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)
DISEASES-ANIMAL TO HUMAN
REVELATION 6:7-8 (500 MILLION DEAD EACH FROM THE 4 JUDGEMENTS)(2 BILLION TOT DEAD HERE)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 billion) of (8 billion)
to kill with sword,(WEAPONS)(500 million) and with hunger,(FAMINE)(500
million) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES)(500 million) and with the
beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)(500 million).
THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 168,009,898 DEAD 3,488,029 AS OF TUE MAY 25,21
AMIR
SARFATI SAID THE SO CALLED CEASEFIRE IS A UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE -
MEANING ISRAEL CALLS ALL THE SHOTS. THE MUDERER AHAB THE ARABS ACT
UP-SHOOTING ROCKETS AT ISRAEL-ISRAEL CAN RETALIATE ON GAZA INSTANTLY. NO
COMPLAINING BY THE WORLD OR UN-ITS USELESS. ISRAEL HAS CONTROL OF THE
CEASEFIRE AND CAN BOMB OR NUKE THE ARABS AT THEIR WILL. THANK GOD-ISRAEL
FINALLY GOT THE ADVANTAGE ON THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAMIC,
ARAB,MUSLIMS.
ISRAERL CONTROLS VTHE CEASEFIRE
Bad
Judeans? Despite biblical ban, non-kosher fish were eaten in ancient
Israel-Unlike prohibition on pork, ban on scaleless, finless fish –
found twice in the Torah – was apparently not observed. New project
looks at origins of Judaism as a religious practice-By Amanda
Borschel-Dan-MAY 25,21-Today, 7:00 am
A new study scrutinizing
2,000 years of fish consumption in the ancient holy land has found that —
despite clear Torah prohibitions — non-kosher finless and scaleless
fish were generally eaten by all peoples, regardless of ethnic and
religious affiliation.The requirement to eat only fish that has both
fins and scales is found twice in the Bible: in Leviticus 11: 9–12 and
in Deuteronomy 14: 9–10. In both cases, the proscription follows the
more widely known prohibition against eating pig. Indeed, as one might
infer from the Bible, there is scant archaeological evidence of pork
consumption among the early Judahites and Israelites. Not so with the
“treyf” (non-kosher) fish.In “The Pentateuchal Dietary Proscription
against Finless and Scaleless Aquatic Species in Light of Ancient Fish
Remains,” published in the peer-reviewed Tel Aviv archaeological journal
on Tuesday, co-authors Dr. Yonatan Adler of Ariel University and Prof.
Omri Lernau, present evidence from some 56 fishbone assemblages from 30
sites spanning from 1550 BCE to 640 CE, to establish whether common,
everyday Judahites actually adhered to this Torah prohibition.In all,
some 21,646 skeletal elements were studied, revealing that, at most of
the sites there was a preponderance of non-kosher fish, mostly catfish,
but also shark, eel, and ray remains, alongside the kosher fish
bones.“Catfish were clearly exploited as a suitable source of nutrition
for various population groups living in the region over considerable
periods,” write the authors. During the Iron Age II, for example, “at
over three-quarters of the sites with available evidence, scaleless fish
remains are present in modest to moderate amounts: 13% on average
(excluding outliers below 5% and above 30%).”And even in the holy,
land-locked capital of Jerusalem, non-kosher fish remains were in
evidence. “Significantly, all the fish assemblages from sites within the
Southern Kingdom — first and foremost Jerusalem — presented evidence of
modest to (more often) moderate amounts of scaleless fish remains,”
they write.Apparently, not all the Judahites got the memo on the ban on
catfish, but that is not surprising to Adler.The current fish study is
part of a larger project headed by Adler called the Origins of Judaism
Archaeological Project, which looks at both textual sources and
archaeological remains for evidence of when the ancient Judeans began
keeping the laws of the Torah. The project looks for evidence for purity
laws, such as ancient ritual baths and stone vessels, as well as other
biblical commandments, which could be represented by ancient tefillin
(phylacteries), mezuzot, or the existence of figurative art (which may
defy the second commandment). This new study focuses on evidence for the
kosher dietary laws, which is also explored in the project.“What I’m
interested in is the question of, from which point in time do we have
evidence that ancient Judeans were aware of the Torah and saw the Torah
as something authoritative, which they should be keeping,” Adler told
The Times of Israel.Modern scholars believe the first five books of the
Bible, or the Torah, was written or compiled in the Persian period —
from 539 to 332 BCE. According to Adler, the fact that a select elite
redacted the Bible does not at all mean that the contents were known to
the common Judahite.“There’s a very important distinction that I’d like
to make between when a book is written down, edited, and put together,
and when the general public knows of its existence and regards that book
as authoritative,” said Adler.A project is hatched-The fish study was
spawned after Adler heard a 2017 lecture by co-author Lernau, a retired
MD whose hobby — shared by his father — of studying ancient fish bones
made him the foremost expert in Israel.During the lecture, Lernau
happened to mention the existence of evidence of catfish in ancient
Jerusalem and Adler’s ear perked up. Lernau has a huge database
documenting fish remains from throughout the country, which allowed the
study to work on a large scale, despite a relative paucity of
systematically collected fishbone samples. (Indeed, the authors call on
their fellow archaeologists to take more care, and to dry- and wet-sift
for fish bones, at any site, when possible.)“We took a particular
snapshot — a snapshot of 2,000 years — but a window from 1550 BCE until
640 CE, within which this period of time, we can say for sure the
Pentateuch came about and Judaism was born,” said Adler. Through this
long prism, the authors discovered that non-kosher fish were a regular
part of people’s diets, including species that were imported from
far-away Egypt and elsewhere.The authors compared the proliferation of
non-kosher fish remains with the absence of pig evidence during the same
eras and concluded that the two biblical prohibitions come from starkly
different backgrounds.“There have been some very important studies in
recent years, which showed that pig was not being eaten by all ethnic
groups in the ancient Levant. Already in the Bronze Age,” there are
“many sites where we don’t find pig remains and a limited number of
sites where we do find pig remains,” said Adler.Adler cautions that the
absence of a certain kind of food does not necessarily mean abstention
nor necessarily imply a taboo, however.But what is clear, he said, is
that “when the pentateuchal laws are written down and compiled and the
prohibition against pig was being written down, if you will, pig was not
being eaten by Judeans. And that had been the case for quite some time.
Their Canaanite ancestors had not been eating pig for hundreds of
years. And the pentateuchal prohibition against pig was written on that
backdrop,” he said.“That was not the case with the fish. Scaleless fish
was being eaten by Judeans for hundreds of years and, when the
pentateuchal laws came to be written down, they contradicted
long-standing Judean dietary behaviors,” he said.To date the genesis of
the non-kosher fish ban is still unknown. Adler said he is unaware of
any other contemporary culture that prohibited these scaleless, finless
fish. But it appears that the fish prohibition “had a very different
background from the pig prohibition, despite the fact that the fish
prohibition appears immediately after the pig prohibition in both places
that it appears in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.”Birth of a religion-Ariel
University’s Dr. Yonatan Adler in the field. (courtesy)-In Adler’s
upcoming 2022 book from Yale University Press on the Origins of Judaism,
he will discuss more fully when the religion as a practice was born.
Spoiler: It’s centuries later than when the Torah was redacted.“We don’t
have evidence for any of these [Torah] practices or prohibitions prior
to the second century before the common era, that is to say from the
period of the Hasmonean Dynasty,” said Adler. “We do not have any
evidence that the Judean masses, that your regular every day Judean you
would have met on the street of Jerusalem, prior to the middle of the
second century BCE had any knowledge of the Torah and or that he
observed the rules of the Torah.”Adler is the first to emphasize the
archaeology maxim that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of
absence.“Judaism could have begun before the mid-2nd century,” he said,
but the lack of evidence currently makes that conjecture. “It could have
emerged during the long Hellenistic period — sometime during this time
is the best time to be seeking the emergence of Judaism.”
Hundreds
of Dutch academics sign call to cut ties with Israel over Gaza
fighting-564 people put their names to letter urging their government to
boycott Israeli academic institutions; one signatory works at state
Holocaust research institute-By JTA and TOI staff-MAY 25,21-Today, 7:57
am
Hundreds of academics have signed a petition calling on the
Dutch government to sever relations with Israel over what they perceive
as Israeli violations of international law in responding to Hamas terror
group rockets from the Gaza Strip.Among the 564 signers is a researcher
at a state Holocaust research institute.“We declare we join the calls
of our Palestinian colleagues to boycott Israeli academic institutions,”
reads the petition, which is titled “Netherlands higher education
stands in solidarity with Palestinians.” The document also calls on the
Dutch government to “sever all economic, political and military ties
with Israel.”The document says Israel violated international law in its
response to the thousands of rockets launched into its cities this month
by Hamas. Israel struck back at Hamas in Gaza with intensive
airstrikes.Kylie Thomas, a South Africa native, was the only one from
the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, or
NIOD, who signed the petition.Its director, Frank van Vree, said
Thomas’s views do not represent the institution, “which as a research
institute does not take a position on this action,” he wrote to the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency. NIOD has no intention of limiting its
cooperation with any of its current partners, he added.The Hamas-run
Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 243 Palestinians were killed,
including 66 children and teens, with 1,910 people wounded. It does not
differentiate between terror group members and civilians. The Israeli
military maintained that it killed some 225 terrorist operatives and
that the Palestinian death toll was in fact considerably higher than was
reported. It said some of the civilian fatalities were caused by Hamas
rockets falling short and landing in the Strip.Thirteen people were
killed in Israel, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old
boy and a 16-year-old girl.A ceasefire was reached early Friday
following 11 days of fighting.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40
Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3
JUDGEMENT) and the other left.41 Two women shall be grinding at the
mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)(NUKED BY SNEAK ATTACK FROM RUSSIA)
IN
REVELATION 17 & 18 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND
POLITICAL BABYLONS.IF YOU CAN NOT DECERN BETWEEN THE 2 BABYLONS IN REV
17 & 18.YOU WILL JUST THINK THEIR BOTH THE SAME.BUT NO-THERES A
RELIGIOUS BABYLON (THE VATICAN IN REV 17)(AND THE POLITICAL BABYLON IN
REV 18 (AMERICA OR NEW YORK TO BE EXACT)
ISAIAH 34:10
10 It
(AMERICA-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the
smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it
shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
JEREMIAH 51:29-32 (CYBER ATTACK 1ST)
29
And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD
shall be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land
of Babylon (AMERICA) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The
mighty men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have
remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women:
they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
031 One
post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to
shew the king of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32
And that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D)
and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are
affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)
COMPLETE SILENCE AFTER AN EMP GOES OFF
REVELATION 8:1
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3
For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they
shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a
snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(AMERICA) and thou
wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast
striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK CYBER,EMP ATTACK,THEN NUKE
ATTACK ON AM
EZEKIEL 39:11-22
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)
13
Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it
shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified,
saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual
employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to
bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth,
to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s
bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the
buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of
Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN
THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY
SPRING,FALL) 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 THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM
ARMIES)
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.
Iran’s constitutional watchdog approves just 7 out of 590
to run for president-Top-level panel of clerics and jurists disqualifies
vast majority of would-be candidates who registered for coming election
to succeed Hassan Rouhani-By AP-MAY 25,21-Today, 10:52 am
TEHRAN,
Iran — Iranian state television announced Tuesday that only seven
candidates have been approved by the country’s constitutional watchdog
to run for president next month, drastically narrowing the field of
hopefuls for who will replace outgoing President Hassan Rouhani.The
report did not name those selected, though rumors have circulated that
reformists and moderates vying for the spot may have been barred from
running by the Guardian Council.State TV quoted Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei,
the spokesman of the Guardian Council, as saying “only seven” had been
approved out of some 590 who registered by the panel of clerics and
jurists overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Kadkhodaei
did not name those selected.Iran’s Interior Ministry, which oversees its
police and elections, typically announces the candidates. In 2017,
1,630 hopefuls registered to run.Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, a
hardline cleric who ran against Rouhani in 2017, is considered among
analysts to be the strongest candidate in the upcoming June 18 vote.
Many in Iran have grown frustrated with Rouhani, whose signature
achievement was the 2015 nuclear deal that’s now in tatters after
then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the
accord.
Hundreds rally against antisemitism in Jewish suburb of
Chicago-Skokie sees 500-strong group demonstrate after synagogue
vandalized a week ago; local rabbi says ‘this is not a protest, but a
cry of pain’By Yvette Alt Miller-24 May 2021, 9:04 pm
SKOKIE,
Illinois (JTA) — After a synagogue in this Chicago suburb was vandalized
on May 16 in what police are calling a hate crime, local rabbis could
not dwell on the damage: they had to prepare for Shavuot, the two-day
Jewish holiday that began that evening.A week later, though, the rabbis
were the engine behind a 500-person rally in this heavily Jewish town
against antisemitism.Skokie perhaps is best known as the town where, in
1977, free-speech advocates fought for neo-Nazis to be able to march,
only to have the eventual rally be outnumbered by local Jews and their
allies.This time, too, Chicago-area Jews were joined by allies from
other communities on Sunday, one week after pro-Palestinian protesters
vandalized Skokie’s Persian Hebrew Congregation and left local Jews
rattled and fearful for their safety.“This is not a protest,” Rabbi Zvi
Engel of Congregation Or Torah told the crowd gathered next to his
synagogue on one of the town’s main thoroughfares. “This is a cry of
pain.”The rally was a message that Chicago-area Jews will not accept
recent anti-Jewish vitriol and the vandalism of a local synagogue in
silence. It was one of several public gatherings held in recent days by
Jewish communities and pro-Israel groups in many cities in response to
sweeping pro-Palestinian rallies and incidents of antisemitism during
the Israel-Gaza conflict.Synagogues of all Jewish denominations in
Skokie served as co-sponsors of the rally along with several other
Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los
Angeles-based group that advocates against antisemitism.Alison
Pure-Slovin, director of the center’s Midwest region, said she had heard
from an unusual number of non-Jews asking to be included in advocacy
against antisemitism.“People have been reaching out to me for the past
few weeks saying what can we do to support the Jewish people?’”
Pure-Slovin said, but adding that the number remained disappointingly
small.“We as Jews march against hate — why don’t others reach out to
us?” she wondered.Two non-Jewish organizations officially partnered with
the rally: the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and the Joint Civic
Committee of Italian Americans, whose members added Italian flags
alongside the American and Israeli ones on display.“We want to represent
the Italian-American community,” Frank Di Paolo said. “We’ve also been
discriminated against.”Others joined to demonstrate solidarity with the
local Jewish community.“It’s important to stand against hate and
antisemitism,” said Josina Morita, commissioner of the Metropolitan
Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and a Skokie resident who
brought her 1-year-old daughter, Mei Mei, to the rally.Others called
attention to who was not there.Patrick John, the first Black Christian
president of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, a Jewish legal society in
Chicago, in a speech criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for
taking up the cause of Palestinian rights uncritically. John lamented
that there were not more African-Americans at the rally supporting their
Jewish neighbors.Chicago’s Jewish federation, the Jewish United Fund,
was not among the rally organizers, leaving that work to local Jewish
leaders. The federation had worked with local authorities to ensure that
last week’s vandalism was treated as a hate crime, according to its
president, Lonnie Nasatir.“Right now, we’re encouraged by different
parts of the community,” Nasatir said.The federation’s approach drew
support from some of the rally participants.“I think the response [to
antisemitism] should always be a grassroots response,” said Rabbi
Leonard Matanky of Congregation KINS in Chicago, a rally sponsor.The
Skokie rally’s organizers hope that their grassroots activism can serve
as a model for other communities at a time of fear and
uncertainty.“We’re stronger together,” said Rabbi Ari Hart of Skokie
Valley Agudas Jacob, an Orthodox synagogue and another rally
organizer.Hart said the rally’s organizers — who ultimately included
Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews — put aside any differences and
came together to fight hate.“Part of what ‘achdus’ means is you have to
be flexible and inclusive,” Hart said, using the Hebrew word for Jewish
unity.Or Torah’s Rabbi Engel suggested that other communities organize
across denominations.“Those who wish us ill couldn’t care less what
siddur [Jewish prayer book] you pray from,” he said. “They know we all
have the same Torah, the same State of Israel, and that we are all from
the same family.“In times like these, we must stand together to give
each other strength and to raise consciousness.”
WhatsApp blocks
accounts of Gaza-based journalists in Hamas chat-Accounts of 17
correspondents in the coastal enclave disabled, only 4 have been
restored; media giant says it bans users ‘to prevent harm as well as
applicable law’By AP and TOI staff 25 May 2021, 1:18 am
A few
hours after the latest ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip on
Friday, a number of Palestinian journalists in the coastal enclave found
they were blocked from accessing WhatsApp messenger.The Associated
Press reached out to 17 journalists in Gaza who confirmed their Whatsapp
accounts had been blocked. By midday Monday, only four journalists —
working for Al Jazeera — confirmed their accounts had been restored.The
incident marks the latest puzzling move concerning WhatsApp’s owner
Facebook Inc. that’s left Palestinian users or their allies bewildered
as to why they’ve been targeted by the company, or if indeed they’d been
singled out for censorship at all.Twelve of the 17 journalists
contacted by the AP said they had been part of a WhatsApp group that
disseminates information related to Hamas operations. Hamas, which rules
over the Gaza Strip, is viewed as a terrorist organization by Israel
and the United States, where WhatsApp owner Facebook is headquartered.It
remained unclear if the journalists were targeted because they’d been
following that group’s announcements on WhatsApp.Members of the Izz-Al
Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terror group, march
in Gaza City on May 22, 2021. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)-The Hamas-run Health
Ministry in Gaza has a WhatsApp group followed by more than 80 people,
many of them journalists. That group, for example, has not been
blocked.Hassan Slaieh, a freelance journalist in Gaza whose WhatsApp
account is blocked, said he thinks his account might have been targeted
because he was on a group called Hamas Media.“This has affected my work
and my income because I lost conversations with sources and people,”
Slaieh said.Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael al-Dahdouh,
said his access to WhatsApp was blocked around dawn on Friday before it
was reinstated Monday. He said journalists subscribe to Hamas groups
only to get information needed to do journalistic work.A WhatsApp
spokesperson said the company bans accounts to comply with its policies
“to prevent harm as well as applicable law.” The company said it has
been in touch with media outlets over the last week about its practices.
“We will reinstate journalists if any were impacted,” the company
said.Al Jazeera said that when it sought information regarding its four
journalists in Gaza impacted by the blockage, they were told by Facebook
that the company had blocked the numbers of groups based out of Gaza
and consequently the cell phone numbers of Al Jazeera journalists were
part of the groups they had blocked.Among those affected by the WhatsApp
blockage are two Agence France-Presse journalists. The Paris-based
international news service told the AP it is working with WhatsApp to
understand what the problem is and to restore their accounts.The 11-day
war caused widespread destruction across Gaza with 253 Palestinians,
including 66 minors killed in the fighting, according to the Hamas
Health Ministry. It did not differentiate between terror group members
and civilians. The Israeli army said some of the Gaza casualties were
caused by the terror groups’ rockets falling short and landing inside
Gaza.One soldier and 12 civilians in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy
and a 16-year-old girl, were killed in the terror groups’ rocket fire,
and hundreds were injured.It’s not the first time journalists have been
suddenly barred from WhatsApp. In 2019, a number of journalists in Gaza
had their accounts blocked without explanation. The accounts of those
working with international media organizations were restored after
contacting the company.Facebook and its photo and video-sharing platform
Instagram were criticized this month for allegedly removing posts and
deleting accounts by users posting about protests against efforts to
evict Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah
neighborhood. It prompted an open letter signed by 30 organizations
demanding to know why the posts had been removed.WhatsApp said it does
not have access to the contents of people’s personal chats, but that
they ban accounts when information is reported they believe indicates a
user may be involved in causing imminent harm. The company said it also
responds to “valid legal requests from law enforcement for the limited
information available to us.”The Arab Center for the Advancement of
Social Media, or 7amleh, said in a report published this month that
Facebook accepted 81% of requests made by Israel’s Cyber Unit to remove
Palestinian content last year. It found that in 2020, Twitter suspended
dozens of accounts of Palestinian users based on information from the
Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs.Al-Dahdouh, the Al Jazeera
correspondent, said although his account was restored, his past history
of chats and messages was erased.“The groups and conversations were
back, but content is erased, as if you are joining a new group or
starting a new conversation,” he said. “I have lost information, images,
numbers, messages, and communications.”Al Jazeera said its journalists
in Gaza had their WhatsApp accounts blocked by the host without prior
notification.“Al Jazeera would like to strongly emphasize that its
journalists will continue to use their WhatsApp accounts and other
applications for newsgathering purposes and personal communication,” the
news network told the AP. “At no time, have Al Jazeera journalists used
their accounts for any means other than for personal or professional
use.”The Qatar-based news network’s office in Gaza was destroyed during
the war by Israeli airstrikes that took down the high-rise residential
and office tower, which also housed The Associated Press offices. The
military, which has said it gave journalists and other tenants
“sufficient time” to evacuate, alleges the Hamas terror group used the
building for a military intelligence office and weapons development.Sada
Social, a West Bank-based center tracking alleged violations against
Palestinian content on social media, said it was collecting information
on the number of Gaza-based journalists impacted by the latest WhatsApp
decision.
As pandemic wanes, Israel’s indoor mask mandate said
set to be lifted in 2 weeks-But Health Ministry official says she won’t
commit to timeframe; travel restrictions needed to prevent entry of new
variants-By TOI staff-25 May 2021, 12:19 am
Health Ministry
officials reportedly said Monday that the requirement to wear face masks
indoors may be lifted within two weeks if the trend of declining
contagion continues despite pandemic restrictions being steadily
eased.Responding to the report by Channel 12 news, Dr. Sharon
Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministry’s chief of public health, told the
network she would not give a specific timeframe, but “we are taking
action and checking” the possibility.Israel has all but emerged from the
pandemic, with most businesses and schools back to normal and the
government announcing the imminent reopening of movie theaters and arts
venues following the country’s world-leading vaccination drive over the
past few months.Health officials are still keeping in place restrictions
on incoming travelers, and are planning on tightening those
restrictions to prevent the entry of potential vaccine-resistant
variants.“It’s still important to ensure that contagion does not arrive
from outside,” Alroy-Preis said, reiterating a Health Ministry statement
from a day earlier.“On that front, not only will the restrictions
remain, but they will be increased. We haven’t yet identified a variant
that’s resilient to the vaccine,” she said. “We’re conducting many tests
to prevent the entry of any such variant.”All incoming travelers must
still quarantine for about two weeks, and must receive a COVID test on
their ninth day in the country, she said.On Sunday, Health Minister Yuli
Edelstein said that almost all remaining virus restrictions will be
lifted in the beginning of next month.A Health Ministry statement said
that from June 1, Israel will lift the remaining coronavirus
restrictions on gatherings, and will no longer limit entry to certain
venues only to the vaccinated, following the near-vanquishing of
COVID-19 in the country as a result of its successful vaccine drive.The
so-called Purple Badge and Green Pass systems will be scrapped, meaning
that Israelis will no longer require proof of vaccination or recovery to
enter various venues, and capacity limits at stores, restaurants and
other sites will be lifted. There will be no further caps on gatherings,
indoors or outdoors.Only the wearing of face masks indoors and travel
restrictions will remain in place for the time being, Edelstein
said.Earlier this month, the Health Ministry announced that it was
extending the Green Pass system through 2021, and attributed the
decision to Edelstein himself.Additionally, members of the Health
Ministry’s national forum for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak said
Monday that no discussions had been held with experts ahead of the
announcement. According to the Kan public broadcaster, one unnamed
member of the forum expressed great surprise at the decision and raised
questions as to the motives behind it.Others told the outlet that they
had only heard about the decision from news reports and suspected there
were political motives behind the move.However, Deputy Health Minister
Yoav Kisch told Kan on Monday that there was nothing untoward about the
development, and said that the Health Ministry’s leadership had decided
to take the step.Edelstein said Sunday that the return to normal comes
with a caveat.The Health Ministry is working to continue the low
morbidity and will continue to comprehensively observe the situation to
prevent an outbreak. Of course, if there is an outbreak, we will have to
go back” to upholding the restrictions, he said.Edelstein urged
Israelis not to travel to countries with high morbidity rates, and to
stick to distancing rules when abroad.Israel has made dramatic gains in
stamping out the virus through its vaccination campaign, driving down
the number of daily cases (based on a weekly average), from 8,600 at the
peak of the health crisis to just 27 this week. At the height of the
pandemic, there were 88,000 active cases in the country and 1,228
serious cases; as of Monday evening, there were 514 active infections
and 59 people in serious condition.According to the ministry, over 5.1
million Israelis received both doses of the vaccine and 92% of Israelis
over 50 are fully vaccinated.The morbidity rates in the country have
remained low despite the reopening of most of the economy and of the
school system.
As ceasefire holds, Israel reopens Gaza crossings
for humanitarian aid-Hamas said to threaten renewed fighting over any
change to ‘status quo,’ reject proposed condition of releasing captives
in exchange for Strip’s reconstruction-By Emanuel Fabian and Aaron
Boxerman-MAY 24,21-Today, 11:46 pm
Israel decided to reopen its
crossings with Gaza on Tuesday to allow fuel and humanitarian aid to
enter the coastal enclave for the first time in more than two weeks,
Israel’s liaison to the Palestinians said on Monday night.All crossings
between Israel and the Gaza Strip were completely shut down two weeks
ago, when the Hamas terror group launched rockets at Jerusalem and
initiated 11 days of fighting.Sporadic exemptions for foreign
journalists and some aid convoys were granted since hostilities ceased
on Friday morning. Starting Tuesday morning, however, Erez Crossing will
open for humanitarian cases — such as Gazans seeking medical treatment
in Israel — and for foreign journalists and aid workers.The Kerem Shalom
commercial crossing will reopen for fuel and humanitarian aid, the
office acting as liaison to the Palestinians, commonly known by its
acronym COGAT, said in a statement.The Israeli government also
authorized reopening the Gaza fishing zone to its usual six miles.
Fishing is a significant source of revenue for the beleaguered enclave,
and Israel has raised and lowered the limit several times in recent
years in a bid to pressure Hamas.“These civilian measures, approved by
the political echelon, are conditional upon the preservation of security
stability,” COGAT said.Leaders of Hamas, meanwhile, have reportedly
rejected conditions that Israel is seeking to impose on Gaza’s
reconstruction, including a proposal to limit the entry of goods into
the coastal enclave.Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Sunday said Israel
will not permit the full reconstruction of Gaza, as well as the entry of
aid that is not humanitarian, until the terror group releases two
Israeli civilians who crossed into the Strip, and returns the bodies of
two soldiers.Hamas “cannot be blackmailed,” the Lebanese Al-Akhbar
newspaper quoted officials in the terror group as saying on Monday in
response to Gantz’s proposal.The two Israelis — Avraham Avera Mengistu
and Hisham a-Sayed — entered the Gaza Strip of their own accord, and
their families say they suffered from mental illness. Hamas is also
holding the bodies of Oren Shaul and Hadar Goldin, two IDF soldiers who
were killed in the Strip during the 2014 Gaza war.“The most desirable
change in my view is to strengthen the Palestinian Authority as much as
possible,” Gantz told reporters on Sunday, “and not to let Hamas be the
one that sets the agenda, not in the area of the Gaza Strip or in Gaza
itself.”Hamas officials have also threatened to resume rocket attacks if
Israel seeks to impose a new status quo on Gaza following the 11 days
of fighting, after some officials called for a harsher response,
including the renewal of assassinations of Hamas leaders.Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed that Hamas would see a much tougher
Israeli stance, and that any future rocket fire from Gaza would be met
with “a whole new level of force.”“We changed the equation not only with
regard to the operation but also with regard to the future. If Hamas
thinks we will tolerate a ‘drizzle’ of rockets, it is mistaken,”
Netanyahu said, referring to the sporadic fire often seen from Gaza
between major conflicts in recent years.Also Monday, Gantz ordered the
confiscation of shipments of materials and equipment to Gaza that the
military claims are intended for Hamas’ military efforts.In the days
that preceded the latest round of fighting that began May 10, inspectors
at the Kerem Shalom crossing nabbed shipments of potassium chloride,
glycerin, polyurethane, fiberglass, and other materials, as well as
sophisticated communications equipment, the Defense Ministry said in a
statement.Gantz also ordered the confiscation of an estimated NIS 1
million ($310,000) worth of gold that the Israel Defense Forces caught
being smuggled from Gaza to the West Bank, which officials said was
intended to fund Hamas terror operations in the West Bank.Meanwhile, in
Gaza on Monday, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing told a crowd of
supporters that Hamas will respond to any Israeli escalation in kind.
“Our actions precede our words and our missiles are in their silos ready
and awaiting the decision,” a spokesperson for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam
Brigades said.The spokesperson delivered the remarks at an event
mourning terrorists who were killed during the recent hostilities with
Israel, attended by the group’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.“We say to the
occupation with consistency and clarity: if you return, so shall we. If
you escalate, so shall we. Our fingers are on the trigger, and our
battle has chapters still unwritten,” the spokesperson said.
As
Blinken due, Netanyahu hints Israel may take independent action against
Iran-In unusually stark remarks, PM says he appreciates US friendship,
but there could be a situation where Tehran’s nuclear threat
necessitates ‘brave and independent decisions’-By TOI staff and
Agencies-MAY 24,21-Today, 10:49 pm
On the eve of US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken’s first visit to Israel and neighboring countries,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made unusually tough remarks regarding
Iran, including hinting that Jerusalem could take military action
against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites without Washington’s
okay.In a ceremony marking the appointment of incoming Mossad chief
David Barnea, and with many Mossad members in attendance, Netanyahu
said: “The first task of each one of you is to prevent Iran from arming
itself with nuclear weapons.”“I very much appreciate our friend the
United States, which has been standing by our side for many years.
That’s an integral part of our national security,” Netanyahu
continued.“But there could be a situation in which our highest goal — to
guarantee that the ayatollahs don’t end the thousands of years of
existence of the Jewish people — will require us to take brave and
independent decisions,” the premier said.“In any event — with or without
a deal — we will do everything to deny Iran nuclear weapons, because
this concerns our very existence.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
center, outgoing Mossad director Yossi Cohen, right, and incoming
director David Barnea at a ceremony conferring the Prime Minister’s
Award on exception Mossad agents, May 24, 2021. (Amos Ben
Gershom/GPO)-Global powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April
in a bid to bring Washington back to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran,
which the US left in 2018.The withdrawal under then-US president Donald
Trump and the reimposition of sanctions has led Iran to step up its
nuclear activities.Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday that
international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the
Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions.Over a year ago, a
US drone strike killed a top Iranian general, prompting Tehran to later
launch ballistic missiles that wounded dozens of American troops in
Iraq.A mysterious explosion also struck Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility,
which Iran has described as sabotage and blamed on Israel. In November,
Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded the country’s military
nuclear program some two decades earlier, was killed in an attack
Tehran also blame.Blinken was heading to Israel Monday for his first
trip to the region as US secretary of state, days after Washington
helped broker a ceasefire that brought an end to the most significant
escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas in seven years.The goals
of the three-day trip — which will also include stops in Ramallah,
Cairo and Amman — will be to ensure that the ceasefire between Israel
and Gaza terror groups holds while also pushing steps that will improve
the quality of life for both sides in the absence of immediate peace
talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a senior State Department
official told reporters in a phone briefing ahead of Blinken’s
takeoff.The secretary will also work with the parties to help kickstart
efforts to rehabilitate Gaza, while preventing international aid from
reaching the enclave’s ruling Hamas terror group, the official added.In
Israel, Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
President Reuven Rivlin, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and other
senior Israeli officials, discussing the Biden administration’s
“ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said in a
statement.Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
Syria blames
Israel for mysterious attacks on oil tankers-Without providing evidence
for Jerusalem’s involvement, foreign minister threatens ‘these attacks
cannot continue with Israel not paying a price’By Agencies and TOI
staff-may 25,21-Today, 9:14 pm
Syria’s foreign minister has
blamed Israel for mysterious attacks over more than a year targeting oil
tankers heading from Iran to Syria, claiming they violate international
law and will not go unpunished.Faisal Mekdad told Lebanon-based
Al-Mayadeen TV in an interview aired late Sunday that oil tankers coming
to Syria now move under Russian protection. He did not provide any
evidence for Israel being behind the attacks.There was no immediate
comment from Israeli authorities on the matter.Israel has clamped down
on alleged Iranian entrenchment in Syria, and has taken action to
prevent Iranian missiles and their components from reaching Lebanon’s
Hezbollah terror group, which is supported by Tehran and
Damascus.Syria’s oil resources are mostly outside of
government-controlled areas, but two of its refineries are operating.
This makes Syria reliant on Iran for fuel.US Treasury sanctions have
targeted a network that spans Syria, Iran and Russia responsible for
shipping oil to the Syrian government, as the country has been going
through a civil war for more than a decade.For more than a year, vessels
carrying oil to Syria, as well as some oil facilities in
government-held parts of the war-torn country, have been subjected to
mysterious attacks.Vessels carrying oil to Syria travel from the gulf to
the Red Sea to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.“There should be
deterrence to Israeli attacks on ships,” Mekdad said, without going into
details. “The Israeli government and arrogant Israeli leaders must
understand that these attacks cannot continue with Israel not paying a
price.”Last month, Syria’s oil ministry said a fire erupted in a tanker
on its coast after what it said was a suspected drone attack.Also in
April, an attack targeted an Iranian cargo ship that is said to serve as
a floating base for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off
the coast of Yemen.A shadow war in Mideast waters emerged in 2019, when
the US Navy blamed a series of blasts in June that year in the Gulf of
Oman off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Iran.
