Published: July 10, 2007
Abbas wants international force in Gaza
RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 10 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that an international force should be deployed in Gaza to protect the area's residents. Hamas, which controls Gaza, has said that it would regard any international troops as occupiers, Alalam Satellite TV reported. Abbas met Tuesday with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Prodi said that all parties involved, presumably including Hamas, would have to support the deployment of an international force. We have insisted on the necessity of deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid and to allow citizens to enter and leave freely, Abbas said at a news conference with Prodi in Ramallah.
Abbas said that 4,000 people are waiting at the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, trying to leave Gaza and at least 11 people have died there.
IDF: Iran May Go Nuclear in 6 Months; NATO: Go It Alone
by Ezra HaLevi (JULY 11,07 INN)
According to the IDF, Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within six months. NATO says Israel must go it alone according to Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The IDF Military Intelligence (MI) assessment was reported Tuesday to the Knesset and included a concrete assessment determining that Iran could cross the technological threshold required to produce nuclear weapons in the next 6-12 months and possess an operational warhead by the middle of 2009. The assessment is at odds with US estimates that put the date between 2010 and 2013. Both agree, however, that military strikes could set back the technology for years.
IDF MI also is of the opinion that sanctions against Iran have not weakened the regime, because huge oil reserves still proivide all the money necessary to neutralize any pressure created by the international community. The assessment also revealed that Israel’s withdrawals – from Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005 – have added precedents and solidified belief throughout the Middle East that armed struggle can achieve the destruction of Israel within this generation.
Lieberman: NATO Says Go It Alone
Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu party), whose government portfolio was created specifically to deal with the Iranian threat, met with NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General Alexandro Minoto Rizo and the European Union’s representative Franco Partini earlier this week. Lieberman reported that NATO’s senior officials said Israel should not assume that the international community will stop Iran just to help Israel. Israel should prevent the threat, herself, and should not expect support of other countries, Lieberman reported as the conclusions reached at the meeting. NATO is stuck in Afghanistan and European and American troops are wallowing in the Iraqi quagmire, which is something that is going to prevent the leaders of countries in Europe and America from deciding on the use of force to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, he said. Winds of Chamberlain are blowing in Europe, Lieberman told Army Radio, referring to that leader’s conciliatory policy toward the Nazis in WWII. When I hear from a respected prime minister like [Italian Prime Minister] Romano Prodi that Israel should agree to a peaceful Iranian nuclear program, it seems like something surreal. The political situation is such that they are trying to turn this into our problem alone.
Lieberman said that although Europe or the US could not be relied upon to attack Iran on Israel’s behalf, they would support Israel’s actions. If we start military operations against Iran alone, then Europe and the US will support us, he said.
Another Lieberman in Favor of Iran Strike
US Senator Joseph Lieberman has been publicly calling for US strikes on Iran. He repeated the call last week, saying the Islamic Republic has declared war on the US and is waging a proxy war against coalition forces in Iraq. The Connecticut Senator and former Vice-Presidential candidate said intelligence reports proved Iran was behind much of the terrorism in Iraq and must be confronted directly. Although no one desires a conflict with Iran, the fact is that the Iranian government by its actions has declared war on us.
Al-Qaeda Threatens to Attack Iran
23 Tammuz 5767, July 9, '07
(IsraelNN.com) International terrorist group Al-Qaeda issued a threat to Iran recently warning that the group would attack Iranian interests if Iran did not cease its involvement in Iraq. The group issued a tape giving Iran two months to withdraw from Iraq completely. If they fail to do so, said Al-Qaeda leader Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, we will begin a cruel war against them. Iran, a Shiite Muslim country, has often been accused of supporting and training radical Shiite groups in Iraq. Al-Qaeda, which is Sunni, has accused Iran of supporting terrorist attacks against Sunni leaders and mosques.
Women in Green: Outlaw Peace Now
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 11,07 INN)
Motorists driving along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway Tuesday morning were surprised and dismayed to see Syrian flags flying alongside Israeli flags as they made the ascent to the capital. The red, white and black Syrian flag was placed on poles between the Shaar HaGai intersection and the government complex by extreme left-wing Peace Now members. By hanging the colors of the enemy state, Peace Now wished to draw attention to its desire for government talks with Syria.Nadia Matar, co-founder of the grassroots Women in Green organization, said that Peace Now has thus shown its true face. I call upon the authorities to gather the Peace Now leadership, Matar said, put them on buses, and send them to Syria, where they belong and where they will be welcomed happily.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke with an Arabic newspaper on Monday and made a direct plea to Syrian President Bashar Assad to agree to direct, unmediated peace talks with Israel. I turn to you, Mr. Assad, and call upon you to engage in direct peace negotiations - but you prefer American mediation, Olmert said.Menachem Begin tendered a similar invitation to Anwar Sadat - who wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert in less than five years. In 1977, then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin tendered a similar, though less biting, invitation to then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat - who took up the gauntlet and wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert within less than five years. Hevron activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir filed a complaint with the police against Peace Now. They similarly claimed that as Syria is an enemy state, it is illegal to unfurl the country's flag in public.
Nadia Matar said that Peace Now is actually calling not for peace talks but for a surrender to Syrian demands to immediately give up the Golan Heights. I call upon the Attorney General to view this as an act of treachery and betrayal, she said. Those who act to give up Israeli territory to the enemy is, by law, a traitor.Israel took control of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of 1967, after the Syrians used the area for years to shell Israeli kibbutzim below. Since then, the Syrian border has always been Israel's quietest. In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan.In early 1999, the Knesset voted that no part of the Golan or Jerusalem may be transferred to a foreign power without an absolute majority of 61 Knesset Members and a popular referendum in accordance with a to-be-legislated Referendum Law. In May of this year, the Knesset voted, in a preliminary reading, to require the referendum even before such a Referendum Law is legislated. Israelis must realize that Peace Now is collaborating with the enemy, Matar said and this organization must be outlawed. It is ridiculous that the Kach movement [originally founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane - ed.], which calls for love of Israel, is outlawed, while those who collaborate with the Palestinians and inform on Jews are legal.
Peace Now is dedicated to destroying the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria [Yesha], and often seeks out Arabs who will claim that Jewish towns are built on their land. The PA news agency Ma'an recently thanked Peace Now for publishing a report alleging that 40% of Yesha communities are built on private Arab land. The Yesha Council published a factual rebuttal of the report, but this did not stop Ma'an from writing, This is now a ready-to-go case for the International Court... Now that Peace Now has given this gift to the land-owners, we must thank this organization.
Barroso says EU is an empire
11.07.2007 - 09:12 CET | By Honor Mahony
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU is not just any old international organisation, nor is it a superstate, but it might just be an empire, according to European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. Veering into uncharted naming territory after being asked on Tuesday (10 July) by a journalist what kind of a structure the 27-nation bloc is, Mr Barroso said We are a very special construction unique in the history of mankind, Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire, he said. He went on the clarify that instead of like super state empires of old, the EU empire is built on voluntary pooling of power and not on military conquest.
What we have is the first non-imperial empire, said the centre-right Mr Barroso, who was formally Portugal's prime minister. We have 27 countries that fully decided to work together and to pool their sovereignty. I believe it is a great construction and we should be proud of it. The commission chief said he did not see why the EU should constantly be in existential doubt about this, adding that he did not see there being a danger of British, German or French identity ever being lost.
Communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom, present at the same press conference, steered clear of empire references. Instead she paraphrased former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright's comment that one has to be either a genius or French to understand the EU. They made the comments after giving the commission's official go ahead to a new treaty outline for the bloc. This is to be negotiated over the coming months and is to result in a treaty being finalised before the end of the year. The treaty mandate was agreed at an ill-tempered EU summit last month and is already being put into question in some capitals. Poland has been particularly vocal about re-opening a key part of the agreement on EU voting rights.
But Mr Barroso reiterated previous comments that the treaty outline should not be undone.There is a principle of good faith. For me it is as important as any legal commitment, he said. It is inconceivable that an agreement that was agreed unanimously in June is reopened now.
New EU treaty to be communications prority for Brussels
11.07.2007 - 09:13 CET | By Honor Mahony and Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is planning on making the promotion of a new treaty one of its main tasks in the coming months, after the previous more grandly name EU constitution was rejected in two founding member states. EU communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday (10 July) said she wants to discuss the final treaty with citizens. Communicating will be one of the main political priorities, said the commissioner who is planning on highlighting the fight against climate change and energy solidarity as reasons why citizens should like the new document. The new treaty – essentially a repackaging of most of the draft EU constitution – is set to be finalised by the end of the year with one year for ratification, and is to come into force by mid 2009. We need them on board, we cannot do without them in 2007. [This year] is not enough to have a project for the political elite, citizens have to be there, she told EUobserver.
Skewed message
Ms Wallstrom, the first ever commissioner responsible for communications, has been struggling to make her mark through a combination of a lack of resources and a skewed message on how much to involve the citizens. While there were several Brussels-initiated citizen discussions on the EU after the constitution was rejected by France and the Netherlands, the first half of this year saw highly secretive government discussions on the new treaty. Member states also made it clear they were going to do everything possible to secure a new look treaty document that did not have to be put to a referendum again – with both France and the Netherlands keen to avoid the unpredictable ratification path. In addition, the new treaty reprises most of the constitution - 90 percent in the words of the Irish leader Bertie Ahern - leaving the EU open to the charge that it ignored the results of the referendums.For her part, the commissioner is planning on publishing a paper at the beginning of autumn on how to structure debate with citizens.
Communicating
But there are already problems with the approach. She admits that it is not clear whether there is actually a legal basis for taking communication in the direction that she would like – such as communicating priorities and making sure Brussels puts its own stamp on the message it wants to promote, something she calls political ownership of the issues.While MEPs are generally supportive of the idea, member states are reluctant to let the commission go down this path believing communication is more of a national domain and concerned that Brussels will spread propaganda.
According to officials, there is already a major discussion in the commission about whether an entirely new legal platform should be created for communications.
UN denies requesting control over Shaba Farms
by Barak Ravid July 11, 2007
The United Nations and the government denied a Haaretz report on Wednesday that said the world body had requested Israel transfer the disputed Shaba Farms area on the Lebanese border to UN peacekeepers.The UN has not asked the government of Israel to hand over the Shaba Farms to the UN, a UN official said. The UN's cartogropher continues his work and will be visiting the area shortly. The secretary-general remains engaged on the issue. Jerusalem also denied the report.
According to the Haaretz report, printed on Wednesday, the United Nations transmitted messages to Israel in recent weeks that the organization's mapping experts have determined that the Shaba Farms on Mount Dov, now controlled by Israel, is Lebanese territory. The report said that the UN, which has communicated to Israel that the disposition of the Shaba Farms should be dealt with as soon as possible, has proposed to senior government officials that Israel withdraw from the area and that it be considered international territory to be controlled by UNIFIL. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert oppose the idea, Haaretz said. The size of, and sovereignty over, the Shaba Farms has been a matter of controversy due to the way the border between Syria and Lebanon was marked during the French Mandate between the two world wars. When the UN marked the border between Israel and Lebanon after Israel's withdrawal in May 2000, the Shaba Farms were said to be part of Syrian territory, and that Israel therefore did not need to withdraw from it in the absence of an agreement with the Syrians.
Lebanon did not accept the line of demarcation, and has since claimed that the Shaba Farms are in its territory. Hezbollah took advantage of the controversy to justify attacks on Israeli forces in the area. Government officials in Jerusalem said the UN cartographer handling the matter in recent months has determined that the area is indeed Lebanese, said the report.Haaretz also wrote that the officials added that Syria and Lebanon also agree that the area is Lebanese. Therefore, the UN has said there is no reason for Israel not to relinquish control over the area. Government officials are treating the matter with kid gloves out of concern that a public statement by the UN could lead to renewed conflict in the North. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon apparently transmitted the UN's conclusions in the meeting between himself and Olmert in New York last month, part of which was private. Another message is said to have come through the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East, Michael Williams, in a meeting with Livni a few weeks ago.
France and the United States are also ratcheting up their pressure on Israel, in the belief that a withdrawal from the Shaba Farms will strengthen the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will be coming to the region next week, pressed Olmert during the Second Lebanon War to withdraw from Shaba to bolster Siniora. Olmert refused, saying the move would be viewed by Hezbollah as a victory. Israel and the UN discussed Shaba ahead of the release two weeks ago of the periodic report on the implementation of Resolution 1701. The UN wanted to include a clause stating that Shaba was Lebanese and urging a solution. This would have been a departure from 1701, which states that the fate of the farms is to be resolved in the determination of the border between Lebanon and Syria. On Livni's instructions, senior Foreign Ministry officials pressured UN officials to remove the clause.
Blair seeks a broader role in Mideast peace process
Blair is envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators.
By Adam Entous, Reuters | July 11, 2007
JERUSALEM -- Tony Blair is seeking a broader role as Middle East envoy that would give him more direct involvement in peacemaking, expanding the limited mandate world powers gave him last month, diplomats said yesterday. Breaking News Alerts The former British prime minister tentatively plans to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank next week for the first time as envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations.
Senior Western and European diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said talks over Blair's role were still under way and that his visit could be postponed.
Blair's office declined to comment.
Blair met the Quartet envoys privately following their meeting in London yesterday. It was a positive, practical discussion, a Blair spokesman said. Blair also met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The spokesman said it was the first time they have met since Blair was appointed to his new role. Few details about Blair's plans have been made public since the Quartet appointed him on June 27, the day he stepped down after 10 years in power. But he has been holding discussions with world leaders about his role, which the Quartet defined as raising funds for the Palestinians, building their ruling institutions, and promoting their economic development.He is talking to leaders about what he wants to do. He has made clear the capacity-building mandate is not enough, said one senior Western diplomat familiar with the discussions. He doesn't see himself bound to that. He wants a political role. A senior European diplomat in Jerusalem involved in the discussions said Blair has delivered a similar message to Quartet members. As far as Blair is concerned, his mandate has not been finalized, the diplomat said. Despite some initial resistance within the EU to Blair's appointment, a senior EU diplomat said there was growing support within the bloc for giving him a freer hand politically. In its June 27 announcement, the Quartet did not spell out any political, mediating role for Blair in reviving the long-stalled peace process. Many Arab and European commentators seized on the omission as a sign that Blair would be relegated to a peripheral role, leaving any serious peacemaking to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other leaders.
It is unclear whether the Quartet would agree, either formally or informally, to an expanded role for Blair. Some European diplomats have raised questions about Blair's ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his support for the US-led invasion of Iraq and his close ties with President Bush. Other officials say support from Bush is Blair's strength in the job because of US influence over Israel.Globe Newspaper Company.
Pastor says 'hate crimes' bill symptom of nation's moral rot
Jim Brown OneNewsNow.com July 11, 2007
Conservative Christian activists have held a press conference on Capitol Hill to denounce a hate crimes bill in the Senate they believe threatens their religious freedom. One of those activists, a pastor from Texas, says the removal of God from public life in the U.S. has led the country into a two-fold crisis.Pastor Rusty Lee Thomas of Elijah Ministries warns a dangerous trend has corrupted American culture and seeks to criminalize and remove the freedoms of Bible-believing Christians. He joined representatives from a handful of Christian ministries who rallied at the Capitol against S.B. 1105, which would include crimes against homosexuals in federal hate crimes statutes. Thomas told the crowd that America's experiment with liberty is in jeopardy. In America, what we are seeing is homosexuality is being exalted, it is being celebrated, it is being protected, and it is being honored, he said, while Christianity is more and more being marginalized, punished, and persecuted in the United States of America.
Thomas is convinced that America is struggling from what he calls the moral rot from within and is in danger of the threat of terror from without. The Texas pastor asserts that America is denying the obvious link between the two. Yes, I dare state that there is a direct connection between the sins and crimes of abortion and the sodomite agenda and the Islamic terrorism that threatens our nation, Thomas shared. America is refusing to connect the dots, however, and we are living in a major state of denial and may I tell you, it is not good to live in this wretched state. The coalition of Christian activists traveled to Washington to petition senators to reconsider their support of S.B. 1105. A House version of the measure passed in May.
American Family News Network.
Europe, UN Let Israel Down in Lebanon
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 12,07 INN)
The UN has all but decided that the Shab'a Farms in the Mt. Hermon region between Israel, Lebanon and Syria should be assigned to Lebanon. Italy may have flubbed a chance to free the captive soldiers, and France has no demands on its Lebanese visitors. A United Nations team of map experts has all but decided that the Shab'a Farms in the Mt. Hermon region should be assigned to Lebanon and not Israel. Israel has long contended that when the original border was drawn between Lebanon and Syria after World War I, the area was placed on the Syrian side. This would render it currently under Israeli sovereignty, following Israel's capture and annexation of the Golan in 1967 and 1981, respectively. Lebanon, however, claims the area as its own - and the United Nations cartographic experts are apparently siding with the Lebanese. Israel persuaded the UN not to publicize this position, for fear that it would lead to renewed Hizbullah hostilities against Israel, but publication now appears inevitable within two months. Haaretz reports that Israel turned down a proposal to internationalize the Mt. Dov area, as it is known in Israel. Israel instead would rather officially retreat from the region within the framework of a new and improved Second Lebanon War ceasefire agreement.
Europe Lets Captives Down
Meanwhile, the two Israeli soldiers being held captive in Lebanon by Hizbullah - Eldad (ben Tova) Regev and Ehud (ben Malka) Goldwasser - are still in the news, though their release seems no closer than before. No word has been heard from them since their capture in June 2006. The captives' families were utterly frustrated to hear on Monday of a vague Italian report accusing the Italian government of missing a chance to free their sons. Le Stampa reported that the ex-chief of Italy's intelligence agency, Nicolai Polari, said the two Israelis could have been released, but that the Italian government did not act appropriately. The intelligence services were very close to a situation in which they could have freed the two, but it didn't happen, Polari said. Italian President Romano Prodi said he could not confirm the report, as he does not have the full details. I am not aware that we ever had knowledge of the whereabouts of the captives, he said. On Monday, family members of the captives asked the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to demand a sign of the captives' health from soon-to-be-visiting Lebanese Parliament members. The relatives said that this must be a pre-requisite for the visit later this month - but the French minister did not agree. Kouchner said he could not make such a condition, but promised to demand such information on the captives when the Lebanese arrive in his country. French officials do claim that the release of the Israeli captives is a high priority for them.
Vatican Expands Use of Prayer for Conversion of the Jews
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 11,07 INN)
International Jewish bodies have called upon the Vatican to clarify a new Papal edict expanding use of an old prayer that asks Divine help for Jews to overcome their blindness. Pope Benedict XVI issued a directive last week, authorizing expanded use of a prayer service known as the Tridentine Mass. The phrase perfidious Jews was removed from the liturgy in question by Pope John XXIII in 1959, such that the anti-Semitism that accompanied it for centuries is not self-evident. However, the prayer, recited on Good Friday, still includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, asking Divine help in removing the veil from their hearts and overcoming their blindness.How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?
Jews have responded with great disappointment. The leadership of IJCIC (International Jewish Committee for Inter-Religious Consultations) has sent an urgent letter to the Cardinal responsible for Catholic-Jewish relations, asking for clarification regarding the decision. The letter noted the profound concern within Jewish circles that have greeted this decision, adding that it can be construed to have turned back the clock on the improvements made in Jewish-Catholic relations since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's. French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard said on Saturday that the prayer could be changed if it caused difficulties with Jews.
The head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said the Papal decision was a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations. He told the Catholic News Service, They understand that perfidious was offensive, but how is this any less offensive? Foxman noted that the previous pope, John Paul II, had been very courageous to bring about reconciliation and repair 2,000 years of terrible history in terms of understanding Jews, calling Jews the elder brothers of Christianity... How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?
ONCE AGAIN THE BIBLE PROOVES TRUTH THAT THESE PEOPLE REALLY EXIST, NOT NO MYTHS. SO IF THESE PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE WERE LITERAL WE BETTER BELIEVE THE PROPHECIES WILL BE COMING TO PASS LITERALLY, BECAUSE THEY ARE TO.
Babylonian King's Eunuch Really Existed!
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 12,07 INN)
A routine research visit to the British Museum nets a landmark archaeological discovery and proof of the truth of the Bible.British newspapers report that ancient Babylonian expert Dr. Michael Jursa of Vienna discovered a small clay tablet that provides proof of the Bible's veracity. Though the tablet was unearthed near Baghdad in 1920, only last week was it deciphered for the first time, by Dr. Jursa. Upon reading the tablet, which records a donation of gold by the chief eunuch of King Nebuchadnezzar, a man named Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, Jursa suddenly realized that the name sounded familiar. He quickly consulted Jeremiah 39, where he found the man's name listed as one of Nebuchadnezzar's top ministers who took part in the destruction of the First Holy Temple 2,500 years ago. The Biblical account, however, has his named spelled slightly differently: (Samgar) Nevo Sarsekim.
Irving Finkel, assistant keeper in the British Museum's Middle East Department, was very excited: This is a fantastic discovery, he told The Telegraph, a world-class find. If Nevo-Sarsekim existed, [then] which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.Speaking with The Times, Finkel said, A mundane commercial transaction takes its place as a primary witness to one of the turning points in Old Testament history. This is a tablet that deserves to be famous.Dr. Jursa, associate professor at the University of Vienna, said, It’s very exciting and very surprising. Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date, is quite extraordinary.
Dr. Jursa has been visiting the museum for over 15 years to study a collection of more than 100,000 inscribed tablets. Reading and piecing together fragments is painstaking work, The Times reports, and more than half are yet to be published.
The full translation of the tablet, as provided in The Telegraph, reads: [Regarding] 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
Not Altogether Invented
On hearing of the discovery, Geza Vermes, the eminent emeritus professor of Jewish studies at the University of Oxford, said it shows that the Biblical story is not altogether invented.The reactions of Vermes and Finkel indicate that the discovery has not yet totally shaken the core faith of some who believe that the Bible is not true. The Bible is merely not altogether invented, one says, and who knows how many other Old Testament figures may have existed? However, many websites provide information regarding the truth of the Torah.
The Israeli left unmasked
July 11, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern - By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – Much has been said here and abroad about controversial statements made in recent weeks by a yarmulke-wearing, prominent international leftist Jewish leader and senior activist of Israel's peace camp who called on Israel to cease being a Jewish state and instead model itself after Europe. But I think most people are missing the point. Avraham Burg, once an important Knesset member in Israel's leftist Labor party, recently published a book, Defeating Hitler, in which he repeatedly compared various Israeli Jewish policies with that of Nazism. To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite, said Burg, who once was Israel's Knesset speaker and was considered by some a hopeful for prime minister. Burg, a scion of one of Israel's founding families, also served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, both of which are major Jewish organizations.
Burg said Israel's Law of Return, which allows all Jews seeking sanctuary in Israel to become citizens, is similar to Nazi rule, even though it was created in response to genocidal Nazi crimes. The law helped Jews escape persecution in countries such as Germany, Russia and Yemen. The Law of Return is an apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity, Burg said. He compelled Israelis to obtain foreign passports. He said Israel should model itself after the European Union and become a multinational state, and he urged the Israeli government to allow the EU more influence in its affairs. The leftist Israeli leader said Israel should learn from the assimilation and inter-marriage of Jews in the U.S., where Jewish individuals marrying non-Jews has become a major phenomenon.
Burg criticized what he called Israelis' closed conception of religion, which he stated is orthodox, not humanist and not universal. He said other alternatives to Judaism must be offered.
Burg now is a citizen of France. He retired from Israeli politics and departed Israel in shame after it was disclosed he may have engaged in election corruption and vote tampering while trying to become chairman of the Labor party. He also was accused of illicit business practices. He is still active as a leader in Israel's peace camp, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli evacuations of the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Burg has been condemned by many politicians and commentators here and abroad as a self-hating Jew who is encouraging anti-Semitism. One Knesset member called for Burg to be denied a burial plot in Israel's national cemetery reserved for the country's leaders. But what many seem to be missing is that Burg's views are not renegade. They are representative of the Israeli left. Burg's reasoning is the same as those petitioning for more EU control of Israel's affairs and for evacuations from biblical Jewish territories and holy sites. Burg comes from the school of people like Geneva Initiative leader Yossi Beilin, Labor Chairman Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and their ideological godfather and mentor, Shimon Peres, who officially becomes Israeli president later this week. So many around the world wrongly believe the conflict in Israel is about territory. They think the Israeli left mainly wants to cede land to the Palestinians while the right stands against land giveaways.
In actuality, the main Israeli political battle is between a left that wants Israel to be a secular, European-like state, and the religious right, which sees Israel as a Jewish country defined by national Zionism. It's a battle that will ultimately determine the future of Israel. Growing up in a Jewish community in the United States, I was fortunate enough not to have experienced the kind of anti-Semitism that permeates places like France and, increasingly, the UK. But European anti-Semitism pales in comparison to its venomous counterparts in Israel. That's right, Israel. It wasn't until I moved here to open WND's Jerusalem bureau in February 2005 that I fully understood what anti-Semitism is. The hatred many secular, leftist Israelis feel for the religious is so deep I cannot do it justice with words. The secular leftist media routinely demonize the religious. I've seen the way secular Jewish security forces brutally squash legal religious Jewish protests at the direction of leftist politicians. I've borne witness the past few years to the enactment of institutional anti-Semitic laws, such as deeming religious Jewish construction in strategic territory illegal while ignoring rampant illegal Arab building; or denying Jews the right to pray at or even visit Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, during most hours of the day.
This great divide extends itself to the streets. Religious and secular cities are mostly separated. Just try talking to a secular leftist Jew in Tel Aviv about religion and God and watch his or her face wither in anger. But many Israeli leftists politicians and activists are more enterprising than the average leftist Israeli. They disguise their hatred of Judaism with specific political policies. Just like Islamic terrorists who claim their attacks are aimed at ending America's military presence in the Middle East or our support for Israel when the jihadists' real goal is worldwide domination of Islam, leftist Israeli leaders state their aim is to create a Palestinian state when their true intention is the establishment of a secular Israeli country by stabbing at the lifeline of religious Zionism with evacuations of the West Bank – the biblical heartland and center of the religious Zionists movement – and with the division of religious Jerusalem and stationing of foreign troops on Israel's borders.
Already, the religious Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip were uprooted and international forces were deployed along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Burg is not a maverick. He is a leftist politician who knows he has no chance at being re-elected, so he was able to take off his mask and expose his true beliefs and the real nature of Israel's internal war. And he didn't blurt these things out during a spontaneous interview; he detailed his views in a book he said took him three years to compose.
Some believe Burg could have become Israel's prime minister. What if he had achieved Israel's highest office before he let loose his real beliefs? Why isn't anyone asking whether Israel's current prime minister, who seeks to evacuate the Jewish West Bank and sections of Jerusalem, shares Burg's anti-Jewish views? What about Ehud Barak, who as prime minister in 2000 announced at Camp David he was ready to cede the Temple Mount and who offered PLO leader Yasser Arafat a state within rocket range of Israel's population centers? And what about all the Israeli leftist politicians who regularly petition for placing EU or U.N. troops in Gaza or the West Bank?
Sure, some Israeli leftist politicians, including Beilin and some from Olmert's party, condemned Burg, but I believe they did so because they were angry at him for exposing them. The admitted anti-Jewish Burg once held some of the most prestigious leadership positions in world Jewry. Why isn't anyone questioning whether top leaders of Jewish organizations now share his beliefs? Perhaps Burg's revelations about the left help explain why, as I reported, the leaders of the Jewish National Fund, which collects hundreds of millions of dollars in Jewish donor funds for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement, has been ceding Jewish-owned properties to Arabs in key sections of Jerusalem and other Israeli cities designated by the left for evacuation. The JNF, which proudly posts pictures of leftist leader Peres on its newspaper advertisements, has been allowing Arab squatters to live completely illegally on millions of dollars worth of Jewish-owned land purchased for Jewish settlement.
Perhaps Burg's admissions might also help explain why, as I reported, mainstream U.S. Jewish groups, including the leadership of United Jewish Communities, one of the most financially endowed Jewish organizations on the planet, neglected the plight of religious Jewish refugees evacuated from Gaza in 2005 who didn't receive most compensation promised to them by the Israeli government. The uprooted national religious Gaza Jews still live in terrible conditions in refugee camps and suffer from low employment and a host of other problems. The UJC largely ignored the Gaza Jews while instead funding initiatives with Jewish money to aid Israeli Arabs. The esteemed Jewish organization finally started helping a bit after they were exposed and angry Jewish donors demanded action to help the Jews of Gaza. So, while many are resoundingly condemning Burg for his anti-Jewish views, I thank him for unmasking the true beliefs of the Israeli left. Perhaps now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be understood in its proper context.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
ARCADI GAYDAMAK MAKES HIS MOVE
Moshe Feiglin Looks Forward to Head-to-Head Primary vs Benjamin Netanyahu
Jerusalem, July 9, 2007...
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has dropped out of the Likud primary upon learning that he was trailing Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin in a recent poll. This result leaves Moshe Feiglin and Benjamin Netanyahu as the sole contenders vying for the right to lead the Opposition and then to run for Prime Minister from the Likud party. According to the Jerusalem Post July 9 edition, Likud activists advised Shalom over the weekend not to run after Israel Radio broadcast a Brain Base Institute poll that predicted 78% of Likud members would vote for Netanyahu, 14% for Feiglin and just 8% for Shalom. According to Israel National News (Arutz-7), Feiglin could therefore be the true explanation for Shalom's sudden self-removal from the race. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Mr. Feiglin agreed with this explanation. Mr. Feiglin stated that Manhigut Yehudit is satisfied with the September 3 date for the primary:
We welcome the primary as a golden opportunity to achieve the leadership position in the Likud and, no less important, to get our message of faith-based leadership into every home in Israel ... The State of Israel cannot continue to exist for much longer without belief-based leadership. Manhigut Yehudit is the largest faction inside the Likud party, and strives to Turn the State of the Jews into The Jewish State. Am Yisrael Chai.
Arcadi Gaydamak Makes His Move
by Hana Levi Julian (JULY 9,07 INN)
Gaydamak still wants to be Mayor of Jerusalem, and still plans to run for that position in the next election. Arcadi Gaydamak is ending his civilian status on Monday and will officially become a politician, with his signature on the document registering his new Social Justice Party. After a year in which he spent millions of dollars on projects to help Israeli refugees from the Second Lebanon War as well as those fleeing the onslaught of rocket attacks from Gaza terrorists in the south, Gaydamak will take his activities into a new arena. The Russian-born Israeli billionaire announced he will register the new political party under his Hebrew name, Aryeh Bar Lev and become its chairman. However, he said, he does not intend to run for a seat in the Knesset. Gaydamak still wants to be Mayor of Jerusalem, and still plans to run for that position in the next election.
He will, however, run candidates from his new party for the Knesset and positions in the government, including the Prime Minister’s seat. Gaydamak is hoping to win 20 Knesset seats with the party’s first foray into the political arena. The first official meeting of the Social Justice Party is slated to be held on Thursday in Jerusalem . Thus far, the billionaire says he can count some 1,400 supporters for the new party, which spokesman David Nerodetsky, an attorney, characterizes as a socio-economic party. The party platform states that it will work to preserve Israel ’s democratic values, promote equality between all citizens and protect human dignity and freedom. Social Justice will also support the right to vote for Israelis living abroad and push for the establishment of an enlightened welfare state, while granting direct aid to the weaker sectors, among other goals. The Social Justice charter, however, reflects a less than democratic character, with Gaydamak retaining complete control of the party. The business mogul will be the final authority to decide who will run as candidates and for which positions, as well as whether the party will join or abandon a government coalition.
Temple Awareness: A Summer of Seminars and Tours
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 10,07)
IsraelNN.com) The Holy Temple is in with tours, hikes and seminars in and around Jerusalem in the coming days and weeks. As Jews around the world commemorate the Three Weeks of Mourning for the Holy Temples beginning last Tuesday and ending on Tisha B'Av (July 24), Jews in Israel embark on a marathon of Temple-related studies and activities. A partial list: Monday, July 16 - Sessions at the Kohen-Levi Conference at HaKotel Hall in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. 11 AM - 7 PM, payment of 50 shekels at the door.
Tuesday, July 17 A Day of the Temple Seminar with the Temple Institute: Southern Wall excavations, Davidson Center presentation, Temple stairway and gates, special effects and period actors, Temple vessels exhibition, in-depth lecture, presentation, and special events, 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM, 100 shekels. via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110. Wednesday, July 18 In the Footsteps of the Kohanim and Leviyim in and around Old Jerusalem, Herodian Quarter, 2nd Temple priestly mansions, The Menorah, Cardo, Jewish Quarter, Closest gates of the Temple Mount, Kotel HaKatan (Small Wall), Bus to Mt. of Olives, spectacular Temple Mount view, Shimon HaTzaddik tomb, and View of Nov, the city of Kohanim. 10 AM - 4 PM, 60 shekels via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110. Thursday, July 19 In the Footsteps of the Kohanim and Leviyim, bus tour to Shilo, site of the Tabernacle, Eli HaKohen, and Shmuel HaNavi. Then to Modiin area, Beit Choron, where the Maccabees defeated the Greeks. Vista from Baal Chatzor, Rosh Chodesh torches, protected bus. 10 AM - 5 PM, 150 shekels. via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110.
July 9-12 Temple Institute in Jerusalem - four days of tours and lectures. Topics include: The commandment to build the Holy Temple today (Rabbi Yisrael Ariel); Daily Sacrifice, Temple Vessels and Priestly Garments; Renewal of Temple Service Today; Tour in the Davidson Center at the Southern Wall; the Red Heifer (Rabbi Chaim Richman); Festivals in the Temple; Pilgrims in Jerusalem; and more. tel: 02-6264545, 200 shekels each day, 700 shekels for entire program.
July 16-23 Between Destruction and Construction Tours in and around Jerusalem, sponsored by the Jewish Community of the City of David - 45 shekels each, seven tours for the price of six:
Tour 1 - From the Assyrian Siege to the Babylonian Destruction: City of David, Chizikiyahu's Tunnel, and other eastern Jerusalem sites
Tour 2 - Jerusalem During the Second Temple Period: Nechemiah's Wall, the graves of the Dynasty of David, the Shiloach Pool, and new discoveries
Tour 3 - Following the Pilgrims of the Middle Ages - The gravesites of Huldah, Avshalom, Zechariah, and Rav Ovadiah of Bartinura, and the Rehavam Observation Point
Tour 4 - Famous figures buried on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount
Tour 5 - Sifting through Temple Mount remains with an archaeologist
Tour 6 - The Jewish Quarter in 1948 - The Zion Gate, Street of the Jews, the Hurva Synagogue, Batei Machseh, and more
Tour 7 - The Battles to Liberate Jerusalem in 1967 - Lions Gate, the Western Wall, the Kidron Bridge, and more
News | 10.07.2007 | 17:00 UTC
Vatican upsets Protestant churches
The Vatican has upset other Christian faiths by claiming they are not full churches of Jesus Christ and that Roman Catholicism has primacy. Protestant leaders, including Germany's Bishop Wolfgang Huber, say the move undermines ecumenical relations between faiths. The Vatican's 16-page text, formulated by its doctrinal congregation and ratified by Pope Benedict, says erroneous interpretions have arisen since the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. The document is the second reaffirmation of Catholic tradition since Saturday when the Pope restored mass in Latin alongside modern liturgy.
Jews for Jesus sues New York township over free-speech rights
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow.com - July 10, 2007
The worldwide ministry Jews for Jesus recently filed a lawsuit against the Long Island, New York, community of Oyster Bay for violating the free-speech rights of one of its evangelists.
As part of Jews for Jesus Behold Your God campaign last summer, Susan Mendelson attempted to distribute gospel tracts and talk to people about Jesus in a park in the township of Oyster Bay. But Mendelson says police repeatedly escorted her out of the park and eventually ticketed her for distributing leaflets at a public event. In April, a Nassau County judge threw out the citation, ruling it violated Mendelson's constitutional rights.
Jews of Jesus associate executive director Susan Perlman says her organization filed suit against Oyster Bay on June 22 to prevent the city from issuing more citations in the future. The local Oyster Bay township did not feel we had a right to be handing out our gospel tracts and talking to individuals in that town, she explains. We, of course, contested that; and through a series of legal decisions we are moving ahead and pretty much exercising our First Amendment rights there. Perlman acknowledges that for evangelistic ministries like Jews for Jesus, confrontation comes with the territory. One of the problems with regard to being an upfront evangelistic ministry that does direct evangelism is that we're going to come across local rules that are less than friendly, she points out; and unless we stand up to them ... unless we take them back into the courts, we're going to have our rights just trampled on.
She sees irony in having to sue to get a guaranteed, constitutional right recognized at this time of year. I mean, here we've just celebrated the independence of our nation, she notes, and we're still having to fight for some of those same liberties.
The Jews for Jesus spokeswoman says Oyster Bay has now come up with an unacceptable new ordinance, requiring a five-day waiting period in order to receive a permit to exercise their free-speech rights. She says the ministry must now evaluate how the new ordinance will affect their original suit. American Family News Network
Canada may renew funding flow to Palestinian authority during Abdullah visit
Mon Jul 9, 5:41 PM
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper may use the opportunity of a visit by the king of Jordan to announce renewed funding to the Palestinian Authority, a government source told The Canadian Press. King Abdullah will meet with Harper while visiting Ottawa on Thursday and Friday. The meeting comes at yet another critical juncture in Middle East politics. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior government official said Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay signalled early on that Canada would maintain its humanitarian obligations in the Middle East but it would not submit to pressure to assist Hamas or terror organizations. In one of his first acts as prime minister, Harper cut off funding to the authority after Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group, was elected to power in Gaza early in 2006. That aid was worth $35 million in 2005. President Mahmoud Abbas recently fired the Islamic militants from the government and formed a new cabinet after bloody fighting between Hamas and Abbas supporters in Gaza.
Jordan is one of the few Arab countries that officially recognizes Israel and its leader has been trying to help garner support for Abbas since he dismissed Ismail Haniya as prime minister after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. King Abdullah has been trying to rally international support for Hamas since then in conjunction with a new peace initiative in the region. The Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers will travel to Jerusalem on Thursday to represent the Arab League in talks about the Arab peace plan. The plan would trade full Arab recognition of Israel for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the creation of a Palestinian state. Wretched humanitarian conditions are prevalent in the West Bank and Gaza. The Bush administration has renewed funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that helps Palestinian refugees in Gaza, to the World Food Program and to other relief agencies that ship food, medicine and other necessities into the increasingly isolated territory. Public workers in the territories have received a fraction of their salaries since Hamas won democratic elections last year. That victory prompted governments around the world, including Canada, to cut direct financing of the Palestinian government.
Abbas's Western-backed emergency government, which rules from Ramallah in the West Bank, paid full salaries last week to most of the Authority's employees for the first time in more than a year Palestinians turned their backs on Abbas and his Fatah party for its corruption and bumbling style of governing.
Jerusalem, July 9, 2007...
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has dropped out of the Likud primary upon learning that he was trailing Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin in a recent poll. This result leaves Moshe Feiglin and Benjamin Netanyahu as the sole contenders vying for the right to lead the Opposition and then to run for Prime Minister from the Likud party. According to the Jerusalem Post July 9 edition, Likud activists advised Shalom over the weekend not to run after Israel Radio broadcast a Brain Base Institute poll that predicted 78% of Likud members would vote for Netanyahu, 14% for Feiglin and just 8% for Shalom. According to Israel National News (Arutz-7), Feiglin could therefore be the true explanation for Shalom's sudden self-removal from the race. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Mr. Feiglin agreed with this explanation. Mr. Feiglin stated that Manhigut Yehudit is satisfied with the September 3 date for the primary:
We welcome the primary as a golden opportunity to achieve the leadership position in the Likud and, no less important, to get our message of faith-based leadership into every home in Israel ... The State of Israel cannot continue to exist for much longer without belief-based leadership. Manhigut Yehudit is the largest faction inside the Likud party, and strives to Turn the State of the Jews into The Jewish State. Am Yisrael Chai.
Arcadi Gaydamak Makes His Move
by Hana Levi Julian (JULY 9,07 INN)
Gaydamak still wants to be Mayor of Jerusalem, and still plans to run for that position in the next election. Arcadi Gaydamak is ending his civilian status on Monday and will officially become a politician, with his signature on the document registering his new Social Justice Party. After a year in which he spent millions of dollars on projects to help Israeli refugees from the Second Lebanon War as well as those fleeing the onslaught of rocket attacks from Gaza terrorists in the south, Gaydamak will take his activities into a new arena. The Russian-born Israeli billionaire announced he will register the new political party under his Hebrew name, Aryeh Bar Lev and become its chairman. However, he said, he does not intend to run for a seat in the Knesset. Gaydamak still wants to be Mayor of Jerusalem, and still plans to run for that position in the next election.
He will, however, run candidates from his new party for the Knesset and positions in the government, including the Prime Minister’s seat. Gaydamak is hoping to win 20 Knesset seats with the party’s first foray into the political arena. The first official meeting of the Social Justice Party is slated to be held on Thursday in Jerusalem . Thus far, the billionaire says he can count some 1,400 supporters for the new party, which spokesman David Nerodetsky, an attorney, characterizes as a socio-economic party. The party platform states that it will work to preserve Israel ’s democratic values, promote equality between all citizens and protect human dignity and freedom. Social Justice will also support the right to vote for Israelis living abroad and push for the establishment of an enlightened welfare state, while granting direct aid to the weaker sectors, among other goals. The Social Justice charter, however, reflects a less than democratic character, with Gaydamak retaining complete control of the party. The business mogul will be the final authority to decide who will run as candidates and for which positions, as well as whether the party will join or abandon a government coalition.
Temple Awareness: A Summer of Seminars and Tours
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 10,07)
IsraelNN.com) The Holy Temple is in with tours, hikes and seminars in and around Jerusalem in the coming days and weeks. As Jews around the world commemorate the Three Weeks of Mourning for the Holy Temples beginning last Tuesday and ending on Tisha B'Av (July 24), Jews in Israel embark on a marathon of Temple-related studies and activities. A partial list: Monday, July 16 - Sessions at the Kohen-Levi Conference at HaKotel Hall in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. 11 AM - 7 PM, payment of 50 shekels at the door.
Tuesday, July 17 A Day of the Temple Seminar with the Temple Institute: Southern Wall excavations, Davidson Center presentation, Temple stairway and gates, special effects and period actors, Temple vessels exhibition, in-depth lecture, presentation, and special events, 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM, 100 shekels. via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110. Wednesday, July 18 In the Footsteps of the Kohanim and Leviyim in and around Old Jerusalem, Herodian Quarter, 2nd Temple priestly mansions, The Menorah, Cardo, Jewish Quarter, Closest gates of the Temple Mount, Kotel HaKatan (Small Wall), Bus to Mt. of Olives, spectacular Temple Mount view, Shimon HaTzaddik tomb, and View of Nov, the city of Kohanim. 10 AM - 4 PM, 60 shekels via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110. Thursday, July 19 In the Footsteps of the Kohanim and Leviyim, bus tour to Shilo, site of the Tabernacle, Eli HaKohen, and Shmuel HaNavi. Then to Modiin area, Beit Choron, where the Maccabees defeated the Greeks. Vista from Baal Chatzor, Rosh Chodesh torches, protected bus. 10 AM - 5 PM, 150 shekels. via the OU Israel Center, tel 02-560-9110.
July 9-12 Temple Institute in Jerusalem - four days of tours and lectures. Topics include: The commandment to build the Holy Temple today (Rabbi Yisrael Ariel); Daily Sacrifice, Temple Vessels and Priestly Garments; Renewal of Temple Service Today; Tour in the Davidson Center at the Southern Wall; the Red Heifer (Rabbi Chaim Richman); Festivals in the Temple; Pilgrims in Jerusalem; and more. tel: 02-6264545, 200 shekels each day, 700 shekels for entire program.
July 16-23 Between Destruction and Construction Tours in and around Jerusalem, sponsored by the Jewish Community of the City of David - 45 shekels each, seven tours for the price of six:
Tour 1 - From the Assyrian Siege to the Babylonian Destruction: City of David, Chizikiyahu's Tunnel, and other eastern Jerusalem sites
Tour 2 - Jerusalem During the Second Temple Period: Nechemiah's Wall, the graves of the Dynasty of David, the Shiloach Pool, and new discoveries
Tour 3 - Following the Pilgrims of the Middle Ages - The gravesites of Huldah, Avshalom, Zechariah, and Rav Ovadiah of Bartinura, and the Rehavam Observation Point
Tour 4 - Famous figures buried on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount
Tour 5 - Sifting through Temple Mount remains with an archaeologist
Tour 6 - The Jewish Quarter in 1948 - The Zion Gate, Street of the Jews, the Hurva Synagogue, Batei Machseh, and more
Tour 7 - The Battles to Liberate Jerusalem in 1967 - Lions Gate, the Western Wall, the Kidron Bridge, and more
News | 10.07.2007 | 17:00 UTC
Vatican upsets Protestant churches
The Vatican has upset other Christian faiths by claiming they are not full churches of Jesus Christ and that Roman Catholicism has primacy. Protestant leaders, including Germany's Bishop Wolfgang Huber, say the move undermines ecumenical relations between faiths. The Vatican's 16-page text, formulated by its doctrinal congregation and ratified by Pope Benedict, says erroneous interpretions have arisen since the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. The document is the second reaffirmation of Catholic tradition since Saturday when the Pope restored mass in Latin alongside modern liturgy.
Jews for Jesus sues New York township over free-speech rights
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow.com - July 10, 2007
The worldwide ministry Jews for Jesus recently filed a lawsuit against the Long Island, New York, community of Oyster Bay for violating the free-speech rights of one of its evangelists.
As part of Jews for Jesus Behold Your God campaign last summer, Susan Mendelson attempted to distribute gospel tracts and talk to people about Jesus in a park in the township of Oyster Bay. But Mendelson says police repeatedly escorted her out of the park and eventually ticketed her for distributing leaflets at a public event. In April, a Nassau County judge threw out the citation, ruling it violated Mendelson's constitutional rights.
Jews of Jesus associate executive director Susan Perlman says her organization filed suit against Oyster Bay on June 22 to prevent the city from issuing more citations in the future. The local Oyster Bay township did not feel we had a right to be handing out our gospel tracts and talking to individuals in that town, she explains. We, of course, contested that; and through a series of legal decisions we are moving ahead and pretty much exercising our First Amendment rights there. Perlman acknowledges that for evangelistic ministries like Jews for Jesus, confrontation comes with the territory. One of the problems with regard to being an upfront evangelistic ministry that does direct evangelism is that we're going to come across local rules that are less than friendly, she points out; and unless we stand up to them ... unless we take them back into the courts, we're going to have our rights just trampled on.
She sees irony in having to sue to get a guaranteed, constitutional right recognized at this time of year. I mean, here we've just celebrated the independence of our nation, she notes, and we're still having to fight for some of those same liberties.
The Jews for Jesus spokeswoman says Oyster Bay has now come up with an unacceptable new ordinance, requiring a five-day waiting period in order to receive a permit to exercise their free-speech rights. She says the ministry must now evaluate how the new ordinance will affect their original suit. American Family News Network
Canada may renew funding flow to Palestinian authority during Abdullah visit
Mon Jul 9, 5:41 PM
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper may use the opportunity of a visit by the king of Jordan to announce renewed funding to the Palestinian Authority, a government source told The Canadian Press. King Abdullah will meet with Harper while visiting Ottawa on Thursday and Friday. The meeting comes at yet another critical juncture in Middle East politics. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior government official said Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay signalled early on that Canada would maintain its humanitarian obligations in the Middle East but it would not submit to pressure to assist Hamas or terror organizations. In one of his first acts as prime minister, Harper cut off funding to the authority after Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group, was elected to power in Gaza early in 2006. That aid was worth $35 million in 2005. President Mahmoud Abbas recently fired the Islamic militants from the government and formed a new cabinet after bloody fighting between Hamas and Abbas supporters in Gaza.
Jordan is one of the few Arab countries that officially recognizes Israel and its leader has been trying to help garner support for Abbas since he dismissed Ismail Haniya as prime minister after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. King Abdullah has been trying to rally international support for Hamas since then in conjunction with a new peace initiative in the region. The Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers will travel to Jerusalem on Thursday to represent the Arab League in talks about the Arab peace plan. The plan would trade full Arab recognition of Israel for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the creation of a Palestinian state. Wretched humanitarian conditions are prevalent in the West Bank and Gaza. The Bush administration has renewed funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that helps Palestinian refugees in Gaza, to the World Food Program and to other relief agencies that ship food, medicine and other necessities into the increasingly isolated territory. Public workers in the territories have received a fraction of their salaries since Hamas won democratic elections last year. That victory prompted governments around the world, including Canada, to cut direct financing of the Palestinian government.
Abbas's Western-backed emergency government, which rules from Ramallah in the West Bank, paid full salaries last week to most of the Authority's employees for the first time in more than a year Palestinians turned their backs on Abbas and his Fatah party for its corruption and bumbling style of governing.
Monday, July 09, 2007
EU APPROACH TO ISLAM
Strong earthquake strikes Mexico
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 has struck southern Mexico.
The quake hit the southern state of Chiapas just after 2000 (0100GMT Friday) causing a widespread power cut and panic among residents. The United States Geological Survey says the epicentre was around 40 km (25 miles) from the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez. Mexican television says no major damage or injuries have been reported so far, and that some buildings were evacuated. Electricity and mobile telephone services were knocked out for about 10 minutes in Tuxtla Gutierrez, as well as other areas near the border with Guatemala.
Minor injuries
In the centre of the capital, thousands of people ran out of their homes and offices as the ground trembled, windows were broken and decorative ceilings fell, causing minor injuries. Authorities in three states ordered evacuations of buildings and businesses. Emergency services in Chiapas said they were sweeping the area to look for damage around the epicentre, close to the border with the neighbouring state of Oaxaca. Chiapas is Mexico's main coffee growing region and was badly hit by landslides and flooding following Hurricane Stan in 2005.
Brussels questions EU capitals over approach to Islam
06.07.2007 - 17:52 CET | By Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Following failed car bomb attacks at two UK airports leading to the arrest of Muslim suspects, Brussels is pooling ideas on how to tackle radical Islam and create a more tolerant European branch of the faith. EU home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini is sending out an 18 question survey seen by EUobserver asking EU capitals how they address violent radicalisation, mainly related to an abusive interpretation of Islam. Unfortunately, one of the great religions of the world Islam is being abused to foster a new totalitarian ideology that challenges our way of life, Mr Frattini told journalists earlier this week (3 July).
We have to find out what member states are doing here, to see how to learn from one another namely, to protect the vast majority of Muslims who deplore this perversion of their religion, he added. According to Brussels, the questionnaire is particularly designed to bring more clarity and transparency to mosques on EU territory including how they are financed as well as how their imams are recruited and trained. Those propagating violent extremist ideologies of some kind may try to influence education establishments, the paper notes, asking EU states what policies or practical initiatives have you adopted in order to ensure that education establishments are not vulnerable to this type of influence?. It continues by asking what policies are adopted on funding and supervision of religious schools, as well as what requirements are set by the state on the functions of a religious leader.It also asks how EU member states are trying to diminish the threat of a radical having access to any form of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear scientific knowledge. EU states are expected to reply by the end of September. The answers will then feed into a commission document, due for publication in 2008, that will present an EU-wide strategy on violent radicatization.
European Islam
In addition, Mr Frattini is set to pursue and further the idea of establishing a so-called European Islam or Islam de l'Europe something floated by France's then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006. That is quite difficult and ambitious, but the time has come to put on the table a political discussion to protect the large majority of Muslims living here peacefully who deplore and fight against radicalisation and the distortion of Islam for purposes of violence and hatred, Mr Frattini said. The concept is to have Islam fully and unambiguously respecting values and sanctity of life cherished in Europe, Mr Frattini's spokesperson said on the idea, referring to everything mentioned in the Charter of Fundamental Rights document laying out the economic, social and civic rights of EU citizens.
Mosque reality
Meanwhile, a BBC commissioned report has unveiled that only eight percent of imams preaching in British mosques were born in the UK, while only six percent of them speak English as a first language. Fifty percent of Muslim preachers come from Pakistan, twenty percent from Bangladesh and fifteen percent from India. The study reveals a deeply conservative body of individuals maintaining traditional languages, types of qualification and still largely recruited from the place of origin, the report's author, professor Ron Geaves, was cited as saying by the BBC.In addition, the study has shown that while the imams are well-qualified in the traditional Islamic curriculum, they lack the skills to adapt to modern society. Although there are social religious and political reasons that drive a need to transform the Imamate to a 21st century British context there is as yet little sign of the mosque imams or their employers being ready to professionalise, Mr Geaves said.
Moshe Feiglin Climbs into 2nd Place in the Likud Primary
Jerusalem, July 6, 2007 …Following is a statement issued by Moshe Feiglin, President of Manhigut Yehudit, the largest faction inside the Likud party in Israel, on the results of a recent Israel Radio poll: According to the Israel Radio Channel 2 poll results released on July 5, 2007, Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin has pulled into the second place position ahead of former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in the Likud primary for the party Chairmanship by a score of 14% to 8%. The winner of this election gains the right to run for the office of Prime Minister of the State of Israel from the Likud party. In the last primary in 2005, the first such poll showed Mr. Feiglin with 3% of the vote and he finished with 14%. If this trend continues in the current race, Moshe Feiglin will emerge victorious over the current leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu continues to cling to the now-disgraced logic of the Oslo Accords and Israeli retreat. He clings to the dream of strengthening the moderate PLO whose ruling body was founded by Adolf Hitler’s close associate in fomenting the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem and Yasser Arafat’s mentor, Hajj Amin al Husseini in order to have yet another terror state created in the Biblical Heartland of the Jewish People, in what is commonly known as the West Bank.
Mr. Netanyahu’s insane and reckless policies will surely continue the proven formula that shows that the more land Israel gives away, the more Jews die. Moshe Feiglin's belief-based approach is the ONLY alternative leadership being presented to the Israeli public which opposes these failed policies. His future victory will provide new hope to Jews worldwide. Manhigut Yehudit is the largest faction inside the Likud party, and strives to Turn the State of the Jews into The Jewish State. Am Yisrael Chai.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Jewish leader: Israel should not be state for Jews, Former Knesset member urges Israelis to obtain foreign passports - July 6, 2007 - by Aaron Klein WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – A former Knesset member, international leftist Jewish leader and senior activist of Israel's peace camp, which seeks Israeli retreats from strategic territory, wants Israel to cease being a Jewish state and encourages all Israelis to obtain foreign passports. To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite, said Avraham Burg, an activist in the Peace Now movement and a former Knesset member from Israel's leftist Labor party. Burg, speaking to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, also served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, both of which are major Jewish organizations. The leftist Israeli leader said Israel should learn from the assimilation and inter-marriage of Jews in the U.S., where Jewish individuals marrying non-Jews has become a major phenomenon.
Just as there was something astonishing about German Jewry, in America, too, they created the potential for something astonishing. They created a situation in which the goy (non-Jew) can be my father and my mother and my son and my partner, Burg said. The goy (in America) is not hostile but embracing. And as a result, what emerges is a Jewish experience of integration, not separation. Burg criticized what he called Israelis' closed conception of religion, which he stated is orthodox, not humanist and not universal. He said other alternatives to Judaism must be offered.
Burg went on to call for the abrogation of Israel's Law of Return, which allows all Jews seeking sanctuary in Israel to become citizens. The law helped Jews facing persecution in countries such as Germany, Russia and Yemen. Burg compared the Law of Return, which singles out Jews, to rule under Nazi Germany.
The Law of Return is an apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity. Burg then compelled Israelis to follow in his footsteps and obtain foreign passports. Burg left Israeli politics in 2004 and now is a citizen of France. He is still active as a leader in Israel's peace camp, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli evacuations of the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Israel retreated from Gaza in 2005. Since then, Hamas took over Gaza and rockets have been regularly fired from the territory into nearby Jewish population centers. The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory bordering Syria and Lebanon and looking down on Israeli population centers. The Heights was twice used by Damascus to launch invasions into the Jewish state. The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport.
EU to cut down mission at Gaza-Egypt border
07 Jul 2007 11:21:36 GMT Source: Reuters
JERUSALEM, July 7 (Reuters) - The European Union's monitoring mission at the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt will be reduced because it is unclear when the crossing will be reopened, a mission spokeswoman said on Saturday. Some 87 EU monitors and supervisors have been overseeing the Rafah crossing with Egypt under an agreement that took effect in November 2005 to help open up Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory nearly two years ago. The spokeswoman said the number of monitors based in Israel would be cut back because Rafah has been closed since June 9 and because of the uncertainty about the future of the crossing following Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip on June 14. We are not foreseeing a return to normalcy in the near future, the spokeswoman said. She added that enough of the monitors would remain on standby to reopen the crossing on short notice if the situation allows.
We are maintaining ... our full operational capabilities in case the border is reopened, she said. It is unclear how many of the European monitors will be sent home. Hamas Islamists seized control of Gaza after weeks of fierce fighting with forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah faction. The European Union, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said he would travel to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday to visit thousands of Palestinians stranded there. There are many sick people who need care, he said.
Since Hamas's takeover, Gaza's main border crossings have largely been closed, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, drawing criticism from some aid groups.
Proposals to open Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, instead of Rafah, to allow thousands of Palestinians to reenter Gaza ran into opposition last week from Hamas.
Pope revives old Latin Mass in concession to tradition; denies rollback of Vatican II - July 7, 2007 04:39 PM EDT
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, reviving a rite that was all but swept away by the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The decision, a victory for traditional, conservative Roman Catholics, came over the objections of liberal-minded Catholics and angered Jews because the Tridentine Mass contains a prayer for their conversion. Benedict, who stressed that he was not negating Vatican II, issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine rite if a stable group of faithful requests it. Currently, the local bishop must approve such requests an obstacle that supporters of the rite say has greatly limited its availability. What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us, too, Benedict wrote.
The document upset Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for their conversion. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations, the Jewish news agency JTA reported.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the church. In reviving the rite, Benedict was reaching out to the followers of an excommunicated ultratraditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Vatican II, particularly the introduction of the New Mass celebrated in the vernacular. The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent. The bishops were excommunicated as well.
Benedict has been eager to reconcile with Lefebvre's group, the Society of St. Pius X, which has demanded freer use of the old Mass as a precondition for normalizing relations. The other precondition is the removal of the excommunication decrees. The Vatican did not address the excommunication issue Saturday and there was no indication if or when it would. The current head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, welcomed Benedict's document in a statement. He said he hoped that the favorable climate established by the new dispositions of the Holy See would eventually allow other doctrinal disputes that emerged from Vatican II to be discussed, including ecumenism, religious liberty and the sharing of power with bishops. The old rite differs significantly from the New Mass. In addition to the Latin, the prayers and readings are different, and the priest faces the altar, to be seen as leading the faithful in prayer.
Benedict, a conservative theologian, has made no secret of his affinity for the Tridentine rite and has long said the faithful should have greater access to it. But more liberal Catholics have suggested that in liberalizing the use of the rite, Benedict was sending a strong message that Vatican II was not the break from the past that some view it as being. In addition to Jewish concerns, bishops in France and liberal-minded clergy and faithful elsewhere expressed concerns that allowing freer use of the Tridentine liturgy would imply a negation of Vatican II and create divisions in parishes since two different liturgies would be celebrated. Benedict said those fears were unfounded in a letter to bishops accompanying the Latin text.
He said the New Mass remained the normal form of Mass while the Tridentine version was an extraordinary one that would probably only be sought by a few Catholics.
The document doesn't impose any return to the past, it doesn't mean any weakening of the authority of the council nor the authority and responsibility of bishops, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said. However, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the head of the French bishops' conference, warned that the move will create divisions. There will be resistance from both sides, he told Le Monde. The liberal lay church group We Are Church said that the move represented a step back from Vatican II and could set an even more conservative direction for the church. It warned of a new split within many parishes, diocese and finally the entire Roman Catholic Church. It is to be feared that while it appears to only be about the old Mass, in reality it is an attempt to set the Catholic Church on a new old course, the group said.
Ricard, speaking on France-Info radio Saturday, said the move does not mean the entire church is becoming more fundamentalist. Just because you have in a family a cousin who is a bit different, whom you tolerate and accept, doesn't mean that the whole family adopts his positions or his way of life, he said. The document was welcomed by traditional Catholics who remained in good standing with Rome but simply preferred the Tridentine liturgy and have long complained that bishops had been stingy in allowing it, said Michael Dunnigan, chairman of Una Voce America, the largest lay organization in the United States dedicated to promoting wider access to the traditional Mass. The traditional Mass is a true a gem of the church's heritage, and the Holy Father has taken the most important step toward making it available to many more of the faithful, he said.
Gov't Votes to Free 250 Terrorists
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 8,07 INN)
The government, in its Sunday morning weekly session, approved the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists from prison, as a goodwill gesture to PA chief Abu Mazen. Only terrorists without blood on their hands are to be released. Some of the terrorists being freed attempted to murder Israelis but missed their targets.Voting against the proposal were Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, the four Shas ministers (Yishai, Attias, Nahari and Yitzchak Cohen), and Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch of Yisrael Beiteinu. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman was not present, but voted in writing against the deal.
Shas ministers stated that if Arab terrorists are freed, Jews in prison for security-related crimes should also be released.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted at the cabinet session that releasing the 250 terrorists will not convince Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists to free their IDF hostages. He explained that the move was a good will gesture to support Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas’s new government. I have come to the conclusion that releasing the prisoners will not affect the chances of bringing Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser home, said Olmert. The families of all three captives are in France to attend a rally calling for the freedom of their loved ones, who were kidnapped in the south and north by terrorists last summer. The families will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday. Minister Mofaz said the decision was pointless, in that releasing 250 small-fry would not help Abu Mazen at all. He predicted that in any event, Hamas and Fatah would re-unite within several months.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) at their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh two weeks ago that he would release the terrorists. The Cabinet did not discuss the specific terrorists who are to be freed. The General Security Service (Shabak) provided Olmert with a list of terrorists that could be released, but Olmert returned the list. He said it contained mostly terrorists who are to be freed within a short time in any event, and that releasing such terrorists would not help Abu Mazen. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter agreed, saying that the release of terrorists whose jail terms end within 2-3 years would actually hurt the PA chief. Dichter also noted that “none of the gestures we made since 1994 (releasing terrorists in exchange for Israeli hostages, dead or alive) ever resulted in any PA action against terror.
My promise was given after a careful investigation and consultations, Olmert said. I have no illusions that this very gesture will change the situation in the Middle East. However, we hope to be able to use every means that can strengthen and encourage the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority, so that we can go in the direction of creating conditions of real dialogue.This strengthening the moderates strategy has governed much of Israeli policy since the signing of the Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat in 1993. Ever since then, the Fatah terrorist organization has received guns and money that were used to murder hundreds of Israelis, has refused to change its charter calling for Israel's destruction, and has lost control of Gaza to Hamas. Fatah Charter Article 15 states: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the liquidation of the Zionist presence in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation peoples and governments with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. MK Effie Eitam (National Union) called upon Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to quit the coalition following today's decision. His party colleague MK Aryeh Eldad said that the release of the 250 terrorists to the scarecrow Abu Mazen is political and ethical bankruptcy on the part of the Prime Minister.
Cal Thomas criticized, commended for telling it like it is about Islam
Chad Groening and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow.com - July 9, 2007
Recent comments about Islam by nationally syndicated columnist and commentator Cal Thomas have brought sharp criticism from a U.S.-based pro-Muslim lobbying group and praise from the head of a Minnesota-based pro-Israel ministry. In a July 2 commentary aired on radio station WTOP in Washington, DC, Thomas discussed the recent car-bomb terror plots that were thwarted in Great Britain. Eight Muslims are in custody in connection with the attacks; most of them worked for Britain's health service and come from countries in the Middle East and India. How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us? Thomas asked in his radio commentary. Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us, he conceded, but those who do blend in with those who don't. Would anyone tolerate a slow-spreading cancer because it wasn't fast-spreading? Probably not. You'd want it removed. Two days later, the same radio station carried a response to Thomas's remarks from Ibrahim Hooper with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that exists to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America through media relations, lobbying, education, and advocacy. Ibrahim Hooper, one of the founders of the group who now serves as national director for communications, spoke on behalf of CAIR.
I would imagine that [Cal Thomas's] next step is the expulsion of the Muslim-American community, said Hooper. We condemn extremism. We've condemned terrorism. We've issued dozens of condemnations on dozens of terrorism attacks. But guys like Thomas come along and want to say every Muslim should be suspect and should be treated in a certain way, the CAIR spokesman continued. That's not just and that's not the American way. Hooper also accused Thomas of spreading misinformation, referring to him as an Islamaphobe and labeled Muslims who commit terrorist acts as a tiny minority of people who are misusing the faith. More often than not, he added, the people who do these types of things are going even to listen to me. WTOP permitted Thomas to respond to CAIR's comments on July 4. The syndicated columnist took the opportunity to say that the U.S. has had its share of disinformation people,implying that Hooper and CAIR are among them. Such groups, said Thomas, argue that there's no real threat and the real threat are the people who are pointing it out, not the people who are plotting to destroy us.
He also noted that several prominent liberal Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate have expressed their concerns about CAIR, pointing out the group's extreme rhetoric [Dick Durbin of Illinois] as well as ties to terrorism and intimate links to Hamas [New York's Charles Schumer]. The truth hurts, Thomas concluded in his follow-up remarks on WTOP. I'm not making this stuff up...we gotta connect the dots. It's a little late after things begin to explode. Jan Markell is founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, a pro-Israel ministry based in Maple Grove, Minnesota. She is praising Thomas for taking a firm stand on the issue of Muslim terrorism. I am just thankful that there are a few people out there like Cal Thomas who will tell it like it is, says Markell, because I'm still waiting for some sort of a rally by Muslims, particularly in America, who are going to start demonstrating against the violence. I don't see it happening.
And she contends the far left in America has not made the connection, even after decades of debate. I think that political correctness has America's highest leaders today, as we speak, saying once again a great religion has been hijacked.That is nonsense, says Markell. I'm with Cal Thomas. Tell it like it is or in 20 years, we don't have a country. Thomas also suggested that the United States needs to monitor Muslims more closely. Markell says she does not find it surprising that the Council on American-Islamic Relations views Thomas' aired comments as incitement against Muslims.2007 American Family News Network
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 has struck southern Mexico.
The quake hit the southern state of Chiapas just after 2000 (0100GMT Friday) causing a widespread power cut and panic among residents. The United States Geological Survey says the epicentre was around 40 km (25 miles) from the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez. Mexican television says no major damage or injuries have been reported so far, and that some buildings were evacuated. Electricity and mobile telephone services were knocked out for about 10 minutes in Tuxtla Gutierrez, as well as other areas near the border with Guatemala.
Minor injuries
In the centre of the capital, thousands of people ran out of their homes and offices as the ground trembled, windows were broken and decorative ceilings fell, causing minor injuries. Authorities in three states ordered evacuations of buildings and businesses. Emergency services in Chiapas said they were sweeping the area to look for damage around the epicentre, close to the border with the neighbouring state of Oaxaca. Chiapas is Mexico's main coffee growing region and was badly hit by landslides and flooding following Hurricane Stan in 2005.
Brussels questions EU capitals over approach to Islam
06.07.2007 - 17:52 CET | By Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Following failed car bomb attacks at two UK airports leading to the arrest of Muslim suspects, Brussels is pooling ideas on how to tackle radical Islam and create a more tolerant European branch of the faith. EU home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini is sending out an 18 question survey seen by EUobserver asking EU capitals how they address violent radicalisation, mainly related to an abusive interpretation of Islam. Unfortunately, one of the great religions of the world Islam is being abused to foster a new totalitarian ideology that challenges our way of life, Mr Frattini told journalists earlier this week (3 July).
We have to find out what member states are doing here, to see how to learn from one another namely, to protect the vast majority of Muslims who deplore this perversion of their religion, he added. According to Brussels, the questionnaire is particularly designed to bring more clarity and transparency to mosques on EU territory including how they are financed as well as how their imams are recruited and trained. Those propagating violent extremist ideologies of some kind may try to influence education establishments, the paper notes, asking EU states what policies or practical initiatives have you adopted in order to ensure that education establishments are not vulnerable to this type of influence?. It continues by asking what policies are adopted on funding and supervision of religious schools, as well as what requirements are set by the state on the functions of a religious leader.It also asks how EU member states are trying to diminish the threat of a radical having access to any form of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear scientific knowledge. EU states are expected to reply by the end of September. The answers will then feed into a commission document, due for publication in 2008, that will present an EU-wide strategy on violent radicatization.
European Islam
In addition, Mr Frattini is set to pursue and further the idea of establishing a so-called European Islam or Islam de l'Europe something floated by France's then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006. That is quite difficult and ambitious, but the time has come to put on the table a political discussion to protect the large majority of Muslims living here peacefully who deplore and fight against radicalisation and the distortion of Islam for purposes of violence and hatred, Mr Frattini said. The concept is to have Islam fully and unambiguously respecting values and sanctity of life cherished in Europe, Mr Frattini's spokesperson said on the idea, referring to everything mentioned in the Charter of Fundamental Rights document laying out the economic, social and civic rights of EU citizens.
Mosque reality
Meanwhile, a BBC commissioned report has unveiled that only eight percent of imams preaching in British mosques were born in the UK, while only six percent of them speak English as a first language. Fifty percent of Muslim preachers come from Pakistan, twenty percent from Bangladesh and fifteen percent from India. The study reveals a deeply conservative body of individuals maintaining traditional languages, types of qualification and still largely recruited from the place of origin, the report's author, professor Ron Geaves, was cited as saying by the BBC.In addition, the study has shown that while the imams are well-qualified in the traditional Islamic curriculum, they lack the skills to adapt to modern society. Although there are social religious and political reasons that drive a need to transform the Imamate to a 21st century British context there is as yet little sign of the mosque imams or their employers being ready to professionalise, Mr Geaves said.
Moshe Feiglin Climbs into 2nd Place in the Likud Primary
Jerusalem, July 6, 2007 …Following is a statement issued by Moshe Feiglin, President of Manhigut Yehudit, the largest faction inside the Likud party in Israel, on the results of a recent Israel Radio poll: According to the Israel Radio Channel 2 poll results released on July 5, 2007, Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin has pulled into the second place position ahead of former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in the Likud primary for the party Chairmanship by a score of 14% to 8%. The winner of this election gains the right to run for the office of Prime Minister of the State of Israel from the Likud party. In the last primary in 2005, the first such poll showed Mr. Feiglin with 3% of the vote and he finished with 14%. If this trend continues in the current race, Moshe Feiglin will emerge victorious over the current leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu continues to cling to the now-disgraced logic of the Oslo Accords and Israeli retreat. He clings to the dream of strengthening the moderate PLO whose ruling body was founded by Adolf Hitler’s close associate in fomenting the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem and Yasser Arafat’s mentor, Hajj Amin al Husseini in order to have yet another terror state created in the Biblical Heartland of the Jewish People, in what is commonly known as the West Bank.
Mr. Netanyahu’s insane and reckless policies will surely continue the proven formula that shows that the more land Israel gives away, the more Jews die. Moshe Feiglin's belief-based approach is the ONLY alternative leadership being presented to the Israeli public which opposes these failed policies. His future victory will provide new hope to Jews worldwide. Manhigut Yehudit is the largest faction inside the Likud party, and strives to Turn the State of the Jews into The Jewish State. Am Yisrael Chai.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Jewish leader: Israel should not be state for Jews, Former Knesset member urges Israelis to obtain foreign passports - July 6, 2007 - by Aaron Klein WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – A former Knesset member, international leftist Jewish leader and senior activist of Israel's peace camp, which seeks Israeli retreats from strategic territory, wants Israel to cease being a Jewish state and encourages all Israelis to obtain foreign passports. To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite, said Avraham Burg, an activist in the Peace Now movement and a former Knesset member from Israel's leftist Labor party. Burg, speaking to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, also served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, both of which are major Jewish organizations. The leftist Israeli leader said Israel should learn from the assimilation and inter-marriage of Jews in the U.S., where Jewish individuals marrying non-Jews has become a major phenomenon.
Just as there was something astonishing about German Jewry, in America, too, they created the potential for something astonishing. They created a situation in which the goy (non-Jew) can be my father and my mother and my son and my partner, Burg said. The goy (in America) is not hostile but embracing. And as a result, what emerges is a Jewish experience of integration, not separation. Burg criticized what he called Israelis' closed conception of religion, which he stated is orthodox, not humanist and not universal. He said other alternatives to Judaism must be offered.
Burg went on to call for the abrogation of Israel's Law of Return, which allows all Jews seeking sanctuary in Israel to become citizens. The law helped Jews facing persecution in countries such as Germany, Russia and Yemen. Burg compared the Law of Return, which singles out Jews, to rule under Nazi Germany.
The Law of Return is an apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity. Burg then compelled Israelis to follow in his footsteps and obtain foreign passports. Burg left Israeli politics in 2004 and now is a citizen of France. He is still active as a leader in Israel's peace camp, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli evacuations of the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Israel retreated from Gaza in 2005. Since then, Hamas took over Gaza and rockets have been regularly fired from the territory into nearby Jewish population centers. The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory bordering Syria and Lebanon and looking down on Israeli population centers. The Heights was twice used by Damascus to launch invasions into the Jewish state. The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport.
EU to cut down mission at Gaza-Egypt border
07 Jul 2007 11:21:36 GMT Source: Reuters
JERUSALEM, July 7 (Reuters) - The European Union's monitoring mission at the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt will be reduced because it is unclear when the crossing will be reopened, a mission spokeswoman said on Saturday. Some 87 EU monitors and supervisors have been overseeing the Rafah crossing with Egypt under an agreement that took effect in November 2005 to help open up Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory nearly two years ago. The spokeswoman said the number of monitors based in Israel would be cut back because Rafah has been closed since June 9 and because of the uncertainty about the future of the crossing following Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip on June 14. We are not foreseeing a return to normalcy in the near future, the spokeswoman said. She added that enough of the monitors would remain on standby to reopen the crossing on short notice if the situation allows.
We are maintaining ... our full operational capabilities in case the border is reopened, she said. It is unclear how many of the European monitors will be sent home. Hamas Islamists seized control of Gaza after weeks of fierce fighting with forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah faction. The European Union, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said he would travel to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday to visit thousands of Palestinians stranded there. There are many sick people who need care, he said.
Since Hamas's takeover, Gaza's main border crossings have largely been closed, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, drawing criticism from some aid groups.
Proposals to open Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, instead of Rafah, to allow thousands of Palestinians to reenter Gaza ran into opposition last week from Hamas.
Pope revives old Latin Mass in concession to tradition; denies rollback of Vatican II - July 7, 2007 04:39 PM EDT
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, reviving a rite that was all but swept away by the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The decision, a victory for traditional, conservative Roman Catholics, came over the objections of liberal-minded Catholics and angered Jews because the Tridentine Mass contains a prayer for their conversion. Benedict, who stressed that he was not negating Vatican II, issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine rite if a stable group of faithful requests it. Currently, the local bishop must approve such requests an obstacle that supporters of the rite say has greatly limited its availability. What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us, too, Benedict wrote.
The document upset Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for their conversion. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations, the Jewish news agency JTA reported.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the church. In reviving the rite, Benedict was reaching out to the followers of an excommunicated ultratraditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Vatican II, particularly the introduction of the New Mass celebrated in the vernacular. The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent. The bishops were excommunicated as well.
Benedict has been eager to reconcile with Lefebvre's group, the Society of St. Pius X, which has demanded freer use of the old Mass as a precondition for normalizing relations. The other precondition is the removal of the excommunication decrees. The Vatican did not address the excommunication issue Saturday and there was no indication if or when it would. The current head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, welcomed Benedict's document in a statement. He said he hoped that the favorable climate established by the new dispositions of the Holy See would eventually allow other doctrinal disputes that emerged from Vatican II to be discussed, including ecumenism, religious liberty and the sharing of power with bishops. The old rite differs significantly from the New Mass. In addition to the Latin, the prayers and readings are different, and the priest faces the altar, to be seen as leading the faithful in prayer.
Benedict, a conservative theologian, has made no secret of his affinity for the Tridentine rite and has long said the faithful should have greater access to it. But more liberal Catholics have suggested that in liberalizing the use of the rite, Benedict was sending a strong message that Vatican II was not the break from the past that some view it as being. In addition to Jewish concerns, bishops in France and liberal-minded clergy and faithful elsewhere expressed concerns that allowing freer use of the Tridentine liturgy would imply a negation of Vatican II and create divisions in parishes since two different liturgies would be celebrated. Benedict said those fears were unfounded in a letter to bishops accompanying the Latin text.
He said the New Mass remained the normal form of Mass while the Tridentine version was an extraordinary one that would probably only be sought by a few Catholics.
The document doesn't impose any return to the past, it doesn't mean any weakening of the authority of the council nor the authority and responsibility of bishops, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said. However, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the head of the French bishops' conference, warned that the move will create divisions. There will be resistance from both sides, he told Le Monde. The liberal lay church group We Are Church said that the move represented a step back from Vatican II and could set an even more conservative direction for the church. It warned of a new split within many parishes, diocese and finally the entire Roman Catholic Church. It is to be feared that while it appears to only be about the old Mass, in reality it is an attempt to set the Catholic Church on a new old course, the group said.
Ricard, speaking on France-Info radio Saturday, said the move does not mean the entire church is becoming more fundamentalist. Just because you have in a family a cousin who is a bit different, whom you tolerate and accept, doesn't mean that the whole family adopts his positions or his way of life, he said. The document was welcomed by traditional Catholics who remained in good standing with Rome but simply preferred the Tridentine liturgy and have long complained that bishops had been stingy in allowing it, said Michael Dunnigan, chairman of Una Voce America, the largest lay organization in the United States dedicated to promoting wider access to the traditional Mass. The traditional Mass is a true a gem of the church's heritage, and the Holy Father has taken the most important step toward making it available to many more of the faithful, he said.
Gov't Votes to Free 250 Terrorists
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 8,07 INN)
The government, in its Sunday morning weekly session, approved the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists from prison, as a goodwill gesture to PA chief Abu Mazen. Only terrorists without blood on their hands are to be released. Some of the terrorists being freed attempted to murder Israelis but missed their targets.Voting against the proposal were Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, the four Shas ministers (Yishai, Attias, Nahari and Yitzchak Cohen), and Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch of Yisrael Beiteinu. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman was not present, but voted in writing against the deal.
Shas ministers stated that if Arab terrorists are freed, Jews in prison for security-related crimes should also be released.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted at the cabinet session that releasing the 250 terrorists will not convince Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists to free their IDF hostages. He explained that the move was a good will gesture to support Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas’s new government. I have come to the conclusion that releasing the prisoners will not affect the chances of bringing Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser home, said Olmert. The families of all three captives are in France to attend a rally calling for the freedom of their loved ones, who were kidnapped in the south and north by terrorists last summer. The families will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday. Minister Mofaz said the decision was pointless, in that releasing 250 small-fry would not help Abu Mazen at all. He predicted that in any event, Hamas and Fatah would re-unite within several months.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) at their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh two weeks ago that he would release the terrorists. The Cabinet did not discuss the specific terrorists who are to be freed. The General Security Service (Shabak) provided Olmert with a list of terrorists that could be released, but Olmert returned the list. He said it contained mostly terrorists who are to be freed within a short time in any event, and that releasing such terrorists would not help Abu Mazen. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter agreed, saying that the release of terrorists whose jail terms end within 2-3 years would actually hurt the PA chief. Dichter also noted that “none of the gestures we made since 1994 (releasing terrorists in exchange for Israeli hostages, dead or alive) ever resulted in any PA action against terror.
My promise was given after a careful investigation and consultations, Olmert said. I have no illusions that this very gesture will change the situation in the Middle East. However, we hope to be able to use every means that can strengthen and encourage the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority, so that we can go in the direction of creating conditions of real dialogue.This strengthening the moderates strategy has governed much of Israeli policy since the signing of the Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat in 1993. Ever since then, the Fatah terrorist organization has received guns and money that were used to murder hundreds of Israelis, has refused to change its charter calling for Israel's destruction, and has lost control of Gaza to Hamas. Fatah Charter Article 15 states: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the liquidation of the Zionist presence in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation peoples and governments with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. MK Effie Eitam (National Union) called upon Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to quit the coalition following today's decision. His party colleague MK Aryeh Eldad said that the release of the 250 terrorists to the scarecrow Abu Mazen is political and ethical bankruptcy on the part of the Prime Minister.
Cal Thomas criticized, commended for telling it like it is about Islam
Chad Groening and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow.com - July 9, 2007
Recent comments about Islam by nationally syndicated columnist and commentator Cal Thomas have brought sharp criticism from a U.S.-based pro-Muslim lobbying group and praise from the head of a Minnesota-based pro-Israel ministry. In a July 2 commentary aired on radio station WTOP in Washington, DC, Thomas discussed the recent car-bomb terror plots that were thwarted in Great Britain. Eight Muslims are in custody in connection with the attacks; most of them worked for Britain's health service and come from countries in the Middle East and India. How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us? Thomas asked in his radio commentary. Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us, he conceded, but those who do blend in with those who don't. Would anyone tolerate a slow-spreading cancer because it wasn't fast-spreading? Probably not. You'd want it removed. Two days later, the same radio station carried a response to Thomas's remarks from Ibrahim Hooper with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that exists to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America through media relations, lobbying, education, and advocacy. Ibrahim Hooper, one of the founders of the group who now serves as national director for communications, spoke on behalf of CAIR.
I would imagine that [Cal Thomas's] next step is the expulsion of the Muslim-American community, said Hooper. We condemn extremism. We've condemned terrorism. We've issued dozens of condemnations on dozens of terrorism attacks. But guys like Thomas come along and want to say every Muslim should be suspect and should be treated in a certain way, the CAIR spokesman continued. That's not just and that's not the American way. Hooper also accused Thomas of spreading misinformation, referring to him as an Islamaphobe and labeled Muslims who commit terrorist acts as a tiny minority of people who are misusing the faith. More often than not, he added, the people who do these types of things are going even to listen to me. WTOP permitted Thomas to respond to CAIR's comments on July 4. The syndicated columnist took the opportunity to say that the U.S. has had its share of disinformation people,implying that Hooper and CAIR are among them. Such groups, said Thomas, argue that there's no real threat and the real threat are the people who are pointing it out, not the people who are plotting to destroy us.
He also noted that several prominent liberal Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate have expressed their concerns about CAIR, pointing out the group's extreme rhetoric [Dick Durbin of Illinois] as well as ties to terrorism and intimate links to Hamas [New York's Charles Schumer]. The truth hurts, Thomas concluded in his follow-up remarks on WTOP. I'm not making this stuff up...we gotta connect the dots. It's a little late after things begin to explode. Jan Markell is founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, a pro-Israel ministry based in Maple Grove, Minnesota. She is praising Thomas for taking a firm stand on the issue of Muslim terrorism. I am just thankful that there are a few people out there like Cal Thomas who will tell it like it is, says Markell, because I'm still waiting for some sort of a rally by Muslims, particularly in America, who are going to start demonstrating against the violence. I don't see it happening.
And she contends the far left in America has not made the connection, even after decades of debate. I think that political correctness has America's highest leaders today, as we speak, saying once again a great religion has been hijacked.That is nonsense, says Markell. I'm with Cal Thomas. Tell it like it is or in 20 years, we don't have a country. Thomas also suggested that the United States needs to monitor Muslims more closely. Markell says she does not find it surprising that the Council on American-Islamic Relations views Thomas' aired comments as incitement against Muslims.2007 American Family News Network
Saturday, July 07, 2007
(777) JULY 7,2007 THE RAPTURE I WISH
WELL IT IS NOW JULY 7,2007 I WAS HOPING THIS WOULD BE THE DAY OF THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH TO HEAVEN. IF IT IS YAY, IF NOT, I WILL PATIENTLY WAIT TILL JESUS COMES FOR US.
THE (777) WOULD BLEND RIGHT IN WITH THE 7+7+7=21 JUDGEMENTS THAT ARE COMING ON THE WORLD DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION.
Muslim Violence
Fjordman - 7/7/2007
In Denmark, Muslims are attacking the Inuit people, the indigenous people of Greenland, who have been a part of the Kingdom of Denmark for centuries. Whenever Muslims target non-Muslims with violence, this is blamed by the media on past legacy of colonialism, US foreign policy, Israeli aggression etc.
Well, Muslims are now attacking… Greenlanders.
And we all know they are evil, Zionist Crusaders with a long history of colonial aggression in the Middle East, right? Here’s a Scandinavian post on the subject, with my translations.Apparently, some Arabs feel that Greenlanders don’t belong in Denmark and should go back home where they came from (my translation): Because Greenlanders have repeatedly been attacked by Arab and Somali immigrants in the city of Århus, Danish authorities have started an information campaign in local schools and a slide show showing photos from Greenland with comments in Arabic. Greenlanders have been subject to rock throwing, harassment and assaults by Arabs. Residents in the district of Gellerup stay in their flats for most of the day because they fear to go outside. It baffles me that parents don’t react to this. I complained to a mother in my apartment building after her son had assaulted me, but she slammed the door shut in my face, says Naasunnguaq, who uses the Inuit word for flower as a nickname because she wants to remain anonymous. She has lived in the neighborhood for 16 years. According to Lars, also from Greenland, Arabs have racist views of Greenlanders: They cannot understand why we should be allowed to live in Denmark. Even if we try to explain that we are Danes and get [Danish] citizenship by birth, they don’t understand it, he says.
Their football matches and events during Greenland’s National Day have also been interrupted by rock throwing. A large number of security guards had to be employed to keep the attackers at bay. According to the chairman of the Multicultural Association in Gellerup, Rabhi Azad-Ahmad, the attacks are caused by ignorance and prejudice, and because young Arabs and Somalis are looking for easy targets to assault in order to send a message of strength to other groups. Several of the Greenlanders have problems with finding a place to live in other parts of the town, but the Århus municipality will try to accommodate those wishing to move to other apartments in order to escape the racist violence.
More Muslim violence, this time from Germany:
Private security guards are to be hired at schools in a tough Berlin district from August to keep teenagers in check after a series of schoolyard brawls and attacks by ex-pupils, the municipality said Friday. The ethnically mixed Neukoelln district will pay the guards to rush to trouble spots in the district’s 76 schools, although teachers say this should be the job of the police. It will be the first time in Germany that private guards have been employed in schools. Heinz Buschkowsky, the district mayor, said, Right now we can’t assure parents that their children are safe.
A year ago, teachers admitted they were powerless to check fighting at one school where young Arabs were the main ethnic group, and police began checking pupils at the school gate for knives and other weapons. This month a teacher was beaten up at another school by a former pupil.
And from Holland:
A group of six men assaulted two gay men on the Reguliersdwarsstraat in Amsterdam city centre last Thursday night. The group then headed towards the Herengracht. Witnesses had called police and the six were arrested. The suspects are all between the ages of 15 and 19. Four are of Moroccan descent, one is Surinamese and one is Turkish.
According to NIS News:
The cabinet considers radical Muslims are in principle allowed to use democratic procedures with the aim of undermining democracy. This is not dangerous; democracy is strong enough to withstand such a movement. The government is convinced that religion thus, also Islam can make a positive contribution to cohesion in society.
Fjordman is a noted Norwegian blogger who has written for many conservative web sites. He used to have his own Fjordman Blog in the past, but it is no longer active.
THE (777) WOULD BLEND RIGHT IN WITH THE 7+7+7=21 JUDGEMENTS THAT ARE COMING ON THE WORLD DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION.
Muslim Violence
Fjordman - 7/7/2007
In Denmark, Muslims are attacking the Inuit people, the indigenous people of Greenland, who have been a part of the Kingdom of Denmark for centuries. Whenever Muslims target non-Muslims with violence, this is blamed by the media on past legacy of colonialism, US foreign policy, Israeli aggression etc.
Well, Muslims are now attacking… Greenlanders.
And we all know they are evil, Zionist Crusaders with a long history of colonial aggression in the Middle East, right? Here’s a Scandinavian post on the subject, with my translations.Apparently, some Arabs feel that Greenlanders don’t belong in Denmark and should go back home where they came from (my translation): Because Greenlanders have repeatedly been attacked by Arab and Somali immigrants in the city of Århus, Danish authorities have started an information campaign in local schools and a slide show showing photos from Greenland with comments in Arabic. Greenlanders have been subject to rock throwing, harassment and assaults by Arabs. Residents in the district of Gellerup stay in their flats for most of the day because they fear to go outside. It baffles me that parents don’t react to this. I complained to a mother in my apartment building after her son had assaulted me, but she slammed the door shut in my face, says Naasunnguaq, who uses the Inuit word for flower as a nickname because she wants to remain anonymous. She has lived in the neighborhood for 16 years. According to Lars, also from Greenland, Arabs have racist views of Greenlanders: They cannot understand why we should be allowed to live in Denmark. Even if we try to explain that we are Danes and get [Danish] citizenship by birth, they don’t understand it, he says.
Their football matches and events during Greenland’s National Day have also been interrupted by rock throwing. A large number of security guards had to be employed to keep the attackers at bay. According to the chairman of the Multicultural Association in Gellerup, Rabhi Azad-Ahmad, the attacks are caused by ignorance and prejudice, and because young Arabs and Somalis are looking for easy targets to assault in order to send a message of strength to other groups. Several of the Greenlanders have problems with finding a place to live in other parts of the town, but the Århus municipality will try to accommodate those wishing to move to other apartments in order to escape the racist violence.
More Muslim violence, this time from Germany:
Private security guards are to be hired at schools in a tough Berlin district from August to keep teenagers in check after a series of schoolyard brawls and attacks by ex-pupils, the municipality said Friday. The ethnically mixed Neukoelln district will pay the guards to rush to trouble spots in the district’s 76 schools, although teachers say this should be the job of the police. It will be the first time in Germany that private guards have been employed in schools. Heinz Buschkowsky, the district mayor, said, Right now we can’t assure parents that their children are safe.
A year ago, teachers admitted they were powerless to check fighting at one school where young Arabs were the main ethnic group, and police began checking pupils at the school gate for knives and other weapons. This month a teacher was beaten up at another school by a former pupil.
And from Holland:
A group of six men assaulted two gay men on the Reguliersdwarsstraat in Amsterdam city centre last Thursday night. The group then headed towards the Herengracht. Witnesses had called police and the six were arrested. The suspects are all between the ages of 15 and 19. Four are of Moroccan descent, one is Surinamese and one is Turkish.
According to NIS News:
The cabinet considers radical Muslims are in principle allowed to use democratic procedures with the aim of undermining democracy. This is not dangerous; democracy is strong enough to withstand such a movement. The government is convinced that religion thus, also Islam can make a positive contribution to cohesion in society.
Fjordman is a noted Norwegian blogger who has written for many conservative web sites. He used to have his own Fjordman Blog in the past, but it is no longer active.
Friday, July 06, 2007
FLOODS - HEATWAVE HITS USA
TEXAS GETS ANOTHER 5 INCHES OF RAIN LAST NIGHT. AND HEATWAVES IN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA AND OTHER STATES IN THE USA. WELL THE BIBLE WARNS US IF THE DAYLIGHT HOURS WOULD NOT BE SHORTENED IN THE FUTURE BY GOD ALL FLESH WOULD DIE, BUT FOR ISRAELS SAKE THE DAYLIGHT HOURS WILL BE SHORTENED TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM HEAT DESTRUCTION. THE BIBLE ALSO SAYS THE SUN WILL BE 7 TIMES (OR POSSIBLE 7 DEGREES HOTTER) DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.
Jul 5, 2007 11:00 am US/Central
More Rain Threatens Waterlogged Plains
CBS News Interactive: Floods And Droughts
CBS) OKLAHOMA CITY Flooding slowly subsided in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, but forecasters said an approaching storm system could hamper efforts to clean up after weeks of heavy rain damaged homes, businesses and roads. Unfortunately, more downpours are likely today, and it's not just in one area, as this rain is falling over a large part of Texas, says CBS News meteorologist George Cullen. Concerns also eased Thursday that a full Lake Texoma along the Oklahoma-Texas line would send floodwaters into the Red River. Ross Adkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said water could spill over the Denison Dam, possibly Thursday, but no major damage to homes was anticipated. The last major flood was nearly five feet over the spillway in 1990. This year's level is expected to crest at one foot over the spillway.
Still, residents, particularly those living in farm areas near the river, were warned to take precautions. (We're) warning residents along the Red River to move all livestock, equipment and other necessary belongings to higher ground, Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton said. We are also urging residents to have an initial evacuation plan, should conditions threaten homes in the area.
Floodwaters were ebbing in several northeastern Oklahoma communities, but meteorologists predicted more problems because lakes and reservoirs were already filled to capacity. The worst flood damage was in Miami, Okla., where the Neosho River crested at about 29 feet, its highest stage since 1951. The river was not expected to be back within its banks until late Sunday. We're starting to see an average drop of about a half-inch every hour, City Manager Mike Spurgeon said. A shelter set up in the city housed about 55 people, and flood damage was expected to affect about 600 homes and businesses, Spurgeon said. More than 30 roads in and out of the city of 13,500 were still closed Thursday due to flooding. Spurgeon estimated it could take six months to a year to rebuild in the parts of town most heavily damaged. It's going to take a while for some of these people to get back on their feet, said Joyce Heeney, working at the First Baptist Church of Miami, one of the overflow shelters in town. We had one family that left (their home) with nothing. U.S. Rep. Dan Boren took an aerial tour to assess the damage with representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Boren, D-Okla., promised to do whatever he could to secure federal assistance for the victims. About 50 Oklahoma Army National Guard troops worked 12-hour shifts providing security in flood-ravaged neighborhoods. In Texas, locally heavy rain spread across wide areas of the state on Wednesday, causing minor street flooding.
We have a put a lot of work into it, to make it livable and now we don't have anything, Wichita Falls, Texas, resident Veronica Gallegos told CBS News. A total of 148 of the state's 254 counties were under flash flood watches, flash flood warnings, flood warnings or a combination of watches and warnings Wednesday night.
The Trinity River in the Dallas-Fort Worth area crested Wednesday evening at 36.93 feet, about 7 feet above flood stage. Corpus Christi recorded nearly 3½ inches of rain by Wednesday evening on top of 10 inches that fell on Monday. The weather has been blamed for 11 deaths in Texas in the past two weeks and the death of a 16-year-old girl in Missouri. South of Houston, the search was continuing for a 6-year-old boy swept by high river waters into the Gulf of Mexico, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenavasan.
In Kansas, water was receding in the community of Osawatomie as drainage structures were opened on the Pottawatomie River, and power had been restored to about 60 homes, allowing those residents to return, Miami County officials said. At least 1,000 people were out of their homes throughout southeast Kansas, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general. In northeastern Oklahoma, the Caney River began slowly falling after cresting at 34.18 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The river, which forced hundreds of residents near Bartlesville from their homes this week, wasn't expected to fall below flood stage until Sunday night, the weather service said. Meanwhile, a 42,000-gallon crude oil slick that spilled into the Verdigris River during a flash flood in Coffeyville, Kan., had mostly dissipated, and there was no indication the oil went into Oklahoma's Lake Oologah, a water source for Tulsa, officials said Wednesday.
Coffeyville Resources said oil had stopped leaking from the refinery. Officials were trying to determine what caused the spill and were assessing damage to the plant.
Former COS Yaalon: Pal. State No Longer Practical or Relevant
by Ezra HaLevi JUL 5,07 INN
We have to replace the conception of a two-state solution – it is not relevant anymore, former Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio Thursday morning. This is not pessimism, but realism. It is not practical to keep assuming it is the answer. We are trying to find answers for the situation in Gaza without diagnosing the problem, the previous IDF chief said. What we are witnessing in Gaza is the establishment of a Jihadist Islamic society. Yaalon says that any talk of negotiations and withdrawing to the 1967 borders pushes peace farther away. These are movements that are not interested in territorial issues between us and the Palestinians, but in other issues altogether. This was proven with the Disengagement and now is our opportunity to look and learn. It was a victory in their eyes for the global Jihad and gave strength to Hizbullah, Hamas and all the other Islamist groups.
Maybe we should therefore strengthen the moderates? Army Radio’s Yael Dann asked Yaalon. I am not saying to sit and do nothing…but in the face of the wave of Jihad, any discussions of agreements are not relevant. Any talk like this distances us further from peace rather than bringing us closer…It is a kind of blindness to continue to pursue these policies. How do you explain our blindness during Oslo and now during the era of Hamastan, Dann asked. We are always looking for a solution - we want peace now and it blinds us. We blame ourselves, changing the government and the prime minister. Asked if he would be joining Binyamin Netanyahu on the eve of elections, Yaalon said: Right now I am not entering politics.
Iranian Missiles Could Threaten Israel from Syria
by Hillel Fendel JUL 5,07 INN
Iran is planning to deploy, in Syria, missiles that can hit Israel, as a deterrent against a Western anti-nuclear strike upon Iran. It could happen soon, the British newspaper Telegraph reports. An agreement to this effect was signed two years ago between Iranian President Ahmedinajad and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The rockets in question are the Shihab-3, Scud-B, and Scud-C, which can reach any part of the State of Israel. They can be fired from mobile launchers. Ahmedinajad announced earlier this year that if his country feels threatened regarding its nuclear program, Israel will become its first military counter-target. The Shihab-3 is a medium-range ballistic missile with a range of over 2,000 kilometers. It has the ability to change its trajectory more than once in mid-course, protecting it significantly against Israel's anti-ballistic missile Arrow system. The Scud missiles have a range of 300 to 600 kilometers, and are less accurate than the Shihab.
MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor), a two-time Deputy Defense Minister who was succeeded this week by Matan Vilnai, warned at his farewell ceremony that Israel is not prepared for the dangers Iran presents. He charged the Olmert government with not providing enough funding, saying he is not satisfied with the funding being allocated to the defense establishment to deal with the Iranian threat. Without going into specifics, he said that some projects are progressing too slowly because they have been financially diluted. Sneh also nixed the notion that there is coordination on an operational level between the Israel and US militaries against Iran, saying no such coordination exists.
European Parliament president calls for international Mideast peace conference By Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 04/Jul/2007 16:36
BRUSSELS (EJP)---The President of the European Parliament has called for the convening of an international Middle East peace conference under the ageis of the Quartet. I am convinced that in the current situation, we need a multilateral approach to solve the Mideast conflict, Hans-Gert Poettering said at a conference organized by the Socialist group of the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.
Poettering, who visited several Mideast countries last month, urged Israel to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to avoid previous failures to drive him into a corner. Israel must give Abbas the chance to regain the confidence of 65 percent of the Palestinians who elected him as president in 2006, he said. He also called on Israel to release the Palestinian legislators and other politicians arrested by Israel but made no reference to the fate of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Find its own voice
The two-day conference, entitled “Moving towards an international peace conference for the Middle East, was attended by politicians, academics and high-level experts.
Pasqualina Napoletano, vice-president of the Socialist group in charge of international relations, said The EU should find its own voice, including in the framework of the Quartet, in efforts aimed at restarting genuine negotations on the various tracks of the peace process.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the conference, the Socialist group said talks between Palestinians should be urgently revived to allow the formation of a new government in the spirit of reconciliation and national unity. International support for President Abbas should be accompanied by a concrete and realistic political plan leading to a permanent status agreement and an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, the statement added.
False hopes of peace
No point in pursuing deal with Palestinians, who won’t honor it anyway
by Gilad Sharon 7/4/2007
The common thread tying our Palestinian neighbors together is their hatred towards us and their desire to see us harmed, and this is not sufficient to turn them into a nation. It can be surmised, therefore, that if the State of Israel had never existed, a Palestinian state would not have existed just as it never has: Egypt would have moved further north, Syria would have moved a little to the south, and the whole matter would have been over and done with. It is reasonable to assume that Jordan and Lebanon wouldn't have existed either.
It is no coincidence that a Palestinian state was never established prior to Israel's foundation; it is no coincidence that the Partition Plan was rejected by the Palestinians; it is also no coincidence that for the almost 20 years that had elapsed between the War of Independence and the Six Day War, no such state was established in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Even recently, when it still seemed to many of us that there was a central government among the Palestinians, they chose not to establish a state of their own, even though such a state would have been recognized by the world at large, including Israel.
The truth of the matter is that Palestinian nationalism is the byproduct of our Zionism. This is the way it is, whether they like this fact or not. Namely, this is not sufficient to become a nation that shares a history, a culture and a common vision. The terrible scenes of brutality among the Palestinians are nothing new. Such battles over local interests, clan wars and power struggles have always accompanied the Palestinians, even during their struggles against Israel. This was the case during the War of Independence when the Palestinians were also preoccupied with the battles between the Nashashibi and Husseini clans.
Futile talk
Why should all this be of interest to us? Because it impacts the way we should conduct ourselves. There is no point - as it has been demonstrated over and over again during the past 13 years - in reaching an agreement with any key Palestinian element. This is futile. It suffices to look at the vast number of ceasefire agreements the Palestinians have signed among themselves during the infighting in Gaza (they even signed the Mecca Deal, which was supposed to give it some religious validity.) Every one of the agreements was breached even before the ink had dried on the documents they signed. If this is the value they attribute to agreements among themselves, what then is the value of agreements signed with us, which of course were never adhered to? There is also no point to the choir of voices here calling to bolster Mahmoud Abbas, so that the murderers of his camp can defeat another murderous camp in their midst. Such talk is futile. Drawing from my long-term experience of working with animals, I know that even if a chick is fed and cared for, its feathers will never turn into a lion's mane, but only into feathers at the most.
We should do what's best for us and not depend on any Palestinian element to do anything. There is no point in discussing an exchange deal with them, because there is no such exchange. We evacuated the Gaza Strip, for example, because we are better off not being there, as per the opinion of the vast majority and leadership.
Let's imagine that we had left Gaza with an agreement, which would have obviously been immediately breached, could we then have flaunted something imaginary in return? Our goal is to live in safety and calm. If we have to reach a local understanding to achieve this objective, that's quite alright. There is no point in trying to force a western central government on the Palestinians or to force our values on them. This reeks of arrogance and patronage, and it won't work. Gilad Sharon is the son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
July 3, 2007
Dear Friend of The Fellowship,
On Independence Day, Americans will gather to celebrate the great blessings of freedom. First and foremost, of course, this is a day to give thanks for our country, to pay our respects to our Founding Fathers, and to remember the many who died to secure our freedom – and those who, this very day, put their lives on the line so that we may continue to live in liberty. As you know, I call both Chicago and Jerusalem home. So, for me, this day has an added dimension. At this time of year, perhaps it is natural that I find myself reflecting on the unique and enduring relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, Israel and the United States have been dependable friends. While the U.S.-Israel relationship has been strained at times, it has never broken. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that both nations are democracies that grant to their citizens certain fundamental rights the Declaration of Independence states that all American citizens have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel declares that all Israeli citizens shall be granted freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. These similarities create broad areas of agreement on key principles, meaning that Israel and the U.S. more often than not stand united on important issues.
Moreover, just as the U.S. and Israel enjoy a strong friendship on the national level, it should not come as a surprise that polls consistently show that the American people, too, support Israel. As columnist Jeff Jacoby once put it, Americans stand for Israel because Americans like Israel. Americans instinctively sympathize with Israel's fight for survival in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods. And we are further drawn together by what he calls our kinship of common values. We all know what those values are. We share faith in God, based on a common Judeo-Christian heritage, and trust in the institutions built upon that heritage. We share a love of freedom, and a belief that freedom is best secured through a democratic political system. And, as the threat of Islamic terrorism becomes greater, we know that we are facing a common foe, and recognize the importance of standing in solidarity.
Former President Ronald Reagan said it well: The people of Israel and America are historic partners in the global quest for human dignity and freedom. We will always remain at each other's side. So, as Americans take time to celebrate the blessings of freedom and to give thanks for the fighting men and women who secure that freedom, I hope we will all take a moment to reflect upon the many blessings of the great and longstanding friendship between the U.S. and its historic partner, Israel. And, as you pray for America, please continue to pray, too, for the peace of Jerusalem.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President
Strengthening Links Between Old and New Jerusalem
by Hillel Fendel JULY 4,07 INN
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Municipality has opened a new road to the Old City.The new road, opened Monday in the presence of dignitaries, is expected to reduce traffic and ease the drive to the Western Wall and Dung Gate area.The road, previously a dirt path for most of its route, runs from Sultan's Pool, southward to the Ben Hinnom Valley, through Silwan (the City of David), and then meets up with the existing Hativat Yerushalayim St. to Dung Gate. It can also be accessed from the Abu Tor neighborhood.Present for the ceremony were Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky, and Gideon Shamir of the East Jerusalem Development Company (EJDC).
The 20-million shekel project included the removal of tens of thousands of tons of garbage, the building of a walkway along the road, the marking of paths for hikers, and the refurbishing of cemeteries and burial caves. Cemeteries for Karaites, Catholics, and Protestants exist in the area.An EJDC official told Arutz-7 that the company has two more projects in the works in the same area:
* The development of the Vadi Hilwe road, which is a straight (southward) continuation of the route leading out of the Old City through Dung Gate
* The development of Maalot Ir David, a road just to the east of Vadi Hilwe.
Both these projects will help, among others, the more than 40 Jewish families living in the City of David neighborhood, below the Old City.
Expert: Nuke terror better than even bet Attack likely to exploit existing network of cross-border human, drug traffickers July 6, 2007 - WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – A nuclear terrorist attack on the U.S. is better than an even bet in the next 10 years, says a former assistant secretary of defense and author of a book on the subject. Based on current trends, a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States is more likely than not in the decade ahead, says Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and author of Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.
Allison, who has testified before Congress on the subject, says the illicit economy for narcotics and illegal alien trafficking has built up a vast infrastructure that terrorists could exploit in delivering a nuclear weapon to its target in the U.S.
Al-Qaida, which has threatened to launch an American Hiroshima attack on the U.S., remains Allison's No. 1 suspect to pull off such a mission.
Former CIA Director George J. Tenet wrote in his memoirs that al-Qaida's leadership has remained singularly focused on acquiring WMD weapons of mass destruction and willing to pay whatever it would cost to get their hands on fissile material,Allison wrote in an opinion piece appearing in the Baltimore Sun prior to Independence Day.
Allison says there are several viable options open to terrorists determined to secure nuclear weapons. They could acquire an existing bomb from one of the nuclear weapons states or construct an elementary nuclear device from highly enriched uranium made by a state, he wrote. Theft of a warhead or material would not be easy, but attempted thefts in Russia and elsewhere are not uncommon.
Allison says terrorists are capable of building their own nuclear weapons if they can simply secure the fissile material. Once a terrorist group acquires about 100 pounds of highly enriched uranium, it could conceivably use publicly available documents and items commercially obtainable in any technologically advanced country to construct a bomb such as the one dropped on Hiroshima, he states. The threat is imminent, says Allison. If terrorists bought or stole a nuclear weapon in good working condition, they could explode it today, he explains. If the weapon had a lock, detonation would be delayed for several days. If terrorists acquired 100 pounds of highly enriched uranium, they could have a working elementary nuclear bomb in less than a year. WND first broke the story of Osama bin Laden's plans for a nuclear terrorist attack on multiple cities in the U.S.
President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the 9/11 commission have all concluded a nuclear terrorist attack is not only the nation's No. 1 nightmare but also something of an inevitability at some time in the future. Earlier this year, WND reported how the most extensive study of the effects of nuclear detonations in four major U.S. cities paints a grim picture of millions of deaths, overwhelmed hospitals and loss of command-and-control capability by government. But the three-year study by researchers at the Center for Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia says a concerted effort to teach civilians what to do in the event of a nuclear attack is the best – perhaps only – thing that could save an untold number of lives that will otherwise be needlessly lost. If a nuclear detonation were to occur in a downtown area, the picture would be bleak there, said Cham Dallas, director of the program and professor in the college of pharmacy. But in urban areas farther from the detonation, there actually is quite a bit that we can do. In certain areas, it may be possible to turn the death rate from 90 percent in some burn populations to probably 20 or 30 percent and those are very big differences simply by being prepared well in advance.
Arlene Kushner July 5, 2007
Appeasement
It has made it to the news in certain circles and to blogs: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's response to the most recent terrorist threat to the UK. He has forbidden his ministers to use the word Muslim in connection with terrorist, as if Britain is dealing with any terrorists who are not Muslim. And, in an attempt to achieve a more consensual tone, he has banned the term war on terror too. This is all about not offending Muslims in Britain. Hopefully, I imagine, so that they will then become more peace loving.
This is disgusting. And self-defeating. The terrorism that Britain, and the Western world more broadly, is facing is a direct facet of a radical Muslim vision for controlling the world. It is not a coincidence that these terrorists are Muslim; rather, their ideology goes to the very heart of the matter. To deny this and look the other way is nonsense. Mr. Brown is refusing to name the enemy.
Certainly there are Muslims who are not terrorist, and some who are peace loving. It falls to them to be at the forefront of criticism of those radicals who speak for their religion today. And the reality is that a solid percentage of Muslims in Britain have not assimilated into British society and absorbed liberal Western values; a significant number of them cling unapologetically to values that challenge what Britain has stood for. By pretending that this is not the case, and that there is not a serious battle to be drawn, Brown is giving them strength.
THESE PEOPLE BETTER GET IT STRAIGHT ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD ITS THE END OF THE AGE OF GRACE, THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER AS JESUS RULES FROM HIS THRONE IN JERUSALEM FOREVER, WORLD WITHOUT END. WE PRAY COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL.
World's Last Chance Released a Bible Study Alleging U.S. and Vatican will Trigger the Apocalyptic Events Thu Jul 5, 3:01 AM ET
The Bible contains a prophecy of a last global crisis which will lead to the end of our world. World's Last Chance released Bible studies identifying the U.S. and Vatican to be the two main players in this final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They assert that these two powers will play a key role in enforcing the 'mark of the beast' globally.
Cairo, Egypt (PRWEB) July 5, 2007 -- The Bible contains a prophecy of a last global crisis which will lead to the end of our world. World's Last Chance released Bible studies identifying the U.S. and Vatican to be the two main players in this final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They assert that these two powers will play a key role in enforcing the mark of the beast globally.The Bible, in Revelation, chapter 13, unfolds the prophecy of the global crisis which will precede the end of civilization. Researchers at World's Last Chance insist that the USA and the Vatican are clearly identified in Bible prophecy as two major players in the final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They claim that these two powers will play a key role in globally enforcing the mark of the beast. On their website, World's Last Chance (www.WorldsLastChance.com) further documentation is made by citing the speeches of Pope John Paul II and former US President George Bush.
Bible prophecies serve a double purpose - to impress on our minds the existence of a God who is in control of all events and to warn us of future crises, stated Dahlia Doss of World's Last Chance. Many of the Bible predictions have already come true to the very date foretold and world history confirms this. This compels us to take yet to be fulfilled prophecies seriously. It is only logical to assume that God would not warn us of the mark of the beast without providing sufficient evidence whereby we can identify what it is and which powers will be responsible for implementing the mark of the beast on the world, and more importantly how to avoid receiving it. Our loving God would not subject us to guesswork when our eternal destiny is at stake.
The researchers at World's Last Chance are raising the alarm that the Bible's most frightening forecast is yet to be fulfilled. They urge people worldwide to get prepared for this crisis.
The team at World's Last Chance do not identify themselves with any existing denomination, or church. They emphasize reliance on the Bible as their source of information. To read about the US in Bible prophecy The Last Nation Noticed in Prophecy click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/chapter53.php
To read about the Vatican in Bible prophecy The First Symbol of Revelation 13 click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/chapter54.php
For further information, the article New World Order explains how the U.S. and Vatican will be the super powers involved in soon-coming events and how to avoid receiving the 'mark of the beast'. To read it, click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/full_article.php
About World's Last Chance
World's Last Chance (www.WorldsLastChance.com) is a ministry that was founded in 2004. It is operated by a small team of volunteers dedicated to sharing the last message of mercy given in the Bible and the wonderful news of the soon second coming of Christ.
Jul 5, 2007 11:00 am US/Central
More Rain Threatens Waterlogged Plains
CBS News Interactive: Floods And Droughts
CBS) OKLAHOMA CITY Flooding slowly subsided in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, but forecasters said an approaching storm system could hamper efforts to clean up after weeks of heavy rain damaged homes, businesses and roads. Unfortunately, more downpours are likely today, and it's not just in one area, as this rain is falling over a large part of Texas, says CBS News meteorologist George Cullen. Concerns also eased Thursday that a full Lake Texoma along the Oklahoma-Texas line would send floodwaters into the Red River. Ross Adkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said water could spill over the Denison Dam, possibly Thursday, but no major damage to homes was anticipated. The last major flood was nearly five feet over the spillway in 1990. This year's level is expected to crest at one foot over the spillway.
Still, residents, particularly those living in farm areas near the river, were warned to take precautions. (We're) warning residents along the Red River to move all livestock, equipment and other necessary belongings to higher ground, Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton said. We are also urging residents to have an initial evacuation plan, should conditions threaten homes in the area.
Floodwaters were ebbing in several northeastern Oklahoma communities, but meteorologists predicted more problems because lakes and reservoirs were already filled to capacity. The worst flood damage was in Miami, Okla., where the Neosho River crested at about 29 feet, its highest stage since 1951. The river was not expected to be back within its banks until late Sunday. We're starting to see an average drop of about a half-inch every hour, City Manager Mike Spurgeon said. A shelter set up in the city housed about 55 people, and flood damage was expected to affect about 600 homes and businesses, Spurgeon said. More than 30 roads in and out of the city of 13,500 were still closed Thursday due to flooding. Spurgeon estimated it could take six months to a year to rebuild in the parts of town most heavily damaged. It's going to take a while for some of these people to get back on their feet, said Joyce Heeney, working at the First Baptist Church of Miami, one of the overflow shelters in town. We had one family that left (their home) with nothing. U.S. Rep. Dan Boren took an aerial tour to assess the damage with representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Boren, D-Okla., promised to do whatever he could to secure federal assistance for the victims. About 50 Oklahoma Army National Guard troops worked 12-hour shifts providing security in flood-ravaged neighborhoods. In Texas, locally heavy rain spread across wide areas of the state on Wednesday, causing minor street flooding.
We have a put a lot of work into it, to make it livable and now we don't have anything, Wichita Falls, Texas, resident Veronica Gallegos told CBS News. A total of 148 of the state's 254 counties were under flash flood watches, flash flood warnings, flood warnings or a combination of watches and warnings Wednesday night.
The Trinity River in the Dallas-Fort Worth area crested Wednesday evening at 36.93 feet, about 7 feet above flood stage. Corpus Christi recorded nearly 3½ inches of rain by Wednesday evening on top of 10 inches that fell on Monday. The weather has been blamed for 11 deaths in Texas in the past two weeks and the death of a 16-year-old girl in Missouri. South of Houston, the search was continuing for a 6-year-old boy swept by high river waters into the Gulf of Mexico, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenavasan.
In Kansas, water was receding in the community of Osawatomie as drainage structures were opened on the Pottawatomie River, and power had been restored to about 60 homes, allowing those residents to return, Miami County officials said. At least 1,000 people were out of their homes throughout southeast Kansas, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general. In northeastern Oklahoma, the Caney River began slowly falling after cresting at 34.18 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The river, which forced hundreds of residents near Bartlesville from their homes this week, wasn't expected to fall below flood stage until Sunday night, the weather service said. Meanwhile, a 42,000-gallon crude oil slick that spilled into the Verdigris River during a flash flood in Coffeyville, Kan., had mostly dissipated, and there was no indication the oil went into Oklahoma's Lake Oologah, a water source for Tulsa, officials said Wednesday.
Coffeyville Resources said oil had stopped leaking from the refinery. Officials were trying to determine what caused the spill and were assessing damage to the plant.
Former COS Yaalon: Pal. State No Longer Practical or Relevant
by Ezra HaLevi JUL 5,07 INN
We have to replace the conception of a two-state solution – it is not relevant anymore, former Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio Thursday morning. This is not pessimism, but realism. It is not practical to keep assuming it is the answer. We are trying to find answers for the situation in Gaza without diagnosing the problem, the previous IDF chief said. What we are witnessing in Gaza is the establishment of a Jihadist Islamic society. Yaalon says that any talk of negotiations and withdrawing to the 1967 borders pushes peace farther away. These are movements that are not interested in territorial issues between us and the Palestinians, but in other issues altogether. This was proven with the Disengagement and now is our opportunity to look and learn. It was a victory in their eyes for the global Jihad and gave strength to Hizbullah, Hamas and all the other Islamist groups.
Maybe we should therefore strengthen the moderates? Army Radio’s Yael Dann asked Yaalon. I am not saying to sit and do nothing…but in the face of the wave of Jihad, any discussions of agreements are not relevant. Any talk like this distances us further from peace rather than bringing us closer…It is a kind of blindness to continue to pursue these policies. How do you explain our blindness during Oslo and now during the era of Hamastan, Dann asked. We are always looking for a solution - we want peace now and it blinds us. We blame ourselves, changing the government and the prime minister. Asked if he would be joining Binyamin Netanyahu on the eve of elections, Yaalon said: Right now I am not entering politics.
Iranian Missiles Could Threaten Israel from Syria
by Hillel Fendel JUL 5,07 INN
Iran is planning to deploy, in Syria, missiles that can hit Israel, as a deterrent against a Western anti-nuclear strike upon Iran. It could happen soon, the British newspaper Telegraph reports. An agreement to this effect was signed two years ago between Iranian President Ahmedinajad and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The rockets in question are the Shihab-3, Scud-B, and Scud-C, which can reach any part of the State of Israel. They can be fired from mobile launchers. Ahmedinajad announced earlier this year that if his country feels threatened regarding its nuclear program, Israel will become its first military counter-target. The Shihab-3 is a medium-range ballistic missile with a range of over 2,000 kilometers. It has the ability to change its trajectory more than once in mid-course, protecting it significantly against Israel's anti-ballistic missile Arrow system. The Scud missiles have a range of 300 to 600 kilometers, and are less accurate than the Shihab.
MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor), a two-time Deputy Defense Minister who was succeeded this week by Matan Vilnai, warned at his farewell ceremony that Israel is not prepared for the dangers Iran presents. He charged the Olmert government with not providing enough funding, saying he is not satisfied with the funding being allocated to the defense establishment to deal with the Iranian threat. Without going into specifics, he said that some projects are progressing too slowly because they have been financially diluted. Sneh also nixed the notion that there is coordination on an operational level between the Israel and US militaries against Iran, saying no such coordination exists.
European Parliament president calls for international Mideast peace conference By Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 04/Jul/2007 16:36
BRUSSELS (EJP)---The President of the European Parliament has called for the convening of an international Middle East peace conference under the ageis of the Quartet. I am convinced that in the current situation, we need a multilateral approach to solve the Mideast conflict, Hans-Gert Poettering said at a conference organized by the Socialist group of the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.
Poettering, who visited several Mideast countries last month, urged Israel to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to avoid previous failures to drive him into a corner. Israel must give Abbas the chance to regain the confidence of 65 percent of the Palestinians who elected him as president in 2006, he said. He also called on Israel to release the Palestinian legislators and other politicians arrested by Israel but made no reference to the fate of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Find its own voice
The two-day conference, entitled “Moving towards an international peace conference for the Middle East, was attended by politicians, academics and high-level experts.
Pasqualina Napoletano, vice-president of the Socialist group in charge of international relations, said The EU should find its own voice, including in the framework of the Quartet, in efforts aimed at restarting genuine negotations on the various tracks of the peace process.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the conference, the Socialist group said talks between Palestinians should be urgently revived to allow the formation of a new government in the spirit of reconciliation and national unity. International support for President Abbas should be accompanied by a concrete and realistic political plan leading to a permanent status agreement and an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, the statement added.
False hopes of peace
No point in pursuing deal with Palestinians, who won’t honor it anyway
by Gilad Sharon 7/4/2007
The common thread tying our Palestinian neighbors together is their hatred towards us and their desire to see us harmed, and this is not sufficient to turn them into a nation. It can be surmised, therefore, that if the State of Israel had never existed, a Palestinian state would not have existed just as it never has: Egypt would have moved further north, Syria would have moved a little to the south, and the whole matter would have been over and done with. It is reasonable to assume that Jordan and Lebanon wouldn't have existed either.
It is no coincidence that a Palestinian state was never established prior to Israel's foundation; it is no coincidence that the Partition Plan was rejected by the Palestinians; it is also no coincidence that for the almost 20 years that had elapsed between the War of Independence and the Six Day War, no such state was established in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Even recently, when it still seemed to many of us that there was a central government among the Palestinians, they chose not to establish a state of their own, even though such a state would have been recognized by the world at large, including Israel.
The truth of the matter is that Palestinian nationalism is the byproduct of our Zionism. This is the way it is, whether they like this fact or not. Namely, this is not sufficient to become a nation that shares a history, a culture and a common vision. The terrible scenes of brutality among the Palestinians are nothing new. Such battles over local interests, clan wars and power struggles have always accompanied the Palestinians, even during their struggles against Israel. This was the case during the War of Independence when the Palestinians were also preoccupied with the battles between the Nashashibi and Husseini clans.
Futile talk
Why should all this be of interest to us? Because it impacts the way we should conduct ourselves. There is no point - as it has been demonstrated over and over again during the past 13 years - in reaching an agreement with any key Palestinian element. This is futile. It suffices to look at the vast number of ceasefire agreements the Palestinians have signed among themselves during the infighting in Gaza (they even signed the Mecca Deal, which was supposed to give it some religious validity.) Every one of the agreements was breached even before the ink had dried on the documents they signed. If this is the value they attribute to agreements among themselves, what then is the value of agreements signed with us, which of course were never adhered to? There is also no point to the choir of voices here calling to bolster Mahmoud Abbas, so that the murderers of his camp can defeat another murderous camp in their midst. Such talk is futile. Drawing from my long-term experience of working with animals, I know that even if a chick is fed and cared for, its feathers will never turn into a lion's mane, but only into feathers at the most.
We should do what's best for us and not depend on any Palestinian element to do anything. There is no point in discussing an exchange deal with them, because there is no such exchange. We evacuated the Gaza Strip, for example, because we are better off not being there, as per the opinion of the vast majority and leadership.
Let's imagine that we had left Gaza with an agreement, which would have obviously been immediately breached, could we then have flaunted something imaginary in return? Our goal is to live in safety and calm. If we have to reach a local understanding to achieve this objective, that's quite alright. There is no point in trying to force a western central government on the Palestinians or to force our values on them. This reeks of arrogance and patronage, and it won't work. Gilad Sharon is the son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
July 3, 2007
Dear Friend of The Fellowship,
On Independence Day, Americans will gather to celebrate the great blessings of freedom. First and foremost, of course, this is a day to give thanks for our country, to pay our respects to our Founding Fathers, and to remember the many who died to secure our freedom – and those who, this very day, put their lives on the line so that we may continue to live in liberty. As you know, I call both Chicago and Jerusalem home. So, for me, this day has an added dimension. At this time of year, perhaps it is natural that I find myself reflecting on the unique and enduring relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, Israel and the United States have been dependable friends. While the U.S.-Israel relationship has been strained at times, it has never broken. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that both nations are democracies that grant to their citizens certain fundamental rights the Declaration of Independence states that all American citizens have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel declares that all Israeli citizens shall be granted freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. These similarities create broad areas of agreement on key principles, meaning that Israel and the U.S. more often than not stand united on important issues.
Moreover, just as the U.S. and Israel enjoy a strong friendship on the national level, it should not come as a surprise that polls consistently show that the American people, too, support Israel. As columnist Jeff Jacoby once put it, Americans stand for Israel because Americans like Israel. Americans instinctively sympathize with Israel's fight for survival in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods. And we are further drawn together by what he calls our kinship of common values. We all know what those values are. We share faith in God, based on a common Judeo-Christian heritage, and trust in the institutions built upon that heritage. We share a love of freedom, and a belief that freedom is best secured through a democratic political system. And, as the threat of Islamic terrorism becomes greater, we know that we are facing a common foe, and recognize the importance of standing in solidarity.
Former President Ronald Reagan said it well: The people of Israel and America are historic partners in the global quest for human dignity and freedom. We will always remain at each other's side. So, as Americans take time to celebrate the blessings of freedom and to give thanks for the fighting men and women who secure that freedom, I hope we will all take a moment to reflect upon the many blessings of the great and longstanding friendship between the U.S. and its historic partner, Israel. And, as you pray for America, please continue to pray, too, for the peace of Jerusalem.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President
Strengthening Links Between Old and New Jerusalem
by Hillel Fendel JULY 4,07 INN
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Municipality has opened a new road to the Old City.The new road, opened Monday in the presence of dignitaries, is expected to reduce traffic and ease the drive to the Western Wall and Dung Gate area.The road, previously a dirt path for most of its route, runs from Sultan's Pool, southward to the Ben Hinnom Valley, through Silwan (the City of David), and then meets up with the existing Hativat Yerushalayim St. to Dung Gate. It can also be accessed from the Abu Tor neighborhood.Present for the ceremony were Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky, and Gideon Shamir of the East Jerusalem Development Company (EJDC).
The 20-million shekel project included the removal of tens of thousands of tons of garbage, the building of a walkway along the road, the marking of paths for hikers, and the refurbishing of cemeteries and burial caves. Cemeteries for Karaites, Catholics, and Protestants exist in the area.An EJDC official told Arutz-7 that the company has two more projects in the works in the same area:
* The development of the Vadi Hilwe road, which is a straight (southward) continuation of the route leading out of the Old City through Dung Gate
* The development of Maalot Ir David, a road just to the east of Vadi Hilwe.
Both these projects will help, among others, the more than 40 Jewish families living in the City of David neighborhood, below the Old City.
Expert: Nuke terror better than even bet Attack likely to exploit existing network of cross-border human, drug traffickers July 6, 2007 - WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – A nuclear terrorist attack on the U.S. is better than an even bet in the next 10 years, says a former assistant secretary of defense and author of a book on the subject. Based on current trends, a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States is more likely than not in the decade ahead, says Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and author of Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.
Allison, who has testified before Congress on the subject, says the illicit economy for narcotics and illegal alien trafficking has built up a vast infrastructure that terrorists could exploit in delivering a nuclear weapon to its target in the U.S.
Al-Qaida, which has threatened to launch an American Hiroshima attack on the U.S., remains Allison's No. 1 suspect to pull off such a mission.
Former CIA Director George J. Tenet wrote in his memoirs that al-Qaida's leadership has remained singularly focused on acquiring WMD weapons of mass destruction and willing to pay whatever it would cost to get their hands on fissile material,Allison wrote in an opinion piece appearing in the Baltimore Sun prior to Independence Day.
Allison says there are several viable options open to terrorists determined to secure nuclear weapons. They could acquire an existing bomb from one of the nuclear weapons states or construct an elementary nuclear device from highly enriched uranium made by a state, he wrote. Theft of a warhead or material would not be easy, but attempted thefts in Russia and elsewhere are not uncommon.
Allison says terrorists are capable of building their own nuclear weapons if they can simply secure the fissile material. Once a terrorist group acquires about 100 pounds of highly enriched uranium, it could conceivably use publicly available documents and items commercially obtainable in any technologically advanced country to construct a bomb such as the one dropped on Hiroshima, he states. The threat is imminent, says Allison. If terrorists bought or stole a nuclear weapon in good working condition, they could explode it today, he explains. If the weapon had a lock, detonation would be delayed for several days. If terrorists acquired 100 pounds of highly enriched uranium, they could have a working elementary nuclear bomb in less than a year. WND first broke the story of Osama bin Laden's plans for a nuclear terrorist attack on multiple cities in the U.S.
President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the 9/11 commission have all concluded a nuclear terrorist attack is not only the nation's No. 1 nightmare but also something of an inevitability at some time in the future. Earlier this year, WND reported how the most extensive study of the effects of nuclear detonations in four major U.S. cities paints a grim picture of millions of deaths, overwhelmed hospitals and loss of command-and-control capability by government. But the three-year study by researchers at the Center for Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia says a concerted effort to teach civilians what to do in the event of a nuclear attack is the best – perhaps only – thing that could save an untold number of lives that will otherwise be needlessly lost. If a nuclear detonation were to occur in a downtown area, the picture would be bleak there, said Cham Dallas, director of the program and professor in the college of pharmacy. But in urban areas farther from the detonation, there actually is quite a bit that we can do. In certain areas, it may be possible to turn the death rate from 90 percent in some burn populations to probably 20 or 30 percent and those are very big differences simply by being prepared well in advance.
Arlene Kushner July 5, 2007
Appeasement
It has made it to the news in certain circles and to blogs: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's response to the most recent terrorist threat to the UK. He has forbidden his ministers to use the word Muslim in connection with terrorist, as if Britain is dealing with any terrorists who are not Muslim. And, in an attempt to achieve a more consensual tone, he has banned the term war on terror too. This is all about not offending Muslims in Britain. Hopefully, I imagine, so that they will then become more peace loving.
This is disgusting. And self-defeating. The terrorism that Britain, and the Western world more broadly, is facing is a direct facet of a radical Muslim vision for controlling the world. It is not a coincidence that these terrorists are Muslim; rather, their ideology goes to the very heart of the matter. To deny this and look the other way is nonsense. Mr. Brown is refusing to name the enemy.
Certainly there are Muslims who are not terrorist, and some who are peace loving. It falls to them to be at the forefront of criticism of those radicals who speak for their religion today. And the reality is that a solid percentage of Muslims in Britain have not assimilated into British society and absorbed liberal Western values; a significant number of them cling unapologetically to values that challenge what Britain has stood for. By pretending that this is not the case, and that there is not a serious battle to be drawn, Brown is giving them strength.
THESE PEOPLE BETTER GET IT STRAIGHT ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD ITS THE END OF THE AGE OF GRACE, THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER AS JESUS RULES FROM HIS THRONE IN JERUSALEM FOREVER, WORLD WITHOUT END. WE PRAY COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL.
World's Last Chance Released a Bible Study Alleging U.S. and Vatican will Trigger the Apocalyptic Events Thu Jul 5, 3:01 AM ET
The Bible contains a prophecy of a last global crisis which will lead to the end of our world. World's Last Chance released Bible studies identifying the U.S. and Vatican to be the two main players in this final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They assert that these two powers will play a key role in enforcing the 'mark of the beast' globally.
Cairo, Egypt (PRWEB) July 5, 2007 -- The Bible contains a prophecy of a last global crisis which will lead to the end of our world. World's Last Chance released Bible studies identifying the U.S. and Vatican to be the two main players in this final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They assert that these two powers will play a key role in enforcing the mark of the beast globally.The Bible, in Revelation, chapter 13, unfolds the prophecy of the global crisis which will precede the end of civilization. Researchers at World's Last Chance insist that the USA and the Vatican are clearly identified in Bible prophecy as two major players in the final global crisis before the second coming of Christ. They claim that these two powers will play a key role in globally enforcing the mark of the beast. On their website, World's Last Chance (www.WorldsLastChance.com) further documentation is made by citing the speeches of Pope John Paul II and former US President George Bush.
Bible prophecies serve a double purpose - to impress on our minds the existence of a God who is in control of all events and to warn us of future crises, stated Dahlia Doss of World's Last Chance. Many of the Bible predictions have already come true to the very date foretold and world history confirms this. This compels us to take yet to be fulfilled prophecies seriously. It is only logical to assume that God would not warn us of the mark of the beast without providing sufficient evidence whereby we can identify what it is and which powers will be responsible for implementing the mark of the beast on the world, and more importantly how to avoid receiving it. Our loving God would not subject us to guesswork when our eternal destiny is at stake.
The researchers at World's Last Chance are raising the alarm that the Bible's most frightening forecast is yet to be fulfilled. They urge people worldwide to get prepared for this crisis.
The team at World's Last Chance do not identify themselves with any existing denomination, or church. They emphasize reliance on the Bible as their source of information. To read about the US in Bible prophecy The Last Nation Noticed in Prophecy click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/chapter53.php
To read about the Vatican in Bible prophecy The First Symbol of Revelation 13 click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/chapter54.php
For further information, the article New World Order explains how the U.S. and Vatican will be the super powers involved in soon-coming events and how to avoid receiving the 'mark of the beast'. To read it, click on the following link: http://www.worldslastchance.com/full_article.php
About World's Last Chance
World's Last Chance (www.WorldsLastChance.com) is a ministry that was founded in 2004. It is operated by a small team of volunteers dedicated to sharing the last message of mercy given in the Bible and the wonderful news of the soon second coming of Christ.
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