JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Israel announces plans for 2,500 new settlement homes-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 24, 2017
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defence Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since President Donald Trump took office.A statement from the Defence Ministry said the plans, authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, were intended to fulfil a demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs.The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement which according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.It was not immediately clear whether it was the first time that the new construction had been announced. There are several stages involved in the process of approving and building new settlement homes.(Writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Luke Baker)
Hamas doesn't want to act,' army chief said a week before war-Leaked wartime transcript exposes leaders bitterly divided over how to fight Gaza-Quotes from highly secret 2014 security cabinet discussions show Bennett leading push for aggressive offensive as defense brass argues against provoking war, underestimates tunnel threat-By Times of Israel staff January 24, 2017, 1:53 pm
Leaked transcripts of discussions between senior Israeli officials during the 2014 war with Gaza published Tuesday paint a picture of a deeply fractious leadership, with ministers riven over whether to pursue an aggressive offensive or simply seek to contain Hamas before and during the bloody 50-day conflict.The rancorous transcripts, published by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, offer a near-unprecedented glimpse into the inner working of the secretive body, which is charged with overseeing wartime decision making.The publication, which may violate information security rules, comes as lawmakers are mulling the release of a state watchdog report that reportedly excoriates the cabinet over failing to properly prepare for and counter threats from terror group Hamas during the war.In the excerpts, which begin in the lead-up to the war, then-economy minister Naftali Bennett, from the hawkish Jewish Home party, is seen leading a camp pushing for immediate and heavy action against Gaza, despite the possible high human costs.“Be galloping horses, not lazy bulls,” Bennett chides the IDF chief of staff at one point, pushing for a plan to destroy a network of tunnels used by Hamas to attack Israeli soldiers both in the Strip and in Israel.Others, led in the cabinet discussions by then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, but including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-finance minister Yair Lapid, insisted on a more restrained response, even as Israeli cities were bombarded by rockets from Gaza and IDF soldiers were dying in bitter gun battles in Gaza.Over 70 Israelis were killed in the war, most of them soldiers, and over 2,000 were killed on the Palestinian side in an intense bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.Israel, which launched the offensive — dubbed Operation Protective Edge — to stem rocket fire and later to also destroy Hamas’s subterranean military infrastructure, maintains that over half of the Gazans killed were fighters.The transcripts published by Yedioth begin on June 30, over a week before the war and just hours after troops combing the West Bank found the bodies of three Israeli teenagers kidnapped and murdered by a Hamas cell from the Hebron area, an attack that would soon snowball into the full-fledged conflict.In the months before the kidnapping, the IDF had uncovered a number of tunnels from Gaza reaching into Israel, leading to assessments that Hamas terrorists were planning a large-scale attack.As Israel cracked down on Hamas members in the Palestinian territory in response to the triple abduction and murder, an attack that shocked much of the Israeli public, rocket fire from Gaza into Israel intensified and public pressure for a response grew.-‘Tunnels not there to rust’-The transcripts show, though, that while Bennett was pushing for a response to the tunnels, most others were wary of provoking a fresh war.“The response to the [murder] until now has been weak and shameful,” Bennett lashes out in the transcript. “In Gaza there are dozens of tunnels intended for kidnappings. They’re not there to rust,” he is quoted as saying.“We have to take the initiative,” he insists.According to Yedioth, the “rust” comment is likely a dig at Ya’alon, who, in the run-up to the 2006 Second Lebanon War, said Hezbollah’s rockets would “rust” in their warehouses. Hezbollah fired thousands of those rockets at Israeli cities in the course of the war that summer.All the ministers oppose Bennett’s proposal for a Gaza escalation.“The tunnels are a real threat to the State of Israel,” Netanyahu says, “and they could change the [strategic] balance between us and them. Bogie,” he turns to Ya’alon, using his nickname, “I want you to present a plan tomorrow that includes taking control of the openings.”“We have such a plan,” Ya’alon replies.“I don’t know it,” says Netanyahu.On July 1, the question returns to the security cabinet.Ya’alon warns against a hasty response. “Hamas does not have any intention of activating its tunnels of its own initiative,” he tells the ministers. “We must be wary of making a miscalculation.”“In the Gilad Shalit incident, did they give [indications of intending to kidnap]?” Bennett retorts, referring to the 2006 kidnapping of the Israeli soldier on the Gaza border.“No,” Ya’alon admits.Netanyahu is quoted continuing to push for a containment policy.“You think if we do nothing, they’ll contain [themselves]?” Bennett demands.“Yes,” Ya’alon says.Gilad Erdan, who was then communications minister, tells Ya’alon the army has presented a plan “for conquering Gaza, but not for taking care of the tunnels.”“We have presented it,” says Ya’alon.IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz also pushes for containment.“Hamas doesn’t want to act,” he says. “They’ve already said on their radio [station in Gaza], ‘We made a mistake with the kidnapping.'”The next day, July 2, Ya’alon warns ministers that he is against taking action against the tunnels for fear it could lead to a wider conflagration. “It might draw us in,” he says.At that point, the head of army intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi insists “there are dozens of indications Hamas doesn’t want a fight.”Gantz agrees: “I recommend the strategic exposure of Hamas’s tunnels program,” apparently urging that the extent and threat of the tunnels be made public.Bennett again turns to the possibility of an IDF operation.“How long would a ground operation against the tunnels take?” he asks the generals.“Two or three days,” says Gantz.The actual anti-tunnel operation took 19 days, as Israeli officials discovered the full, unrealized, extent of the underground network of dozens of tunnels criss-crossing the Strip.-We can live with the tunnels-On July 3, Netanyahu is still looking for a way to neutralize the tunnels threat without an incursion.He asks Gantz if “detonating the shafts would neutralize the use of tunnels.”“I don’t know,” Gantz replies. “It might disrupt.”“Would it save us from having to enter the tunnels?” Netanyahu asks.“The effectiveness of exploding [the shafts] is very low,” says Gantz.Noticing that the options are shrinking, he warns the ministers that “it is likely that an operation against the tunnels would lead to conquering all of Gaza.”Ya’alon says Israel can live with the tunnels. “We live with no small number of developing threats. I suggest not starting an action against the tunnels.”Four days later, on July 7, amid escalating rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli Air Force responses, Hamas seems to make its decision: it cannot afford to deescalate, so it must escalate. A barrage of over 100 rockets from Gaza hits Israeli towns and cities. The cabinet formally decides on Operation Protective Edge.Ya’alon, meanwhile, still wants to limit the scope of the operation. “We can reach a ceasefire. It’s wrong to reach the point where we strip them of the tunnels. We must see the Egyptian mediation through.”Bennett yet again takes the more aggressive tack. “I recommend an action to neutralize the tunnels.“And if you gain quiet for the next three years without destroying the tunnels, what’s bad about that?” Ya’alon retorts.“And if we suffer a strategic terror attack, it will be Gilad Shalit times 100. Better to prevent it, and I haven’t seen a plan for doing that,” says Bennett.“And after you go in, they won’t build more tunnels?” Ya’alon asks.-Push to conquer Gaza-The next day, July 8, with Operation Protective Edge officially underway, ministers are starting to demand more aggressive and decisive action.“We must conquer Gaza and comprehensively remove the threat,” says Yuval Steinitz, the minister for strategic affairs at the time.“Let’s not get overexcited,” replies then-justice minister Tzipi Livni.“Army intelligence was wrong in its assessments up to this point. We have to conquer Gaza,” demands Avigdor Liberman, then the foreign minister.Then-finance minister Yair Lapid sides with Ya’alon: “I oppose a ground incursion.”On July 10, with the home front continuing to take volleys of rockets from Gaza, a ground operation increasingly becomes the favored option among ministers.Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman presents the cabinet with a plan called “Forward Defense” that includes a limited one-kilometer incursion past the border fence in order to neutralize the tunnels.Ya’alon and Gantz still oppose the move, however, and the cabinet refuses to approve it.“There is a strategic threat that can be deployed against us at any moment,” insists Turgeman. “There are at least nine tunnels that crossed into our territory.”“Do we continue shooting [from outside Gaza] or [turn to] a ground operation?” asks Netanyahu.“I oppose a ground operation,” Gantz says. “We have achieved a great deal up to now. Hamas is hurt. The tunnels are a reasonable danger.”Bennett asks about Turgeman’s proposal: “How broad would an operation against the tunnels be?”“There would be friction,” says Turgeman, a military term for expected enemy resistance, “but we know how to deal with it.”“What would you do in our shoes?” Bennett asks.“He isn’t in your shoes, he’s a galloping horse,” quips Ya’alon.“Then not in our shoes, in your shoes,” Bennett replies, unfazed.“In my shoes and in yours, I’d go in with three brigade-level battle teams to neutralize the tunnel threat,” Turgeman answers.“We have the condition to create deterrence,” Kochavi affirms, appearing to take Turgeman’s side.But Ya’alon continues to insist on restraint. “I look at the tunnels threat as an unsolved problem, and we won’t solve [it] in this action either.”Liberman chimes in with an all-or-nothing approach. “Go for a broad operation in Gaza,” he says. “But if it’s [a choice] between an anti-tunnel operation [only] or a ceasefire, go for a ceasefire.”-‘You want to run the army for me’-On July 18, after the IDF intercepts and prevents a massive tunnel raid on Kerem Shalom, the cabinet finally decides on a ground operation.By July 27, with dozens of dead soldiers and massive international pressure for a ceasefire, the internal schisms in the cabinet have reached their peak.Ya’alon rails at Bennett over his unauthorized visits to the field and meetings with officers behind his back.“You want to run the army for me,” Ya’alon says. “You won’t come from the field and tell me, ‘do this’ or ‘do that,’ you hear?”Bennett didn’t budget. “I will, if the truth isn’t being reported [to the cabinet],” he says.“I’m reporting the truth,” says Ya’alon.“Until now we haven’t heard about [the developing] ceasefire with Hamas.”-Ya’alon: “I report to you?”-Bennett: “Of course.”Bennett then turns on the chief of staff. “I expect you to come to the cabinet with operational plans and a fighting spirit. I’m not the one who’s supposed to bring [to the cabinet] plans for destroying the tunnels. Be galloping horses, not lazy bulls.”Five days later, on August 1, after a Hamas operation violates the ceasefire and causes the deaths of Maj. Benaya Sarel, Lt. Hadar Goldin and First Sergeant Liel Gidoni, unhappiness with the restrained Netanyahu-Ya’alon line grows.Erdan asks Kochavi, the intelligence chief, why the orders given to Givati Brigade fighters in Gaza during the ceasefire limited their ability to respond in ways that placed them in danger. “If I’d known this would be the case during ceasefires, I would have opposed them,” he says.-Looking for Facebook ‘likes’-The publication of the transcript drew fierce criticism from ministers who were involved in the discussions.In a thinly veiled accusation at Bennett, Ya’alon said Tuesday, “Unfortunately, I see this morning that politicians are leaking from inside the [cabinet] discussions, just to win a few more ‘likes’ on Facebook.”Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Tel Aviv, he suggested the cabinet had acted well in that war. “We defined the goals of the campaign precisely beforehand, and we achieved them. We achieved the ceasefire. Most importantly, Hamas is weak and deterred, and the south [of Israel] is enjoying unprecedented quiet. This is an example of responsible and careful leadership with a steady hand on the wheel even when there are some politicians [undermining that leadership] both during the operation and afterwards.”Steinitz, now the energy minister, called the leak “pure damage to the State of Israel.”Livni, who also spoke at the INSS conference, said the key complaint raised by Bennett and others about the tunnels was not the main failing revealed in the Gaza war, but rather the lack of an overarching strategy was.“The problem in Protective Edge was bigger than the tunnels. The cabinet has no policy with respect to Gaza, and the army and the defense establishment hunger for one. Is Gaza part of the Palestinian state? Is it part of Israel and we must reconquer it or return to the Gush Katif settlements, as [Jewish Home MK] Shuli Mualem suggested? We only work tactically, putting out fires one after another. You can’t run a military operation or anything else that way. That’s the real failure.”She added: “There are tunnels today as well — and the cabinet isn’t deciding on an operation.”She also criticized a “lack of coordination between the military and diplomatic” corps.“Operation Protective Edge could have ended with a UN Security Council resolution against Hamas, the disarmament of Gaza and direct talks with the [Palestinian] Authority without preconditions, but Netanyahu was afraid to make that decision because no diplomatic goals were set for the operation,” she said.
Jolted by populist surge, European Jews raise new fears of an old threat-Community leaders from across Continent sound alarm on ‘old anti-Semitism’ as Trump tremors shake both sides of Atlantic-By Raoul Wootliff January 24, 2017, 2:30 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
BRUSSELS — The agenda for the conference of European Jewish leaders in Brussels this week was supposed to address anti-Zionism as the new anti-Semitism. But attendees had a hard time focusing on a new threat when a more classical form of anti-Semitism, once thought mostly purged from the Continent, is once again rattling communities across Europe.Buffeted by resurgent nationalists, anti-Israel movements and terror, Jewish leaders in Belgium Monday chose to focus on the one issue that seems to be overshadowing the others at the moment and raise alarms of fresh anti-Semitic threats.As the European Jewish Association’s annual Jewish Leaders Conference met, many of the discussions quickly turned into an opportunity to voice fears of the “old anti-Semitism” and the rise of far-right parties in Europe, as well as Donald Trump’s entry into the White House, which has shaken many on both sides of the Atlantic.“In addition to the threats to Jewish communities from radical Islam, we see a very real threat from populist movements across Europe,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association, told delegates in his opening remarks to the conference.Emboldened by Britain’s vote to leave the EU and Trump’s US election win, European far-right parties are hoping to capitalize on rising resentment against the establishment and alarm over migration to shake up the political landscape on the continent. Nationalist movements in the Netherlands, France, Austria and Germany have all gained ground, with many predicting 2017 could see key election victories for the populist right.Margolin told The Times of Israel that the rise of the right presents both a short- and long-term challenge to Jewish communities.“There is no question that we see so many of these anti-Semitic attacks coming not just from radical Islam but from typical European nationalism,” he said.-‘New problems are arising. Anti-Semitism is appearing more and more’-“In the long term it’s even more worrying because we see they are gaining power in all of Europe and we are very concerned about what is going to be 15 years from now: Will they be a majority? Will they control power in many European countries? And will we, God forbid, experience again the rise of an anti-Semitic government in Europe?”-Catching cold-During a session titled “Enhancing security of the Jewish communities in Europe 2017,” Philippe Markiewicz, chairman of the Consistoire of Belgium, an umbrella group of Jewish organizations in the country, said he feared that the Continent’s old demons were starting to raise their heads again.“After a long history of bad times, today, for the last 72 years, we are living in peace,” he said. “But new problems are arising. Anti-Semitism is appearing more and more.”Markiewicz said that European democracy alone was not enough to stem the rise of the far right. “Let’s not forget,” he warned ominously, “Hitler was elected democratically.”While Markiewicz was referring to the European historical experience, the allusion to America of the past few months wasn’t lost on the audience.Trump, who has voiced statements against against various ethnic and religious groups, has been criticized for failing to distance himself from far-right or neo-Nazi groups that have rallied behind him. Meanwhile, his pick of Steve Bannon as chief strategist has irked many in the US Jewish community due to Bannon’s embrace of the racist-infused “alt-right” movement while at the helm of the Breitbart news website.Utilizing an old idiom to illustrate the spread of all types of anti-Semitism, Alex Benjamin, director of the AJC’s Europe-Israel Public Affairs lobby group, told the conference, “When American sneezes, Europe catches a cold.”Speaking on behalf of the US State Department — albeit representing an initiative set up under former secretary of state John Kerry that is rumored to be bound for the chopping block under the Trump administration — Holly Hufnagle of the Office of Religion and Global Affairs,said the United States is carefully monitoring the rise of the far-right in both Europe and on its home soil.“The United States is not immune to anti-Semitism,” she said, citing recent reports that found most religiously motivated hate crimes in the US were directed at Jews and that such incidents have seen a nine percent rise in the past year alone. Some have credited the bump to the divisive election campaign that saw the emergence of the “alt-right.”“The increase in anti-Semitic attacks we have witnessed over the past few months is of serious concern,” said Hufnagle, who served as an adviser to Ira Forman, Kerry’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. “We are aware that most anti-Semitic attacks in the US, as in Europe, reportedly still come from far-right, white-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.”-Pro-Israel anti-Semites-According to Hufnagle, those parties, which typically campaign on ethno-nationalist, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim platforms, are attempting to whitewash their anti-Semitism with purported newfound support for Israel.“We fear that these extreme right-wing parties are using their anti-Muslim platforms to gain Jewish support,” she said, “and for a number of Jewish communities in Europe, this is a pressing question.”-‘We fear that these extreme right-wing parties are using their anti-Muslim platforms to gain Jewish support’-Benjamin, the AJC’s Europe-Israel Public Affairs director, told The Times of Israel that the EIPA is often contacted by far-right parties such as Geert Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party in their attempts to “cleanse themselves of the image of anti-Semitism” by joining pro-Israel forums or events. “We will not allow them to do that,” he said.Hufnagle and other speakers at the conference warned that accepting such parties based on their apparent pro-Israel positions could rationalize or even normalize the far right.Katharina von Schnurbein, the EU’s coordinator on tackling anti-Semitism, said, “The very cautious reaction of the Jewish community to the far right is correct, because at some point the veil falls.”Last month Israel’s Foreign Ministry put out a directive advising ministers against meeting a member of a Swedish far-right party visiting the country as part of a delegation of European and US lawmakers.Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely canceled meetings with the Jerusalem Leaders Summit, a gathering of conservative parliamentarians, due to the participation of Kristina Winberg, a member of the European Parliament for the Sweden Democrats.A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said the decision to exclude Winberg was made due to her party’s far-right and ultra-nationalist positions.In protest over Israel’s decision to exclude Winberg from the briefing with Hotovely, the entire delegation, which notably included a senior member of Trump’s transition team, decided to boycott the meeting.Last month, in a letter sent to Vienna’s Jewish Community and given to The Times of Israel by the Israeli president’s office, Reuven Rivlin said he will “never condone” meetings between representatives of Israel and “European parties of the far right that are tainted with a history of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial… or the promotion of racial hatred or intolerance.”The president said he was “against any meetings by official representatives of Israel with representatives of such groups.”His letter came in response to one sent in November by World Jewish Congress Vice President Ariel Muzicant and Vienna Jewish Community head Oskar Deutsch.The two complained that “certain politicians in Israel are willing to meet populist parties of the European extreme right,” including Austria’s Freedom Party, and asked Israeli leaders “to draw a very clear red line between us and those who represent hate, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism.”Rivlin told Muzicant and Deutsch that his comments applied to all “political parties you mention.”Asked if he thinks Trump’s election could herald a a new dawn for Europe’s far right, the AJC’s Margolin answered hesitantly, “Who knows?”
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
Wild’ Arab drivers causing high road deaths, safety chief says-Head of government body responsible for reducing accidents accuses community leaders of failing to alter attitudes-By Stuart Winer January 24, 2017, 1:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The director of the National Road Safety Authority said Tuesday that reckless driving in the Arab community has been causing a disproportionately high death rate among its drivers, and asserted the problem was one of attitude, not infrastructure.A day after four people were killed and several others injured in an accident in the north, Giora Romm told Army Radio that country’s Arab leadership has been negligent in addressing the issue. According to him, although Arabs are just 20 percent of the population they account for 30% of road deaths. In 2016, 43% of the drivers killed in car accidents were Arabs, he added.“Since the beginning of the year there were 11 Jews and 11 Arabs killed,” said Romm.Figures released last week by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed that 376 people were killed in 2016 on Israel’s roads, compared to 356 in 2015.The fatalities Monday happened when a private car collided head-on with a minibus on Route 886. The three occupants of the car, aged 18,17, and 15, died at the scene, while a woman, 58, who was in the minibus, died later in the hospital. All four were members of Israel’s Arab minority.An initial investigation indicated that the private car was speeding and swerved into oncoming traffic.“Even if there was some kind of dividing barrier, the life of the elderly person is the only one that would have been saved; the three younger people would have been killed in the same way,” said Romm, a former lieutenant-general in the Israel Air Force who later headed the Civil Aviation Authority. “This is a matter of wild, irresponsible driving that leads to an unacceptable percentage of deaths in the Arab community.”He said that the road safety authority has been trying to gain traction in the Arab community and has sought to “meet anyone we can about the matter.“There is a deep problem in the Arab community,” Romm continued. “Reckless driving and no discipline as an expression of frustration are not in the purview of the National Road Safety Authority. This is a matter that the Arab leadership needs to deal with and it is not dealing with it as required.”As part of its efforts to improve road safety in the community, the authority intends to present a wide-ranging plan to all Arab lawmakers at the end of the month.“We are going to invest a huge amount of money in this,” Romm promised.Last month the Knesset Finance committee approved new regulations that will see hikes in fines for speeding and running red lights.A November 2016 state comptroller report found multiple faults with efforts by the Road Safety Authority, the Transportation Ministry, and the Education Ministry to reduce the number of road deaths in Israel, even as the figures for fatalities rose over the previous two years.The authority receives its budget from the Transportation Ministry and is charged with funding and administering activities to improve road safety and raise awareness, including educational activities in the school system. Its budget in 2014 was NIS 276 million ($73 million), but dropped to NIS 230 million for 2015.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Israel announces plans for 2,500 new settlement homes-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 24, 2017
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defence Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since President Donald Trump took office.A statement from the Defence Ministry said the plans, authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, were intended to fulfil a demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs.The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement which according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.It was not immediately clear whether it was the first time that the new construction had been announced. There are several stages involved in the process of approving and building new settlement homes.(Writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Luke Baker)
Hamas doesn't want to act,' army chief said a week before war-Leaked wartime transcript exposes leaders bitterly divided over how to fight Gaza-Quotes from highly secret 2014 security cabinet discussions show Bennett leading push for aggressive offensive as defense brass argues against provoking war, underestimates tunnel threat-By Times of Israel staff January 24, 2017, 1:53 pm
Leaked transcripts of discussions between senior Israeli officials during the 2014 war with Gaza published Tuesday paint a picture of a deeply fractious leadership, with ministers riven over whether to pursue an aggressive offensive or simply seek to contain Hamas before and during the bloody 50-day conflict.The rancorous transcripts, published by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, offer a near-unprecedented glimpse into the inner working of the secretive body, which is charged with overseeing wartime decision making.The publication, which may violate information security rules, comes as lawmakers are mulling the release of a state watchdog report that reportedly excoriates the cabinet over failing to properly prepare for and counter threats from terror group Hamas during the war.In the excerpts, which begin in the lead-up to the war, then-economy minister Naftali Bennett, from the hawkish Jewish Home party, is seen leading a camp pushing for immediate and heavy action against Gaza, despite the possible high human costs.“Be galloping horses, not lazy bulls,” Bennett chides the IDF chief of staff at one point, pushing for a plan to destroy a network of tunnels used by Hamas to attack Israeli soldiers both in the Strip and in Israel.Others, led in the cabinet discussions by then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, but including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-finance minister Yair Lapid, insisted on a more restrained response, even as Israeli cities were bombarded by rockets from Gaza and IDF soldiers were dying in bitter gun battles in Gaza.Over 70 Israelis were killed in the war, most of them soldiers, and over 2,000 were killed on the Palestinian side in an intense bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.Israel, which launched the offensive — dubbed Operation Protective Edge — to stem rocket fire and later to also destroy Hamas’s subterranean military infrastructure, maintains that over half of the Gazans killed were fighters.The transcripts published by Yedioth begin on June 30, over a week before the war and just hours after troops combing the West Bank found the bodies of three Israeli teenagers kidnapped and murdered by a Hamas cell from the Hebron area, an attack that would soon snowball into the full-fledged conflict.In the months before the kidnapping, the IDF had uncovered a number of tunnels from Gaza reaching into Israel, leading to assessments that Hamas terrorists were planning a large-scale attack.As Israel cracked down on Hamas members in the Palestinian territory in response to the triple abduction and murder, an attack that shocked much of the Israeli public, rocket fire from Gaza into Israel intensified and public pressure for a response grew.-‘Tunnels not there to rust’-The transcripts show, though, that while Bennett was pushing for a response to the tunnels, most others were wary of provoking a fresh war.“The response to the [murder] until now has been weak and shameful,” Bennett lashes out in the transcript. “In Gaza there are dozens of tunnels intended for kidnappings. They’re not there to rust,” he is quoted as saying.“We have to take the initiative,” he insists.According to Yedioth, the “rust” comment is likely a dig at Ya’alon, who, in the run-up to the 2006 Second Lebanon War, said Hezbollah’s rockets would “rust” in their warehouses. Hezbollah fired thousands of those rockets at Israeli cities in the course of the war that summer.All the ministers oppose Bennett’s proposal for a Gaza escalation.“The tunnels are a real threat to the State of Israel,” Netanyahu says, “and they could change the [strategic] balance between us and them. Bogie,” he turns to Ya’alon, using his nickname, “I want you to present a plan tomorrow that includes taking control of the openings.”“We have such a plan,” Ya’alon replies.“I don’t know it,” says Netanyahu.On July 1, the question returns to the security cabinet.Ya’alon warns against a hasty response. “Hamas does not have any intention of activating its tunnels of its own initiative,” he tells the ministers. “We must be wary of making a miscalculation.”“In the Gilad Shalit incident, did they give [indications of intending to kidnap]?” Bennett retorts, referring to the 2006 kidnapping of the Israeli soldier on the Gaza border.“No,” Ya’alon admits.Netanyahu is quoted continuing to push for a containment policy.“You think if we do nothing, they’ll contain [themselves]?” Bennett demands.“Yes,” Ya’alon says.Gilad Erdan, who was then communications minister, tells Ya’alon the army has presented a plan “for conquering Gaza, but not for taking care of the tunnels.”“We have presented it,” says Ya’alon.IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz also pushes for containment.“Hamas doesn’t want to act,” he says. “They’ve already said on their radio [station in Gaza], ‘We made a mistake with the kidnapping.'”The next day, July 2, Ya’alon warns ministers that he is against taking action against the tunnels for fear it could lead to a wider conflagration. “It might draw us in,” he says.At that point, the head of army intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi insists “there are dozens of indications Hamas doesn’t want a fight.”Gantz agrees: “I recommend the strategic exposure of Hamas’s tunnels program,” apparently urging that the extent and threat of the tunnels be made public.Bennett again turns to the possibility of an IDF operation.“How long would a ground operation against the tunnels take?” he asks the generals.“Two or three days,” says Gantz.The actual anti-tunnel operation took 19 days, as Israeli officials discovered the full, unrealized, extent of the underground network of dozens of tunnels criss-crossing the Strip.-We can live with the tunnels-On July 3, Netanyahu is still looking for a way to neutralize the tunnels threat without an incursion.He asks Gantz if “detonating the shafts would neutralize the use of tunnels.”“I don’t know,” Gantz replies. “It might disrupt.”“Would it save us from having to enter the tunnels?” Netanyahu asks.“The effectiveness of exploding [the shafts] is very low,” says Gantz.Noticing that the options are shrinking, he warns the ministers that “it is likely that an operation against the tunnels would lead to conquering all of Gaza.”Ya’alon says Israel can live with the tunnels. “We live with no small number of developing threats. I suggest not starting an action against the tunnels.”Four days later, on July 7, amid escalating rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli Air Force responses, Hamas seems to make its decision: it cannot afford to deescalate, so it must escalate. A barrage of over 100 rockets from Gaza hits Israeli towns and cities. The cabinet formally decides on Operation Protective Edge.Ya’alon, meanwhile, still wants to limit the scope of the operation. “We can reach a ceasefire. It’s wrong to reach the point where we strip them of the tunnels. We must see the Egyptian mediation through.”Bennett yet again takes the more aggressive tack. “I recommend an action to neutralize the tunnels.“And if you gain quiet for the next three years without destroying the tunnels, what’s bad about that?” Ya’alon retorts.“And if we suffer a strategic terror attack, it will be Gilad Shalit times 100. Better to prevent it, and I haven’t seen a plan for doing that,” says Bennett.“And after you go in, they won’t build more tunnels?” Ya’alon asks.-Push to conquer Gaza-The next day, July 8, with Operation Protective Edge officially underway, ministers are starting to demand more aggressive and decisive action.“We must conquer Gaza and comprehensively remove the threat,” says Yuval Steinitz, the minister for strategic affairs at the time.“Let’s not get overexcited,” replies then-justice minister Tzipi Livni.“Army intelligence was wrong in its assessments up to this point. We have to conquer Gaza,” demands Avigdor Liberman, then the foreign minister.Then-finance minister Yair Lapid sides with Ya’alon: “I oppose a ground incursion.”On July 10, with the home front continuing to take volleys of rockets from Gaza, a ground operation increasingly becomes the favored option among ministers.Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman presents the cabinet with a plan called “Forward Defense” that includes a limited one-kilometer incursion past the border fence in order to neutralize the tunnels.Ya’alon and Gantz still oppose the move, however, and the cabinet refuses to approve it.“There is a strategic threat that can be deployed against us at any moment,” insists Turgeman. “There are at least nine tunnels that crossed into our territory.”“Do we continue shooting [from outside Gaza] or [turn to] a ground operation?” asks Netanyahu.“I oppose a ground operation,” Gantz says. “We have achieved a great deal up to now. Hamas is hurt. The tunnels are a reasonable danger.”Bennett asks about Turgeman’s proposal: “How broad would an operation against the tunnels be?”“There would be friction,” says Turgeman, a military term for expected enemy resistance, “but we know how to deal with it.”“What would you do in our shoes?” Bennett asks.“He isn’t in your shoes, he’s a galloping horse,” quips Ya’alon.“Then not in our shoes, in your shoes,” Bennett replies, unfazed.“In my shoes and in yours, I’d go in with three brigade-level battle teams to neutralize the tunnel threat,” Turgeman answers.“We have the condition to create deterrence,” Kochavi affirms, appearing to take Turgeman’s side.But Ya’alon continues to insist on restraint. “I look at the tunnels threat as an unsolved problem, and we won’t solve [it] in this action either.”Liberman chimes in with an all-or-nothing approach. “Go for a broad operation in Gaza,” he says. “But if it’s [a choice] between an anti-tunnel operation [only] or a ceasefire, go for a ceasefire.”-‘You want to run the army for me’-On July 18, after the IDF intercepts and prevents a massive tunnel raid on Kerem Shalom, the cabinet finally decides on a ground operation.By July 27, with dozens of dead soldiers and massive international pressure for a ceasefire, the internal schisms in the cabinet have reached their peak.Ya’alon rails at Bennett over his unauthorized visits to the field and meetings with officers behind his back.“You want to run the army for me,” Ya’alon says. “You won’t come from the field and tell me, ‘do this’ or ‘do that,’ you hear?”Bennett didn’t budget. “I will, if the truth isn’t being reported [to the cabinet],” he says.“I’m reporting the truth,” says Ya’alon.“Until now we haven’t heard about [the developing] ceasefire with Hamas.”-Ya’alon: “I report to you?”-Bennett: “Of course.”Bennett then turns on the chief of staff. “I expect you to come to the cabinet with operational plans and a fighting spirit. I’m not the one who’s supposed to bring [to the cabinet] plans for destroying the tunnels. Be galloping horses, not lazy bulls.”Five days later, on August 1, after a Hamas operation violates the ceasefire and causes the deaths of Maj. Benaya Sarel, Lt. Hadar Goldin and First Sergeant Liel Gidoni, unhappiness with the restrained Netanyahu-Ya’alon line grows.Erdan asks Kochavi, the intelligence chief, why the orders given to Givati Brigade fighters in Gaza during the ceasefire limited their ability to respond in ways that placed them in danger. “If I’d known this would be the case during ceasefires, I would have opposed them,” he says.-Looking for Facebook ‘likes’-The publication of the transcript drew fierce criticism from ministers who were involved in the discussions.In a thinly veiled accusation at Bennett, Ya’alon said Tuesday, “Unfortunately, I see this morning that politicians are leaking from inside the [cabinet] discussions, just to win a few more ‘likes’ on Facebook.”Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Tel Aviv, he suggested the cabinet had acted well in that war. “We defined the goals of the campaign precisely beforehand, and we achieved them. We achieved the ceasefire. Most importantly, Hamas is weak and deterred, and the south [of Israel] is enjoying unprecedented quiet. This is an example of responsible and careful leadership with a steady hand on the wheel even when there are some politicians [undermining that leadership] both during the operation and afterwards.”Steinitz, now the energy minister, called the leak “pure damage to the State of Israel.”Livni, who also spoke at the INSS conference, said the key complaint raised by Bennett and others about the tunnels was not the main failing revealed in the Gaza war, but rather the lack of an overarching strategy was.“The problem in Protective Edge was bigger than the tunnels. The cabinet has no policy with respect to Gaza, and the army and the defense establishment hunger for one. Is Gaza part of the Palestinian state? Is it part of Israel and we must reconquer it or return to the Gush Katif settlements, as [Jewish Home MK] Shuli Mualem suggested? We only work tactically, putting out fires one after another. You can’t run a military operation or anything else that way. That’s the real failure.”She added: “There are tunnels today as well — and the cabinet isn’t deciding on an operation.”She also criticized a “lack of coordination between the military and diplomatic” corps.“Operation Protective Edge could have ended with a UN Security Council resolution against Hamas, the disarmament of Gaza and direct talks with the [Palestinian] Authority without preconditions, but Netanyahu was afraid to make that decision because no diplomatic goals were set for the operation,” she said.
Jolted by populist surge, European Jews raise new fears of an old threat-Community leaders from across Continent sound alarm on ‘old anti-Semitism’ as Trump tremors shake both sides of Atlantic-By Raoul Wootliff January 24, 2017, 2:30 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
BRUSSELS — The agenda for the conference of European Jewish leaders in Brussels this week was supposed to address anti-Zionism as the new anti-Semitism. But attendees had a hard time focusing on a new threat when a more classical form of anti-Semitism, once thought mostly purged from the Continent, is once again rattling communities across Europe.Buffeted by resurgent nationalists, anti-Israel movements and terror, Jewish leaders in Belgium Monday chose to focus on the one issue that seems to be overshadowing the others at the moment and raise alarms of fresh anti-Semitic threats.As the European Jewish Association’s annual Jewish Leaders Conference met, many of the discussions quickly turned into an opportunity to voice fears of the “old anti-Semitism” and the rise of far-right parties in Europe, as well as Donald Trump’s entry into the White House, which has shaken many on both sides of the Atlantic.“In addition to the threats to Jewish communities from radical Islam, we see a very real threat from populist movements across Europe,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association, told delegates in his opening remarks to the conference.Emboldened by Britain’s vote to leave the EU and Trump’s US election win, European far-right parties are hoping to capitalize on rising resentment against the establishment and alarm over migration to shake up the political landscape on the continent. Nationalist movements in the Netherlands, France, Austria and Germany have all gained ground, with many predicting 2017 could see key election victories for the populist right.Margolin told The Times of Israel that the rise of the right presents both a short- and long-term challenge to Jewish communities.“There is no question that we see so many of these anti-Semitic attacks coming not just from radical Islam but from typical European nationalism,” he said.-‘New problems are arising. Anti-Semitism is appearing more and more’-“In the long term it’s even more worrying because we see they are gaining power in all of Europe and we are very concerned about what is going to be 15 years from now: Will they be a majority? Will they control power in many European countries? And will we, God forbid, experience again the rise of an anti-Semitic government in Europe?”-Catching cold-During a session titled “Enhancing security of the Jewish communities in Europe 2017,” Philippe Markiewicz, chairman of the Consistoire of Belgium, an umbrella group of Jewish organizations in the country, said he feared that the Continent’s old demons were starting to raise their heads again.“After a long history of bad times, today, for the last 72 years, we are living in peace,” he said. “But new problems are arising. Anti-Semitism is appearing more and more.”Markiewicz said that European democracy alone was not enough to stem the rise of the far right. “Let’s not forget,” he warned ominously, “Hitler was elected democratically.”While Markiewicz was referring to the European historical experience, the allusion to America of the past few months wasn’t lost on the audience.Trump, who has voiced statements against against various ethnic and religious groups, has been criticized for failing to distance himself from far-right or neo-Nazi groups that have rallied behind him. Meanwhile, his pick of Steve Bannon as chief strategist has irked many in the US Jewish community due to Bannon’s embrace of the racist-infused “alt-right” movement while at the helm of the Breitbart news website.Utilizing an old idiom to illustrate the spread of all types of anti-Semitism, Alex Benjamin, director of the AJC’s Europe-Israel Public Affairs lobby group, told the conference, “When American sneezes, Europe catches a cold.”Speaking on behalf of the US State Department — albeit representing an initiative set up under former secretary of state John Kerry that is rumored to be bound for the chopping block under the Trump administration — Holly Hufnagle of the Office of Religion and Global Affairs,said the United States is carefully monitoring the rise of the far-right in both Europe and on its home soil.“The United States is not immune to anti-Semitism,” she said, citing recent reports that found most religiously motivated hate crimes in the US were directed at Jews and that such incidents have seen a nine percent rise in the past year alone. Some have credited the bump to the divisive election campaign that saw the emergence of the “alt-right.”“The increase in anti-Semitic attacks we have witnessed over the past few months is of serious concern,” said Hufnagle, who served as an adviser to Ira Forman, Kerry’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. “We are aware that most anti-Semitic attacks in the US, as in Europe, reportedly still come from far-right, white-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.”-Pro-Israel anti-Semites-According to Hufnagle, those parties, which typically campaign on ethno-nationalist, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim platforms, are attempting to whitewash their anti-Semitism with purported newfound support for Israel.“We fear that these extreme right-wing parties are using their anti-Muslim platforms to gain Jewish support,” she said, “and for a number of Jewish communities in Europe, this is a pressing question.”-‘We fear that these extreme right-wing parties are using their anti-Muslim platforms to gain Jewish support’-Benjamin, the AJC’s Europe-Israel Public Affairs director, told The Times of Israel that the EIPA is often contacted by far-right parties such as Geert Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party in their attempts to “cleanse themselves of the image of anti-Semitism” by joining pro-Israel forums or events. “We will not allow them to do that,” he said.Hufnagle and other speakers at the conference warned that accepting such parties based on their apparent pro-Israel positions could rationalize or even normalize the far right.Katharina von Schnurbein, the EU’s coordinator on tackling anti-Semitism, said, “The very cautious reaction of the Jewish community to the far right is correct, because at some point the veil falls.”Last month Israel’s Foreign Ministry put out a directive advising ministers against meeting a member of a Swedish far-right party visiting the country as part of a delegation of European and US lawmakers.Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely canceled meetings with the Jerusalem Leaders Summit, a gathering of conservative parliamentarians, due to the participation of Kristina Winberg, a member of the European Parliament for the Sweden Democrats.A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said the decision to exclude Winberg was made due to her party’s far-right and ultra-nationalist positions.In protest over Israel’s decision to exclude Winberg from the briefing with Hotovely, the entire delegation, which notably included a senior member of Trump’s transition team, decided to boycott the meeting.Last month, in a letter sent to Vienna’s Jewish Community and given to The Times of Israel by the Israeli president’s office, Reuven Rivlin said he will “never condone” meetings between representatives of Israel and “European parties of the far right that are tainted with a history of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial… or the promotion of racial hatred or intolerance.”The president said he was “against any meetings by official representatives of Israel with representatives of such groups.”His letter came in response to one sent in November by World Jewish Congress Vice President Ariel Muzicant and Vienna Jewish Community head Oskar Deutsch.The two complained that “certain politicians in Israel are willing to meet populist parties of the European extreme right,” including Austria’s Freedom Party, and asked Israeli leaders “to draw a very clear red line between us and those who represent hate, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism.”Rivlin told Muzicant and Deutsch that his comments applied to all “political parties you mention.”Asked if he thinks Trump’s election could herald a a new dawn for Europe’s far right, the AJC’s Margolin answered hesitantly, “Who knows?”
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
Wild’ Arab drivers causing high road deaths, safety chief says-Head of government body responsible for reducing accidents accuses community leaders of failing to alter attitudes-By Stuart Winer January 24, 2017, 1:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The director of the National Road Safety Authority said Tuesday that reckless driving in the Arab community has been causing a disproportionately high death rate among its drivers, and asserted the problem was one of attitude, not infrastructure.A day after four people were killed and several others injured in an accident in the north, Giora Romm told Army Radio that country’s Arab leadership has been negligent in addressing the issue. According to him, although Arabs are just 20 percent of the population they account for 30% of road deaths. In 2016, 43% of the drivers killed in car accidents were Arabs, he added.“Since the beginning of the year there were 11 Jews and 11 Arabs killed,” said Romm.Figures released last week by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed that 376 people were killed in 2016 on Israel’s roads, compared to 356 in 2015.The fatalities Monday happened when a private car collided head-on with a minibus on Route 886. The three occupants of the car, aged 18,17, and 15, died at the scene, while a woman, 58, who was in the minibus, died later in the hospital. All four were members of Israel’s Arab minority.An initial investigation indicated that the private car was speeding and swerved into oncoming traffic.“Even if there was some kind of dividing barrier, the life of the elderly person is the only one that would have been saved; the three younger people would have been killed in the same way,” said Romm, a former lieutenant-general in the Israel Air Force who later headed the Civil Aviation Authority. “This is a matter of wild, irresponsible driving that leads to an unacceptable percentage of deaths in the Arab community.”He said that the road safety authority has been trying to gain traction in the Arab community and has sought to “meet anyone we can about the matter.“There is a deep problem in the Arab community,” Romm continued. “Reckless driving and no discipline as an expression of frustration are not in the purview of the National Road Safety Authority. This is a matter that the Arab leadership needs to deal with and it is not dealing with it as required.”As part of its efforts to improve road safety in the community, the authority intends to present a wide-ranging plan to all Arab lawmakers at the end of the month.“We are going to invest a huge amount of money in this,” Romm promised.Last month the Knesset Finance committee approved new regulations that will see hikes in fines for speeding and running red lights.A November 2016 state comptroller report found multiple faults with efforts by the Road Safety Authority, the Transportation Ministry, and the Education Ministry to reduce the number of road deaths in Israel, even as the figures for fatalities rose over the previous two years.The authority receives its budget from the Transportation Ministry and is charged with funding and administering activities to improve road safety and raise awareness, including educational activities in the school system. Its budget in 2014 was NIS 276 million ($73 million), but dropped to NIS 230 million for 2015.
