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)
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
1 CHRONICLES 17:9
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel,(IN PALESTINE) and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more;(ISRAEL-NEVER DESTROYED-FOREVER AN EARTHLY NATION) neither shall the children of wickedness(ISHMAEL-ARAB/MUSLIMS-WORLD ISRAEL HATERS) waste them any more, as at the beginning,(ARAB/MUSLIMS ATTACK ISRAEL ON MAY 15,1948)
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL) and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
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
IDF girds for renewed clashes on tense Gaza border-Army fears Palestinian terrorist groups could launch rockets at southern Israel-By Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff-APR 1,18
The Israeli military was on high alert Sunday morning along the border of the Gaza Strip in anticipation of renewed clashes with Palestinian protesters.Sixteen demonstrators were killed by Israeli fire on Friday, 10 of them members of Palestinian terror groups, according to the Israel Defense Forces.Though the crowds had thinned and the fighting appeared to subside by Saturday, the army was expecting the Hamas terrorist group to inflame border tensions and set off additional violence, Hadashot news reported.The army also remained concerned that Palestinian terror groups could fire rockets at southern Israel, the TV report said. An army spokesman had originally raised that fear on Friday evening.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its videos.The army on Saturday night identified 10 of the 16 people reported killed during violent protests along the Gaza security fence as members of Palestinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their names and positions in the organizations.According to the Israel Defense Forces (Arabic link), eight of the men killed were members of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. One served in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and another was affiliated with “global jihad,” it said, apparently referring to one of the Salafist groups in Gaza.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities.The army said that at least one of the Hamas members, Sari Abu Odeh, was part of the group’s elite Nukhba force and that another, Muhammad Abu Amro, served in its tunnel operations. (The IDF’s Arabic spokesman provided more details in Arabic via Twitter.) The IDF identified one of the two Hamas members who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening and attempted to breach the security fence, before they were shot dead, as 23-year-old Mussa’b al-Saloul.Palestinian media reported that the bodies of the two gunmen were captured by Israeli soldiers. The IDF would not officially comment on this claim.The oldest operative identified was Jihad Farina, 35, a company commander in Hamas’s military wing; the youngest was 19-year-old Ahmad Odeh, who served in the terror group’s Shati Battalion, the army said.Hamas claimed those killed were taking part “in popular events side-by-side with their people.”The army did not provide evidence for its identifications. Some could be independently verified with photographic evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or receiving a military-style funeral from the terror group in question. Others could not be immediately substantiated.Thousands attended funerals in Gaza Saturday for 14 of those killed — two were buried on Friday — with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting “revenge” and firing into the air.“Where are you, Arabs? Where are you, Muslims?” mourners chanted at one funeral, calling on the Arab and Muslim world to intervene. A general strike was held in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said on Saturday that all those killed were engaged in violence, adding that Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of those wounded and that several dozen at most were injured by live fire while the rest were merely shaken up by tear gas and other riot dispersal means.Manelis said on Friday evening that the army had faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence. He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s border with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in recent memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was dubbed the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that some 1,400 Palestinians were injured during the protests, over half by live rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently confirm the casualty reports.Manelis warned Saturday that if violence drags on along the Gaza border, Israel will expand its reaction to strike the terrorists behind it. The military has thus far restricted its response to those trying to breach its border, but if attacks continue it will go after terrorists “in other places, too,” he said.Manelis reiterated that Israel “will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory.”He said that Hamas and other Gaza terror groups were using protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues, “we will not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and will act against these terror organizations in other places too,” he said.Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians mark that date as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War of Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are their descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Agencies contributed to this report.
Liberman threatens ‘much harsher’ response to further Gaza unrest-Defense minister claims 90% of 40,000 Palestinian protesters on Friday were paid Hamas activists and their families-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Sunday that Israel would act with a far stronger hand if Palestinians in the Gaza Strip resumed Friday’s violent protests on the border with Israel, during which 15 Palestinians were killed.He claimed that of some 40,000 Palestinian protesters, 90 percent were officials and activists paid by the Hamas terror group, which rules the enclave, together with their families.Liberman also pledged that there would be no international inquiry into the clashes, despite demands to that effect by parts of the international community. And he lashed out at the new head of the left-wing Meretz Party for joining calls for a probe, charging that her party represented Palestinian, rather than Israeli, interests.During Friday’s so-called March of Return, rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case, opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The Israel Defense Forces said that at least 10 of the 15 dead were members of terror groups, while Hamas has acknowledged that five of them were gunmen from its military wing.On Saturday, the United States blocked a draft UN Security Council statement calling for an investigation of the incidents, according to diplomats.Representing Arab countries on the council, Kuwait had called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence.The defense minister, who heads the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, praised the army for having “carried out its work in the best possible way.” Summing up what he called Hamas’s “March of Terror,” he said, “We can say that the [Passover] festival passed quietly — no soldiers were hurt.”Threatening that the army “can respond much more harshly next time” and that it would not “hesitate to use everything we have,” he also expressed doubt that the Palestinians would seek to replicate Friday’s events, “in light of the results.”Liberman claimed that the Gaza march had cost its organizers $15 million. “Do you know how much medicine you could buy with a sum like this? The fact that [Hamas] budgets such a sum for blatant terror activities says it all.”Upping earlier Israeli analyses of the makeup of the protesters, Liberman charged that 90% of the more than 40,000 people who came to the border fence were “Hamas officials or activists who are paid salaries by Hamas, together with their families. The simple people didn’t come.”He claimed that those that did come were armed and disguised as non-violent protesters.“What is the attempt to break through the fence? It’s to harm our sovereignty,” he said. “Any state whose borders people tried to crash would act in an even more severe way than we did, and therefore the procession of hypocrites calling for a committee of inquiry must understand that there will be no such thing. There will not be any international inquiry. We will not cooperate with any inquiry of this kind.”On Saturday, Meretz party leader Tamar Zandberg called on Israeli authorities to open an investigation into the violence, indicating she thought the Israeli military appeared to have been too “trigger happy.”The death toll and the footage from the events broadcast on social media and elsewhere, including a video aired on Palestinian media apparently showing an 18-year-old being shot dead while running away from the border fence, “warrant an independent investigation by Israel, including a probe into the rules of engagement and the military and political readiness for the events,” Zandberg said.Liberman hit back, saying that for some time, Meretz had not been representing Israeli but rather Palestinian interests in the Knesset.He said Israel had tried diplomatic avenues to peace on two occasions — the Oslo Peace Accords during the 1990s and the unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip under the late prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 — but that Hamas had responded by investing millions in the production of missiles and tunnels.Friday’s clashes marked the bloodiest day since the 2014 Gaza war, kicking off what Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers envision as a campaign of mass sit-ins along the border meant to spotlight the demand of uprooted Palestinians and their descendants to “return” to what is now Israel.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, seeks to destroy Israel.
Israel confirms it has bodies of 2 Hamas men killed in Friday shootout-Military liaison to Palestinians says remains won't be returned and 'Gaza won't know calm' until Hamas gives back 2 fallen IDF soldiers, 2 living Israeli civilians-By Judah Ari Gross-APR 1,18
Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians on Sunday confirmed that the bodies of two Hamas gunmen who opened fire on IDF soldiers and were shot dead on Friday were being held by Israel, along with the remains of 24 other slain operatives.Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, wrote on his Arabic-language Facebook page that the remains of the 26 Palestinians would not be released until Hamas returned the two Israeli civilians and the remains of two fallen IDF soldiers that it is currently holding in Gaza.“Israel will not be silent and the residents of Gaza will not know peace until the Israelis are returned and our soldiers are brought to burial in Israel,” Mordechai wrote in Arabic. “There is a shared value for Judaism and Islam of burying the dead.”The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul — are being held by Hamas, along with two live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered Gaza of their own volition in 2014 and 2015, respectively.On Friday, Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, opened fire at Israeli soldiers and tried to break through the security fence before they were shot dead by troops. Israeli aircraft also later targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip.Mordechai identified them as Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah.Palestinian media reported that IDF soldiers retrieved their bodies and that they were being held by Israeli authorities. The army would not confirm that claim until Sunday with Mordechai’s Facebook post.According to the general, the two slain gunmen “joined the 24 other bodies being held by Israeli since Operation Protective Edge” — Israel’s name for the 2014 Gaza war — “and the demolition of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad tunnel that was blown up in our territory in October 2017.”Mordechai laid the blame squarely at Hamas’s feet, saying the terrorist group “doesn’t care about the living or the dead and is preventing their Muslim burial.”On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in that one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.IDF troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot dispersal means, namely tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases used live fire.According to the army, in keeping with its rules of engagement, the Palestinians who were shot were either attacking IDF soldiers with stones and Molotov cocktails, were actively trying to damage the security fence, or were attempting to place improvised explosive devices along the security fence, which could later be used in attacks against Israeli patrols.On Saturday night, the Israeli military identified 10 Palestinians killed on Friday as belonging to terrorist organizations, publishing their photographs, names and positions in the groups. Though the IDF identified Saloul as a Hamas member, Rubaiyah was not included in the army’s list.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.Mordechai’s post came shortly after the family of Hadar Goldin, one of the soldiers whose remains are held by Hamas, called on the government to not return the bodies of the two gunmen.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are returned,” Simcha Goldin, his father, said.The Goldin family contacted Mordechai as well as the government’s point person for the effort to retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum.The family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it passed last year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of terrorists to their families and instead has them buried in temporary plots.Also on Sunday, the family of Mengistu, one of the two Israeli civilians captive in Gaza, launched a tent protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling on the government to bring back Abera from Hamas captivity.
Erdogan calls Netanyahu a ‘terrorist’ over Gaza deaths-Israeli and Turkish leaders in war of words after Ankara criticizes IDF for its efforts to put down mass demonstrations along border; Jordan and Egypt also concerned-By AFP and TOI staff-APR 1,18
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of being “a terrorist” after the Israeli prime minister rejected Ankara’s “moral lessons” over deadly clashes on the border with the Gaza Strip.“Hey Netanyahu! You are an occupier. And it is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are a terrorist,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Adana, southern Turkey.Also Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met in Cairo with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi to discuss the border clashes, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.In a joint press conference after their meeting Safadi said the international community needs to protect the Palestinians as they demand what he termed their “legitimate rights.”They said they reject violence towards the Palestinians and vowed that the Palestinians will be protected so that they can obtain their legitimate rights.Netanyahu earlier Sunday lashed out at Turkey in response to its president’s claim that Israel had mounted an “inhumane attack” on Palestinians during Friday’s mass protests on the border with Israel.“The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent reference to Ankara’s ongoing battle against the Kurds.“That’s apparently how Ankara marks [April Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew, of the Turkish condemnation.On Saturday, Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack.”The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least 10 of those killed — the Gazans reported a death toll of 15 — were members of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence.He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said in a late afternoon statement.As of Saturday evening, Hamas, a terrorist group that openly seeks to destroy Israel, itself acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called “March of Return” were its own gunmen.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The IDF said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu: Israel rejects Turkey’s ‘moral preaching’ on Gaza-PM says Erdogan, who accused Israel of 'inhumane attack' on Palestinians along border, 'indiscriminately bombs civilians'-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at Turkey in response to its president’s claim that Israel mounted an “inhumane attack” on Palestinians during Friday’s mass protests on the border with Israel.“The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent reference to Ankara’s ongoing battle against the Kurds.“That’s apparently how Ankara marks [April Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew, of the Turkish condemnation.On Saturday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack.”Also on Saturday, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament lashed out at what he called the “illegitimate and usurping Zionist regime” for its part in the clashes on the border between Gaza and Israel on Friday.Speaking as the chairman of the Tehran-based Parliamentary Union of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states, Ali Larijani charged that Israel was trying to destabilize the region together with US President Donald Trump, who in December recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the relocation of the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv — a move due to take place in May.“The Zionists’ policy of creating tensions and crises along with Trump’s move in announcing the move of [the] US embassy to al-Quds [Jerusalem] are making up a dangerous plot targeting the stability and security of the region,” Larijani said, according to the Iranian Mehr news agency.“The only language that the terrorists ruling in Tel Aviv can understand is the language of force, and resistance is [the] only solution to counter the ambitious ends of the Zionist regime,” he said.The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least 10 of those killed — the Gazans reported a death toll of 15 — were members of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.On Saturday, the US blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of the clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said. Kuwait, which represents Arab countries on the council, had presented the proposed statement, which called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence.The Palestinian Authority blamed the US and Britain for obstructing the Palestinian and Arab effort to persuade the Security Council to issue a resolution blasting Israel for the 15 Palestinian fatalities.Yusef al Mahmoud, spokesperson for the PA government in Ramallah, said Saturday that Washington and London’s opposition to a resolution condemning Israel “turns them into accomplices in the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against our defenseless people.”IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence.He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said in a late afternoon statement.As of Saturday evening, Hamas itself acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called “March of Return” were its own gunmen.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu refuses to say if he’d meet with Jeremy Corbyn-4 days after embattled UK Labour chief said he plans to visit Israel at some stage and would be happy to meet PM, Jerusalem officials pass the buck when asked if feeling is mutual-By Raphael Ahren-APR 1,18-TOI
Four days after Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, said he would readily meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader’s aides are unwilling to say whether he’d agree to such a meeting.Last Wednesday, Corbyn told the UK’s Jewish News in an interview that he intends to visit Israel and meet Netanyahu “at some point,” though he added that he currently had no such plans.Asked if he’d be happy to meet Netanyahu, the embattled Labour leader replied: “Well, I will be visiting the State of Israel so yes, of course.”Asked Thursday by The Times of Israel whether Netanyahu would be equally happy to host Corbyn — a longtime critic of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians who is also currently embroiled in a massive scandal for failing to tackle anti-Semitism in his party — the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond for several days.Netanyahu’s spokesperson for the English media, David Keyes, finally said on Sunday that “questions about diplomatic meeting with foreign political leaders should be asked of the Foreign Ministry, as that is [their] prime objective.”A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry then promptly referred The Times of Israel back to the prime minister, saying only his aides could speak for his willingness to meet with world leaders.Due to his pro-Palestinian views and the Labour Party’s anti-Semitism problem, Corbyn is viewed very critically by many British Jews and Israel supporters. His interview last week with the Jewish News of London was the first time he spoke to a Jewish news outlet since becoming Labour leader in September 2015.Last November, Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, was asked during an interview with the BBC how he would react if Corbyn were to be elected prime minister.“Well, first of all the British people decide who they want to govern them, but I hope that there will be a continuity of British policy with Israel because here’s something people don’t know — that cooperation has saved many lives,” Netanyahu replied.“Intense security and intelligence cooperation has saved many Israeli and British lives, he went on. “And it’s something I hope will continue in the future.”
Family of slain soldier held by Hamas urges Israel to keep bodies of Gaza gunmen-Simcha Goldin, whose son's remains have been kept in Gaza since 2014, calls for government to uphold its resolution not to return fallen terrorists-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-APR 1,18
The Goldin family, whose son’s remains have been held in Gaza by Hamas since the 2014 war, called on the government to not return the bodies of two Hamas members who opened fire on Israeli troops and were shot dead on Friday.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are returned,” Simcha Goldin, the father of Lt. Hadar Goldin, said on Sunday.The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Goldin and Oron Shaul — are currently being held by the Hamas terrorist organization, along with two live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — who entered Gaza of the own volition in 2014 and 2015, respectively.According to Palestinian media, following a shootout on Friday, Israeli soldiers retrieved the bodies of the two gunmen, and they are now being held by Israeli authorities.The Israel Defense Forces would not officially comment on the claim.However, on Sunday, the Goldin family contacted the government’s point person for the effort to retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum, as well as Israel’s military coordinator to the Palestinians, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai.The family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it passed last year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of terrorists to their families and instead has them buried in temporary plots.Also on Sunday, the family of Mengistu launched a tent protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling on the government to bring back Abera from Hamas captivity.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in the one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The IDF troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot dispersal means, namely tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases used live fire.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its videos.According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 15 Palestinians were killed during these riots, including the two Hamas gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, who tried to breach the security fence.On Saturday night, the Israeli military identified at least eight more of the people killed — 10 in total — as belonging to terrorist organizations, publishing their photographs, names and positions in the groups.The IDF identified one of the two Hamas members who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening as 23-year-old Mussa’b al-Saloul.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.The army did not provide evidence for its identifications. Some could be independently verified with photographic evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or receiving a military-style funeral from the terror group in question. Others could not be immediately substantiated. One appears to be partially incorrect, identifying an apparent member Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades terrorist group as a member of Hamas.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s border with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in recent memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was dubbed the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that some 1,400 Palestinians were injured during the protests, more than half by live rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently confirm the casualty reports.The army has remained on high alert even as the violence appeared to abate Friday evening, amid fears of persisting attacks, including infiltration attempts and rocket fire.Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians mark that date as their “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War of Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are their descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
Back with eyes open’: Malala visits Pakistan district where she was shot-In first trip back to once militant-infested Pakistani region, Nobel Prize laureate vows to return permanently after she has completed studies at Oxford-By Lehaz Ali-TOI-APR 1,18
MINGORA, Pakistan (AFP) — Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.“I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open,” she told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in 2012.“I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters,” she said at a school outside Mingora, the district’s main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.The visit — on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers — was kept tightly under wraps.She took pictures of the Swat valley from an army helicopter and tweeted that it was “The most beautiful place on earth to me.”After flying from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, a military-run school some 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside Mingora.“So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again,” she tweeted.There she lingered some 45 minutes, taking photographs, before traveling back to Islamabad. The entire visit is believed to have lasted just over two hours.Mingora is where Malala’s family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17.Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming home.“I am unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people,” her father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor Pekai.The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in Britain, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her “dream” to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education.However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.There had been much speculation within the country over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February, 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.Residents of the area have praised Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate improvements in education — especially for girls — in the deeply conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Earlier this month, an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before moving to the city.Malala told AFP in Swat that she could see vast changes in the area since 2012 — but added she has read reports which claim up to 50 percent of children are still out of school.“We will have to work very hard to bring them all to school,” she vowed.Residents of Swat also welcomed her visit and urged fellow Pakistanis to support her efforts to promote girls’ education.“We welcome Malala and the slogan that she has raised — one pen, one teacher. We have pinned our hopes in Malala,” Nazir Khan, a government servant, told AFP.“People have positive as well as negative views about her,” fellow resident Arshad Ali said.“We need to see what she has done until now — she has constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of purpose — to promote education, especially among girls in the country.”
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
1 CHRONICLES 17:9
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel,(IN PALESTINE) and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more;(ISRAEL-NEVER DESTROYED-FOREVER AN EARTHLY NATION) neither shall the children of wickedness(ISHMAEL-ARAB/MUSLIMS-WORLD ISRAEL HATERS) waste them any more, as at the beginning,(ARAB/MUSLIMS ATTACK ISRAEL ON MAY 15,1948)
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL) and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
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
IDF girds for renewed clashes on tense Gaza border-Army fears Palestinian terrorist groups could launch rockets at southern Israel-By Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff-APR 1,18
The Israeli military was on high alert Sunday morning along the border of the Gaza Strip in anticipation of renewed clashes with Palestinian protesters.Sixteen demonstrators were killed by Israeli fire on Friday, 10 of them members of Palestinian terror groups, according to the Israel Defense Forces.Though the crowds had thinned and the fighting appeared to subside by Saturday, the army was expecting the Hamas terrorist group to inflame border tensions and set off additional violence, Hadashot news reported.The army also remained concerned that Palestinian terror groups could fire rockets at southern Israel, the TV report said. An army spokesman had originally raised that fear on Friday evening.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its videos.The army on Saturday night identified 10 of the 16 people reported killed during violent protests along the Gaza security fence as members of Palestinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their names and positions in the organizations.According to the Israel Defense Forces (Arabic link), eight of the men killed were members of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. One served in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and another was affiliated with “global jihad,” it said, apparently referring to one of the Salafist groups in Gaza.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities.The army said that at least one of the Hamas members, Sari Abu Odeh, was part of the group’s elite Nukhba force and that another, Muhammad Abu Amro, served in its tunnel operations. (The IDF’s Arabic spokesman provided more details in Arabic via Twitter.) The IDF identified one of the two Hamas members who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening and attempted to breach the security fence, before they were shot dead, as 23-year-old Mussa’b al-Saloul.Palestinian media reported that the bodies of the two gunmen were captured by Israeli soldiers. The IDF would not officially comment on this claim.The oldest operative identified was Jihad Farina, 35, a company commander in Hamas’s military wing; the youngest was 19-year-old Ahmad Odeh, who served in the terror group’s Shati Battalion, the army said.Hamas claimed those killed were taking part “in popular events side-by-side with their people.”The army did not provide evidence for its identifications. Some could be independently verified with photographic evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or receiving a military-style funeral from the terror group in question. Others could not be immediately substantiated.Thousands attended funerals in Gaza Saturday for 14 of those killed — two were buried on Friday — with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting “revenge” and firing into the air.“Where are you, Arabs? Where are you, Muslims?” mourners chanted at one funeral, calling on the Arab and Muslim world to intervene. A general strike was held in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said on Saturday that all those killed were engaged in violence, adding that Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of those wounded and that several dozen at most were injured by live fire while the rest were merely shaken up by tear gas and other riot dispersal means.Manelis said on Friday evening that the army had faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence. He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s border with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in recent memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was dubbed the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that some 1,400 Palestinians were injured during the protests, over half by live rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently confirm the casualty reports.Manelis warned Saturday that if violence drags on along the Gaza border, Israel will expand its reaction to strike the terrorists behind it. The military has thus far restricted its response to those trying to breach its border, but if attacks continue it will go after terrorists “in other places, too,” he said.Manelis reiterated that Israel “will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory.”He said that Hamas and other Gaza terror groups were using protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues, “we will not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and will act against these terror organizations in other places too,” he said.Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians mark that date as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War of Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are their descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Agencies contributed to this report.
Liberman threatens ‘much harsher’ response to further Gaza unrest-Defense minister claims 90% of 40,000 Palestinian protesters on Friday were paid Hamas activists and their families-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Sunday that Israel would act with a far stronger hand if Palestinians in the Gaza Strip resumed Friday’s violent protests on the border with Israel, during which 15 Palestinians were killed.He claimed that of some 40,000 Palestinian protesters, 90 percent were officials and activists paid by the Hamas terror group, which rules the enclave, together with their families.Liberman also pledged that there would be no international inquiry into the clashes, despite demands to that effect by parts of the international community. And he lashed out at the new head of the left-wing Meretz Party for joining calls for a probe, charging that her party represented Palestinian, rather than Israeli, interests.During Friday’s so-called March of Return, rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case, opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The Israel Defense Forces said that at least 10 of the 15 dead were members of terror groups, while Hamas has acknowledged that five of them were gunmen from its military wing.On Saturday, the United States blocked a draft UN Security Council statement calling for an investigation of the incidents, according to diplomats.Representing Arab countries on the council, Kuwait had called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence.The defense minister, who heads the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, praised the army for having “carried out its work in the best possible way.” Summing up what he called Hamas’s “March of Terror,” he said, “We can say that the [Passover] festival passed quietly — no soldiers were hurt.”Threatening that the army “can respond much more harshly next time” and that it would not “hesitate to use everything we have,” he also expressed doubt that the Palestinians would seek to replicate Friday’s events, “in light of the results.”Liberman claimed that the Gaza march had cost its organizers $15 million. “Do you know how much medicine you could buy with a sum like this? The fact that [Hamas] budgets such a sum for blatant terror activities says it all.”Upping earlier Israeli analyses of the makeup of the protesters, Liberman charged that 90% of the more than 40,000 people who came to the border fence were “Hamas officials or activists who are paid salaries by Hamas, together with their families. The simple people didn’t come.”He claimed that those that did come were armed and disguised as non-violent protesters.“What is the attempt to break through the fence? It’s to harm our sovereignty,” he said. “Any state whose borders people tried to crash would act in an even more severe way than we did, and therefore the procession of hypocrites calling for a committee of inquiry must understand that there will be no such thing. There will not be any international inquiry. We will not cooperate with any inquiry of this kind.”On Saturday, Meretz party leader Tamar Zandberg called on Israeli authorities to open an investigation into the violence, indicating she thought the Israeli military appeared to have been too “trigger happy.”The death toll and the footage from the events broadcast on social media and elsewhere, including a video aired on Palestinian media apparently showing an 18-year-old being shot dead while running away from the border fence, “warrant an independent investigation by Israel, including a probe into the rules of engagement and the military and political readiness for the events,” Zandberg said.Liberman hit back, saying that for some time, Meretz had not been representing Israeli but rather Palestinian interests in the Knesset.He said Israel had tried diplomatic avenues to peace on two occasions — the Oslo Peace Accords during the 1990s and the unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip under the late prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 — but that Hamas had responded by investing millions in the production of missiles and tunnels.Friday’s clashes marked the bloodiest day since the 2014 Gaza war, kicking off what Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers envision as a campaign of mass sit-ins along the border meant to spotlight the demand of uprooted Palestinians and their descendants to “return” to what is now Israel.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, seeks to destroy Israel.
Israel confirms it has bodies of 2 Hamas men killed in Friday shootout-Military liaison to Palestinians says remains won't be returned and 'Gaza won't know calm' until Hamas gives back 2 fallen IDF soldiers, 2 living Israeli civilians-By Judah Ari Gross-APR 1,18
Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians on Sunday confirmed that the bodies of two Hamas gunmen who opened fire on IDF soldiers and were shot dead on Friday were being held by Israel, along with the remains of 24 other slain operatives.Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, wrote on his Arabic-language Facebook page that the remains of the 26 Palestinians would not be released until Hamas returned the two Israeli civilians and the remains of two fallen IDF soldiers that it is currently holding in Gaza.“Israel will not be silent and the residents of Gaza will not know peace until the Israelis are returned and our soldiers are brought to burial in Israel,” Mordechai wrote in Arabic. “There is a shared value for Judaism and Islam of burying the dead.”The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul — are being held by Hamas, along with two live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered Gaza of their own volition in 2014 and 2015, respectively.On Friday, Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, opened fire at Israeli soldiers and tried to break through the security fence before they were shot dead by troops. Israeli aircraft also later targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip.Mordechai identified them as Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah.Palestinian media reported that IDF soldiers retrieved their bodies and that they were being held by Israeli authorities. The army would not confirm that claim until Sunday with Mordechai’s Facebook post.According to the general, the two slain gunmen “joined the 24 other bodies being held by Israeli since Operation Protective Edge” — Israel’s name for the 2014 Gaza war — “and the demolition of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad tunnel that was blown up in our territory in October 2017.”Mordechai laid the blame squarely at Hamas’s feet, saying the terrorist group “doesn’t care about the living or the dead and is preventing their Muslim burial.”On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in that one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.IDF troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot dispersal means, namely tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases used live fire.According to the army, in keeping with its rules of engagement, the Palestinians who were shot were either attacking IDF soldiers with stones and Molotov cocktails, were actively trying to damage the security fence, or were attempting to place improvised explosive devices along the security fence, which could later be used in attacks against Israeli patrols.On Saturday night, the Israeli military identified 10 Palestinians killed on Friday as belonging to terrorist organizations, publishing their photographs, names and positions in the groups. Though the IDF identified Saloul as a Hamas member, Rubaiyah was not included in the army’s list.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.Mordechai’s post came shortly after the family of Hadar Goldin, one of the soldiers whose remains are held by Hamas, called on the government to not return the bodies of the two gunmen.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are returned,” Simcha Goldin, his father, said.The Goldin family contacted Mordechai as well as the government’s point person for the effort to retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum.The family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it passed last year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of terrorists to their families and instead has them buried in temporary plots.Also on Sunday, the family of Mengistu, one of the two Israeli civilians captive in Gaza, launched a tent protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling on the government to bring back Abera from Hamas captivity.
Erdogan calls Netanyahu a ‘terrorist’ over Gaza deaths-Israeli and Turkish leaders in war of words after Ankara criticizes IDF for its efforts to put down mass demonstrations along border; Jordan and Egypt also concerned-By AFP and TOI staff-APR 1,18
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of being “a terrorist” after the Israeli prime minister rejected Ankara’s “moral lessons” over deadly clashes on the border with the Gaza Strip.“Hey Netanyahu! You are an occupier. And it is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are a terrorist,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Adana, southern Turkey.Also Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met in Cairo with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi to discuss the border clashes, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.In a joint press conference after their meeting Safadi said the international community needs to protect the Palestinians as they demand what he termed their “legitimate rights.”They said they reject violence towards the Palestinians and vowed that the Palestinians will be protected so that they can obtain their legitimate rights.Netanyahu earlier Sunday lashed out at Turkey in response to its president’s claim that Israel had mounted an “inhumane attack” on Palestinians during Friday’s mass protests on the border with Israel.“The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent reference to Ankara’s ongoing battle against the Kurds.“That’s apparently how Ankara marks [April Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew, of the Turkish condemnation.On Saturday, Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack.”The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least 10 of those killed — the Gazans reported a death toll of 15 — were members of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence.He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said in a late afternoon statement.As of Saturday evening, Hamas, a terrorist group that openly seeks to destroy Israel, itself acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called “March of Return” were its own gunmen.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The IDF said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu: Israel rejects Turkey’s ‘moral preaching’ on Gaza-PM says Erdogan, who accused Israel of 'inhumane attack' on Palestinians along border, 'indiscriminately bombs civilians'-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at Turkey in response to its president’s claim that Israel mounted an “inhumane attack” on Palestinians during Friday’s mass protests on the border with Israel.“The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent reference to Ankara’s ongoing battle against the Kurds.“That’s apparently how Ankara marks [April Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew, of the Turkish condemnation.On Saturday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane attack.”Also on Saturday, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament lashed out at what he called the “illegitimate and usurping Zionist regime” for its part in the clashes on the border between Gaza and Israel on Friday.Speaking as the chairman of the Tehran-based Parliamentary Union of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states, Ali Larijani charged that Israel was trying to destabilize the region together with US President Donald Trump, who in December recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the relocation of the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv — a move due to take place in May.“The Zionists’ policy of creating tensions and crises along with Trump’s move in announcing the move of [the] US embassy to al-Quds [Jerusalem] are making up a dangerous plot targeting the stability and security of the region,” Larijani said, according to the Iranian Mehr news agency.“The only language that the terrorists ruling in Tel Aviv can understand is the language of force, and resistance is [the] only solution to counter the ambitious ends of the Zionist regime,” he said.The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least 10 of those killed — the Gazans reported a death toll of 15 — were members of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.On Saturday, the US blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of the clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said. Kuwait, which represents Arab countries on the council, had presented the proposed statement, which called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence.The Palestinian Authority blamed the US and Britain for obstructing the Palestinian and Arab effort to persuade the Security Council to issue a resolution blasting Israel for the 15 Palestinian fatalities.Yusef al Mahmoud, spokesperson for the PA government in Ramallah, said Saturday that Washington and London’s opposition to a resolution condemning Israel “turns them into accomplices in the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against our defenseless people.”IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence.He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said in a late afternoon statement.As of Saturday evening, Hamas itself acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called “March of Return” were its own gunmen.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu refuses to say if he’d meet with Jeremy Corbyn-4 days after embattled UK Labour chief said he plans to visit Israel at some stage and would be happy to meet PM, Jerusalem officials pass the buck when asked if feeling is mutual-By Raphael Ahren-APR 1,18-TOI
Four days after Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, said he would readily meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader’s aides are unwilling to say whether he’d agree to such a meeting.Last Wednesday, Corbyn told the UK’s Jewish News in an interview that he intends to visit Israel and meet Netanyahu “at some point,” though he added that he currently had no such plans.Asked if he’d be happy to meet Netanyahu, the embattled Labour leader replied: “Well, I will be visiting the State of Israel so yes, of course.”Asked Thursday by The Times of Israel whether Netanyahu would be equally happy to host Corbyn — a longtime critic of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians who is also currently embroiled in a massive scandal for failing to tackle anti-Semitism in his party — the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond for several days.Netanyahu’s spokesperson for the English media, David Keyes, finally said on Sunday that “questions about diplomatic meeting with foreign political leaders should be asked of the Foreign Ministry, as that is [their] prime objective.”A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry then promptly referred The Times of Israel back to the prime minister, saying only his aides could speak for his willingness to meet with world leaders.Due to his pro-Palestinian views and the Labour Party’s anti-Semitism problem, Corbyn is viewed very critically by many British Jews and Israel supporters. His interview last week with the Jewish News of London was the first time he spoke to a Jewish news outlet since becoming Labour leader in September 2015.Last November, Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, was asked during an interview with the BBC how he would react if Corbyn were to be elected prime minister.“Well, first of all the British people decide who they want to govern them, but I hope that there will be a continuity of British policy with Israel because here’s something people don’t know — that cooperation has saved many lives,” Netanyahu replied.“Intense security and intelligence cooperation has saved many Israeli and British lives, he went on. “And it’s something I hope will continue in the future.”
Family of slain soldier held by Hamas urges Israel to keep bodies of Gaza gunmen-Simcha Goldin, whose son's remains have been kept in Gaza since 2014, calls for government to uphold its resolution not to return fallen terrorists-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-APR 1,18
The Goldin family, whose son’s remains have been held in Gaza by Hamas since the 2014 war, called on the government to not return the bodies of two Hamas members who opened fire on Israeli troops and were shot dead on Friday.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are returned,” Simcha Goldin, the father of Lt. Hadar Goldin, said on Sunday.The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Goldin and Oron Shaul — are currently being held by the Hamas terrorist organization, along with two live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — who entered Gaza of the own volition in 2014 and 2015, respectively.According to Palestinian media, following a shootout on Friday, Israeli soldiers retrieved the bodies of the two gunmen, and they are now being held by Israeli authorities.The Israel Defense Forces would not officially comment on the claim.However, on Sunday, the Goldin family contacted the government’s point person for the effort to retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum, as well as Israel’s military coordinator to the Palestinians, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai.The family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it passed last year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of terrorists to their families and instead has them buried in temporary plots.Also on Sunday, the family of Mengistu launched a tent protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling on the government to bring back Abera from Hamas captivity.On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in the one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.The IDF troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot dispersal means, namely tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases used live fire.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its videos.According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 15 Palestinians were killed during these riots, including the two Hamas gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, who tried to breach the security fence.On Saturday night, the Israeli military identified at least eight more of the people killed — 10 in total — as belonging to terrorist organizations, publishing their photographs, names and positions in the groups.The IDF identified one of the two Hamas members who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening as 23-year-old Mussa’b al-Saloul.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.The army did not provide evidence for its identifications. Some could be independently verified with photographic evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or receiving a military-style funeral from the terror group in question. Others could not be immediately substantiated. One appears to be partially incorrect, identifying an apparent member Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades terrorist group as a member of Hamas.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s border with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in recent memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was dubbed the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that some 1,400 Palestinians were injured during the protests, more than half by live rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently confirm the casualty reports.The army has remained on high alert even as the violence appeared to abate Friday evening, amid fears of persisting attacks, including infiltration attempts and rocket fire.Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians mark that date as their “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War of Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are their descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel.Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
Back with eyes open’: Malala visits Pakistan district where she was shot-In first trip back to once militant-infested Pakistani region, Nobel Prize laureate vows to return permanently after she has completed studies at Oxford-By Lehaz Ali-TOI-APR 1,18
MINGORA, Pakistan (AFP) — Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.“I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open,” she told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in 2012.“I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters,” she said at a school outside Mingora, the district’s main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.The visit — on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers — was kept tightly under wraps.She took pictures of the Swat valley from an army helicopter and tweeted that it was “The most beautiful place on earth to me.”After flying from Islamabad, she met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, a military-run school some 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside Mingora.“So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again,” she tweeted.There she lingered some 45 minutes, taking photographs, before traveling back to Islamabad. The entire visit is believed to have lasted just over two hours.Mingora is where Malala’s family was living and where she was attending school on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.She was treated first at an army hospital then airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.Her near-miraculous recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17.Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming home.“I am unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people,” her father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor Pekai.The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at Oxford University in Britain, made her emotional return to Pakistan, where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.She broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying it was her “dream” to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she will return permanently after she has completed her education.However she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.There had been much speculation within the country over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.The mountainous region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.The militants imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009. Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.However security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years after the military operation demonstrated. In February, 11 military personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the militants still have a presence there.Residents of the area have praised Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate improvements in education — especially for girls — in the deeply conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Earlier this month, an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before moving to the city.Malala told AFP in Swat that she could see vast changes in the area since 2012 — but added she has read reports which claim up to 50 percent of children are still out of school.“We will have to work very hard to bring them all to school,” she vowed.Residents of Swat also welcomed her visit and urged fellow Pakistanis to support her efforts to promote girls’ education.“We welcome Malala and the slogan that she has raised — one pen, one teacher. We have pinned our hopes in Malala,” Nazir Khan, a government servant, told AFP.“People have positive as well as negative views about her,” fellow resident Arshad Ali said.“We need to see what she has done until now — she has constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of purpose — to promote education, especially among girls in the country.”
