JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Dore Gold: The way it is now, peace talks won’t go very far-Foreign Ministry chief recalls witnessing 1975 terror attack in Jerusalem, whose perpetrator was recently honored by the PA-By Raphael Ahren July 20, 2016, 4:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold on Wednesday indicated that Israeli-Palestinians peace negotiations were doomed to fail as long as Ramallah continues to glorify terrorists.In a video posted to the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, Gold also called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “tear down” a recently erected monument of a terrorist who carried out a deadly attack 41 years ago, recalling having witnessed the bombing when he was a student living in Jerusalem.“The way it is now, we’re not going to be able to get very far in any kind of negotiation. Because negotiation requires a culture of peace and not a culture of death,” Gold says in the video.“So I am hoping that Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the PA, who heads the Fatah movement, will tear down that monument.”The PA recently unveiled a statue in the West Bank town of Ramallah to honor the “martyr” Ahmad Ibrahim Jbara, known in Israel by his nom de guerre Abu Sukar. On July 4, 1975, Abu Sukar together with Bassam Tbila carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem’s central Zion Square by exploding a bomb hidden in a refrigerator. Fourteen people were killed and 80 injured.‘I was shopping innocently until suddenly I heard this loud explosion. I turned around and saw bodies strewn everywhere’Gold was a 21-year-old student at the time, he recalled in the clip. “It was Friday and I was doing my shopping innocently until all of a sudden I heard this incredibly loud explosion. I turned around and I saw bodies strewn everywhere. Apparently there had been a terrorist attack. The Fatah organization had brought a refrigerator packed with explosives and placed it right across the street, in front of a hardware store.”Standing on Zion Square, Dold said he recently learned of the statute honoring Abu Sukar. “That’s the education that the Palestinian Authority wants to give to Palestinian children?” he asks incredulously, calling on Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement today, to “tear down that monument.”Prime Minister Benjamin has also chided the PA for honoring the terrorist. “Abu Sukkar murdered 15 people by detonating a refrigerator filled with explosives on a busy Jerusalem street. Rather than dedicate a statue to a mass murderer, I ask that you consider honoring a champion of co-existence,” he said in a recent video addressing Abbas. “This will help educate future generations to love peace over war, compassion over violence. It will also help convince Israelis that they have a true partner for peace.”In 1977, two years after carrying out the deadly attack, Abu Sukar was sentenced to a lifelong prison sentence but was released in 2003 as goodwill gesture to the PA before the Aqaba summit. He rejoined the Palestinian leadership, serving as an adviser to Yasser Arafat. He died in 2003 after suffering a heart attack.
Syria post near Golan border bombed, unclear if Israel involved-IDF declines to comment on report of jets hitting Assad government-held building near Quneitra; Hezbollah points finger at Nusra Front-By Ilan Ben Zion July 20, 2016, 1:33 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A Syrian government building near the Golan border was bombed Wednesday, with some reports initially attributing the attack to Israel.However, Hezbollah and several Arab media outlets indicated the building in Medinat al-Ba’ath had been attacked by rebel groups.It wasn’t immediately clear what purpose the building served, or whether it was occupied at the time of the strike. There was no immediate word on casualties.Unconfirmed reports indicated that the planes targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news agency denied the accuracy of reports attributing the bombing to Israeli airstrikes in Syria, quoting Hezbollah saying the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front launched rockets at Quneitra, inflicting casualties.The Local Coordination Committees in Syria, meanwhile, claimed Free Syrian Army forces fired rockets at Assad forces in Medinat al-Ba’ath.The Syrian Qasioun news agency claimed that the building was an Assad government command post that may have been used for Hezbollah activities.There was no immediate response to the reports in the Syrian official news agency and the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said it didn’t comment on reports regarding Israeli strikes in Syria.Shortly after the reported strike, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria reported that Assad government helicopters bombed the nearby towns of Umm Batna and Ajraf.Syrian Army artillery then were said to target and destroy Nusra Front positions in response to the reported rocket attacks on Medinat al-Ba’ath.Earlier in the day, gunfire hit an army post near the Israeli town of Metulla on the Lebanon border. The IDF said it was investigating but believed the bullets to be stray fire from across the border.On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked 10 years since the Second Lebanon War with Hezbollah by warning that “if the need arises, we will respond to aggression — and the response will be powerful. Whoever thinks they will find ‘spiderwebs’ here will get… an iron fist.”He was alluding to a 2000 speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which he called the Jewish state “feebler than a spiderweb.”Israel has maintained an official policy of nonintervention in the Syrian civil war, which has wracked the country for over five years and left over 250,000 dead and millions displaced but Israeli officials have made clear that Israel would act to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining sophisticated weaponry from Syria or Iran.The IDF has also retaliated when fighting by the various rebel groups and government forces struck Israel.Earlier this month the IDF struck two Syrian artillery pieces after errant fire struck just inside the border fence with Israel.On Sunday, the army also attempted to shoot down a drone that infiltrated the Golan from Syria, but failed to hit it with two Patriot missiles and a missile shot from a jet.The IDF has been bolstering defenses along the northern border, expanding the network of fences and surveillance capabilities, to prepare for a possible war with Hezbollah, the Shiite group that fought a war with Israel in 2006 and has vowed to destroy the Jewish state.The border has been largely quiet in the ten years since the Second Lebanon War, with Hezbollah’s forces deployed to support Iranian and Assad regime forces in the Syrian civil war.
Explosions hit Syrian town near Golan Heights-[Reuters]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and a monitoring group said two explosions that struck a Syrian town near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday were caused by an Israeli air strike but Lebanon's Hezbollah blamed rocket fire by al Qaeda-linked militants.At least one blast struck near the governorate building in Baath City, capital of the southern province of Quneitra which borders the Golan region.The town is held by pro-Syrian government forces, including the army and Hezbollah fighters. The Nusra Front, Western-backed rebels, and groups which have pledged allegiance to Islamic State also operate in the region.A Syrian military source said two rockets had hit the town but their origin was unknown. "There is information that there was a rocket which fell on one of a government headquarters in Quneitra in the area of the town of Baath," he said.Two Syrian rebels said an Israeli jet had been seen circling the area and carried out an air strike on a military position."Our information is that the attack targeted a Hezbollah outpost," said Maher al Ali, a spokesman for the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, a Western-backed rebel group.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said an Israeli jet fired a rocket near the governorate building. It said it had no information on casualties.Hezbollah said Nusra Front fired two rockets loaded with high explosives towards Baath City, causing civilian deaths. "The Israeli enemy was monitoring the launchpoint of the rockets next to the Nusra positions. There is no truth to (reports of) any raids by the Israeli enemy," it said.An Israeli military spokeswoman said: "We do not respond to reports of this kind."Though formally neutral on the civil war, Israel has targeted Hezbollah officials and arms convoys inside Syria several times during the conflict.In January last year it carried out a helicopter attack in Quneitra province that killed a top Iranian Revolutionary Guard general and several Hezbollah members including a son of the group's late military commander, Jihad Mughniyeh.Wednesday's incident took place three days after Israel said it fired missiles towards an unmanned drone that briefly entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria.The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and annexed in a move that has not won international recognition.(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Laila Bassam and Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Editing by Catherine Evans)
People come here and see no synagogue and think there must be no Jews'-A small island of Judaism in Hawaiian politics-Tiny but stalwart, the Jewish contingent on America’s youngest state maintains a unique, and strong, sense of identity-By Lisa Klug July 20, 2016, 4:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii — During Josh Green’s childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, deciphering his heritage for his non-Jewish classmates became a familiar practice. As a state senator in Hawaii, the same responsibility has fallen upon him again.“I was the only Jewish child in my school growing up and people looked to my family to explain Judaism and the High Holidays to them,” says Green, who grew up Reform and lives in Kailua-Kona in Hawaii, the Big Island. “In Hawaii, there is very little awareness of Judaism and I often feel like I did as a child when I explain our faith to my colleagues.”Green, a Democrat and the state’s Majority Whip, is among a handful of politicians with Jewish ancestry holding office in the Pacific archipelago. Perhaps Hawaii’s best known Jewish elected official is its former Republican governor, Linda Lingle, now a senior advisor to (non-Jewish) Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.Hawaii’s current elected officials with Jewish ties include Democrat state senate incumbent Russell Ruderman and Republican incumbent state senator and Minority Floor Leader Sam Slom. At least two other lawmakers, State Representative Nicole Lowen of Hawaii, the Big Island, and State Senator J. Kalani English of Maui, were both born to Jewish fathers. One more Hawaiian legislator, US Senator Brian Schatz (Dem.) represents the “Aloha State” in Washington, D.C.“We joke and kibitz, we kid each other a little bit,” Ruderman told The Times of Israel. “We don’t bond specifically in a Jewish way. It’s more of a cultural identity.”Like many members of the tribe from various backgrounds, these politicians share Jewish culture as a common reference point to varying degrees. Aside from state senator English, nearly all are transplants from the mainland to the Pacific. Each focuses on specific issues in their legislative work, which occasionally looks to Israel for inspiration. Some of them also hold day jobs, with careers spanning from the medical profession to the natural foods industry. And those roles sometimes overlap in ways that fuel their work.For Green, a health care professional, the overlap between his responsibilities is readily evident.“I believe people need someone to fight for them who understands their greatest challenges,” says Green, an emergency physician. “I… see people in their times of extreme stress and need. This informs my work as a senator.”As part of his weltanschauung, Judaism also plays a part in Green’s approach.“I incorporate my beliefs and my medical work into my role as a legislator — but I do it very privately and am careful to welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds into my efforts to help people,” says Green, who plans to visit his extended family in Haifa in the future with his wife and children.‘I incorporate my beliefs into my role as a legislator’-With 18 years of service behind him, Slom is the senior statesman among the bunch. He is also the only Republican.A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania and a University of Hawaii alumnus, Slom grew up Reform and received his law degree from LaSalle University Law School. Until he retired two years ago, he led Smart Business Hawaii, the largest organization for small business in the state.His involvement in politics dates back to 1996 when he worked on Lingle’s first campaign for governor in which she was defeated by a single percentage point in the closest election in Hawaiian history. She ultimately gained distinction serving two terms as both Hawaii’s first female governor and its first Jewish one from 2002 to 2010. She was also the state’s first Republican elected governor since 1962 when William Quinn left office.“People used to ask if she was going to outlaw Christmas,” Slom told The Times of Israel. Although he says he initially set these naysayers straight, after a while, he played along. “I told them yes, she was going to outlaw Christmas but was going to institute Chanukah instead and that was better because it’s eight days.”Despite Slom’s stature as the state’s only Republican among 25 state senators, Ruderman suggests there are many other Conservatives who are registered Democrats “in name only who want to play on the winning team. In any other state, they would be Republicans… There are probably a few Democrats who are more conservative than Sam Slom, the lone Republican.”While there are no official stats on the state’s number of Jewish residents, the islands are home to a surprising number of Jews.“There is a fairly healthy Jewish community here even though we don’t have a synagogue,” Ruderman says. “People come here and see no synagogue and think there must be no Jews.”Ruderman moved to the island from the San Francisco Bay Area 18 years ago. Describing himself as “not secular and not Orthodox,” he occasionally attends events organized by the unaffiliated shul, Kona Beth Shalom, which does not have its own building.As Jews born in the Holy Land under the British mandate, Ruderman’s parents spoke Hebrew in the young Jewish enclave. Although he last visited Israel when he was 10 with his parents and sister, he would like to return. His Hebrew is “a bit rusty,” he says, but he can speak “k’tzat,” a little.Ruderman’s Russian grandparents named their daughter Aviva after their adopted city of Tel Aviv. And Ruderman, who is the father of a four-month-old girl with his Filipina American wife, recently carried on the tradition by naming his daughter Aviva.Ruderman says, “We kept her name alive in that regard.”Ruderman credits his parents with giving him a strong sense of ethics rooted in Judaism.‘I carry a certain sense of pride in myself that I won’t bow down in front of anyone but God’-“I carry a certain sense of pride in myself that I won’t bow down in front of anyone but God and that informs the way I conduct my public life,” Ruderman says. “The form it takes is not physically bowing down but not bowing down to bullies who want you to bow down to them. And I feel a strong sense of being ethical in my business and political dealings. My parents taught me their version of Judaism that has a lot to do with treating other people with respect.”Ruderman moonlights in two bands, a Latin group called El Leo, and a Grateful Dead cover band titled Terrapin Station after a famous Dead song.A self-described tree-hugging environmentalist liberal, Ruderman also owns a trifecta of successful natural food stores called Island Naturals. Israeli born farmer Michael Manor credits Ruderman for taking a leadership role to assist small farmers.“Russell Ruderman has done more to help Hawaii’s organic farmers than the whole state Agriculture Department, and it’s not just Russell. It’s also the produce managers in the store,” says Manor, who has been selling his products to Island Natural since the company launched in 1998. “They were instrumental in getting farmers to grow something they can sell and encouraging them.”Looking to Israel for inspiration with water issues is important to Senator English, who hails from Maui’s lush farm land in Hana.“Permaculture and desalination are two areas that Hawaii pays close attention to in Israel,” says English, who has served in the Senate since 2000 and visited the Jewish state about a decade ago. “I felt very at home when I visited Israel because I felt a lot of similarities. We have the reverence for those before us and our ancestors and we have this idea that lineage and lineage holders is important.”English’s mother gave her son to her parents to be raised in Maui, which he described as a common tradition called “hanai,” a form of adoption.“For Hawaiians, we are very conscious of our background, our ancestry,” says English, who did not know his father, only his mother. “She had to make sure that I understand my father was Russian Jewish. It was never anything hidden.”Maintaining a sense of her heritage is equally important to Representative Lowen, whose sister is married to an Israeli and maintains joint US and Israeli citizenship. Lowen grew up unaffiliated and moved repeatedly because her father worked in the Foreign Service of the US State Department, a career which inspires her own service in public office.“We traveled a lot and moved around a lot so I didn’t have a consistent religious upbringing,” Lowen says. “I’m pretty much a secular person on one level but I really identify and know a lot about the history of my Jewish family and it’s always been important to me.”A native of Long Island, her father shared stories of relatives such as Lowen’s great grandfather, Ernest Jacob “EJ” Wile, who served as the president of Temple Rodeph Shalom in Manhattan — one of the oldest synagogues in the US. Other relatives were lost in the Holocaust.Born in 1932, her father recalled the war-era and had a first cousin, Gustav, who wrote the family from Germany.“He sent letters and said things were okay, then not okay, and ‘can you send shoes?’ and then the letters stopped coming,” she recalls.“I identify with the half of me that’s Jewish but it’s more an identification that we all share with family in Europe that perished in the Holocaust,” Lowen says. “In Hawaii, we are minorities in so many different ways,” she says, pointing to the many Pacific Islanders, Asians and other ethnicities that make up the population.“There is no majority in Hawaii,” English agrees. “Everyone is a mix and a composite and everyone is very tolerant of each other’s beliefs and lifestyle. That is why Hawaii is such a welcoming and tolerant place.”
Brother of pride parade killer held on fresh attack suspicions-Other members of Schlissel family banned from Jerusalem as police crack down ahead of highly charged march-By Times of Israel staff July 20, 2016, 2:51 pm
The brother of a man who carried out a deadly attack on Jerusalem’s gay pride parade last year was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack on the annual march set for Thursday, as police cracked down on possible threats to the march a year after it was beset by deadly violence.Michael Schlissel was arrested based on intelligence information that he planned to attack the parade, according to Hebrew media reports.His mother and four other brothers were also banned from the city until after the parade, after being questioned by police.During last year’s march, Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man, stabbed seven people, killing 16-year-old Shira Banki and injuring six others.According to the report, police have asked a court to order Michael Schlissel kept in jail until after the parade.The move comes ahead of the highly charged march planned to go through central Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon under heavy security.Police on Tuesday said they would beef up security around the march and only allow participants who had undergone a security check.“The pride parade will proceed this year as usual, and anyone attempting to disrupt the march will be dealt with firmly,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevi said.Security officials were criticized in 2015 for failing to keep Schlissel away from the parade despite the fact that he had just been released from jail for a similar though nonfatal attack in 2005, in which he stabbed three people.The Schlissel family’s lawyer Itamar Ben Gvir accused the police of overreach in banning the family members.“The police admitted… that there was no basis for the detainment. This is simply abuse because they are the family of Yishai Schlissel.”However Schlissel’s father seemed to support the move.“I trust the police to do everything that needs to be done,” he told the Walla news site, “I had hoped that they would have done more last year and then perhaps the entire business would have been prevented.”Last year Schlissel killed the 16-year-old Banki at the Jerusalem pride parade and injured 10 others. He had been released from prison several weeks before the parade after serving 10 years for a similar attack at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005.Yishai Schlissel, who expressed religious motives for his actions, was sentenced to life behind bars after the killing.Other anti-gay activists also received police warning or were banned from the city.The Association for Civil Rights also condemned the police’s actions.“Banning the Schlissel family from Jerusalem and making warning calls and excluding activists who oppose the gay pride parade is a violation of human rights and abuse of police authority,” the group said in a tweet.Police also said they had put a 28-year-old man under house arrest after he expressed plans to commit suicide after the parade. In a letter by the man, he mentioned a dispute with Shira Banki’s father.Banki’s parents have called on the public to attend the parade and to honor their daughter’s memory by rejecting violence.“After Shira’s murder, there were many voices saying that even though they don’t agree with the way of life LGBTQ community members live, and moreover they resist the concept of the Jerusalem Pride March, they still cannot accept violence as a legitimate demonstration of disagreement,” Ori and Mika Banki wrote in a Facebook post.“To all of these voices, and everyone who feels and thinks that way — we expect to see you march this year and in the years to come,” they wrote.
After 49 years, Israel renews diplomatic ties with Guinea-In Paris, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold signs deal to restore relations-By Marissa Newman July 20, 2016, 1:34 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
17:39-Turkey opens probe into all military judges, prosecutors-Turkey’s state-run news agency says the country’s defense ministry has sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors.Anadolu also says an investigation is launched Wednesday into all military judges and prosecutors as Turkish authorities continue with a crackdown on people suspected of backing a failed military coup, which the government has blamed on a US-based clericThe government has already sacked tens thousands of judiciary officials, public servants and teachers as part of the crackdown.— AP-17:35-Iran speaker says US ‘leaves no option but confrontation’-Iran’s influential parliament speaker hits out at Washington Wednesday, accusing it of disrupting implementation of last year’s landmark nuclear deal and failing in the fight against the Islamic State group.Ali Larijani, a conservative who helped the nuclear deal pass in parliament last year, warns that Washington risks forcing Tehran into a path of renewed confrontation by putting obstacles in the way of its promised readmittance to the world economy.“With great sadness, parliament… warns the US administration, House of Representatives and Senate that the efforts to undermine the nuclear agreement have reached a point that leaves no option for Iran but confrontation,” he says.Larjiani says the West had failed to give Iran sufficient recognition for its contribution to the fight against IS and hit out at the United Nations for continuing sanctions against its foreign operations commander.Larijani says Western governments should be “thankful to Iran and (its elite Revolutionary Guard foreign operations unit) the Quds Force who have helped Iraq against the bestial terrorists” of IS.“You, who neither have the courage to confront Daesh (IS), nor know how to fight it, as they carry out bloody attacks in three European countries… how dare you call the admirable Quds Force’s fight a violation?” he asks.— AFP-17:31-Amnesty International says Turkey crackdown curtails media-Amnesty International says authorities in Turkey are conducting a crackdown of exceptional proportions following the failed coup attempt over the weekend.Besides tens of thousands of public servants and teachers being dismissed, Amnesty says Wednesday the crackdown has extended to censoring media and journalists, including those critical of the government. It says authorities have blocked access to more than 20 news websites, canceled press cards for 34 journalists, and issued an arrest warrant for one journalist for her coverage of the coup.The London-based organization also says there are local reports that the licenses of 25 media houses were revoked.Amnesty calls on authorities to protect press freedoms while they investigate the failed coup.— AP-17:13-Israel renews diplomatic ties with Guinea-In Paris, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold signs an agreement with his Guinean counterpart to resume diplomatic ties between the two countries.The two countries severed ties in 1967.The Foreign Ministry in a statement hails the move, saying both countries have come “full circle,” and urging other African countries who do not have a relationship with Israel to follow suit.— Raphael Ahren-16:57-Weed found in Knesset bathroom-A bag of marijuana is discovered in a bathroom in the Knesset, near the lawmakers’ offices, Channel 2 reports.A parliamentary aide who made the discovery hands it over to Knesset security, which is investigating, the TV report says.16:18-Ya’alon slams national religious ‘radicalization’-Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon comes out against Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who last week called homosexuals “deviants.” Levinstein’s remarks point to a broader “radicalization” within the national religious community, charged the former Likud minister.“The fact that this discourse is being led by someone who is supposed to be an educator points to radicalization,” says Ya’alon. “In the army, too. These comments should have the heads of the pre-army programs and members of the [national religious] community engage in soul-searching, because unfortunately — in the Knesset and in other places as well — the national religious community is leading a process of radicalization in a most dangerous way.”16:00-Israel to announce renewed ties with African Muslim country-Later this afternoon, Israel will formally announce renewed diplomatic ties with an as-yet unnamed Muslim African nation.— Raphael Ahren-15:34-France extends state of emergency for another six months-French lawmakers vote massively Wednesday to extend a state of emergency as President Francois Hollande says that a call to boost reserve forces has paved the way towards a “National Guard.”After seven hours of fraught debate into the night, during which the opposition accused the government of being lax on security, the lower house of parliament votes by 489 to 26 to prolong the state of emergency for a further six months.Hollande had planned to lift the measures on July 26 but changed tack after the Nice attack by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.— AFP-15:13-Turkey to purge 21,000 over alleged Gulen ties-Turkish media says the government is expanding its purge of suspected coup backers and has begun to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.The state-run Anadolu news agency report the teachers are believed to have ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government has accused of being behind the failed military coup last week. Gulen has strongly denied the accusations.Turkey has already announced the firing of 15,200 teachers at state institutions, demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted all foreign assignments for state-employed academics. In addition, thousands of other state employees have been fired in half a dozen agencies, all accused of being Gulen followers.— AP-14:52-Germany says train attacker appears to have acted alone-A 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who went on a rampage on a Bavarian train with an ax and a knife appears to have acted alone, goaded on by online Islamic extremist propaganda, Germany’s top security official says Wednesday.Five people were injured in the attack and two remain in critical condition, “and it is not yet clear if they will all survive,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere tells reporters in Berlin.The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack and though German authorities have said that they have found no direct link to the extremists, an IS flag was found among the suspect’s possessions and he refers to himself as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a video that was posted by the group.De Maiziere says it is not yet clear when the video was made, but confirms that investigators had determined it was authentic. It shows the young man waving a knife as he talks into the camera.“It appears to be a classic farewell video of a suicide attacker,” de Maiziere says.— AP-14:51-All 84 people killed in Nice attack identified-All 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack have now been formally identified, according to a top French official Wednesday, who says the death toll for the Bastille Day carnage has not increased despite several remaining in critical condition.Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre says some of the 84 French and foreign nationals who lost their lives after last Thursday’s massacre died subsequently in the hospital.Authorities have not released an official list naming the dead from the July 14 Bastille Day rampage in the southern French city.In a speech to army reserves on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande says 15 people wounded in the Nice attack are still in the hospital “between life and death.” He praises the French emergency and security services’ work during and after the attack in which Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, a troubled 31-year-old Tunisian, drove a truck down a seaside boulevard full of people who had watched a fireworks show.— AP-14:33-Hezbollah denies Israel behind Quneitra strike-The Hezbollah terror group denies Israel is behind the strike in Quneitra, the Walla news website reports.-14:26-Syrian rebel group denies Israel struck in Syria-Media belonging to moderate Syrian rebels says the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front fired rockets containing “highly explosive material” at border communities on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, including the cities of Ba’ath and Qunietra.The report says the attack killed an unknown number of people.According to the Syrian rebel media group located in Lebanon, there is “no truth” to the report of Israeli airstrikes in the area.— Dov Lieber-14:12-‘Lone wolf’ attacks rising, hard to track, Europol warns-Europe is at major risk of so-called “lone-wolf” terror attacks, its policing agency says Wednesday, with the latest incidents showing “how difficult it is to detect and disrupt suspects.”Recent incidents including Monday’s attack on a German train and last week’s carnage in Nice which left 84 people dead “remain a favored tactic by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda,” Europol says in a statement.“Both groups have repeatedly called on Muslims living in western countries to perpetrate lone actor attacks in their countries of residence,” it says.In the latest incident, the Islamic State group Tuesday released a video purportedly featuring a 17-year-old migrant who went on an axe rampage on a train at Wuerzburg in southern Germany, injuring five people, two critically.“Although IS has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, none… seem to have been planned, logistically supported or executed directly by IS,” Europol says.Despite the attackers’ pledges of allegiance to the IS group, “their actual involvement… cannot be established,” Europol says.The Hague-based policing organization also released its 2015 “EU Terrorism and Trend Report” saying 151 people died and more than 350 others were injured in terror attacks last year in the 28-member bloc.— AFP-14:12-Knesset approves Facebook bill in preliminary vote-The Knesset plenum approves in a preliminary vote a bill that would force social media sites to remove content that encourages terrorism or face considerable fines.The bill by opposition member Zionist Union MK Revital Swid, which has coalition support, is approved with 50 lawmakers in favor and four opposed.“Facebook is not responsible for the terror wave, but it does have the ability to locate and remove those videos that drive the lone [attackers] to the streets,” says Swid. “Currently, they locate and remove, within seconds, content that is pornographic or pedophilia, and in the precisely the same way, they can act with content that incites to terrorism.”Swid says she’s dedicating the bill to Richard Lakin, who was killed in a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem in October 2015.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan hails the bill’s passage. This bill is “correct, necessary, and one can even say imperative,” he says.The bill is sent to the Knesset’s Science and Technology Committee to prepare it for a first reading.13:46-Assad forces say Al-Nusra, not Israel, behind strike-Sources close to the Assad regime say the strike in Quneitra was carried out by Al-Nusra Front fighters, not Israel, Lebanese TV Al-Mayadeen reports.There are reports of casualties after two missiles strikes a building.-13:35-Israeli warplanes said to hit Assad-controlled building-Israeli warplanes on Wednesday reportedly strike a building controlled by the Syrian government near the city of Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.According to Arabic media reports, the planes bomb a target in the city of Medinat al-Ba’ath, near the demilitarized zone in Syria.It isn’t immediately clear what purpose the building served, or whether it is occupied at the time of the strike. There are no immediate word on casualties.Unconfirmed reports indicate that the planes targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.— Ilan Ben Zion.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Dore Gold: The way it is now, peace talks won’t go very far-Foreign Ministry chief recalls witnessing 1975 terror attack in Jerusalem, whose perpetrator was recently honored by the PA-By Raphael Ahren July 20, 2016, 4:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold on Wednesday indicated that Israeli-Palestinians peace negotiations were doomed to fail as long as Ramallah continues to glorify terrorists.In a video posted to the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, Gold also called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “tear down” a recently erected monument of a terrorist who carried out a deadly attack 41 years ago, recalling having witnessed the bombing when he was a student living in Jerusalem.“The way it is now, we’re not going to be able to get very far in any kind of negotiation. Because negotiation requires a culture of peace and not a culture of death,” Gold says in the video.“So I am hoping that Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the PA, who heads the Fatah movement, will tear down that monument.”The PA recently unveiled a statue in the West Bank town of Ramallah to honor the “martyr” Ahmad Ibrahim Jbara, known in Israel by his nom de guerre Abu Sukar. On July 4, 1975, Abu Sukar together with Bassam Tbila carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem’s central Zion Square by exploding a bomb hidden in a refrigerator. Fourteen people were killed and 80 injured.‘I was shopping innocently until suddenly I heard this loud explosion. I turned around and saw bodies strewn everywhere’Gold was a 21-year-old student at the time, he recalled in the clip. “It was Friday and I was doing my shopping innocently until all of a sudden I heard this incredibly loud explosion. I turned around and I saw bodies strewn everywhere. Apparently there had been a terrorist attack. The Fatah organization had brought a refrigerator packed with explosives and placed it right across the street, in front of a hardware store.”Standing on Zion Square, Dold said he recently learned of the statute honoring Abu Sukar. “That’s the education that the Palestinian Authority wants to give to Palestinian children?” he asks incredulously, calling on Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement today, to “tear down that monument.”Prime Minister Benjamin has also chided the PA for honoring the terrorist. “Abu Sukkar murdered 15 people by detonating a refrigerator filled with explosives on a busy Jerusalem street. Rather than dedicate a statue to a mass murderer, I ask that you consider honoring a champion of co-existence,” he said in a recent video addressing Abbas. “This will help educate future generations to love peace over war, compassion over violence. It will also help convince Israelis that they have a true partner for peace.”In 1977, two years after carrying out the deadly attack, Abu Sukar was sentenced to a lifelong prison sentence but was released in 2003 as goodwill gesture to the PA before the Aqaba summit. He rejoined the Palestinian leadership, serving as an adviser to Yasser Arafat. He died in 2003 after suffering a heart attack.
Syria post near Golan border bombed, unclear if Israel involved-IDF declines to comment on report of jets hitting Assad government-held building near Quneitra; Hezbollah points finger at Nusra Front-By Ilan Ben Zion July 20, 2016, 1:33 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A Syrian government building near the Golan border was bombed Wednesday, with some reports initially attributing the attack to Israel.However, Hezbollah and several Arab media outlets indicated the building in Medinat al-Ba’ath had been attacked by rebel groups.It wasn’t immediately clear what purpose the building served, or whether it was occupied at the time of the strike. There was no immediate word on casualties.Unconfirmed reports indicated that the planes targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news agency denied the accuracy of reports attributing the bombing to Israeli airstrikes in Syria, quoting Hezbollah saying the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front launched rockets at Quneitra, inflicting casualties.The Local Coordination Committees in Syria, meanwhile, claimed Free Syrian Army forces fired rockets at Assad forces in Medinat al-Ba’ath.The Syrian Qasioun news agency claimed that the building was an Assad government command post that may have been used for Hezbollah activities.There was no immediate response to the reports in the Syrian official news agency and the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said it didn’t comment on reports regarding Israeli strikes in Syria.Shortly after the reported strike, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria reported that Assad government helicopters bombed the nearby towns of Umm Batna and Ajraf.Syrian Army artillery then were said to target and destroy Nusra Front positions in response to the reported rocket attacks on Medinat al-Ba’ath.Earlier in the day, gunfire hit an army post near the Israeli town of Metulla on the Lebanon border. The IDF said it was investigating but believed the bullets to be stray fire from across the border.On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked 10 years since the Second Lebanon War with Hezbollah by warning that “if the need arises, we will respond to aggression — and the response will be powerful. Whoever thinks they will find ‘spiderwebs’ here will get… an iron fist.”He was alluding to a 2000 speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which he called the Jewish state “feebler than a spiderweb.”Israel has maintained an official policy of nonintervention in the Syrian civil war, which has wracked the country for over five years and left over 250,000 dead and millions displaced but Israeli officials have made clear that Israel would act to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining sophisticated weaponry from Syria or Iran.The IDF has also retaliated when fighting by the various rebel groups and government forces struck Israel.Earlier this month the IDF struck two Syrian artillery pieces after errant fire struck just inside the border fence with Israel.On Sunday, the army also attempted to shoot down a drone that infiltrated the Golan from Syria, but failed to hit it with two Patriot missiles and a missile shot from a jet.The IDF has been bolstering defenses along the northern border, expanding the network of fences and surveillance capabilities, to prepare for a possible war with Hezbollah, the Shiite group that fought a war with Israel in 2006 and has vowed to destroy the Jewish state.The border has been largely quiet in the ten years since the Second Lebanon War, with Hezbollah’s forces deployed to support Iranian and Assad regime forces in the Syrian civil war.
Explosions hit Syrian town near Golan Heights-[Reuters]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and a monitoring group said two explosions that struck a Syrian town near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday were caused by an Israeli air strike but Lebanon's Hezbollah blamed rocket fire by al Qaeda-linked militants.At least one blast struck near the governorate building in Baath City, capital of the southern province of Quneitra which borders the Golan region.The town is held by pro-Syrian government forces, including the army and Hezbollah fighters. The Nusra Front, Western-backed rebels, and groups which have pledged allegiance to Islamic State also operate in the region.A Syrian military source said two rockets had hit the town but their origin was unknown. "There is information that there was a rocket which fell on one of a government headquarters in Quneitra in the area of the town of Baath," he said.Two Syrian rebels said an Israeli jet had been seen circling the area and carried out an air strike on a military position."Our information is that the attack targeted a Hezbollah outpost," said Maher al Ali, a spokesman for the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, a Western-backed rebel group.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said an Israeli jet fired a rocket near the governorate building. It said it had no information on casualties.Hezbollah said Nusra Front fired two rockets loaded with high explosives towards Baath City, causing civilian deaths. "The Israeli enemy was monitoring the launchpoint of the rockets next to the Nusra positions. There is no truth to (reports of) any raids by the Israeli enemy," it said.An Israeli military spokeswoman said: "We do not respond to reports of this kind."Though formally neutral on the civil war, Israel has targeted Hezbollah officials and arms convoys inside Syria several times during the conflict.In January last year it carried out a helicopter attack in Quneitra province that killed a top Iranian Revolutionary Guard general and several Hezbollah members including a son of the group's late military commander, Jihad Mughniyeh.Wednesday's incident took place three days after Israel said it fired missiles towards an unmanned drone that briefly entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria.The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and annexed in a move that has not won international recognition.(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Laila Bassam and Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Editing by Catherine Evans)
People come here and see no synagogue and think there must be no Jews'-A small island of Judaism in Hawaiian politics-Tiny but stalwart, the Jewish contingent on America’s youngest state maintains a unique, and strong, sense of identity-By Lisa Klug July 20, 2016, 4:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii — During Josh Green’s childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, deciphering his heritage for his non-Jewish classmates became a familiar practice. As a state senator in Hawaii, the same responsibility has fallen upon him again.“I was the only Jewish child in my school growing up and people looked to my family to explain Judaism and the High Holidays to them,” says Green, who grew up Reform and lives in Kailua-Kona in Hawaii, the Big Island. “In Hawaii, there is very little awareness of Judaism and I often feel like I did as a child when I explain our faith to my colleagues.”Green, a Democrat and the state’s Majority Whip, is among a handful of politicians with Jewish ancestry holding office in the Pacific archipelago. Perhaps Hawaii’s best known Jewish elected official is its former Republican governor, Linda Lingle, now a senior advisor to (non-Jewish) Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.Hawaii’s current elected officials with Jewish ties include Democrat state senate incumbent Russell Ruderman and Republican incumbent state senator and Minority Floor Leader Sam Slom. At least two other lawmakers, State Representative Nicole Lowen of Hawaii, the Big Island, and State Senator J. Kalani English of Maui, were both born to Jewish fathers. One more Hawaiian legislator, US Senator Brian Schatz (Dem.) represents the “Aloha State” in Washington, D.C.“We joke and kibitz, we kid each other a little bit,” Ruderman told The Times of Israel. “We don’t bond specifically in a Jewish way. It’s more of a cultural identity.”Like many members of the tribe from various backgrounds, these politicians share Jewish culture as a common reference point to varying degrees. Aside from state senator English, nearly all are transplants from the mainland to the Pacific. Each focuses on specific issues in their legislative work, which occasionally looks to Israel for inspiration. Some of them also hold day jobs, with careers spanning from the medical profession to the natural foods industry. And those roles sometimes overlap in ways that fuel their work.For Green, a health care professional, the overlap between his responsibilities is readily evident.“I believe people need someone to fight for them who understands their greatest challenges,” says Green, an emergency physician. “I… see people in their times of extreme stress and need. This informs my work as a senator.”As part of his weltanschauung, Judaism also plays a part in Green’s approach.“I incorporate my beliefs and my medical work into my role as a legislator — but I do it very privately and am careful to welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds into my efforts to help people,” says Green, who plans to visit his extended family in Haifa in the future with his wife and children.‘I incorporate my beliefs into my role as a legislator’-With 18 years of service behind him, Slom is the senior statesman among the bunch. He is also the only Republican.A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania and a University of Hawaii alumnus, Slom grew up Reform and received his law degree from LaSalle University Law School. Until he retired two years ago, he led Smart Business Hawaii, the largest organization for small business in the state.His involvement in politics dates back to 1996 when he worked on Lingle’s first campaign for governor in which she was defeated by a single percentage point in the closest election in Hawaiian history. She ultimately gained distinction serving two terms as both Hawaii’s first female governor and its first Jewish one from 2002 to 2010. She was also the state’s first Republican elected governor since 1962 when William Quinn left office.“People used to ask if she was going to outlaw Christmas,” Slom told The Times of Israel. Although he says he initially set these naysayers straight, after a while, he played along. “I told them yes, she was going to outlaw Christmas but was going to institute Chanukah instead and that was better because it’s eight days.”Despite Slom’s stature as the state’s only Republican among 25 state senators, Ruderman suggests there are many other Conservatives who are registered Democrats “in name only who want to play on the winning team. In any other state, they would be Republicans… There are probably a few Democrats who are more conservative than Sam Slom, the lone Republican.”While there are no official stats on the state’s number of Jewish residents, the islands are home to a surprising number of Jews.“There is a fairly healthy Jewish community here even though we don’t have a synagogue,” Ruderman says. “People come here and see no synagogue and think there must be no Jews.”Ruderman moved to the island from the San Francisco Bay Area 18 years ago. Describing himself as “not secular and not Orthodox,” he occasionally attends events organized by the unaffiliated shul, Kona Beth Shalom, which does not have its own building.As Jews born in the Holy Land under the British mandate, Ruderman’s parents spoke Hebrew in the young Jewish enclave. Although he last visited Israel when he was 10 with his parents and sister, he would like to return. His Hebrew is “a bit rusty,” he says, but he can speak “k’tzat,” a little.Ruderman’s Russian grandparents named their daughter Aviva after their adopted city of Tel Aviv. And Ruderman, who is the father of a four-month-old girl with his Filipina American wife, recently carried on the tradition by naming his daughter Aviva.Ruderman says, “We kept her name alive in that regard.”Ruderman credits his parents with giving him a strong sense of ethics rooted in Judaism.‘I carry a certain sense of pride in myself that I won’t bow down in front of anyone but God’-“I carry a certain sense of pride in myself that I won’t bow down in front of anyone but God and that informs the way I conduct my public life,” Ruderman says. “The form it takes is not physically bowing down but not bowing down to bullies who want you to bow down to them. And I feel a strong sense of being ethical in my business and political dealings. My parents taught me their version of Judaism that has a lot to do with treating other people with respect.”Ruderman moonlights in two bands, a Latin group called El Leo, and a Grateful Dead cover band titled Terrapin Station after a famous Dead song.A self-described tree-hugging environmentalist liberal, Ruderman also owns a trifecta of successful natural food stores called Island Naturals. Israeli born farmer Michael Manor credits Ruderman for taking a leadership role to assist small farmers.“Russell Ruderman has done more to help Hawaii’s organic farmers than the whole state Agriculture Department, and it’s not just Russell. It’s also the produce managers in the store,” says Manor, who has been selling his products to Island Natural since the company launched in 1998. “They were instrumental in getting farmers to grow something they can sell and encouraging them.”Looking to Israel for inspiration with water issues is important to Senator English, who hails from Maui’s lush farm land in Hana.“Permaculture and desalination are two areas that Hawaii pays close attention to in Israel,” says English, who has served in the Senate since 2000 and visited the Jewish state about a decade ago. “I felt very at home when I visited Israel because I felt a lot of similarities. We have the reverence for those before us and our ancestors and we have this idea that lineage and lineage holders is important.”English’s mother gave her son to her parents to be raised in Maui, which he described as a common tradition called “hanai,” a form of adoption.“For Hawaiians, we are very conscious of our background, our ancestry,” says English, who did not know his father, only his mother. “She had to make sure that I understand my father was Russian Jewish. It was never anything hidden.”Maintaining a sense of her heritage is equally important to Representative Lowen, whose sister is married to an Israeli and maintains joint US and Israeli citizenship. Lowen grew up unaffiliated and moved repeatedly because her father worked in the Foreign Service of the US State Department, a career which inspires her own service in public office.“We traveled a lot and moved around a lot so I didn’t have a consistent religious upbringing,” Lowen says. “I’m pretty much a secular person on one level but I really identify and know a lot about the history of my Jewish family and it’s always been important to me.”A native of Long Island, her father shared stories of relatives such as Lowen’s great grandfather, Ernest Jacob “EJ” Wile, who served as the president of Temple Rodeph Shalom in Manhattan — one of the oldest synagogues in the US. Other relatives were lost in the Holocaust.Born in 1932, her father recalled the war-era and had a first cousin, Gustav, who wrote the family from Germany.“He sent letters and said things were okay, then not okay, and ‘can you send shoes?’ and then the letters stopped coming,” she recalls.“I identify with the half of me that’s Jewish but it’s more an identification that we all share with family in Europe that perished in the Holocaust,” Lowen says. “In Hawaii, we are minorities in so many different ways,” she says, pointing to the many Pacific Islanders, Asians and other ethnicities that make up the population.“There is no majority in Hawaii,” English agrees. “Everyone is a mix and a composite and everyone is very tolerant of each other’s beliefs and lifestyle. That is why Hawaii is such a welcoming and tolerant place.”
Brother of pride parade killer held on fresh attack suspicions-Other members of Schlissel family banned from Jerusalem as police crack down ahead of highly charged march-By Times of Israel staff July 20, 2016, 2:51 pm
The brother of a man who carried out a deadly attack on Jerusalem’s gay pride parade last year was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack on the annual march set for Thursday, as police cracked down on possible threats to the march a year after it was beset by deadly violence.Michael Schlissel was arrested based on intelligence information that he planned to attack the parade, according to Hebrew media reports.His mother and four other brothers were also banned from the city until after the parade, after being questioned by police.During last year’s march, Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man, stabbed seven people, killing 16-year-old Shira Banki and injuring six others.According to the report, police have asked a court to order Michael Schlissel kept in jail until after the parade.The move comes ahead of the highly charged march planned to go through central Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon under heavy security.Police on Tuesday said they would beef up security around the march and only allow participants who had undergone a security check.“The pride parade will proceed this year as usual, and anyone attempting to disrupt the march will be dealt with firmly,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevi said.Security officials were criticized in 2015 for failing to keep Schlissel away from the parade despite the fact that he had just been released from jail for a similar though nonfatal attack in 2005, in which he stabbed three people.The Schlissel family’s lawyer Itamar Ben Gvir accused the police of overreach in banning the family members.“The police admitted… that there was no basis for the detainment. This is simply abuse because they are the family of Yishai Schlissel.”However Schlissel’s father seemed to support the move.“I trust the police to do everything that needs to be done,” he told the Walla news site, “I had hoped that they would have done more last year and then perhaps the entire business would have been prevented.”Last year Schlissel killed the 16-year-old Banki at the Jerusalem pride parade and injured 10 others. He had been released from prison several weeks before the parade after serving 10 years for a similar attack at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005.Yishai Schlissel, who expressed religious motives for his actions, was sentenced to life behind bars after the killing.Other anti-gay activists also received police warning or were banned from the city.The Association for Civil Rights also condemned the police’s actions.“Banning the Schlissel family from Jerusalem and making warning calls and excluding activists who oppose the gay pride parade is a violation of human rights and abuse of police authority,” the group said in a tweet.Police also said they had put a 28-year-old man under house arrest after he expressed plans to commit suicide after the parade. In a letter by the man, he mentioned a dispute with Shira Banki’s father.Banki’s parents have called on the public to attend the parade and to honor their daughter’s memory by rejecting violence.“After Shira’s murder, there were many voices saying that even though they don’t agree with the way of life LGBTQ community members live, and moreover they resist the concept of the Jerusalem Pride March, they still cannot accept violence as a legitimate demonstration of disagreement,” Ori and Mika Banki wrote in a Facebook post.“To all of these voices, and everyone who feels and thinks that way — we expect to see you march this year and in the years to come,” they wrote.
After 49 years, Israel renews diplomatic ties with Guinea-In Paris, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold signs deal to restore relations-By Marissa Newman July 20, 2016, 1:34 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
17:39-Turkey opens probe into all military judges, prosecutors-Turkey’s state-run news agency says the country’s defense ministry has sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors.Anadolu also says an investigation is launched Wednesday into all military judges and prosecutors as Turkish authorities continue with a crackdown on people suspected of backing a failed military coup, which the government has blamed on a US-based clericThe government has already sacked tens thousands of judiciary officials, public servants and teachers as part of the crackdown.— AP-17:35-Iran speaker says US ‘leaves no option but confrontation’-Iran’s influential parliament speaker hits out at Washington Wednesday, accusing it of disrupting implementation of last year’s landmark nuclear deal and failing in the fight against the Islamic State group.Ali Larijani, a conservative who helped the nuclear deal pass in parliament last year, warns that Washington risks forcing Tehran into a path of renewed confrontation by putting obstacles in the way of its promised readmittance to the world economy.“With great sadness, parliament… warns the US administration, House of Representatives and Senate that the efforts to undermine the nuclear agreement have reached a point that leaves no option for Iran but confrontation,” he says.Larjiani says the West had failed to give Iran sufficient recognition for its contribution to the fight against IS and hit out at the United Nations for continuing sanctions against its foreign operations commander.Larijani says Western governments should be “thankful to Iran and (its elite Revolutionary Guard foreign operations unit) the Quds Force who have helped Iraq against the bestial terrorists” of IS.“You, who neither have the courage to confront Daesh (IS), nor know how to fight it, as they carry out bloody attacks in three European countries… how dare you call the admirable Quds Force’s fight a violation?” he asks.— AFP-17:31-Amnesty International says Turkey crackdown curtails media-Amnesty International says authorities in Turkey are conducting a crackdown of exceptional proportions following the failed coup attempt over the weekend.Besides tens of thousands of public servants and teachers being dismissed, Amnesty says Wednesday the crackdown has extended to censoring media and journalists, including those critical of the government. It says authorities have blocked access to more than 20 news websites, canceled press cards for 34 journalists, and issued an arrest warrant for one journalist for her coverage of the coup.The London-based organization also says there are local reports that the licenses of 25 media houses were revoked.Amnesty calls on authorities to protect press freedoms while they investigate the failed coup.— AP-17:13-Israel renews diplomatic ties with Guinea-In Paris, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold signs an agreement with his Guinean counterpart to resume diplomatic ties between the two countries.The two countries severed ties in 1967.The Foreign Ministry in a statement hails the move, saying both countries have come “full circle,” and urging other African countries who do not have a relationship with Israel to follow suit.— Raphael Ahren-16:57-Weed found in Knesset bathroom-A bag of marijuana is discovered in a bathroom in the Knesset, near the lawmakers’ offices, Channel 2 reports.A parliamentary aide who made the discovery hands it over to Knesset security, which is investigating, the TV report says.16:18-Ya’alon slams national religious ‘radicalization’-Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon comes out against Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who last week called homosexuals “deviants.” Levinstein’s remarks point to a broader “radicalization” within the national religious community, charged the former Likud minister.“The fact that this discourse is being led by someone who is supposed to be an educator points to radicalization,” says Ya’alon. “In the army, too. These comments should have the heads of the pre-army programs and members of the [national religious] community engage in soul-searching, because unfortunately — in the Knesset and in other places as well — the national religious community is leading a process of radicalization in a most dangerous way.”16:00-Israel to announce renewed ties with African Muslim country-Later this afternoon, Israel will formally announce renewed diplomatic ties with an as-yet unnamed Muslim African nation.— Raphael Ahren-15:34-France extends state of emergency for another six months-French lawmakers vote massively Wednesday to extend a state of emergency as President Francois Hollande says that a call to boost reserve forces has paved the way towards a “National Guard.”After seven hours of fraught debate into the night, during which the opposition accused the government of being lax on security, the lower house of parliament votes by 489 to 26 to prolong the state of emergency for a further six months.Hollande had planned to lift the measures on July 26 but changed tack after the Nice attack by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.— AFP-15:13-Turkey to purge 21,000 over alleged Gulen ties-Turkish media says the government is expanding its purge of suspected coup backers and has begun to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.The state-run Anadolu news agency report the teachers are believed to have ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government has accused of being behind the failed military coup last week. Gulen has strongly denied the accusations.Turkey has already announced the firing of 15,200 teachers at state institutions, demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted all foreign assignments for state-employed academics. In addition, thousands of other state employees have been fired in half a dozen agencies, all accused of being Gulen followers.— AP-14:52-Germany says train attacker appears to have acted alone-A 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who went on a rampage on a Bavarian train with an ax and a knife appears to have acted alone, goaded on by online Islamic extremist propaganda, Germany’s top security official says Wednesday.Five people were injured in the attack and two remain in critical condition, “and it is not yet clear if they will all survive,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere tells reporters in Berlin.The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack and though German authorities have said that they have found no direct link to the extremists, an IS flag was found among the suspect’s possessions and he refers to himself as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a video that was posted by the group.De Maiziere says it is not yet clear when the video was made, but confirms that investigators had determined it was authentic. It shows the young man waving a knife as he talks into the camera.“It appears to be a classic farewell video of a suicide attacker,” de Maiziere says.— AP-14:51-All 84 people killed in Nice attack identified-All 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack have now been formally identified, according to a top French official Wednesday, who says the death toll for the Bastille Day carnage has not increased despite several remaining in critical condition.Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre says some of the 84 French and foreign nationals who lost their lives after last Thursday’s massacre died subsequently in the hospital.Authorities have not released an official list naming the dead from the July 14 Bastille Day rampage in the southern French city.In a speech to army reserves on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande says 15 people wounded in the Nice attack are still in the hospital “between life and death.” He praises the French emergency and security services’ work during and after the attack in which Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, a troubled 31-year-old Tunisian, drove a truck down a seaside boulevard full of people who had watched a fireworks show.— AP-14:33-Hezbollah denies Israel behind Quneitra strike-The Hezbollah terror group denies Israel is behind the strike in Quneitra, the Walla news website reports.-14:26-Syrian rebel group denies Israel struck in Syria-Media belonging to moderate Syrian rebels says the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front fired rockets containing “highly explosive material” at border communities on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, including the cities of Ba’ath and Qunietra.The report says the attack killed an unknown number of people.According to the Syrian rebel media group located in Lebanon, there is “no truth” to the report of Israeli airstrikes in the area.— Dov Lieber-14:12-‘Lone wolf’ attacks rising, hard to track, Europol warns-Europe is at major risk of so-called “lone-wolf” terror attacks, its policing agency says Wednesday, with the latest incidents showing “how difficult it is to detect and disrupt suspects.”Recent incidents including Monday’s attack on a German train and last week’s carnage in Nice which left 84 people dead “remain a favored tactic by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda,” Europol says in a statement.“Both groups have repeatedly called on Muslims living in western countries to perpetrate lone actor attacks in their countries of residence,” it says.In the latest incident, the Islamic State group Tuesday released a video purportedly featuring a 17-year-old migrant who went on an axe rampage on a train at Wuerzburg in southern Germany, injuring five people, two critically.“Although IS has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, none… seem to have been planned, logistically supported or executed directly by IS,” Europol says.Despite the attackers’ pledges of allegiance to the IS group, “their actual involvement… cannot be established,” Europol says.The Hague-based policing organization also released its 2015 “EU Terrorism and Trend Report” saying 151 people died and more than 350 others were injured in terror attacks last year in the 28-member bloc.— AFP-14:12-Knesset approves Facebook bill in preliminary vote-The Knesset plenum approves in a preliminary vote a bill that would force social media sites to remove content that encourages terrorism or face considerable fines.The bill by opposition member Zionist Union MK Revital Swid, which has coalition support, is approved with 50 lawmakers in favor and four opposed.“Facebook is not responsible for the terror wave, but it does have the ability to locate and remove those videos that drive the lone [attackers] to the streets,” says Swid. “Currently, they locate and remove, within seconds, content that is pornographic or pedophilia, and in the precisely the same way, they can act with content that incites to terrorism.”Swid says she’s dedicating the bill to Richard Lakin, who was killed in a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem in October 2015.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan hails the bill’s passage. This bill is “correct, necessary, and one can even say imperative,” he says.The bill is sent to the Knesset’s Science and Technology Committee to prepare it for a first reading.13:46-Assad forces say Al-Nusra, not Israel, behind strike-Sources close to the Assad regime say the strike in Quneitra was carried out by Al-Nusra Front fighters, not Israel, Lebanese TV Al-Mayadeen reports.There are reports of casualties after two missiles strikes a building.-13:35-Israeli warplanes said to hit Assad-controlled building-Israeli warplanes on Wednesday reportedly strike a building controlled by the Syrian government near the city of Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.According to Arabic media reports, the planes bomb a target in the city of Medinat al-Ba’ath, near the demilitarized zone in Syria.It isn’t immediately clear what purpose the building served, or whether it is occupied at the time of the strike. There are no immediate word on casualties.Unconfirmed reports indicate that the planes targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.— Ilan Ben Zion.
