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.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Egypt's Sisi Demands Israel Recognize 'Palestine'-Ex-army chief and likely future president demands recognition of 'Palestine' with capital in Jerusalem, gives lip service to Israel treaty.
By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 5/7/2014, 11:18 AM-IsraelNationalNews
Egypt's ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi declared that if Israel won't recognize the "state of Palestine," with its capital in Jerusalem, he will never visit Israel. Speaking in a TV interview on Saturday, Sisi added "Egypt is a country whose policy, history and honor to contracts and treaties is firmly rooted. I'm part of the country, and will respect all international treaties and contracts, including the peace treaty with Israel."Sisi's lip service to the peace treaty signed with Israel in 1979 comes as the treaty has been increasingly put in question since the 2011 "Arab Spring."Addressing the Israeli government, Sisi said "a true opportunity is before you to have a true peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is necessary to open the 'gate of hope' in the (Middle East) region."Peace talks with the PA were torpedoed after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refused to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, breached talk conditions by applying to 15 international conventions, and signed a unity deal with the terrorist group Hamas.For his part, Sisi promised on Monday that the Muslim Brotherhood would not be allowed to exist in Egypt if he wins the upcoming May 26-27 elections, in which he is strongly favored over his lone contender. The Muslim Brotherhood is associated with Hamas, and Egypt has recently banned both groups.An Egyptian court last month passed death sentences on 683 Muslim Brotherhood members. In another case in which 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were sentenced to death the month before, the judge upheld 37 death sentences but reversed the death sentences sentences of the other 492, commuting most to life in prison. Most of the people sentenced were tried in absentia.
Shots Fired at Homes in Psagot, Setting Off 'Code Red' Alarm-All Psagot residents warned to stay inside and wait for an all-clear until shooters - presumably, terrorists - can be apprehended.-By Tova Dvorin-First Publish: 5/7/2014, 9:45 PM / Last Update: 5/7/2014, 9:51 PM-IsraelNationalNews
The 'code red' alarm sounded in the Samaria community of Psagot Wednesday, after shots were fired at several homes, Kol B'Rama reporters on the scene stated. Psagot residents have been warned to stay in their homes, lock their doors and close their windows. The hotline for the Binyamin Region is 1208, officials said. The shots appear to be emanating from Ramallah, officials say. More updates to follow as events develop.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Top Netanyahu aide: Here’s proof Abbas deliberately destroyed peace talks-In letter to White House, EU and world ambassadors, PM’s national security chief presents ‘damning evidence’ of sabotage by Ramallah-By Yifa Yaakov May 7, 2014, 12:29 pm 24-The Times of Israel
A letter reportedly sent by Israel’s national security chief to the White House, the EU and numerous ambassadors blames the Palestinians for the collapse of peace talks, and claims to include hard proof that PA officials were devising measures to thwart the process even before Israel refused to release a fourth round of Palestinian prisoners at the end of March.In the April 22 letter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, revealed that chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat wrote a policy paper in March in preparation for a Palestinian rejection of American mediation efforts and Israeli overtures — nearly a month before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made a unilateral move to sign 15 international conventions, ostensibly in response to Israel’s refusal to honor its commitment to release the final round of prisoners, Haaretz reported Wednesday.In fact, Cohen said, according to a copy of the latter published alongside the report (PDF here), Erekat had planned the maneuver weeks before Israel announced its refusal to release the prisoners — timing that, according to Cohen, demonstrates that the Palestinian leadership never intended to follow the peace talks through.Cohen attached Erekat’s policy paper to his letter, copies of which were reportedly sent to his US counterpart Susan Rice, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, all Israel-based EU ambassadors, and ambassadors from China, Russia and other countries. He appealed to the recipients to peruse the Erekat document and “draw conclusions” as to the Palestinians’ “bad faith” and responsibility for the failure of the latest round of peace talks.According to Cohen, the 65-page Erekat document, which contained a “highly selective” account of the peace talks held since July and a “series of recommendations” for unilateral Palestinian actions, was presented by Erekat to Abbas on March 9, prior to Abbas’s visit to the United States and his meeting at the White House with US President Barack Obama on March 17.The paper, Cohen said, serves as proof that Palestinian policymakers had recommended a strategy of unilateral moves “outside of the agreed negotiation framework” to Abbas as early as March, nearly two months before the April 29 deadline for the completion of the talks. Thus when Obama tried at their White House meeting to persuade Abbas to make progress at the negotiations, Cohen indicated, the PA president was already bent on torpedoing the talks and following a unilateral course.“The document serves as damning evidence of bad faith on the part of the Palestinian side,” Cohen wrote. “It suggests that plans to reject American proposals and pursue unilateral actions were in place well in advance, despite the unwavering commitment shown by Secretary Kerry and his team in facilitating these negotiations, and the seriousness which Israel has demonstrated throughout the negotiation process.”In the document, Erekat recommended that the Palestinian Authority apply to international treaties such as the Geneva Convention.He also recommended reconciliation with Hamas, revealing that the push for a unity government with the terrorist organization, which does not recognize Israel, began long before negotiations with Israel reached a stalemate.This, Cohen said, proved that the Palestinians’ unilateral moves, ostensibly direct responses to perceived Israeli intransigence, were actually “premeditated” and “calculated” steps aimed at sinking the peace process and hindering American mediation efforts.The Palestinians have blamed Israel for the failure of the talks, saying that if Israel had released the prisoners as planned, they would not have made unilateral moves, culminating with the Fatah-Hamas pact, that saw Israel suspend the negotiations and the April 29 deadline pass with no substantive progress and no agreement for further talks.Israel had conditioned the release of the fourth batch of prisoners, some of them Arab Israelis, on the continuation of talks past their April 29 deadline. The Palestinians refused, and made a unilateral move for international recognition.“This document refutes the current Palestinian claim that the decision to apply for accession to the conventions – in direct violation of Palestinian obligations and of the understandings that enabled the resumption of negotiations in July 2013 – was taken strictly in response to what they considered a delay in the release of the fourth tranche of prisoners,” Cohen wrote in the letter.“Similarly, it indicates that advancing the reconciliation process with Hamas and bringing Hamas into a new government was under active consideration at the very time intensive negotiations were meant to be under way,” he continued.“The document points to premeditation and to Palestinians’ calculations to renege on their commitments and pursue a unilateral strategy regardless of the release of prisoners, in a manner that would gravely endanger if not destroy the negotiation process.”American officials were quoted last weekend, in an extensive account of the negotiations published by Yedioth Ahronoth, overwhelmingly blaming Israel for the failure of the talks. It was later claimed that Kerry’s special envoy Martin Indyk was the prime source for the report, which highlighted Netanyahu’s settlement policies as “the primary sabotage.” An official was quoted in the report telling Israel, The Palestinians are tired of the status quo. They will get their state in the end — whether through violence or by turning to international organizations.”
Poll: 68% of Israeli Jews Support End to Peace Talks-Monthly "Peace Index" survey sees majority wary to Hamas-Fatah agreement - and disagree with US blaming Israel for the talks' failure.By Tova Dvorin-First Publish: 5/7/2014, 6:21 PM-IsraelNationalNews
A large majority of the Jewish public in Israel (68%) support the government's decision to halt peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) following its unity pact with Hamas, a poll revealed Wednesday.The Guttman Center and Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University (TAU) conducted the poll, a monthly "Peace Index" part of the Israel Democracy Institute.According to the poll, 68% of the Jewish public supported the State's decision to curtail talks with the PA, but the results were heavily polarized by political affiliation. Of respondents who answered that they supported the move, 82% identified as "right-wing," 59% identified as "moderates" and only 26% identified themselves as "left-wing."The public is also heavily divided on what stalled peace talks mean for Israel's future. Of respondents, slightly more believe that the talks could be harmful to Israel in the short-term (36%-41%) rather than in the long term (34%-40%). 57.5% of the public believed that the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation pact endangers Israel security - the same percentage of people who disagree with the EU's notion that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's involvement makes the agreement more inclusive and, therefore, more legitimate. 56% of the Jewish public believes US President Barack Obama is "incorrect" for assigning blame to both Israel and the PA for the failure of talks, according to the survey. However, of those, respondents are widely polarized by political affiliation; 70.5% of self-identified "left-wing" respondents agreed with Obama's assessment, compared to 54% of "centrists" and just 27.5% of "nationalists."
Ex-ICC prosecutor warns Palestinians on anti-Israel war crimes effort-‘Palestine’ now eligible to join International Criminal court, says Luis Moreno-Ocampo, but legal effort against Israel could backfire-By AP May 7, 2014, 8:53 pm-The Times of Israel
The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, on a visit to Israel, urged the Palestinians to proceed with caution as they consider pursuing war crimes charges against Israel. He said it would be preferable for the two sides to work out their differences directly.Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the Palestinians should not rush ahead with a case against Israel, saying they could expose themselves to the same accusations.The Palestinians were accepted as a nonmember state in the UN General Assembly in 2012, an upgraded status that allows them to qualify for membership in dozens of international conventions and agencies.Most worrisome for Israel is the Palestinian threat to join the International Criminal Court and pressing war crimes charges against Israel. The Palestinians allege that Israeli crimes range from actions carried out by its military to construction of Jewish settlements on occupied land captured in the 1967 Mideast war.When he was the court’s chief prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo turned down a request by the Palestinians to join the court. But as a nonmember state, they are now eligible, he said. If they accepted its jurisdiction, however, the Palestinians could also be investigated for Hamas rocket attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.“The obstacle they had in the past is gone, it is removed,” he told the Associated Press. “The best would be if Israelis and Palestinians create a common approach to prevent future activities.”Moreno-Ocampo, currently a professor at Yale University, is visiting the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to speak before students in its Transitional Justice program.He refused to speculate whether war crimes have been committed by either side. Regardless, he recommended the sides avoid the court and find a “creative” way to resolve their differences.“Everyone feels they are victims,” he said. “If you don’t want to be at the ICC, do something before — don’t wait.”
Peres to Rice: World must pressure Hamas to recognize Israel-Visiting US national security advisor urges continued peace talks, says Peres will visit White House next month-By Marissa Newman and AP May 7, 2014, 7:44 pm-The Times of Israel
President Shimon Peres issued an appeal Wednesday for international pressure to coerce Hamas into accepting the Quartet terms and recognizing Israel, a move that he said would allow for the resumption of the suspended peace negotiations.In a meeting with United States National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Peres insisted, “We must find a way to restart the negotiations between us and the Palestinians.” While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is “someone that we can negotiate with” and “wants to achieve peace,” the main obstacle in reviving the talks, Peres said, is the recently forged reconciliation deal between Abbas’s Fatah and the Gaza terror group. However, while the agreement came as a surprise and necessitated the suspension of the negotiations, “that is not a cause to stop,” he insisted.“What is necessary is international pressure on Hamas to accept the basic conditions laid down by the Quartet,” Peres said. “The world is united on those conditions and I believe that Hamas must be given no choice: If they want to be helped, no one should pay for their missiles and tunnels.”Peres had vowed in an Independence Day interview with The Times of Israel to galvanize international pressure on Hamas to moderate its positions.Rice — who said Peres would visit the White House on June 25, shortly before he steps down — opened her visit to Israel by telling leaders Wednesday that peace with the Palestinians can only be reached through direct negotiations leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.Rice, in Israel for strategic talks, is the first senior American official to visit Israel since nine months of U.S.-brokered talks fizzled out late last month. No progress was made during the talks, and Israel and the Palestinians have been blaming each other for the breakdown.Rice told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that while negotiations have hit a pause, the US “remains convinced that lasting peace can only be secured through direct negotiations that lead to two viable, independent states living side by side in peace and security,” according to a statement released by the White House.US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which began last summer, ended abruptly in April without an agreement.After nine months of negotiations, Israel suspended further negotiations over the unity agreement between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas reached two weeks ago.The president also addressed the Iranian nuclear negotiations brokered by the P5+1, praising the sanctions but maintaining that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is not “being fully honest.”“I believe the sanctions are useful, the leadership in Iran aren’t being fully honest but they wouldn’t say what they’re saying without sanctions,” he said.Whether Iran is serious about dismantling its program remains to be seen, he maintained. “We are coming to the critical moment when we will discover if they are just offering words or are really serious about change. The world will judge upon actions not words.”Rice, who met with Netanyahu on Wednesday afternoon, stressed that the US will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and maintained that the diplomatic process was the most effective way to reach a viable agreement with Iran. The Obama administration will continue to consult with Israel as the negotiations continue, she said.Netanyahu and Rice also discussed the security cooperation between the two countries, and the situation in Ukraine and Syria, according to a statement from the White House.The US and its negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — reached an interim nuclear accord with Iran late last year and are now holding delicate discussions on a final deal. Nuclear experts from each country were meeting in New York this week ahead of higher level talks scheduled in Vienna next week.While the talks have yielded some positive signs, the toughest issues must still be negotiated and any deal could fall apart.Obama and other top US officials have sought to convince Israel that the talks represent the best option for resolving the international community’s dispute with Iran peacefully. Israel sees the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat and has resisted any suggestions that Tehran could be left with some nuclear capacity.Times of Israel staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Holocaust and the Vatican Pimpernel
May 5, 2014, 6:52 pm 0 By Jonathon Van Maren-The Times of Israel
There is perhaps no conflict with as many unsung heroes as the Second World War, where the sheer enormity of the evil being perpetrated across Europe brought much opportunity for righteous response. From well-known heroes such as Oskar Schindler and Corrie ten Boom to lesser known, but equally noble resistors such as Nicholas Winton and Raoul Wallenberg, men and women responded to the wickedness committed beneath the symbol of the twisted Nazi cross to save the lives of their imperiled neighbors. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was one such man. His story has been largely forgotten in recent decades, although his life has been memorialized in both book and film, and one poet wrote admiringly of him:“Not all houses here are painted black, not yet, there are those that walk a Righteous track and won’t forget that blood runs red but Hope is Scarlet,The Vatican veils a modest man, the Spectrum’s Saviour, Come to fight the Final Plan with a flash of colour. Blood runs red but Hope is Scarlet.”Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the Irish priest also known as the Vatican Pimpernel, is credited along with his colleagues for saving the lives of more than 6,500 people in Rome, smuggling Allied prisoners of war as well as endangered Jewish citizens to safety via an intricate escape organization.O’Flaherty, ironically, was not a man people would suspect for the role he eventually filled. He was known as a patron of Rome’s high life, a well-respected Vatican diplomat who had served in Haiti, San Domingo, Czechoslovakia and Egypt, and a regular attendee of all the most expensive and prestigious parties. Obsessed with golf, he was known to shoot rounds with Mussolini’s son-in-law and Alfonso, the former king of Spain.However, when the Second World War broke out, things began to change quickly. In the fall of 1942, the Italians (under pressure and with assistance from their German allies) began sweeping arrests of Jews and high-ranking dissenters to Mussolini’s fascist regime. O’Flaherty, a man in possession of diplomatic immunity due to the 1929 Lateran Treaty between Mussolini and the Vatican granting the Vatican independence, realized immediately that his duty was to help the persecuted to the greatest extent possible. O’Flaherty began sending Jews and other refugees to convents, monasteries, and churches for safety, and when he began to run out of space, he hid people in both the residences of his wealthy friends and the Vatican itself.The following year, everything changed. Italy’s fascist army crumbled under the pounding of Allied forces, and on September 8, 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allies and thousands of former Allied prisoners of war poured out of unguarded Italian concentration camps. The victory, however, was short-lived. Days later, Nazi troops marched into Italy to retake the country and protect their flank from the Allies. Suddenly, thousands of American and British POW’s were back in hostile territory. The dreaded SS and Gestapo entered Rome, led by men such as Colonel Herbert Kappler, who began deporting Jews to Auschwitz, and Pietro Koch, a sadist famous for devising the most cruel torture methods.O’Flaherty’s small organization now began to balloon in size, and former POW’s all over Italy heard the word that the Vatican Pimpernel could help them. O’Flaherty ignored the German-imposed curfew, Fascist patrols, and even the severe disapproval of Vatican officials to hide refugees everywhere from private apartments to abandoned warehouses. O’Flaherty always refused payment—a Jewish couple once gave him a solid gold chain in payment for hiding them. The priest hid them, obtained false documents, and managed to keep them hidden for the duration of the war. At war’s end, O’Flaherty gave them their gold chain back—he had tossed it in his desk drawer and left it there! When asked by one incredulous colleague how he could be so nonchalant with something of such worth, O’Flaherty replied, “Nobody here will steal it.”The SS under Colonel Herbert Kappler soon took notice of O’Flaherty—not only because it became apparent that he was smuggling and concealing refugees, but because of his sheer audacity. Nearly every single evening, O’Flaherty stood at the top of the steps of St. Peter’s, saying his prayers and waiting for anyone who might seek refuge with him—in full view of the Nazi soldiers patrolling the Vatican City border, marked by a white painted line. Kappler ordered O’Flaherty captured—but the Irishman responded by going about his work in a series of clever disguises, escaping time and time again in spite of many close calls.At war’s end, thousands of Allied prisoners of war as well as Jewish and anti-fascist Italians owed their lives to O’Flaherty and his organization. For the most part, he refused to talk about what he had done, and thus we do not know precisely how many people his organization saved. Pietro Koch, the Torturer of Rome, was killed by Italian partisans attempting to flee the city. Col. Kappler was sentenced to life in prison—and every single month, he had one persistent visitor: Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who in 1959 baptized Kappler in prison.O’Flaherty story gives us much to admire and much to emulate: Humility, courage, graciousness, and selflessness. He was willing to risk everything, time and time again, because he knew and held dear a a very important truth: There is nothing quite so valuable as a human person.
South Korea warns North Korea over new nuke test-New Straits Times-May 7,14
NEW YORK: South Korea’s foreign minister warned North Korea on Tuesday that the cost of keeping and testing nuclear weapons will be so high that it could threaten the survival of Kim Jong Un’s regime.Yun Byung-se told a standing-room audience of diplomats, U.N. officials and Korea-watchers at the International Peace Institute that the North will pay “the heaviest price” in new sanctions if it defies the international community and goes ahead with a new nuclear test.Many experts — and the South Korean government — had suspected the North would conduct its fourth nuclear test during President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Seoul. North Korea has said it still may go ahead and test a new kind of nuclear device following Obama’s visit.“Our assessment is that North Korea is ready to undertake a test whenever they make the necessary political decision,” Yun said.A call to North Korea’s U.N. Mission seeking comment was not answered.He explained that a new test “will make a great impact on the strategic landscape in our part of the world” and could undermine the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global nuclear disarmament efforts. North Korea has pulled out of the treaty.Faced with this challenge, Yun said South Korea has been making intensive diplomatic efforts to deter the North from carrying out a new test with the other parties to the stalled six-party nuclear talks aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear program, Security Council members, the European Union and Asian nations.In the event of a new test, he said, the U.N. Security Council must fill all loopholes in the four rounds of sanctions it has already imposed on the North over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and individual countries must take similar tough measures.As long as North Korea relies on nuclear weapons to make threats, Yun warned, “then we, South Korea, together with our partners in the Security Council, will make the cost of having these nuclear weapons very very high, very very heavy, so that could backfire to the regime — the survival of the regime.”At the same time, Yun stressed that South Korean is seeking to build a peaceful and “new Korean peninsula.”He reiterated President Park Geun-hye’s proposals last month to reunify Korea, which has been divided along the world’s most heavily fortified border since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.“It takes two to tango,” he said. “We hope North Korea will respond positively to our genuine proposals.”Yun said South Korea “recognises that our journey for reunification will be long and bumpy” but he said a nuclear-free and unified Korea would alleviate security threats in northeast Asia and stabilise the region.“The geopolitical plate of the region is going through what I would call tectonic shifts,” he said. “We are witnessing a rising China, a resurgent Japan, an assertive Russia and an anachronistic North Korea which is simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development.”Yun said conflicts over history, territory and maritime security, among others, are raising concerns “that even a military confrontation owing to miscalculations may become a reality.”At the heart of these conflicts, he said, is “a trust deficit.”Yun said that’s why South Korea is seeking to unify the two Koreas and build a new Asia and a new world.Yun said he is “rather optimistic about this unification” because there are changes inside North Korea and many changes outside including China and Russia now saying publicly for the first time that they are in favor of peaceful reunification of the Koreas.“We have to be prepared for that possibility, or any scenario that will be unfolding in the coming months and years,” he said.He recalled the day 23 years ago when East Germany and West Germany replaced their two nameplates at the United Nations with a single nameplate that said Germany.“Likewise, I do believe the day is approaching, perhaps much faster than we may all realise, for the two Koreas to replace their respective nameplates with one single nameplate that simply says Korea,” Yun said. --AP
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror(ISM), consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL) will be a wild man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Updated: Wed, 07 May 2014 15:05:16 GMT
Nigerian Girls May Be Held in Country's 'Evil Forest'-MSNNEWS
The almost 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria may be captives in what one local newspaper has called the evil forest, a mysterious corner of the country dotted with tents and lined with tunnels to house and move armed fighters.It is the Sambisa Forest, home to large populations of African wildlife — monkeys, antelopes, elephants, ostriches, poisonous snakes — and, for a century or more, robbers and smugglers who found easy passage into Cameroon.It is not prohibitively dense with vegetation, but it is certainly dangerous, and anyone attempting a rescue operation there must be prepared for guerrilla warfare, one expert said.“It’s not a tropical rain forest. It’s not the Amazon. It is very accessible,” said Kyari Mohammed, a professor of history at a Nigerian university who has written about Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that kidnapped the girls.But he added: “You can’t fight in the Sambisa using, let’s say, drones or helicopters. You need to put troops on the ground who are willing to fight physically on the ground. It will take some level of courage, a willingness to take some casualties.”Complicating the matter, Boko Haram reside not just in the forest but in nearby mountains near the Cameroon border. It is entirely possible that the girls could already be split among sites, and among distant camps within the forest, the professor said.The Sambisa forest itself covers 23,000 square miles — eight times the size of Yellowstone National Park or roughly equal to the area of West Virginia — and is nestled in the northeast of Nigeria, near where it touches Cameroon, Niger and Chad.The members of Boko Haram, who are violently opposed to Western education, and many of whom have been expelled from more urban sections of the country, live there in small, makeshift camps, in tents and huts.They know the terrain well, better than the Nigerian military, and can melt easily into surrounding local populations that they have terrorized before, the professor said by phone Wednesday.Anyone approaching is likely to be seen, he said, and word would quickly spread to other camps, said Mohammed, who teaches history at the Modibbo Adama University of Technology in Nigeria and has interviewed former Boko Haram captives.The girls were abducted April 15 from their secondary school in northeast Nigeria. More than 50 managed to escape, but more than 270 are believed to be held by the Boko Haram, who have promised to sell them into slavery.The United States said Tuesday that it is sending technical experts and law enforcement who specialize in intelligence and hostage negotiations. The U.S. contingent does not include armed forces.U.S. military were working in Nigeria well before the kidnappings, and are “consulting” with the Nigerians on possible action regarding the girls, U.S. military officials told NBC News.The officials said that the U.S. military is planning, but that “no decisions have been made” to deploy combat forces to rescue the girls.It is a near-certainty that the U.S. will deploy surveillance drones to take part in overhead intelligence-gathering, one senior official said.The forest was meant by British colonials to be a game reserve. Today about 200 square miles, roughly the size of Lake Tahoe, has been set off for that purpose.It is a refuge for elephants and the last stronghold of the ostrich in Nigeria. It is also home to giant crustaceans and patches of thick, thorny bushes.Parents of the schoolgirls have said they have little confidence in the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. The Nigerian military has so far been unwilling to accept casualties and use ground troops to clear the forest of militants, Mohammed said.A week after the abductions, some of the parents trekked into the forest, according to an account in the British newspaper The Guardian.They armed themselves with machetes and knives but turned back after they were warned by locals in the forecast that they would be taken out by the sophisticated guns of the militants.One of the young women who escaped abduction by jumping off the back of a truck told The Guardian about entering the forest.“Each time we got to a village, they stopped and started shooting people and burning their houses,” said the woman, Godiya Usman, 18.“When we got to another village, they started shooting. I jumped down and I was expecting my friends to jump too, but they didn’t. I just started crying and running into the bush.”Polly DeFrank and Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News contributed to this report. The Associated Press also contributed.
Nigeria: Hundreds massacred in new Islamist attack-World leaders pledge teams of military experts to help free 300 girls kidnapped by the ‘Boko Haram’ group-By Aminu Abubakar May 7, 2014, 8:06 pm 1-The Times of Israel
KANO, NIGERIA (AFP) — A new Boko Haram massacre killed hundreds in Nigeria’s northeast, a senator said Wednesday, as police offered $300,000 dollars for information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the Islamists.The latest insurgent attack targeted the town of Gamboru Ngala on the border with Cameroon, where gunmen this week razed scores of buildings and fired on civilians as they tried to flee.Area Senator Ahmed Zanna put the death toll at 300, citing information provided by locals, in an account supported by numerous residents.Zanna said the town had been left unguarded because the soldiers based there had been redeployed north towards Lake Chad in an effort to rescue more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14.The shocking mass abduction has sparked global outrage and offers of help from the United States, Britain, France and China.Nigeria’s response to the kidnappings has been widely criticized, including by activists and parents of the hostages who say the military’s search operation has been inept so far.The police on Monday offered 50 million naira ($300,000) for any information leading to the girls’ rescue.President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has sought to appear more engaged with the plight of the hostages in recent days, especially after Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening to sell the girls as “slaves.”In a second kidnapping, eleven more girls aged 12 to 15 years were seized Sunday from Gwoza, an area not far from Chibok and also in Borno state, Boko Haram’s base.The group’s five-year uprising has killed thousands across Africa’s most populous country and top economy, with many questioning whether Nigeria has the capacity to contain the violence.Islamist fighters riding in armored trucks and on motorcycles stormed Gamboru Ngala after midday on Monday.Survivors said the extremists overran the town making it too dangerous for locals to immediately return.When the Islamists left, residents went back to a town that was “littered” with dead bodies, Musa Abba, a witness, told AFP.“All economic and business centers have been burnt. The market in the town which attracts traders from all over the area… has been completely burnt,” the senator said.Gamboru Ngala has been attacked repeatedly in the past, but Abba said “this (was) the worst Boko Haram attack (the town) has seen.”US President Barack Obama has described the Chibok abductions as “heartbreaking” and “outrageous,” and announced that a team of military experts had been sent to help Nigeria’s rescue mission.British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday condemned the kidnappers as “pure evil” as his office said Britain was sending a team of experts to help with the kidnap response.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a “special team” was at Nigeria’s disposal, while Jonathan said that visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has also pledged assistance.Analysts said Jonathan’s acceptance of Western military assistance suggested an admission he can no longer manage the Boko Haram uprising without help.As well as mounting pressure over the kidnappings, Nigeria has been hit by a spate of bombings.Just a few hours before the mass abduction in Chibok, a blast ripped through a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 75 people in the deadliest attack to hit the capital.A copycat bombing at the same station killed 19 people on May 1.To contain the violence, Jonathan has imposed a state of emergency in Boko Haram’s northeast stronghold where he sent thousands of troops to flush out the insurgents, but critics say the offensive has achieved almost nothing.Efforts by prominent northern leaders to negotiate a ceasefire have been publicly rejected by Shekau.Jonathan had hoped that a World Economic Forum summit which opens in Abuja on Wednesday would highlight Nigeria’s economic progress and underline its recent emergence as Africa’s biggest economy.Meeting Jonathan in Abuja ahead of the summit, China’s Li pledged stronger cooperation with Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, but public focus has remained fixed on Boko Haram.Amid the outrage over the kidnappings and the twin attack just a few kilometers from central Abuja, Nigeria has promised the World Economic Forum will be kept safe by the 6,000 troops deployed across the capital.“That show of force may keep the delegates safe, but Nigeria’s deeply troubled government cannot protect its people, attract investment and lead the country to its full potential if it cannot contain a virulent insurgency,” the New York Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.
Muslim officials condemn abductions of girls
By The Associated Press 1 hour ago-May 7,14-YahooNews
The abduction three weeks ago of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram is now generating worldwide attention and condemnation. Muslim leaders in various countries have criticized Boko Haram's leader for using Islamic teachings as his justification for threatening to sell the girls into slavery. Others have focused on what they view as a slow response by Nigeria's government to the crisis. The British and French governments announced Wednesday that they would send teams of experts to complement the U.S. team heading to Nigeria to help with the search for the girls, and Nigeria's president said China has also offered assistance.
Some of the reactions to the crisis:
— EGYPT: Religious Endowments Minister Mohammed Mohktar Gomaa said "the actions by Boko Haram are pure terrorism, with no relation to Islam, especially the kidnapping of the girls."
Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, one of Sunni Islam's most prestigious institutions, said the abductions "completely contradict Islam and its principles of tolerance."
— PAKISTAN: Dawn, an English language newspaper, published an opinion piece that takes Nigeria to task for not moving against Boko Haram. "The popular upsurge in Nigeria in the wake of the latest unspeakable atrocity provides some scope for hoping that the state will finally act decisively to obliterate the growing menace," wrote columnist Mahir Ali.
— INDONESIA: In the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, the Jakarta Post published an editorial Wednesday condemning the Boko Haram leader for "wrongly" citing Islamic teaching as his excuse for selling the abducted girls into slavery. Recalling the Taliban's shooting of 15-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai in 2012 because of her outspokenness in defense of girls' right to an education, the editorial said: "Malala's message needs to be conveyed to all people who use their power to block children's access to education. It is saddening that religion is misused to terrorize people and to kill the future leaders of the world."The newspaper also criticized Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, noting that "only after international condemnation and street demonstrations poured in did President Jonathan tell his nation that he would take all necessary actions to return the young women to their parents and schools, while also acknowledging that the whereabouts of the abductees remained unknown."
— SWEDEN: In an editorial posted on the left-wing news website politism.se, blogger Nikita Feiz criticized the international community for its slow response and asked why the situation hadn't triggered as loud a reaction as when Malala was shot in Pakistan. "Looking at the situation in Nigeria, Malala appears like a false promise from the West that it would stand up for girls' rights to attend school without fear of being subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse," she said. "It is difficult not to draw the conclusion that the West's assurance to act for girls' rights suddenly isn't as natural when it comes to girls' rights in a country in Africa."
— UNITED STATES: The U.S. government is sending to Nigeria a team of technical experts, including American military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiating, information sharing and victim assistance, as well as officials with expertise in other areas. Fewer than 10 military troops are also going.In an editorial, The New York Times faulted the Nigeria's president: "It wasn't until Sunday, more than two weeks after the kidnappings, that he called a meeting of government officials, including the leader of the girls' school, to discuss the incident."
— BRITAIN: Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Britain will send a small team of experts to Nigeria, following protests over the weekend outside the Nigerian Embassy in London and editorials calling for action. Jonathan's office later issued a statement saying Britain would use satellite images and other tracking technologies to help in the search.
— FRANCE: Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France is ready to send a "specialized team ... to help with the search and rescue."
— CHINA: Premier Li Keqiang visited Nigeria on Wednesday and met with Jonathan, whose office said the Chinese leader promised that his government "will make any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services available to Nigeria's security agencies." The statement also said China will support "Nigeria's fight against terrorism in every possible way, including the training of military personnel for anti-insurgency operations."___Associated Press correspondents Lee Keath in Cairo, Michelle Faul in Lagos, Nigeria, Gregory Katz in London, Malin Rising in Stockholm and Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.
NATO commander says must consider permanent troops in Eastern Europe
By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren -YahooNews
OTTAWA (Reuters) - NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in parts of Eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Tuesday.NATO has arranged a number of short-term army, air force and naval rotations in Eastern Europe, including the Baltic republics, Poland and Romania, but these are due to finish at the end of this year.Asked whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in the alliance's member states in Eastern Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said: "I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads."NATO leaders are due to hold a summit in Wales in early September.In the run-up to the summit, NATO commanders, defense ministers and foreign ministers would look at "tougher questions" about whether the alliance had the right footprint in Europe, Breedlove told a news conference in Ottawa."We need to look at our responsiveness, our readiness and then our positioning of forces to be able to address this new paradigm that we have seen demonstrated in Crimea and now on the eastern border of Ukraine," he said.Breedlove, who said on Monday he did not think Moscow would send troops into eastern Ukraine, stressed the steps that NATO had taken so far were designed to support eastern members of the alliance."We are taking measures that should be very easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about assuring our allies, not provoking Russia, and we are communicating that at every level," he said.
Breedlove insisted the so-called U.S. strategic "pivot" toward Asia would have no effect on its commitment to NATO and collective defense, though he acknowledged that U.S. troop levels in Europe have been reduced by about three-quarters from Cold War levels.Asked if the U.S. troop levels would be enough in light of the Russian moves, he said: "In our own country now, and I think in every other NATO nation, based on the paradigm that we see that Russia has presented in Crimea and on the border of Ukraine ... we are all going to have to reevaluate some of the decisions that have been made (after the end of the Cold War)."Breedlove declined to say whether he thought that France should scrap the sale of two Mistral helicopter-carrier frigates to Russia, saying this was "a national decision" that was up to France. Moscow has said it would demand compensation if this took place.(Editing by Chris Reese and G Crosse)
EU and US draw new red line on Ukraine
Today @ 09:11-MAY 7,14-EUOBSERVER-By Andrew Rettman
BRUSSELS - The EU and US have threatened further sanctions against Russia if it tries to disrupt the 25 May presidential elections in Ukraine.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and US secretary of state John Kerry issued the warning at a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday (6 May).Ashton noted that following an agreement on de-escalation in Geneva in mid-April, the EU “put on hold measures that we were considering” on economic sanctions. But she added: “When we saw that we were not getting the results from Geneva, we pressed the start button again.”Kerry said, referring to a recent meeting between the US and German leaders, that: “they said clearly … if there is continued interference with respect to the election and election process, there will be more sanctions that this time will start to bite into the sectors of the [Russian] economy.”Ashton and Kerry described the Ukrainian elections as a key moment in trying to stabilise the country and said Ukraine has a right to defend its territorial integrity by attacking pro-Russia separatists in the east and south.Kerry also rejected Russia's line that the separatists are a spontaneous movement.“What we are trying to do is not targeted on him [Russian leader Vladimir Putin] because we have some personal thing or something about him. It’s because he’s making decisions that are adversely affecting the region and the rights of the people of Ukraine to choose their future,” he said.His top official on Ukraine, Victoria Nuland, was more blunt at a hearing with congressmen the same day.“We continue to have high confidence that Russia’s hand is behind this instability. They are providing material support. They are providing funding. They are providing weapons. They are providing co-ordination, and there are Russians agents on the ground in Ukraine,” she noted.She said the 25 May vote will take place in “alternate locations” in Ukraine for people from Russian-occupied Crimea and other occupied cities.She also said the ODIHR, a Warsaw-based election-monitoring body, will send over 1,000 staff to Ukraine “in the largest monitoring effort in the organisation’s history”, while the US will contribute 255 long-term monitors and 3,330 short-term ones.Nuland noted that sanctions have already caused the ruble to plummet, Russia’s bond yields to soar, and $51 billion of capital to flee the country in the past four months.“Unless Putin changes course, at some point in the not-too-distant future, the current nationalistic fever will break in Russia. When it does, it will give way to a sweaty and harsh realisation of the economic costs,” she said.Daniel Glaser, a senior official at the US treasury, told Congress that one idea is to block Visa and Mastercard from doing business in Russia. "The credit card idea … is certainly one of the levers that we have," he said.Flashpoints in the run-up to the Ukrainian vote are to come on 9 May, when Russia plans to hold a military parade in Crimea, and on 11 May, when separatists in Donetsk plan to seek Russian recognition for a referendum on secession.Germany’s Angela Merkel said on Tuesday after meeting Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia it would be “a shame” if Putin attends the 9 May parade.With Cyprus worried about the impact of sanctions on its economy, she added: “We know that each country has its own level of [Russian] dependence. [But] we have to show that we can take action.”Her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday in Vienna.Steinmeier earlier in the day in an op-ed published in five European newspapers warned that violence in Ukraine means “we are literally on the brink of a war in eastern Europe”. His op-ed hailed a recent deal to free EU peace monitors held by Ukrainian rebels as an example of what can be achieved if Russia and the West work together.But German diplomacy has failed to change the Russian position so far.Lavrov told press in Vienna he rejects Steinmeier’s call to hold a second round of Geneva talks. He also rejected the idea the 25 May elections can bring peace."I don't think [another Geneva meeting] would have any added value – we would just go round in circles,” he said."Scheduling an election during a time when the army is being used against a part of the population is not conventional - it's not Afghanistan," he added.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
After EU audit, corruption could become an expensive problem for Ramallah-Largest donor to PA since Oslo Accords, Brussels demands greater transparency from Palestinians if they expect aid money to continue-By JTA May 7, 2014, 5:49 am 16-The Times of Israel
When Israeli police found thousands of contraband cell phones in the car of senior Palestinian Authority official Rawhi Fattouh, he was promptly removed from office — for about two months.A consultant to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fattouh was reinstated in May 2008 after his driver, a state employee, confessed to the smuggling, which Israeli border police discovered when searching Fattouh’s car at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.The scandal drew international media attention, but by 2011, the case had been closed. Palestinian prosecutor Ahmed al-Moghani said his office had no information implicating Fattouh.Still, critics say, the scandal and others like it are part of a lingering corruption problem that has plagued the Palestinian Authority since it was formed under Yasser Arafat following the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords.Long ignored internationally in favor of more urgent business, the problem is now prompting an unprecedented degree of scrutiny from the European Union, the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority. Since 1994, $7.7 billion in EU funds have been transferred to Ramallah.In December, the European Court of Auditors reported that the Palestinians had been using European money for years to pay Gaza workers, some of whom had not actually worked in seven years. Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmed Majdalani defended the payments, saying the employees had families to support and couldn’t just be cut off, but the European Parliament took a less sanguine view.Last month, it adopted a nonbinding resolution saying that payroll problems raise concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing. It noted the Palestinian Authority’s controversial salary payments to the families of terrorists serving time in Israeli jails. In an unprecedented move, the parliament also called for future EU funding to be conditioned on Palestinian compliance with reform recommendations.“Until now, EU aid was unconditional,” said Guy Bechor, an Israeli expert on the Arab world and a former lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. “Now, for the first time, we are seeing serious moves for conditionality and transparency.”Some analysts connect Europe’s sudden vigilance to anger over the recent collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, warned in January there would be “a price to pay” by both sides if the talks failed.Others trace it to frustration over Ramallah’s spending habits and a general donor fatigue in Europe, where high unemployment rates and sluggish economic growth have led to belt-tightening across the continent.“How can the European Union preserve its credibility back home when it pays salaries to people who don’t work, while millions of European citizens are unemployed?” Michael Theurer, chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on April 9.In his op-ed, Theurer linked the Palestinian Authority’s accountability problems to success of Hamas, the governing power in Gaza regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Europe.“The more the Palestinian Authority is perceived as corrupt by the Palestinian people, the greater their support will be for Hamas,” he wrote. “Thus, to promote peace and stability, Brussels must help the Palestinian Authority build strong and transparent institutions.”The reference to Hamas touches on yet another potential complication for EU funding. Last month, Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.An EU-funded Palestinian government with Hamas aboard “would not only mean EU funds for terrorists but would conflict with the two-state solution, which is the very declared goal of the funding in the first place,” said Arie Zuckerman of the European Jewish Congress.EU officials have said they would consider a Palestinian unity government legitimate if Hamas accepts the principles underlying the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, including recognizing Israel and committing to nonviolence. The Palestine Liberation Organization has said that any interim Palestinian government formed from the reconciliation process would not include Hamas or Fatah ministers but would rather be composed of officials who are independent of the two factions.Some reports have suggested there are murmurings within the European Union about cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority. If true, that threat may be directed as much at Israel as at the Palestinians, according to Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union and now a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.“The prospect of cutting aid to Ramallah has served as a veiled threat to Israel,” Eran said, “because they assume that doing so would place that financial burden on Israel.”
EARTHQUAKES
ISAIAH 42:15
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide
35 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2014-05-07 15:51:12 UTC-04:00Showing event times using Local System Time (UTC-04:00)35 earthquakes in map area
3.2 17km NE of Perry, Oklahoma 2014-05-07 14:57:02 UTC-04:00 4.8 km
2.8 81km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 2014-05-07 12:12:29 UTC-04:00 30.0 km
4.7 59km SW of Ndoi Island, Fiji 2014-05-07 12:00:53 UTC-04:00 635.8 km
3.2 44km NNE of Otra Banda, Dominican Republic 2014-05-07 12:00:04 UTC-04:00 116.0 km
2.9 71km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-07 11:59:24 UTC-04:00 43.0 km
4.0 105km NNE of Calama, Chile 2014-05-07 11:45:21 UTC-04:00 130.8 km
2.7 30km NW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands 2014-05-07 11:33:11 UTC-04:00 10.0 km
4.9 26km SE of Yuanma, China 2014-05-07 10:11:46 UTC-04:00 31.0 km
5.0 88km WNW of Iquique, Chile 2014-05-07 09:27:06 UTC-04:00 13.0 km
2.6 18km N of Golden Hills, California 2014-05-07 09:08:43 UTC-04:00 7.8 km
2.5 86km WSW of Cantwell, Alaska 2014-05-07 06:07:15 UTC-04:00 118.2 km
2.5 55km SE of Adak, Alaska 2014-05-07 05:33:48 UTC-04:00 37.0 km
2.8 115km SSE of Old Iliamna, Alaska 2014-05-07 05:22:27 UTC-04:00 99.4 km
2.7 70km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-07 05:02:58 UTC-04:00 12.0 km
4.4 77km WNW of San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina 2014-05-07 UTC-04:00 214.7 km
2.8 69km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-07 03:49:33 UTC-04:00 46.0 km
2.9 16km NNE of Isabela, Puerto Rico 2014-05-07 03:46:09 UTC-04:00 75.0 km
2.7 12km WSW of Lone Pine, California 2014-05-07 01:15:57 UTC-04:00 26.5 km
5.6 105km SW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea 2014-05-07 00:45:00 UTC-04:00 10.0 km
6.1 96km SW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea 2014-05-07 00:20:33 UTC-04:00 1.0 km
3.0 84km N of Isabela, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 22:11:53 UTC-04:00 62.0 km
2.8 73km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 21:10:45 UTC-04:00 31.0 km
2.6 56km S of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska 2014-05-06 21:03:51 UTC-04:00 100.0 km
2.9 40km N of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 20:30:39 UTC-04:00 11.0 km
2.6 76km NNE of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 2014-05-06 20:10:22 UTC-04:00 26.7 km
2.9 67km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 19:27:39 UTC-04:00 46.0 km
4.2 Off the west coast of northern Sumatra 2014-05-06 19:21:18 UTC-04:00 29.1 km
4.8 86km E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia 2014-05-06 19:09:44 UTC-04:00 60.8 km
3.0 73km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 17:42:55 UTC-04:00 37.0 km
2.9 74km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 17:41:12 UTC-04:00 41.0 km
3.3 5km NW of The Geysers, California 2014-05-06 17:39:50 UTC-04:00 2.7 km
2.9 73km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 17:36:34 UTC-04:00 36.0 km
2.5 12km ESE of Volcano, Hawaii 2014-05-06 17:20:29 UTC-04:00 7.2 km
3.1 74km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico 2014-05-06 17:08:12 UTC-04:00 21.0 km
6.1 West Chile Rise 2014-05-06 16:52:26 UTC-04:00 9.9 km
