of more than 15,000 National Guardsmen from multiple states, some of them armed.According to officials, the number of Guardsmen who will actually be carrying guns will be limited. Some Guard members nearer the Capitol will have long guns, and others will have their sidearms.It is likely that those closer to the crowds or on fence lines won’t be armed, but those up closer to the building may be. National Guard members operate under strict rules of engagement on the use of force. But generally speaking, troops can use lethal force to protect the lives of others and themselves.Officials also said that while 15,000 Guard members have been activated, more may be called. DC Police Chief Robert Contee estimated Wednesday that more than 20,000 National Guardsmen would be active in the District of Columbia on Inauguration Day.Officials are continuing to review requests from law enforcement, and some believe several thousand more could be brought in. Defense and military officials have been calling governors and adjutants general to ask if they might have people they could send, if requested.So far, officials said state leaders have said that protecting their own capitols will be their top priority, but they still have some Guard members they will be able to send, if needed.

‘It pierces the heart’: Jewish leaders alarmed over anti-Semitism in Capitol mob-US community heads say riot was not so much a ‘tipping point’ for Jew hatred, but rather ‘the latest explicit example of how it animates the narratives of extremists’ By ELANA SCHOR-jan 14,21-Today, 8:12 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a mob of supporters of US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol last week clamoring to overturn the result of November’s presidential election, photographs captured a man in the crowd wearing a shirt emblazoned with “Camp Auschwitz,” a reference to the Nazi concentration camp.Two white nationalists known for racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric livestreamed to their online followers after breaking into the Capitol during the deadly insurrection. And video circulated on social media showed a man harassing an Israeli journalist who was trying to do a live report outside the building.The presence of anti-Semitic symbols and sentiment at the Capitol riot raised alarms among Jewish Americans and experts who track discrimination and see it as part of an ongoing, disturbing trend. As the threat of further chaos lingers over Washington and state capitals ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, they called for more forceful rejection of the conspiracy- and falsehood-driven worldviews on display among the mob.The insurrection was “not so much a tipping point” for anti-Semitism but rather “the latest explicit example of how (it) is part of what animates the narratives of extremists in this country,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.“People are going to have to ask themselves, were they clear enough in condemning the hatreds that coalesced on Jan. 6?” he added.On Tuesday, the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the Network Contagion Research Institute released a report that identified at least half a dozen neo-Nazi or white supremacist groups involved in the insurrection.Anti-Semitic incidents in the US hit a four-decade high in 2019, according to the ADL’s internal tracking.Although some high-profile recent anti-Semitic attacks were not linked to far-right groups — such as the 2019 assault on a New York rabbi’s Hanukkah party — several others were, most prominently the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Three-quarters of extremist-related murders in the U.S. over the past 10 years were committed by right-wing extremists, Segal said, citing ADL data.Eric Ward, executive director of the progressive anti-discrimination group Western States Center, linked the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, adherents of which were at the forefront of the insurrection, to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous 20th-century screed that falsely claimed Jews were colluding to take over the world.QAnon’s unfounded assertion of a shadowy cabal “mirrors exactly the anti-Semitic track, the false narrative, of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” Ward said. “That is the real danger of the anti-Semitism in this moment.” QAnon believers also allege a false conspiracy to harm children, paralleling another anti-Semitic trope, he noted.“It is no stretch to say there were visible signs of anti-Semitism in the makeup” of the riot, Ward said, “but the real power of anti-Semitism in the events on Wednesday is actually buried within the narrative.”The man photographed wearing the Auschwitz shirt was arrested in Virginia Wednesday. Robert Keith Packer, 56, was arrested in Newport News, charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.Despite anti-Semitic elements, at least one Jewish participant was drawn to take part in the assault on the Capitol: Federal agents on Tuesday arrested Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a New York judge, who was part of the crowd that broke in. Mostofsky, who was seen sitting in the building clad in furs and a police vest, told the New York Post he believed the baseless claim that the election was stolen from Trump.Ward called Mostofsky’s involvement a sign of the patchwork nature of the far-right coalition and noted broadly that “authoritarianism and anti-democratic tendencies are not merely the terrain of white people.”David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said not everyone who came to the Trump-promoted rally that preceded the assault on Congress was “stoked” by extremist and hate-fueled ideologies.But he urged those people to ask themselves, “‘Who am I enabling, however unintentionally, and how do I channel my own protest without being co-opted by the lunatic fringe?'”During the rise of Nazism, Harris added, “it was the soft-core group, not the hard-core group, that allowed itself to be co-opted.”Segal of ADL agreed: “One of the dangers of anti-Semitism and extremism is it wraps people up,” he said, “and takes them into situations that now have serious consequences.”Many Jewish Americans were dismayed by what they saw broadcast from the Capitol halls, such as one rioter strolling through its halls carrying a Confederate flag.Rabbi Jay Kornsgold of Beth El Synagogue in New Jersey, who serves as treasurer for the Rabbinical Assembly, said his Holocaust-survivor parents taught their children they should do everything possible to make sure discrimination against Jews doesn’t return to the fore.“When you see it in the nation’s capital, right in front of your face, it pierces the heart,” Kornsgold said.In the wake of the insurrection, which left five people dead including a Capitol Police officer, two online stores that had permitted the creation and sale of “Camp Auschwitz” shirts removed them from their sites.Looking ahead, Harris of AJC urged Jewish leaders to do their part in combating the rise of QAnon.“It seems to me even as a matter of education, Jewish organizations and Jewish clergy have a responsibility to alert members of the Jewish community to the menace of QAnon and its ilk,” he said.

Takes the cake-Democrat Nadler noshes on babka at Trump impeachment hearing-Jewish lawmaker seen in House chamber with bag from famed New York Upper West Side grocery Zabar’s-By Gabe Friedman-JAN 14,21-Today, 5:27 pm

JTA — As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler has been busy this week creating impeachment history. But he hasn’t gone hungry, apparently.C-SPAN caught Nadler carrying a bag from Zabar’s, the famed New York grocery and appetizing store located in his Upper West Side congressional district, as he took his seat on Wednesday. The bold orange logo would be unmistakable to anyone familiar with the store.Multiple news organizations — including New York Magazine and West Side Rag, a hyperlocal blog — reached out to Nadler’s office to find out what was inside the bag.The response, from Nadler’s deputy press secretary Julian Gerson: “A babka and the constitution, what else?”Nadler is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nine chosen managers for the impeachment process, along with fellow Jewish representatives David Cicilline, Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff.Jerry Nadler brought Zabar’s to the impeachment. pic.twitter.com/2Xf0GpMmr0 — Alex Richanbach (@AlexRichanbach) January 13, 2021

Analysis-Iran trying to deepen roots in Syria despite signs it may no longer be welcome-An article from an Assad ally suggests that Damascus may be looking to shift away from the Shiite axis even as Tehran tries to build up local support with Lebanon-style project-By Avi Issacharoff-jan 14,21-Today, 4:59 pm

Last month, Hasan Ismaik, a Jordanian billionaire with close ties to the Syrian government, published an opinion piece arguing that Iranian entrenchment in Syria was keeping it from being able to end nearly a decade of strife.“Today, Syria is experiencing a serious impasse, where the country is living in a state of ‘no war, no peace,'” he wrote. “There are no clear battles on the ground, nor is there the peace which would allow the reconstruction process to begin. Every insight into the situation in Syria and each path in the maze to finding a solution lead to the same complex problem and a huge obstacle: Iran and its influence in Syria.”It’s far from certain that Ismaik’s words reflect the official opinion in Damascus and it’s impossible to know if they were written with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s knowledge or consent. But given Ismaik’s intimacy with the Syrian government, his words may be a sign that Assad is trying to signal to the West that Iran is a problem not only for the region’s moderate Sunni Muslim states, but for his country as well.The ‘Syrian-Iranian alliance’ [is] a burden on Damascus, which is aware of the risks and dangers of its relationship with Iran at political, military and cultural levels,” he wrote. “This makes reaching a deal [with the West] possible, and even something to be expected.”The recent reconciliation between the Gulf Sunni states and Qatar, after years of open enmity and severed relations, may be inspiring thoughts of a similar rapprochement with Damascus. One wonders if a collaborative Sunni effort to help rebuild Syria would convince Damascus to reconsider its stance toward Iran and the carte blanche it has given to Tehran to operate within its borders.For years, Iran and its regional proxies have been hard at work establishing a foothold in Syria, a project supported by the Syrian regime and tolerated by its main benefactor Russia, despite a years-long campaign by Israel, backed by the US, to stymie the effort.The Israeli campaign has stepped up considerably in recent weeks and on Wednesday a reported Israeli sortie struck at least 15 targets in eastern Syria, hitting arms depots said to belong to Iran and Iran-backed forces. Dozens of pro-Iran fighters were reported killed in the strikes, one of the largest-yet bombing runs in over five years of attacks aimed at pushing Iran out of Syria and thwarting weapons transfers.In southern Syria, one of the main places Iran has attempted to dig in, the initiative has persisted despite increasing signs that local militias and others are no longer willing to put up with the presence of the Iranians and their allies.At the same time, there are indications that Iran is shifting its strategy to one of soft power, pushing social initiatives and building a proxy network made up of locals rather than foreign fighters — a hybrid approach that recalls the creation of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.The group, Hezbollah Syria, is the latest franchise in Tehran’s terror network, which also includes the aforementioned Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah.As it did in southern Lebanon, Iran is attempting to build a support base in southern Syria near the border with Israel. This mainly revolves around the triangle between Sweida, Daraa and Quneitra in the Syrian Golan.The effort has involved investments in youth programs, religious activities and welfare initiatives, filling a vacuum left by the government and meeting needs created by the region’s collapsing economy and harsh poverty.Militarily, the Iranians are active near the border, integrating into the Syrian army’s 1st Division, alongside Hezbollah fighters (in Syrian army uniforms), while continuously establishing more and more Shiite mosques and study halls.The area is one that has seen fighting persist, despite the virtual end of the civil war elsewhere. Battles between armed militias in the area result in some 40 to 60 casualties a week, according to estimates by Israeli sources.But many of the main actors have shown signs of growing impatience with Iran’s campaign.Among those are the Russians, who have tried, mostly without success, to mediate between the warring militias. In Daraa and al-Suwayda, this has included so-called reconciliation centers, staffed by Arabic-speaking officers who warn or reprimand whichever faction has stepped out of line.Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against US President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of US, British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)-The Russians are also interested in keeping Iran in check and keep a close eye on developments near the frontier with Israel.Among the Druze, who are mostly concentrated near Suwayda, one can observe on social media a major split fomenting regarding the future of their ties with the regime.The community backed Assad throughout the war, but is now unhappy that the result has been Iran and Hezbollah getting more than a foothold in its region. The financial situation is quickly deteriorating, and there are reports of drug use and prostitution.Among those now opposing Damascus is the Ghazal el-Carmel (Men of the Carmel) militia, which fought alongside the regime during the civil war.Some local groups of fighters have also turned against the regime and Iran.The largest and most surprising of these is a militia headed by Ahmad Odeh, a former rebel commander who agreed two years ago to join the Syrian army, together with his10,000-strong Shabab al-Sunna paramilitary brigade.These troops now make up the 8th brigade of the 5th corps, but their salaries are not paid by Damascus. Rather, they are bankrolled by the Russians, under whose command they operate. For $200 a month per troop, the Russians have bought themselves a brigade of the Syrian army.Odeh is no fan of Iranian or Hezbollah involvement in the area, and is known as something of a renegade. He’s confronted ostensibly allied forces, and even exchanged gunfire with them, though these were mostly shows of force to make sure everyone knows who’s running the show in the region. At the graduation ceremony of his brigade’s officers – an official ceremony of the Syrian army – songs were sung denouncing the Syrian regime and praising the locals.But at the same time, there are armed groups that do still back the Iranians.The army’s 4th Division, which is commanded by Assad’s brother Maher and essentially acts independently of the Syrian military and in collaboration with Hezbollah and the Iranians, is one such group. A recent investigation found that the group was allegedly involved with Hezbollah in a massive operation to make and sell counterfeit Captagon, the amphetamine that helped fuel Islamic State’s reign of terror. Over $1 billion worth of the drug was recently seized in Italy and traced back to the group and the Syrian regime.The Syrian Army’s 1st Division is deeply entangled with Hezbollah, which is in effect the tail that wags the dog. Those in charge of training the soldiers of the 1st Corps of the Syrian army are the men of Hezbollah’s Southern Command, under the command of Hajj Hashem.In 2017, the Israeli military released video footage claiming to show the head of the 1st Division helping Hezbollah set up a base in the region, and warned the Syrian regime that it would be held responsible “for all enemy activities emanating from its territory.”In his piece, Ismaik highlighted the wealth of differences between Syria and Iran, from their approaches to secularism to the Shiite-Sunni split. He claimed that many Syrians are unhappy with statements by high-ranking Iranians making Iran out to be Syria’s savior or insinuating that Damascus is a vassal of Tehran.But with Iran ingratiating itself deeper and deeper within Syria, the question should not be whether Assad wants to remove Iran, but whether it is even possible anymore to disentangle Syria from the Shiite axis and bring it back into the fold.

Monitoring group: UNRWA textbooks glorify terror, deny Israel’s existence-Watchdog says educational materials distributed for distance learning during pandemic are ‘rife with hate’; UNWRA chief says content was distributed in error-By TOI staff-JAN 14,Today, 3:47 pm

An Israeli watchdog found that a new series of educational textbooks produced by a United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees contains incitement to violence and hatred, and glorifies terrorism.The new textbooks were produced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a branch of the international body that runs schools, health clinics and other social services for millions of Palestinian refugees around the Middle East.The books were part of a new curriculum issued by the agency during the coronavirus pandemic to facilitate distance learning.The review conducted by The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli watchdog that analyzes Palestinian textbooks, found UNRWA-produced material “to be rife with problematic content that contradicts stated UN values.”Palestinian students affiliated with the United Nations “UNRWA” wear face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on November 25, 2020. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90-According to IMPACT-se’s report, the materials included incitement to violence. The watchdog found that children were asked to do mathematics problems using martyrs from the First Intifada to calculate equations, told students to “defend the motherland with blood,” and pushed the claim that Israel deliberately dumps radioactive and toxic waste in the West Bank.“UNRWA is complicit in radicalizing schoolchildren through the glorification of terrorists, encouragement to violence and teaching of blood libels to Palestinian schoolchildren,” said IMPACT-se director Marcus Sheff.Palestinian Authority textbooks have come under fire in the past for what critics have deemed to be hateful, anti-Semitic content. However, IMPACT-se said that the “UNRWA-created material is, in places, more extremist than PA material it complements.IMPACT-se also said that Israel is omitted from maps in the UNRWA-produced materials, with the entire territory being labeled as a modern-day Palestine with no demarcation lines. When it is mentioned, Israel is referred to mostly as “The Enemy” or the “Zionist Occupation.”The organization’s findings also showed that the materials characterized Dalal Mughrabi, who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, as a role model, contrary to the UN’s position that she was a terrorist. Mughrabi and several other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 38 civilians, 13 of them children, and wounded over 70.The European Parliament passed a resolution last year condemning the Palestinian Authority for continuing to include hate speech and violent material in school materials, stating it “is concerned that problematic material” in Palestinian school textbooks had not been removed.“UNRWA has for years refused point-blank to make public its ‘Curriculum Framework’ that it claims combats incitement in the Palestinian textbooks. Now we know why: some of its own content is even worse than that of the Palestinian Authority,” said IMPACT-se’s Sheff.In a statement released following the publication of the report, UNWRA vowed again to crack down on incitement.“UNRWA has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and for incitement to hatred and violence in its schools and in all of its operations. Any breach reported is dealt with firmly. The Agency adheres, in its education program, to the highest standards of neutrality, humanity and tolerance,” the UN body said in a statement.Responding to the criticisms, UNWRA chief Phillipe Lazzarini said in a tweet that “there was no place [for] incitement to hatred/violence in UNWRA schools.” He asserted that the inciteful material had been published by accident.“Local reference to inappropriate pages from textbooks that were mistakenly distributed during #COVID19 lockdown were quickly replaced with content that adheres to UN values,” Lazzarini said on Thursday.Israel has long pushed for UNRWA’s closure, arguing it helps perpetuate the conflict with the Palestinians, since it confers refugee status upon descendants of those originally displaced around the time of Israel’s War of Independence.US President Donald Trump’s administration supported Israel’s stance by cutting aid in 2018. Washington had been providing UNRWA $300 million a year, roughly a third of its core annual budget.

Explosives-carrying drones apparently could reach IsraeL-Iranian kamikaze drones said spotted in the possession of Yemen’s Houthis-Tehran fires cruise missiles during naval exercise in apparent show of force; Newsweek publishes satellite images purporting to show advanced UAVs-By Judah Ari Gross-JAN 14,21-Today, 2:37 pm

The American magazine Newsweek published satellite images purporting to show advanced kamikaze drones in Yemen that the outlet said Iran could use to attack countries in the region, including Israel.These unmanned aerial vehicles, identified as Shahed-136 loitering munitions, were more advanced than the models of suicide drones already known to be in the Houthis’ possession, with an operational radius of approximately 2,000 to 2,200 kilometers (1,240 to 1,370 miles), meaning Israel is within their range.An unnamed expert who provided the satellite images to Newsweek said the purpose of these drones was to give Iran the ability to conduct strikes on a variety of targets in the Middle East without them being clearly traced back to Tehran.“What they’re trying to achieve is plausible deniability,” the expert told the outlet, “as in being able to strike either a US, Saudi, Gulf, or Israeli target and then having the strike traced back to Yemen, and hoping for deniability against any kind of retribution.”The Houthi rebel group in Yemen has possessed suicide drones — UAVs packed with explosives that are designed to be flown directly at targets — for several years, but the variety seen in the Newsweek report Thursday were more powerful.Also on Thursday, the Iranian military fired several cruise missiles as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported, in an apparent show of force amid heightened tensions with Israel and the United States.Various kinds of surface-to-surface cruise missiles successfully hit their targets in the gulf and northern part of the Indian Ocean, the report said.“Enemies should know that any violation and invasion of Iranian marine borders will be targeted by the cruise missiles from both coast and sea,” said Adm. Hamzeh Ali Kaviani, spokesman for the exercise.The two-day drill began Wednesday when the country’s navy inaugurated its largest military vessel. The exercise took place as Tehran squared off against the United States in an escalating tit-for-tat over its nuclear program and amid a long-simmering conflict with Jerusalem, which bubbled to the surface this week as the Israeli military reportedly conducted a massive series of airstrikes on Iran-linked targets in eastern Syria in the predawn hours of Wednesday morning.These reports came as advanced air defense batteries were seen deployed around the southern Israeli city of Eilat, amid concerns of an attack from Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthis.Iron Dome and Patriot missile defense batteries were first spotted earlier this month. The Iron Dome is generally used against rockets and mortar shells, but can also intercept small drones and cruise missiles. The Patriot system is used primarily to defend against ballistic missiles and larger aircraft like fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles, including the types of suicide drones mentioned in the Newsweek report.In recent weeks, the Israeli military has also reportedly sailed a submarine through the area, sending the vessel through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea. Due to the shallow depth of the canal, submarines can only pass through it above the water, where they can easily be spotted. As such, the move was generally seen as a show of force directed toward Iran.In an interview last month, IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said Israel was tracking Iranian movements around the region, and that Israeli submarines were quietly “sailing everywhere.”

Analysis-With Iran held in check by Biden hopes, Israel grabs chance to hit hard in Syria-With US in transition, the IDF sees Tehran as less likely to retaliate, and is making hay by expanding and intensifying its air campaign against Iranian forces across the border-By Judah Ari Gross-JAN 14,21-Today, 1:23 pm

Over the past two and a half weeks, Israel has reportedly conducted at least four rounds of airstrikes on Iran-linked sites in Syria, including a major bombardment in the predawn hours of Wednesday morning according to media outlets there, in a major step up from the normal scope and frequency of attacks.Wednesday’s attack was a major operation against Iran’s efforts to establish a permanent military presence in the country, one of the largest reported Israeli airstrikes in years, with over 15 sites bombed in eastern Syria some 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Israel, according to Syrian reports.The bombing was both more intense than normal — in comparison, the Israel Defense Forces said it struck some 50 targets in Syria in all of 2020 — and took place much farther from Israel than most attacks attributed to the Jewish state. The three other rounds of airstrikes in last few weeks took place in areas closer to Damascus and the Syrian Golan.The IDF had no comment on the late-night strikes, in accordance with its policy to neither confirm nor deny its operations in Syria save for those in retaliation to an attack on Israel from the country.The significant increase in the frequency and scope of the attacks stems from an assessment by the Israel Defense Forces, shared with The Times of Israel, that Iran is unlikely to retaliate in a major way to these strikes in the short term.In general over the past year, Iran has not responded to Israeli airstrikes — either not finding a way to do so or being stopped by Israel from doing so — and currently Tehran appears to be preparing to enter into negotiations with US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, which would be more difficult were it to be actively engaged in fighting with Washington’s key ally in the region. While Iran takes a wait-and-see approach, Israel is taking advantage.Even if the frequency of IDF strikes decreases in the coming weeks, it would more likely be due to operational restrictions than the incoming Biden administration trying to curb Israel. The same window of opportunity is expected to remain as long as Tehran holds out hopes of talks with the new president, allowing Israel to continue its efforts in Syria, which are intended to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in the country and using it to move weapons that would threaten the Jewish state.“The Biden administration won’t stop Israel from striking [in Syria],” Amos Yadlin, a former Military Intelligence chief, told the Times of Israel.According to Israeli officials, the campaign against Iran in Syria has been on the whole successful, stymieing Tehran’s plans for the country and largely keeping the bulk of its forces further from Israel’s borders.“They wanted to shape [Syria] in the model of Hezbollah, to have masses of soldiers there, with missiles, with the ability to strike Israel, to exhaust Israel,” Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told the Kan broadcaster Wednesday.“In the past four years… they failed to turn Syria into something like the second Hezbollah. They tried to build there a military force and Israel — time after time — destroyed those attempts and that infrastructure. They haven’t given up, they haven’t quit, but they have failed,” he said.Last month, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi made a similar claim, telling reporters in a year-end briefing that the IDF has noted a marked drop over the previous two years in the number of Iran-backed fighters in Syria, an increase in the number of Iranian military bases being closed in the country, and a significant decrease in the amount of weaponry being transported into and through Syria.“Iranian entrenchment in Syria is in a clear trend of slowing down as a direct result of IDF activities, though we still have a way to go to reach our goals on this front,” Kohavi said.Yet the Islamic Republic has not thrown in the towel and still maintains a significant military presence in the country, even if it is smaller than it desires.According to Syrian media reports, the targets of the Wednesday strike were primarily weapons warehouses around the Deir Ezzor and Boukamal regions, areas known to contain significant numbers of Iran-backed militias, which are more difficult for Israel to strike due to their greater distance from the border.E. #Syria: more evidence showing aftermath of #Israel|i airstrikes today in #DeirEzzor province:– ammo warehouse W. of DeZ-city (1)– informal border crossing with #Iraq, near #AbuKemal (2-3)-Death toll of 50+ (SOHR) is however fabricated. pic.twitter.com/UzAcnFNRta— QalaatM (@QalaatM) January 13, 2021-Israeli and Western intelligence officials, as well as Syrian opposition media, have said that these areas are used by Tehran as part of a so-called land corridor to transport weapons from Iran through Iraq into Syria and, in some cases, on to Lebanon, where its most significant proxy, Hezbollah, is based.Boukamal was also targeted multiple times in 2018 and 2019 in a failed bid to block the construction of the infrastructure likely used to transport missiles into Syria in recent weeks.“The other side, as I understand, is not prepared to surrender because they invested a huge fortune and massive resources in the success of Assad and they want to collect their fee from Assad, which is their ability to operate freely from within Syria, which they saved from falling into the hands of the rebels,” Hanegbi said.According to Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who runs DeirEzzor24, a pro-opposition media collective with researchers on the ground in eastern Syria, these warehouses contained a particularly large shipment of missiles that had been brought into the area by the Iran-backed Fatimiyeon militia in recent weeks.In a highly irregular move, a senior US intelligence official confirmed to the Associated Press that Israel was behind the Wednesday strikes. The official said the intelligence behind the attack was provided by the US. It’s unlikely, though, that Israel would launch such a significant raid based solely on American intelligence, based on its standard operating procedure.More curiously, the official also claimed the warehouses that were targeted were used to transport components that support Iran’s nuclear program — though not that these materials were themselves targeted in the strikes. This is an eyebrow-raising proposition, given the fact that Deir Ezzor was the site of Syria’s own nuclear reactor before it was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 2007.Institute for National Security Studies Chairman Amos Yadlin attends the Annual International Conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv January 23, 2017. (Tomer Neuberg/FLASH90)-Yadlin, the current head of the influential Institute for National Security Studies, dismissed this claim as “fake news” and said that these were simply not the supply lines used by Iran for its nuclear program.Asked if the attribution to a senior US intelligence official didn’t lend some credence to the claim, Yadlin told The Times of Israel: “A former senior Israeli intelligence official is saying this report has no logical [basis].”-Nuclear brinksmanship-Recent months have seen rising tensions between Iran and the US and Israel, amid speculation that outgoing US President Donald Trump would use his final week in office to launch a military strike against Tehran.The US has deployed B-52 heavy bombers to the Middle East, sent an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf and sought to diplomatically challenge Iran by releasing intelligence tying the Islamic Republic to the Al-Qaeda terror group earlier this week. The US has also stepped up its sanctions on Iranian entities.The head of Iran’s military nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was also killed in November in an attack that was widely attributed to Israel.This combination of photos shows US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP and Miriam Alster/Flash90)-In a somewhat subtler move, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen traveled to Washington, DC, this week, meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a public space, prompting widespread speculation on what the two discussed.Iran, in turn, has taken a number of provocative steps on the nuclear front, announcing that it was beginning to enrich uranium to 20 percent, a major breach of the 2015 nuclear deal, which it has been steadily violating since Trump abandoned the agreement in 2018. On Wednesday, Tehran announced it was also advancing research into uranium metal, a key component of nuclear weapons, with limited civilian uses.In addition, the Iranian military has staged two large exercises, one focusing on drones and the other on the navy.Iran also seized a South Korean oil tanker that had been sailing through the Persian Gulf, an apparent act of revenge for some $7 billion in Iranian assets that were frozen by Seoul.Likud’s Tzachi Hanegbi attends an event at Kedem in the West Bank on September 5, 2019. (Hillel Maeir/Flash90)-Despite these growing signs of tensions, Hanegbi said Israel did not anticipate some kind of attack in the coming week.“The [Israeli] assessment is that nothing dramatic will happen during this week,” he said. “This is the calm before the storm.”The minister, who is considered a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explained that the “storm” would be what comes as the United States negotiates a new nuclear deal with Tehran, saying that if Israel did not feel such an agreement ensured its security, it would attack Iran’s nuclear program.Biden has publicly stated his intention to rejoin the accord — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — provided Iran also returns to the terms of the deal and use that agreement as a jumping off point for further negotiations.Those opposed to the JCPOA, as well as some proponents of it, argue that a simple return to the deal would give up the considerable leverage that Trump’s sanctions regime has achieved. Instead, those people argue, Biden should attempt to negotiate a far stronger deal, one that does not have the expiration dates of the JCPOA, with greater access for international inspectors, and also addressing Iran’s ballistic missile program and malign influence in the region. Supporters of Biden’s plan maintain that a significantly more robust deal is not feasible now, but could be negotiated going forward.This is the calm before the storm-“If the United States government rejoins the nuclear deal — and that seems to be the stated policy as of now — the practical result will be that Israel will again be alone against Iran, which by the end of the deal will have received a green light from the world, including the United States, to continue with its nuclear weapons program,” Hanegbi said.“This of course we will not allow. We’ve already twice done what needed to be done, in 1981 against the Iraqi nuclear program and in 2007 against the Syrian nuclear program,” he said, referring to airstrikes on those two countries’ nuclear reactors.

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