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
THE ARAB-MUSLIMS ARE JELIOUS BECAUSE TRUMP SAID JERUSALEM IS ISRAELS ETERNAL NEVER ENDING CAPITAL ONLY.
Islamic leaders urge recognition of East Jerusalem as ‘Palestine’s capital’-At emergency Istanbul summit, heads of Muslim countries say US no longer has a role to play in peace process-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
ISTANBUL — Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and said the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing on any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States.But its final statement declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”They declared Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”They also said Trump’s move was “an announcement of the US administration’s withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace” in the Middle East, echoing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel, as the capital of their future state.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump said that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue. He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.Trump, whose declaration was hailed by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.Erdogan — who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause — denounced Israel as a state defined by “occupation” and “terror,” in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership.“With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even,” said Erdogan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC.He said all countries who “value international law and fairness” should recognize “occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” saying Islamic countries would “never give up” on this demand.Using unusually strong language, Abbas warned that there could be “no peace or stability” in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.Moreover, he said that with Trump’s move the United States had withdrawn itself from a traditional role as the mediator in the search for Mideast peace.“We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel,” he said.Abbas slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a “gift” to the “Zionist movement” as if he “were giving away an American city,” adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process.But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch-rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran was always a tall order, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states.Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti-Washington OIC statement.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia.Saudi representation — critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility — was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official.“Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine,” seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognize Israel and has dire relations with Saudi Arabia.But as the summit was being held, Saudi King Salman in Riyadh echoed the calls over Jerusalem, saying it was the “right” of the Palestinians to establish “their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan.A surprise guest was Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy.Trump’s announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians.The decision sparked protests in the Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed and hundreds wounded in clashes and Israeli airstrikes carried out in response to rocket fire from Gaza.Hamas, the terrorist group that rules Gaza, last week called for a new intifada against Israel and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers. The Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for days of rage in response to Trump’s declaration.
Saudi king: Palestinians have right to East Jerusalem as capital-Making no mention of city's western areas, Salman's remarks in Riyadh coincide with Islamic summit in Turkey addressing Trump's recognition of capital-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
Palestinians have the right to East Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi King Salman said Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away.“The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the king said.Salman did not spell out whether that meant Saudi support for an Israeli capital in West Jerusalem.The king’s remarks came at the opening of the annual Consultative Council meeting in Riyadh, as the world’s main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to the Trump administration’s recognition last week of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its declaration of intent to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.Salman renewed his condemnation of Trump’s decision, saying it “represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions.”Meanwhile in Istanbul, addressing the special conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hosted by Turkey, King Abdullah ll of Jordan rejected any attempts to change the status of Jerusalem or its holy sites.“All violence… is a result of a failure to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue,” Reuters quoted him as saying.Abdullah heads the Hashemite dynasty, the formal custodian of the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem. Jordan is home to a large Palestinian population.Photos: From His Majesty King Abdullah II’s participation in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Extraordinary Summit#Istanbul #Jordan #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/VCAn8SeND8— RHC (@RHCJO) December 13, 2017-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the gathering that all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians against the Trump administration’s decision.Accusing Israel of stoking regional tensions, he called on Muslim countries to resolve their internal disputes through dialogue and to unite against the Jewish state.He also used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at the US and Israel’s Arab allies, notably Tehran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia.“Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine,” he said.His speech came after a seething address by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who vowed the US would have no future peacemaking role.Abdullah, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue.He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.The move was hailed by Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, and condemned by the vast majority of the international community. Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.
As a roused rabble rises, a reticent rabbi gets an unsought-for farewell-Rav Steinman's final request for a humble sendoff is ignored, a reminder that the wishes of the public (especially the ultra-Orthodox) cannot be discounted-By Joshua Davidovich-DEC 13,17
The final will and testament of Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman, the head of the Lithuanian branch of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodox Jewry who died Tuesday, contained several passages in which he exhorted his followers not to bother with massive displays of mourning, but rather just give him a simple burial; that they dispense with the hagiographies that inevitably follow, and instead devote time to praising God.The “light years” by which his requests were missed, in Israel Hayom’s words, can be seen in all their glory across the Israeli press spectrum Wednesday morning, as papers from secular lefty broadsheet Haaretz to the ultra-Orthodox press give extensive coverage to both the man and his massive funeral, which drew some 200,000 people Tuesday.While many of the ultra-Orthodox papers’ front pages contain nothing but pictures of Steinman, a few words and an abundance of death notices, the secular press normally covered by this roundup (Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel Hayom) doesn’t go quite as far, though Israel Hayom does devote its first seven pages to nothing but the “giant of his generation,” as the paper terms him.“Today we feel like orphans,” reads the tabloid’s main headline on him, recounting all the eulogies and hundreds of thousands of people who came out for his funeral in Bnei Brak.Yedioth Ahronoth’s headline reads “200,000 tears,”which is a silly way of trying to report the number of people at the funeral, as if each shed just one tear or something.Yet the papers juxtapose their displays of amplified mourning with columns and stories accentuating the sheer modesty of the rabbi, paralleling the man who headed a branch of Judaism many see as extreme with a pragmatism quickly going out of style — and columnists throw no small amount of shade on the black hats while eulogizing Steinman.“364 days a year we are explained what’s wrong with the ultra-Orthodox. Yesterday, for one day, Israeli society stopped to look at what was okay with it. Even those far from the world of Rav Steinman could connect to the values he showed during his life: modesty, simplicity, study, perseverance, sensitivity. One hundreds and four straight years of building himself up without stopping for even a second to see if he got any likes,” writes Sivan Rahav Meir in Yedioth.Haaretz’s Yoram Ettinger notes that Steinman managed to be both rigid and embracing, which is part of what made him a special leader.“The fact is that during his tenure as leader of the Lithuanian Haredim, tens of thousands of his followers in Israel studied, joined the army, were exposed to the internet and used smartphones, in many cases to look for a livelihood – without paying an overly heavy price in the community, let alone being ousted,” he writes. “While Shteinman formulated a rigid ideology that the community could not live up to, in practice he left substantial breathing space for ‘transgressors.’ That was a result of the size of the community and the limited ability it had to impose iron rule, but it’s not clear if he would have imposed sanctions, even if he could have done so.”In Israel Hayom, Yehuda Shlezinger writes that the Haredi leadership could learn a lesson or two from the late rabbi.“Despite leading the Lithuanian Haredi community during especially stormy years, with harsh decrees from Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, heavy internal pressures on issues of state and religion (Shabbat and the Western Wall) and an extremist faction that challenged Steinman’s leadership, Haredim managed to make unprecedented economic and political gains while their leaders stayed silent. He believed in the power of dialogue and lobbying and not in the style of mass protests and zealotry,” he writes.With nearly comedic timing, Steinman’s death came just as Shas leader Aryeh Deri was making political gains thanks to the other way of doing things — loud protests and intimidation, which managed to get the minimarket law closing shops on Shabbat past its first Knesset reading.Yedioth Ahronoth coverage includes both pictures of MKs getting a few restful winks in during the restive late night debate and shop owners unhappy that they will now be forced to observe the Jewish day of rest.“The religious won’t rule over us. Deri went back to the Knesset and now he is telling us what is and isn’t allowed,” one store owner in Beersheba rages like a modern-day Maccabee (or actually Hellenizer). “I am willing to go to court and pay fine after fine. I won’t break and won’t give up and will continue to work on Shabbat because I love what I do. My work is my whole life and it’s always been like that. If Bibi agrees to this law, he will fall.”Haaretz’s lead editorial is also unhappy about the law, calling it “unacceptable.”“The government’s capitulation to this demand out of alien considerations, while ignoring the welfare of a majority of the public, grants a minority excessive power to impose its ways on the majority, and is therefore doubly unacceptable. Such an edict does not belong in Israel’s law books,” it reads.Public pressure may not work to cancel the minimarket law, but it could work to push Israel into another war, according to a front-page analysis in Haaretz warning of the possible upshot of the trickle of rocket fire over the last few days and Israel and Hamas’s efforts to keep things under control.“The Israeli government’s problem is that it does not fully control the situation. Continued rocket fire and ‘red alert’ rocket sirens will exact a psychological price from the Israeli residents in the region near the Gaza border, who have enjoyed a relatively long period of quiet and a major influx of new residents, as a result of a building boom and government tax breaks for the region following Operation Protective Edge,” Amos Harel writes. “Iron Dome anti-missile batteries intercepted two of the rockets fired over the past few days – and missed one rocket, which fell in a populated area in Sderot but did not cause any injuries. The Israeli army made a change recently in how it calculates the area where the rockets are projected to fall, thereby only requiring that alarms sound in a very small and more focused area, and limiting the disruption to local routines in border communities near Gaza. Nevertheless, rocket fire everyday, or every other day, would disturb the feeling of security that had been restored with difficulty and would create pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to act more resolutely. The distance could be short from that to another round of violence.”
Would-be suicide bomber in New York City faces court hearing-Officials say Akayed Ullah was influenced by the sermons of a radical Muslim preacher in Bangladesh-By Tom Hays and Larry Neumeister-DECD 13,17
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York City’s subway system was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, Bangladeshi officials said Wednesday in the hours before the man was expected to have his first court appearance in the US.Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, had asked his wife in Bangladesh to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani, the currently imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of Bangladesh’s counterterrorism department.The group has been linked to killings and attacks on secular academics and atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. Rahmani is serving time in prison for his involvement in the killings.The wife was questioned in Bangladesh and told investigators that her husband discussed Rahman’s writings with her during his last visit home, Islam said.Ullah, 27, was expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday in New York, where he is in a hospital being treated for burns from a pipe bomb he strapped to his body and detonated in a pedestrian tunnel linking two busy subway stations.Prosecutors in New York said that after his capture, Ullah told interrogators he was on a mission to punish the US for attacking the Islamic State group.“His motivation,” Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said, “was not a mystery.”Investigators found bomb-making materials in his apartment. They said he carried out the attack after researching how to build a bomb a year ago and planned his mission for several weeks. The bomb was assembled in the past week using fragments of a metal pipe, a battery and a Christmas tree light bulb, along with the metal screws, authorities said.The defendant “had apparently hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself,” Kim said.He was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. He could get up to life in prison.Relatives and police said Ullah last visited his wife and newborn son in Bangladesh in September, after which he returned to the United States.Counterterrorism officials questioned the wife and her parents before releasing her Tuesday night, Islam said, adding that investigators were currently questioning his brother-in-law and also planned to question any known close associates.Ullah’s wife, Jannatul Ferdous, told ABC News in a brief interview conducted through the closed door of her home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that she had never heard her husband speak negatively of the US. She said when she spoke to him by phone the morning of the bombing, he gave no indication of what he planned to do.With a tragedy averted and a growing certainty that he acted alone, attention turned to how best secure New York City’s vast public transportation system and the daunting task of identifying those eager to do it harm.The security “requires every single member of the public’s help,” said New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill. “It requires their vigilance.”There also was political fallout, heightened by news that Ullah had taunted US President Donald Trump on Facebook with a post that read, “Trump you failed to protect your nation.”In reaction to the bombing, the president demanded a tightening of immigration rules that allowed Ullah to enter the country in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of US citizens. Less than two months ago, an Uzbek immigrant who came to the US through a visa lottery was accused of killing eight people in New York by mowing them down with a truck along a bike path.
Israel foils Hamas kidnapping plot planned for Hanukkah-Security forces arrest 3 Palestinians suspected of intending to abduct soldier or settler in the West Bank during the 8-day holiday-By Judah Ari Gross-DEC 13,17
Israeli security services arrested three members of an alleged Hamas terrorist cell in the northern West Bank suspected of planning to kidnap an Israeli citizen during the Hanukkah festival, the Shin Bet security service announced Wednesday.The three Palestinian suspects were arrested in late October, following a weeks-long investigation during which the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police uncovered the kidnapping plot. Details of the case were kept secret under a gag order, which was removed on Wednesday as the findings were handed over to state prosecutors to begin preparing indictments.The Shin Bet said the alleged ringleader of the terror cell was Mu’ad Ashtiyah, a 26-year-old Palestinian from the village of Tell, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.He recruited cousins Mahmoud and Ahmad Ramadan, both 19 and also of Tell, to assist him in the plot, the security service said.According to the Shin Bet, the three men planned to “kidnap a soldier or settler from one of the bus stations at a central junction in Samaria” — the biblical term for the northern West Bank.“The plan was for them to dress up as local settlers and to get the abductee to get into their car,” the security service said.The Shin Bet said the kidnapping was planned to take place during the eight-day Hanukkah holiday, which began on Tuesday evening.“The goal of the terror attack was to advance negotiations for the release of security prisoners in Israeli prisons,” the security service said.In preparation for the abduction, Ashtiyah purchased a pistol, pepper spray and a stun gun, the Shin Bet said.“The cell planned to buy more weapons in order to carry out the terror attack,” the security service added.The terror plot was funded by Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip, according to the Shin Bet.They received direction and support from Omar Assida, a Hamas operative in the coastal enclave who was apparently released by Israel during a 2011 prisoner swap, in which over 1,000 convicted terrorists were set free in exchange for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.All three of the suspects are members of the Hamas terrorist group, the Shin Bet said.Ashtiyah and the two Ramadans had begun collecting intelligence on the bus stops and roadways where they planned to carry out their abduction, the Shin Bet said.The security service said that it had handed over the findings of its investigation to state prosecutors for them to “consider filing indictments against those involved.”
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:11-12,18
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
THESE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAMIST LEADERS CAN SAY WHAY THEY WANT.BUT WE KNOW WHAT HJAPPENS TO THESE MURDERERS IN THE FUTURE.WE ARE NOT WORRIED.KISS ISLAM GOODBYE FOREVER.
Erdogan: ‘Zionist’ Trump has taken himself out of peace role-Turkish leader says Jerusalem is a 'red line,' calls for Muslim leaders to find new mediator for peace process-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused US counterpart Donald Trump of having a “Zionist mentality” over his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding Washington had no further role to play in the peace process.Erdogan said Jerusalem was “a red line” for Muslims.“The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine. Mr. Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality,” he said at the close of an emergency Muslim summit, adding that there can no longer be “any question” of the United States being a mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Erdogan, speaking at the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said it was “out of the question” for Washington to mediate between the Palestinians and the Israelis. “That process is now over.”He said it was time for Muslim leaders to discuss among themselves who was to take Washington’s role and to consider taking the matter to the UN.Islamic leaders at the conference urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and said the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process.With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing on any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States.But their final statement declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”They declared Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”
Abbas says no future US role in peace process, threatens to void past agreements-PA president blasts Trump's decision to recognize Israel's capital; Turkey's Erdogan calls on all Islamic states to declare East Jerusalem capital of Palestine-By Agencies and Dov Lieber-DEC 13,17
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Palestinians won’t accept any future role for the US in the peace process due to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and threatened to pull out of existing agreements with the Jewish state.Abbas told an emergency meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul that there could be “no peace or stability” in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.Turkey is hosting the 57-member OIC in the wake of the US decision — a move widely criticized across the world but hailed by Israel. The summit is expected to forge a unified position of Arab and Muslim countries.“Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state… There will be no peace, no stability without that,” Abbas proclaimed.He slammed Trump’s declaration as a “crime” and a “gift” to the “Zionist movement” — as if he “were giving away an American city” — and asserted that Washington no longer had any role to play in the peace process.Abbas noted that the international community had nearly unanimously opposed Trump’s decision, calling it a “provocation” to Muslims and Christians and saying measures were needed to protect the identity of the divided city.“We will tell the Israelis that we are no longer committed to any agreement from Oslo until today,” he threatened, asserting that the Palestinian Authority intended to return to the United Nations to to gain full membership.“We agreed with America we would not join international institutions on the condition that American does not transfer its embassy, does not initiate any action against our office in Washington, and orders Israel to freeze settlement building,” Abbas said.He also called on all OIC countries to reassess their diplomatic relations with all countries in light of their responses to Trump’s decision.“If there is no Palestinian state along the June 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, there will not be peace in the region, in the territories or in the world,” he said. “They must choose.”Addressing the gathering before Abbas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the summit’s host, urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the “capital of Palestine.”“I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognize occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” he said, adding that Islamic countries would “never give up” on that demand.Erdogan sharply criticized Israel, calling it a “terror state.”Erdogan said in his speech that Jerusalem is a “red line” for Muslims, who would not accept any “aggression” toward its Islamic sanctuaries, and asserted that the “process to include Palestine in international agreements and institutions should be sped up.”In calling Wednesday’s special meeting, Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, the world’s main pan-Islamic body, was seeking to marshal Muslim leaders toward a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.In his address last week, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue. He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites. The final status of Jerusalem is a key issue in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim the eastern neighborhoods of the city as their future capital.The move was hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, but rejected by the international community.In the Muslim and Arab world, Trump’s announcement prompted an outpouring of anger, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision also sparked protests in the West Bank and Gaza, with four Palestinians killed in clashes or Israeli airstrikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded.The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip last week called for a new intifada against Israel and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the meeting.Erdogan — who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause and has repeatedly described Israel as a “terrorist state” — is looking for a tough final statement against the decision.Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures.Arab League foreign ministers in a resolution after an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday urged Washington to rescind its Jerusalem declaration and the international community to recognize a Palestinian state.In intensive telephone diplomacy in the last days, Erdogan has sought to win support from leaders beyond the Muslim world. At a joint press conference after talks in Ankara late Monday, he said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had taken a similar approach on the issue, accusing Israel of continuing to “add fuel to the flames.”Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim its eastern neighborhoods and the Old City as the capital of their future state.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Under Putin, Russia increases clout in the Middle East-Russian president has emerged as powerful stakeholder in volatile region, brokering deals with key players from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey, and Israel-By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and Zeina Karam-DEC 13,17
MOSCOW (AP) — When Russia launched a military campaign in Syria two years ago, President Vladimir Putin sought to save his ally from imminent collapse and break Russia’s international isolation over a crisis in Ukraine.He achieved that and more, emerging as a key stakeholder in the Middle East who has brokered deals with many of its key players — from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and Israel. It’s a regional footprint that comes with a degree of clout that even the Soviet Union, which depended on a handful of Arab allies, couldn’t dream of during the Cold War era.And it was accomplished with limited resources and a lot of audacity.“Vladimir Putin is determined to restore a greater role for Russia as a global power … and the Middle East is really the main area where Russia has that potential, in part because the Soviet Union played that role in the Soviet period,” said William Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at RAND Corporation.With just a few dozen jets and several thousand troops, Russia waded into Syria’s war and stubbornly pressed its campaign despite international scorn and an outcry over resulting civilian casualties.Russia’s bold intervention in Syria came as the United States under president Barack Obama steered clear of military engagement and found itself in a series of acrimonious disputes with key allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. Under the vastly inconsistent policies of Donald Trump, and in an era of an inward looking, America-first US policy, Russia’s maneuvers became all the more poignant on the global stage.Putin’s success in the region was on full display Monday, with the confident and upbeat leader moving between Syria, Egypt and Turkey in a whirlwind tour a week after announcing he will seek re-election for another six-year term in March.Speaking to Russian troops on the tarmac at Hmeimeem air base in Syria, Putin declared victory over the Islamic State group and Syrian rebels and announced he had ordered a scaling down of the Russian contingent in Syria. In Egypt, he signed a deal for the construction of a nuclear reactor on the country’s Mediterranean coast and sought to strengthen his relationship with a key regional power that has in the past three years bought billions of dollars in Russian weapons. And in Turkey, a NATO member, the Russian leader appeared to be on the same page with strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan on key issues.The Russian president was frequently derided for his penchant for a 19th century-style Realpolitik characterized by cynical political calculus. But Putin’s approach paid off in Syria, where he managed to play on the conflicting interests of regional powers and strike deals with various players.When Putin decided to intervene in Syria, President Bashar Assad was on the verge of collapse, his forces losing on all fronts. Within weeks, the Russian military had airlifted supplies needed to set up a base in Assad’s heartland and launched an air campaign at the end of September 2015.At first, observers were skeptical about Putin’s Syria adventure given Russia’s economic troubles and the overwhelming negative odds on the chaotic Syrian battlefield, where the Islamic State group, al-Qaida militants and a motley collection of rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and others were routing Assad’s shrinking military.Many in the West and in Russia predicted Syria would turn into another Afghanistan — a botched Soviet intervention that led to massive losses and ended in a humiliating 1989 withdrawal after nearly a decade of fighting. Putin argued that Russia needed to intervene in Syria to fight a terror threat, but made it clear that he wasn’t going to walk into a trap like the Soviet war in Afghanistan.Another reason for skepticism was the Russian military meltdown that followed the Soviet collapse. The army’s vulnerabilities were highlighted by separatist wars in Chechnya and a brief 2008 war with Georgia, where the lack of modern communications and weapons, lack of coordination between various military branches and poor discipline were woefully apparent.But the Syrian campaign suddenly saw a different Russian military — one armed with sophisticated precision weapons, well-trained, neatly dressed and proud of its mission.“Putin managed to explain to the Russian people why Syria was important and not only did he explain it, he also showed them Syria wasn’t going to be Afghanistan,” Dmitry Trenin, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, told The Associated Press.The war saw the combat debut of an array of Russian weapons, including long-range cruise missiles that were fired from surface navy ships, submarines and bombers.The display of Moscow’s revamped arsenals also served another key goal — to show the US and its NATO allies that Russia no longer exclusively relies on nuclear weapons. The new cruise missiles gave Putin a long-sought long-range precision cruise capability that only the US had before.Early in the campaign, Moscow found itself on the verge of a military conflict with Ankara after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane on the Syrian border in November 2015. But just a few months later, Putin mended ties with Turkey, offering President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strong support after a failed coup attempt. They struck a deal on Syria, setting up de-escalation zones that helped reduce fighting.Russia also reached out to other key players — from Iran, which staunchly backed Assad, to the Saudis, the Qataris and others who supported the opposition. It also communicated with Israel to make sure the conflict didn’t hurt their friendly relationship.Russian military successes in Syria and its rapprochement with Turkey paved the way for another Putin diplomatic coup — a warming of ties with Saudi Arabia, Moscow’s opponent since Cold War times when it armed Afghan fighters battling the Soviet invasion. In a first-ever visit by a Saudi monarch, King Salman visited Russia in October.While declaring victory in Syria, Putin made it clear Russia is there to stay. He plans to expand the air base and turn a crumbling Soviet-era naval supply facility in Syria’s port of Tartus into a full-fledged navy base capable of hosting big ships.Russia has also drafted a deal with Egypt to allow its warplanes to use bases there — a deployment unseen since the times when Egypt was a key Soviet ally in the Mideast before going to the US side in the mid-1970s.Courtney, the RAND analyst, said despite Putin’s successes in the region, Russia will remain a limited great power that serves mainly as a military supplier because it lacks the resources and capability that the West has for nation building or reconstruction.“The challenge for Putin is to turn the use of his military force and military weapons supplies in the Middle East to something that is a lasting success, and we don’t yet see how Russia is going to get there,” he said.
IDF strikes Hamas position in Gaza after rocket launch-Air force hits military post in south of Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks earlier in the night-By TOI staff-DEC 13,17
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday night struck a Hamas facility in the southern Gaza Strip, hours after Palestinians fired a rocket towards Israel from the coastal enclave.There were no immediate reports of casualties on the Palestinian side.The rocket launch earlier set off warning sirens in Israeli communities north of Gaza.After searches, Israeli security forces found the projectile in an open field outside the community of Netiv Ha’asara, a police spokesperson said.Sappers were called to the scene to remove the rocket.The incoming rocket alert sirens sounded in the Hof Ashkelon area, north of the Strip, specifically in the communities of Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai.The attack came hours after Palestinian terrorists in the Strip launched a rocket at Israel that fell short of its target and landed inside Gaza, the army said.The past week has seen a significant increase in the number of rockets fired at Israel, amid general unrest in the area.Last Friday night, a number of rockets were launched at the Israeli town of Sderot. One hit a kindergarten, breaking a window, and another landed in a street, damaging several cars and at least one home. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.Earlier on Tuesday, two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group were killed when the motorcycle they were riding exploded in the northern Gaza Strip. The blast was initially described as an Israeli airstrike — something the IDF rigorously denied — but which the Islamic Jihad later said was an accident.On Sunday, Israel demolished a Hamas attack tunnel that penetrated hundreds of meters into Israeli territory from the southern Gaza Strip.It was the second tunnel destroyed by Israel in less than six weeks. On October 30, Israel blew up a tunnel belonging to the Islamic Jihad, killing fourteen terrorists in the process, including two of the group’s senior commanders, and two members of Hamas.The Islamic Jihad retaliated one month later, firing a dozen mortar shells at an Israeli military position northeast of the Strip, causing damage, but no injuries.The increase in rocket attacks has also been tied to US President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that angered Palestinians.Hamas called for a new intifada against Israel over Trump’s announcement, and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers, allowing thousands of Gazans to clash with Israeli troops at the Gaza border fence in recent days.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace a new approach was long overdue, describing his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.The move was hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, but criticized internationally, especially in the Arab world. Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.Editor’s note: The article was updated to include the location of the rocket impact.Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Labor hopeful says Israel should ‘kick out’ Palestinians in future war-Departing from his party's long-held dovish stances, former IDF general Amiram Levin urges expansion of settlements, says Israel was 'too nice' in the Six Day War-By Raoul Wootliff-DEC 13,17
Appearing to call for ethnic cleansing, a retired IDF general seeking to become a key figure in the left-leaning Labor party said that if the Palestinians continue to violate their agreements with Israel, the military should “tear them apart” in a future war and forcibly transfer them to “the other side of the Jordan River.”Amiram Levin criticized longstanding left-wing policies, espoused the expansion of Jewish settlements and called for the rejection of the 1967 borders, in excerpts published Wednesday from an interview with the Maariv daily set to appear on Friday.“The Palestinians caused the occupation. They didn’t accept the borders of the partition plan [after the 1948 War of Independence], and they started the war [of 1967]. We were right to take Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the West Bank.“We need to engage in tough negotiations that do not take us back to the ’67 borders,” Levin said of Israel’s pre-Six Day War borders, which negotiators have generally agreed will form the basis for partitioning the land under a future peace agreement.“We will give [the Palestinians] a carrot in the form of a state, and if they don’t want it, we will tear them apart,” he said. “I have said many times in the past that next time we have a war, they will no longer remain here, we will kick them out to the other side of the Jordan River. That’s how we need to fight. We were too nice in ’67.”Levin ran an aborted campaign in July’s Labor leadership race, and has since been touted as one of the party’s security experts by new leader Avi Gabbay. In a sign of his unofficial status in the party, last month Levin escorted Gabbay on a trip with Labor lawmakers to the Gaza border.With his military chops, Levin would burnish the party’s credentials on security, an area often claimed as the forte of the right.Gabbay declined a request by The Times of Israel for a comment on Levin’s interview with Maariv.The retired general — who at various times headed the IDF Northern Command, commanded the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, and served as deputy director of the Mossad spy agency — said in the interview that he supported ending Israeli control over the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank, but not out of concern for the Palestinians.“They don’t deserve anything,” he said. “The problem is that controlling them corrupts us; it is a threat to us and I want to save our society.”But the excerpted interview was short on details of how Levin sees a Palestinian state emerging. He also said Israel should expand its control over certain areas of the West Bank to limit the territory of a future Palestinian state.“I cannot image there will be applause [in Israel] for dismantling settlements. People live there, it’s their home and we sent them. On the contrary, it’s thanks to [the settlers], that we will retain control of the settlement blocs under any future agreement. The City of David will be ours,” he said. “Today, Jerusalem is divided. Most of the [Palestinian] neighborhoods are not included. I say that, as opposed to the ’67 borders, we should expand and the areas we expand to will become ours.“I am not with the left on this issue,” he said emphatically.Levin’s comments were rejected vehemently by Arab Israeli lawmakers.MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List said the comments “expose the true face of the Labor party that is overtaking Likud from the right.”“This is a party that is trying to be extremist in order to gain power,” fellow Joint List MK Hanin Zoabi echoed.The interview comes as Gabbay appears to be steering the Zionist Union rightward in a bid to swell its ranks, having made a number of comments at odds with Labor’s traditional stances.Last week Gabbay said preserving a “united” Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty was more important than clinching a peace deal with the Palestinians.Speaking with Hadashot TV news on Thursday, Avi Gabbay praised US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital a day earlier, and said over 90 percent of Israelis “yearn for a united Jerusalem.”In light of that, he said, “A united Jerusalem is even more important than peace.”Although Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital is embraced by parties on both sides of the political spectrum, the tone of Gabbay’s remarks seemed at odds with the history of the dovish Labor, which has long been the Israeli political standard-bearer for reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.In October, Gabbay said he would not evacuate West Bank settlements as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, and days later called the settlement enterprise “the beautiful and devoted face of Zionism.”Levin himself also appears to have shifted rightward. In December 2015, he took out a full-page advertisement supporting the controversial Breaking the Silence NGO, which collects testimonies about alleged abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians.“The IDF must encourage ‘Breaking the Silence’ and those like them to speak out without fear in the IDF and in Israeli society,” he wrote at the time.
Migration looms over summit, as Africa pledges fall short By Nikolaj Nielsen, Eric Maurice, Eszter Zalan, Caterina Tani-EUOBSERVER-DEC 13,17
BRUSSELS, Today, 16:54-Italy will hold meetings with the 'Visegrad Four' group of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia as disagreements over migration loom over the EU summit in Brussels.Italy's prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, plus European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, will discuss the controversial concept of EU 'solidarity' on migration with the four central and eastern European states on Thursday (14 December).The meeting, demanded by Hungary, is also aimed at shoring up member state pledges for the EU Trust Fund for Africa.Italy, which is spearheading an EU migrant containment policy in Libya, has contributed over €100 million to the fund, compared with just €50,000 each from Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Slovenia.The Visegrad Four have objected to taking in asylum seekers themselves, and prefer offshoring the problem by preventing people from coming to Europe in the first place, and further securing their own borders.A press conference was meant to follow the joint meeting on Thursday but has reportedly been cancelled, according to one EU diplomat.Instead, the issue of requiring member states to distribute a quota of asylum seekers from initial arrival hotspots like Italy and Greece are likely to cast a long shadow over the summit itself.On Wednesday (13 December), the commission said any effort to drop the mandatory quotas, as suggested by the European Council president Donald Tusk, "would betray years worth of collective work".EU commissioner migration Dimitris Avramopoulos had in Strasbourg on Tuesday labeled Tusk's plan to drop the quotas as "anti-European," which ranks as a serious insult at the EU institutional level.One EU government official described the insult as unwarranted."His [Tusk] note has really sparked a very lively discussion but it is difficult to understand that the mere fact of presenting a note could or should justify calling him anti-European," said the source.Another described Avramopoulos' remarks as a "hysterical rant", noting that the commissioner will not take any part in the summit discussions."This is a question of manners," said the source.-'No quarrel, no brawl'-But chief EU commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas attempted to downplay Wednesday's spat between Tusk and Avramopoulos, telling reporters that there "is no quarrel, there is no brawl" and not to dramatise the issue.He also noted that Tusk had failed to mention broader issues on the passport-free Schengen area given the steady rise of internal border checks.Schengen states introduced border checks 36 times between 2006 to 2015. Over the past two years, that rose to 50 times, in part to prevent migrants from travelling across Europe.Tusk has since modified the wording, some reportedly by his own hand, on migration in a note addressed to the EU leaders ahead of tomorrow's summit in Brussels - but still maintains that mandatory quotas are both "highly divisive" and "ineffective".The commission disputes the wording, noting that 32,000 asylum seekers were relocated over a two-year scheme. However, it has also resulted in legal battles against the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for having refused to participate.The commission wants to continue the mandatory scheme as part of a broader asylum reform, under the Dublin regulation that determines who is responsible for processing claims for international protection.-Forcing a vote on solidarity-But some EU officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say the idea of such a permanent mechanism would only act as a pull factor for people already ready to risk their lives to reach Europe.Others, largely backed by Germany, maintain that a obligatory distribution scheme is needed to help spread genuine asylum seekers across member states.A paper floated by the Estonian EU presidency on how to achieve a consensus on the issue had also been welcomed by Germany's interior minister.The paper will not be discussed given that EU summit leaders on Thursday will not take any decision on the matter until the end of June 2018.But that also poses other questions, which remain answered.The EU is hoping for a consensus to avoid a repeat of the debacle behind a majority vote that originally launched the two-year asylum relocation scheme in 2015.The scheme was forced through by a qualified majority vote (QMV), which made relocation legally binding among all participating EU states."QMV is still an option legally, it is sensitive issue, there is a strong political will but we should find a solution on the basis of consensus," said another EU official.
BEGLEY-EARTHWATCH-MIKE AROUND THE WORLD AND OTHER INTERNET CULT KNOWLEDGE GURUS AND THEIR END OF THE WORLD GIANT-NIBURU-MID-END OR NO TRIB RAPTURE CULT WILL BE WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO END.THESE HYPOCRITE EAR TICKLER LIERS.I ASK THIS CULT? USE ARE WAITING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD-NOT THE RAPTURE.YOU FOOLS.
Interstellar visitor shaped like giant fire extinguisher passing by Earth-At 180 meters long, the asteroid, dubbed Oumuamua, is causing major interest due to its course, speed and unusual shape-By AP-DEC 13,17
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A newly discovered object from another star system that’s passing through ours is shaped like a giant pink fire extinguisher.That’s the word this week from astronomers who have been observing this first-ever confirmed interstellar visitor.“I’m surprised by the elongated shape — nobody expected that,” said astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the observation team that reported on the characteristics.Scientists are certain this asteroid or comet originated outside our solar system. First spotted last month by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, it will stick around for another few years before departing our sun’s neighborhood.Jewitt and his international team observed the object for five nights in late October using the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands and the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.It isn't an alien spacecraft, but we should still study 'Oumuamua #LunchtimeReading https://t.co/ysol4UHSmW pic.twitter.com/pxMWSLlviT-— Science Museum (@sciencemuseum) December 12, 2017-At approximately 100 feet by 100 feet by 600 feet (30 meters by 30 meters by 180 meters), the object has proportions roughly similar to a fire extinguisher — though not nearly as red, Jewitt said Thursday. The slightly red hue — specifically pale pink — and varying brightness are remarkably similar to asteroids in our own solar system, he noted.Astronomer Jayadev Rajagopal said in an email that it was exciting to point the Arizona telescope at such a tiny object “which, for all we know, has been traveling through the vast emptiness of space for millions of years.”“And then by luck passes close enough for me to be able to see it that night!”The object is so faint and so fast — it’s zooming through the solar system at 40,000 mph (64,000 kph) — it’s unlikely amateur astronomers will see it.In a paper to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the scientists report that our solar system could be packed with 10,000 such interstellar travelers at any given time. It takes 10 years to cross our solar system, providing plenty of future viewing opportunities, the scientists said.Trillions of objects from other star systems could have passed our way over the eons, according to Jewitt.It suggests our solar system ejected its own share of asteroids and comets as the large outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune — formed.Why did it take so long to nail the first interstellar wanderer? “Space is big and our eyes are weak,” Jewitt explained via email.Anticipating more such discoveries, the International Astronomical Union already has approved a new designation for cosmic interlopers. They get an “I” for interstellar in their string of letters and numbers. The group also has approved a name for this object: Oumuamua (OH’-moo-ah-moo-ah), which in Hawaiian means a messenger from afar arriving first.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
After fires, Southern California faces risk of mudslides-[Reuters]-By Ben Gruber and Alex Dobuzinskis-YAHOONEWS-December 13, 2017
CARPINTERIA, Calif./LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters in Southern California are slowly gaining control of one of the largest wildfires in state history, but residents may not enjoy much relief as experts said the flames are laying the groundwork for the next disaster - mudslides.The intense fire is burning away vegetation that holds the soil in place and baking a waxy layer into the earth that prevents the water from sinking more than a few inches into the ground, experts said.With one heavy rain, the soil above this waterproof layer can become saturated, start to slide in hilly areas and transform into something catastrophic."Pretty much anywhere there's a fire on a steep slope, there's cause for concern," Jason Kean, research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a telephone interview.And the Thomas Fire, which has burned 234,000 acres and destroyed nearly 700 homes in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, is definitely in landslide country.“If we get hard rain, there are going to be terrible landslides in the burn areas," Carla D'Antonio, chairman of University of California, Santa Barbara's environmental studies program, said in an email."It doesn't take a lot of rain to get the soil and rock moving, so to have burned soil on top of this and no significant plant cover creates huge potential for landslides," she added.Among the cities at risk is Santa Barbara, with 92,000 people, as well as the smaller communities of Carpinteria, Ojai and Summerland."It's terrifying," Jamey Geston, 19, of Carpinteria, said of possible mudslides. "I am just taking it one natural disaster at a time at this point and try to get through it." Once the fire is out, more work will begin as officials will likely need to rush to build retention basins and other structures to prevent debris flows before the rainy season begins, said Professor Nicholas Pinter of University of California, Davis' Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences."This is exactly the thing we worry about in the winter following an event like the Thomas Fire," he said by telephone.Another large concern is the potential damage to water quality, Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider said in a telephone interview.Heavy rainfall could bring lots of silt to waterways like Lake Cachuma, where barriers are already being erected, as well as unwanted matter, she said. In 2007, after the massive Zaca Fire, Santa Barbara spent more than $1 million on extra cleaning and filtration systems.The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state could defray some costs with grants, but the best outcome would be "a nice, calm, intermittent rain," Schneider said."We don't see any rain in the immediate forecast, which is a curse and a blessing," she said. "We could use the water to fight the fire, but we don't want some kind of big downpour that would cause significant mudslides so soon after the area's been burnt to nothing."(Reporting by Ben Gruber and Alex Dobuzinskis, Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Renewed winds, dry conditions hamper fight to tame California wildfire-[Reuters]-By Ben Gruber-YAHOONEWS-December 13, 2017
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (Reuters) - Firefighters trying to tame a blaze that has destroyed hundreds of homes in Southern California were facing bone-dry conditions and the return of powerful wind gusts on Wednesday.A lull in the winds a day earlier sapped the forward momentum of the Thomas Fire, which has charred more than 368 square miles (953 square km) in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, an area larger than New York City.But adverse weather will again promote significant fire growth and hamper efforts to control the inferno, which broke out on Dec. 4 and has grown to become the fifth largest wildfire in state history, authorities said."Firefighters will remain engaged in structure defense operations and scout for opportunities to establish direct perimeter control," the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said in an advisory.The fire, which has destroyed more than 700 homes, displaced more than 94,000 people and is threatening some 18,000 structures, was 25 percent contained by Wednesday, Cal Fire said in the statement.It continued to menace coastal communities including Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Montecito, driven by Santa Ana winds and humidity of less than 10 percent that are forecast until Friday, Cal Fire and the National Weather Service said.On Tuesday, some of the nearly 8,000 firefighters battling the blaze took advantage of the lighter winds to set controlled burns in a canyon near Carpinteria to deprive the flames of fuel, Cal Fire Captain Steve Concialdi told reporters.U.S. Representative Julia Brownley, whose 26th Congressional District includes Ventura, said on Tuesday the fire could take another week to contain. The efforts have so far cost more than $61 million, according to authorities.Many public schools in the Santa Barbara area canceled classes this week and will not reopen until the annual winter break is completed in January.Some of the other fires burning over the past week in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have been largely brought under control.Investigators determined that the Skirball Fire, which destroyed six homes in Los Angeles' wealthy Bel-Air neighborhood and scorched a building at a winery owned by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment, authorities said on Tuesday.The Lilac Fire, which burned more than 4,000 acres in northern San Diego County and destroyed 157 structures, was 95 percent contained by Wednesday, Cal Fire said.(Additonal reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by John Stonestreet and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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
THE ARAB-MUSLIMS ARE JELIOUS BECAUSE TRUMP SAID JERUSALEM IS ISRAELS ETERNAL NEVER ENDING CAPITAL ONLY.
Islamic leaders urge recognition of East Jerusalem as ‘Palestine’s capital’-At emergency Istanbul summit, heads of Muslim countries say US no longer has a role to play in peace process-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
ISTANBUL — Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and said the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing on any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States.But its final statement declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”They declared Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”They also said Trump’s move was “an announcement of the US administration’s withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace” in the Middle East, echoing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel, as the capital of their future state.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump said that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue. He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.Trump, whose declaration was hailed by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.Erdogan — who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause — denounced Israel as a state defined by “occupation” and “terror,” in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership.“With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even,” said Erdogan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC.He said all countries who “value international law and fairness” should recognize “occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” saying Islamic countries would “never give up” on this demand.Using unusually strong language, Abbas warned that there could be “no peace or stability” in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.Moreover, he said that with Trump’s move the United States had withdrawn itself from a traditional role as the mediator in the search for Mideast peace.“We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel,” he said.Abbas slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a “gift” to the “Zionist movement” as if he “were giving away an American city,” adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process.But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch-rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran was always a tall order, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states.Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti-Washington OIC statement.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia.Saudi representation — critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility — was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official.“Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine,” seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognize Israel and has dire relations with Saudi Arabia.But as the summit was being held, Saudi King Salman in Riyadh echoed the calls over Jerusalem, saying it was the “right” of the Palestinians to establish “their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan.A surprise guest was Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy.Trump’s announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians.The decision sparked protests in the Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed and hundreds wounded in clashes and Israeli airstrikes carried out in response to rocket fire from Gaza.Hamas, the terrorist group that rules Gaza, last week called for a new intifada against Israel and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers. The Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for days of rage in response to Trump’s declaration.
Saudi king: Palestinians have right to East Jerusalem as capital-Making no mention of city's western areas, Salman's remarks in Riyadh coincide with Islamic summit in Turkey addressing Trump's recognition of capital-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
Palestinians have the right to East Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi King Salman said Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away.“The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the king said.Salman did not spell out whether that meant Saudi support for an Israeli capital in West Jerusalem.The king’s remarks came at the opening of the annual Consultative Council meeting in Riyadh, as the world’s main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to the Trump administration’s recognition last week of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its declaration of intent to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.Salman renewed his condemnation of Trump’s decision, saying it “represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions.”Meanwhile in Istanbul, addressing the special conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hosted by Turkey, King Abdullah ll of Jordan rejected any attempts to change the status of Jerusalem or its holy sites.“All violence… is a result of a failure to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue,” Reuters quoted him as saying.Abdullah heads the Hashemite dynasty, the formal custodian of the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem. Jordan is home to a large Palestinian population.Photos: From His Majesty King Abdullah II’s participation in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Extraordinary Summit#Istanbul #Jordan #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/VCAn8SeND8— RHC (@RHCJO) December 13, 2017-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the gathering that all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians against the Trump administration’s decision.Accusing Israel of stoking regional tensions, he called on Muslim countries to resolve their internal disputes through dialogue and to unite against the Jewish state.He also used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at the US and Israel’s Arab allies, notably Tehran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia.“Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine,” he said.His speech came after a seething address by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who vowed the US would have no future peacemaking role.Abdullah, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue.He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.The move was hailed by Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, and condemned by the vast majority of the international community. Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.
As a roused rabble rises, a reticent rabbi gets an unsought-for farewell-Rav Steinman's final request for a humble sendoff is ignored, a reminder that the wishes of the public (especially the ultra-Orthodox) cannot be discounted-By Joshua Davidovich-DEC 13,17
The final will and testament of Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman, the head of the Lithuanian branch of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodox Jewry who died Tuesday, contained several passages in which he exhorted his followers not to bother with massive displays of mourning, but rather just give him a simple burial; that they dispense with the hagiographies that inevitably follow, and instead devote time to praising God.The “light years” by which his requests were missed, in Israel Hayom’s words, can be seen in all their glory across the Israeli press spectrum Wednesday morning, as papers from secular lefty broadsheet Haaretz to the ultra-Orthodox press give extensive coverage to both the man and his massive funeral, which drew some 200,000 people Tuesday.While many of the ultra-Orthodox papers’ front pages contain nothing but pictures of Steinman, a few words and an abundance of death notices, the secular press normally covered by this roundup (Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel Hayom) doesn’t go quite as far, though Israel Hayom does devote its first seven pages to nothing but the “giant of his generation,” as the paper terms him.“Today we feel like orphans,” reads the tabloid’s main headline on him, recounting all the eulogies and hundreds of thousands of people who came out for his funeral in Bnei Brak.Yedioth Ahronoth’s headline reads “200,000 tears,”which is a silly way of trying to report the number of people at the funeral, as if each shed just one tear or something.Yet the papers juxtapose their displays of amplified mourning with columns and stories accentuating the sheer modesty of the rabbi, paralleling the man who headed a branch of Judaism many see as extreme with a pragmatism quickly going out of style — and columnists throw no small amount of shade on the black hats while eulogizing Steinman.“364 days a year we are explained what’s wrong with the ultra-Orthodox. Yesterday, for one day, Israeli society stopped to look at what was okay with it. Even those far from the world of Rav Steinman could connect to the values he showed during his life: modesty, simplicity, study, perseverance, sensitivity. One hundreds and four straight years of building himself up without stopping for even a second to see if he got any likes,” writes Sivan Rahav Meir in Yedioth.Haaretz’s Yoram Ettinger notes that Steinman managed to be both rigid and embracing, which is part of what made him a special leader.“The fact is that during his tenure as leader of the Lithuanian Haredim, tens of thousands of his followers in Israel studied, joined the army, were exposed to the internet and used smartphones, in many cases to look for a livelihood – without paying an overly heavy price in the community, let alone being ousted,” he writes. “While Shteinman formulated a rigid ideology that the community could not live up to, in practice he left substantial breathing space for ‘transgressors.’ That was a result of the size of the community and the limited ability it had to impose iron rule, but it’s not clear if he would have imposed sanctions, even if he could have done so.”In Israel Hayom, Yehuda Shlezinger writes that the Haredi leadership could learn a lesson or two from the late rabbi.“Despite leading the Lithuanian Haredi community during especially stormy years, with harsh decrees from Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, heavy internal pressures on issues of state and religion (Shabbat and the Western Wall) and an extremist faction that challenged Steinman’s leadership, Haredim managed to make unprecedented economic and political gains while their leaders stayed silent. He believed in the power of dialogue and lobbying and not in the style of mass protests and zealotry,” he writes.With nearly comedic timing, Steinman’s death came just as Shas leader Aryeh Deri was making political gains thanks to the other way of doing things — loud protests and intimidation, which managed to get the minimarket law closing shops on Shabbat past its first Knesset reading.Yedioth Ahronoth coverage includes both pictures of MKs getting a few restful winks in during the restive late night debate and shop owners unhappy that they will now be forced to observe the Jewish day of rest.“The religious won’t rule over us. Deri went back to the Knesset and now he is telling us what is and isn’t allowed,” one store owner in Beersheba rages like a modern-day Maccabee (or actually Hellenizer). “I am willing to go to court and pay fine after fine. I won’t break and won’t give up and will continue to work on Shabbat because I love what I do. My work is my whole life and it’s always been like that. If Bibi agrees to this law, he will fall.”Haaretz’s lead editorial is also unhappy about the law, calling it “unacceptable.”“The government’s capitulation to this demand out of alien considerations, while ignoring the welfare of a majority of the public, grants a minority excessive power to impose its ways on the majority, and is therefore doubly unacceptable. Such an edict does not belong in Israel’s law books,” it reads.Public pressure may not work to cancel the minimarket law, but it could work to push Israel into another war, according to a front-page analysis in Haaretz warning of the possible upshot of the trickle of rocket fire over the last few days and Israel and Hamas’s efforts to keep things under control.“The Israeli government’s problem is that it does not fully control the situation. Continued rocket fire and ‘red alert’ rocket sirens will exact a psychological price from the Israeli residents in the region near the Gaza border, who have enjoyed a relatively long period of quiet and a major influx of new residents, as a result of a building boom and government tax breaks for the region following Operation Protective Edge,” Amos Harel writes. “Iron Dome anti-missile batteries intercepted two of the rockets fired over the past few days – and missed one rocket, which fell in a populated area in Sderot but did not cause any injuries. The Israeli army made a change recently in how it calculates the area where the rockets are projected to fall, thereby only requiring that alarms sound in a very small and more focused area, and limiting the disruption to local routines in border communities near Gaza. Nevertheless, rocket fire everyday, or every other day, would disturb the feeling of security that had been restored with difficulty and would create pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to act more resolutely. The distance could be short from that to another round of violence.”
Would-be suicide bomber in New York City faces court hearing-Officials say Akayed Ullah was influenced by the sermons of a radical Muslim preacher in Bangladesh-By Tom Hays and Larry Neumeister-DECD 13,17
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York City’s subway system was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, Bangladeshi officials said Wednesday in the hours before the man was expected to have his first court appearance in the US.Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, had asked his wife in Bangladesh to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani, the currently imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of Bangladesh’s counterterrorism department.The group has been linked to killings and attacks on secular academics and atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. Rahmani is serving time in prison for his involvement in the killings.The wife was questioned in Bangladesh and told investigators that her husband discussed Rahman’s writings with her during his last visit home, Islam said.Ullah, 27, was expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday in New York, where he is in a hospital being treated for burns from a pipe bomb he strapped to his body and detonated in a pedestrian tunnel linking two busy subway stations.Prosecutors in New York said that after his capture, Ullah told interrogators he was on a mission to punish the US for attacking the Islamic State group.“His motivation,” Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said, “was not a mystery.”Investigators found bomb-making materials in his apartment. They said he carried out the attack after researching how to build a bomb a year ago and planned his mission for several weeks. The bomb was assembled in the past week using fragments of a metal pipe, a battery and a Christmas tree light bulb, along with the metal screws, authorities said.The defendant “had apparently hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself,” Kim said.He was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. He could get up to life in prison.Relatives and police said Ullah last visited his wife and newborn son in Bangladesh in September, after which he returned to the United States.Counterterrorism officials questioned the wife and her parents before releasing her Tuesday night, Islam said, adding that investigators were currently questioning his brother-in-law and also planned to question any known close associates.Ullah’s wife, Jannatul Ferdous, told ABC News in a brief interview conducted through the closed door of her home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that she had never heard her husband speak negatively of the US. She said when she spoke to him by phone the morning of the bombing, he gave no indication of what he planned to do.With a tragedy averted and a growing certainty that he acted alone, attention turned to how best secure New York City’s vast public transportation system and the daunting task of identifying those eager to do it harm.The security “requires every single member of the public’s help,” said New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill. “It requires their vigilance.”There also was political fallout, heightened by news that Ullah had taunted US President Donald Trump on Facebook with a post that read, “Trump you failed to protect your nation.”In reaction to the bombing, the president demanded a tightening of immigration rules that allowed Ullah to enter the country in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of US citizens. Less than two months ago, an Uzbek immigrant who came to the US through a visa lottery was accused of killing eight people in New York by mowing them down with a truck along a bike path.
Israel foils Hamas kidnapping plot planned for Hanukkah-Security forces arrest 3 Palestinians suspected of intending to abduct soldier or settler in the West Bank during the 8-day holiday-By Judah Ari Gross-DEC 13,17
Israeli security services arrested three members of an alleged Hamas terrorist cell in the northern West Bank suspected of planning to kidnap an Israeli citizen during the Hanukkah festival, the Shin Bet security service announced Wednesday.The three Palestinian suspects were arrested in late October, following a weeks-long investigation during which the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police uncovered the kidnapping plot. Details of the case were kept secret under a gag order, which was removed on Wednesday as the findings were handed over to state prosecutors to begin preparing indictments.The Shin Bet said the alleged ringleader of the terror cell was Mu’ad Ashtiyah, a 26-year-old Palestinian from the village of Tell, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.He recruited cousins Mahmoud and Ahmad Ramadan, both 19 and also of Tell, to assist him in the plot, the security service said.According to the Shin Bet, the three men planned to “kidnap a soldier or settler from one of the bus stations at a central junction in Samaria” — the biblical term for the northern West Bank.“The plan was for them to dress up as local settlers and to get the abductee to get into their car,” the security service said.The Shin Bet said the kidnapping was planned to take place during the eight-day Hanukkah holiday, which began on Tuesday evening.“The goal of the terror attack was to advance negotiations for the release of security prisoners in Israeli prisons,” the security service said.In preparation for the abduction, Ashtiyah purchased a pistol, pepper spray and a stun gun, the Shin Bet said.“The cell planned to buy more weapons in order to carry out the terror attack,” the security service added.The terror plot was funded by Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip, according to the Shin Bet.They received direction and support from Omar Assida, a Hamas operative in the coastal enclave who was apparently released by Israel during a 2011 prisoner swap, in which over 1,000 convicted terrorists were set free in exchange for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.All three of the suspects are members of the Hamas terrorist group, the Shin Bet said.Ashtiyah and the two Ramadans had begun collecting intelligence on the bus stops and roadways where they planned to carry out their abduction, the Shin Bet said.The security service said that it had handed over the findings of its investigation to state prosecutors for them to “consider filing indictments against those involved.”
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:11-12,18
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
THESE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAMIST LEADERS CAN SAY WHAY THEY WANT.BUT WE KNOW WHAT HJAPPENS TO THESE MURDERERS IN THE FUTURE.WE ARE NOT WORRIED.KISS ISLAM GOODBYE FOREVER.
Erdogan: ‘Zionist’ Trump has taken himself out of peace role-Turkish leader says Jerusalem is a 'red line,' calls for Muslim leaders to find new mediator for peace process-By Agencies and TOI staff-DEC 13,17
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused US counterpart Donald Trump of having a “Zionist mentality” over his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding Washington had no further role to play in the peace process.Erdogan said Jerusalem was “a red line” for Muslims.“The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine. Mr. Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality,” he said at the close of an emergency Muslim summit, adding that there can no longer be “any question” of the United States being a mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Erdogan, speaking at the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said it was “out of the question” for Washington to mediate between the Palestinians and the Israelis. “That process is now over.”He said it was time for Muslim leaders to discuss among themselves who was to take Washington’s role and to consider taking the matter to the UN.Islamic leaders at the conference urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and said the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process.With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing on any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States.But their final statement declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”They declared Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”
Abbas says no future US role in peace process, threatens to void past agreements-PA president blasts Trump's decision to recognize Israel's capital; Turkey's Erdogan calls on all Islamic states to declare East Jerusalem capital of Palestine-By Agencies and Dov Lieber-DEC 13,17
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Palestinians won’t accept any future role for the US in the peace process due to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and threatened to pull out of existing agreements with the Jewish state.Abbas told an emergency meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul that there could be “no peace or stability” in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state.Turkey is hosting the 57-member OIC in the wake of the US decision — a move widely criticized across the world but hailed by Israel. The summit is expected to forge a unified position of Arab and Muslim countries.“Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state… There will be no peace, no stability without that,” Abbas proclaimed.He slammed Trump’s declaration as a “crime” and a “gift” to the “Zionist movement” — as if he “were giving away an American city” — and asserted that Washington no longer had any role to play in the peace process.Abbas noted that the international community had nearly unanimously opposed Trump’s decision, calling it a “provocation” to Muslims and Christians and saying measures were needed to protect the identity of the divided city.“We will tell the Israelis that we are no longer committed to any agreement from Oslo until today,” he threatened, asserting that the Palestinian Authority intended to return to the United Nations to to gain full membership.“We agreed with America we would not join international institutions on the condition that American does not transfer its embassy, does not initiate any action against our office in Washington, and orders Israel to freeze settlement building,” Abbas said.He also called on all OIC countries to reassess their diplomatic relations with all countries in light of their responses to Trump’s decision.“If there is no Palestinian state along the June 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, there will not be peace in the region, in the territories or in the world,” he said. “They must choose.”Addressing the gathering before Abbas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the summit’s host, urged the world to recognize East Jerusalem as the “capital of Palestine.”“I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognize occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” he said, adding that Islamic countries would “never give up” on that demand.Erdogan sharply criticized Israel, calling it a “terror state.”Erdogan said in his speech that Jerusalem is a “red line” for Muslims, who would not accept any “aggression” toward its Islamic sanctuaries, and asserted that the “process to include Palestine in international agreements and institutions should be sped up.”In calling Wednesday’s special meeting, Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, the world’s main pan-Islamic body, was seeking to marshal Muslim leaders toward a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.In his address last week, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue. He described his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites. The final status of Jerusalem is a key issue in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim the eastern neighborhoods of the city as their future capital.The move was hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, but rejected by the international community.In the Muslim and Arab world, Trump’s announcement prompted an outpouring of anger, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision also sparked protests in the West Bank and Gaza, with four Palestinians killed in clashes or Israeli airstrikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded.The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip last week called for a new intifada against Israel and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the meeting.Erdogan — who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause and has repeatedly described Israel as a “terrorist state” — is looking for a tough final statement against the decision.Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures.Arab League foreign ministers in a resolution after an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday urged Washington to rescind its Jerusalem declaration and the international community to recognize a Palestinian state.In intensive telephone diplomacy in the last days, Erdogan has sought to win support from leaders beyond the Muslim world. At a joint press conference after talks in Ankara late Monday, he said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had taken a similar approach on the issue, accusing Israel of continuing to “add fuel to the flames.”Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim its eastern neighborhoods and the Old City as the capital of their future state.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Under Putin, Russia increases clout in the Middle East-Russian president has emerged as powerful stakeholder in volatile region, brokering deals with key players from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey, and Israel-By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and Zeina Karam-DEC 13,17
MOSCOW (AP) — When Russia launched a military campaign in Syria two years ago, President Vladimir Putin sought to save his ally from imminent collapse and break Russia’s international isolation over a crisis in Ukraine.He achieved that and more, emerging as a key stakeholder in the Middle East who has brokered deals with many of its key players — from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and Israel. It’s a regional footprint that comes with a degree of clout that even the Soviet Union, which depended on a handful of Arab allies, couldn’t dream of during the Cold War era.And it was accomplished with limited resources and a lot of audacity.“Vladimir Putin is determined to restore a greater role for Russia as a global power … and the Middle East is really the main area where Russia has that potential, in part because the Soviet Union played that role in the Soviet period,” said William Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at RAND Corporation.With just a few dozen jets and several thousand troops, Russia waded into Syria’s war and stubbornly pressed its campaign despite international scorn and an outcry over resulting civilian casualties.Russia’s bold intervention in Syria came as the United States under president Barack Obama steered clear of military engagement and found itself in a series of acrimonious disputes with key allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. Under the vastly inconsistent policies of Donald Trump, and in an era of an inward looking, America-first US policy, Russia’s maneuvers became all the more poignant on the global stage.Putin’s success in the region was on full display Monday, with the confident and upbeat leader moving between Syria, Egypt and Turkey in a whirlwind tour a week after announcing he will seek re-election for another six-year term in March.Speaking to Russian troops on the tarmac at Hmeimeem air base in Syria, Putin declared victory over the Islamic State group and Syrian rebels and announced he had ordered a scaling down of the Russian contingent in Syria. In Egypt, he signed a deal for the construction of a nuclear reactor on the country’s Mediterranean coast and sought to strengthen his relationship with a key regional power that has in the past three years bought billions of dollars in Russian weapons. And in Turkey, a NATO member, the Russian leader appeared to be on the same page with strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan on key issues.The Russian president was frequently derided for his penchant for a 19th century-style Realpolitik characterized by cynical political calculus. But Putin’s approach paid off in Syria, where he managed to play on the conflicting interests of regional powers and strike deals with various players.When Putin decided to intervene in Syria, President Bashar Assad was on the verge of collapse, his forces losing on all fronts. Within weeks, the Russian military had airlifted supplies needed to set up a base in Assad’s heartland and launched an air campaign at the end of September 2015.At first, observers were skeptical about Putin’s Syria adventure given Russia’s economic troubles and the overwhelming negative odds on the chaotic Syrian battlefield, where the Islamic State group, al-Qaida militants and a motley collection of rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and others were routing Assad’s shrinking military.Many in the West and in Russia predicted Syria would turn into another Afghanistan — a botched Soviet intervention that led to massive losses and ended in a humiliating 1989 withdrawal after nearly a decade of fighting. Putin argued that Russia needed to intervene in Syria to fight a terror threat, but made it clear that he wasn’t going to walk into a trap like the Soviet war in Afghanistan.Another reason for skepticism was the Russian military meltdown that followed the Soviet collapse. The army’s vulnerabilities were highlighted by separatist wars in Chechnya and a brief 2008 war with Georgia, where the lack of modern communications and weapons, lack of coordination between various military branches and poor discipline were woefully apparent.But the Syrian campaign suddenly saw a different Russian military — one armed with sophisticated precision weapons, well-trained, neatly dressed and proud of its mission.“Putin managed to explain to the Russian people why Syria was important and not only did he explain it, he also showed them Syria wasn’t going to be Afghanistan,” Dmitry Trenin, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, told The Associated Press.The war saw the combat debut of an array of Russian weapons, including long-range cruise missiles that were fired from surface navy ships, submarines and bombers.The display of Moscow’s revamped arsenals also served another key goal — to show the US and its NATO allies that Russia no longer exclusively relies on nuclear weapons. The new cruise missiles gave Putin a long-sought long-range precision cruise capability that only the US had before.Early in the campaign, Moscow found itself on the verge of a military conflict with Ankara after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane on the Syrian border in November 2015. But just a few months later, Putin mended ties with Turkey, offering President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strong support after a failed coup attempt. They struck a deal on Syria, setting up de-escalation zones that helped reduce fighting.Russia also reached out to other key players — from Iran, which staunchly backed Assad, to the Saudis, the Qataris and others who supported the opposition. It also communicated with Israel to make sure the conflict didn’t hurt their friendly relationship.Russian military successes in Syria and its rapprochement with Turkey paved the way for another Putin diplomatic coup — a warming of ties with Saudi Arabia, Moscow’s opponent since Cold War times when it armed Afghan fighters battling the Soviet invasion. In a first-ever visit by a Saudi monarch, King Salman visited Russia in October.While declaring victory in Syria, Putin made it clear Russia is there to stay. He plans to expand the air base and turn a crumbling Soviet-era naval supply facility in Syria’s port of Tartus into a full-fledged navy base capable of hosting big ships.Russia has also drafted a deal with Egypt to allow its warplanes to use bases there — a deployment unseen since the times when Egypt was a key Soviet ally in the Mideast before going to the US side in the mid-1970s.Courtney, the RAND analyst, said despite Putin’s successes in the region, Russia will remain a limited great power that serves mainly as a military supplier because it lacks the resources and capability that the West has for nation building or reconstruction.“The challenge for Putin is to turn the use of his military force and military weapons supplies in the Middle East to something that is a lasting success, and we don’t yet see how Russia is going to get there,” he said.
IDF strikes Hamas position in Gaza after rocket launch-Air force hits military post in south of Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks earlier in the night-By TOI staff-DEC 13,17
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday night struck a Hamas facility in the southern Gaza Strip, hours after Palestinians fired a rocket towards Israel from the coastal enclave.There were no immediate reports of casualties on the Palestinian side.The rocket launch earlier set off warning sirens in Israeli communities north of Gaza.After searches, Israeli security forces found the projectile in an open field outside the community of Netiv Ha’asara, a police spokesperson said.Sappers were called to the scene to remove the rocket.The incoming rocket alert sirens sounded in the Hof Ashkelon area, north of the Strip, specifically in the communities of Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai.The attack came hours after Palestinian terrorists in the Strip launched a rocket at Israel that fell short of its target and landed inside Gaza, the army said.The past week has seen a significant increase in the number of rockets fired at Israel, amid general unrest in the area.Last Friday night, a number of rockets were launched at the Israeli town of Sderot. One hit a kindergarten, breaking a window, and another landed in a street, damaging several cars and at least one home. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.Earlier on Tuesday, two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group were killed when the motorcycle they were riding exploded in the northern Gaza Strip. The blast was initially described as an Israeli airstrike — something the IDF rigorously denied — but which the Islamic Jihad later said was an accident.On Sunday, Israel demolished a Hamas attack tunnel that penetrated hundreds of meters into Israeli territory from the southern Gaza Strip.It was the second tunnel destroyed by Israel in less than six weeks. On October 30, Israel blew up a tunnel belonging to the Islamic Jihad, killing fourteen terrorists in the process, including two of the group’s senior commanders, and two members of Hamas.The Islamic Jihad retaliated one month later, firing a dozen mortar shells at an Israeli military position northeast of the Strip, causing damage, but no injuries.The increase in rocket attacks has also been tied to US President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that angered Palestinians.Hamas called for a new intifada against Israel over Trump’s announcement, and urged Palestinians to confront soldiers and settlers, allowing thousands of Gazans to clash with Israeli troops at the Gaza border fence in recent days.In an address last Wednesday from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace a new approach was long overdue, describing his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality.The move was hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum, but criticized internationally, especially in the Arab world. Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.Editor’s note: The article was updated to include the location of the rocket impact.Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Labor hopeful says Israel should ‘kick out’ Palestinians in future war-Departing from his party's long-held dovish stances, former IDF general Amiram Levin urges expansion of settlements, says Israel was 'too nice' in the Six Day War-By Raoul Wootliff-DEC 13,17
Appearing to call for ethnic cleansing, a retired IDF general seeking to become a key figure in the left-leaning Labor party said that if the Palestinians continue to violate their agreements with Israel, the military should “tear them apart” in a future war and forcibly transfer them to “the other side of the Jordan River.”Amiram Levin criticized longstanding left-wing policies, espoused the expansion of Jewish settlements and called for the rejection of the 1967 borders, in excerpts published Wednesday from an interview with the Maariv daily set to appear on Friday.“The Palestinians caused the occupation. They didn’t accept the borders of the partition plan [after the 1948 War of Independence], and they started the war [of 1967]. We were right to take Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the West Bank.“We need to engage in tough negotiations that do not take us back to the ’67 borders,” Levin said of Israel’s pre-Six Day War borders, which negotiators have generally agreed will form the basis for partitioning the land under a future peace agreement.“We will give [the Palestinians] a carrot in the form of a state, and if they don’t want it, we will tear them apart,” he said. “I have said many times in the past that next time we have a war, they will no longer remain here, we will kick them out to the other side of the Jordan River. That’s how we need to fight. We were too nice in ’67.”Levin ran an aborted campaign in July’s Labor leadership race, and has since been touted as one of the party’s security experts by new leader Avi Gabbay. In a sign of his unofficial status in the party, last month Levin escorted Gabbay on a trip with Labor lawmakers to the Gaza border.With his military chops, Levin would burnish the party’s credentials on security, an area often claimed as the forte of the right.Gabbay declined a request by The Times of Israel for a comment on Levin’s interview with Maariv.The retired general — who at various times headed the IDF Northern Command, commanded the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, and served as deputy director of the Mossad spy agency — said in the interview that he supported ending Israeli control over the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank, but not out of concern for the Palestinians.“They don’t deserve anything,” he said. “The problem is that controlling them corrupts us; it is a threat to us and I want to save our society.”But the excerpted interview was short on details of how Levin sees a Palestinian state emerging. He also said Israel should expand its control over certain areas of the West Bank to limit the territory of a future Palestinian state.“I cannot image there will be applause [in Israel] for dismantling settlements. People live there, it’s their home and we sent them. On the contrary, it’s thanks to [the settlers], that we will retain control of the settlement blocs under any future agreement. The City of David will be ours,” he said. “Today, Jerusalem is divided. Most of the [Palestinian] neighborhoods are not included. I say that, as opposed to the ’67 borders, we should expand and the areas we expand to will become ours.“I am not with the left on this issue,” he said emphatically.Levin’s comments were rejected vehemently by Arab Israeli lawmakers.MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List said the comments “expose the true face of the Labor party that is overtaking Likud from the right.”“This is a party that is trying to be extremist in order to gain power,” fellow Joint List MK Hanin Zoabi echoed.The interview comes as Gabbay appears to be steering the Zionist Union rightward in a bid to swell its ranks, having made a number of comments at odds with Labor’s traditional stances.Last week Gabbay said preserving a “united” Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty was more important than clinching a peace deal with the Palestinians.Speaking with Hadashot TV news on Thursday, Avi Gabbay praised US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital a day earlier, and said over 90 percent of Israelis “yearn for a united Jerusalem.”In light of that, he said, “A united Jerusalem is even more important than peace.”Although Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital is embraced by parties on both sides of the political spectrum, the tone of Gabbay’s remarks seemed at odds with the history of the dovish Labor, which has long been the Israeli political standard-bearer for reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.In October, Gabbay said he would not evacuate West Bank settlements as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, and days later called the settlement enterprise “the beautiful and devoted face of Zionism.”Levin himself also appears to have shifted rightward. In December 2015, he took out a full-page advertisement supporting the controversial Breaking the Silence NGO, which collects testimonies about alleged abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians.“The IDF must encourage ‘Breaking the Silence’ and those like them to speak out without fear in the IDF and in Israeli society,” he wrote at the time.
Migration looms over summit, as Africa pledges fall short By Nikolaj Nielsen, Eric Maurice, Eszter Zalan, Caterina Tani-EUOBSERVER-DEC 13,17
BRUSSELS, Today, 16:54-Italy will hold meetings with the 'Visegrad Four' group of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia as disagreements over migration loom over the EU summit in Brussels.Italy's prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, plus European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, will discuss the controversial concept of EU 'solidarity' on migration with the four central and eastern European states on Thursday (14 December).The meeting, demanded by Hungary, is also aimed at shoring up member state pledges for the EU Trust Fund for Africa.Italy, which is spearheading an EU migrant containment policy in Libya, has contributed over €100 million to the fund, compared with just €50,000 each from Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Slovenia.The Visegrad Four have objected to taking in asylum seekers themselves, and prefer offshoring the problem by preventing people from coming to Europe in the first place, and further securing their own borders.A press conference was meant to follow the joint meeting on Thursday but has reportedly been cancelled, according to one EU diplomat.Instead, the issue of requiring member states to distribute a quota of asylum seekers from initial arrival hotspots like Italy and Greece are likely to cast a long shadow over the summit itself.On Wednesday (13 December), the commission said any effort to drop the mandatory quotas, as suggested by the European Council president Donald Tusk, "would betray years worth of collective work".EU commissioner migration Dimitris Avramopoulos had in Strasbourg on Tuesday labeled Tusk's plan to drop the quotas as "anti-European," which ranks as a serious insult at the EU institutional level.One EU government official described the insult as unwarranted."His [Tusk] note has really sparked a very lively discussion but it is difficult to understand that the mere fact of presenting a note could or should justify calling him anti-European," said the source.Another described Avramopoulos' remarks as a "hysterical rant", noting that the commissioner will not take any part in the summit discussions."This is a question of manners," said the source.-'No quarrel, no brawl'-But chief EU commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas attempted to downplay Wednesday's spat between Tusk and Avramopoulos, telling reporters that there "is no quarrel, there is no brawl" and not to dramatise the issue.He also noted that Tusk had failed to mention broader issues on the passport-free Schengen area given the steady rise of internal border checks.Schengen states introduced border checks 36 times between 2006 to 2015. Over the past two years, that rose to 50 times, in part to prevent migrants from travelling across Europe.Tusk has since modified the wording, some reportedly by his own hand, on migration in a note addressed to the EU leaders ahead of tomorrow's summit in Brussels - but still maintains that mandatory quotas are both "highly divisive" and "ineffective".The commission disputes the wording, noting that 32,000 asylum seekers were relocated over a two-year scheme. However, it has also resulted in legal battles against the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for having refused to participate.The commission wants to continue the mandatory scheme as part of a broader asylum reform, under the Dublin regulation that determines who is responsible for processing claims for international protection.-Forcing a vote on solidarity-But some EU officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say the idea of such a permanent mechanism would only act as a pull factor for people already ready to risk their lives to reach Europe.Others, largely backed by Germany, maintain that a obligatory distribution scheme is needed to help spread genuine asylum seekers across member states.A paper floated by the Estonian EU presidency on how to achieve a consensus on the issue had also been welcomed by Germany's interior minister.The paper will not be discussed given that EU summit leaders on Thursday will not take any decision on the matter until the end of June 2018.But that also poses other questions, which remain answered.The EU is hoping for a consensus to avoid a repeat of the debacle behind a majority vote that originally launched the two-year asylum relocation scheme in 2015.The scheme was forced through by a qualified majority vote (QMV), which made relocation legally binding among all participating EU states."QMV is still an option legally, it is sensitive issue, there is a strong political will but we should find a solution on the basis of consensus," said another EU official.
BEGLEY-EARTHWATCH-MIKE AROUND THE WORLD AND OTHER INTERNET CULT KNOWLEDGE GURUS AND THEIR END OF THE WORLD GIANT-NIBURU-MID-END OR NO TRIB RAPTURE CULT WILL BE WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO END.THESE HYPOCRITE EAR TICKLER LIERS.I ASK THIS CULT? USE ARE WAITING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD-NOT THE RAPTURE.YOU FOOLS.
Interstellar visitor shaped like giant fire extinguisher passing by Earth-At 180 meters long, the asteroid, dubbed Oumuamua, is causing major interest due to its course, speed and unusual shape-By AP-DEC 13,17
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A newly discovered object from another star system that’s passing through ours is shaped like a giant pink fire extinguisher.That’s the word this week from astronomers who have been observing this first-ever confirmed interstellar visitor.“I’m surprised by the elongated shape — nobody expected that,” said astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the observation team that reported on the characteristics.Scientists are certain this asteroid or comet originated outside our solar system. First spotted last month by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, it will stick around for another few years before departing our sun’s neighborhood.Jewitt and his international team observed the object for five nights in late October using the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands and the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.It isn't an alien spacecraft, but we should still study 'Oumuamua #LunchtimeReading https://t.co/ysol4UHSmW pic.twitter.com/pxMWSLlviT-— Science Museum (@sciencemuseum) December 12, 2017-At approximately 100 feet by 100 feet by 600 feet (30 meters by 30 meters by 180 meters), the object has proportions roughly similar to a fire extinguisher — though not nearly as red, Jewitt said Thursday. The slightly red hue — specifically pale pink — and varying brightness are remarkably similar to asteroids in our own solar system, he noted.Astronomer Jayadev Rajagopal said in an email that it was exciting to point the Arizona telescope at such a tiny object “which, for all we know, has been traveling through the vast emptiness of space for millions of years.”“And then by luck passes close enough for me to be able to see it that night!”The object is so faint and so fast — it’s zooming through the solar system at 40,000 mph (64,000 kph) — it’s unlikely amateur astronomers will see it.In a paper to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the scientists report that our solar system could be packed with 10,000 such interstellar travelers at any given time. It takes 10 years to cross our solar system, providing plenty of future viewing opportunities, the scientists said.Trillions of objects from other star systems could have passed our way over the eons, according to Jewitt.It suggests our solar system ejected its own share of asteroids and comets as the large outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune — formed.Why did it take so long to nail the first interstellar wanderer? “Space is big and our eyes are weak,” Jewitt explained via email.Anticipating more such discoveries, the International Astronomical Union already has approved a new designation for cosmic interlopers. They get an “I” for interstellar in their string of letters and numbers. The group also has approved a name for this object: Oumuamua (OH’-moo-ah-moo-ah), which in Hawaiian means a messenger from afar arriving first.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
After fires, Southern California faces risk of mudslides-[Reuters]-By Ben Gruber and Alex Dobuzinskis-YAHOONEWS-December 13, 2017
CARPINTERIA, Calif./LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters in Southern California are slowly gaining control of one of the largest wildfires in state history, but residents may not enjoy much relief as experts said the flames are laying the groundwork for the next disaster - mudslides.The intense fire is burning away vegetation that holds the soil in place and baking a waxy layer into the earth that prevents the water from sinking more than a few inches into the ground, experts said.With one heavy rain, the soil above this waterproof layer can become saturated, start to slide in hilly areas and transform into something catastrophic."Pretty much anywhere there's a fire on a steep slope, there's cause for concern," Jason Kean, research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a telephone interview.And the Thomas Fire, which has burned 234,000 acres and destroyed nearly 700 homes in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, is definitely in landslide country.“If we get hard rain, there are going to be terrible landslides in the burn areas," Carla D'Antonio, chairman of University of California, Santa Barbara's environmental studies program, said in an email."It doesn't take a lot of rain to get the soil and rock moving, so to have burned soil on top of this and no significant plant cover creates huge potential for landslides," she added.Among the cities at risk is Santa Barbara, with 92,000 people, as well as the smaller communities of Carpinteria, Ojai and Summerland."It's terrifying," Jamey Geston, 19, of Carpinteria, said of possible mudslides. "I am just taking it one natural disaster at a time at this point and try to get through it." Once the fire is out, more work will begin as officials will likely need to rush to build retention basins and other structures to prevent debris flows before the rainy season begins, said Professor Nicholas Pinter of University of California, Davis' Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences."This is exactly the thing we worry about in the winter following an event like the Thomas Fire," he said by telephone.Another large concern is the potential damage to water quality, Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider said in a telephone interview.Heavy rainfall could bring lots of silt to waterways like Lake Cachuma, where barriers are already being erected, as well as unwanted matter, she said. In 2007, after the massive Zaca Fire, Santa Barbara spent more than $1 million on extra cleaning and filtration systems.The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state could defray some costs with grants, but the best outcome would be "a nice, calm, intermittent rain," Schneider said."We don't see any rain in the immediate forecast, which is a curse and a blessing," she said. "We could use the water to fight the fire, but we don't want some kind of big downpour that would cause significant mudslides so soon after the area's been burnt to nothing."(Reporting by Ben Gruber and Alex Dobuzinskis, Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Renewed winds, dry conditions hamper fight to tame California wildfire-[Reuters]-By Ben Gruber-YAHOONEWS-December 13, 2017
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (Reuters) - Firefighters trying to tame a blaze that has destroyed hundreds of homes in Southern California were facing bone-dry conditions and the return of powerful wind gusts on Wednesday.A lull in the winds a day earlier sapped the forward momentum of the Thomas Fire, which has charred more than 368 square miles (953 square km) in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, an area larger than New York City.But adverse weather will again promote significant fire growth and hamper efforts to control the inferno, which broke out on Dec. 4 and has grown to become the fifth largest wildfire in state history, authorities said."Firefighters will remain engaged in structure defense operations and scout for opportunities to establish direct perimeter control," the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said in an advisory.The fire, which has destroyed more than 700 homes, displaced more than 94,000 people and is threatening some 18,000 structures, was 25 percent contained by Wednesday, Cal Fire said in the statement.It continued to menace coastal communities including Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Montecito, driven by Santa Ana winds and humidity of less than 10 percent that are forecast until Friday, Cal Fire and the National Weather Service said.On Tuesday, some of the nearly 8,000 firefighters battling the blaze took advantage of the lighter winds to set controlled burns in a canyon near Carpinteria to deprive the flames of fuel, Cal Fire Captain Steve Concialdi told reporters.U.S. Representative Julia Brownley, whose 26th Congressional District includes Ventura, said on Tuesday the fire could take another week to contain. The efforts have so far cost more than $61 million, according to authorities.Many public schools in the Santa Barbara area canceled classes this week and will not reopen until the annual winter break is completed in January.Some of the other fires burning over the past week in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have been largely brought under control.Investigators determined that the Skirball Fire, which destroyed six homes in Los Angeles' wealthy Bel-Air neighborhood and scorched a building at a winery owned by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment, authorities said on Tuesday.The Lilac Fire, which burned more than 4,000 acres in northern San Diego County and destroyed 157 structures, was 95 percent contained by Wednesday, Cal Fire said.(Additonal reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by John Stonestreet and Jeffrey Benkoe)
