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
Incoming Trump spokesman: Announcement on embassy soon-Asked by reporters about the president-elect’s plans to relocate the embassy, Sean Spicer says ‘stay tuned’-By Eric Cortellessa January 19, 2017, 6:39 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House press secretary said Thursday that an announcement on the administration’s plan to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was in the works.Asked about Trump’s intention to make the move — upending decades of US foreign policy — Sean Spicer told reporters to “stay tuned” and that “there will be a further announcement on that.”Spicer’s statement comes less than 24 hours after US President Barack Obama warned his successor to be sure he’s “thought it through” this proposal, warning that “unilateral actions” in a volatile region like the Middle East can be “explosive.”“The actions we take have enormous consequences and ramifications,” he said when asked about Trump’s stated goal of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s sovereign capital. “We’re the biggest kid on the block.”“I think it is right and appropriate for a new president to test all the assumptions and re-examine the old ways of doing things,” he added. “But if you’re going to make big shifts in policy, just make sure you’ve thought it through and understand that there are going to be consequences.”Palestinian and Arab leaders have warned that it could lead to mass protests and unrest. One Palestinian leader said it “would open the gates of hell.”Trump initially vowed to move the embassy during his address at last year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, and he has indicated during his transition that he will follow through on that promise.Israeli daily Israel Hayom on Thursday morning quoted Trump saying that he “did not forget” about the commitment he made as a candidate. “You know that I am not a person who breaks promises,” he said.Spicer supplemented those remarks in his press conference, saying, “The president has made clear that Israel has not gotten the respect it deserves,” he said.While past presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also made the same embassy pledge on the trail, they did not deliver once they assumed the responsibilities of conducting foreign policy.In 1995, Congress adopted a resolution, led by former House speaker and current Trump confidant Newt Gingrich, that called on the president to move the embassy. But each presidency since then has repeatedly used the prerogative granted to them to delay implementation of that demand.The current waiver expires in May 2017.Each president since then, including Obama, has maintained that the future status of Jerusalem should be settled in final negotiations between the parties, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the holy city as their rightful capital.But Trump has indicated he will break with those practices. In December, he nominated longtime friend and attorney David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel.In a statement announcing the selection, Friedman, a vocal supporter and donor to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he expected to carry out his duties in “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”There have been reports that Trump’s advisers are already in the process of planning the relocation. Campaign manager and soon-to-be White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has said it is “a very big priority for him.”And earlier this month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which urges Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
As Trump looks to move embassy, a Mideast expert puts out a plan of action-Washington Institute’s Robert Satloff writes policy memo on how to relocate the embassy without setting off an international crisis-By Eric Cortellessa January 18, 2017, 8:58 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his campaign pledge to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he should do it quickly and adeptly, according to a report by a prominent Middle East scholar.The paper to be released Tuesday by Robert Satloff, who heads the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, examines ways that Trump can fulfill his pledge without prompting violent unrest or a diplomatic crisis in the region.For Trump, the question is how to deliver something the last three successive United States presidents went to great lengths to avoid. Satloff has laid out what he believes to be the answer in his new policy memo that presents a series of recommendations on how to execute the relocation.Critics of moving the embassy have argued it would hurt America’s ability to work with the Palestinians, rupture its relationship with other Arab governments and make the Israeli-Palestinian issue a central focus when more pressing regional conflicts demand greater attention.They have also primarily argued that it would escalate volatility in the region. Palestinian leaders have warned it will “open the gates of hell.”But Satloff says this is “essentially a condescending view of Arabs and Muslims that assumes they will react mindlessly to incendiary calls to violence” that does not “reflect a net assessment that includes the potential impact of subtle, creative, and at times forceful American diplomacy.”In his “action plan” for the move, Satloff says the first step should be to have private, high-level consultations between the US and Israel to work out the mechanics. The US should then make its announcement and begin the process promptly.“The relocation should be publicly announced as soon as possible after the consultations are satisfactorily concluded,” he said. “Otherwise, opponents of the new US policy will have time to gather their resources and put obstacles in its way.”Beyond timing and security, one of the primary recommendations Satloff makes deals with the actual location of the facility in Jerusalem, which he says should be situated inside the municipal boundaries that has been controlled by Israel since 1948, and not in the parts of the city that were captured in the 1967 Six Day War.It is imperative, he argues, that the US is able to present the new physical setting of the embassy as having “no direct impact on negotiations to resolve disputes” over the permanent status of Jerusalem.Another dimension of that decision, Satloff says, is that it would allow Trump to say the move aims to repair what he described as the “historic injustice of America’s failure to recognize any sovereign Israeli presence in Jerusalem since the country’s founding.”But Satloff calls on the administration not to link the announcement to the fiftieth anniversary of the Six Day War this June, which Israel hails as the “unification of Jerusalem.”That linkage, Satloff said, would discredit the claim that the new embassy aims to rectify the wrong of not placing the US Embassy in the nation’s capital after the modern State of Israel was established.According to Satloff, building a new structure in pre-1967 territory would be a better alternative than the option of redesignating the current US consulate-general facility as the new embassy.Nevertheless, Satloff recommended in his memo, of which The Times of Israel received an advance copy, that the US needs to inform its Arab allies of its plans and place those discussions as a part of a broader policy agenda.Trump’s diplomatic team should sell the move as a “reaffirmation of America’s commitment to allies and its willingness to take bold steps to give meaning to those alliances,” he said.President Barack Obama has been criticized for not strenuously enough defending US allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.The incoming president needs to also make clear to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the move does not impact any final status issues of an ultimate two-state deal, while putting pressure on him to work toward “preventing, not provoking violence, from which only radicals, especially Hamas, can benefit.”Satloff also said that Trump should make clear that any “failure to adopt a constructive approach toward the embassy relocation would ensure that Abbas does not receive an invitation to visit the new president in the White House.”Trump, who as a candidate vowed to move the embassy during his address at last year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, has indicated during the transition that he will follow through on that promise.While past presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also vowed on the campaign trail to move the embassy, they did not deliver once they assumed the responsibilities of conducting foreign policy.In 1995, Congress adopted a resolution, led by former House speaker and current Trump confidant Newt Gingrich, that called on the president to move the embassy. But each presidency since then has repeatedly used the prerogative granted to them to delay implementation of that demand.The current waiver expires in May 2017.Each president since then, including Obama, has maintained that the future status of Jerusalem should be settled in final negotiations between the parties, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the holy city as their rightful capital.But Trump has indicated he will break with those practices. In December, he nominated longtime friend and attorney David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel.In a statement announcing the selection, Friedman, a vocal supporter and donor to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he expected to carry out his duties in “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”There have also been reports that Trump’s advisers are already in the process of planning the relocation. Campaign manager and soon-to-be White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has said it is “a very big priority for him.”And earlier this month,Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which urges Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway to close overnight as new tunnels, bridge open-Netanyahu hails ‘historic’ improvement to road that provides key access to the capital; travel time to be slashed to 30 minutes-By Times of Israel staff January 19, 2017, 6:05 pm
The main highway leading from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will be partially closed Thursday night and overnight as engineers put the final touches on two new interchanges expected to drastically slash travel time to the capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a new tunnel, calling it “a historic moment for the road to the capital,” noting that this was the best version yet of a road that has served generations of pilgrims over hundreds of years.“This Harel Tunnel that we are inaugurating, together with a bridge that eliminates the dangerous curve, which they called the curve of death — and with the train that will soon run on these tracks — all these will provide a boost for Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new tunnels with Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.According to estimates by the Transportation Ministry, the tunnels and bridge are expected to cut travel time from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to about 30 minutes if there is no traffic congestion.The Transportation Ministry and the Netivei Israel National Transport Infrastructure Company announced that Route 1 will be shut to traffic from Latrun to Ginot Sacharoff in both directions ahead of the re-opening of the Harel Interchange with new tunnels and a new bridge at the Motza Interchange.Route 1 will reopen to traffic at 10 a.m. Friday.Drivers who need to get to Jerusalem during those these hours are being asked to take Route 443.The new Harel tunnels, 800 meters in each direction, were built underneath the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion to alleviate congestion.In response to a petition to the High Court by Mevasseret residents to delay the opening of the tunnels — amid concern of reduced access — the deputy CEO of the Engineering and Development Branch of Netivei Israel, Yossi Halevi, said Thursday that once the Harel Interchange is reopened with the new changes, “residents of Mevasseret will celebrate.”Speaking to Israel Radio, Halevi said that all access to Mevasseret would be maintained and the idea behind the changes was a “balance between flow and access.”
Abbas ally’s home hit in Gaza bombing, no injuries-Two explosions rock coastal enclave; one at Fatah official’s home, another in Nuseirat refugee camp-By AFP January 19, 2017, 7:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
GAZA CITY — Two explosions hit the Gaza Strip, police said Thursday, including one targeting the home of an official from President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, without causing casualties.The first blast struck at around midnight in eastern Gaza City outside the home of Nayef Khuweter, a Fatah official in the territory, police and eyewitnesses said.Fatah condemned the attack, saying it would “disrupt” attempts at reconciliation with the Islamist movement Hamas which runs the Gaza Strip.In a separate incident, a car exploded in Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza.The Hamas-led police said they had opened investigations into the blasts, for which there were no immediate claims of responsibility.Hamas has ruled Gaza since a near civil war in 2007 led to the expulsion of Fatah, which runs the West Bank.Tension between the two rival parties has increased in recent weeks against the backdrop of an electricity crisis in Gaza and anti-Hamas protests.Several reconciliation bids have failed, though the two were among several Palestinian parties which recommitted to forming a national unity government during talks in Russia on Tuesday.
After fatal Negev clashes, police minister calls for probe into Arab MKs’ ‘incitement’-Erdan is a ‘pathological liar,’ Joint (Arab) List chief says of allegation he and his colleagues contributed to car-ramming in Bedouin village in which policeman, driver died-By Times of Israel staff January 19, 2017, 4:52 pm
In the wake of the death of a policeman run over by a speeding car during violent clashes over house demolitions in a Bedouin village, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday urged the attorney general to open an investigation into three Arab lawmakers who, he said, incited violence that led to the officer’s death.Erdan penned a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit calling for a probe into public statements made by MKs Ayman Odeh, Jamal Zahalka and Hanin Zoabi, all of the Joint (Arab) List faction.In response, Odeh, who heads the Joint List, called Erdan a “pathological liar.”Erdan, along with other senior ministers and the police top brass, maintains that Wednesday’s fatal car ramming in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran was a terror attack. Relatives of the driver insist he was not an assailant, and was not in control of the vehicle when it smashed into police lines because he had been fatally shot. A police video appears to show officers firing on him before the vehicle accelerated into a group of police officers, killing 1st Sgt. Erez Levi.The incident, Erdan wrote to Mandelblit, “did not occur in a vacuum and was not disconnected from the events that preceded it. Preceding that vile attack there was, for a long time, malicious and persistent incitement in which elected officials, members of Knesset, took part.”The Arab lawmakers, Erdan wrote, “did not miss any opportunity to inflame and radicalize the position of the community’s residents ahead of the expected evacuation, and did not refrain even from clear calls for violence against the forces that were expected to take part in the evacuation.”“The statements by those MKs,” Erdan continued, “before the event and even after it, clearly attest to the intention to incite the local residents to violence.”In response to Erdan’s accusations, Odeh, who was in Umm al-Hiran during the demolititions and was injured in the clashes, said that it was the minister who was guilty of incitement.“Minister Erdan is a serial inciter and a pathological liar,” he said in a statement. “We already called for a state commission yesterday. We have nothing to hide. We are demanding a comprehensive investigation into the chain of events, and especially into the conduct of the police for the violent and cruel evacuation of Umm al-Hiran.“They are those responsible for the bloodshed that occurred in Umm al-Hiran. They are those who use the police force for political propaganda purposes,” the statement added.Wednesday’s fatal incident occurred when Umm al-Hiran resident Yacoub Mousa Abu Al-Qia’an rammed his vehicle into a group of cops carrying out a demolition order against homes in the unrecognized Negev village, killing policeman Levi, 34, a father of two from the city of Yavneh in central Israel, and wounding another policeman.Abu Al-Qia’an, a father of 12 who was driving the vehicle, was shot and killed by police.Police have accused Abu Al-Qia’an of jihadist sympathies and called the attack “terrorism” and “murder.” Residents and activists opposing the demolition orders rejected the accusation and insisted Abu Al-Qia’an was shot by police before the ramming, and was not in control of the vehicle when it slammed into Levi and other officers.As proof of his incitement accusations, Erdan cited a recently published video clip from a 2015 event during which the accused MKs addressed a gathering of Umm al-Hiran residents. In the footage Zahalka is seen saying, in reference to the planned evacuation, “If blood is spilled then blood will be spilled” and then adding, “They need to know that on this matter, we are crazy. We, the Palestinian people, concerning us, we are ready to die before we are deported.”Odeh is seen telling the residents, “On this matter we will go all the way, all the way. We have reached the breaking point. We will never accept the current situation. Never!”Zoabi then declared that “this is a fight for our way of life, and on our land.”Erdan said the video was only one example of many instances when the MKs incited to violence.“I have no doubt that the murder of Levi was a direct outcome of the atmosphere that those inciting MKs created, and they need to bear the criminal responsibility for their actions.”Erdan continued to defend the police’s version of events Thursday, telling Army Radio that “the unequivocal conclusion of the police” is that the car-ramming was a terror attack.The family of Abu Al-Qia’an demanded Thursday that the Justice Ministry’s police internal affairs department launch an investigation into the circumstances of his death.In response to Wednesday’s deadly clashes and home demolitions, Arab leaders called a daylong strike for Thursday, while hundreds of protesters in a half-dozen Israeli cities took to the streets Wednesday to denounce “the bloodshed and the destruction of homes in the Negev.”
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
Incoming Trump spokesman: Announcement on embassy soon-Asked by reporters about the president-elect’s plans to relocate the embassy, Sean Spicer says ‘stay tuned’-By Eric Cortellessa January 19, 2017, 6:39 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House press secretary said Thursday that an announcement on the administration’s plan to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was in the works.Asked about Trump’s intention to make the move — upending decades of US foreign policy — Sean Spicer told reporters to “stay tuned” and that “there will be a further announcement on that.”Spicer’s statement comes less than 24 hours after US President Barack Obama warned his successor to be sure he’s “thought it through” this proposal, warning that “unilateral actions” in a volatile region like the Middle East can be “explosive.”“The actions we take have enormous consequences and ramifications,” he said when asked about Trump’s stated goal of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s sovereign capital. “We’re the biggest kid on the block.”“I think it is right and appropriate for a new president to test all the assumptions and re-examine the old ways of doing things,” he added. “But if you’re going to make big shifts in policy, just make sure you’ve thought it through and understand that there are going to be consequences.”Palestinian and Arab leaders have warned that it could lead to mass protests and unrest. One Palestinian leader said it “would open the gates of hell.”Trump initially vowed to move the embassy during his address at last year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, and he has indicated during his transition that he will follow through on that promise.Israeli daily Israel Hayom on Thursday morning quoted Trump saying that he “did not forget” about the commitment he made as a candidate. “You know that I am not a person who breaks promises,” he said.Spicer supplemented those remarks in his press conference, saying, “The president has made clear that Israel has not gotten the respect it deserves,” he said.While past presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also made the same embassy pledge on the trail, they did not deliver once they assumed the responsibilities of conducting foreign policy.In 1995, Congress adopted a resolution, led by former House speaker and current Trump confidant Newt Gingrich, that called on the president to move the embassy. But each presidency since then has repeatedly used the prerogative granted to them to delay implementation of that demand.The current waiver expires in May 2017.Each president since then, including Obama, has maintained that the future status of Jerusalem should be settled in final negotiations between the parties, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the holy city as their rightful capital.But Trump has indicated he will break with those practices. In December, he nominated longtime friend and attorney David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel.In a statement announcing the selection, Friedman, a vocal supporter and donor to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he expected to carry out his duties in “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”There have been reports that Trump’s advisers are already in the process of planning the relocation. Campaign manager and soon-to-be White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has said it is “a very big priority for him.”And earlier this month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which urges Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
As Trump looks to move embassy, a Mideast expert puts out a plan of action-Washington Institute’s Robert Satloff writes policy memo on how to relocate the embassy without setting off an international crisis-By Eric Cortellessa January 18, 2017, 8:58 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his campaign pledge to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he should do it quickly and adeptly, according to a report by a prominent Middle East scholar.The paper to be released Tuesday by Robert Satloff, who heads the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, examines ways that Trump can fulfill his pledge without prompting violent unrest or a diplomatic crisis in the region.For Trump, the question is how to deliver something the last three successive United States presidents went to great lengths to avoid. Satloff has laid out what he believes to be the answer in his new policy memo that presents a series of recommendations on how to execute the relocation.Critics of moving the embassy have argued it would hurt America’s ability to work with the Palestinians, rupture its relationship with other Arab governments and make the Israeli-Palestinian issue a central focus when more pressing regional conflicts demand greater attention.They have also primarily argued that it would escalate volatility in the region. Palestinian leaders have warned it will “open the gates of hell.”But Satloff says this is “essentially a condescending view of Arabs and Muslims that assumes they will react mindlessly to incendiary calls to violence” that does not “reflect a net assessment that includes the potential impact of subtle, creative, and at times forceful American diplomacy.”In his “action plan” for the move, Satloff says the first step should be to have private, high-level consultations between the US and Israel to work out the mechanics. The US should then make its announcement and begin the process promptly.“The relocation should be publicly announced as soon as possible after the consultations are satisfactorily concluded,” he said. “Otherwise, opponents of the new US policy will have time to gather their resources and put obstacles in its way.”Beyond timing and security, one of the primary recommendations Satloff makes deals with the actual location of the facility in Jerusalem, which he says should be situated inside the municipal boundaries that has been controlled by Israel since 1948, and not in the parts of the city that were captured in the 1967 Six Day War.It is imperative, he argues, that the US is able to present the new physical setting of the embassy as having “no direct impact on negotiations to resolve disputes” over the permanent status of Jerusalem.Another dimension of that decision, Satloff says, is that it would allow Trump to say the move aims to repair what he described as the “historic injustice of America’s failure to recognize any sovereign Israeli presence in Jerusalem since the country’s founding.”But Satloff calls on the administration not to link the announcement to the fiftieth anniversary of the Six Day War this June, which Israel hails as the “unification of Jerusalem.”That linkage, Satloff said, would discredit the claim that the new embassy aims to rectify the wrong of not placing the US Embassy in the nation’s capital after the modern State of Israel was established.According to Satloff, building a new structure in pre-1967 territory would be a better alternative than the option of redesignating the current US consulate-general facility as the new embassy.Nevertheless, Satloff recommended in his memo, of which The Times of Israel received an advance copy, that the US needs to inform its Arab allies of its plans and place those discussions as a part of a broader policy agenda.Trump’s diplomatic team should sell the move as a “reaffirmation of America’s commitment to allies and its willingness to take bold steps to give meaning to those alliances,” he said.President Barack Obama has been criticized for not strenuously enough defending US allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.The incoming president needs to also make clear to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the move does not impact any final status issues of an ultimate two-state deal, while putting pressure on him to work toward “preventing, not provoking violence, from which only radicals, especially Hamas, can benefit.”Satloff also said that Trump should make clear that any “failure to adopt a constructive approach toward the embassy relocation would ensure that Abbas does not receive an invitation to visit the new president in the White House.”Trump, who as a candidate vowed to move the embassy during his address at last year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, has indicated during the transition that he will follow through on that promise.While past presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also vowed on the campaign trail to move the embassy, they did not deliver once they assumed the responsibilities of conducting foreign policy.In 1995, Congress adopted a resolution, led by former House speaker and current Trump confidant Newt Gingrich, that called on the president to move the embassy. But each presidency since then has repeatedly used the prerogative granted to them to delay implementation of that demand.The current waiver expires in May 2017.Each president since then, including Obama, has maintained that the future status of Jerusalem should be settled in final negotiations between the parties, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the holy city as their rightful capital.But Trump has indicated he will break with those practices. In December, he nominated longtime friend and attorney David Friedman to be the next US ambassador to Israel.In a statement announcing the selection, Friedman, a vocal supporter and donor to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he expected to carry out his duties in “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”There have also been reports that Trump’s advisers are already in the process of planning the relocation. Campaign manager and soon-to-be White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has said it is “a very big priority for him.”And earlier this month,Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which urges Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway to close overnight as new tunnels, bridge open-Netanyahu hails ‘historic’ improvement to road that provides key access to the capital; travel time to be slashed to 30 minutes-By Times of Israel staff January 19, 2017, 6:05 pm
The main highway leading from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will be partially closed Thursday night and overnight as engineers put the final touches on two new interchanges expected to drastically slash travel time to the capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a new tunnel, calling it “a historic moment for the road to the capital,” noting that this was the best version yet of a road that has served generations of pilgrims over hundreds of years.“This Harel Tunnel that we are inaugurating, together with a bridge that eliminates the dangerous curve, which they called the curve of death — and with the train that will soon run on these tracks — all these will provide a boost for Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new tunnels with Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.According to estimates by the Transportation Ministry, the tunnels and bridge are expected to cut travel time from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to about 30 minutes if there is no traffic congestion.The Transportation Ministry and the Netivei Israel National Transport Infrastructure Company announced that Route 1 will be shut to traffic from Latrun to Ginot Sacharoff in both directions ahead of the re-opening of the Harel Interchange with new tunnels and a new bridge at the Motza Interchange.Route 1 will reopen to traffic at 10 a.m. Friday.Drivers who need to get to Jerusalem during those these hours are being asked to take Route 443.The new Harel tunnels, 800 meters in each direction, were built underneath the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion to alleviate congestion.In response to a petition to the High Court by Mevasseret residents to delay the opening of the tunnels — amid concern of reduced access — the deputy CEO of the Engineering and Development Branch of Netivei Israel, Yossi Halevi, said Thursday that once the Harel Interchange is reopened with the new changes, “residents of Mevasseret will celebrate.”Speaking to Israel Radio, Halevi said that all access to Mevasseret would be maintained and the idea behind the changes was a “balance between flow and access.”
Abbas ally’s home hit in Gaza bombing, no injuries-Two explosions rock coastal enclave; one at Fatah official’s home, another in Nuseirat refugee camp-By AFP January 19, 2017, 7:08 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
GAZA CITY — Two explosions hit the Gaza Strip, police said Thursday, including one targeting the home of an official from President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, without causing casualties.The first blast struck at around midnight in eastern Gaza City outside the home of Nayef Khuweter, a Fatah official in the territory, police and eyewitnesses said.Fatah condemned the attack, saying it would “disrupt” attempts at reconciliation with the Islamist movement Hamas which runs the Gaza Strip.In a separate incident, a car exploded in Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza.The Hamas-led police said they had opened investigations into the blasts, for which there were no immediate claims of responsibility.Hamas has ruled Gaza since a near civil war in 2007 led to the expulsion of Fatah, which runs the West Bank.Tension between the two rival parties has increased in recent weeks against the backdrop of an electricity crisis in Gaza and anti-Hamas protests.Several reconciliation bids have failed, though the two were among several Palestinian parties which recommitted to forming a national unity government during talks in Russia on Tuesday.
After fatal Negev clashes, police minister calls for probe into Arab MKs’ ‘incitement’-Erdan is a ‘pathological liar,’ Joint (Arab) List chief says of allegation he and his colleagues contributed to car-ramming in Bedouin village in which policeman, driver died-By Times of Israel staff January 19, 2017, 4:52 pm
In the wake of the death of a policeman run over by a speeding car during violent clashes over house demolitions in a Bedouin village, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday urged the attorney general to open an investigation into three Arab lawmakers who, he said, incited violence that led to the officer’s death.Erdan penned a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit calling for a probe into public statements made by MKs Ayman Odeh, Jamal Zahalka and Hanin Zoabi, all of the Joint (Arab) List faction.In response, Odeh, who heads the Joint List, called Erdan a “pathological liar.”Erdan, along with other senior ministers and the police top brass, maintains that Wednesday’s fatal car ramming in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran was a terror attack. Relatives of the driver insist he was not an assailant, and was not in control of the vehicle when it smashed into police lines because he had been fatally shot. A police video appears to show officers firing on him before the vehicle accelerated into a group of police officers, killing 1st Sgt. Erez Levi.The incident, Erdan wrote to Mandelblit, “did not occur in a vacuum and was not disconnected from the events that preceded it. Preceding that vile attack there was, for a long time, malicious and persistent incitement in which elected officials, members of Knesset, took part.”The Arab lawmakers, Erdan wrote, “did not miss any opportunity to inflame and radicalize the position of the community’s residents ahead of the expected evacuation, and did not refrain even from clear calls for violence against the forces that were expected to take part in the evacuation.”“The statements by those MKs,” Erdan continued, “before the event and even after it, clearly attest to the intention to incite the local residents to violence.”In response to Erdan’s accusations, Odeh, who was in Umm al-Hiran during the demolititions and was injured in the clashes, said that it was the minister who was guilty of incitement.“Minister Erdan is a serial inciter and a pathological liar,” he said in a statement. “We already called for a state commission yesterday. We have nothing to hide. We are demanding a comprehensive investigation into the chain of events, and especially into the conduct of the police for the violent and cruel evacuation of Umm al-Hiran.“They are those responsible for the bloodshed that occurred in Umm al-Hiran. They are those who use the police force for political propaganda purposes,” the statement added.Wednesday’s fatal incident occurred when Umm al-Hiran resident Yacoub Mousa Abu Al-Qia’an rammed his vehicle into a group of cops carrying out a demolition order against homes in the unrecognized Negev village, killing policeman Levi, 34, a father of two from the city of Yavneh in central Israel, and wounding another policeman.Abu Al-Qia’an, a father of 12 who was driving the vehicle, was shot and killed by police.Police have accused Abu Al-Qia’an of jihadist sympathies and called the attack “terrorism” and “murder.” Residents and activists opposing the demolition orders rejected the accusation and insisted Abu Al-Qia’an was shot by police before the ramming, and was not in control of the vehicle when it slammed into Levi and other officers.As proof of his incitement accusations, Erdan cited a recently published video clip from a 2015 event during which the accused MKs addressed a gathering of Umm al-Hiran residents. In the footage Zahalka is seen saying, in reference to the planned evacuation, “If blood is spilled then blood will be spilled” and then adding, “They need to know that on this matter, we are crazy. We, the Palestinian people, concerning us, we are ready to die before we are deported.”Odeh is seen telling the residents, “On this matter we will go all the way, all the way. We have reached the breaking point. We will never accept the current situation. Never!”Zoabi then declared that “this is a fight for our way of life, and on our land.”Erdan said the video was only one example of many instances when the MKs incited to violence.“I have no doubt that the murder of Levi was a direct outcome of the atmosphere that those inciting MKs created, and they need to bear the criminal responsibility for their actions.”Erdan continued to defend the police’s version of events Thursday, telling Army Radio that “the unequivocal conclusion of the police” is that the car-ramming was a terror attack.The family of Abu Al-Qia’an demanded Thursday that the Justice Ministry’s police internal affairs department launch an investigation into the circumstances of his death.In response to Wednesday’s deadly clashes and home demolitions, Arab leaders called a daylong strike for Thursday, while hundreds of protesters in a half-dozen Israeli cities took to the streets Wednesday to denounce “the bloodshed and the destruction of homes in the Negev.”
