SYRIA SAYS THEIR GIVING DETAILS OF THEIR GASES

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

UN shoots down Arab push to condemn Israeli nuclear policy

Arab League move, blocked by 51-43 votes in Vienna, comes amid pressure on Israel to detail, relinquish its alleged WMDs

By Times of Israel staff September 20, 2013, 3:40 pm 22-The Times of Israel

The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Friday narrowly voted down an Arab League resolution to single out Israel for criticism over its alleged nuclear arsenal.The bid, against which the US spoke out this week, reflects mounting frustration in the Arab world over the deferment of an international conference on the banning of atomic arms in the region, Reuters reported Friday.The International Atomic Energy Agency rejected the initiative by a vote of 51 to 43 at its annual meeting in Vienna. 32 nations abstained.Had the resolution been passed by the IAEA, Israel would have been called upon to sign on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and submit to agency scrutiny of its nuclear facilities.After the vote, Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin congratulated ministry employees and the Prime Minister’s Office, who worked incessantly in recent days to make sure the resolution would fail.“I am glad that common sense prevailed and that the nations of the world rejected the proposal, which was designed to attack Israel, ” he said, adding, “The whole world must understand that the main task before the IAEA and the international community is to stop the Iranian nuclear program.”Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, who heads the Arab League group at the IAEA, was quoted as saying Friday that the vote would show the world that “Israel is not playing a constructive role.”The Arab initiative was part of mounting international pressure on Israel to relinquish — or at least admit to possessing — weapons of mass destruction. The heightened interest in the Jewish state’s alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons comes amid indications from Iran that it’s ready to show flexibility in nuclear talks, and in the wake of a Russian-brokered deal that would see Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons shipped off and eventually destroyed.A similar version of the resolution was narrowly passed four years ago at the IAEA, but its implementation was postponed due to pressure from Western governments. In 2011 and 2012, Arab member states refrained from pushing the initiative fearing it would harm attempts to convene an international conference to rid the Middle East of WMDs.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Assad’s decision to amass chemical weapons was “in response to Israel’s nuclear capabilities” and that “Israel has technological superiority and doesn’t need nuclear weapons.”According to a report in the September/October issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Israel possesses a stockpile of 80 nuclear warheads, all of which were produced by 2004, when Israel froze all production.Israel’s nuclear program has long been shrouded in secrecy, with the country maintaining a policy of ambiguity while refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.Previous estimates have put the number of warheads in Israel’s possession at up to 400. According to foreign reports, Israel’s military has the capacity to deliver a nuclear payload via a variety of methods, including ballistic missiles, aircraft, and submarine-launched cruise missiles.

Temple Mount: Is it worth fighting for?

Zahava Englard Author of THE GILBOA IRIS (Gefen Publishing House) and SETTLING FOR MORE: FROM JERSEY TO JUDEA (Urim Publications).

In 1967 Moshe Dayan shocked much of the Jewish world as well as the Muslim world when he handed the keys to the Temple Mount to the Islamic Waqf.He did this on his own, without consulting with the Knesset, without consulting with then Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol, and without a care as to the sentiments of the Jewish nation.Moshe Dayan was likewise instrumental in sustaining the continuation of the ban against Jewish prayer on Haram esh-Sharif. This compound was our Har Habayit, our Temple Mount during ancient times.

Since that dark day in 1967, the Muslims have made a concerted effort to claim Jerusalem’s holy sites as Muslim sites albeit lacking theological and historical proof. They completely ignore the history and ancientness of the site.

Gen Moshe Dayan (on left) with Haim Bar Lev and Levi Eshkol (photo courtesy Illan Bruner, Israel National Photo collection)

Their motivation, roused by their objective to de-legitimize the Jewish connection to the land and city is further enabled by the passivity of the Israeli leadership.  The Waqf has systematically engaged in construction atop the Temple Mount and have thrown out valuable antiquities that date back to the Beit Hamikdash, the Jewish Temple.  From the Mosques on Temple Mount, Muslim clerics throughout the years instigate frequent violent rioting against Jewish worshipers below at the Kotel.All this with nary a sound from the Knesset.Renowned Israeli archeologist, Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University and the Shalem Center, has labored for years against the Waqf’s wanton destruction of ancient Jewish artifacts with little success. She with a team of archeologists currently sift through the dirt from the Mount deposited as garbage by the Islamic Waqf, and indeed have come up with major finds dating back to the Jewish people at the time of the first temple.

(photo courtesy Biblical Archeological Society)

What may not be known to many is that as the Six Day War continued to progress in Israel’s favor, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol made plans for the eventual takeover of Mount Moriah – the Temple Mount. He formulated a plan in which the management of that holy site would be led by a committee of Muslims, Christians and Jewish clerics in order to safeguard the freedom of prayer for each of the three faiths.

The mosques would remain unharmed.Moshe Dayan ruined the Prime Minister’s plans and sustained the status quo that only one of those three faiths was allowed to pray at the holy site.While considered a national war hero, Moshe Dayan, nevertheless snubbed his nose at a miracle witnessed by the entire world that was almost 2000 years in the making. Prime Minister Eshkol felt powerless against Moshe Dayan, the great  war hero… The great war hero who groundlessly and irrationally feared the building of the Third Temple.

To this day, Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount is limited, and even when permission is granted, members of the Jewish nation are forbidden to pray there.Why has this shameful and abominable policy continued throughout the years, throughout the successive governments, left wing and right wing alike? For the same reason Europe is falling today…The fear of raising the ire of the Muslims. It is a fear that hides behind an inane banner of political correctness that can only be defined as outrageously absurd.  And the successive governments of the State of Israel, snubbing the divine gift – the rebirth of its nation, against all odds – in its own land, joins the rest of the “free” world in its uncontainable tsunami of fear.Indeed, like the rest of the world, the Israeli leadership falls on its knees paralyzed by a panic of violent Muslim retribution should we take a stand for what is the very core of our spiritual existence.The Temple Mount is where God has chosen to rest his Shechina, HIS divine spirit. It is sacred ground. And in this Divine Spirit is the essence to the Torah, and hence the essence of the Jewish nation.And yet, the real players in the Israeli government who are for the most part spiritually bankrupt, cower at the mere threat of an Arab riot should we have the “audacity” to pray at our most holy site. The Israeli government is quick to blink at the first stone thrown by an Islamic terrorist incensed at Jews praying anywhere near the Temple Mount  and shamefully abandons its nation’s heritage, its birthright.Yes, Islamic violence is unnerving, daunting and terrifying. Who has not read about this diabolical political cult’s chilling atrocities against their own people, let alone against whom they consider “non-believers?”  Who has not seen the horrifying images of their evil? Who is still unaware of the rampant, unbridled malevolence that rages from the many echelons of Islam? Be that as it may, the State of Israel – the nation of Israel, is not without resources.Why are we cowering? The struggle for Har Habayit, the Temple Mount is not about the control of one level of religious Jewish practice over another. It is not of factional substance. The Temple Mount is about who we are, what we are, how we came to be and why we came to be the Jewish Nation. The Temple Mount is our legacy. It is inseparable from the heart of our people. It is the very bastion of our faith that is 4000 years strong.And we are giving voice to maniacal, blood-thirsty Jihadists to define limits to our religious worship?  To forbid us to utter a prayer as we stand on hallowed ground? To move our lips? Are we to continue the pathetic stance of sanctioning the theft of what is inherently ours? If this is so, how pitiable we have become.Now is not the time to set our weapons down for plowshares. A bitter pill to swallow, for sure.But, some things are just worth fighting for, dammit.

Israeli forces manhandle EU diplomats, seize West Bank aid

By Noah Browning-sept 21,13-yahoonews
KHIRBET AL-MAKHUL, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers manhandled European diplomats on Friday and seized a truck full of tents and emergency aid they had been trying to deliver to Palestinians whose homes were demolished this week.A Reuters reporter saw soldiers throw sound grenades at a group of diplomats, aid workers and locals in the occupied West Bank, and yank a French diplomat out of the truck before driving away with its contents."They dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard for my diplomatic immunity," French diplomat Marion Castaing said."This is how international law is being respected here," she said, covered with dust.The Israeli army and police declined to comment.
Locals said Khirbet Al-Makhul was home to about 120 people. The army demolished their ramshackle houses, stables and a kindergarten on Monday after Israel's high court ruled that they did not have proper building permits.Despite losing their property, the inhabitants have refused to leave the land, where, they say, their families have lived for generations along with their flocks of sheep.Israeli soldiers stopped the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivering emergency aid on Tuesday and on Wednesday IRCS staff managed to put up some tents but the army forced them to take the shelters down.Diplomats from France, Britain, Spain, Ireland, Australia and the European Union's political office, turned up on Friday with more supplies. As soon as they arrived, about a dozen Israeli army jeeps converged on them, and soldiers told them not to unload their truck."It's shocking and outrageous. We will report these actions to our governments," said one EU diplomat, who declined to be named because he did not have authorization to talk to the media."(Our presence here) is a clear matter of international humanitarian law. By the Geneva Convention, an occupying power needs to see to the needs of people under occupation. These people aren't being protected," he said.In scuffles between soldiers and locals, several villagers were detained and an elderly Palestinian man fainted and was taken for medical treatment to a nearby ambulance.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that Makhul was the third Bedouin community to be demolished by the Israelis in the West Bank and adjacent Jerusalem municipality since August.Palestinians have accused the Israeli authorities of progressively taking their historical grazing lands, either earmarking it for military use or handing it over to the Israelis whose settlements dot the West Bank.
Israelis and Palestinians resumed direct peace talks last month after a three-year hiatus. Palestinian officials have expressed serious doubts about the prospects of a breakthrough."What the Israelis are doing is not helpful to the negotiations. Under any circumstances, talks or not, they're obligated to respect international law," the unnamed EU diplomat said.(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Louise Ireland)

WH confirms: Obama to meet with Abbas

Leaders will discuss recently relaunched peace talks; no plans for US president to meet Hasan Rouhani

By AP and Times of Israel staff September 20, 2013, 11:31 pm 1-The Times of Israel

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week. The meeting will occur just days before Obama hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the subject of Tuesday’s meeting with Abbas will be recently relaunched peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Netanyahu will be at the White House on Sept. 30. In recent weeks, Secretary of State John Kerry has also met with both leaders.Rhodes said Obama on Tuesday will meet with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, with whom he will discuss the influx of refugees to Lebanon from the Syrian civil war. He said Obama will meet Monday with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking to the possibility that Obama will meet with newly-elected Iranian President Hasan Rouhani in New York, Rhodes reiterated that there was no one-on-one scheduled between the two leaders.Rouhani’s recent comments regarding Iran’s nuclear program and rapprochement with the West were not enough, according to the official.“We’re gonna make judgments based on the actions of the Iranian government, not just their words,” Rhodes said.

Pope seeks historic easing of rigid Catholic doctrine

Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere 2 hours ago-sept 20,13-yahoonews

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Francis has urged a break with the Catholic Church's harsh "obsession" with divorce, gays, contraception and abortion, in an interview signalling a dramatic shift in the Vatican's tone.The Argentine pope has brought a series of fresh perspectives to the notoriously rigid Church since his election in March, and his latest remarks on some of its key doctrines sent shock waves around the world."Revolutionary words", remarked Italy's biggest newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday, while the International Herald Tribune's front page headline read: "Bluntly, Pope pushes shift in church."In the 30-page interview published in Jesuit journals on Thursday, the pope urged "mercy" and understanding for those who often feel most discriminated against by the Church."We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that," Francis said.The pope said that when these issues were discussed, they had to be put in context."The dogmatic and moral teachings of the Church are not all equivalent. The Church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."We have to find a new balance. Otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel."Francis -- who has shown a strong reformist drive in his first few months in office -- said the Church needed more than anything to be able to "heal wounds".On homosexuality he said the Church "does not want to" condemn gays, and that "it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person".The 76-year-old pope stressed that the Church's official position had not changed, but said that it should "always keep in mind the individual".The interview was published after the pope on Monday called for "another way" of treating divorcees who remarry -- a thorny issue since Catholics who wed a second time are currently not allowed to receive Holy Communion at mass.In Thursday's interview, he also said the Church should be more merciful and welcoming towards women who had undergone abortions.The confessional "is not a torture chamber", added the pope, saying priests should be neither too rigid nor too lax in their approach to the sacrament.The remarks show a marked shift from his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI hardline defence of the Church's strict doctrines."Francis distinguishes between the sin and the sinner. He says that homosexuals are not inferior or different to others, the choice of how to live one's homosexuality being one of the mysteries of man," read an editorial by historian Lucetta Scaraffia in the Vatican daily Osservatore Romano."His Christianity is not a rigid puritanism without heart," she wrote in another Italian daily.Marco Politi, biographer of Benedict XVI noted "a break" with the former pope's way of thinking."Francis says: Church doctrine is what it is. It is useless to keep repeating the same things. What is important is to enter people's personal lives."Swiss Catholic priest and theologian Hans Kueng wrote in the daily La Repubblica that he hoped the pope would seek concrete reforms, "permitting sacrament for the divorced who have remarried, the abolition of celibacy for priests, and female priesthood.It remains to be seen whether Francis' views will translate to deeper change however.Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on Friday explained that the Church distinguished between homosexuality "which is something negative" and the homosexual person "who has all our affection".And while he has called for understanding for the women who undergo abortion, Francis strongly condemned the act in a visit to gynaecologists on Friday."Every child not born, but condemned to abortion, possesses the face of the Lord who, before even being born and then after his birth, experienced rejection by the world."Francis' papacy -- he is the first Jesuit pope and the first from South America -- has marked a series of breaks with Vatican tradition.The pope has become known for his humility and concern for the poor, and has reached out to non-believers and those in other religions. He regularly picks up the phone to call ordinary people who write to him.

09/20/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

Francis makes key new appointments

The Vatican hierarchy changes

Francis has started building his team of trusted collaborators. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza is being transferred to the Apostolic Penitentiary

Marco Tosatti rome Tomorrow morning the Holy See will announce two important changes in the Curia. The Prefect of the Clergy, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, is leaving the post to which he was appointed by Benedict XVI three years ago. Croatian archbishop Nikola Eterovic, who has been Secretary of the Synod of Bishops for more than nine years, is being replaced by Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary of the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Piacenza will take over as Penitentiary Major of the Apostolic Penitentiary, currently held by Portuguese cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro. The cassocked diplomat Archbishop Beniamino Stella has been appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He is currently President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the training school of the Holy See’s future Nuncios. Stella has been president of the Academy since 2007. Nikola Eterovic has been appointed as Nuncio to Germany. Mgr. Crociata, who is currently Secretary Generalo f the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), is expected to be appointed Military Ordinary of Italy.The changes are taking place a short time before Francis’ meeting with the international team of eight cardinals who are supposed to be advising the Pope on the reform of the Church’s structures. The meeting has been scheduled for the beginning of October. This the first big change the Pope has made to the system inherited from Benedict XVI, other than the appointment of Archbishop Pietro Parolin as Vatican Secretary of State, replacing Tarcisio Bertone.The reasons for these changes are not given, as per protocol. They are a papal prerogative. Mauro Piacenza started working for the Congregation for the Clergy in 1990, before he was nominated President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and returned to the Congregation for the Clergy as Secretary, when the Brazilian Claudio Hummes was Prefect. Hummes drew in significant support for Francis in the Conclave that elected him Pope. Piacenza took over from Hummes in 2010 when Hummes reached the age limit for his position.For a month or so now, the Congregation for the Clergy has also been overseeing the Seminaries, with visits to the institutions, particularly those in Rome, starting straight away. In recent years, the Congregation has published a new Directory for the ministry and life of priests, as well as texts to mark the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II, which aimed to correct distorted interpretations of the Council. The Congregation has also stressed the importance of the spiritual dimension of priesthood over the hierarchical and administrative aspects.Genoan cardinal Mauro Piacenza was highly esteemed both by Benedict XVI and his Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, for his efficiency and in-depth knowledge of how the Congregation worked and its problems, as well as for his traditionalist ecclesiastical line of thought. His successor, Beniamino Stella, has a strong diplomatic background: Between 1987 and 2007 he served in various Nunciatures across the world, before being called to Rome to oversee the training of the Pope’s future ambassadors. So does the new Secretary of the Synod, Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri. These changes seem to indicate that Pope Francis has chosen to appoint two of “his own people” to the positions he considers crucial for the actions he plans to take in the future.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

Returning Coloradans find sickening flood damage

MANUEL VALDES and P. SOLOMON BANDA 7 hours ago-sept 20,13-yahoonews

LYONS, Colo. (AP) — Coloradans who ventured back into the flood-ravaged town of Lyons found scenes of stomach-churning destruction, with dozens of homes destroyed, family keepsakes missing, food spoiling and mud everywhere."It's just sickening," said Gloria Simpson, whose family salvaged some of her grandmother's hand-made quilts Thursday from her 81-year-old father's home. They found some family photos, but others were nowhere to be found.The number of dead rose to seven, with three others missing and presumed dead. But the number of unaccounted-for people dropped to about 80, thanks to rescues, restored communications and door-to-door searches.Rescue operations tapered off and the state began to turn its attention to finding homes for the displaced, restoring basic services and figuring out how to repair hundreds of miles of roads and dozens of bridges."Right now we're just moving from the life-saving mode to the life-sustaining mode," said Kevin Kline, director of the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.Kline said it was too early to estimate the dollar damage but added, "It's going to be big."The damage spans 17 counties and nearly 2,000 square miles.Gov. John Hickenlooper said the state's reconstruction effort would be overseen by Jerre Stead, executive chairman of the global information company IHS Inc.With dustings of snow already on the highest mountains, a new group within the state Transportation Department will focus on repairing and reconstructing as much of the state highway system as possible by Dec. 1.Under tight security, hundreds of Lyons evacuees were given two hours to check on their homes Thursday. On Sept. 12, the St. Vrain River destroyed dozens of homes, a trailer park, two bridges and sections of roads in the picturesque town of 1,600 framed by sandstone cliffs.Darren Horwitz saw boulders, broken glass and dislodged propane tanks strewn around Lyons. His truck and sailboat that he parked at a friend's mobile home had been swept away."When you get there, the shock sets in," he said.
Bob Ruthrauff, 84, found his home intact, but food was rotting in his refrigerator because electricity had been cut off. He spent his two hours getting rid of the spoilage but was grateful. "We're very lucky. We came home to a dry home," Ruthrauff said.Utility poles were toppled and power lines were in tangles. Work crews cleared debris and tried to restore power, water and sewer service.E. coli has been found in the town's drinking water and it could be two to six months before the town is livable for most, the Longmont Times-Call reported (http://bit.ly/16jVjRb). However, residents willing to rough it will be allowed to stay.

Millions of gallons of sewage have been released around the state because of septic systems and sewer lines torn out by flood waters and flooded waste treatment plants, said Steve Gunderson, director of the state's water quality control division. People in some communities have had to boil their water. So far, there have been no reports of illness from the dirty water but Gunderson acknowledged that people might not trace their illness back to the water.Flooding along the South Platte River pushed into western Nebraska but caused little initial damage.Amtrak said its Chicago-to-San Francisco California Zephyr train will detour through Wyoming until early October because of flood damage to its route in Colorado. Buses will take passengers to some of the train's normal stops in Colorado and Utah until repairs are completed.The White House said Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Colorado on Monday.

Super Typhoon Usagi closes in on Taiwan and Philippines

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yahoonews-sept 21,13

HONG KONG (AFP) - Super Typhoon Usagi, the most powerful cyclone of 2013 so far, was closing in on Taiwan and the Philippines on Saturday, packing gusts of nearly 300 kilometres (185 miles) per hour and bringing storm surge and torrential rain.Usagi, which intensified dramatically into a super typhoon in the early hours of Friday, is to roar through the Luzon Strait dividing the Philippines and Taiwan on Saturday morning as it barrels towards Hong Kong and the Chinese coast.Taiwan's southern tip is set to be clipped by the storm's northeast quadrant, typically home to a tropical cyclone's most powerful winds.The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in a bulletin issued at 11.00 pm Friday (1500 GMT Friday) that Usagi was packing sustained winds of 130 knots (240 kph, 150 mph), with gusts of up to 160 knots (296kph, 185mph), making it the equivalent of a strong category four Atlantic hurricane."It is the strongest typhoon in the west Pacific region this year," a weather forecaster at the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau told AFP on Friday. Meteorologists have described Usagi as the most powerful tropical cyclone to form in 2013 so far.The bureau said in a bulletin early Saturday that the storm was moving west northwest at 19 kilometres an hour.Taiwan's defence ministry Friday deployed more than 1,600 soldiers in "high risk" areas prone to flooding and landslides while placing 24,000 others on standby. Philippine authorities on Friday evacuated some 240 people in the northern agricultural province of Tarlac, while ferries were restricted to their ports, stranding travellers.A signal four alert was issued for the Batanes island group in the extreme north of the country, warning large trees could be uprooted, plantations flattened and power and communications infrastructure knocked out.Emergency relief services were also put on heightened alert, with the Red Cross already stockpiling first aid kits and food packs in some areas."Damage to affected communities can be very heavy," the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. "The situation is potentially very destructive to communities. All travel and outdoor activities should be  cancelled."The country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Usagi would cause intense rainfall of 10-20 millimetres per hour within a 700-kilometre range.In China, nearly 23,000 fishing boats took shelter in Fujian province ahead of the storm, state media reported early Saturday, while more than 4,000 people living in coastal fish farms were evacuated.China's meteorological authority upgraded its warning for the typhoon to orange, the second highest, state news agency Xinhua said late Friday.Hong Kong officials warned of worsening weather in the southern Chinese territory. "Weather will deteriorate significantly with strengthening winds and rough seas," the Hong Kong observatory said. Its tropical cyclone track map showed the storm would hit the city after 8:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Sunday.The typhoon is expected to be downgraded to "severe" by the time it makes landfall in the territory, according to the observatory -- still enough to stop metro and ferry services and curtail air travel.

 

ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14  And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.

AMOS 1:5
5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.

JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23  Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24  Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27  And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4  Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5  Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6  O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7  How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.

EGYPT

ISAIAH 19:1-5
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)

US-Russia Syria deal props up Assad

Without a decisive Western intervention, Syria’s beleaguered rebels are dealt a huge psychological blow, further fanning the war of attrition’s flames

By Zeina Karam September 21, 2013, 2:54 am 0-The Times of Israel

BEIRUT (AP) — For Syria’s divided and beleaguered rebels, the creeping realization that there will not be a decisive Western military intervention on their behalf is a huge psychological blow. President Bashar Assad’s regime has gained strength, largely because the world community is concerned that if he is toppled the result may be an Islamist Syria in the grip of al-Qaeda. The immediate result has been an uptick this week in fighting between moderate and jihadi rebels. The long-term outcome is likely to be a prolonged war of attrition that continues the slow destruction of Syria as a coherent state and further fans the flames of sectarian hatred and extremism in a turbulent Middle East. Only two weeks ago, the Obama administration appeared poised to launch a US military strike against the Syrian regime in response to the Aug 21 chemical weapons attack it says was launched by Assad’s forces, killing hundreds of civilians in opposition-controlled areas near Damascus. President Barack Obama reversed course after an ambitious agreement between the US and Russia calling for an inventory of Syria’s chemical weapons program within a week, and for all its components to be removed from the country or destroyed by mid-2014. Assad immediately signed on, and on Friday sent the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons an “initial declaration” outlining Syria’s weapons program. The agreement abruptly reshuffled the cards, baffling opposition forces who had held out hope that US-led strikes would help tip the scales in the country’s deadly stalemate. The conflict, now in its third year, has killed more than 100,000 people and uprooted millions of people from their homes. Obama warned in August 2012 that any deployment of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons stockpiles was a “red line” that would bring harsh consequences. Now, the realization that even a sarin attack the US says killed more than 1,400 people would not trigger military action has left rebels feeling bitter and powerless, and is likely to strengthen extremist trends in rebel ranks. While the US and Russia, a staunch Assad ally, have stepped up efforts to hold a peace conference for Syria, the Russian deal makes it less likely the Syrian sides will agree to talk. Opposition forces say the agreement effectively legitimizes Assad’s regime, at least until mid-2014 when chemical weapons stockpiles are supposed to have been destroyed. Presidential elections are due around the same time, and Assad has suggested he may run again. “This deal puts the regime front and center in the international diplomatic process,” said Randa Slim, a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. That makes it less likely Assad will feel the need to engage in issues dealing with a political transition. “It also pushes the armed opposition groups away from seeking a deal that they believe will not favor them in this present configuration of Syrian actors,” she said. Opposition forces say that by agreeing to relinquish his chemical weapons stockpile, Assad successfully removed the threat of US military action while giving up very little in exchange. Unlike the regime’s warplanes, which have pushed back rebel advances and pummeled opposition-held territory, chemical weapons are not seen as crucial to the regime’s survival or military strategy. The focus on diplomacy, which is likely to drag out the war, bolsters the jihadi narrative that the West is not interested in a rebel victory after all. “Assad has been rewarded for using chemical weapons, rather than being punished,” said veteran Syrian opposition figure Kamal Labwani. “It is a depraved decision that will reflect in more extremism on the ground,” he said, pointing to the rapid proliferation of al-Qaeda militants and the uptick in rebel infighting in the past week. On Wednesday, gunmen from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda offshoot, overran a town near the border with Turkey after raging battles during which they expelled fighters from the mainstream Western-backed Free Syrian Army. The fighting died down Thursday after a cease-fire was reached with the extremists, who have sought to expand their influence across opposition-held territory in the country’s north. Syria’s main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, issued a strongly worded statement saying the jihadis’ push to establish an Islamic state undermines the rebels’ struggle for a free Syria. Labwani said the world is now witnessing the birth of an “Islamic, extremist state capable of destabilizing countries from Pakistan to North Africa.” “We are the biggest losers in all of this, the people who held up the banner of democracy, civil society and freedom,” Labwani said. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, said Syria has become more central than Iraq to al-Qaeda’s brand. “It brings al-Qaeda within striking distance of the United States’ three biggest allies in the region: Turkey, Jordan, and Israel,” he said. As for the rebel infighting, he said that any suggestion the rebels would purge their ranks of extremists was “wishful thinking.” Nizar al-Hrakey, the Coalition’s representative in Doha, Qatar, said the US retreat from military action proves there isn’t a genuine will by the international community to remove Assad, for lack of alternatives. The US and Russia, he charged, have given Assad’s regime new life “at the expense of the Syrian people’s blood.” Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman for the US State Department, sought to debunk such accusations. “Clearly the regime has responsibilities here … mainly the responsibility to acknowledge their weapons and the stockpiles, and to provide security for inspectors to actually inspect them and ultimately remove them for destruction,” she said this week in Washington. “But that doesn’t mean Assad gets to stay.” AP writer Raphael Satter contributed to this report from London. 

Syria provides first details of its chemical weapons

Hague-based watchdog confirms, ‘We have received part of the verification and we expect more’

By Times of Israel staff September 20, 2013, 4:45 pm 1-The Times Of Israel

Syria reportedly submitted details of its chemical weapons arsenal to a Hague-based watchdog on Friday.

“We have received part of the verification and we expect more,” a spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said, according to Reuters.A UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the transfer of information, saying, “It’s quite long … and being translated.”Syria is believed to possess around 1,000 tons of chemical toxins, and has agreed to destroy them under a joint Russian-US proposal designed to avert a US military strike.Earlier this week, a Saudi newspaper published a report based on Syrian opposition sources that the Assad regime is smuggling chemical weapons to Hezbollah through tunnels connecting Syrian and Lebanese villages.According to the Wednesday report in the Al-Watan daily, the move is part of a drive by the regime to remove its chemical weapons stockpiles from Syrian territory before the arrival of international observers as part of the Russia-US agreement aimed at stripping Syria of its non-conventional arms.The Al-Watan report could not be confirmed by other sources and appeared in a Saudi establishment daily staunchly supportive of the Syrian opposition, which has called for a Western military strike against Syria.The regime has chosen three destinations for its weapons, the daily claimed: Iraq, under the supervision of Iran’s Al-Quds Force and with the agreement of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki; Hezbollah in Lebanon; and Russian warships docked in Syria. Previously, the transfer of the internationally banned weapons was undertaken using vegetable trucks, Al-Watan reported.Salim Idris, the commander of the opposition Free Syrian Army, has claimed numerous times over the past week that the Assad regime is busy hiding its chemical weapons in Lebanon, Iraq and in multiple locations throughout Syria.On Monday, Free Syrian Army spokesman Fahed Al-Masri claimed that the Assad regime completed two transfers of chemical weapons to Hezbollah three months ago, storing the weapons in four locations in northern and central Lebanon.“We have video recordings and irrefutable documents proving the truth of this,” Al-Masri said.However, Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, head of IDF Northern Command, said Wednesday that Israel now believes Hezbollah does not want Assad’s chemical weapons.Speaking to Yedioth Ahronoth, Golan said that in exchange for sending troops to help Assad against the rebels, Hezbollah requested advanced munitions such as anti-aircraft and ground-to-ground missiles, which could change the balance of power vis-a-vis the IDF, but “as far as we can tell, they don’t want” chemical weapons.Israel has conducted airstrikes inside Syria at least three times this year, in what sources said were attempts to block shipments of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah.On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US knows that the Assad regime possesses sarin gas, and that there’s not a shred of evidence that the opposition does. Sarin is believed to have been used in the attack on a Damascus suburb on August 21 in which over 1,400 people were killed, according to US figures.“There’s no indication – none – that the opposition is in possession [of the gas] or has launched a CW variant of these [122 -millimeter] rockets,” Kerry said at a State Department press briefing Thursday.Russia has consistently maintained that the rebels are behind that chemical attack and that it will present proof of such to the UN Security Council.“This isn’t complicated. When we say we know what is true, we meant it. We have a definitive UN report strengthening case,” Kerry said.“The world can decide whether it was used by the regime, which has used chemical weapons before, the regime which had the rockets and the weapons, or whether the opposition secretly went unnoticed into territory they don’t control to fire rockets they don’t have containing sarin that they don’t possess to kill their own people. And then without even being noticed, they just disassembled it all and packed up and got out of the center of Damascus, controlled by Assad,” said the secretary of state.He stressed that the UN Security Council must be prepared to act next week on Syria, that it must stand up and speak out against the use of chemical weapons.“Time is short. Let’s not spend time debating what we already know. We have to recognize that world is watching to see whether we can avoid military action, A complete removal of the chemical weapons is possible through peaceful means.”The Russian-US agreement reached last week, which aims to have Syria’s WMD cache destroyed by mid-2014, “clearly said it must be enforceable, it must be as soon as possible, it must be real,” said Kerry.“We need a binding resolution to achieve that goal. We must make the Geneva deal meaningful. We have an important goal in New York and we have to achieve it as rapidly as possible,” said the secretary of state.“This fight about Syria’s chemical weapon is not a game. It’s real. It’s important that this Geneva agreement be enforced,” he stressed.On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power also said that the UN report points to Assad.“The technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack.”“One type of munition, 122mm rockets, were found to have been used in the attack, a type associated with “previous regime attacks,” Power said, adding that “we have not observed the opposition manufacturing or using this style of rocket.”

Russian Muslim clerics warn of unrest over ban of translation of Koran

By Alissa de Carbonnel-sept 21,13-yahoonews
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's senior Islamic clerics warned the country's leaders on Friday unrest could erupt in Muslim communities in Russia and beyond if a court decision ordering the destruction of a interpretive translation of Koran is not overturned.Tuesday's ruling by a court in Novorossiysk, a city in southern Russia, ordered the widely read text outlawed under a Russian anti-extremism law that rights activists say has been abused by local officials out of prejudice or to persecute groups frowned upon by the dominant Russian Orthodox Church.Rights campaigners said that the decision, which will apply nationwide unless it is overturned on appeal, comes dangerously close to banning the Koran itself.Russia's Council of Muftis sounded the alarm in an open letter on Friday to President Vladimir Putin, who has frequently called for unity among the leading faiths and warned that ethnic tension could tear Russia apart."Russian Muslims are very strongly indignant over such an outrageous decision," Rushan Abbyasov, the deputy head of the council, which has close ties with the Kremlin, told Reuters.If the ruling is acted on, the cleric warned: "There will be unrest ... not only in Russia but all over the world, we are talking about the destruction of the Koran."
In the letter to Putin, the council drew a parallel with violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan over the actions of an American pastor, Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Koran on September 11, 2010.
"Is it necessary to discuss how the destruction of books, especially sacred religious books, has been received in Russia in the past?" it said."We recall how the burning of just a few copies of the Holy Koran by a crazy American pastor elicited a firm protest not just from Russian Muslims but from our entire society, in solidarity with the stormy and longlasting anger of the global Muslim community and all people of goodwill," it said.A lawyer representing the text's author, Azeri theologian Elmir Kuliyev, said he will appeal the ruling, which calls for the text to be banned and copies of it "destroyed"."This is pure idiocy. Some local prosecutor sent this material to a local court and they together decided to ban a holy book," lawyer Murat Musayev, who has one month to appeal the ruling, told Reuters."On the one hand there is freedom of religion in Russia, on the other they are banning fundamental religious texts."Experts say the more than decade-old translation by Kuliyev is a respected scholarly work, one of four translations of the Koran into Russian."This is one step away from banning the Koran," said Akhmed Yarlikapov, an expert on Islam with the Russian Academy of Sciences."This is a very high quality translation," he said. "The banning of Kuliyev's translation is utterly unprofessional, you could ban the Bible just as easily because it also has passages that talk about the spilling of blood."
BLACKLIST
Putin has championed the dominant Russian Orthodox Church as a moral compass but has also called for a multicultural Russian identity and emphasized the need to avoid religious strife in a country with a Muslim minority estimated at about 15 percent.The government is fighting against a persistent Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, spawned by separatist wars in Chechnya, and tension between ethnic Russians and Muslim minorities have led to outbursts of violence across the country.Since Russia's anti-extremism law was passed in 2002, with the purpose of curbing potential militant threats, over 2,000 publications have been placed on a blacklist posted on the Justice Ministry's website.The inclusion of some texts, such as the Russian edition of the diaries of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf", has won praise from human rights campaigners.But critics say too many innocuous works have been added, threatening the rights of minority groups. Analysts say the abuse stems from vague wording in the law and procedures that empowering local official in a flawed justice system.Once a court anywhere in Russia judges a text extremist, it is automatically added to the nationwide blacklist.Among the controversial materials included are the books of Turkish theologian Said Nursi, another of Kuliyev's works, a hadith collection of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad and Jehovah's Witnesses' basic texts."The way that the extremism law works is this kind of unstoppable mechanism that allows very junior courts to ban what they like," said Geraldine Fagan, an expert and author of a book on Russian religious policy."This is quite a momentous case. It could be the case that turns everything around and triggers a reversal of the general tendency, although that would surprise me," Fagan said."There doesn't seem to be any political will whatsoever to stop this from happening despite very high level criticism."(Editing by Sonya Hepinstal.

ARABS PRESURE U.N TO FORCE ISRAEL ABOUT ABOLISHING THEIR WEAPONS

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14  And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.

AMOS 1:5
5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.

JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23  Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24  Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27  And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)

Arab states push UN to condemn Israeli nuclear policy

Move comes amid mounting pressure on the Jewish state to relinquish its alleged weapons of mass destruction

By Times of Israel staff September 20, 2013, 12:38 pm 9-The Times of Israel

The Arab League will press forward with an initiative that would see Israel singled out for criticism over its alleged nuclear arsenal at a meeting of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog this week.The bid, which the US tried to stymie this week, reflects mounting frustration in the Arab world over the deferment of an international conference on the banning of atomic arms in the region, Reuters reported Friday.If the resolution is passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Israel will be called upon to sign on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and submit to IAEA scrutiny of its nuclear facilities.Diplomats were expecting the vote to be close, Reuters said.Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, who heads the Arab League group at the IAEA, was quoted as saying that the vote would show the world that “Israel is not playing a constructive role.”The Arab initiative is part of mounting international pressure on Israel to relinquish — or at least admit to possessing — weapons of mass destruction. The heightened interest in the Jewish state’s alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons comes amid indications from Iran that it’s ready to show flexibility in nuclear talks, and in the wake of a Russian-brokered deal that would see Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons shipped off and eventually destroyed.On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Assad’s decision to amass chemical weapons was “in response to Israel’s nuclear capabilities” and that “Israel has technological superiority and doesn’t need nuclear weapons.”According to a report in the September/October issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Israel possesses a stockpile of 80 nuclear warheads, all of which were produced by 2004, when Israel froze all production.Israel’s nuclear program has long been shrouded in secrecy, with the country maintaining a policy of ambiguity while refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.Previous estimates have put the number of warheads in Israel’s possession at up to 400. According to foreign reports, Israel’s military has the capacity to deliver a nuclear payload via a variety of methods, including ballistic missiles, aircraft, and submarine-launched cruise missiles.

New York Times op-ed: Wipe Israel off the map

September 19, 2013, 5:48 pm 15-The Times of Israel

Gilead Ini 

Thomas R. Dew was a president of the College of William & Mary. He was also an eloquent defender of immorality. “Look to the slaveholding population of the country,” he wrote in 1832 while a professor at the university, “and you every where find them characterized by noble and elevated sentiments, by humane and virtuous feelings.”Clearly, even a professorship and some rhetorical skill don’t guarantee ideas that merit thoughtful debate. There is, after all, an entire website dedicated to “Scholars for 9/11 Truth,” and yet The New York Times has not once published an op-ed by the Texas A&M professor emeritus who expresses doubt that Boeing 767s were flown into the Twin Towers, or by the University of Colorado mathematics professor who similarly sees a conspiracy in the events of September 11. Their ideas are simply beyond the pale.Nor has The New York Times offered space in its coveted opinion pages for debate about whether the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which is entangled in border disputes and burdened by extremism, should be annulled, folded back into India from which it was carved. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the newspaper promoting arguments in favor of the elimination of any recognized, democratic country. Such ideas, too, are beyond the pale. Except, of course, when it comes to Israel.Not for the first time, The Times has published what amounts to a call for the destruction of the Jewish state. The latest piece, which appears on the cover of the Sept. 15 Sunday Review section and is written by University of Pennsylvania professor Ian Lustick, argues the current state of Israel should be replaced by a unitary country that includes its neighbors in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.The column is not all that different than an op-ed the newspaper published a few years ago by Muammar Qaddafi. And while that New York Times contributor is now remembered as a ranting madman who butchered his own people, and although Lustick is most definitely neither of those, the only real difference between their pieces is that Qaddafi’s op-ed calling for an end to Israel is less long-winded than Lustick’s 2431-word piece, is more coherent, and at least sounds more moderate.

But never mind the tone and the drone of Lustick’s piece. And never mind the weakness of both the dictator and the professor’s arguments. The more important issue is that The New York Times seems intent on putting the very idea of Israel’s continued existence, the idea of real and functional Jewish national self-determination, up for debate. In effect, the newspaper has repeatedly raised the question of whether we should rewind history and return the Jewish people to the dark era in which being a Jew meant everywhere being an ethnic minority, subject to the decisions of often-hostile majorities. And it’s not only Jews who stand to suffer. Hussein Ibish and Saliba Sarsar, both affiliated with the American Task Force on Palestine, say Lustick’s views are “harmful” in that they encourage “an open-ended struggle in pursuit of impossible goals” and “reflect dangerous phantasms and fanaticism.”In short, Lustick wants to discourage peace negotiations that most  Jewish and Arab Israelis support, and instead have the world sit back, watch the bloodshed he says is inevitable, and hope for the disappearance of the Jewish state. This should be beyond the pale.

The central problem isn’t that Lustick’s argumentation is weak (though it certainly is). It is that his argument is immoral. It is time that editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal use the discretion that his office practices every day in sorting through hundreds of op-ed submissions, and desist from promoting this unjust idea.

That being said, let’s have a closer look at Lustick’s arguments.His bottom line is that the idea of separate Jewish and Palestinian states is an “illusion.” Lustick seems to understand that the Jewish majority in Israel will not volunteer to become a minority, especially in a region where xenophobic Arab leaders have long encouraged anti-Jewish attitudes, warfare and terrorism. And he surely knows that most of the world recognizes Israel. (The German chancellor said this just a few days ago: “For those who share my view that the Jews as a people have a right to self-determination, Zionism as a national movement of the Jewish people is the embodiment of this very right which its opponents want to deny.”)This is why the professor, notwithstanding his own argument that a two-state solution should be opposed because it is not “plausible,” devotes so much of his op-ed to arguing that sometimes in international affairs “the impossible suddenly becomes probable.” He tells readers that “history offers many such lessons,” citing the division of warring Britain and Ireland into two states, and the separation of the ethnically distinct France and Algeria into two sovereign countries, and the breakup of multi-ethnic Yugoslavia, and the end of the Soviet project that had tried and ultimately failed to encapsulate several diverse republics into one state.Maybe Lustick doesn’t realize how thoroughly the history lesson destroys his case for joining two distinct, adversarial nations into one state. So he continues.Readers, he argues, should consider what they “see vividly” across the Middle East. What they see, we know, is horrific bloodshed in Syria, where the unified state has fractured and where Sunnis, Alawites and Christians live in fear of each other. They see a Lebanon, a country in which an internationally designated terrorist group holds veto power, and which barely manages to withstand the centrifugal forces that have separated Shiite, Sunni and Christian Lebanese into violent enemies. They see car bombs exploding seemingly every day in Iraq, where the two main branches of Islam fail to coexist.

And he continues to make his case: “Strong Islamist trends make a fundamentalist Palestine more likely than a small state under a secular government,” he writes. But the Jews of Israel should intertwine their fates with, and put their futures in the hands of, these very fundamentalists? We’ve seen in Egypt and elsewhere what fundamentalist Islamism envisions for non-Muslims. Just one day after The New York Times gave Lustick his platform, the newspaper reported that an Islamist-dominated village in Egypt has “witnessed the most horrific sectarian violence in Egypt” since power changed hands a few months ago. A 1,650-year-old monastery, the villages churches dozens of Christian homes have “been burned or ransacked.” A Christian resident was recently murdered and dragged through the streets.And still, Lustick’s piece concludes by urging those with a stake in negotiations, the Israelis and the Palestinians, to “see and then adapt to the world as it is.” Yes, he’s referring to the same world in which Arab Sudan was separated from non‑Arab South Sudan to spare the sides continued bloodshed.To be fair, the author is right about one thing. There are observers who question the likelihood of a negotiated two-state solution. But if he agrees with them (he does), and if he wants dazzling geopolitical change (he does), what would make more sense: Watching while “blood” and “conflict” and “magic,” which Lustick envisions as a prerequisite to his one-state Utopia, does or does not fuse Israel and the Palestinian Authority into a single peaceful country, or joining the Gaza Strip and Egypt, two regions that overlap ethnically, religiously and culturally and which once coexisted with little dissent under the same rule? He doesn’t consider this option. This isn’t to recommend a Gaza-Egypt union, but merely to point out that even if one accepts Lustick’s gloomy diagnosis, his prescription does not necessarily follow.

And things aren’t actually all that gloomy. Realist professor Efraim Inbar recently made the case that the country looks to have a bright future:

Despite not everything being perfect in the Holy Land, long term prospects seem bright. Israel is a vibrant democracy that prospers and maintains strong social cohesion. Its international status has improved while support in the United States, its main ally and still the foremost international power, has remained very high. Moreover, the Jewish state is widely recognized as an entrenched reality, even by its Arab and Muslim rivals. It has built a mighty military machine that can parry all regional threats, and the IDF remains the most capable military in the region with the motivation, equipment, and training to overmatch the conventional capabilities of any regional challenger. Israel has managed to contain terrorist activities and has built an effective shield against missiles.

Inbar concluded that “While peace is desirable, it is not a necessary condition for survival.”

Lustick’s dire prognosis also depends on misinformation. Israel’s version of two states, he insists, envisions “huge Jewish settlements, crisscrossed by Jewish-only access roads.” But this is utter nonsense. The West Bank is not currently crisscrossed by Jewish-only roads, and no credible Israeli proponent of a two-state solution calls for creating such roads, either in Israel or in a future Palestinian state.  Lustick has seemingly dug up the old canard that describes roads on which Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians can freely travel, but to which Palestinians have restricted access, as being Jewish only. Major media organizations that have made that mistake have subsequently published corrections.But again, the key problem isn’t Lustick’s ridiculous argumentation or his dangerous vision, both of which he is entitled to, and both of which he has shared before. The real issue is with The New York Times decision-making. As Shmuel Rosner correctly pointed out, is the foolish idea that the disenfranchisement of the Jewish people is up for debate is “based solely on the fact that a widely read and respectable publication has decided to print it.” It is an extremist concept that the newspaper is trying to push into the mainstream.Times opinion editors will surely protest that they publish diverse views, and that they don’t necessarily agree with what is published. To some extent this is true. But this boilerplate defense does not justify the publication of anything and everything. No op-eds have made the case that the slaying of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was actually a “false-flag” conspiracy. None have promoted female genital mutilation. None have revived the outrageous debate about the right to freedom for blacks in America. And none should revive the old debate about the right of the Jewish people to determine their own destiny in their ancestral homeland.In other words — at least when it comes to issues that don’t involve the world’s one, small Jewish-majority country — free speech is not conflated with desirable speech. Arguments in The New York Times normally fall within the bounds of good taste and basic decency, and this guideline must be applied to the conversation about Israel, too.

Rouhani’s Jewish MP escort to UN has blasted ‘inhuman’ Israel

Siamak Moreh Sedgh, set to accompany the Iranian president to New York, repeatedly distanced himself from the Jewish state

By Elhanan Miller September 20, 2013, 10:59 am 8-The Times of Israel

The Jewish parliament member set to accompany Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to a UN summit in New York next week is a critic of Israel who has dubbed its treatment of Palestinians “inhuman.”Siamak Moreh Sedgh, a medical doctor and the sole Jewish member of Iran’s 290-strong Majlis (parliament), told Reuters in May 2008 that Iran’s Jewish community would not mark Israel’s 60th anniversary.“We are in complete disagreement with the behavior of Israel,” Moreh Sedgh told the news agency, adding that in Gaza Israel displayed “anti-human behavior… they kill innocent people.”Prior to his selection as the Jewish representative to parliament in March 2008, Moreh Sedgh headed the country’s Jewish community, estimated at 9,000 according to a 2012 census. Five seats in parliament are reserved for Iran’s recognized religious minorities — one for a Jew, two for Christians and two for Zoroastrians.In an interview with Russia Today in 2010, Moreh Sedgh denied that anti-Semitism existed in Iran, claiming it was a uniquely European phenomenon. He highlighted the affiliation of the country’s Jews to Iranian culture, noting that he had served 12 months at the front during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.“Jews are safe in Iran. That’s true. Nobody needs guards. There has never been a single instance of anti-Semitism in Iranian society. This phenomenon belongs to the European, Christian world. There is no anti-Semitic sentiment in Iran. We have no attacks on synagogues or cemeteries as happens in Paris. Just so you know, there are 15 synagogues in Tehran,” he said.Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv University’s Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, said this would not be the first time representatives of Iran’s religious minorities accompany the president to the UN gathering. In 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought along the five minority parliamentarians with him to the summit.“This is supposed to express [Iran's] so-called tolerance toward religious minorities,” Zimmt told The Times of Israel.In the 1990s, Moreh Sedgh’s predecessor Morris Moatamed accompanied then-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi to New York.   

Iranian president offers to broker peace in Syria

In Washington Post op-ed, Rouhani says America’s post-9/11 foreign policy has failed and should give way to ‘constructive interaction’

By Elie Leshem September 20, 2013, 10:11 am 2-The TTimes of Israel

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani said that his country wished to be involved in negotiating an end to “heartbreaking violence” in the civil war between the Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad.“We must create an atmosphere where peoples of the region can decide their own fates,” Rouhani wrote in an op-ed carried by The Washington Post Thursday. “As part of this, I announce my government’s readiness to help facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition.”The opinion piece, essentially a plea for more regional cooperation interspersed with subtle jabs at the US for the supposed failure of its foreign policy, echoed some of the points recently made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also appealed directly to the American people in a widely circulated op-ed.Rouhani’s proposal to enter the diplomatic fray vis-à-vis Syria comes amid increasing calls for dialogue toward curbing violence that has killed over 100,000 over two-and-a-half years of war. On Thursday, Syria’s deputy prime minister announced that the fighting had reached a stalemate and said Assad would call for dialogue at an upcoming conference.“Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side,” Qadri Jamil told the Guardian. “This zero balance of forces will not change for a while.”In his opinion piece, Rouhani reiterated that Iran “strongly condemns” the chemical attacks that spurred a Russia-brokered deal to remove and eventually destroy Assad’s chemical weapons. The uproar in the wake of a devastating August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus gave rise to that deal, as well as pervasive calls for dialogue between the Assad regime and the opposition.That kind of dialogue, Rouhani hinted, stood in stark contrast to Washington’s tendency to wield force to influence regional conflicts. US foreign policy in the wake of the September 11 attacks, according to the Iranian president, had largely failed to attain its objectives.“Sadly, unilateralism often continues to overshadow constructive approaches,” he wrote. “Security is pursued at the expense of the insecurity of others, with disastrous consequences. More than a decade and two wars after 9/11, al-Qaeda and other militant extremists continue to wreak havoc… In Iraq, 10 years after the American-led invasion, dozens still lose their lives to violence every day. Afghanistan endures similar, endemic bloodshed.“The unilateral approach, which glorifies brute force and breeds violence, is clearly incapable of solving issues we all face, such as terrorism and extremism. I say ‘all’ because nobody is immune to extremist-fueled violence, even though it might rage thousands of miles away. Americans woke up to this reality 12 years ago.”Addressing his country’s ongoing nuclear standoff with the West, Rouhani urged the US and its allies to engage in “constructive interaction” and focus not “on how to prevent things from getting worse [but] about how to make things better.”Rouhani, who is considered by many to be more moderate than his combative predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is reported to have assented to a scaled-back nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions against his country. There have also been rumors of a possible meeting between him and Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a possibility that the White House has not ruled out.Rouhani’s tone toward Israel has been less conciliatory.In an interview with the NBC aired Thursday, he accused Israel of doing “injustice to the people of the Middle East and… [bringing] instability to the region with its war-mongering policies.”Asked about criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Iran’s policies and plans, Rouhani said he didn’t understand how an “occupier” nation could be in a position to lecture another country.Rouhani said Israel “shouldn’t allow itself to give speeches about a democratically and freely elected government.”He sidestepped a question about whether the Holocaust was real. And he said that his authority is genuine and lasting, even though Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is known to control all matters of state, including nuclear.Asked by network correspondent Ann Curry about statements that Ahmadinejad had made questioning the Holocaust, Rouhani said only, “I’m not a historian. I’m a politician. What is important for us is that the countries of the region and the people grow closer to each other and that they are able to prevent aggression and injustice.”

“What we wish for in this region is rule by the will of the people,” he said. “We believe in the ballot box. We do not seek war with any country. We seek peace and friendship among the nations of the region.”In the wide-ranging question-and-answer session of which the first part was aired Wednesday night, Rouhani said that Iran has “never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb and we are not going to do so.”

OTHER RECENT SYRIA NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/syria-un-says-chemical-weapons-were-used.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/on-sukkot-turning-oy-into-joy.html

FOX NEWS INTERVIEWS ASSAD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmMmGZQaVsc

POPE SEEMS TO BE GETTING LUKEWARM

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

REVELATION 13:11-13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

REVELATION 17:1-5,9,15-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

LUKEWARM CHURCHES

REVELATION 3:15-19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I(GOD) will spue (VOMIT) thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

WELL WE SEE A BIG CHANGE IN THE VATICAN.LIKE THE BIBLE PREDICTED.THE VATICAN WILL BE LUKEWARM.AND GET ALONG HUGGY WITH THE WORLD.AND AS WE SEE IT HAPPENING.PLAYING DOWN THE BIBLE.AND GODS LAWS-SUCKING UP TO ISLAM AND TRYING TO BLEND HOMOSEXUALS INTO CHRISTIANITY.THE BIBLE SAYS THIS WOULD HAPPEN TO THE VATICAN IN THE LAST DAYS.AND THE VATICAN IS IN POLITICS BIGTIME ALSO TO.

09/19/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

Pope Francis’gentle stabs at change

Pope Francis

In an interview with Jesuit magazine “Civiltà Cattolica”, Pope Francis says it is important to focus “on what is essential, because this is what impassions and attracts people the most; this is what sets the heart on fire”. Francis also stressed he does not want a censorship-crazy Curia

Andrea Tornielli vatican city It is an extraordinary 29 page portrait of Pope Francis’ outlook on faith and Church life. Understandably, what will attract readers’ attention the most will probably be the bits where the Pope talks about homosexuality, the fact that the Church should not only focus on questions linked to abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception and the bits in which he says that the Curia dicasteries “run the risk of becoming censorship bodies.” But the crux of the Pope’s message in his interview with Italian Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica is the image the Pope gives of the Church as a field hospital after a battle. A hospital where wounds are treated. It would be pointless to ask the seriously injured patients – who stand for the many men and women today who have lost the meaning of life or live “irregular” lives – whether they have high cholesterol or blood sugar levels. Their wounds need to be treated to prevent them from dying. Everything else can wait.The Church Francis wants is not a Church that changes its nature or shoves its dogma away in the attic. It is a Church that is capable of showing its merciful side and concentrates on proclaiming “what is essential, necessary and what impassions and attracts people the most, what sets the heart on fire, as in the case of the disciples of Emmaus." Benedict XVI also spoke about this in a memorable and yet quickly forgotten about speech he gave on a trip to Portugal in May 2010, when he said that references to morality and values don't touch people’s hearts today. So in his interview with the director of Civiltà Cattolica, Francis responds to those who criticise his silence over non-negotiable values. As if the fact that he does repeatedly condemn abortion and same-sex marriage every week is evidence that he is not fulfilling the Church’s mission.“We cannot just focus on issues linked to abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception. This is not possible,” the Pope said. “I haven’t spoken a great deal about these issues and this has been held against me. But when one speaks, this must be in context. We know what the Church’s opinion is and I am a son of the Church, but there’s no need to go on about this.” The Church has “sometimes got bogged down in small things, in small precepts.” Instead, it must go back to announcing that “Jesus Christ has saved you!” Ministers of the Church “must above all be ministers of mercy” because “the proclamation of God’s redeeming love comes before moral and religious duty. Today it seems the opposite often prevails.”These words are the reverse of the approach taken by those who believe that the most important task for Christians today is not announcing the message of salvation, closeness and mercy but to constantly repeat a set of precepts and condemnations. Precepts and prohibitions have a meaning in the context of the experience of faith but they end up pushing people away instead of reaching out to them with the evangelical message when they become the main subject of preaching and pastoral care. The Pope’s words and his outlook on faith require “pastoral conversion” from the whole Church.Accompanying through mercy, Francis explained, does not mean being excessively strict or too lax. The confessional is not a a torture chamber but neither is it a dry cleaners where you go to get a stain removed as if nothing had ever happened. Evil can never be called good. It is the approach one takes, the outlook one has and the priorities one has that differ.”I have one dogmatic certainty: God is present in every person’s life, Godi s present in the life of each and every one of us. Even if a person’s life has been a disaster, if it is destroyed by bad habits, by drugs or whatever it is, Godi s in their life. Every human can and must search for Him in their life.”During the interview Francis even risponde to questions from those who expected quick decisions, immediate reforms and for him to substitute his collaborators straight after the election: The President of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, for example espresse his criticism: “I believe it always takes  time to build the foundations of real and efficient change. And this is the time of discernment.” But that discernment can make urgent decisions and interventions necessary, when the intention was to deal with them at a later date. The Vatican bank (IOR) and the scandals unleashed by the judiciary’s investigations are a case in point.In terms of decision-making ability and authority, the Pope talked about his experience as a young provincial priest and the fact that his “abrupt and personalist” decisions led to him being seen as an “ultraconservative” priest even though he has “never been a rightist”. This is why he now believes it is essential to discuss things and think things through carefully before making any decisions. He also wants consultations with collaborators in the Vatican and with the group of eight cardinals he chose to look into the reform of the Roman Curia to be real and sincere not formal consultations.Finally, the sections about the Curia and the Council are also fundamental. “Roman dicasteries are at the service of the Pope and the bishops: they are there to help” local Churches and bishops’ conferences. “They are helping mechanisms” and must not turn into “censhorship bodies”. Local Churches need to be given the chance to get more involved. Speaking about the Second Vatican Council the Pope said that the Gospel must be read within the context of today’s world, as suggested by Vatican II.

VATICAN INSIDER

Francis calls for mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims in letter to Al-Azhar

The Pope with a represnentative of the Islamic world

The Nuncio to Cairo, Mgr. Gobel, has delivered a letter to the Imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University calling for a steady return to dialogue

Giorgio Bernardelli Rome The Al-Azhar University in Cairo – considered one of the most important centres of Sunni Islamic learning  – has announced that Pope Francis has sent a personal message to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayyeb. The most important Catholic website in Arabic, www.abouna.org, published the communiqué issued by Al-Azhar, which mentions that a meeting took place yesterday between Al Tayyeb and the Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt, Mgr. Jean-Paul Gobel. During the face-to-face meeting the Nuncio delivered the message of wishes Pope Francis sent to the Muslim world for the end of the month of Ramadan, along with a personal message from to Pope to Al Tayyeb.According to Al-Azhar, in his message the Pope stressed the Vatican’s respect for Islam and said he hoped every effort would be made towards achieving “mutual understanding between the world’s Christians and Muslims in order to build peace and justice.” Al Tayyeb apparently replied that the message Al-Azhar wished to get out is one of “respect for people of every religion and the safeguarding of human dignity and the highest values described in the Quran and the Sunnah.” He also said that Muslims are willing “to collaborate to help justice and progress grow among the people of the Earth.”The communiqué issued by the University of Al-Azhar is important in light of the tensions between the Sunni centre of learning and the Vatican, which exploded in January 2011 after Benedict XVI’s strong condemnation of the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of Alexandria. This led the university to announce it was suspending dialogue with the Holy See. Prior to this, a university delegation would hold meetings with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue every two years. Today’s communiqué alluded to this incident, saying that Al Tayyeb apparently told the Nuncio that casting Islam in a negative light is “a red line” that must not be crossed. The communiqué does not make explicit reference to the resumption of dialogue. But it is important to bear in mind that in June Al-Azhar said it was waiting for a response to the message of congratulations which Al Tayyeb sent Pope Francis after his election. And it expressed the hope that there would be “a clear demonstration of respect for Islam and Muslims”. This was clearly demonstrated in today’s message. The President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran responded by saying that it was Al-Azhar that had interrupted dialogue with the Holy See. The Holy See had kept the door of dialogue open.The facts seem to suggest that this rift is healing fast: Al Tayyeb and the University of Al-Azhar have proven to be an important reference point for Christians during the difficult past few months in Egypt. Even during Mohammed Morsi’s presidency the Great Imam had tried on more than one occasion to act as a mediator with Christians, attracting the wrath of the Muslim Brotherhood.Then, after the 30 June demonstrations he openly supported the ousting of the Islamist president by the military. Importantly, when Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attacked him for this, the Secretary of the Council of Churches of Egypt, Fr. Bishoy Helmy came to his defence. The Apostolic Vicar of Alexandria, Mgr. Adel Zaki told Fides news agency that "a strong collaborative agreement between Al Azhar and the Council of Christian Churches is being registered.”