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
Netanyahu vows Knesset push to limit NGOs’ foreign funding-PM says it’s ‘not right’ for groups to receive unlimited donations from other countries; says he intends to pass Jewish state bill by summer-By Marissa Newman June 12, 2017, 4:50 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday confirmed the government would formulate a new bill restricting foreign government funding to Israeli organizations, significantly ratcheting up pressure on left-wing groups critical of Israeli policies.At the weekly Likud faction meeting, the prime minister announced he had instructed Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) to spearhead the proposal, which would primarily apply to left-wing human rights groups, many of which receive the bulk of their funding from foreign states.“There is no limit on money funneled to all sorts of organizations, which among other things, defame IDF soldiers, ” he said. “The situation is, in my opinion, not right.”In July 2016, the government passed into law a hotly contested NGO bill, which forces non-governmental organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign countries to disclose this information on public documents. The NGO law was opposed by the US, and condemned by various European countries.That law “was about transparency” but further limitations are necessary, Netanyahu said Monday, indicating the new measure will clamp down on how much money the groups may receive.The measure will only apply to foreign government funding and not donations from individuals. He did not provide other details about the bill.The prime minister also said Monday he intends to pass into law a bill that would enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish nation-state in its Basic Laws during the current Knesset session, which ends July 31. The “Jewish state” bill — authored by Likud MK Avi Dichter — passed a preliminary reading in May.The new NGO proposal comes as Netanyahu stepped up his objections against these organizations in meetings with foreign leaders. In April, Netanyahu canceled on short notice a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel over the latter’s refusal to abort a planned meeting with Breaking the Silence, an organization that documents alleged abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians.At a Likud faction meeting in late May, Netanyahu defended his new policy of shunning foreign leaders who meet with left-leaning NGOs, which Israel accuses of setting up Israeli soldiers for future prosecution in foreign tribunals.“You can meet me. But you cannot meet with these organizations and also meet with me,” he said, adding that this message is sinking in. “Our soldiers protect us. And we will protect them,” he added.Netanyahu on Sunday reportedly also told coalition leaders he would advance legislation curtailing the ability of many left-wing advocacy groups to appeal to the High Court of Justice against the state and the IDF on behalf of Palestinians in the West Bank, the Walla news site reported.
Herzog says secret meetings with Arab leaders could have changed Mideast-Opposition leader blames PM, Likud ministers for torpedoing initiative after report emerges on clandestine session between himself, Netanyahu and Sissi in Cairo last year-By Stuart Winer June 12, 2017, 10:10 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said Monday that the meetings he took part in with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab leaders could have produced a deal that “changed the face of the Middle East,” but that the opportunity was ultimately torpedoed by hardliners in Netanyahu’s Likud party.Herzog’s comments come after the Haaretz daily reported that he, Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi held a secret meeting in Cairo in April 2016 to discuss efforts at restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Speaking to Army Radio, Herzog confirmed that the meeting took place, but did not detail what was said, saying only that “it was part of a process… that yielded a document that would have changed the face of the Middle East.”He also said that Netanyahu says things privately to leaders in the Arab world that he does not say to the Israeli public, but did not specify.The Cairo summit came as Netanyahu and Herzog were holding intensive contacts aimed at bringing Herzog’s Zionist Union party into the government coalition.But, said Herzog, once Netanyahu began involving members of his Likud party in the process, everything broke down.“Once he brought in people from his own party,” including Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Herzog said, “they smashed the whole thing to pieces,” he said.According to Monday’s newspaper report, in April 2016 Netanyahu and Herzog, along with advisers and a security detail, flew at night to Cairo on a private plane and were taken directly to the presidential palace to meet Sissi. They returned before dawn after Sissi had urged them to press ahead with a joint effort to restart peace talks.Haaretz said it learned of the Cairo meeting from “a figure who is not currently in politics and is not connected in any way to Herzog.”The Cairo meeting came shortly after the Aqaba Summit in February, another then-secret summit attended by Netanyahu, Sissi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and John Kerry, at the time US secretary of state.Herzog indicated in the radio interview that leaks about these meetings were coming from the former US administration.Netanyahu was reportedly trying to draw Herzog into the government because his right-leaning coalition would not back the kind of compromises he would need to make in order bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. In particular, a partial West Bank settlement construction freeze as a pre-condition to talks would not have been backed by the coalition Jewish Home party, which staunchly supports the settlement enterprise, as do many in Netanyahu’s own Likud party.The Haaretz report said that “international and regional powers that were aware of Netanyahu’s inability to lead a significant peace process, due to his coalition partners, went to Herzog through various channels.”Herzog, who had been informed of the Aqaba summit, was aware that there were opportunities for significant changes in the region but that it would require his Zionist Union party to be on board. He held talks with various Arab leaders and they told him they hoped he would assist Netanyahu to move things along, the report said.However, negotiations between Netanyahu and Herzog broke down and the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, led by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, joined the coalition instead, effectively slamming shut the door on Herzog.According to a February 2017 report in Haaretz, the negotiations with Herzog failed when Netanyahu got cold feet and cut off discussions.In March Haaretz reported that as part of the regional initiative, Netanyahu and Herzog were to release an eight-point English-language text detailing Israel’s position in support of a new peace push.The document, published by Haaretz, is dated September 12-13, 2016, and addresses Arab states, especially Egypt.It thanks Sissi “for his willingness to play an active role in advancing peace and security in the region and re-launching the peace process.”According to Haaretz, the proposed initiative never panned out because Netanyahu was caught in the political vise of the Amona outpost controversy.The illegal West Bank outpost, which the High Court of Justice ruled in 2014 had been built on privately owned Palestinian land, was due to be demolished by the end of December of last year, and the weeks leading up to the deadline saw rising tensions with the Jewish Home party and many Likud ministers on Netanyahu’s rightist flank.Netanyahu’s office told Haaretz at the time that the narrative according to which a possible regional peace process was prevented by Israeli political infighting was completely untrue. Herzog’s office declined to comment on the report.In February 2017 Herzog, speaking to a conference of American-Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, said that in mid-May 2016, the talks over a unity government broke down because Netanyahu “simply reneged on basic understandings we had.”The report on Herzog, Netanyahu and Sissi’s meeting comes amid renewed efforts by US President Donald Trump to restart talks between Israels and Palestinians as part of regional cooperation between moderate Sunni Arab states.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Livni says Netanyahu was ready to negotiate based on US framework-Former peace negotiator calls on White House to hold peace talks on basis of 2014 outline, blames Abbas for not picking up gauntlet-By Raphael Ahren June 12, 2017, 5:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Former peace negotiator MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was willing to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on the 1967 lines during the 2014 peace talks. She also called on the current US administration to adopt the framework agreement that was reached at the time as the basis for new peace talks.Speaking at the Haaretz Peace Conference in Tel Aviv, Livni said, “Netanyahu always veers left, then gets to the crossroads and turns right.”Using the prime minister’s nickname, she charged that “Bibi the politician doesn’t want to do what Netanyahu the statesman knows needs to be done.”In recent days, new details were revealed about the framework agreement that then-US secretary of state John Kerry presented to Jerusalem and Ramallah. According to the leaks, published in Haaretz, the document called for negotiations based on the 1967 lines, which Netanyahu accepted.But Livni, who served as justice minister and chief peace negotiator at the time, said Netanyahu demanded the Americans provide him with “deniability,” to protect him from his hawkish political base.“Netanyahu was ready to negotiate a two-state solution based on the 67 borders with lands swaps. What you hear from him today is a renunciation of that position,” she said. “Every single letter was acceptable to him,” she said about the framework agreement.It was a “great achievement” to have Netanyahu agree to negotiate peace along the lines acceptable to the Palestinians and most of the international community, she said, adding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “made a historic mistake” by not picking up the gauntlet.The current US administration does not want to coerce the two sides into an agreement, but the former justice minister said that US President Donald Trump could take the 2014 framework agreement and declare it the basis for a renewed peace process.“There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. He could invite Netanyahu and Abbas to Mar-a-Lago, or wherever he meets people, and tell them this is the basis for an agreement,” Livni said.The PA has dropped its preconditions for entering talks, no longer demanding a settlement freeze, “which makes it so much easier to enter the negotiation room,” the former foreign minister said. “At this stage, neither side wants to tell Trump no. So that’s a good point to start.”Peace talks have remained stagnant since the 2014 negotiations fell apart. On Monday, opposition leader Isaac Herzog said he and Netanyahu held talks last year about the possibility of joining the government and pushing for a regional peace initiative, but the effort fell apart when Netanyahu brought current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, a hawk, into the coalition instead, mollifying critics on the right.“The State of Israel could have been in the midst of an incredible regional peace process that we haven’t seen since the founding of the state,” Herzog said at the start of the weekly Zionist Union meeting.“Netanyahu is the one who went soft, he betrayed the opportunity, and gave in to pressure by [Jerusalem Minister Ze’ev] Elkin, [Tourism Minister Yariv] Levin, and [Jewish Home leader Naftali] Bennett,” he said.
Hamas says no breakthrough in Cairo talks-High-level delegation from embattled terror group returns from Egypt, but no word on effort to improve relations with vital neighbor-By Dov Lieber June 12, 2017, 4:25 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A high-level Hamas delegation returned home from Cairo after nine days of security and political talks intended to improve ties with Egypt, but has not announced any breakthroughs or any signed agreements, Hamas-linked media reported Monday.Hamas denied reports in Arab media that an agreement had been signed between Cairo and Hamas.A delegation including Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and a senior commander in the group’s military wing, Tawfik Abu Naim, left to Cairo on June 4 in an attempt to improve relations Egypt.Hamas has been under intense pressure lately both from the Palestinian Authority and due to the crisis with Qatar — a key Hamas supporter — which is being urged to cut contacts with the Gaza-based terror group.Hamas is eager to restore ties with Egypt, which controls its border and joins Israel in imposing a blockade aimed at preventing arms reaching Hamas.Hamas and Egypt have had cool relations since Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, was overthrown by the military in 2013. Morsi came from Hamas’ parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood.“All the shared issues have been studied in a serious and deep way with our Egyptian brothers,” a Hamas source told the terror group’s official radio station al-Aqsa voice on Monday.The source denied reports in the Arabic press that a written agreement had been signed between Cairo and Hamas.The delegation left Gaza for Cairo just one day before Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar.Qatar has been a pillar of support for Hamas, providing funding as well as allowing Hamas leadership to stay within its borders.One of the reasons cited for the cutting off of diplomatic ties is Qatar’s support of extremism in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Riyadh specifically listed Hamas among the extremists supported by Qatar.Hamas leaders connected to its military branch left Qatar at the start of the diplomatic crisis, though its political leadership was allowed to remain in the country.Hamas delegations have been in and out of Cairo for the past few years but have seen little success. The Rafah crossing for Gazans who seek to leave the embattled Strip is still only periodically opened.Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, tunneling under the border and firing thousands of rockets into Israel, and is avowedly committed to destroying the Jewish state.Gaza is also experiencing a deepening humanitarian crises with severe shortages of electricity shortages, a lack of medicine and a lack of drinkable water.Hamas has been trying to convince Egypt that it is a reliable security partner. It has deployed more troops along the border with Egypt’s northern Sinai region, where the Egyptian military is battling Islamic extremists.But over the past month, at least four Gaza residents were killed while fighting alongside the Islamic State terror group’s Sinai affiliate, complicating Hamas’ reconciliation attempts.Hamas made a gesture toward Egypt last month with a new policy document that dropped its longtime association with the Muslim Brotherhood and identified itself as a Palestinian movement fighting only against Israel.Yet, according to a report published on Friday in the Pan-Arab daily as-Sharq al-Awsat, Hamas has not been able to solve the security issue.Egypt has demanded Hamas turn over men it believes are responsible with working with ISIS in the Sinai, but Hamas has rejected the accusation against its operatives and refused to hand them over.According to the report, Hamas terror commander Abu Naim’s presence was requested by Egypt specifically to discuss the issue of these men wanted by Cairo.A Hamas delegation is also expected to visit Qatar and Iran in the coming days.AP contributed to this report.
Arab MK slams bill to cut PA funding over ‘martyr’ payments-Joint List lawmaker Youssef Jabareen says if Israel wants to stop families of convicted terrorists receiving money, it should free all Palestinian prisoners-By Raoul Wootliff June 12, 2017, 3:48 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An Arab Israeli lawmaker on Monday decried a proposed law that would slash funds to the Palestinian Authority over salaries paid out by Ramallah to convicted terrorists and their families.The bill, approved Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, “would impose collective punishment on the Palestinian population,” MK Youssef Jabareen from the Joint (Arab) List said in a statement.The legislation would see Israel cut around NIS 1 billion ($285 million) from the annual tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians and hands over to them, equivalent to the amount that Ramallah pays to terrorists and their families — a practice Israel and the international community have been attempting to end.The bill is expected be brought to a preliminary vote in the plenum on Wednesday.Jabareen, who hails from the Jewish-Arab Hadash faction within the umbrella Joint List party, said the payments were akin to National Insurance benefits payed by Israel to elderly and unemployed citizens and women on maternity leave, among others. “These payments are intended to help the families of prisoners make ends meet,” he said.“There are nearly no Palestinian families today that do not have a relative who is a prisoner or a released prisoner,” Jabareen added. “If you want to end these payments, free the prisoners as a move toward peace.”There are some 6,500 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails.Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh, who also heads the Hadash faction within the party, declined to answer questions posed by The Times of Israel on whether he agreed with Jabareen’s criticism or personally advocated the continuation of the payments.Authored by Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, the bill has been co-signed by Knesset members from both the government and opposition, including coalition chair David Bitan and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Avi Dichter, both of Likud.Stern warned in a Sunday statement that the current “absurdity” prevents the sides from drawing closer in the pursuit of peace.“The Palestinian Authority not only rewards murder but encourages it, and encourages murder over [just] causing injury, and encourages many victims rather than just a few… That is something that must stop, not only because it isn’t moral but because it is a barrier to peace… for how can you make peace with those who encourage murder,” he said.Israel transfers about NIS 460 million ($125 million) a month, or NIS 5.4 billion ($1.5 billion) a year, to the Palestinian Authority in tax and customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports. The transfers are a key revenue source for the cash-strapped Palestinian government. Israel has withheld payment in the past over political disputes.The explanation accompanying the proposed legislation says that in 2016, the Palestinian Authority paid out some NIS 1.1 billion ($303 million) in stipends and other benefits to the families of so-called “martyrs” who lost their lives during attacks against Israelis and to Palestinian prisoners serving time in Israeli jails for security offenses.According to PA law, Palestinian security prisoners serving time in Israeli jails and families of assailants killed while carrying attacks against Israelis are eligible to receive stipends and other benefits.The Middle East Media Research Institute estimates that the allowances range from $364 (NIS 1,500) a month for a term of up to three years, to $3,120 (NIS 13,000) for a term of 30 years and more. There is also a monthly $78 supplement for terrorists from Jerusalem and a $130 supplement for Arab Israeli terrorists.The chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club Qadura Fares, who is a former PA minister without a portfolio and a member of Fatah, branded the bill Sunday an attempt “to stigmatize the Palestinian struggle with terrorism and to conflate the issues of the so-called war on terror with the Palestinian martyrs and prisoners who fought for freedom.”He said the bill “strongly contradicts international law.”He noted that the payments can be traced back to measures enacted by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1966, and vowed they “will not stop.”Stern’s bill represents the first time the issue has been tackled through Israeli legislation, and follows similar efforts to limit US funding to the PA.Israel has long argued that the PA’s payments glorify terrorism, part of what it sees as a broader trend of “incitement” blamed for fueling a surge of violence last year.The issue of PA payments to terrorists received heightened media coverage during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel last month, during which he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.The PA has paid out some NIS 4 billion — or $1.12 billion — over the past four years to terrorists and their families, a former director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and ex-head of the army’s intelligence and research division told a top Knesset panel late last month.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Trump’s Russian leak said to reveal Israeli cyber hack of IS bomb cell-NY Times claims US president blew the cover off an Israeli computer unit’s infiltration of terror group, which found it was planning to blow up airliners with exploding laptops-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff June 12, 2017, 2:35 pm
The sensitive intelligence that US President Donald Trump controversially revealed to the Russians was gathered by an Israeli cyber warfare unit that penetrated an Islamic State group bomb-making cell, The New York Times reported on Monday. The acutely sensitive information obtained by the Israelis reportedly exposed how IS intended to use bombs in laptops to blow up airliners.Previous reports on the leaked information had indicated that it was an Israeli agent who had infiltrated the organization.A New York Times report about US cyber-warfare efforts against IS said Monday that the information was specifically about an IS plot to disguise bombs as laptop batteries in a way that would trick X-ray security machines at airports.The report said this Israeli cyber breakthrough had been one of the only successes in infiltrating IS.“Top Israeli cyberoperators penetrated a small cell of extremist bombmakers in Syria months ago, the officials said. That was how the United States learned that the terrorist group was working to make explosives that fooled airport X-ray machines and other screening by looking exactly like batteries for laptop computers,” the report said.“The intelligence was so exquisite that it enabled the United States to understand how the weapons could be detonated, according to two American officials familiar with the operation. ”Armed with the information, US officials imposed a ban earlier this year on taking laptop computers on flights heading to the US from 10 airports in Muslim countries.According to the report, the bomb information was “part of the classified intelligence that Trump is accused of revealing when he met in the Oval Office last month with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and the ambassador to the United States, Sergey I. Kislyak.”Trump’s indiscretion sparked anger in the Israeli intelligence community, prompting calls by some for a scaling-back on intelligence sharing with the US.Later reports said an Israeli intelligence asset embedded in the terrorist group had provided the tip-off about the planned attack, and that Trump’s information-sharing possibly put the spy’s life at risk.Trump admitted that he had given information to the Russians, saying in a tweet he had the right to do so, but the exact source of the material was never confirmed. Although media reports pointed first at Jordan, speculation quickly turned to Israel as being the original provider.The US president then seemed to inadvertently confirm that Israeli operatives were the source of the intelligence when he made on off-the-cuff remark to journalists during his visit to Israel at the end of May.As he headed into a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said “I never said the word Israel” in his meeting with the Russian foreign minister, a comment that many saw as confirmation that the source was in fact Israeli.Reports of the leak made waves in the Israeli intelligence community, with some former heads of the Mossad decrying Trump and calling for the US to be “punished” for the gaffe.On March 21, Washington announced a ban on carry-on laptops and other electronics larger than a cellphone on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa.Last month US aviation security officials stepped back from imposing a ban on carry-on computers on flights coming from Europe, which had been proposed to guard against possible bomb-laden electronics from IS.Agencies contributed to this report.
Toronto stock exchange seeks to draw Israeli listings-As of April 2017, 6 Israeli companies were listed on TSX and TSXV with a $3 billion total market cap-By Shoshanna Solomon June 12, 2017, 5:12 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Toronto’s Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) said Monday they have appointed Yossi Boker to head business development in Israel in an effort to draw more Israeli companies to list their shares on the exchange.Boker will lead TSX’s expansion into “this key market,” said Nick Thadaney, president and CEO, Global Equity Capital Markets, TMX Group, in a statement announcing the appointment.The appointment will enable the exchange to “more effectively promote the advantages of TSX and TSXV unique capital formation ecosystem to potential clients and to better support Israeli companies listing on our Exchanges,” Thadaney said. The TSXV exchange targets growth companies, while the TSX is the senior equity market.Listing on the TSX will expose Israeli firms, at all stages of growth, to North American investors; will enable the firms to speed up an eventual US listing and will give them access to a “competitive landscape of investment banks to support growth companies with financing and research coverage,” the statement said.As of end April 2017, there were six Israeli companies listed on TSX and TSXV with a market capitalization of approximately $3 billion, the statement said.Stock markets in the US have traditionally been the preferred listing venue for Israeli tech companies, like Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Wix.com Ltd., that offer their shares on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq to be closer to their markets and avoid burdensome local regulation. At the end of 2016 there were 73 Israeli companies listed on the Nasdaq, according to data provided by the Bank of Israel. with Israel ranking second in foreign listings on the Nasdaq after China.The London Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange have also been active in drawing companies to their shores, as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has struggled to drum up local listings.Three companies held initial public offerings of shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in 2016, raising a total of $68 million, according to exchange data, and three companies dual-listed their shares on the TASE. This compares to a record of 62 new listings, of which 56 were initial public offerings, on the exchange in 2007.Even so, listings on the TASE in 2017 seem to be picking up. Since the start of the year seven companies held initial public offerings of shares on the exchange, more than the number of new companies listed in 2015 and 2016 combined, according to data provided by the exchange as of June 8.-TASE to admit new members-Separately on Monday, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said it has implemented changes to regulation that will enable the admittance of new members to its exchange. The rules are in line with international standards and are part of a strategic plan to boost trading volumes and listings.The proposed changes are in line with Demutualization Law (changing the ownership structure of the TASE), which was approved by the Knesset on March 2017. The law aims to separate ownership and control of the TASE from its current members and to make trading on the stock exchange available to a large number of players. This move will increase competition among traders and the TASE expects that it will lead to a reduction in the commissions that the members collect from their clients, TASE said in a statement.
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
Netanyahu vows Knesset push to limit NGOs’ foreign funding-PM says it’s ‘not right’ for groups to receive unlimited donations from other countries; says he intends to pass Jewish state bill by summer-By Marissa Newman June 12, 2017, 4:50 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday confirmed the government would formulate a new bill restricting foreign government funding to Israeli organizations, significantly ratcheting up pressure on left-wing groups critical of Israeli policies.At the weekly Likud faction meeting, the prime minister announced he had instructed Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) to spearhead the proposal, which would primarily apply to left-wing human rights groups, many of which receive the bulk of their funding from foreign states.“There is no limit on money funneled to all sorts of organizations, which among other things, defame IDF soldiers, ” he said. “The situation is, in my opinion, not right.”In July 2016, the government passed into law a hotly contested NGO bill, which forces non-governmental organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign countries to disclose this information on public documents. The NGO law was opposed by the US, and condemned by various European countries.That law “was about transparency” but further limitations are necessary, Netanyahu said Monday, indicating the new measure will clamp down on how much money the groups may receive.The measure will only apply to foreign government funding and not donations from individuals. He did not provide other details about the bill.The prime minister also said Monday he intends to pass into law a bill that would enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish nation-state in its Basic Laws during the current Knesset session, which ends July 31. The “Jewish state” bill — authored by Likud MK Avi Dichter — passed a preliminary reading in May.The new NGO proposal comes as Netanyahu stepped up his objections against these organizations in meetings with foreign leaders. In April, Netanyahu canceled on short notice a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel over the latter’s refusal to abort a planned meeting with Breaking the Silence, an organization that documents alleged abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians.At a Likud faction meeting in late May, Netanyahu defended his new policy of shunning foreign leaders who meet with left-leaning NGOs, which Israel accuses of setting up Israeli soldiers for future prosecution in foreign tribunals.“You can meet me. But you cannot meet with these organizations and also meet with me,” he said, adding that this message is sinking in. “Our soldiers protect us. And we will protect them,” he added.Netanyahu on Sunday reportedly also told coalition leaders he would advance legislation curtailing the ability of many left-wing advocacy groups to appeal to the High Court of Justice against the state and the IDF on behalf of Palestinians in the West Bank, the Walla news site reported.
Herzog says secret meetings with Arab leaders could have changed Mideast-Opposition leader blames PM, Likud ministers for torpedoing initiative after report emerges on clandestine session between himself, Netanyahu and Sissi in Cairo last year-By Stuart Winer June 12, 2017, 10:10 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said Monday that the meetings he took part in with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab leaders could have produced a deal that “changed the face of the Middle East,” but that the opportunity was ultimately torpedoed by hardliners in Netanyahu’s Likud party.Herzog’s comments come after the Haaretz daily reported that he, Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi held a secret meeting in Cairo in April 2016 to discuss efforts at restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Speaking to Army Radio, Herzog confirmed that the meeting took place, but did not detail what was said, saying only that “it was part of a process… that yielded a document that would have changed the face of the Middle East.”He also said that Netanyahu says things privately to leaders in the Arab world that he does not say to the Israeli public, but did not specify.The Cairo summit came as Netanyahu and Herzog were holding intensive contacts aimed at bringing Herzog’s Zionist Union party into the government coalition.But, said Herzog, once Netanyahu began involving members of his Likud party in the process, everything broke down.“Once he brought in people from his own party,” including Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Herzog said, “they smashed the whole thing to pieces,” he said.According to Monday’s newspaper report, in April 2016 Netanyahu and Herzog, along with advisers and a security detail, flew at night to Cairo on a private plane and were taken directly to the presidential palace to meet Sissi. They returned before dawn after Sissi had urged them to press ahead with a joint effort to restart peace talks.Haaretz said it learned of the Cairo meeting from “a figure who is not currently in politics and is not connected in any way to Herzog.”The Cairo meeting came shortly after the Aqaba Summit in February, another then-secret summit attended by Netanyahu, Sissi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and John Kerry, at the time US secretary of state.Herzog indicated in the radio interview that leaks about these meetings were coming from the former US administration.Netanyahu was reportedly trying to draw Herzog into the government because his right-leaning coalition would not back the kind of compromises he would need to make in order bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. In particular, a partial West Bank settlement construction freeze as a pre-condition to talks would not have been backed by the coalition Jewish Home party, which staunchly supports the settlement enterprise, as do many in Netanyahu’s own Likud party.The Haaretz report said that “international and regional powers that were aware of Netanyahu’s inability to lead a significant peace process, due to his coalition partners, went to Herzog through various channels.”Herzog, who had been informed of the Aqaba summit, was aware that there were opportunities for significant changes in the region but that it would require his Zionist Union party to be on board. He held talks with various Arab leaders and they told him they hoped he would assist Netanyahu to move things along, the report said.However, negotiations between Netanyahu and Herzog broke down and the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, led by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, joined the coalition instead, effectively slamming shut the door on Herzog.According to a February 2017 report in Haaretz, the negotiations with Herzog failed when Netanyahu got cold feet and cut off discussions.In March Haaretz reported that as part of the regional initiative, Netanyahu and Herzog were to release an eight-point English-language text detailing Israel’s position in support of a new peace push.The document, published by Haaretz, is dated September 12-13, 2016, and addresses Arab states, especially Egypt.It thanks Sissi “for his willingness to play an active role in advancing peace and security in the region and re-launching the peace process.”According to Haaretz, the proposed initiative never panned out because Netanyahu was caught in the political vise of the Amona outpost controversy.The illegal West Bank outpost, which the High Court of Justice ruled in 2014 had been built on privately owned Palestinian land, was due to be demolished by the end of December of last year, and the weeks leading up to the deadline saw rising tensions with the Jewish Home party and many Likud ministers on Netanyahu’s rightist flank.Netanyahu’s office told Haaretz at the time that the narrative according to which a possible regional peace process was prevented by Israeli political infighting was completely untrue. Herzog’s office declined to comment on the report.In February 2017 Herzog, speaking to a conference of American-Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, said that in mid-May 2016, the talks over a unity government broke down because Netanyahu “simply reneged on basic understandings we had.”The report on Herzog, Netanyahu and Sissi’s meeting comes amid renewed efforts by US President Donald Trump to restart talks between Israels and Palestinians as part of regional cooperation between moderate Sunni Arab states.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Livni says Netanyahu was ready to negotiate based on US framework-Former peace negotiator calls on White House to hold peace talks on basis of 2014 outline, blames Abbas for not picking up gauntlet-By Raphael Ahren June 12, 2017, 5:04 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Former peace negotiator MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was willing to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on the 1967 lines during the 2014 peace talks. She also called on the current US administration to adopt the framework agreement that was reached at the time as the basis for new peace talks.Speaking at the Haaretz Peace Conference in Tel Aviv, Livni said, “Netanyahu always veers left, then gets to the crossroads and turns right.”Using the prime minister’s nickname, she charged that “Bibi the politician doesn’t want to do what Netanyahu the statesman knows needs to be done.”In recent days, new details were revealed about the framework agreement that then-US secretary of state John Kerry presented to Jerusalem and Ramallah. According to the leaks, published in Haaretz, the document called for negotiations based on the 1967 lines, which Netanyahu accepted.But Livni, who served as justice minister and chief peace negotiator at the time, said Netanyahu demanded the Americans provide him with “deniability,” to protect him from his hawkish political base.“Netanyahu was ready to negotiate a two-state solution based on the 67 borders with lands swaps. What you hear from him today is a renunciation of that position,” she said. “Every single letter was acceptable to him,” she said about the framework agreement.It was a “great achievement” to have Netanyahu agree to negotiate peace along the lines acceptable to the Palestinians and most of the international community, she said, adding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “made a historic mistake” by not picking up the gauntlet.The current US administration does not want to coerce the two sides into an agreement, but the former justice minister said that US President Donald Trump could take the 2014 framework agreement and declare it the basis for a renewed peace process.“There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. He could invite Netanyahu and Abbas to Mar-a-Lago, or wherever he meets people, and tell them this is the basis for an agreement,” Livni said.The PA has dropped its preconditions for entering talks, no longer demanding a settlement freeze, “which makes it so much easier to enter the negotiation room,” the former foreign minister said. “At this stage, neither side wants to tell Trump no. So that’s a good point to start.”Peace talks have remained stagnant since the 2014 negotiations fell apart. On Monday, opposition leader Isaac Herzog said he and Netanyahu held talks last year about the possibility of joining the government and pushing for a regional peace initiative, but the effort fell apart when Netanyahu brought current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, a hawk, into the coalition instead, mollifying critics on the right.“The State of Israel could have been in the midst of an incredible regional peace process that we haven’t seen since the founding of the state,” Herzog said at the start of the weekly Zionist Union meeting.“Netanyahu is the one who went soft, he betrayed the opportunity, and gave in to pressure by [Jerusalem Minister Ze’ev] Elkin, [Tourism Minister Yariv] Levin, and [Jewish Home leader Naftali] Bennett,” he said.
Hamas says no breakthrough in Cairo talks-High-level delegation from embattled terror group returns from Egypt, but no word on effort to improve relations with vital neighbor-By Dov Lieber June 12, 2017, 4:25 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A high-level Hamas delegation returned home from Cairo after nine days of security and political talks intended to improve ties with Egypt, but has not announced any breakthroughs or any signed agreements, Hamas-linked media reported Monday.Hamas denied reports in Arab media that an agreement had been signed between Cairo and Hamas.A delegation including Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and a senior commander in the group’s military wing, Tawfik Abu Naim, left to Cairo on June 4 in an attempt to improve relations Egypt.Hamas has been under intense pressure lately both from the Palestinian Authority and due to the crisis with Qatar — a key Hamas supporter — which is being urged to cut contacts with the Gaza-based terror group.Hamas is eager to restore ties with Egypt, which controls its border and joins Israel in imposing a blockade aimed at preventing arms reaching Hamas.Hamas and Egypt have had cool relations since Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, was overthrown by the military in 2013. Morsi came from Hamas’ parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood.“All the shared issues have been studied in a serious and deep way with our Egyptian brothers,” a Hamas source told the terror group’s official radio station al-Aqsa voice on Monday.The source denied reports in the Arabic press that a written agreement had been signed between Cairo and Hamas.The delegation left Gaza for Cairo just one day before Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar.Qatar has been a pillar of support for Hamas, providing funding as well as allowing Hamas leadership to stay within its borders.One of the reasons cited for the cutting off of diplomatic ties is Qatar’s support of extremism in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Riyadh specifically listed Hamas among the extremists supported by Qatar.Hamas leaders connected to its military branch left Qatar at the start of the diplomatic crisis, though its political leadership was allowed to remain in the country.Hamas delegations have been in and out of Cairo for the past few years but have seen little success. The Rafah crossing for Gazans who seek to leave the embattled Strip is still only periodically opened.Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, tunneling under the border and firing thousands of rockets into Israel, and is avowedly committed to destroying the Jewish state.Gaza is also experiencing a deepening humanitarian crises with severe shortages of electricity shortages, a lack of medicine and a lack of drinkable water.Hamas has been trying to convince Egypt that it is a reliable security partner. It has deployed more troops along the border with Egypt’s northern Sinai region, where the Egyptian military is battling Islamic extremists.But over the past month, at least four Gaza residents were killed while fighting alongside the Islamic State terror group’s Sinai affiliate, complicating Hamas’ reconciliation attempts.Hamas made a gesture toward Egypt last month with a new policy document that dropped its longtime association with the Muslim Brotherhood and identified itself as a Palestinian movement fighting only against Israel.Yet, according to a report published on Friday in the Pan-Arab daily as-Sharq al-Awsat, Hamas has not been able to solve the security issue.Egypt has demanded Hamas turn over men it believes are responsible with working with ISIS in the Sinai, but Hamas has rejected the accusation against its operatives and refused to hand them over.According to the report, Hamas terror commander Abu Naim’s presence was requested by Egypt specifically to discuss the issue of these men wanted by Cairo.A Hamas delegation is also expected to visit Qatar and Iran in the coming days.AP contributed to this report.
Arab MK slams bill to cut PA funding over ‘martyr’ payments-Joint List lawmaker Youssef Jabareen says if Israel wants to stop families of convicted terrorists receiving money, it should free all Palestinian prisoners-By Raoul Wootliff June 12, 2017, 3:48 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
An Arab Israeli lawmaker on Monday decried a proposed law that would slash funds to the Palestinian Authority over salaries paid out by Ramallah to convicted terrorists and their families.The bill, approved Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, “would impose collective punishment on the Palestinian population,” MK Youssef Jabareen from the Joint (Arab) List said in a statement.The legislation would see Israel cut around NIS 1 billion ($285 million) from the annual tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians and hands over to them, equivalent to the amount that Ramallah pays to terrorists and their families — a practice Israel and the international community have been attempting to end.The bill is expected be brought to a preliminary vote in the plenum on Wednesday.Jabareen, who hails from the Jewish-Arab Hadash faction within the umbrella Joint List party, said the payments were akin to National Insurance benefits payed by Israel to elderly and unemployed citizens and women on maternity leave, among others. “These payments are intended to help the families of prisoners make ends meet,” he said.“There are nearly no Palestinian families today that do not have a relative who is a prisoner or a released prisoner,” Jabareen added. “If you want to end these payments, free the prisoners as a move toward peace.”There are some 6,500 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails.Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh, who also heads the Hadash faction within the party, declined to answer questions posed by The Times of Israel on whether he agreed with Jabareen’s criticism or personally advocated the continuation of the payments.Authored by Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, the bill has been co-signed by Knesset members from both the government and opposition, including coalition chair David Bitan and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Avi Dichter, both of Likud.Stern warned in a Sunday statement that the current “absurdity” prevents the sides from drawing closer in the pursuit of peace.“The Palestinian Authority not only rewards murder but encourages it, and encourages murder over [just] causing injury, and encourages many victims rather than just a few… That is something that must stop, not only because it isn’t moral but because it is a barrier to peace… for how can you make peace with those who encourage murder,” he said.Israel transfers about NIS 460 million ($125 million) a month, or NIS 5.4 billion ($1.5 billion) a year, to the Palestinian Authority in tax and customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports. The transfers are a key revenue source for the cash-strapped Palestinian government. Israel has withheld payment in the past over political disputes.The explanation accompanying the proposed legislation says that in 2016, the Palestinian Authority paid out some NIS 1.1 billion ($303 million) in stipends and other benefits to the families of so-called “martyrs” who lost their lives during attacks against Israelis and to Palestinian prisoners serving time in Israeli jails for security offenses.According to PA law, Palestinian security prisoners serving time in Israeli jails and families of assailants killed while carrying attacks against Israelis are eligible to receive stipends and other benefits.The Middle East Media Research Institute estimates that the allowances range from $364 (NIS 1,500) a month for a term of up to three years, to $3,120 (NIS 13,000) for a term of 30 years and more. There is also a monthly $78 supplement for terrorists from Jerusalem and a $130 supplement for Arab Israeli terrorists.The chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club Qadura Fares, who is a former PA minister without a portfolio and a member of Fatah, branded the bill Sunday an attempt “to stigmatize the Palestinian struggle with terrorism and to conflate the issues of the so-called war on terror with the Palestinian martyrs and prisoners who fought for freedom.”He said the bill “strongly contradicts international law.”He noted that the payments can be traced back to measures enacted by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1966, and vowed they “will not stop.”Stern’s bill represents the first time the issue has been tackled through Israeli legislation, and follows similar efforts to limit US funding to the PA.Israel has long argued that the PA’s payments glorify terrorism, part of what it sees as a broader trend of “incitement” blamed for fueling a surge of violence last year.The issue of PA payments to terrorists received heightened media coverage during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel last month, during which he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.The PA has paid out some NIS 4 billion — or $1.12 billion — over the past four years to terrorists and their families, a former director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and ex-head of the army’s intelligence and research division told a top Knesset panel late last month.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Trump’s Russian leak said to reveal Israeli cyber hack of IS bomb cell-NY Times claims US president blew the cover off an Israeli computer unit’s infiltration of terror group, which found it was planning to blow up airliners with exploding laptops-By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff June 12, 2017, 2:35 pm
The sensitive intelligence that US President Donald Trump controversially revealed to the Russians was gathered by an Israeli cyber warfare unit that penetrated an Islamic State group bomb-making cell, The New York Times reported on Monday. The acutely sensitive information obtained by the Israelis reportedly exposed how IS intended to use bombs in laptops to blow up airliners.Previous reports on the leaked information had indicated that it was an Israeli agent who had infiltrated the organization.A New York Times report about US cyber-warfare efforts against IS said Monday that the information was specifically about an IS plot to disguise bombs as laptop batteries in a way that would trick X-ray security machines at airports.The report said this Israeli cyber breakthrough had been one of the only successes in infiltrating IS.“Top Israeli cyberoperators penetrated a small cell of extremist bombmakers in Syria months ago, the officials said. That was how the United States learned that the terrorist group was working to make explosives that fooled airport X-ray machines and other screening by looking exactly like batteries for laptop computers,” the report said.“The intelligence was so exquisite that it enabled the United States to understand how the weapons could be detonated, according to two American officials familiar with the operation. ”Armed with the information, US officials imposed a ban earlier this year on taking laptop computers on flights heading to the US from 10 airports in Muslim countries.According to the report, the bomb information was “part of the classified intelligence that Trump is accused of revealing when he met in the Oval Office last month with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and the ambassador to the United States, Sergey I. Kislyak.”Trump’s indiscretion sparked anger in the Israeli intelligence community, prompting calls by some for a scaling-back on intelligence sharing with the US.Later reports said an Israeli intelligence asset embedded in the terrorist group had provided the tip-off about the planned attack, and that Trump’s information-sharing possibly put the spy’s life at risk.Trump admitted that he had given information to the Russians, saying in a tweet he had the right to do so, but the exact source of the material was never confirmed. Although media reports pointed first at Jordan, speculation quickly turned to Israel as being the original provider.The US president then seemed to inadvertently confirm that Israeli operatives were the source of the intelligence when he made on off-the-cuff remark to journalists during his visit to Israel at the end of May.As he headed into a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said “I never said the word Israel” in his meeting with the Russian foreign minister, a comment that many saw as confirmation that the source was in fact Israeli.Reports of the leak made waves in the Israeli intelligence community, with some former heads of the Mossad decrying Trump and calling for the US to be “punished” for the gaffe.On March 21, Washington announced a ban on carry-on laptops and other electronics larger than a cellphone on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa.Last month US aviation security officials stepped back from imposing a ban on carry-on computers on flights coming from Europe, which had been proposed to guard against possible bomb-laden electronics from IS.Agencies contributed to this report.
Toronto stock exchange seeks to draw Israeli listings-As of April 2017, 6 Israeli companies were listed on TSX and TSXV with a $3 billion total market cap-By Shoshanna Solomon June 12, 2017, 5:12 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Toronto’s Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) said Monday they have appointed Yossi Boker to head business development in Israel in an effort to draw more Israeli companies to list their shares on the exchange.Boker will lead TSX’s expansion into “this key market,” said Nick Thadaney, president and CEO, Global Equity Capital Markets, TMX Group, in a statement announcing the appointment.The appointment will enable the exchange to “more effectively promote the advantages of TSX and TSXV unique capital formation ecosystem to potential clients and to better support Israeli companies listing on our Exchanges,” Thadaney said. The TSXV exchange targets growth companies, while the TSX is the senior equity market.Listing on the TSX will expose Israeli firms, at all stages of growth, to North American investors; will enable the firms to speed up an eventual US listing and will give them access to a “competitive landscape of investment banks to support growth companies with financing and research coverage,” the statement said.As of end April 2017, there were six Israeli companies listed on TSX and TSXV with a market capitalization of approximately $3 billion, the statement said.Stock markets in the US have traditionally been the preferred listing venue for Israeli tech companies, like Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Wix.com Ltd., that offer their shares on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq to be closer to their markets and avoid burdensome local regulation. At the end of 2016 there were 73 Israeli companies listed on the Nasdaq, according to data provided by the Bank of Israel. with Israel ranking second in foreign listings on the Nasdaq after China.The London Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange have also been active in drawing companies to their shores, as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has struggled to drum up local listings.Three companies held initial public offerings of shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in 2016, raising a total of $68 million, according to exchange data, and three companies dual-listed their shares on the TASE. This compares to a record of 62 new listings, of which 56 were initial public offerings, on the exchange in 2007.Even so, listings on the TASE in 2017 seem to be picking up. Since the start of the year seven companies held initial public offerings of shares on the exchange, more than the number of new companies listed in 2015 and 2016 combined, according to data provided by the exchange as of June 8.-TASE to admit new members-Separately on Monday, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said it has implemented changes to regulation that will enable the admittance of new members to its exchange. The rules are in line with international standards and are part of a strategic plan to boost trading volumes and listings.The proposed changes are in line with Demutualization Law (changing the ownership structure of the TASE), which was approved by the Knesset on March 2017. The law aims to separate ownership and control of the TASE from its current members and to make trading on the stock exchange available to a large number of players. This move will increase competition among traders and the TASE expects that it will lead to a reduction in the commissions that the members collect from their clients, TASE said in a statement.
