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)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant 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 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.
MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)
DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)
MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
The third Jewish Temple is coming to your Facebook feed-The Temple Institute, dedicated to rebuilding ancient holy site, now using new internet tools to bring its message to the masses-By Andrew Tobin August 13, 2016, 8:14 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
JTA — “It’s time to build,” reads the tagline of the Temple Institute’s latest YouTube video.The phrase encapsulates the group’s controversial mission to rally Jews to reconstruct the temple that was the heart of their religion until its destruction 2,000 years ago.Over much of those two millennia, mourning the loss of the temple and longing for its restoration has been central to Jewish thought and practice. As noted by the professionally produced video – a montage of Jewish wedding footage – the glass stomping that concludes a Jewish wedding is one such practice.After a groom, played by an actor, does the deed, the glass miraculously reassembles to swelling music, and text asks: “How many more glasses need to be broken?” Then, the tagline appears.The video — released this week ahead of the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE by the Romans — is part of the Temple Institute’s strategy of using the new tools of the internet to bring its ancient message to the masses.“Our goal is to raise the consciousness of the Jewish people and all humanity toward the central role that the holy temple plays in the life of mankind,” Rabbi Chaim Richman, the Massachusetts-born cofounder and the international director of the Temple Institute, told JTA. “We’re very much focused on getting the message out on all the channels of social media and all the things people are into today. Most of my work is internet related.”Established in 1987, 20 years after Israel conquered the Temple Mount and the Palestinian territories in the Six-Day War, the Temple Institute was one of the first groups to openly advocate the rebuilding of the two temples that once stood on the plaza. Another cofounder is Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who was among the paratroopers who took the Temple Mount from Jordanian forces in 1967.The problem for supporters is that the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem is sacred not only to Jews, but to Muslims and Christians too. The site includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, two of the most significant shrines in Islam. Israel chose to leave it under Muslim control in 1967, and Jewish prayer is prohibited there. Ever since, even rumors of changes to the “status quo” — let alone provocative calls to build a third Temple in their place — have provoked international Muslim ire and Palestinian violence. Tensions surrounding the Temple Mount played a major role in the first and second Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, and helped trigger the most recent wave of attacks that started in October.Some Israelis have always opposed the government’s decision not to reclaim the mount. In the 1980s, the Jewish Underground, a Jewish settler terrorist group, plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock, in part to catalyze the construction of the third Temple in its place. The Shin Bet security agency thwarted the plot.Richman, who often quotes the great Jewish rationalist Maimonides, said the Temple Institute opposes violence, and works “within the confines of the human condition, halachah and the political reality.” Halachah is the Hebrew word for Jewish law.The Temple Institute focuses on preparing the objects and skills needed for the sacrifice of animals and the esoteric rituals that were carried out by kohanim, or priests, in front of crowds of Jewish pilgrims before the last temple’s destruction. All of its work is led by a rabbinical council and based on meticulous analysis of Jewish scripture and academic research.The group also works to build support for its mission and itself, which is where the internet comes in. After his cable television show that aired in Texas was cancelled in 2006, Richman found an audience for his temple-centric scriptural exegesis online.These days, his weekly TV and radio shows are among the 914 videos that appear on the Temple Institute’s YouTube channel, which has more than 17,000 subscribers and 4.6 million views. The group’s Facebook page has more than 186,000 followers, and its Twitter account has a less-than-impressive 741 followers. The Temple Institute email newsletter, which you can sign up for on its website, lands in 24,000 inboxes every week.Tel Aviv-based videographer Yosef Adest produces the higher-budget videos.Most content is in English, to maximize reach, including to the many evangelical Christians who support the group, many through tax-exempt charities in the US For many evangelicals, the construction of a third Temple fulfills a prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus.For the past three years, the Temple Institute has launched an IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign ahead of Tisha B’Av, often making headlines in the Jewish press. This year’s campaign is for a school to train the priests to staff the third Temple. Combined, the campaigns — which run the two months until Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year — have raised less than $150,000. That is a fraction of what the group’s assistant director, Yitzchak Reuven, said is an average annual operating budget of around $1.1 million. But fundraising isn’t the primary purpose of the campaigns.“We really work on a shoestring budget, so crowdfunding is important for us,” Yitzchak Reuven, the Temple Institute’s multimedia director, told JTA. “But the main goal is to be part of the dialogue and get people involved. We’re not rehashing something that is 2,000 years old. We’re articulating it in a way that people can see that it’s contemporary, and just being on social media is part of the message.”Also around Tisha B’Av, the Temple Institute has for the last four years released videos seeking to reframe the day as a time to take action, not mourn the past.“How is anything going to change if we don’t do anything about it? Our thing is to mourn and cry,” said Richman. “God gave us the Temple Mount on a silver platter. It would be more honest to say, You know what? I’m not interested.The Temple Institute’s aggressive outreach has helped make it something of an institution in Israel. An exhibition of the group’s preparations for the temple moved in 2013 from a small side street in the Old City to a larger space just outside the Western Wall plaza. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit each year. The guided audio tour, available so far in nine languages, culminates with the parting of ornate curtains to reveal a life-size replica of the ark of the covenant.Nearby, overlooking the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, is a man-sized gold-plated menorah the group built for use in the temple. It was moved to that prominent location in 2007 in a ceremony attended by then-Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger.The Israeli government provides some funding to the Temple Institute — though not reliably or significantly, according to its directors — as it does educational and research institutions, and allows women to do their national service as tour guides at its exhibition. One woman is working there now, and three are slated to start next year.The Temple Institute’s growth has coincided with increased mainstream support for Jewish access to the Temple Mount. A large minority of Israelis now oppose the restriction on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, according to polls. And leading religious figures, Knesset members and ministers have called for rebuilding the temple, including Agriculture Minster Uri Ariel of the right-wing nationalist Jewish Home party, who was filmed last year praying on the Temple Mount.But according to Yair Sheleg, a researcher on religion and state at the Israeli Democracy Institute think tank, the Temple Institute has benefited more than it has contributed to the growth of the Temple Mount movement.“It’s surely one of the most important organizations, but the climate doesn’t come because of actions of organizations, the climate comes because of much more general social reasons,” he told JTA. “The social climate came because many religious Zionists think during the last decade that secular Zionism has failed, and that only religious motivation can maintain the national spirit against Muslim religious motivations.”Even for many religious Jews, actively seeking the rebuilding of a third Temple is not just politically provocative, but spiritually suspect.“The rabbinic model developed after the destruction of the Second Temple is the one that has set the tone for Jews, regardless of denomination, for 2,000 years,” Marcie Lenk, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, wrote in 2014. “The rabbis were responsible for creating the system of Judaism that would survive and thrive without a Temple, though they insisted that the Temple and its destruction should be remembered and commemorated.”Yuval Cherlow, a leading moderate religious Zionist rabbi, said that while preparing to rebuild the temple is a good thing, the first step is “recreating society and yourself.”“The prophets constantly emphasized that the pillars of the temple are a society that is full of justice, charity and humanity, and without pride,” he told JTA. “I really believe that if the temple will be rebuilt in this situation, without those pillars, it will be destroyed again.”
Police, Palestinians scuffle on Temple Mount as Jews flock to Western Wall for Tisha B’Av-9 Jews detained for ‘disturbing the peace’ during visit to holy site on day marking destruction of the Temples-By Raoul Wootliff August 14, 2016, 4:01 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Clashes broke out briefly between Israel Police and Palestinian youths at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount complex on Sunday, as thousands of Jewish worshipers visited the Western Wall plaza below. The worshipers were marking Tisha B’av, the Jewish day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of the ancient temples that once stood atop the Temple Mount.The youths struck police officers and threw rocks at the security personnel in an effort to prevent Jewish visitors from touring the Mount. In an attempt to prevent an escalation of violence, police removed the Jewish visitors and closed the site earlier than planned. One Palestinian man was arrested, police said.According to the Red Crescent rescue service, some 15 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, which broke out after several Jews disobeyed the site’s ban on public prayer. Nine Jewish men were detained for “disturbing the peace,” police said in a statement. Honenu, an advocacy group that provides legal aid to extremist Jews, said three of them were held for citing verses from prayer, and another for tearing his shirt, a sign of mourning in Judaism.A total of 983 people visited the site Sunday, including 400 Jewish visitors, the police statement added.Advocates for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam, have called on Jews to visit the sensitive area, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif compound or the Noble Sanctuary. JERUSALEM: Scene from Al-Aqsa compound (Place were Jews cant pray) as Jewish worshipers mark destruction of Temple pic.twitter.com/PoGQgquauX— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) August 14, 2016-Non-Muslims are allowed to visit but not to pray there, under arrangements agreed to by Israel after it captured the area from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War.The Palestinians have accused Israel of trying to change the status quo at the site, a charge Israel has repeatedly and vehemently denied.Palestinian claims of alleged Israeli intentions to undermine Muslim control of the Temple Mount have been at the heart of a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October 2015, in which 34 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed. Some 220 Palestinians have died in the same period, most of them when carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, and others in clashes with Israeli security forces, according to Israeli authorities.Police had boosted their presence in the Old City of Jerusalem for Tisha B’Av, which began Saturday evening and ends Sunday night.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that “hundreds of extra police will be carrying out security measures in and around the Old City of Jerusalem” over the weekend.Thousand of people flocked to the Western Wall plaza Sunday to recite the prayers and listen to the Book of Eicha, or Lamentations, which tells of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BCE. Some 2,000 people visited the site on Saturday night.Aside from marking the destruction of the temples, Tisha B’Av also marks other tragedies endured by the Jewish people that are said to have occurred on the same day, including the expulsion edict from Spain in 1492 and the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.AFP contributed to this article.
Abbas asks Arab MKs to mediate between Fatah, Hamas-At Ramallah meeting, PA president also says Israeli Arabs can be bridge for peace with the Palestinians-By Times of Israel staff August 14, 2016, 4:41 pm
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that Arab members of Knesset help mediate a reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas movements, Israel Radio reported Sunday.Abbas made the suggestion during a meeting on Saturday in Ramallah with leaders of Israel’s Arab sector, including Knesset members and local community leaders.Hamas and Fatah agreed last month to hold municipal elections in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in October, for the first time in 11 years.The Hamas terror group has ruled Gaza since a bloody coup saw it oust Abbas’s Fatah party from the coastal territory in 2007. The two groups agreed on a unity deal in April 2014 that was supposed to lead to a technocratic government taking over administration of both Gaza and the West Bank. However, Hamas never accepted relinquishing its authority in Gaza, and the two sides remain at loggerheads.Abbas also said at the Saturday meeting that Israel’s Arab residents could serve as a bridge for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “We need to reach every Israeli and show them that we really want peace,” he said.Recent months have seen renewed peace initiatives by both France and Egypt. The Palestinians have welcomed the French bid but Israel strongly opposes the initiative. Meanwhile Israel has expressed keen interest in the regional push led by Egypt, but Palestinians have shown far less enthusiasm.Abbas on Saturday explained his reluctance to accept Cairo efforts, saying he did not wish to facilitate a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab nations before the Palestinian problem is addressed.
Ashkenazi babies, children of Holocaust survivors, also ‘disappeared’ by Israel-New investigation into newborns abducted from Yemenite families reveals practice may have gone beyond Middle Eastern Jewish communities-By Raoul Wootliff August 14, 2016, 1:06 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Stories of babies “disappeared” from Yemenite families by Israel in the early years of the state have spurred three probes, with the government examining claims made by over 1,000 families who came to the country in the 1940s and 1950s from Middle Eastern countries.A new investigation into the allegations, however, has suggested that the practice went beyond the communities of Yemenite, North African and other Middle Eastern Jews, who up until now were assumed to have been the only victims of the practice. Dozens of testimonies collected by the Haaretz newspaper suggest that the phenomenon also included children of Ashkenazi origin who had emigrated to Israel from Western countries, many born to Holocaust survivors.In a report published Friday, Haaretz said it had received information about dozens of new immigrants from Eastern Europe who were separated from their infant children and do not know what happened to them. “It happened both in hospitals in Israel and at the British detention camps in Cyprus before the founding of Israel,” the report said.The report did not give an exact number, but estimated that “the figures reach dozens of cases and maybe even more.” On Sunday, Haaretz said that in response to the article, it had received an additional 40 testimonies over the weekend.Families from Yemenite and North African Jewish communities maintain the government systematically kidnapped hundreds of their children from Israeli hospitals and put them up for adoption with the influx of immigration in the 1950s.The mystery of the children’s disappearance, amid ongoing accusations that they were kidnapped by the state and handed over to wealthy families for adoption, has gained renewed attention recently.In June lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as the prime minister and justice minister, expressed willingness to declassify the documents and grapple with that low point in Israeli history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Likud minister Tzachi Hanegbi to draft a government recommendation on the matter of the classified documents, noting that “as of this moment, I don’t know why it [the directive to seal the documents] exists.”Since the 1950s, over 1,000 families — mostly Yemenite, but also dozens from the Balkans, North Africa and other Middle Eastern countries — have alleged their children were systematically kidnapped from Israeli hospitals and put up for adoption, sometimes abroad, in the largest cover-up in the history of the State of Israel.Disputed by scholars and seemingly refuted by probes, the case has kept resurfacing, not least because most of the families were not given their children’s bodies or informed of their burial places, death certificates were riddled with errors, and most of the missing children were sent army draft notices 18 years after their alleged deaths. There have also been cases where adopted children were able to confirm, through paternity tests, they were from Yemenite families who were told they had died.Over the past several decades, the government has appointed three investigative committees to probe the case, with all concluding the majority of children died in the hospital and were simply buried without the families’ being informed or involved.The last panel to probe the affair in 2001 reached similar conclusions, but sealed various testimonies from the probe in the state archive until 2071.In that report, babies from non-Yemenite families were mentioned in a short clause titled, “The disappearance of babies from other communities,” according to Haaretz. A table attached to the report claimed that 30 cases of children of “European” or “American” origin were among those who disappeared.“The circumstances of the disappearance of the babies of other communities are very similar to the circumstances of the disappearance of the Yemenite immigrants’ babies,” the inquiry commission wrote.Marissa Newman contributed to this report.
New York imam and associate shot and killed near mosque-NYPD says no indication of hate crime, but community members rally to demand ‘justice,’ better security-By AP August 14, 2016, 2:06 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot in a brazen daylight attack as they left afternoon prayers Saturday.Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Thara Uddin, were shot in the back of the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens shortly before 2 p.m.Both men were later pronounced dead, an administrator at Jamaica Hospital said.Police said no motive has been established and there is no reason to believe the men were shot because they were Muslim. No suspects are in custody.“There’s nothing in the preliminary investigation to indicate that they were targeted because of their faith,” said Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner of the New York Police Department.Sautner said video surveillance shows the victims were approached from behind by a man in a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them and then fled with the gun still in his hand.Members of the Bangladeshi community served by the mosque said they want the shootings to be treated as a hate crime.More than 100 people attending a rally at the shooting site Saturday night chanted “We want justice!”Sarah Sayeed, a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s staff, serves as a liaison to Muslim communities. She attended the rally and said, “I understand the fear because I feel it myself. I understand the anger. But it’s very important to mount a thorough investigation.”Khaled Rahman, who also was there, said he believes the shootings were an attack “against our religion” and he hopes police increase security around mosques.Shahin Chowdhury, a worshiper at the mosque, said members of the community had felt animosity lately, with people cursing while passing the mosque. He said he had advised fellow community members to be careful walking around, especially when in traditional clothing.He called the imam a “wonderful person” with a voice that made his Koran readings especially compelling.Worshiper Millat Uddin said Akonjee had led the mosque for about two years and was a very pious man.“The community’s heart is totally broken,” said Uddin, who is not related to Thara Uddin. “It’s a great misery. It’s a great loss to the community and it’s a great loss to the society.”Neighbors also described Thara Uddin as a pious and thoughtful man who prayed five times a day and went to the mosque. While at home, they said he would water his garden and one next door.“A very honest, wise man… (And) a very helpful guy,” said neighbor Mohammed Uddin, who is not a relation of Thara Uddin’s.
Meteor shower dazzles thousands over Negev Desert-Astronomers, star-gazers flock to Mitzpe Ramon to witness one of the most spectacular displays of shooting stars in years-By Times of Israel staff August 13, 2016, 5:34 pm
Thousands of Israelis converged on the desert town of Mitzpe Ramon this week to witness one of the most spectacular meteor showers to shoot across the sky in years.The annual Perseid meteor shower, which occurs as the Earth passes through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet, peaked this year on Thursday night, producing twice the usual meteors seen per hour.NASA estimated a peak of 200 shooting stars visible per hour in the Northern Hemisphere overnight Thursday into Friday morning, unlike previous years where the shower produced between 80 and 100 space specks.The town, which lies at the edge of the Ramon crater in the Negev Desert, and offers some of the best views of the night sky in the country, played host to an estimated 6,000 star-gazers of every type, from professional astronomers to families.Much of Israel suffers from light pollution, as the tiny country has little true wilderness away from civilization. The Negev Desert in the country’s south is mostly free from habitation and Mitzpe Ramon, on the edge of the wilderness, has become a favorite spot for local star enthusiasts.
Pope arrives for surprise visit to ex-prostitutes-In ‘Friday of Mercy,’ Catholic pontiff hears stories of victims of human trafficking, which he’s called a crime against humanity-By AFP August 14, 2016, 6:18 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis surprised 20 former prostitutes on Friday by knocking on their door in Rome and popping in for a chat.The Argentine, who has repeatedly described the human trafficking behind much prostitution as “a crime against humanity,” sat down with the group, including four women from Albania, seven from Nigeria and six from Romania.The other three hailed from Italy, Tunisia and Ukraine, according to a Vatican statement. The women, all aged around 30, are being sheltered by a Catholic association in an apartment in the Italian capital after being rescued from their pimps.The 79 year old listened for over an hour to the stories of the former sex slaves, “all of whom suffered serious physical abuse and live under protection,” the Vatican said.The visit fell under what have been termed Francis’s “Fridays of Mercy,” during which he carries out one unscheduled act of mercy a month on a Friday — mainly in or near Rome — throughout the pope’s Jubilee year, which started in December and runs to November.In January, he visited a care home for the elderly and people in a vegetative state, while in February he went to a community for drug addicts. In March he toured a refugee center before visiting asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos in April.The pontiff then spent time with the seriously mentally ill in May before visiting old and ill priests in June and dedicating his July “Friday of Mercy” to sick children in Krakow after praying for the victims of the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant 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 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.
MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)
DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)
MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
The third Jewish Temple is coming to your Facebook feed-The Temple Institute, dedicated to rebuilding ancient holy site, now using new internet tools to bring its message to the masses-By Andrew Tobin August 13, 2016, 8:14 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
JTA — “It’s time to build,” reads the tagline of the Temple Institute’s latest YouTube video.The phrase encapsulates the group’s controversial mission to rally Jews to reconstruct the temple that was the heart of their religion until its destruction 2,000 years ago.Over much of those two millennia, mourning the loss of the temple and longing for its restoration has been central to Jewish thought and practice. As noted by the professionally produced video – a montage of Jewish wedding footage – the glass stomping that concludes a Jewish wedding is one such practice.After a groom, played by an actor, does the deed, the glass miraculously reassembles to swelling music, and text asks: “How many more glasses need to be broken?” Then, the tagline appears.The video — released this week ahead of the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE by the Romans — is part of the Temple Institute’s strategy of using the new tools of the internet to bring its ancient message to the masses.“Our goal is to raise the consciousness of the Jewish people and all humanity toward the central role that the holy temple plays in the life of mankind,” Rabbi Chaim Richman, the Massachusetts-born cofounder and the international director of the Temple Institute, told JTA. “We’re very much focused on getting the message out on all the channels of social media and all the things people are into today. Most of my work is internet related.”Established in 1987, 20 years after Israel conquered the Temple Mount and the Palestinian territories in the Six-Day War, the Temple Institute was one of the first groups to openly advocate the rebuilding of the two temples that once stood on the plaza. Another cofounder is Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who was among the paratroopers who took the Temple Mount from Jordanian forces in 1967.The problem for supporters is that the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem is sacred not only to Jews, but to Muslims and Christians too. The site includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, two of the most significant shrines in Islam. Israel chose to leave it under Muslim control in 1967, and Jewish prayer is prohibited there. Ever since, even rumors of changes to the “status quo” — let alone provocative calls to build a third Temple in their place — have provoked international Muslim ire and Palestinian violence. Tensions surrounding the Temple Mount played a major role in the first and second Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, and helped trigger the most recent wave of attacks that started in October.Some Israelis have always opposed the government’s decision not to reclaim the mount. In the 1980s, the Jewish Underground, a Jewish settler terrorist group, plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock, in part to catalyze the construction of the third Temple in its place. The Shin Bet security agency thwarted the plot.Richman, who often quotes the great Jewish rationalist Maimonides, said the Temple Institute opposes violence, and works “within the confines of the human condition, halachah and the political reality.” Halachah is the Hebrew word for Jewish law.The Temple Institute focuses on preparing the objects and skills needed for the sacrifice of animals and the esoteric rituals that were carried out by kohanim, or priests, in front of crowds of Jewish pilgrims before the last temple’s destruction. All of its work is led by a rabbinical council and based on meticulous analysis of Jewish scripture and academic research.The group also works to build support for its mission and itself, which is where the internet comes in. After his cable television show that aired in Texas was cancelled in 2006, Richman found an audience for his temple-centric scriptural exegesis online.These days, his weekly TV and radio shows are among the 914 videos that appear on the Temple Institute’s YouTube channel, which has more than 17,000 subscribers and 4.6 million views. The group’s Facebook page has more than 186,000 followers, and its Twitter account has a less-than-impressive 741 followers. The Temple Institute email newsletter, which you can sign up for on its website, lands in 24,000 inboxes every week.Tel Aviv-based videographer Yosef Adest produces the higher-budget videos.Most content is in English, to maximize reach, including to the many evangelical Christians who support the group, many through tax-exempt charities in the US For many evangelicals, the construction of a third Temple fulfills a prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus.For the past three years, the Temple Institute has launched an IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign ahead of Tisha B’Av, often making headlines in the Jewish press. This year’s campaign is for a school to train the priests to staff the third Temple. Combined, the campaigns — which run the two months until Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year — have raised less than $150,000. That is a fraction of what the group’s assistant director, Yitzchak Reuven, said is an average annual operating budget of around $1.1 million. But fundraising isn’t the primary purpose of the campaigns.“We really work on a shoestring budget, so crowdfunding is important for us,” Yitzchak Reuven, the Temple Institute’s multimedia director, told JTA. “But the main goal is to be part of the dialogue and get people involved. We’re not rehashing something that is 2,000 years old. We’re articulating it in a way that people can see that it’s contemporary, and just being on social media is part of the message.”Also around Tisha B’Av, the Temple Institute has for the last four years released videos seeking to reframe the day as a time to take action, not mourn the past.“How is anything going to change if we don’t do anything about it? Our thing is to mourn and cry,” said Richman. “God gave us the Temple Mount on a silver platter. It would be more honest to say, You know what? I’m not interested.The Temple Institute’s aggressive outreach has helped make it something of an institution in Israel. An exhibition of the group’s preparations for the temple moved in 2013 from a small side street in the Old City to a larger space just outside the Western Wall plaza. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit each year. The guided audio tour, available so far in nine languages, culminates with the parting of ornate curtains to reveal a life-size replica of the ark of the covenant.Nearby, overlooking the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, is a man-sized gold-plated menorah the group built for use in the temple. It was moved to that prominent location in 2007 in a ceremony attended by then-Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger.The Israeli government provides some funding to the Temple Institute — though not reliably or significantly, according to its directors — as it does educational and research institutions, and allows women to do their national service as tour guides at its exhibition. One woman is working there now, and three are slated to start next year.The Temple Institute’s growth has coincided with increased mainstream support for Jewish access to the Temple Mount. A large minority of Israelis now oppose the restriction on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, according to polls. And leading religious figures, Knesset members and ministers have called for rebuilding the temple, including Agriculture Minster Uri Ariel of the right-wing nationalist Jewish Home party, who was filmed last year praying on the Temple Mount.But according to Yair Sheleg, a researcher on religion and state at the Israeli Democracy Institute think tank, the Temple Institute has benefited more than it has contributed to the growth of the Temple Mount movement.“It’s surely one of the most important organizations, but the climate doesn’t come because of actions of organizations, the climate comes because of much more general social reasons,” he told JTA. “The social climate came because many religious Zionists think during the last decade that secular Zionism has failed, and that only religious motivation can maintain the national spirit against Muslim religious motivations.”Even for many religious Jews, actively seeking the rebuilding of a third Temple is not just politically provocative, but spiritually suspect.“The rabbinic model developed after the destruction of the Second Temple is the one that has set the tone for Jews, regardless of denomination, for 2,000 years,” Marcie Lenk, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, wrote in 2014. “The rabbis were responsible for creating the system of Judaism that would survive and thrive without a Temple, though they insisted that the Temple and its destruction should be remembered and commemorated.”Yuval Cherlow, a leading moderate religious Zionist rabbi, said that while preparing to rebuild the temple is a good thing, the first step is “recreating society and yourself.”“The prophets constantly emphasized that the pillars of the temple are a society that is full of justice, charity and humanity, and without pride,” he told JTA. “I really believe that if the temple will be rebuilt in this situation, without those pillars, it will be destroyed again.”
Police, Palestinians scuffle on Temple Mount as Jews flock to Western Wall for Tisha B’Av-9 Jews detained for ‘disturbing the peace’ during visit to holy site on day marking destruction of the Temples-By Raoul Wootliff August 14, 2016, 4:01 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Clashes broke out briefly between Israel Police and Palestinian youths at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount complex on Sunday, as thousands of Jewish worshipers visited the Western Wall plaza below. The worshipers were marking Tisha B’av, the Jewish day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of the ancient temples that once stood atop the Temple Mount.The youths struck police officers and threw rocks at the security personnel in an effort to prevent Jewish visitors from touring the Mount. In an attempt to prevent an escalation of violence, police removed the Jewish visitors and closed the site earlier than planned. One Palestinian man was arrested, police said.According to the Red Crescent rescue service, some 15 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, which broke out after several Jews disobeyed the site’s ban on public prayer. Nine Jewish men were detained for “disturbing the peace,” police said in a statement. Honenu, an advocacy group that provides legal aid to extremist Jews, said three of them were held for citing verses from prayer, and another for tearing his shirt, a sign of mourning in Judaism.A total of 983 people visited the site Sunday, including 400 Jewish visitors, the police statement added.Advocates for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam, have called on Jews to visit the sensitive area, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif compound or the Noble Sanctuary. JERUSALEM: Scene from Al-Aqsa compound (Place were Jews cant pray) as Jewish worshipers mark destruction of Temple pic.twitter.com/PoGQgquauX— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) August 14, 2016-Non-Muslims are allowed to visit but not to pray there, under arrangements agreed to by Israel after it captured the area from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War.The Palestinians have accused Israel of trying to change the status quo at the site, a charge Israel has repeatedly and vehemently denied.Palestinian claims of alleged Israeli intentions to undermine Muslim control of the Temple Mount have been at the heart of a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October 2015, in which 34 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed. Some 220 Palestinians have died in the same period, most of them when carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, and others in clashes with Israeli security forces, according to Israeli authorities.Police had boosted their presence in the Old City of Jerusalem for Tisha B’Av, which began Saturday evening and ends Sunday night.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that “hundreds of extra police will be carrying out security measures in and around the Old City of Jerusalem” over the weekend.Thousand of people flocked to the Western Wall plaza Sunday to recite the prayers and listen to the Book of Eicha, or Lamentations, which tells of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BCE. Some 2,000 people visited the site on Saturday night.Aside from marking the destruction of the temples, Tisha B’Av also marks other tragedies endured by the Jewish people that are said to have occurred on the same day, including the expulsion edict from Spain in 1492 and the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.AFP contributed to this article.
Abbas asks Arab MKs to mediate between Fatah, Hamas-At Ramallah meeting, PA president also says Israeli Arabs can be bridge for peace with the Palestinians-By Times of Israel staff August 14, 2016, 4:41 pm
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that Arab members of Knesset help mediate a reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas movements, Israel Radio reported Sunday.Abbas made the suggestion during a meeting on Saturday in Ramallah with leaders of Israel’s Arab sector, including Knesset members and local community leaders.Hamas and Fatah agreed last month to hold municipal elections in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in October, for the first time in 11 years.The Hamas terror group has ruled Gaza since a bloody coup saw it oust Abbas’s Fatah party from the coastal territory in 2007. The two groups agreed on a unity deal in April 2014 that was supposed to lead to a technocratic government taking over administration of both Gaza and the West Bank. However, Hamas never accepted relinquishing its authority in Gaza, and the two sides remain at loggerheads.Abbas also said at the Saturday meeting that Israel’s Arab residents could serve as a bridge for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “We need to reach every Israeli and show them that we really want peace,” he said.Recent months have seen renewed peace initiatives by both France and Egypt. The Palestinians have welcomed the French bid but Israel strongly opposes the initiative. Meanwhile Israel has expressed keen interest in the regional push led by Egypt, but Palestinians have shown far less enthusiasm.Abbas on Saturday explained his reluctance to accept Cairo efforts, saying he did not wish to facilitate a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab nations before the Palestinian problem is addressed.
Ashkenazi babies, children of Holocaust survivors, also ‘disappeared’ by Israel-New investigation into newborns abducted from Yemenite families reveals practice may have gone beyond Middle Eastern Jewish communities-By Raoul Wootliff August 14, 2016, 1:06 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Stories of babies “disappeared” from Yemenite families by Israel in the early years of the state have spurred three probes, with the government examining claims made by over 1,000 families who came to the country in the 1940s and 1950s from Middle Eastern countries.A new investigation into the allegations, however, has suggested that the practice went beyond the communities of Yemenite, North African and other Middle Eastern Jews, who up until now were assumed to have been the only victims of the practice. Dozens of testimonies collected by the Haaretz newspaper suggest that the phenomenon also included children of Ashkenazi origin who had emigrated to Israel from Western countries, many born to Holocaust survivors.In a report published Friday, Haaretz said it had received information about dozens of new immigrants from Eastern Europe who were separated from their infant children and do not know what happened to them. “It happened both in hospitals in Israel and at the British detention camps in Cyprus before the founding of Israel,” the report said.The report did not give an exact number, but estimated that “the figures reach dozens of cases and maybe even more.” On Sunday, Haaretz said that in response to the article, it had received an additional 40 testimonies over the weekend.Families from Yemenite and North African Jewish communities maintain the government systematically kidnapped hundreds of their children from Israeli hospitals and put them up for adoption with the influx of immigration in the 1950s.The mystery of the children’s disappearance, amid ongoing accusations that they were kidnapped by the state and handed over to wealthy families for adoption, has gained renewed attention recently.In June lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as the prime minister and justice minister, expressed willingness to declassify the documents and grapple with that low point in Israeli history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Likud minister Tzachi Hanegbi to draft a government recommendation on the matter of the classified documents, noting that “as of this moment, I don’t know why it [the directive to seal the documents] exists.”Since the 1950s, over 1,000 families — mostly Yemenite, but also dozens from the Balkans, North Africa and other Middle Eastern countries — have alleged their children were systematically kidnapped from Israeli hospitals and put up for adoption, sometimes abroad, in the largest cover-up in the history of the State of Israel.Disputed by scholars and seemingly refuted by probes, the case has kept resurfacing, not least because most of the families were not given their children’s bodies or informed of their burial places, death certificates were riddled with errors, and most of the missing children were sent army draft notices 18 years after their alleged deaths. There have also been cases where adopted children were able to confirm, through paternity tests, they were from Yemenite families who were told they had died.Over the past several decades, the government has appointed three investigative committees to probe the case, with all concluding the majority of children died in the hospital and were simply buried without the families’ being informed or involved.The last panel to probe the affair in 2001 reached similar conclusions, but sealed various testimonies from the probe in the state archive until 2071.In that report, babies from non-Yemenite families were mentioned in a short clause titled, “The disappearance of babies from other communities,” according to Haaretz. A table attached to the report claimed that 30 cases of children of “European” or “American” origin were among those who disappeared.“The circumstances of the disappearance of the babies of other communities are very similar to the circumstances of the disappearance of the Yemenite immigrants’ babies,” the inquiry commission wrote.Marissa Newman contributed to this report.
New York imam and associate shot and killed near mosque-NYPD says no indication of hate crime, but community members rally to demand ‘justice,’ better security-By AP August 14, 2016, 2:06 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot in a brazen daylight attack as they left afternoon prayers Saturday.Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Thara Uddin, were shot in the back of the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens shortly before 2 p.m.Both men were later pronounced dead, an administrator at Jamaica Hospital said.Police said no motive has been established and there is no reason to believe the men were shot because they were Muslim. No suspects are in custody.“There’s nothing in the preliminary investigation to indicate that they were targeted because of their faith,” said Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner of the New York Police Department.Sautner said video surveillance shows the victims were approached from behind by a man in a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them and then fled with the gun still in his hand.Members of the Bangladeshi community served by the mosque said they want the shootings to be treated as a hate crime.More than 100 people attending a rally at the shooting site Saturday night chanted “We want justice!”Sarah Sayeed, a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s staff, serves as a liaison to Muslim communities. She attended the rally and said, “I understand the fear because I feel it myself. I understand the anger. But it’s very important to mount a thorough investigation.”Khaled Rahman, who also was there, said he believes the shootings were an attack “against our religion” and he hopes police increase security around mosques.Shahin Chowdhury, a worshiper at the mosque, said members of the community had felt animosity lately, with people cursing while passing the mosque. He said he had advised fellow community members to be careful walking around, especially when in traditional clothing.He called the imam a “wonderful person” with a voice that made his Koran readings especially compelling.Worshiper Millat Uddin said Akonjee had led the mosque for about two years and was a very pious man.“The community’s heart is totally broken,” said Uddin, who is not related to Thara Uddin. “It’s a great misery. It’s a great loss to the community and it’s a great loss to the society.”Neighbors also described Thara Uddin as a pious and thoughtful man who prayed five times a day and went to the mosque. While at home, they said he would water his garden and one next door.“A very honest, wise man… (And) a very helpful guy,” said neighbor Mohammed Uddin, who is not a relation of Thara Uddin’s.
Meteor shower dazzles thousands over Negev Desert-Astronomers, star-gazers flock to Mitzpe Ramon to witness one of the most spectacular displays of shooting stars in years-By Times of Israel staff August 13, 2016, 5:34 pm
Thousands of Israelis converged on the desert town of Mitzpe Ramon this week to witness one of the most spectacular meteor showers to shoot across the sky in years.The annual Perseid meteor shower, which occurs as the Earth passes through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet, peaked this year on Thursday night, producing twice the usual meteors seen per hour.NASA estimated a peak of 200 shooting stars visible per hour in the Northern Hemisphere overnight Thursday into Friday morning, unlike previous years where the shower produced between 80 and 100 space specks.The town, which lies at the edge of the Ramon crater in the Negev Desert, and offers some of the best views of the night sky in the country, played host to an estimated 6,000 star-gazers of every type, from professional astronomers to families.Much of Israel suffers from light pollution, as the tiny country has little true wilderness away from civilization. The Negev Desert in the country’s south is mostly free from habitation and Mitzpe Ramon, on the edge of the wilderness, has become a favorite spot for local star enthusiasts.
Pope arrives for surprise visit to ex-prostitutes-In ‘Friday of Mercy,’ Catholic pontiff hears stories of victims of human trafficking, which he’s called a crime against humanity-By AFP August 14, 2016, 6:18 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis surprised 20 former prostitutes on Friday by knocking on their door in Rome and popping in for a chat.The Argentine, who has repeatedly described the human trafficking behind much prostitution as “a crime against humanity,” sat down with the group, including four women from Albania, seven from Nigeria and six from Romania.The other three hailed from Italy, Tunisia and Ukraine, according to a Vatican statement. The women, all aged around 30, are being sheltered by a Catholic association in an apartment in the Italian capital after being rescued from their pimps.The 79 year old listened for over an hour to the stories of the former sex slaves, “all of whom suffered serious physical abuse and live under protection,” the Vatican said.The visit fell under what have been termed Francis’s “Fridays of Mercy,” during which he carries out one unscheduled act of mercy a month on a Friday — mainly in or near Rome — throughout the pope’s Jubilee year, which started in December and runs to November.In January, he visited a care home for the elderly and people in a vegetative state, while in February he went to a community for drug addicts. In March he toured a refugee center before visiting asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos in April.The pontiff then spent time with the seriously mentally ill in May before visiting old and ill priests in June and dedicating his July “Friday of Mercy” to sick children in Krakow after praying for the victims of the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp.
