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)
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out
of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall
inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not
build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for
as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL)
shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
1 CHRONICLES 17:9
9
Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel,(IN PALESTINE) and will
plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no
more;(ISRAEL-NEVER DESTROYED-FOREVER AN EARTHLY NATION) neither shall
the children of wickedness(ISHMAEL-ARAB/MUSLIMS-WORLD ISRAEL HATERS)
waste them any more, as at the beginning,(ARAB/MUSLIMS ATTACK ISRAEL ON
MAY 15,1948)
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I
give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of
sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL)
that shall not be cut off.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall
comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM
NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE
EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT
AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like
the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE
DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE
DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG
FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL)
and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from
me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light
of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
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
IDF girds for renewed clashes on tense Gaza
border-Army fears Palestinian terrorist groups could launch rockets at
southern Israel-By Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff-APR 1,18
The
Israeli military was on high alert Sunday morning along the border of
the Gaza Strip in anticipation of renewed clashes with Palestinian
protesters.Sixteen demonstrators were killed by Israeli fire on Friday,
10 of them members of Palestinian terror groups, according to the Israel
Defense Forces.Though the crowds had thinned and the fighting appeared
to subside by Saturday, the army was expecting the Hamas terrorist group
to inflame border tensions and set off additional violence, Hadashot
news reported.The army also remained concerned that Palestinian terror
groups could fire rockets at southern Israel, the TV report said. An
army spokesman had originally raised that fear on Friday evening.On
Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the
Gaza border, during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli
troops on the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood,
sought to breach and damage the security fence, and in one case opened
fire at Israeli soldiers.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted
only those taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or
trying to break through or damage the security fence. Video footage
showed that in one case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of
Hamas members, appeared to be shot while running away from the border.
The army in response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its
videos.The army on Saturday night identified 10 of the 16 people
reported killed during violent protests along the Gaza security fence as
members of Palestinian terrorist groups, and published a list of their
names and positions in the organizations.According to the Israel Defense
Forces (Arabic link), eight of the men killed were members of Hamas,
which rules the Gaza Strip. One served in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades,
and another was affiliated with “global jihad,” it said, apparently
referring to one of the Salafist groups in Gaza.Earlier on Saturday,
Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among the fatalities.The army said
that at least one of the Hamas members, Sari Abu Odeh, was part of the
group’s elite Nukhba force and that another, Muhammad Abu Amro, served
in its tunnel operations. (The IDF’s Arabic spokesman provided more
details in Arabic via Twitter.) The IDF identified one of the two Hamas
members who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening and attempted to
breach the security fence, before they were shot dead, as 23-year-old
Mussa’b al-Saloul.Palestinian media reported that the bodies of the two
gunmen were captured by Israeli soldiers. The IDF would not officially
comment on this claim.The oldest operative identified was Jihad Farina,
35, a company commander in Hamas’s military wing; the youngest was
19-year-old Ahmad Odeh, who served in the terror group’s Shati
Battalion, the army said.Hamas claimed those killed were taking part “in
popular events side-by-side with their people.”The army did not provide
evidence for its identifications. Some could be independently verified
with photographic evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or
receiving a military-style funeral from the terror group in question.
Others could not be immediately substantiated.Thousands attended
funerals in Gaza Saturday for 14 of those killed — two were buried on
Friday — with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting
“revenge” and firing into the air.“Where are you, Arabs? Where are you,
Muslims?” mourners chanted at one funeral, calling on the Arab and
Muslim world to intervene. A general strike was held in both the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank.IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said on
Saturday that all those killed were engaged in violence, adding that
Gaza health officials exaggerated the number of those wounded and that
several dozen at most were injured by live fire while the rest were
merely shaken up by tear gas and other riot dispersal means.Manelis said
on Friday evening that the army had faced “a violent, terrorist
demonstration at six points” along the fence. He said the IDF used
“pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the
security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the
fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of
Hamas commando forces,” he said.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s border
with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in recent
memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that
their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was dubbed
the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was provided
by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that some 1,400
Palestinians were injured during the protests, over half by live
rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently confirm the
casualty reports.Manelis warned Saturday that if violence drags on along
the Gaza border, Israel will expand its reaction to strike the
terrorists behind it. The military has thus far restricted its response
to those trying to breach its border, but if attacks continue it will go
after terrorists “in other places, too,” he said.Manelis reiterated
that Israel “will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli
territory.”He said that Hamas and other Gaza terror groups were using
protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues, “we will
not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and
will act against these terror organizations in other places too,” he
said.Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel. It
seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a violent coup in
2007.Protest organizers have said mass marches would continue until May
15, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Palestinians mark that date as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, when
hundreds of thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War
of Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are
their descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always
demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem,
and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian
refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established.
The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of
thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the
low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in
the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this
demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority
state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their
descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the
culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced
out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens
of Israel.Agencies contributed to this report.
Liberman
threatens ‘much harsher’ response to further Gaza unrest-Defense
minister claims 90% of 40,000 Palestinian protesters on Friday were paid
Hamas activists and their families-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Defense
Minister Avigdor Liberman warned Sunday that Israel would act with a
far stronger hand if Palestinians in the Gaza Strip resumed Friday’s
violent protests on the border with Israel, during which 15 Palestinians
were killed.He claimed that of some 40,000 Palestinian protesters, 90
percent were officials and activists paid by the Hamas terror group,
which rules the enclave, together with their families.Liberman also
pledged that there would be no international inquiry into the clashes,
despite demands to that effect by parts of the international community.
And he lashed out at the new head of the left-wing Meretz Party for
joining calls for a probe, charging that her party represented
Palestinian, rather than Israeli, interests.During Friday’s so-called
March of Return, rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on
the other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to
breach and damage the security fence, and in one case, opened fire at
Israeli soldiers.The Israel Defense Forces said that at least 10 of the
15 dead were members of terror groups, while Hamas has acknowledged that
five of them were gunmen from its military wing.On Saturday, the United
States blocked a draft UN Security Council statement calling for an
investigation of the incidents, according to diplomats.Representing Arab
countries on the council, Kuwait had called for an “independent and
transparent investigation” of the violence.The defense minister, who
heads the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, praised the army for having
“carried out its work in the best possible way.” Summing up what he
called Hamas’s “March of Terror,” he said, “We can say that the
[Passover] festival passed quietly — no soldiers were hurt.”Threatening
that the army “can respond much more harshly next time” and that it
would not “hesitate to use everything we have,” he also expressed doubt
that the Palestinians would seek to replicate Friday’s events, “in light
of the results.”Liberman claimed that the Gaza march had cost its
organizers $15 million. “Do you know how much medicine you could buy
with a sum like this? The fact that [Hamas] budgets such a sum for
blatant terror activities says it all.”Upping earlier Israeli analyses
of the makeup of the protesters, Liberman charged that 90% of the more
than 40,000 people who came to the border fence were “Hamas officials or
activists who are paid salaries by Hamas, together with their families.
The simple people didn’t come.”He claimed that those that did come were
armed and disguised as non-violent protesters.“What is the attempt to
break through the fence? It’s to harm our sovereignty,” he said. “Any
state whose borders people tried to crash would act in an even more
severe way than we did, and therefore the procession of hypocrites
calling for a committee of inquiry must understand that there will be no
such thing. There will not be any international inquiry. We will not
cooperate with any inquiry of this kind.”On Saturday, Meretz party
leader Tamar Zandberg called on Israeli authorities to open an
investigation into the violence, indicating she thought the Israeli
military appeared to have been too “trigger happy.”The death toll and
the footage from the events broadcast on social media and elsewhere,
including a video aired on Palestinian media apparently showing an
18-year-old being shot dead while running away from the border fence,
“warrant an independent investigation by Israel, including a probe into
the rules of engagement and the military and political readiness for the
events,” Zandberg said.Liberman hit back, saying that for some time,
Meretz had not been representing Israeli but rather Palestinian
interests in the Knesset.He said Israel had tried diplomatic avenues to
peace on two occasions — the Oslo Peace Accords during the 1990s and the
unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip under the late prime
minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 — but that Hamas had responded by
investing millions in the production of missiles and tunnels.Friday’s
clashes marked the bloodiest day since the 2014 Gaza war, kicking off
what Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers envision as a campaign of mass
sit-ins along the border meant to spotlight the demand of uprooted
Palestinians and their descendants to “return” to what is now Israel.At
previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with
sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a
“right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were
forced out of Israel when it was established. The Palestinians demand
this right not only for those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees
who are still alive — a figure estimated in the low tens of thousands —
but also for their descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli
government would ever be likely to accept this demand, since it would
spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position is
that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens
of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as
Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile
governments became citizens of Israel.Hamas, which seized control of
Gaza in 2007, seeks to destroy Israel.
Israel confirms it
has bodies of 2 Hamas men killed in Friday shootout-Military liaison to
Palestinians says remains won't be returned and 'Gaza won't know calm'
until Hamas gives back 2 fallen IDF soldiers, 2 living Israeli
civilians-By Judah Ari Gross-APR 1,18
Israel’s military
liaison to the Palestinians on Sunday confirmed that the bodies of two
Hamas gunmen who opened fire on IDF soldiers and were shot dead on
Friday were being held by Israel, along with the remains of 24 other
slain operatives.Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government
activities in the territories, wrote on his Arabic-language Facebook
page that the remains of the 26 Palestinians would not be released until
Hamas returned the two Israeli civilians and the remains of two fallen
IDF soldiers that it is currently holding in Gaza.“Israel will not be
silent and the residents of Gaza will not know peace until the Israelis
are returned and our soldiers are brought to burial in Israel,”
Mordechai wrote in Arabic. “There is a shared value for Judaism and
Islam of burying the dead.”The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Hadar Goldin
and Oron Shaul — are being held by Hamas, along with two live,
apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and Hisham
al-Sayed, who entered Gaza of their own volition in 2014 and 2015,
respectively.On Friday, Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad Rubaiyah, armed with
AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, opened fire at Israeli soldiers
and tried to break through the security fence before they were shot
dead by troops. Israeli aircraft also later targeted Hamas positions in
the Gaza Strip.Mordechai identified them as Mussa’b Saloul and Muhammad
Rubaiyah.Palestinian media reported that IDF soldiers retrieved their
bodies and that they were being held by Israeli authorities. The army
would not confirm that claim until Sunday with Mordechai’s Facebook
post.According to the general, the two slain gunmen “joined the 24 other
bodies being held by Israeli since Operation Protective Edge” —
Israel’s name for the 2014 Gaza war — “and the demolition of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad tunnel that was blown up in our territory in
October 2017.”Mordechai laid the blame squarely at Hamas’s feet, saying
the terrorist group “doesn’t care about the living or the dead and is
preventing their Muslim burial.”On Friday, some 30,000 Palestinians took
part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters
threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other side of the
fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and damage the
security fence, and in that one case opened fire at Israeli soldiers.IDF
troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot dispersal means, namely
tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases used live fire.According
to the army, in keeping with its rules of engagement, the Palestinians
who were shot were either attacking IDF soldiers with stones and Molotov
cocktails, were actively trying to damage the security fence, or were
attempting to place improvised explosive devices along the security
fence, which could later be used in attacks against Israeli patrols.On
Saturday night, the Israeli military identified 10 Palestinians killed
on Friday as belonging to terrorist organizations, publishing their
photographs, names and positions in the groups. Though the IDF
identified Saloul as a Hamas member, Rubaiyah was not included in the
army’s list.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five
members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were
among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to
destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a
violent coup in 2007.Mordechai’s post came shortly after the family of
Hadar Goldin, one of the soldiers whose remains are held by Hamas,
called on the government to not return the bodies of the two
gunmen.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and
hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are
returned,” Simcha Goldin, his father, said.The Goldin family contacted
Mordechai as well as the government’s point person for the effort to
retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum.The
family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it passed last
year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of terrorists to their
families and instead has them buried in temporary plots.Also on Sunday,
the family of Mengistu, one of the two Israeli civilians captive in
Gaza, launched a tent protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in
Jerusalem, calling on the government to bring back Abera from Hamas
captivity.
Erdogan calls Netanyahu a ‘terrorist’ over Gaza
deaths-Israeli and Turkish leaders in war of words after Ankara
criticizes IDF for its efforts to put down mass demonstrations along
border; Jordan and Egypt also concerned-By AFP and TOI staff-APR 1,18
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Sunday of being “a terrorist” after the Israeli prime
minister rejected Ankara’s “moral lessons” over deadly clashes on the
border with the Gaza Strip.“Hey Netanyahu! You are an occupier. And it
is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are
a terrorist,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Adana, southern
Turkey.Also Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met in Cairo
with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi to discuss the border
clashes, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.In a joint press
conference after their meeting Safadi said the international community
needs to protect the Palestinians as they demand what he termed their
“legitimate rights.”They said they reject violence towards the
Palestinians and vowed that the Palestinians will be protected so that
they can obtain their legitimate rights.Netanyahu earlier Sunday lashed
out at Turkey in response to its president’s claim that Israel had
mounted an “inhumane attack” on Palestinians during Friday’s mass
protests on the border with Israel.“The most moral army in the world
will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been
bombing a civilian population indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent
reference to Ankara’s ongoing battle against the Kurds.“That’s
apparently how Ankara marks [April Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in
Hebrew, of the Turkish condemnation.On Saturday, Erdogan said during a
speech in Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its
inhumane attack.”The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that at least
10 of those killed — the Gazans reported a death toll of 15 — were
members of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.IDF spokesman Ronen
Manelis said Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist
demonstration at six points” along the fence.He said the IDF used
“pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the
security fence. “All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the
fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of
Hamas commando forces,” he said in a late afternoon statement.As of
Saturday evening, Hamas, a terrorist group that openly seeks to destroy
Israel, itself acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called
“March of Return” were its own gunmen.On Friday, some 30,000
Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during
which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the other
side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach and
damage the security fence, and in one case opened fire at Israeli
soldiers.The IDF said that its sharpshooters targeted only those taking
explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break
through or damage the security fence.At previous peace talks, the
Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West
Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to
Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel
when it was established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for
those of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a
figure estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their
descendants, who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever
be likely to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel
as a Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that
Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a
Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews
who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile
governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu: Israel
rejects Turkey’s ‘moral preaching’ on Gaza-PM says Erdogan, who accused
Israel of 'inhumane attack' on Palestinians along border,
'indiscriminately bombs civilians'-By TOI staff-APR 1,18
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at Turkey in response
to its president’s claim that Israel mounted an “inhumane attack” on
Palestinians during Friday’s mass protests on the border with
Israel.“The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching
from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population
indiscriminately,” he said, in apparent reference to Ankara’s ongoing
battle against the Kurds.“That’s apparently how Ankara marks [April
Fool’s Day],” Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew, of the Turkish
condemnation.On Saturday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech in
Istanbul, “I strongly condemn the Israeli government over its inhumane
attack.”Also on Saturday, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament lashed out at
what he called the “illegitimate and usurping Zionist regime” for its
part in the clashes on the border between Gaza and Israel on
Friday.Speaking as the chairman of the Tehran-based Parliamentary Union
of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states, Ali
Larijani charged that Israel was trying to destabilize the region
together with US President Donald Trump, who in December recognized
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the relocation of the
US Embassy there from Tel Aviv — a move due to take place in May.“The
Zionists’ policy of creating tensions and crises along with Trump’s move
in announcing the move of [the] US embassy to al-Quds [Jerusalem] are
making up a dangerous plot targeting the stability and security of the
region,” Larijani said, according to the Iranian Mehr news agency.“The
only language that the terrorists ruling in Tel Aviv can understand is
the language of force, and resistance is [the] only solution to counter
the ambitious ends of the Zionist regime,” he said.The Israel Defense
Forces said Saturday that at least 10 of those killed — the Gazans
reported a death toll of 15 — were members of Palestinian terror groups
including Hamas.On Saturday, the US blocked a draft UN Security Council
statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of the
clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said. Kuwait, which
represents Arab countries on the council, had presented the proposed
statement, which called for an “independent and transparent
investigation” of the violence.The Palestinian Authority blamed the US
and Britain for obstructing the Palestinian and Arab effort to persuade
the Security Council to issue a resolution blasting Israel for the 15
Palestinian fatalities.Yusef al Mahmoud, spokesperson for the PA
government in Ramallah, said Saturday that Washington and London’s
opposition to a resolution condemning Israel “turns them into
accomplices in the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation
army against our defenseless people.”IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said
Friday the military faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six
points” along the fence.He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever
there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence. “All the
fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us,
and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces,” he said
in a late afternoon statement.As of Saturday evening, Hamas itself
acknowledged that five of the dead in the so-called “March of Return”
were its own gunmen.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have
always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East
Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for
Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was
established. The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of
the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure
estimated in the low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants,
who number in the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely
to accept this demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a
Jewish-majority state. Israel’s position has generally been that
Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a
Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews
who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile
governments became citizens of Israel.
Netanyahu refuses to
say if he’d meet with Jeremy Corbyn-4 days after embattled UK Labour
chief said he plans to visit Israel at some stage and would be happy to
meet PM, Jerusalem officials pass the buck when asked if feeling is
mutual-By Raphael Ahren-APR 1,18-TOI
Four days after
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, said he would
readily meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader’s aides are
unwilling to say whether he’d agree to such a meeting.Last Wednesday,
Corbyn told the UK’s Jewish News in an interview that he intends to
visit Israel and meet Netanyahu “at some point,” though he added that he
currently had no such plans.Asked if he’d be happy to meet Netanyahu,
the embattled Labour leader replied: “Well, I will be visiting the State
of Israel so yes, of course.”Asked Thursday by The Times of Israel
whether Netanyahu would be equally happy to host Corbyn — a longtime
critic of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians who is also
currently embroiled in a massive scandal for failing to tackle
anti-Semitism in his party — the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond
for several days.Netanyahu’s spokesperson for the English media, David
Keyes, finally said on Sunday that “questions about diplomatic meeting
with foreign political leaders should be asked of the Foreign Ministry,
as that is [their] prime objective.”A spokesperson for the Foreign
Ministry then promptly referred The Times of Israel back to the prime
minister, saying only his aides could speak for his willingness to meet
with world leaders.Due to his pro-Palestinian views and the Labour
Party’s anti-Semitism problem, Corbyn is viewed very critically by many
British Jews and Israel supporters. His interview last week with the
Jewish News of London was the first time he spoke to a Jewish news
outlet since becoming Labour leader in September 2015.Last November,
Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister, was asked during an interview
with the BBC how he would react if Corbyn were to be elected prime
minister.“Well, first of all the British people decide who they want to
govern them, but I hope that there will be a continuity of British
policy with Israel because here’s something people don’t know — that
cooperation has saved many lives,” Netanyahu replied.“Intense security
and intelligence cooperation has saved many Israeli and British lives,
he went on. “And it’s something I hope will continue in the future.”
Family
of slain soldier held by Hamas urges Israel to keep bodies of Gaza
gunmen-Simcha Goldin, whose son's remains have been kept in Gaza since
2014, calls for government to uphold its resolution not to return fallen
terrorists-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-APR 1,18
The Goldin
family, whose son’s remains have been held in Gaza by Hamas since the
2014 war, called on the government to not return the bodies of two Hamas
members who opened fire on Israeli troops and were shot dead on
Friday.“Israel has to use the bodies as a bargaining chip with Hamas and
hold onto them until a solution has been found and the soldiers are
returned,” Simcha Goldin, the father of Lt. Hadar Goldin, said on
Sunday.The bodies of two IDF soldiers — Goldin and Oron Shaul — are
currently being held by the Hamas terrorist organization, along with two
live, apparently mentally ill Israeli civilians — Abera Mengistu and
Hisham al-Sayed — who entered Gaza of the own volition in 2014 and 2015,
respectively.According to Palestinian media, following a shootout on
Friday, Israeli soldiers retrieved the bodies of the two gunmen, and
they are now being held by Israeli authorities.The Israel Defense Forces
would not officially comment on the claim.However, on Sunday, the
Goldin family contacted the government’s point person for the effort to
retrieve the two fallen soldiers and two civilians, Yaron Blum, as well
as Israel’s military coordinator to the Palestinians, Maj. Gen. Yoav
Mordechai.The family demanded that the government uphold a resolution it
passed last year that bars Israel from returning the bodies of
terrorists to their families and instead has them buried in temporary
plots.Also on Sunday, the family of Mengistu launched a tent protest
outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling on the
government to bring back Abera from Hamas captivity.On Friday, some
30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border,
during which rioters threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops on the
other side of the fence, burned tires and scrap wood, sought to breach
and damage the security fence, and in the one case opened fire at
Israeli soldiers.The IDF troops retaliated mostly with less-lethal riot
dispersal means, namely tear gas and rubber bullets, but in some cases
used live fire.The army said that its sharpshooters targeted only those
taking explicit violent action against Israeli troops or trying to break
through or damage the security fence. Video footage showed that in one
case a rioter, whom the army included in its list of Hamas members,
appeared to be shot while running away from the border. The army in
response accused Hamas of editing and/or fabricating its
videos.According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 15 Palestinians
were killed during these riots, including the two Hamas gunmen, armed
with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, who tried to breach the
security fence.On Saturday night, the Israeli military identified at
least eight more of the people killed — 10 in total — as belonging to
terrorist organizations, publishing their photographs, names and
positions in the groups.The IDF identified one of the two Hamas members
who shot at Israeli soldiers on Friday evening as 23-year-old Mussa’b
al-Saloul.Earlier on Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five
members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were
among the fatalities. Hamas is an Islamist terror group that seeks to
destroy Israel. It seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah in a
violent coup in 2007.The army did not provide evidence for its
identifications. Some could be independently verified with photographic
evidence of the operatives wearing uniforms or receiving a
military-style funeral from the terror group in question. Others could
not be immediately substantiated. One appears to be partially incorrect,
identifying an apparent member Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades
terrorist group as a member of Hamas.The Palestinians’ march to Gaza’s
border with Israel on Friday was the largest such demonstration in
recent memory, calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land
that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 War of Independence. It was
dubbed the “March of Return.”The death toll from Friday’s protest was
provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which also added that
some 1,400 Palestinians were injured during the protests, more than half
by live rounds. Israeli authorities have no way to independently
confirm the casualty reports.The army has remained on high alert even as
the violence appeared to abate Friday evening, amid fears of persisting
attacks, including infiltration attempts and rocket fire.Protest
organizers have said mass marches would continue until May 15, the 70th
anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians
mark that date as their “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of
thousands left or were forced to leave during the 1948 War of
Independence. The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people are their
descendants.At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always
demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem,
and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian
refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established.
The Palestinians demand this right not only for those of the hundreds of
thousands of refugees who are still alive — a figure estimated in the
low tens of thousands — but also for their descendants, who number in
the millions.No Israeli government would ever be likely to accept this
demand, since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority
state. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their
descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the
culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced
out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens
of Israel.Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
Back
with eyes open’: Malala visits Pakistan district where she was shot-In
first trip back to once militant-infested Pakistani region, Nobel Prize
laureate vows to return permanently after she has completed studies at
Oxford-By Lehaz Ali-TOI-APR 1,18
MINGORA, Pakistan (AFP) —
Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley Saturday for her first trip
back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot
in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.“I left Swat with my
eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open,” she told AFP,
referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma after the attack in
2012.“I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has
returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my
brothers and sisters,” she said at a school outside Mingora, the
district’s main town, where she was escorted by the Pakistani
military.The visit — on which she was accompanied by her father, mother,
and two brothers — was kept tightly under wraps.She took pictures of
the Swat valley from an army helicopter and tweeted that it was “The
most beautiful place on earth to me.”After flying from Islamabad, she
met with friends and family before visiting the all-boys Swat Cadet
College Guli Bagh, a military-run school some 15 kilometers (nine miles)
outside Mingora.“So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends
and putting my feet on this soil again,” she tweeted.There she lingered
some 45 minutes, taking photographs, before traveling back to Islamabad.
The entire visit is believed to have lasted just over two hours.Mingora
is where Malala’s family was living and where she was attending school
on October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded her school bus, asked “Who is
Malala?” and shot her.She was treated first at an army hospital then
airlifted to the British city of Birmingham.Her near-miraculous
recovery, and tireless career as an education advocate, have since
turned her into a global symbol for human rights, and in 2014 she became
the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she
was just 17.Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming home.“I am
unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people,” her
father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor
Pekai.The trip comes two days after Malala, currently a student at
Oxford University in Britain, made her emotional return to Pakistan,
where her surprise visit has been met with widespread joy and pride.She
broke down in tears as she made a televised speech on Thursday, saying
it was her “dream” to be back, and has vowed to Pakistani media that she
will return permanently after she has completed her education.However
she has also been met with pockets of intense criticism. Malala is
widely respected internationally, but opinion is divided in Pakistan,
where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to
shame her country.There had been much speculation within the country
over whether Malala would go to Swat during her visit.The mountainous
region, once a prized tourist destination famed for its pristine
scenery, was overrun by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007.The militants
imposed a brutal, bloody rule, but the army drove them out in 2009.
Recently restrictions on tourists visiting the area were lifted.However
security has remained fragile, as the assault on Malala three years
after the military operation demonstrated. In February, 11 military
personnel were killed in an attack, and analysts have warned the
militants still have a presence there.Residents of the area have praised
Malala to AFP in recent days, crediting her with helping to generate
improvements in education — especially for girls — in the deeply
conservative region, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Earlier this
month, an all-girls school built with money from the Malala Fund opened
in Shangla district northeast of Mingora, where her family lived before
moving to the city.Malala told AFP in Swat that she could see vast
changes in the area since 2012 — but added she has read reports which
claim up to 50 percent of children are still out of school.“We will have
to work very hard to bring them all to school,” she vowed.Residents of
Swat also welcomed her visit and urged fellow Pakistanis to support her
efforts to promote girls’ education.“We welcome Malala and the slogan
that she has raised — one pen, one teacher. We have pinned our hopes in
Malala,” Nazir Khan, a government servant, told AFP.“People have
positive as well as negative views about her,” fellow resident Arshad
Ali said.“We need to see what she has done until now — she has
constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of
purpose — to promote education, especially among girls in the country.”