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
Trump won’t move embassy until peace plan ‘given a shot’-US president predicts decision 'in not too distant future,' but wants to give proposal US is formulating a chance to work first-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 5:54 am
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he will not consider moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan his administration is working on is given a chance to succeed.Appearing on a show hosted by former Arkansan Governor Mike Huckabee on the TBN network, Trump said a decision on moving the embassy would be made “in the not too distant future,” but also indicated it would have to wait for the results of a nascent peace proposal being formulated by the US.“I want to give that a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem,” Trump said.Trump promised to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem while on the campaign trail, but like other American presidents has balked at actually making the move, with officials and analysts predicting doing so could lead to increased tensions in the region and hurt chances for peace efforts.The Trump administration has been working on a peace plan it is expected to unveil in the coming months, though details about the proposal have been scarce.The president said the White House is working on a plan but despite making reaching what he calls “the ultimate deal” a central plank of his foreign policy, did not show robust confidence in the interview with Huckabee that it would lead to actual peace between Israelis and Palestinians.“We’re working on a plan that everybody says will never work,” he said. “If that doesn’t work, which it’s possible that it won’t, to be totally honest, most people say it’s an impossible deal. I don’t think it is impossible, and I think it’s something that can happen, and I’m not making any predictions.”He added that he believed peace between Israel and the Palestinians would lead to a wider regional peace, “which has to happen.”According to reports, the plan may include a regional diplomatic initiative involving Israel normalizing relations with Arab states.Trump met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month and reportedly urged him not to pursue any unilateral moves until the US unveils its plan. Trump also reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the plan as well during a separate meeting on the sidelines of the world summit in New York.White House officials have made several trips to the region in recent months, though itineraries indicate they have spent more time meeting Israeli officials than Palestinians, with Ramallah reportedly losing hope that the administration will deal them a fair hand. The Trump administration has taken a much softer line toward settlements than past administrations and has refrained from committing to a two-state solution, breaking with decades of US foreign policy.In late May, Trump signed a waiver allowing him to delay moving the embassy for six months. He will need to decide on signing the waiver again in late November.‘You will see what I do with nuke deal’-In his interview with Huckabee, Trump also called the Iran nuclear deal “terrible” and said it should never have been made, but seemed to indicate he would not necessarily dismantle it.Trump is scheduled to report to Congress by October 14 on whether Iran is complying with the deal. He is widely expected to decertify Iranian compliance, but not actually pull the US out of the pact.“I can tell you I’m very unhappy with the deal. The spirit is not there. They are literally causing trouble,” he said, accusing the Islamic Republic of working with North Korea. “You will see what I will be doing… Iran is a bad player and they will be taken care of as a bad player.”Analysts have warned that decertifying the deal to Congress could give US lawmakers an opening to impose new sanctions on Iran, which could cause the pact to collapse. Under the 2015 deal, reached by six world powers and Iran, Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump could not get rid of the deal.“We have achieved benefits that are irreversible. Nobody can roll them back, neither Trump, nor 10 other Trumps,” Rouhani said, addressing students at Tehran University.Aiming to show tough action against Iran, the White House is preparing a series of measures targeting its affiliates in the country and beyond.New actions to be announced in the coming days will focus on two entities: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group blamed for sowing discord in the Middle East and seeking Israel’s demise.The actions include financial sanctions on anyone who does business with the Revolutionary Guard, as well as millions of dollars in rewards for information leading to the arrest of two operatives of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.The measures were described by two administration officials and a person familiar with the unfolding policy on Iran. The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the actions before they are officially announced. The third person was not authorized to speak about private conversations.The moves allow Trump to show he is not easing the pressure against the Islamic Republic, even though the nuclear deal he has long derided may live on — at least for the immediate future.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UNESCO to postpone vote on upcoming anti-Israel resolutions — Israeli envoy-Ambassador says move marks significant victory after intense lobbying to quash two Arab-sponsored proposals-By Raphael Ahren-October 8, 2017, 12:38 amTOI
For the first time in years, the United Nations cultural arm will likely not pass any anti-Israel resolutions at its major summit this week, in what would amount to a significant diplomatic victory for Jerusalem.As they have done a number of times annually in past years, several Arab nations in the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization drafted two resolutions condemning Israel for various actions in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and elsewhere.But as a result of intense Israeli and American lobbying, no such texts will be voted on during UNESCO’s 202nd Executive Board meeting, which starts Monday in Paris.Instead, two resolutions pushing off the aforementioned proposals for six months are expected to be passed unanimously.The chairman of the Executive Board, German diplomat Michael Worbs, is set to propose the body include Resolutions 202 EX/39 and 202 EX/38 in its agenda for its next session, which is scheduled for April 2018.The resolutions postponing the two anti-Israel texts is set to be voted on Wednesday.“The resolutions are expected to pass unanimously — unless a country breaks its commitment in the last moment,” Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, told The Times of Israel on Saturday.He said Israel had not offered the countries any quid-pro-quo to vote in favor of delaying the resolutions.UNESCO is currently in the process of choosing a new director-general, one of whose key tasks will be to regain US funding for the organization. Accused of anti-Israel bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and foot-dragging on reforms, UNESCO infuriated Israel and the United States by granting full membership to Palestine in 2011. Both countries suspended their funding to the agency over the move.One of the resolutions to be postponed this week is similar to one passed in May that downplays Jewish links to Jerusalem. The other resolution levels of host of accusations against Israel, including “Israeli army violations against Palestinian universities and schools” and calling on Jerusalem to “cease all of its settlement activities.”Israel routinely faces uphill battles when facing anti-Israel resolutions by the Paris-based body. However, in recent months, more countries have begun to vote against resolutions critical of Israel described as one-sided.On May 2 — Israel’s Independence Day — UNESCO’s Executive Board passed a resolution that denied Israeli claims to Jerusalem and called Israel the “occupying power.” Twenty-two countries voted in favor of the motion, 10 opposed and 23 abstained.On July 7, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee voted to have the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, inscribed as a Palestinian world heritage site in danger.Twelve countries voted in favor of the move, while three opposed it. Six countries abstained.An Executive Board meeting with no resolutions critical of Israel voted on would mark a substantial development amid Israeli efforts to end anti-Israel bias at UNESCO and the UN in general.However, officials remained low-key over the possibility, apparently fearful that grandiose statements could jeopardize the postponement.“Until I hear the hammer of the chairman announcing [that the anti-Israel resolutions were postponed] I will not believe it that it is happening. I will write two response speeches,” Shama-Hacohen said in a statement issued Saturday.While the anti-Israel resolutions will only be delayed, Israel views the development as a “significant step toward the total elimination” of such proposals, he said.“Time will tell if this a tactical change or a change of approach and significant progress toward clearing the organization of incitement and politicization against us,” Shama-Hacohen said.
North Korea touts nukes as ‘powerful deterrent’ against US-Kim Jong Un says atomic development boosting economy despite sanctions-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 10:01 am
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un told a powerful forum on Saturday that nuclear weapons were a “powerful deterrent” in the region.Referring to “the protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists,” Kim told the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party that nuclear weapons would help safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, the Reuters news agency reported Sunday.“The national economy has grown on their strength this year, despite the escalating sanctions,” Kim reportedly said, in reference to UN Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear and missile development.On Friday, a Russian politician was quoted as saying that Pyongyang was planning a test launch for a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland.In August and September, North Korea launched missiles over Japan and in September appeared to have carried out a sixth nuclear test, possibly of a hydrogen bomb.An escalating war of words has seen US President Donald Trump hint at using force on several occasions and warning outright before the UN General Assembly last month that he could “totally destroy” the country.…hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017-On Saturday he tweeted, “Presidents and their administrations had been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid,” but that it “hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of US negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!”Last week, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew home from meeting with top Chinese officials, Trump tweeted that his envoy was “wasting his time” trying to probe North Korea’s willingness to talk.The message came after Tillerson had revealed there were backchannels between US and North Korean officials.Reuters also reported that the North Korean leader appointed his sister Kim Yo Jong to his top decision-making body, the politburo, while Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who called Trump “President Evil” during an address to the UN General Assembly last month, was promoted to a full voting politburo member.AFP contributed to this report.
On Iran deal, Trump is putting US credibility on the line, critics say-If the president goes through with a reported plan to decertify, the world could have a hard time trusting what America says in the future-By Eric Cortellessa-TOI-October 8, 2017, 8:02 am
WASHINGTON — With White House officials disclosing this week that US President Donald Trump intends to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, the most consistent dissent has centered around what the move would do to American credibility.Shortly after The Washington Post broke news of the administration’s plans on Thursday, a senior aide to a top-ranking Senate Democrat told The Times of Israel that Democrats see a Trump refusal to certify Iran’s compliance with the accord as a misguided step toward addressing the regime’s non-nuclear provocations.“The maximum point of leverage to address Iran’s nefarious activities is now, before [Trump’s] expected terrible decision,” the aide said, “not after, when he undermines America’s credibility to uphold its commitments with our allies and partners.“Democrats believe the president should make the certification, full stop,” he went on. “Congress already sent him comprehensive sanctions to deal with non-nuclear issues like terrorism, human rights abuses and ballistic missile and other arms violations.”In July, Congress passed the Countering US Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, which imposed new sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran. Trump signed the legislation into law, but the bill had already garnered enough support to override a presidential veto, essentially forcing his hand.Nevertheless, Trump sees additional action on the Iran front as part of an overall policy shift toward the Islamic Republic.White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during the daily briefing Friday that he “isn’t looking at one piece of this. He’s looking at all of the bad behavior of Iran, not just the nuclear deal as bad behavior, but the ballistic missile testing, the destabilizing in the region. He wants to look for a broad strategy that addresses all of those problems.”If Trump does ultimately refuse to certify that Tehran is abiding by the terms of the landmark July 2015 pact — which relieved sanctions against Iran in exchange for rolling back its nuclear program — that will give Congress a 60-day review period to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were in place before it was implemented.Decertification would not abrogate the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, itself. Rather, it is part of a separate agreement former president Barack Obama forged with Congress that required the White House to verify every 90 days that Iran is keeping its end of the bargain.European officials have already begun lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to uphold the agreement, which both International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and the US intelligence community assert Iran is honoring.Critics argue that for the US to say Iran isn’t living up to its commitments when, in fact, it is will have long-lasting ramifications.“Decertification would be a fateful step, not because it puts the JCPOA at risk but because it would put our credibility and relationship at risk,” wrote conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin this week.Foreign officials have made the same point.“We do trust America’s word, as Europeans,” David O’Sullivan, the European Union’s ambassador to Washington, told The Atlantic. “But I think this is a question, and I’ve heard this mentioned around Congress as well, that how America proceeds on this issue would have implications for the credibility of US behavior in other situations such as, for example, the North Korea situation.”Some US officials have suggested that even though Trump wants to decertify Iran’s compliance, he doesn’t want to tear up the deal. Rather, he wants to use decertification as an opportunity to address Iran’s ongoing ballistic missile testing and renegotiate aspects of the deal, most notably sunset provisions that allow restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to expire.But the fundamental issue of what decertifying Iran would mean to US credibility has concerned many of Washington’s most eminent foreign policy thinkers, especially when just last week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, said that “Iran is not in material breach of the agreement” and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that it is in “technical compliance” of the deal.Veteran Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last week that essentially gave the White House two potential arguments for decertifying.Decertification would need to be justified, Ross said, by stating Iranian actions “that could significantly advance its nuclear weapons program.”That would include saying that the IAEA does not have access to Iran’s military facilities and that Iran’s continuing development of ballistic missiles “seems to make sense only as a way to deliver nuclear warheads.”Ross also said the administration should make clear — if it does decertify Iran’s compliance — that the move does not amount to its walking away from the deal.
Israel considered attacking Syria crematorium – report-Risk of war said to be among reasons for decision not to bomb what US said was a facility used to dispose of bodies of Assad opponents-By Sue Surkes-TOI-October 8, 2017, 9:10 am
Israel reportedly considered bombing crematoria created by the Syrian regime to burn and conceal the bodies of murdered political prisoners, but decided against it so as not to irritate the Americans or the Russians and avoid escalation on the northern border.“A country that lost millions of its people to crematoria cannot stand by when it happens to another people a few dozens of kilometers from our border,” and when most of the world “stands by and remains silent — exactly as it did 70 years ago,” a senior figure involved in the discussions was quoted by the Israel Hayom daily as saying Sunday.In May, the Trump administration accused the Syrian government of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners and burning the bodies in a large crematorium outside of the capital.The State Department said it believed that some 50 detainees were being hanged daily at Saydnaya military prison — known as ‘the slaughterhouse’ — about 45 minutes north of Damascus. Many of the bodies, it said, were then burned in the crematorium.The department released commercial satellite photographs showing what it described as a building in the prison complex that was modified to support the crematorium. The photographs, taken over the course of several years beginning in 2013, did not definitely prove the building was a crematorium, but did show construction consistent with such use.At the time, the Israeli interior minister, opposition lawmakers and Jewish groups demanded military action to stop the alleged atrocities.Confidential talks were held on the possibility, according to the Israel Hayom report.In the end, however, Israel decided to continue its policy of non-intervention in the conflict while the US restricted itself to calling on Russia to stop the abuses.The Bashar Assad regime rejected the crematoria claim as a “Hollywood story,” aimed at justifying US intervention in the six-and-half-year civil war.Agencies contributed to this report.
Las Vegas gunman left note with shooting angle calculations-Officer says paper found in hotel room had height and distance so Stephen Paddock could figure out how to target festival where he killed 58-By AFP-October 8, 2017, 4:17 amTOI
WASHINGTON — A note discovered in the hotel room of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock featured hand-written calculations on where he needed to aim to increase his accuracy and number of kills, US network CBS reported Saturday.The piece of paper was found by police officers who stormed Paddock’s room after he launched his attack from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel Sunday night — killing 58 people and injuring nearly 500.In an interview set to air on Sunday, Officer David Newton of the Las Vegas Police Department’s K-9 unit, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” he noticed Paddock’s note “on the nightstand near his shooting platform.”“I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was going to be for the crowd. So he had had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there,” he said.Newton added that forcing entry into the room with an explosive before finding Paddock’s body and an arsenal of weapons was like something “out of a movie.”It was “very eerie,” he said.Paddock’s hotel suite gave him an ideal perch from which to carry out his attack on a crowd of more than 20,000 people attending a country music concert across the street, some 400 yards (365 meters) away.The note has not shed any light on the gunman’s motives, which authorities are yet to uncover nearly a week after the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.“We still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” Undersheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told reporters Friday, adding that law enforcement was continuing to search for answers with “great tenacity.”The shooting has refueled debate on gun control in the US, with even the powerful pro-gun National Rifle Association calling on authorities to review laws surrounding “bump stocks.”Used by Paddock, a bump stock’s spring-loaded mechanism uses a rifle’s recoil to repeatedly and rapidly pull the trigger, allowing the user to fire several hundred rounds per minute.
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
Trump won’t move embassy until peace plan ‘given a shot’-US president predicts decision 'in not too distant future,' but wants to give proposal US is formulating a chance to work first-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 5:54 am
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he will not consider moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan his administration is working on is given a chance to succeed.Appearing on a show hosted by former Arkansan Governor Mike Huckabee on the TBN network, Trump said a decision on moving the embassy would be made “in the not too distant future,” but also indicated it would have to wait for the results of a nascent peace proposal being formulated by the US.“I want to give that a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem,” Trump said.Trump promised to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem while on the campaign trail, but like other American presidents has balked at actually making the move, with officials and analysts predicting doing so could lead to increased tensions in the region and hurt chances for peace efforts.The Trump administration has been working on a peace plan it is expected to unveil in the coming months, though details about the proposal have been scarce.The president said the White House is working on a plan but despite making reaching what he calls “the ultimate deal” a central plank of his foreign policy, did not show robust confidence in the interview with Huckabee that it would lead to actual peace between Israelis and Palestinians.“We’re working on a plan that everybody says will never work,” he said. “If that doesn’t work, which it’s possible that it won’t, to be totally honest, most people say it’s an impossible deal. I don’t think it is impossible, and I think it’s something that can happen, and I’m not making any predictions.”He added that he believed peace between Israel and the Palestinians would lead to a wider regional peace, “which has to happen.”According to reports, the plan may include a regional diplomatic initiative involving Israel normalizing relations with Arab states.Trump met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month and reportedly urged him not to pursue any unilateral moves until the US unveils its plan. Trump also reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the plan as well during a separate meeting on the sidelines of the world summit in New York.White House officials have made several trips to the region in recent months, though itineraries indicate they have spent more time meeting Israeli officials than Palestinians, with Ramallah reportedly losing hope that the administration will deal them a fair hand. The Trump administration has taken a much softer line toward settlements than past administrations and has refrained from committing to a two-state solution, breaking with decades of US foreign policy.In late May, Trump signed a waiver allowing him to delay moving the embassy for six months. He will need to decide on signing the waiver again in late November.‘You will see what I do with nuke deal’-In his interview with Huckabee, Trump also called the Iran nuclear deal “terrible” and said it should never have been made, but seemed to indicate he would not necessarily dismantle it.Trump is scheduled to report to Congress by October 14 on whether Iran is complying with the deal. He is widely expected to decertify Iranian compliance, but not actually pull the US out of the pact.“I can tell you I’m very unhappy with the deal. The spirit is not there. They are literally causing trouble,” he said, accusing the Islamic Republic of working with North Korea. “You will see what I will be doing… Iran is a bad player and they will be taken care of as a bad player.”Analysts have warned that decertifying the deal to Congress could give US lawmakers an opening to impose new sanctions on Iran, which could cause the pact to collapse. Under the 2015 deal, reached by six world powers and Iran, Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump could not get rid of the deal.“We have achieved benefits that are irreversible. Nobody can roll them back, neither Trump, nor 10 other Trumps,” Rouhani said, addressing students at Tehran University.Aiming to show tough action against Iran, the White House is preparing a series of measures targeting its affiliates in the country and beyond.New actions to be announced in the coming days will focus on two entities: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group blamed for sowing discord in the Middle East and seeking Israel’s demise.The actions include financial sanctions on anyone who does business with the Revolutionary Guard, as well as millions of dollars in rewards for information leading to the arrest of two operatives of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.The measures were described by two administration officials and a person familiar with the unfolding policy on Iran. The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the actions before they are officially announced. The third person was not authorized to speak about private conversations.The moves allow Trump to show he is not easing the pressure against the Islamic Republic, even though the nuclear deal he has long derided may live on — at least for the immediate future.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UNESCO to postpone vote on upcoming anti-Israel resolutions — Israeli envoy-Ambassador says move marks significant victory after intense lobbying to quash two Arab-sponsored proposals-By Raphael Ahren-October 8, 2017, 12:38 amTOI
For the first time in years, the United Nations cultural arm will likely not pass any anti-Israel resolutions at its major summit this week, in what would amount to a significant diplomatic victory for Jerusalem.As they have done a number of times annually in past years, several Arab nations in the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization drafted two resolutions condemning Israel for various actions in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and elsewhere.But as a result of intense Israeli and American lobbying, no such texts will be voted on during UNESCO’s 202nd Executive Board meeting, which starts Monday in Paris.Instead, two resolutions pushing off the aforementioned proposals for six months are expected to be passed unanimously.The chairman of the Executive Board, German diplomat Michael Worbs, is set to propose the body include Resolutions 202 EX/39 and 202 EX/38 in its agenda for its next session, which is scheduled for April 2018.The resolutions postponing the two anti-Israel texts is set to be voted on Wednesday.“The resolutions are expected to pass unanimously — unless a country breaks its commitment in the last moment,” Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, told The Times of Israel on Saturday.He said Israel had not offered the countries any quid-pro-quo to vote in favor of delaying the resolutions.UNESCO is currently in the process of choosing a new director-general, one of whose key tasks will be to regain US funding for the organization. Accused of anti-Israel bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and foot-dragging on reforms, UNESCO infuriated Israel and the United States by granting full membership to Palestine in 2011. Both countries suspended their funding to the agency over the move.One of the resolutions to be postponed this week is similar to one passed in May that downplays Jewish links to Jerusalem. The other resolution levels of host of accusations against Israel, including “Israeli army violations against Palestinian universities and schools” and calling on Jerusalem to “cease all of its settlement activities.”Israel routinely faces uphill battles when facing anti-Israel resolutions by the Paris-based body. However, in recent months, more countries have begun to vote against resolutions critical of Israel described as one-sided.On May 2 — Israel’s Independence Day — UNESCO’s Executive Board passed a resolution that denied Israeli claims to Jerusalem and called Israel the “occupying power.” Twenty-two countries voted in favor of the motion, 10 opposed and 23 abstained.On July 7, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee voted to have the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, inscribed as a Palestinian world heritage site in danger.Twelve countries voted in favor of the move, while three opposed it. Six countries abstained.An Executive Board meeting with no resolutions critical of Israel voted on would mark a substantial development amid Israeli efforts to end anti-Israel bias at UNESCO and the UN in general.However, officials remained low-key over the possibility, apparently fearful that grandiose statements could jeopardize the postponement.“Until I hear the hammer of the chairman announcing [that the anti-Israel resolutions were postponed] I will not believe it that it is happening. I will write two response speeches,” Shama-Hacohen said in a statement issued Saturday.While the anti-Israel resolutions will only be delayed, Israel views the development as a “significant step toward the total elimination” of such proposals, he said.“Time will tell if this a tactical change or a change of approach and significant progress toward clearing the organization of incitement and politicization against us,” Shama-Hacohen said.
North Korea touts nukes as ‘powerful deterrent’ against US-Kim Jong Un says atomic development boosting economy despite sanctions-By TOI staff-October 8, 2017, 10:01 am
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un told a powerful forum on Saturday that nuclear weapons were a “powerful deterrent” in the region.Referring to “the protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists,” Kim told the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party that nuclear weapons would help safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, the Reuters news agency reported Sunday.“The national economy has grown on their strength this year, despite the escalating sanctions,” Kim reportedly said, in reference to UN Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear and missile development.On Friday, a Russian politician was quoted as saying that Pyongyang was planning a test launch for a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland.In August and September, North Korea launched missiles over Japan and in September appeared to have carried out a sixth nuclear test, possibly of a hydrogen bomb.An escalating war of words has seen US President Donald Trump hint at using force on several occasions and warning outright before the UN General Assembly last month that he could “totally destroy” the country.…hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017-On Saturday he tweeted, “Presidents and their administrations had been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid,” but that it “hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of US negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!”Last week, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew home from meeting with top Chinese officials, Trump tweeted that his envoy was “wasting his time” trying to probe North Korea’s willingness to talk.The message came after Tillerson had revealed there were backchannels between US and North Korean officials.Reuters also reported that the North Korean leader appointed his sister Kim Yo Jong to his top decision-making body, the politburo, while Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who called Trump “President Evil” during an address to the UN General Assembly last month, was promoted to a full voting politburo member.AFP contributed to this report.
On Iran deal, Trump is putting US credibility on the line, critics say-If the president goes through with a reported plan to decertify, the world could have a hard time trusting what America says in the future-By Eric Cortellessa-TOI-October 8, 2017, 8:02 am
WASHINGTON — With White House officials disclosing this week that US President Donald Trump intends to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, the most consistent dissent has centered around what the move would do to American credibility.Shortly after The Washington Post broke news of the administration’s plans on Thursday, a senior aide to a top-ranking Senate Democrat told The Times of Israel that Democrats see a Trump refusal to certify Iran’s compliance with the accord as a misguided step toward addressing the regime’s non-nuclear provocations.“The maximum point of leverage to address Iran’s nefarious activities is now, before [Trump’s] expected terrible decision,” the aide said, “not after, when he undermines America’s credibility to uphold its commitments with our allies and partners.“Democrats believe the president should make the certification, full stop,” he went on. “Congress already sent him comprehensive sanctions to deal with non-nuclear issues like terrorism, human rights abuses and ballistic missile and other arms violations.”In July, Congress passed the Countering US Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, which imposed new sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran. Trump signed the legislation into law, but the bill had already garnered enough support to override a presidential veto, essentially forcing his hand.Nevertheless, Trump sees additional action on the Iran front as part of an overall policy shift toward the Islamic Republic.White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during the daily briefing Friday that he “isn’t looking at one piece of this. He’s looking at all of the bad behavior of Iran, not just the nuclear deal as bad behavior, but the ballistic missile testing, the destabilizing in the region. He wants to look for a broad strategy that addresses all of those problems.”If Trump does ultimately refuse to certify that Tehran is abiding by the terms of the landmark July 2015 pact — which relieved sanctions against Iran in exchange for rolling back its nuclear program — that will give Congress a 60-day review period to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were in place before it was implemented.Decertification would not abrogate the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, itself. Rather, it is part of a separate agreement former president Barack Obama forged with Congress that required the White House to verify every 90 days that Iran is keeping its end of the bargain.European officials have already begun lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to uphold the agreement, which both International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and the US intelligence community assert Iran is honoring.Critics argue that for the US to say Iran isn’t living up to its commitments when, in fact, it is will have long-lasting ramifications.“Decertification would be a fateful step, not because it puts the JCPOA at risk but because it would put our credibility and relationship at risk,” wrote conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin this week.Foreign officials have made the same point.“We do trust America’s word, as Europeans,” David O’Sullivan, the European Union’s ambassador to Washington, told The Atlantic. “But I think this is a question, and I’ve heard this mentioned around Congress as well, that how America proceeds on this issue would have implications for the credibility of US behavior in other situations such as, for example, the North Korea situation.”Some US officials have suggested that even though Trump wants to decertify Iran’s compliance, he doesn’t want to tear up the deal. Rather, he wants to use decertification as an opportunity to address Iran’s ongoing ballistic missile testing and renegotiate aspects of the deal, most notably sunset provisions that allow restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to expire.But the fundamental issue of what decertifying Iran would mean to US credibility has concerned many of Washington’s most eminent foreign policy thinkers, especially when just last week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, said that “Iran is not in material breach of the agreement” and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that it is in “technical compliance” of the deal.Veteran Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last week that essentially gave the White House two potential arguments for decertifying.Decertification would need to be justified, Ross said, by stating Iranian actions “that could significantly advance its nuclear weapons program.”That would include saying that the IAEA does not have access to Iran’s military facilities and that Iran’s continuing development of ballistic missiles “seems to make sense only as a way to deliver nuclear warheads.”Ross also said the administration should make clear — if it does decertify Iran’s compliance — that the move does not amount to its walking away from the deal.
Israel considered attacking Syria crematorium – report-Risk of war said to be among reasons for decision not to bomb what US said was a facility used to dispose of bodies of Assad opponents-By Sue Surkes-TOI-October 8, 2017, 9:10 am
Israel reportedly considered bombing crematoria created by the Syrian regime to burn and conceal the bodies of murdered political prisoners, but decided against it so as not to irritate the Americans or the Russians and avoid escalation on the northern border.“A country that lost millions of its people to crematoria cannot stand by when it happens to another people a few dozens of kilometers from our border,” and when most of the world “stands by and remains silent — exactly as it did 70 years ago,” a senior figure involved in the discussions was quoted by the Israel Hayom daily as saying Sunday.In May, the Trump administration accused the Syrian government of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners and burning the bodies in a large crematorium outside of the capital.The State Department said it believed that some 50 detainees were being hanged daily at Saydnaya military prison — known as ‘the slaughterhouse’ — about 45 minutes north of Damascus. Many of the bodies, it said, were then burned in the crematorium.The department released commercial satellite photographs showing what it described as a building in the prison complex that was modified to support the crematorium. The photographs, taken over the course of several years beginning in 2013, did not definitely prove the building was a crematorium, but did show construction consistent with such use.At the time, the Israeli interior minister, opposition lawmakers and Jewish groups demanded military action to stop the alleged atrocities.Confidential talks were held on the possibility, according to the Israel Hayom report.In the end, however, Israel decided to continue its policy of non-intervention in the conflict while the US restricted itself to calling on Russia to stop the abuses.The Bashar Assad regime rejected the crematoria claim as a “Hollywood story,” aimed at justifying US intervention in the six-and-half-year civil war.Agencies contributed to this report.
Las Vegas gunman left note with shooting angle calculations-Officer says paper found in hotel room had height and distance so Stephen Paddock could figure out how to target festival where he killed 58-By AFP-October 8, 2017, 4:17 amTOI
WASHINGTON — A note discovered in the hotel room of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock featured hand-written calculations on where he needed to aim to increase his accuracy and number of kills, US network CBS reported Saturday.The piece of paper was found by police officers who stormed Paddock’s room after he launched his attack from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel Sunday night — killing 58 people and injuring nearly 500.In an interview set to air on Sunday, Officer David Newton of the Las Vegas Police Department’s K-9 unit, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” he noticed Paddock’s note “on the nightstand near his shooting platform.”“I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was going to be for the crowd. So he had had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there,” he said.Newton added that forcing entry into the room with an explosive before finding Paddock’s body and an arsenal of weapons was like something “out of a movie.”It was “very eerie,” he said.Paddock’s hotel suite gave him an ideal perch from which to carry out his attack on a crowd of more than 20,000 people attending a country music concert across the street, some 400 yards (365 meters) away.The note has not shed any light on the gunman’s motives, which authorities are yet to uncover nearly a week after the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.“We still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” Undersheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told reporters Friday, adding that law enforcement was continuing to search for answers with “great tenacity.”The shooting has refueled debate on gun control in the US, with even the powerful pro-gun National Rifle Association calling on authorities to review laws surrounding “bump stocks.”Used by Paddock, a bump stock’s spring-loaded mechanism uses a rifle’s recoil to repeatedly and rapidly pull the trigger, allowing the user to fire several hundred rounds per minute.
