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
Turkey probes claims that Saudis killed journalist-Police believe Jamal Khashoggi was murdered while visiting Istanbul consulate, a claim Riyadh denies; Erdogan says he’s awaiting results of investigation-By Ezzedine SAID and Luana Sarmini-Buonaccorsi-OCT 8,18
ISTANBUL (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he was awaiting the results of an investigation into the disappearance of a Saudi journalist, who a government source said was killed at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, 59, vanished after an appointment with Saudi officials on Tuesday.A Turkish government source told AFP that police believed Khashoggi was killed at the Istanbul consulate, which Riyadh strongly denied.Khashoggi had gone to the consulate to obtain documents needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.Erdogan said he would wait for the outcome of the current investigation before taking a decision.“I am following the (issue) and we will inform the world whatever the outcome” of the official probe, the president told reporters in Ankara.“God willing, we will not be faced with a situation we do not want.”He said police were examining CCTV footage of entrances and exits at the consulate and Istanbul airport.Police said earlier that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived in Istanbul on two flights on Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as Khashoggi.“Based on their initial findings, the police believe that the journalist was killed by a team especially sent to Istanbul and who left the same day,” the government source told AFP on Saturday.The journalist went to the building but “did not come back out,” police were quoted as saying by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.The consulate rejected the claims that the journalist was killed there as “baseless,” in a Twitter message.It said a Saudi team was in Turkey to investigate the disappearance.The journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter she was “waiting for an official confirmation from the Turkish government” before she could believe the claims.Khashoggi has been critical of some of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies and Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.His criticisms appeared in both the Arab and Western press.The former government adviser, who turns 60 on October 13, has lived in the United States since last year to avoid possible arrest.Yasin Aktay, an official in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who was close to the journalist, said Khashoggi had made an appointment in advance with the consulate and called to check the documents were ready.“His friends had warned him, ‘Don’t go there, it is not safe,’ but he said they could not do anything to him in Turkey,” said Aktay.He added that he still hoped the reports of his friend’s death were untrue.‘Assault on press freedom’Prince Mohammed said in an interview published by Bloomberg on Friday that the journalist had left the consulate and Turkish authorities could search the building, which is Saudi sovereign territory.Turkey’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassador over the issue.Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Twitter that if reports of his death were confirmed, “this would constitute a horrific, utterly deplorable, and absolutely unacceptable assault on press freedom.”Fred Hiatt, the director of the Washington Post’s editorial page, said if the reports were true “it is a monstrous and unfathomable act.”“Jamal was — or, as we hope, is — a committed, courageous journalist. He writes out of a sense of love for his country and deep faith in human dignity and freedom,” Hiatt said in a statement on the US newspaper’s website.A European Commission spokesperson said in a statement that Brussels was “closely” following the case, adding it was “awaiting clarifications from the Saudi authorities on the fate of Mr Khashoggi.”Khashoggi fled from Saudi Arabia in September 2017, months after Prince Mohammed was appointed heir to the throne.The journalist said he had been banned from writing in the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, owned by Saudi prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud, over his defense of the Muslim Brotherhood which Riyadh has blacklisted as a terrorist organization.He has also criticized Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, where Riyadh leads a military coalition fighting alongside the government in its war with Iran-backed rebels.Saudi Arabia, which ranks 169th out of 180 on RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, has launched a modernization campaign since Prince Mohammed’s appointment as heir to the throne.The ultra-conservative kingdom in June lifted a ban on women driving, but it has drawn heavy criticism for its handling of dissent.Dozens of dissidents have been arrested including intellectuals and Islamic preachers.
Analysis-Settler leaders insist industrial zone shooting won’t sink isle of coexistence-While some right-wing activists respond to Barkan terror attack with calls to halt Palestinian employment at Israeli factories, most local leaders double down on its importance-By Jacob Magid-OCT 8,18
Settler leaders have long touted West Bank industrial zones as beacons of coexistence, where Israelis hire and work alongside Palestinians, providing them with a decent livelihood.But the gunning down of two Israelis by their Palestinian coworker at the Barkan Industrial Park on Sunday morning threatened to chip away at that narrative, forcing supporters of such partnership to defend the practice.“We will not let this break us,” said Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan, minutes after the terror attack that claimed the lives of 28-year-old Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and 35-year-old Ziv Hajbi.“The blessed coexistence that takes place here every day will continue,” he added.Just last month, Dagan boasted to members of the European Union Parliament in Brussels about Barkan in particular, where roughly half of the 7,200 workers at the site’s 164 factories k are Palestinian, and half are Jewish.“There has never been a terror attack there,” he said at the time. (In 2015, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli security guards at the gate of a different northern West Bank industrial zone neighboring Barkan).Even after Sunday’s shooting, Dagan’s stance remained firm. Similarly, not a single elected Israeli official in the West Bank took a public position against the hiring of Palestinians at industrial zones.The sites are frequently mentioned by politicians on the right in their rebuttals of peace plans seeking Israeli separation from the West Bank’s roughly 3 million Palestinians.According to the Yesha settlement umbrella council, there are 20 industrial zones throughout the West Bank that employ roughly 28,000 workers, of whom some 18,000 are Palestinian.Supporters of the industrial zones argue that the broad satisfaction of workers there demonstrates that Palestinians are more interested in earning respectable wages than statehood, and that efforts to divide Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank will only leave the latter population without a source of a respectable income.Opponents of the settlement movement counter the claim by arguing that Israeli limits on Palestinian businesses in the West Bank stagnate economic growth to the point where many Palestinian workers are forced to rely on Israeli industrial zones for viable economic wages.In the current government, Dagan and other settler leaders have found a receptive audience to their cause, which has led to the investment of millions of shekels in industrial zones over the Green Line.This was also evident after Sunday’s attack, when Economic Minister Eli Cohen arrived at Barkan and pledged to expand the industrial zone by 150 dunam (37 acres), calling the coexistence that they help instill a “security and economic interest.”-Far-right, left wing activists in rare agreement-But while no elected officials took the more hawkish stance against the hiring of Palestinian workers, a number of far-right settler personalities voiced frustration over the policy, calling for levels of separation that those on the opposite side of the political spectrum have long backed.Former director of the Peace Now settlement watchdog Yariv Oppenheimer tweeted, “There is no coexistence in the settlements. There is an occupier and the occupied. Boss and employees. Whoever thinks this is a recipe for peace is mistaken.”Of all people, Oppenheimer’s words appeared to have resonated with Tzvi Succot, the director of the far-right Otzma Yehudit organization, who retweeted the left-wing activist’s post, saying that Oppenheimer “is one who gets [it].”Far-right activist-attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, meanwhile, called Dagan’s comments in favor of coexistence following the attack “mistaken and misleading.”“That ‘coexistence’ blew up in Barkan today and only Yossi along with a handful of people in the Eztion Bloc continue to mislead themselves and the public,” Ben Gvir said.He called on settlement heads to conduct a “serious a follow-up” and demand that the Palestinian workers “pronounce their loyalty to the Jewish state.”In a conversation with The Times of Israel, Ben Gvir acknowledged that no other regional or local council chairman in the West Bank was taking a similar stance, but he suggested that their motivations were economic, given that the industrial zones draw in significant cash to their settlements.Moreover, the Hebron resident claimed that many others in the settlement movement held similar views.Yael Ben Yashar, who is running for mayor in the central West Bank settlement of Beit El toed the line set by other settler leaders and defended the employment of Palestinians in the West Bank.“The majority of them are interested in simply making a living,” she said, rejecting the implication that the actions of the Barkan terrorist meant all Palestinians should no banned from Israeli industrial zones.At the same time, she acknowledged that patience for such projects may be running thin.“We would like to live in coexistence, but every time, the other side breaks our trust,” the candidate and former municipal official said.That “trust” that Ben Yashar and other settler leaders have been willing to offer Palestinians at the economic level has never been elevated to the political level.David Ha’ivri, who works with the Samaria Regional to bring hundreds of international groups to the northern West Bank on tours that regularly stop at Barkan, explained that the issue is “not with trusting the Palestinian people but rather their leadership in the corrupt Palestinian Authority.”“There will not be a Palestinian state… and the way to dispel that dream is to allow their economic situation to improve,” argued Beit Aryeh local council chairman Avi Na’im, who suggested that national aspirations and economic ones were inversely connected.‘Palestinian employees are more distraught… than the Israelis’As for those that will most directly impacted by the Barkan attack, there appeared to be widespread consensus among the industrial zone employees — both Jews and Arabs — against altering the status quo there.“We are shocked, but not afraid,” said Yohan Cohen, a Barkan worker and resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Bruchin. “I will continue coming to work here at the industrial zone everyday with my Israeli and Palestinian friends.”Amjad Mughar, who has been working at Barkan for the past three years, expressed concern over what he expected to be an increase in daily security checks of Palestinian workers, as well as the possibility that he might lose his work permit altogether.“I don’t know how I will be able to support my six kids without this job. I really don’t know why someone would do something like this,” Mughar added.According to Moshe Levran, who works as an export manager at Twitto Plus, one of the Barkan factories, “The Palestinian employees are more distraught over the incident than the Israelis ones are.”“I sat them down and explained to them that they might go through an extra security check every day, but that will die down eventually and things will return to normal,” he said.For now, settler leaders are standing behind what has become a go-to talking point in selling Israeli presence in the West Bank.Even before the two victims were pronounced dead, Dagan pointed out that Sunday’s attack had been the first one at Barkan since the site was established in 1982.With defense officials currently under the assumption that the 23-year-old assailant, Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alowa, acted as a “lone wolf,” supporters of continued Israeli-Palestinian economic cooperation in the West Bank appear to have little to worry about.But if copy-cats spring up, calls for the type of separation that is seen in West Bank residential areas will likely overpower those calling for coexistence at the workplace.
IDF fires at Gazans launching incendiary balloons at Israel-No word on casualties in strike near Rafah; balloon with bomb affixed lands on kibbutz fence; 5 fires rage in other Israeli communities due to arson attacks-By TOI staff and Judah Ari Gross-OCT 8,18
An Israeli aircraft on Sunday evening carried out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip against a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons towards Israel, the army said.Palestinians said the strike took place near the city of Rafah. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.Gazans frequently launch incendiary kites and balloons into Israel, sparking fires that have destroyed forests, burned crops, and killed livestock. Thousands of acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials. Some balloons have carried improvised explosive devices.Earlier on Sunday, Channel 10 news reported that a bomb was found attached to a balloon that landed near the fence of a kibbutz in southern Israel. It was defused by sappers.Firefighters have also worked to extinguish five blazes caused by an incendiary balloons near Israeli towns along the Gaza Strip since Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services said.On Saturday evening, a huge fire erupted at Moshav Ein Habesor in southern Israel, apparently due to an incendiary device launched from Gaza. Farmers, firefighters, and security officers worked together to stop the flames from reaching nearby greenhouses, the Ynet news site reported.A spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Services said that in total on Saturday firefighters extinguished seven blazes near Israeli towns along the border caused by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza.Also Saturday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman ordered Gaza’s fishing zones restricted, due to the escalation of border violence along the southern frontier. The fishing zone was curtailed from nine to six nautical miles, the Defense Ministry said, following deliberations between Liberman and defense officials.Three Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were reported killed and dozens injured, as some 20,000 Palestinians took part in violent clashes Friday along the Gaza border, throwing hand grenades and trying to breach the barrier. During the riots, the army said Israeli aircraft struck two Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip after Palestinians threw grenades and explosive devices at Israeli troops.The large-scale protests came as Israel signaled it was rapidly losing patience and willing to go to war to stop the violence, while Gaza’s Hamas rulers vowed to push on with the riots.Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both warned that Israel could take more drastic action in response to the riots and attacks, now that the Jewish Holiday period was over.Border riots, dubbed the “Great March of Return,” have increased dramatically in recent weeks. They began as weekly events from late March through the summer, but appeared to slow as Hamas entered indirect talks with Israel aimed at a ceasefire.As these talks have stalled, Hamas has increased the pace of rioting and demonstrations against Israel, and created new units tasked with sustaining tensions along the border fence including during nighttime and early morning hours.Agencies contributed to this report.
Deputy minister lashes EU over response to West Bank terror attack-‘Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?’ suggests Michael Oren after Palestinian fatally shoots two Israelis-By TOI staff-OCT 8,18
Michael Oren, deputy minister of diplomacy, on Sunday slammed the European Union over its response to a deadly terror attack in the West Bank, suggesting European nations back the “motivations” of the Palestinian killer.“EU again condemns terrorist murders of innocent Israelis by saying ‘violence can never be condoned,'” tweeted Oren, a former ambassador to the US and a current Kulanu coalition lawmaker.“The EU never says that when terrorists kill Europeans,” he added. “Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?”Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, a married mother of a baby, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three, were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman at the Barkan Industrial Park near the settlement-city of Ariel earlier in the day.EU again condemns terrorist murders of innocent Israelis by saying “violence can never be condoned.” The EU never says that when terrorists kill Europeans. Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) October 7, 2018-Oren was reacting to a tweet from Emanuele Giaufret, the EU’s ambassador to Israel.“Following the developing news on the attack in Barkan industrial area in the West Bank this morning,” the EU ambassador wrote. “My condolences to the families of the victims. May the perpetrator be brought to justice. Violence can never be condoned.”The suspect, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from the northern West Bank, entered a factory where he was employed in the Barkan Industrial Park shortly before 8 a.m, armed with a locally produced Carlo-style submachine gun, according to army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.Inside, he tied up and shot dead Yehezkel at close range, as well as killing Hajbi and wounding a third victim, according to eyewitnesses.After the attack the suspect fled the scene, still armed with the submachine gun, the military said.The IDF would not release the suspect’s name, but said he was from the northern West Bank village of Shuweika, near Tulkarem. According to the IDF, the suspect had no history of terrorist activities and was not tied to any terror groups, though several of them applauded his actions.Earlier in the day, he had posted on his Facebook page that he was “waiting for [Allah].” A television report said he had left a suicide note with a friend several days ago.The businesses in the Barkan Industrial Park, located near Ariel, employ some 8,000 people, approximately half of them Israelis and the other half Palestinians.
Interpol says it received resignation of missing chief, appoints replacement-China says Meng Hongwei, who disappeared on September 25, is under investigation for possible criminal activity-By Ben Dooley, Daniel Abelous and Pierre Pratabuy-OCT 8,18
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The international police organization Interpol announced Sunday that it has received the resignation of its Chinese chief Meng Hongwei, who has been missing since September 25 and is suspected by Beijing of “violating the law.”Meng has resigned “with immediate effect” and Senior Vice President Kim Jong Yang of South Korea has become acting president, Interpol said in a statement.China said Monday the president of Interpol, who vanished after returning to his homeland, was under investigation for possible criminal activity as his wife voiced concern for his life after he sent her a final text message with a knife emoji.Beijing had remained tight-lipped about the fate of Hongwei, who is also China’s vice minister for public security, since his disappearance was disclosed by French officials on Friday.The National Supervisory Commission, which handles corruption cases involving public servants, broke the official silence early Monday, saying in a one-line statement that Meng “is currently under investigation on suspicion of violating the law.”It is the latest high-profile disappearance in China, where a number of top government officials, billionaire business magnates and even an A-list celebrity have vanished for weeks or months at a time.When — or if — they reappear, it is often in court.Meng, the first Chinese president of Interpol, was last heard from on September 25 as he left Lyon — where the international police organization is based — for China.The agency’s secretary general Juergen Stock, who oversees day-to-day operations, had said Saturday that it was seeking “clarification” on his whereabouts from Chinese authorities.French police had opened an investigation into Meng’s disappearance last week, according to a source close to the inquiry.Meng, 64, had lived with his wife and two children in France since being elected Interpol president in 2016.Speaking to reporters in France on Sunday, Meng’s wife Grace said she had received a message from his phone containing a knife emoji before his disappearance.“This matter belongs to the international community,” she told a press conference.That day, his wife said he sent a message telling her to “wait for my call,” before sending the emoji signifying danger.“I’m not sure what has happened to him,” she told reporters before the anti-graft commission issued its statement.Later, upon learning about the announcement from Chinese authorities, she told AFP that her husband’s case will be under the watch of “international law and international public opinion,” describing the situation as “political ruin.”China’s recently established National Supervisory Commission holds sweeping powers to investigate the country’s public servants with few requirements for transparency.Although the commission did not detail the allegations against Meng, its mandate is to investigate corruption cases as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign.Some critics of the effort — which has punished more than one million officials — say it also functions as a tool for Xi to eliminate his political rivals.Meng rose up the ranks of the country’s domestic security apparatus when it was under the leadership of Zhou Yongkang, a rival to Xi and the highest-ranking official to be brought down on corruption charges.Zhou — who was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 — was subsequently accused of conspiring to seize state power and authorities have continued working to root out his influence.He appointed Meng vice security minister in 2004.In that role, Meng has been entrusted with a number of sensitive portfolios, including the country’s counter-terrorism division, and he was in charge of the response to several major incidents in China’s fractious western region of Xinjiang.Critics of Meng’s 2016 election to Interpol’s presidency said he would use the position to help China target dissidents abroad under the guise of pursuing corrupt officials.Interpol has downplayed the concerns, saying the president has little influence over the organization’s day-to-day operations, which are handled by secretary general Stock, a German.The Chinese effort to track down corrupt officials abroad, known as Operation Fox Hunt, has led to claims in some countries that Chinese law-enforcement agents have been operating covertly on their soil without the approval or consent of local authorities.China currently has 44 outstanding red notices, mostly related to murder, intentional injury and drug smuggling, according to Interpol’s web site.During Meng’s tenure, Interpol issued a red notice for fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who threatened to reveal corruption at the country’s highest levels.Authorities in China and Hong Kong have accused Guo, a real estate tycoon who resides in the United States, of laundering billions of dollars among other crimes.
Palestinian suspect in terror shooting said to have left suicide note-Friend who received the letter has reportedly been arrested as security forces investigate whether deadly Barkan attack could have been prevented-By TOI staff and Judah Ari Gross-OCT 8,18
The suspected Palestinian terrorist in Sunday’s deadly shooting attack at a West Bank industrial park left a suicide letter with a friend three days ago, according to a television report.According to Hadashot television, the friend, who worked at the same factory in the Barkan Industrial Zone, did not report the letter to the authorities. He has been arrested and Israeli security forces are investigating whether advance knowledge of the letter could have prevented the attack, the network reported.The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday declared the fatal shooting in the northern West Bank to be a “severe terror attack” and said large numbers of troops, including special forces, were involved in the search for the suspected gunman, who was still believed to be armed.Shortly before 8 a.m., the suspect, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from the northern West Bank, entered a factory where he was employed in the Barkan Industrial Park, near the Ariel settlement-city, armed with a locally produced Carlo-style submachine gun, according to army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.Inside, he tied up and shot dead a woman at close range, according to eyewitnesses, and fatally shot a man. He also shot a second woman, 54, in the stomach. She was moderately wounded and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.The woman who was killed in the attack was identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, from Rosh Ha’ayin, and the man was named as Ziv Hajbi, 35, from Rishon Lezion.After the attack, the suspect fled the scene of the attack, still armed with the submachine gun, the military said.The IDF would not release the suspect’s name, but said he was from the northern West Bank village of Shuweika, near Tulkarem.According to the IDF, the suspect had no history of terrorist activities and was not tied to any terror groups, though several of the organizations on Sunday applauded the killings.Earlier in the day, he had posted on his Facebook page that he was “waiting for [Allah].”The suspect worked at the Alon Group factory — which manufactures waste management systems — where he committed the attack, and had a legal work permit. He was acquainted with his victims, according to Conricus.He had been absent from work in the days before the shooting, but was still employed by the factory, according to the spokesperson, who refuted earlier media reports that he had been fired.The suspect’s Carlo submachine gun reportedly jammed during his attack, preventing him from firing additional shots. That type of locally produced firearm, which is known to be highly inaccurate and prone to malfunctions, has been tied to a number of terror attacks in recent years, owing to its low price and wide availability in the West Bank.“He has not yet been apprehended. We know that he is still armed and is considered dangerous,” Conricus said. “We do not know if he plans to carry out another terror attack or if he is just fleeing, but we assume he is still dangerous.”The IDF, Shin Bet security service and Israel Police, including special forces units, launched a manhunt for the gunman, and deployed additional troops throughout the West Bank in order to prevent “copycat” incidents — a common phenomenon after high-profile terror attacks.“We know that there were other factors involved, that it wasn’t a pure-and-simple terror attack,” Conricus said, referring to speculation that the attack was the action of a disgruntled worker.“But we know from various sources, which we cannot share today but may in the future, that this was a terror attack,” he said.Palestinian media reported road closures and checkpoints throughout the northern West Bank as security forces searched for the suspect.Security camera video from the scene appeared to show him fleeing after the attack, with the Carlo submachine gun in hand.The businesses in the Barkan Industrial Park, located near Ariel, employ some 8,000 people, approximately half of them Israelis and the other half Palestinians.“This is a very difficult incident. Until now there have not been any security incidents here. For decades, industrial zones have served as a bridge of coexistence,” Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan said.Shai Amichai, the director general of the industrial zone, also described the location as a good example of Israelis and Palestinians working side by side.“Both in the industrial area and in the community itself, the cooperation is fruitful,” he told the Ynet news site. “We are in a relationship of neighborliness and professional relations at the highest level. The residents feel secure in their workplace, and many forge connections outside of their place of work.“I do not know the security procedures of the zone,” added Amichai. “But there was no decrease in the number of security forces in the region, neither overt nor undercover.”The mayor of the nearby city of Ariel, Eli Shviro, told the Walla news site that “the industrial zones in which Jews and Palestinians work together are the path to coexistence in our region.”In 2015, a Palestinian stabbed and injured two security guards at the same industrial park. ards at the site shot and killed the attacker during that incident.
20 die when limo on way to birthday party blows stop sign-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — A limousine on its way to a birthday party blew a stop sign at the end of a highway, killing all 18 people in the limo and two pedestrians in the deadliest U.S. transportation accident in almost a decade, officials and a relative of one of the victims said Sunday.The collision turned a relaxed Saturday afternoon into chaos at an upstate New York spot popular with tourists taking in the fall foliage. An aunt of one of the victims in the vehicle said the group had been travelling to a birthday celebration.The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine was travelling southwest on Route 30 in Schoharie, about 170 miles (270 kilometres ) north of New York City around 2 p.m. when it failed to stop at a T-junction with state Route 30A, State Police First Deputy Superintendent Christopher Fiore said at a news conference in Latham, New York.It went across the road and hit an unoccupied SUV parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing the driver and 17 passengers, as well as two people outside the vehicle.The crash "sounded like an explosion," said Linda Riley, of nearby Schenectady, who was on a shopping trip with her sisters and had been in their parked car at the time at the store.When she got out of her vehicle, she saw a body on the ground, she said. People started screaming.The store manager, Jessica Kirby, told The New York Times that the limo was coming down a hill at "probably over 60 mph."Authorities said autopsies were being performed and didn't release names of victims or speculate on what caused the limo to run the stop sign. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.Speaking through tears, Valerie Abeling, said her 34-year-old niece Erin Vertucci was among the victims, along with her newlywed husband, 30-year-old Shane McGowan. They were on their way to a friend's birthday party, she said; her own daughter had been invited along but couldn't go."She was a beautiful, sweet soul; he was too," Abeling said.The couple was married at a "beautiful wedding" in June at a venue in upstate New York, Abeling said. "They had everything going for them."Vertucci, who grew up in Amsterdam, New York, was an administrative assistant at St. Mary's Healthcare in Amsterdam, Abeling said.At the news conference, Fiore didn't comment on speed, or whether the occupants of the vehicle had been wearing seat belts."This is one of the biggest losses of life that we've seen in a long, long time," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the news conference.It's the deadliest transportation accident since February 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people, Sumwalt said.And it appears to be the deadliest land-vehicle accident since a bus ferrying nursing home patients away from Hurricane Rita caught fire in Texas 2005, killing 23.There was no information Sunday on the limousine, its origin or its integrity. But safety issues on such vehicles have arisen before, most notably after a wreck on Long Island in July 2015 in which four women on a winery tour were killed.They were in a Lincoln Town Car that had been cut apart and rebuilt in a stretch configuration to accommodate more passengers. The limousine was trying to make a U-turn and was struck by a pickup.A grand jury found that vehicles converted into stretch limousines often don't have safety measures including side-impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits. That grand jury called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to assemble a task force on limousine safety.Limousines built in factories are already required to meet stringent safety regulations, but when cars are converted into limos, safety features are sometimes removed, leading to gaps in safety protocols, the grand jury wrote.On Sunday, Cuomo released a statement saying, "My heart breaks for the 20 people who lost their lives in this horrific accident on Saturday in Schoharie. I commend the first responders who arrived on the scene and worked through the night to help. State police are working with federal and local authorities to investigate the crash, and I have directed state agencies to provide every resource necessary to aid in this investigation and determine what led to this tragedy."___Salsberg reported from Boston. Associated Press writers John Kekis in Latham, New York, and David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.Michael Hill And Bob Salsberg, The Associated Press.
Romanian constitutional ban on same sex marriage fails on low vote turnout-[Reuters]-By Luiza Ilie-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A referendum to change Romania's constitution to prevent same sex couples from securing the right to marry failed to draw enough voters to validate the result on Sunday, after a campaign that led to a rise in hate speech against the gay community.The vote has also been seen as popularity test of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) that supported the change and whose attempts to weaken anti-corruption legislation have drawn criticism from the European Union's executive.Data from the national election bureau showed voter turnout stood at 20.4 percent when the polls closed at 1800 GMT, below the 30 percent required for it to be valid.The two-day referendum, which cost $40 million, aimed to change the constitution to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman from the current gender-neutral "spouses."Religiously conservative Romania, which decriminalized homosexuality in 2001 decades after neighboring countries, bars marriage and civil partnerships for same sex couples.Civil society group Coalition for the Family secured 3 million signatures to trigger the vote aimed at preventing gay couples winning the right to marry in the future.The Coalition received backing from the Orthodox Church and other religions as well as all but one parliamentary parties."Romanians rejected being divided and hating each other, it is a victory for Romanian democracy and moreover, Romanians rejected the involvement of the Orthodox Church in the state’s secular affairs," said Vlad Viski of LGBT rights group MozaiQ."We believe politicians must now legalize civil partnerships for same sex couples," he said at a party to celebrate the outcome.Dozens of human rights groups had said a successful referendum would embolden further attempts to chip away at the rights of minority groups and push Romania onto a populist, authoritarian track.They have encouraged people to boycott the ballot, with several companies and popular musicians and artists following. A library chain even offered a book discount over the weekend for those who wanted to stay in and read rather than vote.In villages across the country, people were quoted saying they had better things to do, such as canning food and making wine."The PSD staked everything on the referendum, by associating with it and trying to capitalize on it," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University."What remains is the fact that many citizens have associated the initiative with the PSD and that is why they boycotted it. Either way, it is a major sanction against the government."Senior PSD member Codrin Stefanescu accused opposition parties and centrist President Klaus Iohannis of misinforming Romanians in the run-up to the vote.PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, whose appeal against a criminal conviction in an abuse of office case starts on Monday, told reporters after voting "Yes" to the change on Saturday that Romanians had to decide the kind of country they wanted."We all know that for years we’ve been told others know what is best for us better than we do. I believe it is time we decide what kind of society and country we want to have and how we want to live in our country," Dragnea said.Days before the vote, the government relaxed anti-fraud monitoring and limited options for challenging the result.Romania ranks 25th out of 28 EU states based on legislation, hate speech and discrimination against LGBT people, an annual study by ILGA-Europe, an umbrella organization advocating equality, showed.(Editing by Edmund Blair)
Cosby lawyers ask court to void conviction, prison sentence-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby's lawyers have asked a Pennsylvania court to overturn the actor's conviction and three- to 10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case.The defence motion argued that trial Judge Steven O'Neill erred in declaring Cosby a sexually violent predator who must be imprisoned to protect the community. Lawyers called the sentence more punitive than necessary, given the standard two- to three-year guideline range for the crime and the fact Cosby is 81 and blind.They also said the trial evidence never proved the encounter with accuser Andrea Constand took place in 2004, and not 2003, or that Cosby was arrested within the 12-year time limit.Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, 2015, and was convicted at a second trial this April. He has been in a state prison near Philadelphia since the Sept. 25 sentencing, when the judge refused to let him stay out on $1 million bail pending appeal. Given his fame, wealth and use of drugs to molest the accuser, the judge said, Cosby could remain a threat to other women.The defence motion said O'Neill improperly considered the trial testimony of five other accusers in sentencing Cosby, instead of limiting that "prior bad act" testimony to the question of his guilt or innocence. O'Neill, in explaining the sentence in court, told Cosby he considered "voices from the past, your past," and that he "heard their voices loud and clear," the defence said.The lawyers also challenged the state's sex offender laws, which have been revised several times amid challenges they are unconstitutionally vague. The law requires judges to find that a sexually violent predator has a "mental abnormality," a term they said has no legal or psychological meaning, yet subjects defendants to lifetime counselling and police registration.The defence motion, dated Friday, was posted to a public court docket in the case over the weekend. Kate Delano, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, said the office will file a response.The motion was filed by lawyer Peter Goldberger, a top appellate lawyer in the region, and Joseph P. Green Jr., who handled Cosby's sentencing after more than a dozen other lawyers on the case had come and gone. A former appellate lawyer on the case is suing Cosby over what he called more than $50,000 in unpaid bills.The defence also complained that an audio recording played to jurors of a 2005 conversation between Cosby and Gianna Constand, the mother of accuser Andrea Constand, was "not authentic." They said they did not make the discovery until an expert review after the trial.District Attorney Kevin Steele has dismissed that as a legitimate appeal issue, saying it's been widely known that Gianna Constand started her recorder after the call began. She had called Cosby to get answers about what happened to her daughter after Andrea Constand disclosed the assault a year later. The family went to police, who suggested they try to record Cosby.During the call, Cosby acknowledged engaging in "digital penetration" after giving her daughter pills he would not identify, and offered money for Andrea to attend graduate school, Gianna Constand testified."If that's what they've got, it's beyond a Hail Mary," Steele said at the sentencing, as Cosby's lawyers sought to keep Cosby free on bail over the tape recording. O'Neill instead had Cosby led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.Maryclaire Dale, The Associated Press.
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
Turkey probes claims that Saudis killed journalist-Police believe Jamal Khashoggi was murdered while visiting Istanbul consulate, a claim Riyadh denies; Erdogan says he’s awaiting results of investigation-By Ezzedine SAID and Luana Sarmini-Buonaccorsi-OCT 8,18
ISTANBUL (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he was awaiting the results of an investigation into the disappearance of a Saudi journalist, who a government source said was killed at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, 59, vanished after an appointment with Saudi officials on Tuesday.A Turkish government source told AFP that police believed Khashoggi was killed at the Istanbul consulate, which Riyadh strongly denied.Khashoggi had gone to the consulate to obtain documents needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.Erdogan said he would wait for the outcome of the current investigation before taking a decision.“I am following the (issue) and we will inform the world whatever the outcome” of the official probe, the president told reporters in Ankara.“God willing, we will not be faced with a situation we do not want.”He said police were examining CCTV footage of entrances and exits at the consulate and Istanbul airport.Police said earlier that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived in Istanbul on two flights on Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as Khashoggi.“Based on their initial findings, the police believe that the journalist was killed by a team especially sent to Istanbul and who left the same day,” the government source told AFP on Saturday.The journalist went to the building but “did not come back out,” police were quoted as saying by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.The consulate rejected the claims that the journalist was killed there as “baseless,” in a Twitter message.It said a Saudi team was in Turkey to investigate the disappearance.The journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter she was “waiting for an official confirmation from the Turkish government” before she could believe the claims.Khashoggi has been critical of some of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies and Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.His criticisms appeared in both the Arab and Western press.The former government adviser, who turns 60 on October 13, has lived in the United States since last year to avoid possible arrest.Yasin Aktay, an official in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who was close to the journalist, said Khashoggi had made an appointment in advance with the consulate and called to check the documents were ready.“His friends had warned him, ‘Don’t go there, it is not safe,’ but he said they could not do anything to him in Turkey,” said Aktay.He added that he still hoped the reports of his friend’s death were untrue.‘Assault on press freedom’Prince Mohammed said in an interview published by Bloomberg on Friday that the journalist had left the consulate and Turkish authorities could search the building, which is Saudi sovereign territory.Turkey’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassador over the issue.Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Twitter that if reports of his death were confirmed, “this would constitute a horrific, utterly deplorable, and absolutely unacceptable assault on press freedom.”Fred Hiatt, the director of the Washington Post’s editorial page, said if the reports were true “it is a monstrous and unfathomable act.”“Jamal was — or, as we hope, is — a committed, courageous journalist. He writes out of a sense of love for his country and deep faith in human dignity and freedom,” Hiatt said in a statement on the US newspaper’s website.A European Commission spokesperson said in a statement that Brussels was “closely” following the case, adding it was “awaiting clarifications from the Saudi authorities on the fate of Mr Khashoggi.”Khashoggi fled from Saudi Arabia in September 2017, months after Prince Mohammed was appointed heir to the throne.The journalist said he had been banned from writing in the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, owned by Saudi prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud, over his defense of the Muslim Brotherhood which Riyadh has blacklisted as a terrorist organization.He has also criticized Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, where Riyadh leads a military coalition fighting alongside the government in its war with Iran-backed rebels.Saudi Arabia, which ranks 169th out of 180 on RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, has launched a modernization campaign since Prince Mohammed’s appointment as heir to the throne.The ultra-conservative kingdom in June lifted a ban on women driving, but it has drawn heavy criticism for its handling of dissent.Dozens of dissidents have been arrested including intellectuals and Islamic preachers.
Analysis-Settler leaders insist industrial zone shooting won’t sink isle of coexistence-While some right-wing activists respond to Barkan terror attack with calls to halt Palestinian employment at Israeli factories, most local leaders double down on its importance-By Jacob Magid-OCT 8,18
Settler leaders have long touted West Bank industrial zones as beacons of coexistence, where Israelis hire and work alongside Palestinians, providing them with a decent livelihood.But the gunning down of two Israelis by their Palestinian coworker at the Barkan Industrial Park on Sunday morning threatened to chip away at that narrative, forcing supporters of such partnership to defend the practice.“We will not let this break us,” said Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan, minutes after the terror attack that claimed the lives of 28-year-old Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and 35-year-old Ziv Hajbi.“The blessed coexistence that takes place here every day will continue,” he added.Just last month, Dagan boasted to members of the European Union Parliament in Brussels about Barkan in particular, where roughly half of the 7,200 workers at the site’s 164 factories k are Palestinian, and half are Jewish.“There has never been a terror attack there,” he said at the time. (In 2015, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli security guards at the gate of a different northern West Bank industrial zone neighboring Barkan).Even after Sunday’s shooting, Dagan’s stance remained firm. Similarly, not a single elected Israeli official in the West Bank took a public position against the hiring of Palestinians at industrial zones.The sites are frequently mentioned by politicians on the right in their rebuttals of peace plans seeking Israeli separation from the West Bank’s roughly 3 million Palestinians.According to the Yesha settlement umbrella council, there are 20 industrial zones throughout the West Bank that employ roughly 28,000 workers, of whom some 18,000 are Palestinian.Supporters of the industrial zones argue that the broad satisfaction of workers there demonstrates that Palestinians are more interested in earning respectable wages than statehood, and that efforts to divide Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank will only leave the latter population without a source of a respectable income.Opponents of the settlement movement counter the claim by arguing that Israeli limits on Palestinian businesses in the West Bank stagnate economic growth to the point where many Palestinian workers are forced to rely on Israeli industrial zones for viable economic wages.In the current government, Dagan and other settler leaders have found a receptive audience to their cause, which has led to the investment of millions of shekels in industrial zones over the Green Line.This was also evident after Sunday’s attack, when Economic Minister Eli Cohen arrived at Barkan and pledged to expand the industrial zone by 150 dunam (37 acres), calling the coexistence that they help instill a “security and economic interest.”-Far-right, left wing activists in rare agreement-But while no elected officials took the more hawkish stance against the hiring of Palestinian workers, a number of far-right settler personalities voiced frustration over the policy, calling for levels of separation that those on the opposite side of the political spectrum have long backed.Former director of the Peace Now settlement watchdog Yariv Oppenheimer tweeted, “There is no coexistence in the settlements. There is an occupier and the occupied. Boss and employees. Whoever thinks this is a recipe for peace is mistaken.”Of all people, Oppenheimer’s words appeared to have resonated with Tzvi Succot, the director of the far-right Otzma Yehudit organization, who retweeted the left-wing activist’s post, saying that Oppenheimer “is one who gets [it].”Far-right activist-attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, meanwhile, called Dagan’s comments in favor of coexistence following the attack “mistaken and misleading.”“That ‘coexistence’ blew up in Barkan today and only Yossi along with a handful of people in the Eztion Bloc continue to mislead themselves and the public,” Ben Gvir said.He called on settlement heads to conduct a “serious a follow-up” and demand that the Palestinian workers “pronounce their loyalty to the Jewish state.”In a conversation with The Times of Israel, Ben Gvir acknowledged that no other regional or local council chairman in the West Bank was taking a similar stance, but he suggested that their motivations were economic, given that the industrial zones draw in significant cash to their settlements.Moreover, the Hebron resident claimed that many others in the settlement movement held similar views.Yael Ben Yashar, who is running for mayor in the central West Bank settlement of Beit El toed the line set by other settler leaders and defended the employment of Palestinians in the West Bank.“The majority of them are interested in simply making a living,” she said, rejecting the implication that the actions of the Barkan terrorist meant all Palestinians should no banned from Israeli industrial zones.At the same time, she acknowledged that patience for such projects may be running thin.“We would like to live in coexistence, but every time, the other side breaks our trust,” the candidate and former municipal official said.That “trust” that Ben Yashar and other settler leaders have been willing to offer Palestinians at the economic level has never been elevated to the political level.David Ha’ivri, who works with the Samaria Regional to bring hundreds of international groups to the northern West Bank on tours that regularly stop at Barkan, explained that the issue is “not with trusting the Palestinian people but rather their leadership in the corrupt Palestinian Authority.”“There will not be a Palestinian state… and the way to dispel that dream is to allow their economic situation to improve,” argued Beit Aryeh local council chairman Avi Na’im, who suggested that national aspirations and economic ones were inversely connected.‘Palestinian employees are more distraught… than the Israelis’As for those that will most directly impacted by the Barkan attack, there appeared to be widespread consensus among the industrial zone employees — both Jews and Arabs — against altering the status quo there.“We are shocked, but not afraid,” said Yohan Cohen, a Barkan worker and resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Bruchin. “I will continue coming to work here at the industrial zone everyday with my Israeli and Palestinian friends.”Amjad Mughar, who has been working at Barkan for the past three years, expressed concern over what he expected to be an increase in daily security checks of Palestinian workers, as well as the possibility that he might lose his work permit altogether.“I don’t know how I will be able to support my six kids without this job. I really don’t know why someone would do something like this,” Mughar added.According to Moshe Levran, who works as an export manager at Twitto Plus, one of the Barkan factories, “The Palestinian employees are more distraught over the incident than the Israelis ones are.”“I sat them down and explained to them that they might go through an extra security check every day, but that will die down eventually and things will return to normal,” he said.For now, settler leaders are standing behind what has become a go-to talking point in selling Israeli presence in the West Bank.Even before the two victims were pronounced dead, Dagan pointed out that Sunday’s attack had been the first one at Barkan since the site was established in 1982.With defense officials currently under the assumption that the 23-year-old assailant, Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alowa, acted as a “lone wolf,” supporters of continued Israeli-Palestinian economic cooperation in the West Bank appear to have little to worry about.But if copy-cats spring up, calls for the type of separation that is seen in West Bank residential areas will likely overpower those calling for coexistence at the workplace.
IDF fires at Gazans launching incendiary balloons at Israel-No word on casualties in strike near Rafah; balloon with bomb affixed lands on kibbutz fence; 5 fires rage in other Israeli communities due to arson attacks-By TOI staff and Judah Ari Gross-OCT 8,18
An Israeli aircraft on Sunday evening carried out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip against a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons towards Israel, the army said.Palestinians said the strike took place near the city of Rafah. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.Gazans frequently launch incendiary kites and balloons into Israel, sparking fires that have destroyed forests, burned crops, and killed livestock. Thousands of acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials. Some balloons have carried improvised explosive devices.Earlier on Sunday, Channel 10 news reported that a bomb was found attached to a balloon that landed near the fence of a kibbutz in southern Israel. It was defused by sappers.Firefighters have also worked to extinguish five blazes caused by an incendiary balloons near Israeli towns along the Gaza Strip since Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services said.On Saturday evening, a huge fire erupted at Moshav Ein Habesor in southern Israel, apparently due to an incendiary device launched from Gaza. Farmers, firefighters, and security officers worked together to stop the flames from reaching nearby greenhouses, the Ynet news site reported.A spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Services said that in total on Saturday firefighters extinguished seven blazes near Israeli towns along the border caused by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza.Also Saturday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman ordered Gaza’s fishing zones restricted, due to the escalation of border violence along the southern frontier. The fishing zone was curtailed from nine to six nautical miles, the Defense Ministry said, following deliberations between Liberman and defense officials.Three Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were reported killed and dozens injured, as some 20,000 Palestinians took part in violent clashes Friday along the Gaza border, throwing hand grenades and trying to breach the barrier. During the riots, the army said Israeli aircraft struck two Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip after Palestinians threw grenades and explosive devices at Israeli troops.The large-scale protests came as Israel signaled it was rapidly losing patience and willing to go to war to stop the violence, while Gaza’s Hamas rulers vowed to push on with the riots.Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both warned that Israel could take more drastic action in response to the riots and attacks, now that the Jewish Holiday period was over.Border riots, dubbed the “Great March of Return,” have increased dramatically in recent weeks. They began as weekly events from late March through the summer, but appeared to slow as Hamas entered indirect talks with Israel aimed at a ceasefire.As these talks have stalled, Hamas has increased the pace of rioting and demonstrations against Israel, and created new units tasked with sustaining tensions along the border fence including during nighttime and early morning hours.Agencies contributed to this report.
Deputy minister lashes EU over response to West Bank terror attack-‘Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?’ suggests Michael Oren after Palestinian fatally shoots two Israelis-By TOI staff-OCT 8,18
Michael Oren, deputy minister of diplomacy, on Sunday slammed the European Union over its response to a deadly terror attack in the West Bank, suggesting European nations back the “motivations” of the Palestinian killer.“EU again condemns terrorist murders of innocent Israelis by saying ‘violence can never be condoned,'” tweeted Oren, a former ambassador to the US and a current Kulanu coalition lawmaker.“The EU never says that when terrorists kill Europeans,” he added. “Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?”Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, a married mother of a baby, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three, were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman at the Barkan Industrial Park near the settlement-city of Ariel earlier in the day.EU again condemns terrorist murders of innocent Israelis by saying “violence can never be condoned.” The EU never says that when terrorists kill Europeans. Could it be that the EU agrees with the Palestinian terrorist’s motivations just not his methods?— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) October 7, 2018-Oren was reacting to a tweet from Emanuele Giaufret, the EU’s ambassador to Israel.“Following the developing news on the attack in Barkan industrial area in the West Bank this morning,” the EU ambassador wrote. “My condolences to the families of the victims. May the perpetrator be brought to justice. Violence can never be condoned.”The suspect, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from the northern West Bank, entered a factory where he was employed in the Barkan Industrial Park shortly before 8 a.m, armed with a locally produced Carlo-style submachine gun, according to army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.Inside, he tied up and shot dead Yehezkel at close range, as well as killing Hajbi and wounding a third victim, according to eyewitnesses.After the attack the suspect fled the scene, still armed with the submachine gun, the military said.The IDF would not release the suspect’s name, but said he was from the northern West Bank village of Shuweika, near Tulkarem. According to the IDF, the suspect had no history of terrorist activities and was not tied to any terror groups, though several of them applauded his actions.Earlier in the day, he had posted on his Facebook page that he was “waiting for [Allah].” A television report said he had left a suicide note with a friend several days ago.The businesses in the Barkan Industrial Park, located near Ariel, employ some 8,000 people, approximately half of them Israelis and the other half Palestinians.
Interpol says it received resignation of missing chief, appoints replacement-China says Meng Hongwei, who disappeared on September 25, is under investigation for possible criminal activity-By Ben Dooley, Daniel Abelous and Pierre Pratabuy-OCT 8,18
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The international police organization Interpol announced Sunday that it has received the resignation of its Chinese chief Meng Hongwei, who has been missing since September 25 and is suspected by Beijing of “violating the law.”Meng has resigned “with immediate effect” and Senior Vice President Kim Jong Yang of South Korea has become acting president, Interpol said in a statement.China said Monday the president of Interpol, who vanished after returning to his homeland, was under investigation for possible criminal activity as his wife voiced concern for his life after he sent her a final text message with a knife emoji.Beijing had remained tight-lipped about the fate of Hongwei, who is also China’s vice minister for public security, since his disappearance was disclosed by French officials on Friday.The National Supervisory Commission, which handles corruption cases involving public servants, broke the official silence early Monday, saying in a one-line statement that Meng “is currently under investigation on suspicion of violating the law.”It is the latest high-profile disappearance in China, where a number of top government officials, billionaire business magnates and even an A-list celebrity have vanished for weeks or months at a time.When — or if — they reappear, it is often in court.Meng, the first Chinese president of Interpol, was last heard from on September 25 as he left Lyon — where the international police organization is based — for China.The agency’s secretary general Juergen Stock, who oversees day-to-day operations, had said Saturday that it was seeking “clarification” on his whereabouts from Chinese authorities.French police had opened an investigation into Meng’s disappearance last week, according to a source close to the inquiry.Meng, 64, had lived with his wife and two children in France since being elected Interpol president in 2016.Speaking to reporters in France on Sunday, Meng’s wife Grace said she had received a message from his phone containing a knife emoji before his disappearance.“This matter belongs to the international community,” she told a press conference.That day, his wife said he sent a message telling her to “wait for my call,” before sending the emoji signifying danger.“I’m not sure what has happened to him,” she told reporters before the anti-graft commission issued its statement.Later, upon learning about the announcement from Chinese authorities, she told AFP that her husband’s case will be under the watch of “international law and international public opinion,” describing the situation as “political ruin.”China’s recently established National Supervisory Commission holds sweeping powers to investigate the country’s public servants with few requirements for transparency.Although the commission did not detail the allegations against Meng, its mandate is to investigate corruption cases as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign.Some critics of the effort — which has punished more than one million officials — say it also functions as a tool for Xi to eliminate his political rivals.Meng rose up the ranks of the country’s domestic security apparatus when it was under the leadership of Zhou Yongkang, a rival to Xi and the highest-ranking official to be brought down on corruption charges.Zhou — who was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 — was subsequently accused of conspiring to seize state power and authorities have continued working to root out his influence.He appointed Meng vice security minister in 2004.In that role, Meng has been entrusted with a number of sensitive portfolios, including the country’s counter-terrorism division, and he was in charge of the response to several major incidents in China’s fractious western region of Xinjiang.Critics of Meng’s 2016 election to Interpol’s presidency said he would use the position to help China target dissidents abroad under the guise of pursuing corrupt officials.Interpol has downplayed the concerns, saying the president has little influence over the organization’s day-to-day operations, which are handled by secretary general Stock, a German.The Chinese effort to track down corrupt officials abroad, known as Operation Fox Hunt, has led to claims in some countries that Chinese law-enforcement agents have been operating covertly on their soil without the approval or consent of local authorities.China currently has 44 outstanding red notices, mostly related to murder, intentional injury and drug smuggling, according to Interpol’s web site.During Meng’s tenure, Interpol issued a red notice for fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who threatened to reveal corruption at the country’s highest levels.Authorities in China and Hong Kong have accused Guo, a real estate tycoon who resides in the United States, of laundering billions of dollars among other crimes.
Palestinian suspect in terror shooting said to have left suicide note-Friend who received the letter has reportedly been arrested as security forces investigate whether deadly Barkan attack could have been prevented-By TOI staff and Judah Ari Gross-OCT 8,18
The suspected Palestinian terrorist in Sunday’s deadly shooting attack at a West Bank industrial park left a suicide letter with a friend three days ago, according to a television report.According to Hadashot television, the friend, who worked at the same factory in the Barkan Industrial Zone, did not report the letter to the authorities. He has been arrested and Israeli security forces are investigating whether advance knowledge of the letter could have prevented the attack, the network reported.The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday declared the fatal shooting in the northern West Bank to be a “severe terror attack” and said large numbers of troops, including special forces, were involved in the search for the suspected gunman, who was still believed to be armed.Shortly before 8 a.m., the suspect, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from the northern West Bank, entered a factory where he was employed in the Barkan Industrial Park, near the Ariel settlement-city, armed with a locally produced Carlo-style submachine gun, according to army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.Inside, he tied up and shot dead a woman at close range, according to eyewitnesses, and fatally shot a man. He also shot a second woman, 54, in the stomach. She was moderately wounded and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.The woman who was killed in the attack was identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, from Rosh Ha’ayin, and the man was named as Ziv Hajbi, 35, from Rishon Lezion.After the attack, the suspect fled the scene of the attack, still armed with the submachine gun, the military said.The IDF would not release the suspect’s name, but said he was from the northern West Bank village of Shuweika, near Tulkarem.According to the IDF, the suspect had no history of terrorist activities and was not tied to any terror groups, though several of the organizations on Sunday applauded the killings.Earlier in the day, he had posted on his Facebook page that he was “waiting for [Allah].”The suspect worked at the Alon Group factory — which manufactures waste management systems — where he committed the attack, and had a legal work permit. He was acquainted with his victims, according to Conricus.He had been absent from work in the days before the shooting, but was still employed by the factory, according to the spokesperson, who refuted earlier media reports that he had been fired.The suspect’s Carlo submachine gun reportedly jammed during his attack, preventing him from firing additional shots. That type of locally produced firearm, which is known to be highly inaccurate and prone to malfunctions, has been tied to a number of terror attacks in recent years, owing to its low price and wide availability in the West Bank.“He has not yet been apprehended. We know that he is still armed and is considered dangerous,” Conricus said. “We do not know if he plans to carry out another terror attack or if he is just fleeing, but we assume he is still dangerous.”The IDF, Shin Bet security service and Israel Police, including special forces units, launched a manhunt for the gunman, and deployed additional troops throughout the West Bank in order to prevent “copycat” incidents — a common phenomenon after high-profile terror attacks.“We know that there were other factors involved, that it wasn’t a pure-and-simple terror attack,” Conricus said, referring to speculation that the attack was the action of a disgruntled worker.“But we know from various sources, which we cannot share today but may in the future, that this was a terror attack,” he said.Palestinian media reported road closures and checkpoints throughout the northern West Bank as security forces searched for the suspect.Security camera video from the scene appeared to show him fleeing after the attack, with the Carlo submachine gun in hand.The businesses in the Barkan Industrial Park, located near Ariel, employ some 8,000 people, approximately half of them Israelis and the other half Palestinians.“This is a very difficult incident. Until now there have not been any security incidents here. For decades, industrial zones have served as a bridge of coexistence,” Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan said.Shai Amichai, the director general of the industrial zone, also described the location as a good example of Israelis and Palestinians working side by side.“Both in the industrial area and in the community itself, the cooperation is fruitful,” he told the Ynet news site. “We are in a relationship of neighborliness and professional relations at the highest level. The residents feel secure in their workplace, and many forge connections outside of their place of work.“I do not know the security procedures of the zone,” added Amichai. “But there was no decrease in the number of security forces in the region, neither overt nor undercover.”The mayor of the nearby city of Ariel, Eli Shviro, told the Walla news site that “the industrial zones in which Jews and Palestinians work together are the path to coexistence in our region.”In 2015, a Palestinian stabbed and injured two security guards at the same industrial park. ards at the site shot and killed the attacker during that incident.
20 die when limo on way to birthday party blows stop sign-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — A limousine on its way to a birthday party blew a stop sign at the end of a highway, killing all 18 people in the limo and two pedestrians in the deadliest U.S. transportation accident in almost a decade, officials and a relative of one of the victims said Sunday.The collision turned a relaxed Saturday afternoon into chaos at an upstate New York spot popular with tourists taking in the fall foliage. An aunt of one of the victims in the vehicle said the group had been travelling to a birthday celebration.The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine was travelling southwest on Route 30 in Schoharie, about 170 miles (270 kilometres ) north of New York City around 2 p.m. when it failed to stop at a T-junction with state Route 30A, State Police First Deputy Superintendent Christopher Fiore said at a news conference in Latham, New York.It went across the road and hit an unoccupied SUV parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing the driver and 17 passengers, as well as two people outside the vehicle.The crash "sounded like an explosion," said Linda Riley, of nearby Schenectady, who was on a shopping trip with her sisters and had been in their parked car at the time at the store.When she got out of her vehicle, she saw a body on the ground, she said. People started screaming.The store manager, Jessica Kirby, told The New York Times that the limo was coming down a hill at "probably over 60 mph."Authorities said autopsies were being performed and didn't release names of victims or speculate on what caused the limo to run the stop sign. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.Speaking through tears, Valerie Abeling, said her 34-year-old niece Erin Vertucci was among the victims, along with her newlywed husband, 30-year-old Shane McGowan. They were on their way to a friend's birthday party, she said; her own daughter had been invited along but couldn't go."She was a beautiful, sweet soul; he was too," Abeling said.The couple was married at a "beautiful wedding" in June at a venue in upstate New York, Abeling said. "They had everything going for them."Vertucci, who grew up in Amsterdam, New York, was an administrative assistant at St. Mary's Healthcare in Amsterdam, Abeling said.At the news conference, Fiore didn't comment on speed, or whether the occupants of the vehicle had been wearing seat belts."This is one of the biggest losses of life that we've seen in a long, long time," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the news conference.It's the deadliest transportation accident since February 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people, Sumwalt said.And it appears to be the deadliest land-vehicle accident since a bus ferrying nursing home patients away from Hurricane Rita caught fire in Texas 2005, killing 23.There was no information Sunday on the limousine, its origin or its integrity. But safety issues on such vehicles have arisen before, most notably after a wreck on Long Island in July 2015 in which four women on a winery tour were killed.They were in a Lincoln Town Car that had been cut apart and rebuilt in a stretch configuration to accommodate more passengers. The limousine was trying to make a U-turn and was struck by a pickup.A grand jury found that vehicles converted into stretch limousines often don't have safety measures including side-impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits. That grand jury called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to assemble a task force on limousine safety.Limousines built in factories are already required to meet stringent safety regulations, but when cars are converted into limos, safety features are sometimes removed, leading to gaps in safety protocols, the grand jury wrote.On Sunday, Cuomo released a statement saying, "My heart breaks for the 20 people who lost their lives in this horrific accident on Saturday in Schoharie. I commend the first responders who arrived on the scene and worked through the night to help. State police are working with federal and local authorities to investigate the crash, and I have directed state agencies to provide every resource necessary to aid in this investigation and determine what led to this tragedy."___Salsberg reported from Boston. Associated Press writers John Kekis in Latham, New York, and David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.Michael Hill And Bob Salsberg, The Associated Press.
Romanian constitutional ban on same sex marriage fails on low vote turnout-[Reuters]-By Luiza Ilie-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A referendum to change Romania's constitution to prevent same sex couples from securing the right to marry failed to draw enough voters to validate the result on Sunday, after a campaign that led to a rise in hate speech against the gay community.The vote has also been seen as popularity test of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) that supported the change and whose attempts to weaken anti-corruption legislation have drawn criticism from the European Union's executive.Data from the national election bureau showed voter turnout stood at 20.4 percent when the polls closed at 1800 GMT, below the 30 percent required for it to be valid.The two-day referendum, which cost $40 million, aimed to change the constitution to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman from the current gender-neutral "spouses."Religiously conservative Romania, which decriminalized homosexuality in 2001 decades after neighboring countries, bars marriage and civil partnerships for same sex couples.Civil society group Coalition for the Family secured 3 million signatures to trigger the vote aimed at preventing gay couples winning the right to marry in the future.The Coalition received backing from the Orthodox Church and other religions as well as all but one parliamentary parties."Romanians rejected being divided and hating each other, it is a victory for Romanian democracy and moreover, Romanians rejected the involvement of the Orthodox Church in the state’s secular affairs," said Vlad Viski of LGBT rights group MozaiQ."We believe politicians must now legalize civil partnerships for same sex couples," he said at a party to celebrate the outcome.Dozens of human rights groups had said a successful referendum would embolden further attempts to chip away at the rights of minority groups and push Romania onto a populist, authoritarian track.They have encouraged people to boycott the ballot, with several companies and popular musicians and artists following. A library chain even offered a book discount over the weekend for those who wanted to stay in and read rather than vote.In villages across the country, people were quoted saying they had better things to do, such as canning food and making wine."The PSD staked everything on the referendum, by associating with it and trying to capitalize on it," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University."What remains is the fact that many citizens have associated the initiative with the PSD and that is why they boycotted it. Either way, it is a major sanction against the government."Senior PSD member Codrin Stefanescu accused opposition parties and centrist President Klaus Iohannis of misinforming Romanians in the run-up to the vote.PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, whose appeal against a criminal conviction in an abuse of office case starts on Monday, told reporters after voting "Yes" to the change on Saturday that Romanians had to decide the kind of country they wanted."We all know that for years we’ve been told others know what is best for us better than we do. I believe it is time we decide what kind of society and country we want to have and how we want to live in our country," Dragnea said.Days before the vote, the government relaxed anti-fraud monitoring and limited options for challenging the result.Romania ranks 25th out of 28 EU states based on legislation, hate speech and discrimination against LGBT people, an annual study by ILGA-Europe, an umbrella organization advocating equality, showed.(Editing by Edmund Blair)
Cosby lawyers ask court to void conviction, prison sentence-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 8, 2018
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby's lawyers have asked a Pennsylvania court to overturn the actor's conviction and three- to 10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case.The defence motion argued that trial Judge Steven O'Neill erred in declaring Cosby a sexually violent predator who must be imprisoned to protect the community. Lawyers called the sentence more punitive than necessary, given the standard two- to three-year guideline range for the crime and the fact Cosby is 81 and blind.They also said the trial evidence never proved the encounter with accuser Andrea Constand took place in 2004, and not 2003, or that Cosby was arrested within the 12-year time limit.Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, 2015, and was convicted at a second trial this April. He has been in a state prison near Philadelphia since the Sept. 25 sentencing, when the judge refused to let him stay out on $1 million bail pending appeal. Given his fame, wealth and use of drugs to molest the accuser, the judge said, Cosby could remain a threat to other women.The defence motion said O'Neill improperly considered the trial testimony of five other accusers in sentencing Cosby, instead of limiting that "prior bad act" testimony to the question of his guilt or innocence. O'Neill, in explaining the sentence in court, told Cosby he considered "voices from the past, your past," and that he "heard their voices loud and clear," the defence said.The lawyers also challenged the state's sex offender laws, which have been revised several times amid challenges they are unconstitutionally vague. The law requires judges to find that a sexually violent predator has a "mental abnormality," a term they said has no legal or psychological meaning, yet subjects defendants to lifetime counselling and police registration.The defence motion, dated Friday, was posted to a public court docket in the case over the weekend. Kate Delano, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, said the office will file a response.The motion was filed by lawyer Peter Goldberger, a top appellate lawyer in the region, and Joseph P. Green Jr., who handled Cosby's sentencing after more than a dozen other lawyers on the case had come and gone. A former appellate lawyer on the case is suing Cosby over what he called more than $50,000 in unpaid bills.The defence also complained that an audio recording played to jurors of a 2005 conversation between Cosby and Gianna Constand, the mother of accuser Andrea Constand, was "not authentic." They said they did not make the discovery until an expert review after the trial.District Attorney Kevin Steele has dismissed that as a legitimate appeal issue, saying it's been widely known that Gianna Constand started her recorder after the call began. She had called Cosby to get answers about what happened to her daughter after Andrea Constand disclosed the assault a year later. The family went to police, who suggested they try to record Cosby.During the call, Cosby acknowledged engaging in "digital penetration" after giving her daughter pills he would not identify, and offered money for Andrea to attend graduate school, Gianna Constand testified."If that's what they've got, it's beyond a Hail Mary," Steele said at the sentencing, as Cosby's lawyers sought to keep Cosby free on bail over the tape recording. O'Neill instead had Cosby led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.Maryclaire Dale, The Associated Press.
