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
France, Britain blast Abbas for anti-Semitic
speech-London calls PA president's Holocaust-denying comments 'deeply
unhelpful,' France says they were 'false' and 'unfortunate'-By TOI
staff-MAY 3,18
The United Kingdom and France joined
Israel and much of the international community in condemning a speech by
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that claimed the
Holocaust was the result of Jews’ own “social behavior” and financial
conduct rather than anti-Semitism.While stressing Abbas’s role in peace
negotiations, UK’s Middle East Minister Alistair Burt said the speech
did not help his own people.“President Abbas has shown a commitment to
non-violence and a two-state solution,” Burt said in a statement. “But
his recent rhetoric does not serve the interests of the Palestinian
people and is deeply unhelpful to the cause of peace.”The minister said a
hoped-for peace deal could not be based on denying history.“At a highly
sensitive time in the region, when we must all look forwards and work
urgently towards a resolution of the longstanding issues between Israel
and the Palestinian people, the fundamentals of peace cannot be built on
views of the Holocaust which fly in the face of history,” he
said.During his long-winded speech Monday in front of hundreds at a rare
session of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, the
82-year-old PA leader alleged that the Holocaust was not caused by
anti-Semitism, but rather by Jews’ “social behavior, [charging]
interest, and financial matters.”Though he stopped short of calling the
speech anti-Semitic, as some other leaders had done, Burt said that it
was unacceptable to try and justify the Holocaust.“Palestinian President
Abbas’s comments at the Palestinian National Congress were deeply
concerning. Any attempt to justify or explain away any element of the
Holocaust is unacceptable,” he said.The French Foreign Ministry said it
“deplored” Abbas’s speech, calling his words “to be false, unfortunate
and untimely.”It urged Israelis and Palestinians to create an atmosphere
conducive to a peace deal.“France calls on everyone to act in a spirit
of peace and dialogue, in order to create the conditions for a just and
lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This requires the
greatest responsibility in the public expression of each of the
parties,” it said in a statement.Although not calling Abbas’s speech
anti-Semitic, in its statement the French Foreign Ministry condemned all
anti-Semitism.“France recalls its strongest condemnation of
anti-Semitism, in all its forms, as well as its determination to fight
relentlessly against this scourge,” the statement read.UNESCO chief
Audrey Azoulay also strongly criticized the PA leader’s speech, calling
it “deeply disturbing,” “dangerous” and “in contrast to
reality.”Azoulay, who is Jewish, endorsed the statement of UN special
envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov, who said that Abbas “chose
to use his speech at the opening of the Palestinian National Council to
repeat some of the most contemptuous anti-Semitic slurs.”Joining my
voice to UN envoy @nmladenov regarding comments by President Abbas. All
forms of antisemitism, including Holocaust denial and relativization,
are unacceptable. @UNESCO promotes Holocaust education against
falsifications of history & combats antisemitism thru education.
pic.twitter.com/jTjpssS664— Audrey Azoulay (@AAzoulay) May 3, 2018-She
added on Twitter: “All forms of anti-Semitism, including Holocaust
denial and relativization, are unacceptable. UNESCO promotes Holocaust
education against falsifications of history and combats anti-Semitism
through education.”Last October, the US and Israel decided to withdraw
from UNESCO, citing among other reasons the body’s anti-Israel bias.
Israel has slammed the organization for passing resolutions seen as
political, downplaying Jewish connection to Jerusalem and referring to
contested sites as “Palestinian heritage sites.”The speech has been
criticized as anti-Semitic by various political figures in Israel,
including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as US Ambassador to
Israel David Friedman, the European Union and Germany, among others.
The New York Times called for Abbas’s resignation in an editorial
Thursday.The incendiary content of Abbas’s speech, which was reported by
The Times of Israel late that night, was not included in the official
Palestinian news agency’s English press release about his address or in
most initial international coverage of it.Following Mladenov’s comments,
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon sent a letter to
the UN Security Council demanding condemnation of Abbas’s
remarks.Netanyahu said after the speech that “apparently a
Holocaust-denier remains a Holocaust-denier,” alluding to Abbas’s 1982
doctoral dissertation, and called on the international community to
condemn the speech and its expression of an anti-Semitism “whose time
has come to disappear off the face of the earth.”Abbas touched on a
number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a
“history lesson,” as he sought to prove the 3,000-year-old Jewish
connection to the Land of Israel is false.He said, “Their narrative
about coming to this country because of their longing for Zion, or
whatever — we’re tired of hearing this. The truth is that this is a
colonialist enterprise, aimed at planting a foreign body in this
region.”“Those who sought a Jewish state weren’t Jews,” Abbas said,
repeating a claim he made in January when he said that the State of
Israel was formed as “a colonial project that has nothing to do with
Judaism” to safeguard European interests.“From the 11th century until
the Holocaust that took place in Germany, those Jews — who moved to
Western and Eastern Europe — were subjected to a massacre every 10 to 15
years,” he said. “But why did this happen? They say ‘it is because we
are Jews.’”The “proof” that it was not because they were Jews, he
asserted, “is that there were Jews in Arab countries. Why wasn’t there
ever one incident against Jews because they’re Jews?” he asked. “Not
even once. Do you think I’m exaggerating? I challenge you [to find] even
one indecent act against Jews in over 1,400 years — because they were
Jews in Arab lands.”He went on to claim that the Holocaust was not the
result of anti-Semitism but rather of the Jews’ “social behavior,
[charging] interest, and financial matters.”The Palestinian leader has a
history of Holocaust denial. His 1982 doctoral dissertation was titled
“The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism,”
and he has in the past been accused of denying the scope of the
Holocaust. The dissertation reportedly claimed that the six million
figure of Holocaust victims was hugely exaggerated and that Zionist
leaders cooperated with the Nazis.Raphael Ahren and AFP contributed to
this report.
Analysis-When the NY Times says Abbas is no
partner, something fundamental is shifting-World response to PA head's
vile speech shows a growing awareness that peace requires Palestinian
recognition of Jewish rights here. That's not to say Israel will get a
free pass-By Raphael Ahren-TOI-MAY 3,18
The global chorus
condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his
incendiary speech on Monday, during which he blamed the Jews for their
own mass murder in the Holocaust and denied any Jewish connection to the
Holy Land, is largely helpful for Israeli government public diplomacy,
but it does come with a caveat.Broadly speaking, Jerusalem welcomes any
statement, from anybody, criticizing the Palestinian leader, whom
Netanyahu government members have long accused of duplicity,
anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and, perhaps most relevantly, a
persistent refusal to accept the idea of Jewish self-determination
anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.Two days
after Abbas’s speech, when the import of what he had said in a televised
address before hundreds in Ramallah began to sink in, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the international community to
“condemn Abu Mazen’s severe anti-Semitism.”With rare alacrity, much of
the world heeded his call.Condemnations poured in, not only from the
governments of Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Lithuania, but also
from more unlikely quarters: the United Nations’ Middle East envoy; the
European Union’s foreign policy chief; the main pro-Palestinian lobby
group in Germany; even the head of UNESCO, the UN cultural agency that
Israel is leaving because of its notorious anti-Israel bias.“The utterly
unacceptable remarks of President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the victims
of Shoa are an inexcusable insult to the memory of the millions murdered
by the Nazis and an outrageous distortion of truth,” tweeted Austrian
Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. Kneissl is affiliated with the far-right
Freedom Party, which Israel boycotts due to its neo-Nazi past and
alleged xenophobia.Greeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in
Jerusalem on Wednesday, Netanyahu once more “condemned Abu Mazen’s
anti-Semitic remarks and said that they reveal the true reason why there
is no peace,” according to a readout provided by Netanyahu’s
office.Abbas’s vile remarks, the latest and worst of his inflammatory
efforts at inciting anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment among his
people, indeed constitute a vindicating moment from the perspective of a
prime minister who has for years argued that the absence of peace is
due neither to Israel’s settlement enterprise nor to any other
ostensible hardline policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians.Rather,
Netanyahu has stressed countless times over the years, peace has been
elusive simply because the Palestinian Arabs and their leadership
adamantly refuse to accept a Jewish state in any boundaries.It is for
this very reason that he repeatedly cites Palestinian recognition of
Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people as one of two essential
pillars on which any future peace agreement must stand (the other being
the demilitarization of a Palestinian state and ironclad security
arrangements for Israel).Many Western leaders, and even many centrist
and left-leaning Israeli politicians, consider Netanyahu’s insistence on
Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state to be an unnecessary
obstacle.But Abbas’s speech to the Palestinian National Council — in
which he claimed the Holocaust was caused by European Jews’ “social
behavior” including lending gentiles money for interest, and that
Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars and therefore had “no
historical ties” to the Land of Israel — served to underline Netanyahu’s
point: How can you expect Israelis to make peace with those who deny
their basic connection to this land?This has not been lost on the
international community.Abbas’s rhetoric “does not serve the interests
of the Palestinian people and is deeply unhelpful to the cause of
peace,” UK Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said Thursday,
echoing a line articulated by other Western officials.The international
community is not about to start supporting West Bank settlements or
backing the IDF’s use of live ammunition against protesters at the Gaza
border. It certainly won’t abandon its support for the two-state
solution Netanyahu may or may not still endorse.But the negative
response to Abbas’s remarks shows that the argument that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not merely a dispute over real estate
that could be solved easily if only Israel were willing to make the
required territorial concessions is gaining traction.Based on the many
statements issued, many international players are internalizing that for
peace to prevail, the Palestinians must come to terms with the fact
that Jews have millennia of history in this land and a right to
sovereignty here that has nothing to do with the Holocaust.When The New
York Times editorializes that Abbas, by “feeding reprehensible
anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories” has now “shed all
credibility as a trustworthy partner,” something fundamental has
patently begun to shift.So why the caveat? Why does the fallout also
have a partial downside for pro-Israel advocacy, known as hasbara?
Because defenders of Israel’s good name can no longer easily claim that
the international community is hopelessly biased in favor of the
Palestinians. The automatic Arab majority in UNESCO will still be there
after this Abbas controversy fades from the headlines. The UN’s
anti-Israel numerical bias won’t quickly be remade. But it will
nevertheless be a little more difficult to argue that “everyone is
instinctively against us” or that the Europeans have it in relentlessly
for Jews and Israel.In January, the EU refused to condemn Abbas for
saying Israel was “a colonial project that has nothing to do with
Judaism.”“Our policy is not to comment on comments,” an EU spokesperson
in Brussels told The Times of Israel at the time.On Wednesday, by
contrast, the EU denounced Abbas’s “unacceptable remarks concerning the
origins of the Holocaust and Israel’s legitimacy.”Apparently, Brussels’
policy is no longer not to comment on comments. Abbas’s rhetoric was too
vicious to be left unremarked upon.But that doesn’t mean Israel will be
getting a free pass from now on. It means criticism of Israel from
those many quarters that this week spoke out against Abbas might be a
little harder to shrug off.
NY Times calls for Abbas ouster
over ‘vile’ claim on Jews and Holocaust-In rare rebuke, editorial board
says Palestinian leader's anti-Semitism reached 'new low,' proving he
is not a trustworthy peace partner-By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAY 3,18
The
New York Times’ editorial board has called for Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas’s ouster after he attributed the genocide of
Jews during the Holocaust to their “social behavior” in what the US
paper called a “vile speech” earlier this week.In Wednesday’s editorial
titled “Let Abbas’s vile words be his last as Palestinian leader,” the
paper called his remarks “a new low,” even for a leader who has shown
“anti-Semitic tendencies” in the past.In an unusual rebuke of a foreign
leader, the paper said Abbas’s remarks in front of hundreds at a rare
session of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah fueled
anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and demonstrated that Israel does not
have a trustworthy peace partner in the PA president. “Feeding
reprehensible anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories,” it said,
“Abbas shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner if the Palestinians
and Israelis ever again have the nerve to try negotiations.”In a
rambling speech on Monday, Abbas gave what he called a “history lesson”
claiming that Jewish connections to Europe’s finance and banking sectors
had bred hostility against them.Abbas claimed that the Holocaust was
not a result of anti-Semitism, but instead the Jews’ “social behavior,
[charging] interest, and financial matters.”Abbas also portrayed the
creation of Israel as a European colonial project, saying “history tells
us there is no basis for the Jewish homeland.”The speech has prompted
outrage in Israel and around the world, with the US, EU, UN, Germany and
others issuing condemnations. On Wednesday, an aide to Abbas asserted
that his remarks, which were televised, had been distorted by Israel.The
New York Times noted that Abbas’s failed effort to mend the rift with
political rival Hamas, the dwindling prospects for renewed peace talks
with Israel, Arab nations’ lack of interest in the conflict, a lack of
support from his people, and a perception that US President Donald
Trump’s administration favors Israel have left the Palestinian leader in
a desperate position.“Even in this gloomy climate, however, Mr. Abbas’s
vile speech was a new low. No doubt he feels embittered and besieged on
all sides,” the paper declared. “But by succumbing to such dark,
corrosive instincts he showed that it is time for him to leave
office.”The editorial concluded with a declaration urging a change of
Palestinian leadership.“Palestinians need a leader with energy,
integrity and vision, one who might have a better chance of achieving
Palestinian independence and enabling both peoples to live in
peace.”Abbas, 82, has been leader of the Palestinian Authority since
November 2004. The last Palestinian parliamentary elections were in 2006
and there have been no presidential elections since 2005. The aging
Palestinian leader has not designated a successor.Monday’s speech was
not the first time Abbas has been accused of anti-Semitism. In 2016 he
gave apparently unscripted remarks to the European Parliament in which
he said that “a number of rabbis in Israel made a clear declaration and
asked their government to poison water to kill the Palestinians.”He gave
no source for the accusation, but said it was part of a wider Israeli
campaign of incitement against Palestinians. His office later admitted
the claim was baseless and retracted it.In January, Abbas told PA
officials that European Jews opted for “murder and slaughter” in the
Holocaust over emigration to British-held Palestine. He also asserted
that Israel was created to safeguard European interests as “a colonial
project that has nothing to do with Judaism.”Abbas’s 1982 doctoral
dissertation was titled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between
Nazism and Zionism,” and he has in the past been accused of denying the
scope of the Holocaust. The dissertation reportedly claimed that the
six million figure of Holocaust victims was hugely exaggerated and that
Zionist leaders cooperated with the Nazis.
Trump ‘all but
decided’ to withdraw from Iran deal – report-Tehran says it will not
remain in nuclear accord if US pulls out, Zarif rejects European efforts
to negotiate a new pact-By TOI staff and Agencies-MAY 3,18
US
President Donald Trump has “all but decided” to withdraw from the Iran
nuclear deal, but may not pull out completely, Reuters reported
Thursday.Two White House officials and a third source source told the
news agency that the president would most likely end the waivers on the
Iran sanctions on May 12 when they next come up for renewal. However, an
official said it was possible that he would decide on a compromise that
was “not a full pullout,” though it was unclear what form such a
decision would take.The source said Trump’s meeting last week with
French President Emmanuel Macron may have pushed the president to remain
in the deal somehow. Macron made a three-day state visit to Washington
primarily to convince Trump to not leave the 2015 deal, negotiated
between Tehran and six world powers.Macron on Wednesday reiterated his
commitment to the accord but admitted that it needed strengthening.“I
don’t know what the US president will decide on May 12,” Macron said
during a visit to Sydney.Britain, France and Germany — the three
European countries that signed the deal — have repeatedly tried to
persuade Trump not to abandon it.A senior adviser to Iranian supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Thursday that Iran will not
remain in the deal if the US decides to pull out.“If the United States
withdraws from the nuclear deal, then we will not stay in it,” his
foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati was quoted as saying by state
television.“Iran accepts the nuclear agreement as it has been prepared
and will not accept adding or removing anything,” he said.“Even if
countries allied with the United States, especially the Europeans, seek
to revise the nuclear agreement… one of our options will be withdrawing
from the accord,” Velayati added.“I just want to say whatever the
decision will be, we will have to prepare such a broader negotiation and
a broader deal, because I think nobody wants a war in the region, and
nobody wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region,” he
said.Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister took to YouTube to criticize
Trump’s threat to withdraw from the nuclear deal, and also slammed
European talk of a new treaty, saying Iran will not “renegotiate or add
onto” the atomic accord.Mohammad Javad Zarif’s video, which was also
posted to Trump’s favorite social media platform, Twitter, appeared to
be taking his message to the masses after earlier speaking to news
outlets across the US to defend the deal.The five-minute video showed
Zarif behind his desk, delivering his message on the deal. He offers
background first about the deal before laying into Trump and criticizing
Europe for offering “the United States more concessions from our
pocket.”“On 11 occasions since, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed
that Iran has implemented all of its obligations,” Zarif, who studied in
the US, said in American-accented English. “In contrast, the US has
consistently violated the agreement, especially by bullying others from
doing business with Iran.”He lashed out at the European nations who were
trying to convince Trump that a new deal could be struck to shore up
what the president saw as the weaknesses of the deal.Iran's Message:
There is Only One Way Forward, and It's U.S. Compliance; Not
Appeasement. #IranDeal https://t.co/CBehxCAv26— Javad Zarif (@JZarif)
May 3, 2018-“It now appears that the response from some Europeans is to
offer the United States more concessions — from our pocket,” Zarif said.
“This appeasement entails promises of a new deal that would include
matters we all decided to exclude at the outset of our negotiations,
including Iran’s defensive capabilities and regional influence.”“We have
not attacked anyone in centuries,” he continued, “but we have been
invaded, most recently by Saddam Hussein, who was then backed by the US
and its regional allies.”Zarif added: “Let me make it absolutely clear
once and for all: We will neither outsource our security nor will we
renegotiate or add onto a deal we have already implemented in good
faith.”There was no immediate response from Washington.In the video,
Zarif also appeared to troll Trump, a real estate mogul, saying: “To put
it in real estate terms, when you buy a house and move your family in
it or demolish it to build a skyscraper, you cannot come back two years
later and renegotiate the price.”In a possible veiled allusion to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elaborate Monday night presentation on
live television of an intelligence trove on Iran’s shelved nuclear
weapons program, Zarif said the US was already breaking the deal it had
made, using “cartoonish allegations.”“Relying on cartoonish allegations,
rehashed from more than a decade ago, and dealt with by the IAEA to
make a case for nixing the deal has fooled no one,” he said.Netanyahu
said tens of thousands of documents recently recovered by intelligence
operatives in Tehran proved his country’s main enemy, Iran, had a secret
nuclear weapons program it could put into action at any time.But some
analysts and proponents of the nuclear agreement, including the IAEA,
charged with monitoring Iran’s compliance with the 2015 deal, said
Netanyahu had presented previously known details and failed to produce
evidence that showed Iran was not abiding by the accord.
Satellite images claim to reveal ‘unusual activity’ at Iran nuclear site By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAY 3,18
Satellite
images published online today claim to show “unusual activity” at
Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Fordow in recent days.Israeli
company ImageSat posts satellite images to Twitter showing new building
projects and with cars and busses in the facility’s parking lot. The
company posts a satellite photo of an apparently inactive Fordow from
July 2016 for comparison.Has #Iran prepared a bargaining chip? Signs of
activity in #Fordow #uranium enrichment #nuclear plant, #Qom.
pic.twitter.com/ZcXIftuEaw— imagesatintl (@imagesatint) May 3, 2018-The
underground facility is under UN monitoring under the 2015 nuclear
agreement that the US has threatened to withdraw from unless it is
amended.ImageSat says the renewed activity at Fordow could be a sign
that Iran could be preparing a response to a US exit from the
multi-national accord.
Russian fighter jet crashes off
Syria, both pilots killed-Moscow said bird possibly 'fell into engine'
of Su-30SM plane, causing it to crash shortly after takeoff-By
AFP-TOI-MAY 3,18
MOSCOW, Russia — A Russian fighter jet
crashed after taking off from an airbase in Syria on Thursday, killing
both pilots, Moscow’s defense ministry said in a statement carried by
news agencies.“As it was climbing after taking off from the Hmeimim
airbase, the Russian fighter Su-30SM crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Two pilots, who fought until the last minute to save the plane, died,
according to reports from the scene,” the statement said.The ministry
said the plane had not come under fire, adding that “according to
preliminary information, the reason for the crash could have been a bird
falling into the engine.”The accident brings Russia’s official military
losses in Syria to 86.The most recent acknowledged military loss came
when a transport plane crashed on landing at the Hmeimim airbase in
March, killing all 39 people on board.But Russian nationals are
regularly reported to be serving as paid mercenaries in Syria and taking
on dangerous missions that often lead to casualties.Moscow began
conducting airstrikes in Syria in September 2015, and its intervention
has swung the nearly seven-year conflict firmly in favor of its ally in
Damascus.
Shin Bet: Palestinian student leader received
€150k for Hamas through Turkey-Omar al-Kiswani, whose on-campus arrest
in March by undercover forces was filmed and went viral, said to have
funneled funds with aid from Gaza-based operative-By Michael
Bachner-TOI-MAY 3,18
A Palestinian student leader
arrested in March in a daylight raid by Israeli commando forces is
suspected of illegally receiving hundreds of thousands of euros from
Hamas operatives in Turkey to promote the terror group’s activities at a
university near Ramallah, the Shin Bet security service said
Thursday.The student, 24-year-old Omar al-Kiswani from the West Bank
village of Beit Iksa, is a member of Hamas’s student faction at Birzeit
University and the head of the student council.“It is another expression
of the efforts by Hamas command centers in Turkey and the Gaza Strip to
accelerate the activity” of the terrorist group in the West Bank, the
Shin Bet said, adding that “the investigation’s findings tell us of the
deep involvement” of the overseas Hamas members.The Shin Bet said that
Kiswani had contacted Yassin Rabia, a Hamas member who had formerly been
jailed by Israel until he was freed and deported to the Gaza Strip in a
2011 prisoner swap deal. More than a thousand Palestinians convicted
for terror offenses were released in the exchange for IDF soldier Gilad
Shalit.An Israeli undercover unit arrested Omar Kiswani (Hamas),
chairman of the student union at Birzeit University. The force pretended
to be Palestinian journalists who coordinated an interview with him.
pic.twitter.com/5VEVxzedSj— Elior Levy(@eliorlevy) March 7, 2018-Kiswani
asked Rabia and Hamas members in Turkey for money to promote Hamas
activity at the university, and received about 150,000 euros. The funds
were split and hidden in several hiding places throughout the West Bank,
according to the Shin Bet statement.He would then take some of the
money from those hiding places — along with his friend, Yahye Alawi,
also a member of Hamas and its student faction at Birzeit — to promote
Hamas activity, the security agency said.The March 7 daylight raid by
undercover Border Police officers, dressed as Palestinian civilians on
the campus, was caught on camera and shared widely on social media at
the time.Birzeit University said in a statement following the arrest in
March that “the kidnappers, carrying firearms in their backpacks,
entered the campus during working hours and attacked the student in
front of the Student Council Building, located at the center of the
campus. The operatives forced and pinned the student to the ground while
firing their weapons, endangering lives.”“Protecting this group’s
intrusion into the university was an armed Israeli army unit. The unit
detained the university’s guards in the guards’ room and proceeded to
use their firearms against the students while providing cover for the
kidnapping operation,” it added.In a video of the arrest, a group of men
in civilian clothing can be seen wrestling Kiswani to the ground as
other members of the group brandish pistols at onlookers.At the end of
the short clip, Palestinians can be seen clashing with Israeli soldiers
maintaining a perimeter at the entrance to the university.On social
media, the video was compared to popular TV show “Fauda,” about
undercover Israeli forces in the West Bank.Reports said the commandos,
members of the Border Police’s undercover unit, were disguised as
Palestinian journalists.Birzeit University said the raid was a violation
of international law.“This is not the first violent intrusion by
Israeli army forces, who systematically invade the university’s campus –
even though it is specifically protected under international
humanitarian law – and constantly harass students, faculty members, and
staff at Birzeit University and other Palestinian educational
institutions,” it said.But the Shin Bet said the arrest “again points to
the great importance Hamas leadership attributes to student activities
through its groups in universities as a primary method of recruiting and
training Hamas operatives in the West Bank.”Calling these activities
“very dangerous,” the statement said that “while it is within the
academic institution’s activity, in effect we are dealing with a
significant branch of the Hamas movement with the aim of promoting
damage to the State of Israel.”The Shin Bet also noted that last year
Israel exposed a Hamas terror cell from Gaza that recruited students
from the Birzeit University to carry out suicide attacks against
Israelis.It added that it is currently in the process of exposing other
members of Hamas’s student group in the university who planned shooting
attacks near Ramallah.Alexander Fulbright contributed to this report.
77
killed as powerful dust storms ravage north India-Most victims were hit
by falling walls, trees, electric pylons and building debris-By
AFP-TOI-MAY 3,18
Dust storms tore across northern India
killing at least 77 people and injuring 143 as trees and walls were
flattened by powerful winds, officials said Thursday.The overnight dust
and rain storm ravaged Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states and the death
toll was expected to rise, officials said.There were 46 confirmed deaths
in Uttar Pradesh in the north and 31 in the desert state of Rajasthan
to the west.The Agra district of Uttar Pradesh was one of the worst hit
with more than 30 people killed. The Taj Mahal is in Agra city but
officials said the monument escaped damage.Most of the victims were hit
by falling walls, trees and electric pylons and houses that
collapsed.“We can confirm at least 46 deaths, 41 injuries from around 40
of the state’s 75 districts,” T.P. Gupta of the Uttar Pradesh relief
commissioner’s office told AFP.He said there were 36 deaths in Agra
district.Officials said 157 animals were also killed across the
state.Three districts in Rajasthan, a state popular with tourists for
its heritage palaces and colorful culture, were hit the hardest.“Most of
(the) 31 deaths and 102 injuries across our state were from three
districts Alwar, Dholpur and Bharatpur,” Hemant Gera, Rajasthan’s
Disaster Management and Relief Department’s secretary, told AFP.Power
supply was cut in Bharatpur as more than 1,000 electricity pylons were
destroyed. Officials said it could take more than two days to restore
power.The state government quickly released funds to compensate the
families of those killed or suffered damage.“Saddened by the loss of
lives due to dust storms in various parts of India. Condolences to the
bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said on Twitter.“Have asked officials to coordinate with
the respective state governments and work towards assisting those who
have been affected,” he added.Last month, a storm killed at least 15
people in Uttar Pradesh and destroyed two ancient pillars at the
entryways to the Taj Mahal.
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:11-12,18
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog
(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of
the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of
the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall
they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and
they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300
MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves,
and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do
sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel,
that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES
AGAINST ISRAEL)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink
the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats,
of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall
see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon
them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL
NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye
may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of
mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2
Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA)
the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy
against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and
Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into
thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee
forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with
all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields,
all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6
Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of
the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with
thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and
prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto
thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and
say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the
chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will
turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the
sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I
BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA)
and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,(
ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6
And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them
that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people
Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the
heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
Liberman
to Russian media: Israel ‘did not join’ Western action against
Moscow-In interview with Kommersant, defense minister reiterates that
Israel would destroy S-300 missile defense system in Syria if was used
against Israeli jets-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-MAY 3,18
In
an interview with a Russian newspaper, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman
on Thursday touted Israel’s defiance of Western pressure to sanction
Moscow, while warning that Israel would not tolerate the use of
Russian-supplied weapon defense systems on its jets in Syria.Liberman
told the Kommersant daily that Israel maintained a frank and open
relationship with Moscow and was not looking to clash with Russia in
Syria.“We greatly appreciate our relations with Russia,” Liberman, a
former foreign minister, said. “Even when our close partners put
pressure on us, like in the case of sanctions against Russia, we do not
join them.”The defense minister offered the recent example of a decision
by the US and other Western countries to expel dozens of Russian
diplomats in response to an assassination attempt on a Russian double
agent in Salisbury, England, earlier this year.“Israel did not join that
action,” he said.Israel has carefully navigated its relations with
Russia in a bid to secure its security interests in neighboring Syria.
The government of Vladimir Putin has become a major player in regional
affairs, having boots on the ground — and jets in the air — only a few
miles from Israel’s borders in the war-wracked country. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Putin more often in recent years than
with any other world leader, and has long painstakingly avoided
offending Russia.Liberman also reiterated that Israel would target a
Russia-supplied S-300 air defense battery if Syrian dictator Bashar
Assad tried to use such a system against Israeli jets.“If the S-300
systems are not used against us — that’s one thing. But if they open
fire against our planes, we will certainly retaliate,” Liberman said.The
interview focused largely on Iran — both on the country’s activities in
Syria, where Israel fears Tehran is establishing a military presence
with which it could threaten the Jewish state, and on the Islamic
Republic’s nuclear program, which Liberman said Israel had proved was a
military one with this week’s revelation of a trove of documents stolen
from Tehran by the Mossad intelligence service.“These documents that
were published prove undeniably that Iran was actively working not only
to enrich uranium, but to create an atomic weapon,” he said.In recent
weeks, Russian officials have indicated that Moscow was prepared to hand
over the powerful S-300 missile defense system to Syria, something it
has long refused to do in light of significant Israeli opposition.Last
month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media that
Moscow’s “moral obligation” against selling the air defense system to
Syria had ended.This reversal, Lavrov indicated, was not due to Israeli
actions in Syria, but to a joint American-British-French attack on Assad
regime sites last month following an alleged chemical attack by the
Syrian dictator in the city of Douma.Since then, Liberman has repeatedly
stated that Israel would not oppose such a move provided the system is
not used against Israeli planes.Liberman said Jerusalem hoped that
Russia and Israel could reach an understanding about each other’s goals
and interests in Syria — where Moscow is heavily backing Assad — in
order to avoid unnecessary confrontation.“We are not looking for any
conflicts with Russia. The opposite — in recent years we have held open,
clear and transparent dialogue with Russia, when our opinions are in
line with one another and when they aren’t,” Liberman told the Russian
newspaper.“We are constantly holding transparent dialogue, without
hiding anything,” he said.The defense minister repeated Jerusalem’s
stated policy as it relates to Syria: Israel will not intervene in the
country’s civil war, unless one of its “red lines” is violated, notably
the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorist groups, Iranian military
entrenchment in Syria, or an attack on Israeli territory, even by errant
fire.“In my view, Assad is a war criminal who is responsible for the
deaths of more than half a million citizens of his country, but we are
not planning to get involved in internal Syrian matters,” Liberman
said.“What we won’t tolerate are attempts by Iran to turn Syria into a
forward operating base against Israel. Any attempt by Iran to set itself
up in Syria will be thwarted,” he said.The defense minister said it
would be “very wise” for Assad to not intervene in Israel’s attempts to
prevent Iranian entrenchment in his country.“If his forces, his air
defenses fire at us, we will open fire at them,” Liberman said.The
defense minister was asked if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent
revelation that the Mossad had smuggled over 100,000 documents out of
Tehran, which detailed Iranian efforts to construct a nuclear bomb and
affix it to a ballistic missile, offered proof that Iran had violated
the 2015 nuclear accord.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action, now hangs in the balance as US President Donald Trump decides
if America will remain party to it.Liberman refused to comment on
whether the files proved that Iran had breached the accord.Why does Iran
need enriched uranium, why does it need a nuclear program when they
have huge natural gas and oil fields? “We are talking about the Iranian
nuclear program in general, not about two years or 12 years or 20
years,” he said. “We’re talking about why does Iran need enriched
uranium, why does it need a nuclear program when they have huge natural
gas and oil fields?”The defense minister accused Iran of freezing its
nuclear weapons program “in order to get the most benefit out of the
deal and then to go back to it afterwards.”The defense minister repeated
an oft-heard Israeli comparison between the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and
the 1938 Munich Agreement, which was meant to appease Nazi Germany, but
ultimately led to World War II.“It’s just like what they tried to do
with Hitler, and in the end they paid a dear price. In the end, we will
get an Iran with nuclear missiles, and in order to stop them after the
fact we will have to pay an even dearer price,” Liberman said.Raphael
Ahren contributed to this report.
IDF shoots, arrests
Palestinian damaging Gaza fence-Knife found in suspect's possession; in
separate incident, group of young men reportedly drag away portion of a
secondary security fence near Khan Younis-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-MAY
3,18
Israeli troops on Thursday shot a Palestinian man,
injuring him, as he attempted to damage the security fence around the
northern Gaza Strip, in the latest incident along the tense border, the
army said.The soldiers arrested the suspect and provided him with
medical treatment, according to the Israel Defense Forces.“A wire-cutter
and knife were found in the suspect’s possession,” the army said.He was
taken to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center by helicopter in serious
condition, with a gunshot wound to the knee, according to a hospital
spokesperson.“He is being treated now in the trauma center,” she said.In
addition to this incident in northern Gaza, a group of Palestinian
youths on Thursday morning dragged away a portion of a secondary barrier
set up by the IDF in the buffer zone between southern Gaza and the
border with Israel, the Palestinian Ma’an news reported.According to the
outlet, the young men brought the barbed wire back to their town —
Khusa’a, east of Khan Younis — apparently as some kind of trophy.An army
spokesperson said she was “unaware” of the incident.In a bid to keep
Gazans away from the main security fence, the IDF set up a number of
secondary barriers, in the form of coils of barbed wire, in the buffer
zone between the Strip and the Israeli border.The border area has seen a
significant increase in the levels of violence in recent weeks, as
Gazans have been participating in often violent “March of Return”
demonstrations, which began on March 30 and are due to continue through
mid-May.Thursday’s two border incidents came a day after dozens of acres
of Israeli agricultural fields and grasslands were set on fire by a
kite flown across the border from Gaza carrying a container full of
burning fuel.This arson-by-kite has become a primary tactic in the
“March of Return” protests, one made particularly dangerous in recent
days in light of hot, dry, and windy weather that helps fires spread
more quickly.On Sunday, six Palestinians in three separate incidents in
southern Gaza tried to cross the security fence or succeeded in doing
so, including in one case where improvised explosives were thrown at
Israeli troops, according to the army.IDF soldiers opened fire at four
of the six suspects, killing three of them. The other three Palestinians
were arrested and handed over to the Shin Bet security service for
questioning.The mass “March of Return” protests are being encouraged by
Gaza’s rulers, the terror group Hamas, whose leaders say their goal is
to erase the border and liberate Palestine.Last Friday, four
Palestinians were killed and over 300 hurt during a particularly violent
demonstration along the border, which included a large-scale rush of
the security fence.On Thursday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza health
ministry reported that another Palestinian, 19-year-old Anas Shawqi
Abu-Aser, had died of wounds sustained during last week’s riot.This
brought the casualty count in the border clashes to 45 Palestinian dead
and over 1,500 injured by live fire since March 30, according to the
Hamas health ministry.These protests were originally described by their
Palestinian organizers as nonviolent, but Hamas later took charge of
them. Rioters have burned tires, hurled firebombs and rocks at Israeli
troops, and repeatedly attempted to sabotage the security fence.Israeli
troops have used both less-lethal weapons and live fire to drive back
protesters, prompting international — and, to a lesser extent, domestic —
accusations of excessive force.The Israeli military maintains that its
use of live rounds is within the boundaries of Israeli and international
law.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
OH
BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN
ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE
MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE
REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND
LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the
morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF
THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM
MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Syrian rebels start pull-out from south Damascus-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018
BEIRUT
(Reuters) - Syrian rebels began pulling out of an enclave they have
surrendered in south Damascus on Thursday, but a few fighters in another
besieged area near Homs shelled government areas after their groups
agreed to quit.The enclaves in south Damascus and near Homs are the only
two besieged areas still held by rebels, though they still control
large tracts of northwest and southwest Syria, lying along its
international borders, which are not surrounded by the army.Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad has focused on dislodging rebels from their
remaining besieged pockets since driving them from eastern Ghouta last
month after a fierce offensive.Syrian state television showed footage of
buses arriving at Beit Sahm, driving through narrow streets surrounded
by soldiers and with concrete buildings above showing scars of war.It
later reported that the first batch of buses had departed, carrying
fighters and their families from the area.Some 5,000 fighters and their
family members are expected to leave Beit Sahm, Babila and Yalda
neighborhoods for the opposition areas in northern Syria, it reported,
following an earlier group which left the enclave on Monday.Islamic
State fighters holding another part of the same enclave are still
fighting after weeks of intense bombardment in the area of al-Hajar
al-Aswad and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.On Wednesday, insurgents
in the biggest of the remaining besieged areas, located between the
cities of Hama and Homs around the towns of Rastan, Talbiseh and Houla,
also agreed to surrender.However, a small number of them rejected the
deal and shelled government areas late on Wednesday and early on
Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor and two
local sources said.(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Raissa
Kasolowsky and Richard Balmforth)
Vice President Pence postpones Brazil trip as North Korea talks loom-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence is postponing his plans to travel
to Brazil this month to ensure all U.S. resources are focused on
President Trump's talks with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, Pence's
spokeswoman said on Thursday."The Vice President is delaying his trip to
Brazil in order to ensure all diplomatic and national security
resources are available as President Trump plans for his historic talks
with the Kim regime," said Alyssa Farah, Pence's spokeswoman.(Reporting
by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Group
running asylum caravan fears spotlight comes at a cost-[Associated
Press]-ELLIOT SPAGAT and MARK STEVENSON-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018
TIJUANA,
Mexico (AP) — The group that organized a monthlong caravan of Central
Americans seeking asylum in the United States wanted to draw attention
to the plight of people fleeing violence. If headlines are any measure,
it has been a smashing success.President Donald Trump and Cabinet
members have called the caravan a deliberate attempt to overwhelm U.S.
authorities and proof that more must be done to secure the border with
Mexico, including construction of a wall. The rhetoric from the White
House and its allies has also fueled an outpouring of support from
Mexicans and Americans, with food and other staples, financial
contributions, free legal advice and offers of a place to live in the
U.S.Roberto Corona, founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, considers the
intense spotlight a mixed blessing. It has raised public awareness of
the toll of violence in Central America, but he said it may sharpen a
crackdown by the U.S. government."We want to show the humanity of this,
not the politics," Corona said. "It's not about the wall."Caravan
organizers have been pilloried by the Trump administration. Vice
President Mike Pence said during a California border tour Monday that
the asylum seekers were being "exploited by open-border political
activists and an agenda-driven media." U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions announced Wednesday he was sending more prosecutors and
immigration judges to the border.Trump has used the caravan to try to
build support for his wall — even though the asylum seekers generally
turn themselves in to border inspectors — and to call for an end to
so-called "catch-and-release" laws and court rulings that allow some
asylum seekers to remain free while their cases wind through immigration
court, which can take several years.The latest caravan marks an
evolution of Easter-season migrant protests that started around 2008,
usually sponsored by Catholic priests who ran shelters. For the first
few years, they seldom did more than advance through the southern
Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, often dressing in Biblical garb
and carrying crosses in processions meant to echo Jesus' walk to his
crucifixion and to protest the violence they suffered themselves.They
drew little attention, partly because thousands of Central Americans
were openly streaming north through Mexico aboard freight trains every
day, headed for the U.S. border.When Mexico cracked down on its southern
border and migrants riding trains in 2014, the processions became
higher profile. They were a way to defy the government "blockade" of the
trains and the highway checkpoints where buses were searched. The 2014
caravan was effectively broken up by Mexican police in the southern
state of Tabasco.Even after the government began to take a more
hands-off approach, the caravans seldom got as far as Mexico City,
though some smaller groups made it to the U.S. border.Pueblo Sin
Fronteras, which Corona created at Southern Methodist University in 2008
to ensure Latino day laborers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area got fair
treatment from employers, participated in the 2014 caravan but didn't
organize its own until last year. The loose-knit group has established
two shelters in northern Mexico near the Arizona border but still has no
office or paid employees, said Corona, who now lives in San Diego.The
group's first caravan of Central Americans traversed Mexico last April
and May, reaching about 600 people at one point and dwindling to about
100 by the time it reached Tijuana, organizers said. Most sought asylum.
Few noticed.Its second caravan in November attracted about 700 people
when arrived in central Mexico but dropped to about 200 in Tijuana,
including about 80 who sought asylum, Corona said.Its third caravan has
grabbed the most attention by far, departing March 25 from Tapachula, a
city of 300,000 in a major coffee-growing region where Pueblo Sin
Fronteras had posted flyers in migrant shelters and held meetings in a
city park. Central Americans walked for days on roads and train tracks,
at one point reaching more than 1,000 people.During the first week of
April, organizer Irineo Mujica said Trump's attacks brought more
attention and made the effort more difficult to manage. "We do not
believe in, nor do we want, a caravan of this size," he said.But the
conspicuousness came with advantages, too, namely in the form of
assistance from the Mexican authorities who had once targeted such
travelers.Valmore Ramirez Cortez, a 32-year-old Salvadoran government
worker, had battled coughing and fever while hopping trains whose
surfaces were scorching hot by and cold at night. His outlook improved
in the southern state of Oaxaca when he, his 18-year-old nephew and two
teenage sons got 20-day permits to stay in Mexico. There were police and
Red Cross escorts along the way.On Sunday, after two days of legal
orientation arranged by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, nearly 200 asylum seekers
marched through Tijuana to a U.S. border inspection facility only to be
told it had reached its capacity to process asylum claims for the day.
By the following afternoon, the first few caravan members had been
allowed inside to begin making their cases to be allowed to live in the
U.S.As the caravan neared the border, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary
Kirstjen Nielsen said people fleeing violence should seek protection in
the first safe country they enter, meaning Mexico. But Ramirez, who fled
his country Jan. 31 after a gang killed two of his brothers and
promised that he and his nephew would be next if they didn't join, said
he won't feel comfortable until reaching the United States for good. He
hopes to join a cousin in Maryland."I don't come for money or work, I
come out of necessity," Ramirez said while reading a Christian-inspired
book under a tarp at the Tijuana border crossing, waiting his turn.
"There is nothing more beautiful than living in the country where you
were born."___Stevenson reported from Mexico City.
Spain's
PM vows to track Basque ETA former militants as group
disbands-[Reuters]-By Cecile Mantovani and Isla Binnie-YAHOONEWS-May 3,
2018
GENEVA/MADRID (Reuters) - Basque separatist group
ETA said on Thursday it had completely dismantled and ended all its
activity, ending a 50-year campaign of violence across Spain in which it
killed about 850 people.In Madrid, however, Spanish Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy said there would be no impunity for ETA and the government
would still track down former militants."Whatever they might choose to
do over the next few days, nothing will change the unquestionable
reality: ETA's whole project has been a resounding and emphatic
failure," Rajoy said.In a letter read out at the headquarters of a
Geneva-based conflict resolution group, ETA, founded to fight for an
independent state in northern Spain and southern France, said its
journey had ended."We have made this, our last decision, in order to
foster a new historical phase," said the letter, signed Euskadi Ta
Askatasuna (ETA - Basque Country and Freedom in English)."ETA was born
from the people and now it dissolves back into the people," said the
letter, which was read out by David Harland, director of the Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue.The center first facilitated discrete talks
between ETA and the former Spanish government of Jose Luis Zapatero in
2004.ETA announced its decision to end attacks in 2011 and in 2017 it
handed over 3.5 tonnes of weapons, bringing Western Europe's last major
militant campaign to a close.It signaled it had completely dismantled in
a letter published by the Spanish online newspaper El Diario on
Wednesday.RECONCILIATION OR PUNISHMENT? Calling it a "bitter
confrontation," the center's Harland also referred to the killing of ETA
suspects by death squads linked to government officials."A long work of
reconciliation now lies ahead. It will require recognition, respect,
apology and support to all the victims of violence as well as a
commitment to the truth and justice wherever that leads," Harland
said.However, Prime Minister Rajoy made clear that his government
considered ETA as nothing more than criminals."ETA won't find a glimmer
of impunity for its crimes. It can announce its disappearance but its
crimes will not disappear, nor will the work of justice to track them
down and punish them," he told reporters after a speech to inaugurate a
Civil Guard training center in Logrono, northern Spain.Regional
government head Inigo Urkullu said the organization had inflicted pain
and suffering on the people of the Basque Country, adding he doubted it
would have more than four or five lines in history books in the
future.In an interview with El Pais newspaper on Thursday, Urkullu said
ETA should never have existed."Here we have all lost. There are no
winners or losers," he said.The group is due to formalize its
dissolution at an official event in France on Friday. Last month, it
apologized to its victims and their relatives. About 850 people,
including police, politicians and ordinary citizens, were killed in ETA
attacks.ETA was formed in Madrid in 1959 by students angry at the
repressive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.Its campaign
included political assassinations -- most notably of Franco's chosen
successor, Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973 -- and bombings.But as Spain
returned to democracy after Franco's death in 1975 and the Basque
Country gained a large measure of autonomy, its attacks on the general
populace, including a 1987 car bomb at a Barcelona supermarket which
killed a pregnant woman and two children, horrified people and cost it
support.Crackdowns by Spanish and French police also weakened
it.(Reporting by Cecile Mantovani and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and
Isla Binnie in Madrid; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Richard Balmforth)
